The 2024 Backlog Challenge

[Sumez | 3,170]

You meant - they are all amazing.

I can't believe you forgot Demon's Souls in that equation, too.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

21 minutes ago, Sumez said:

You meant - they are all amazing.

I can't believe you forgot Demon's Souls in that equation, too.

I haven't played it since release so I have a hard time trusting my feelings about it (I really did love it).  The remake is my next soulsborne to play.

[Floating Platforms | 824]

Last night I finished Yakuza Kiwami 2

Of the three platinums I have now, Kiwami 1 was the hardest, Zero was the longest and this was a pushover compared to both of them, taking less than 70 hours.  The only part that really gave me any trouble was the last bouncer mission but once I decided to use one of my sacrifice stones in the battle, it was no issue.  Finishing the story and getting the unlimited use weapons was a game changer for some of those grindy side modes. Things that were tough in other games either didn't exist here or had severely reduced completion requirements (like the mahjong and casino, etc). The karaoke that can be brutal was a lot easier here, as was the coliseum. I doubt I'll have such an easy road in the next games.

Aside from the trophy hunting, I of course thoroughly enjoyed the game. I do wish the story was a little bit longer. Part 1 had a bit more depth and build-up. This had some storylines that you knew were going to interconnect all along and it was a matter of when. Then it also had some lackluster tangents with Haruka and the talent agency and the diversion with the tattoo people. I also found the overall boss encounters to be lesser than the other two I've played. Several chapters simply ended. I wanted more big battles.

The Majima Saga side mode was also a bit too short and didn't serve a lot of purpose other than a little fan service/closure for those that played Zero.

Anyway, I'm excited to see where the story goes next and I only have 14 more games in the series to go now! I think I'm going to try to get 3 done next year (3, 4, Dead Souls spin-off).

Pretty soon I will likely have Mario & Luigi Dream Team done. I have all the pillow people saved, just need about a dozen more beans, maybe 6 expert challenges and one photo thing to get. Picross S3 is also nearing the finish line.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

Trails in the Sky the 3rd

Started this on the heels of the second game, and blasted through it on Easy for the sake of timelines.  Turns out Easy is absurdly easy, but I just didn't want to deal with any balancing issues like I did with SC, and have a massive JRPG in front of me still with SMT5, so I made the right choice.

Super linear compared to the last two games, which I was fine with, it definitely feels like more of a spin-off or side game than the first two.  I was just happy to explore new areas and follow a different rhythm after the second game repeated so much from the first game.

Next year I'll be doing the two Crossbell games on the Switch