Something went wrong. Try again later

Chummy8

This user has not updated recently.

4000 1815 60 62
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

2022 Games Played

2021 was an interesting year for my personal gaming. I played the fewest games last year since 2015 and that is including the classic games I played on my new emulator. For the first time ever, I am only carrying over 1 game into the new year.

I am not looking forward to too many games this year with Warhammer 3 and Starfield topping the list. Warhammer 3 could very well be my forever game by combining the maps from Warhammer 1 and 2. As for Starfield, I'm more than ready for an epic Bethesda RPG as long as it doesn't take after the recent Fallout games. I am also looking forward to whatever is being added to Cyberpunk 2077.

In 2022, I am looking forward to playing some classics that I never played before on my new emulator. My plan is to make this year the year of the classic game by playing games that I never got to play as a kid. When I say that I missed some of the greatest games of all time, I am talking about - Link to the Past, Dragon Warrior, Breath of Fire, Seiken Densetsu 3, Mother 3, Shining Force, Final Fantasy 4-12, and Parasite Eve. It will be interesting to see if these all time great games hold up since I'll be playing them for the first time in 2022. Along with these games I haven't played before, I am itching to see how my favorites like Blood Omen and Shadowrun (Genesis) hold up. I've been losing interest in modern games anyway.

My 2022 prediction is that I will play more classic games this year than new releases along with the usual backlog grind. I also intend to replay some modern classics such as Witcher 3 (again), Pillars of Eternity 2 and finally finishing the Yakuza series (4, 5, 6) and then replaying Yakuza LAD.

List items

  • Started Dec 23 - Can't finish

    I came to Guilty Gear Strive from Street Fighter 5. With the first impression, I loved everything about Guilty Gear. The characters, the music, the artwork - they are all amazing. One of my biggest gripes about fighting games is that I often can't find a character to main. With Guilty Gear, I immediately found a main and started dominating people with him. And now, I found a secondary character that is super fun to play. Every character in this game is great and I can't wait to see who else gets added to the game.

    Another great plus with GGST is that it is simpler than SF5. There's a dedicated get off me button, and a dedicated combo extender button. Much easier to get a handle of than the 4 different V trigger techniques that came with SF5.

  • Started Jan 1 - Finished Jan 31

    I was never into the Zelda games as a kid. I thought the NES version was too difficult (I was 7). While we had both a SNES and a Genesis, I didn't have many first party Nintendo games. The only Zelda I ever finished was Ocarina of Time and my first Mario Kart was Double Dash for the Gamecube. I have been putting off this game for decades and it is time to give it an honest play through. Many people on this site claim this is one of their favorite games of all time and well it's time to put it to the test.

    I took my time with this, only doing about an hour a night. I'd do a dungeon, explore a bit and then quit. But in the end, this might be a perfect video game.

  • Started Jan 14 - Finished Jan 15

    Mutant League Football released for the Genesis in 1993 is better than this game. I know, because I recently played Mutant League Football. This new version is tiresome and boring. In the first few hours of playing, I discovered a play that the AI can't defend against. Which makes the game completely reliant on countering the AI dirty tricks.

    Add to that the repetitive and annoying commentary, makes this game something I never want to play again.

  • Started Feb 6 - Finished Feb 6

    Yeah Gunstar heroes is a great game. Solid run in gun action.

  • Started Feb 6 - Finished Feb 6

    A hallmark of the beat em up genre.

  • Started Feb 7 - Finished Feb 7

    Played on the SNES. Plays faster and feels better as a beat em up than the first one. Kinda wished there were more enemy variety and weapons, but I had a good time with it.

  • Started Feb 7 - Can't finish

    With the new DLC out, I thought it would be a good idea to drop another 100 hours into this game.

  • Started and Finished Feb 9.

    I didn't even know this game existed until recently and it is simply the best Final Fight game.

  • Started Feb 17 - Won't ever finish

    Unfortunately, this game has some controversy around its launch that I feel is overblown. And, judging the game as it is today March 22, 2022; I still consider this game to be worth a purchase and your time. The negativity surrounding this game is partly related to bugs which have been present in just about every Total War game at their launch and the narrative campaign that the game launched with.

    I am not concerned with the bugs in the game right now. None of them are game breaking and CA has a history of stamping out the more serious bugs in their previous games. The newest patch notes show that they are aware of and are working on these bugs.

    The narrative campaign is admittedly not my preferred way to play a Total War game as I would rather play a sandbox mode. But the campaign as it is today, is still fun to play and I think more fun than the Vortex Campaign in Warhammer 2 which I played maybe 2 or 3 times. In the Warhammer 3 narrative campaign, rifts will open up at a regular basis out of which will spawn enemy heroes and armies. You can close these rifts with your own armies or heroes. But if you want to win the campaign as intended, you need to take your main Legendary Lord into these gates where they have to go through a gauntlet (battles, attrition, mazes) effectively taking them off the main map for about 10 turns. The rifts and the gauntlets themselves were never a big deal for me - annoying, but not a game breaker for me. The latest patch notes offer solutions to increase the rewards in the gauntlets and even prevent the rifts from opening in the first place which would allow the player to not even interact with the narrative campaign at all.

    What makes me like this game so much are the races. Just about every race in the game looks fun to play. I managed to beat the campaign 3 times in the month since launch and am eager to go back and try another race. It is rare that I feel this way as I easily spent a couple hundred hours just playing Beastmen in Warhammer 2 (BEFORE their rework).

    The combined map and campaign have not been released yet. But when it does, I could see Warhammer 3 becoming my forever game like Warhammer 2 was. Which is a game that I always have installed and will come back to regularly in the years to come.

  • Started March 20 - Finished Nov 15

    Keeping up with my resolution and finishing all the Yakuza games. FINALLY finished Yakuza 4 - 8 months after I started the game. This game's gimmick is that it is the 4th Yakuza game and it includes 4 main characters. I liked the new characters almost as much as I like Kiryu. But I felt that I didn't get enough time to invest in them.

    I spent 8 months finishing a 20 hour game so I'll admit that the plot was confusing and an orgy of betrayal. To me, it felt needlessly convoluted and that is saying something considering this is a Yakuza game. So far, I liked this game better than Yakuza 3. But it is not the best Yakuza game I've played.

  • Started March 23 - Nov 11

    I typically don't like Rogue games and it takes a truly special game like this to draw me in for 30 hours. Vampire Survivors is a truly special game.

  • Started (again) April 6 - Finished April 18

    Operation Motherland was released last year and it might be finally the true vision of what Ghost Recon Breakpoint should have been. The mission requires you to take over the island region by region doing missions which will weaken the enemy and eventually defeat them. It is still the same Ghost Recon gameplay but with no central base to buy supplies. So, I suggest you play it with no fast travel and try to survive your way through it. The missions are different and fun to do, especially after playing the game online for so long.

    I spent about 300 hours playing Breakpoint. From doing single player missions to going online co-op and helping others do theirs, and even doing the endgame raid. Motherland is a very good ending point for a game I spent a lot of time in. Hey, it gave me a reason to install the game again and drop another 10 hours.

    This is the end, and I have no regrets as to what this game has become. I had a good time with it and with nothing left to do, then it's time to move on for good.

  • Started April 19 - Finished April 27

    Specifically the Anniversary Edition. I started looking at the Steam Deck and the games that I might play on it when I came across Skyrim again. I realized it's been a while since i last played it and decided to stop putting it off. Going Mage this time because it's maybe the one playstyle I haven't tried yet.

  • Started April 29 - Finished May 1

    Isolating with Covid and nothing better to do than try out games in my backlog. I'm not usually into these rogue type games, but the Indiana Jones theme to this one is charming.

  • Started June 21 - Finished June21

    Got a new handheld emulator device and trying out some games I've been putting off. For a game that started off slow, this is a game that really grew on me. I enjoyed the story and being able to play as different characters from the show was a bonus.

    Toward the end of the game, I was constantly being surprised by where the game was going.

    However, I can't recommend this game to everyone except the biggest DS9 fans. I enjoyed the parts of the game that were more adventure game style. You would be tasked to walk around the Station and talk to other characters to solve a mystery or proceed to the next mission. The main gameplay was a let down. It is a large map platformer in which you are trying to deactivate bombs or flipping switches, or even trying to get past the borg. Most of these missions are timed - meaning that if you take too long then you have to restart. The timed missions combined with the unresponsive controls just made me frustrated. It was mostly trial and error of running to find the bombs, then remembering where they were for the next restart - so you could get all 5 fast enough.

    Parts of this game were fun, but the frustrating timed missions were enough to ruin the experience. Pass.

  • Started June 21 - Finished June 22

    I played the hell out of Arkanoid on the NES when I was a kid and never knew it came out for the SNES too. This sequel is an amazing puzzle/arcade game. I was addicted to it immediately and played all 99 levels (with the help of save states and rewind) in just 2 days. The levels were fun but the final few were annoying.

  • Started June 22 - Finished July 18

    This game used to sit comfortably in my favorite games of all time. I guess that is the price of nostalgia. Playing this game for the first time in nearly 30 years made me realize that my memories glossed over this game's flaws.

    Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is a top down action/adventure game along the lines of a Zelda. You explore the world and collect new spells or abilities which allow you to access secret areas. However, none of these areas are worth exploring as the bonuses you get aren't always worth the effort. This makes the game a very linear experience.

    The combat isn't great because Kain lacks the ability to dodge incoming attacks. Kain is simply too slow to do any hit and run attacks. So most combat comes down to standing in front of an enemy and trading blows until the enemy is staggered enough to drain his blood. Most enemies could and should be avoided because they respawn when you reenter an area and are mostly there for a quick health refill. Once I realized this, I ended up basically speedrunning the areas.

    I did still enjoy the greater story and setting of the game along with the excellent voice acting however. This is a revenge story for a very bad man in a world that is dark and dying. Kain, as a vampire, only cares for himself and can enter houses at night to murder innocents for their blood. Kain is expertly voiced by Simon Templeman and his VO adds much to the overall setting/experience of the game. The VO explains every item and spell in the game with brutal details that only adds to the grim world. However, the excellent setting and VO do not make up for the mediocre gameplay.

    I played this game to see if one of my favorite games of all time still holds up in 2022. I am sad to say, it does not. I would only recommend this game if you are planning on playing the rest of the games in the series and want to see how the story begins

  • Started June 28 - Finished June 28

    This game is an all time great beat em up. But everyone knew that already. This review instead will focus on my new Anbernic RG503 which has fulfilled my dreams of a handheld emulator that can play just about every game from my childhood. I love this thing and being able to belt out Streets of Rage 2 while watching TV with the family is just amazing.

  • Started June 30 - Finished June 30

    Another beat em up regarded as an all time great. However, after playing through it for the first time in literal decades, this game does not hold up as well as others. Still a decent game, but not as good as the Final Fights or the Streets of Rage games.

  • Started July 5 - Finished July 28

    I played the PSP version released in 2011 so this review will be centered around that. Final Fantasy 4 has been released on 7 different devices/consoles. However, researching the different versions of a game that was originally released in 1991 was a pedantic rabbit hole. Depending on your tolerance of bugs, censorship, localization, and translation, you will always have to make some compromise when picking a version. Since there isn't a perfect or "best" version of the game.

    This lead me to really question what a retro game's best version is. Is it the original release with questionable localization and bugs? Is it the fan retranslation project? Is it the fan patched version? Is the official remake made 20 years after the first release? The answer is that it's none of them and all of them at the same time. For most games like this, there will rarely be a consensus as to which version is the "best". As long as you're happy with the version you're playing then that's the true or best version of the game. It's all goddamn confusing, and that is before you get into all the different Rom Hacks for the game that change some other minutia.

    I came to the conclusion that remakes and reboots do not replace existing versions of games. They are just different flavors of the same game. Back when we were kids in the 90s, we played the version we bought or rented at the store with all the censorship, quirky localization, and bugs; without any downloadable patches to fix them. Final Fantasy 3 (6) has been called one of the best Final Fantasy games ever and it had all those same issues that fans have gone back to "fix" with rom hacks, patches, and translations. I believe that it is because of, not in spite of, these "flaws" that these games are regarded as classics. Play whatever version you want, it's your choice. But if you want the original experience, you need to play the original release.

    For FF4, I did not play the original release. I chose the PSP version mostly for the quality of life changes. Having the ability to auto battle was a game changer and I especially liked it toward the end of the game. Plus the PSP version looked the best on my rg503 device's OLED screen.

    Final Fantasy 4 is a good game and the oldest Final Fantasy I have played so far. I intend to play all of the Final Fantasy games in order starting with 4 and ending with 15 (or 16 when it comes out). I found it to be a fun experience that kept me motivated to keep playing. The story was interesting and maybe the best reason to play the game. The battle system was typical Final Fantasy turn based which was fun for me, but traditional. Final Fantasy 4 deserves credit for introducing the Active Time Battle system which was later seen in classics such as Chrono Trigger. The world was fun to explore and the music was excellent as usual.

    Final Fantasy 4 does not hold up very well 32 years after release even with the quality of life changes that came with the PSP version. I did like the characters even though you couldn't pick your party members were. I felt that Cecil was a good protagonist however and kept me interested to see it through. The twist at the end came out of nowhere and there was a noticeable difficulty spike at the end of the game. I didn't have to grind however which was nice. Even though I never ran from any battles and still ended the game at level 60. It's a solid Final Fantasy game but I would only recommend it to crazy people like me who want to play every game in order. Good JRPG but there are better games out there if your time is more valuable than mine.

    Having only played 4 mainline Final Fantasy games so far, this is easily in my top 5 Final Fantasy games. When I play FF 5, I'll rank them and keep the ranking going through my journey.

  • Started August 4 - Finished August 4

    I love this retro handheld. Nothing like playing a classic game to kill time waiting for something. Elevator Action Returns is a great run n gun game.

  • Started August 4 - Finished Aug 7

    My daughter played this game together over the course of 3 nights. We have played Life is Strange before and this was our first horror movie game. We loved it and will probably go back and play it again or do the movie mode. We got a good ending and kept all the kids alive!

  • Started August 5 - Finished August 5

    Man this game sucks. Not even worth playing the Japanese uncensored version.

  • Started Aug 7 - Finished August 10

    I was playing the original Star Ocean release which came out on the Super Famicom. The first Star Ocean game didn't get a North American release until Star Ocean First Departure in 2008.

    I was playing a fan translation of the original game. I'm a guy who likes to take the time to read the manual before playing a game. And, not having a manual and dealing with questionable translation made this experience a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the graphics and the music, which were fantastic. However, I didn't even know how the battle system worked and got killed in the first 10 minutes. The story got going and it seemed like the main characters were willing to go along with the new strange characters without any reasoning. I hope that was an issue with the translation where the story wasn't as explained as I would have liked. The final issue I had with this game was a locked door that I couldn't bash through because I was missing a certain skill. I went back and looked at guides and couldn't figure out how to get the missing skill. My goal was to play this first Star Ocean game without any guides. I don't want to have to 3 different guides open just to play a game.

    My experience with this fan translation got me thinking that maybe I should only play official English releases from now on.

  • Started Aug 7 - Finished Aug 7

    I finally played all 4 of the Streets of Rage games. I thought this game was alright but didn't add too much from SOR 2. I definitely liked that game better.

    Final SOR ranking - 4, 2, 3, 1

  • Started August 9 - Finished August 9

    Rambo 3 is a solid top down shooter. I played through the entire game in about 30 minutes but I'd go back and play it again.

  • Started August 11 - Finished August 30

    Just started this game and it seems to be an RPG about actually growing your party members personally which sounds fantastic.

    Rom bugged out on me. I'm intrigued enough to give it another go. But this time I'll do the PSP remake.

  • Started Sep 1 - Finished Sep 27

    I liked Final Fantasy 5 better than Final Fantasy 4. I feel that this game was an improvement in nearly every way than the fourth game. The music, story, and characters were all great and memorable. Even the final boss was tough but fair. He beat me a few times before I finally was able to beat him. And beating a tough boss like that in a Final Fantasy game is such a great feeling.

    However, the hallmark of this game is the job system which allows you to change the class of your characters. I found this system to be really fun to play with and tweak. This made the final dungeon really fun to do because I was really OP by the end of the game. However, I prefer my Final Fantasy characters to have their own set of skills and classes so while it was fun to use, it didn't make the characters special to me.

  • Started Sep 15 - Finished Nov 24

    First game I played on my new Steam Deck. Game is the same it always was. Very good. But hard.

    I played about half of the game before the bullshit finally turned me off.

  • Started Sep 24 - Won't finish

    It's maybe the definitive 2d rogue ish game out there. I am finding that I like it better than I thought I would.

  • Started Sep 24 - Finished Oct 18

    I played through the game start to finished solely on my Steam Deck. It ran great at 40pfs with FSR on. Being able to try a few runs at a boss while sitting on the couch with my family was really fun.

    Sekrio is the most fair Fromsoft game that I have ever played. Every time I died, I felt that it was because I made a mistake rather than some random cheap ass bullshit the game threw at me. This game has a reputation for being hard, but that's only on the surface. In actuality, the game offers plenty of check points so when you die, you don't have to go backtrack too far. And when you die, you only lose half of your money and experience to the next skill point. You can even resurrect once without any penalty. If you suddenly come across something that wrecks you while you're flush with money, then you can simply resurrect and run back to the last checkpoint to get your heals.

    The level design is not as punishing as other Fromsoft games as well. I didn't come across any unfair or annoying areas of the game in my playthrough. There was a checkpoint near to every boss. I was expecting the typical Fromsoft Bullshit that I experienced in Dark Souls 1 and 2, but I never found any of that in Sekiro. Instead I found the level design fun to navigate and not once did I struggle to reach the next checkpoint to rest. Also, the game is also the second coming of Tenchu. You can and should use stealth in this game to eliminate regular enemies one at a time when you can. The verticality of the level design allows for this beautifully.

    The game's real difficulty lies in its bosses and sub-bosses. And even then, the difficulty is only ignorance. Every move that a boss will do has a counter, whether it is running away, deflecting, dodging, or even jumping straight up. So what happens is that you will bang your head against the boss wall until you learn their moves and how to counter them and then the game becomes actually easy to play. The satisfaction of learning a boss's moveset and then crushing them is an amazing feeling especially after losing to a boss so many times in a row. It's a grind, but one I feel is worth playing for yourself. And if you're having a hard time, some bosses can be cheesed off a cliff or snuck up on and backstabbed. Or my favorite, the weak poison -> teleport -> air deathblow technique.

  • Started Sep 25 - Finished Oct 21

    Trucking through my backlog and hitting all the recommended SNES games while I'm at it. I'm even playing this on my Steam Deck which is a plus.

    I really liked this Action Rpg where you go about killing monsters and restoring towns. Unfortunately, I had to redo my Steam Deck Emulation so I lost my saves.

  • Started Oct 5 - Can you finish this game?

    My first roguelike deckbuilder and it sure is a fun game to play.

  • Started Oct 23 - Finished ...

    This is the first game I've played that's like an interactive Fantasy Novel or a Choose your own adventure book. Really interesting so far. And its great for playing the Steam Deck on the plane.

  • Started Oct 23 - Finished Dec 8

    Started this game on the plane alongside Roadwarden. Now that I am done with Soul Blazer, it's time to continue my Final Fantasy journey. The first impressions of this game are fantastic and the music is amazing.

    An absolute triumph of a game. A true classic that lives up to the hype. This game was released in 1994 and the quality in the music and storytelling still can't be beat. Games these days might look better, but a rare few can surpass this game where it counts.

  • Started Oct 24 - Finished Oct 30

    Sitting in the hotel room with nothing to do inspired me to go back and play this game's DLC. Rage 2 has great combat, but the weapons aren't too exciting. It's enough to keep me coming back to it.

    Rise of the Ghosts is a decent DLC, but I wouldn't recommend any other of the DLC.

  • Started Oct 31 - Finished Nov 9

    I already put 100 hours into the single player campaign back in 2019 and the Steam Deck inspired me come back and try out the Career mode. Turns out the Steam Deck is great for turn based strategy games, the battery life is still short with this game, but I am enjoying my time playing with Mechs again.

    The Career Mode is a sandbox experience where you can take any job you want as long as you keep your company running. My only gripe is that it seems a little too long. Still, I'm going to see this to the end of the Career to get that rare achievement. And then I plan on keeping this game installed and will maybe replay the Campaign again in the future.

    Battletech is still a great game. Slow paced, but definitely interesting enough to keep your attention. Almost perfect for the Steam Deck, I found myself playing in short bursts. I'd do a mission and then move on. Career mode was fun, but it does have it's short comings.

    First, it was too long. I was rolling over the AI about halfway through the timeline. By the time I had 200 days left, the game no longer had any challenge for me. I was just letting time roll at that point. Second, the vanilla Career mode was interesting enough to keep me playing, but it was lacking in direction. I guess that is the point of the mode, but a little guidance would have helped. There's always the Flashpoint missions which were a nice touch as well.

  • Started November 15 - Can't Finish

    This is a pretty good colony sim game based in space. It's typical, you need to build your base and manage your crew members health at the same time. I liked it a bunch.

  • Started Nov 30 - Finished Dec 25

    Played entirely on the Steam Deck with no issues.

    Chorus is an open space arcade space shooter. There's a main story which will take you about 10-15 hours depending on how many side quests you take on. The game focuses on Nara, the pilot and her spacecraft. The fun thing about Chorus, and what sets it apart from other games like it, is the rite abilities. Chorus takes the typical space dogfight formula and allows you to use mystical space magic to teleport, boost forward, or instantly disable other ships for a few seconds. It was super fun drifting around in space and using the powers to eliminate your enemies like an overpowered god.

    The story revolves around Nara, your pilot. Eventually you learn about her escape from a Space Cult and the eventual fight against them. There wasn't anything groundbreaking here, but I did enjoy it.

    My only gripe with the game were the boss fights. They were tough and maybe a little too long. But if you use your powers effectively, you can overcome them.

    I would recommend this game for a fun take on dogfighting.

  • Starte Dec 12 - Finished Dec 20

    Played on Steam Deck. Ran great with minimal tweaking. Dec 20, 2022

    This is the first Need for Speed game I've put any decent amount of time into since the Playstation 2. I had no idea what this game was when I bought it on that super discount. To sum it up, it's an open world racer with split modes. There's the day mode that offers "legit" races for money that are on barricaded streets with no traffic. Then there's the night mode which has "illegal" night races for Rep and will eventually get the attention of the police. Both night and day modes of course offer collectables to smash up, jump over, or drift through. The open world was fun to drive through and it was very similar to a Forza Horizon that way. The driving was on the arcade side of the racing spectrum with easy drifts and your car will sort of snap into turns if you hit the emergency brake. It took me a little to get used to the racing coming from Forza Horizon 5.

    The Forza Horizon 5 comparison I feel is very appropriate here. it's very much that kind of game. It has a smaller open world, and less cars. But I felt that those two things actually worked better for the game than the dump truck of cars that FH5 throws at you. The main difference is the night mode and the police chases. There is definitely a risk/reward system at play here as the more heat you draw from the cops, the harder it gets. You gain heat just from doing races and the cops might even try to interfere in those races. The cops will try to ram into you and otherwise get you off the road. However, if you get wrecked then you lose money. I only got caught once and I ended up losing 20k which was all I had at the moment. So to gain rep, it's a risk to do as many races as you can before the cops get too dangerous. The only way out is to get back to a safehouse or escape the cops. It's like the Dark Souls of open world racing games that way.

    However, while the game was fun and racing was exciting, I didn't feel like playing anymore. It's the kind of game where you'll need to grind races to move on to the next story chapter. You'll eventually need a certain level of rep or a certain class of car to do the next story mission. I enjoyed the story mission, but I had enough when I had to grind 200k in money just to buy an offroad car that I won't drive after that 1 mission. The story kept me going until that mission and the fake Fast and Furious wasn't enough to keep me going anymore.

    Oh yeah, mute the music - it's terrible.

  • Started Dec 26 - Can't finish

    Naturally playable on the Steam Deck. Text is very readable and the default controls were perfect.

    To put it simply, this is a 4x game very similar to Endless Legend. I loved Endless Legend and this game definitely scratches that same itch. And since this is Warhammer 40k, and there is only war, there is no diplomacy options in this game. Therefore, this game plays very much like a cross between Civilization and Dawn of War 1. You build your territory and send your armies out to bring death to your enemies. It's great.

  • Started Dec 27 - Finished February 6

    I try to give myself some time between Final Fantasy games. Just enough to decompress and build hype for the next game in the series. Final Fantasy 7 is one of the better games in the franchise, and I am oddly hyped to play it again.
Load Comments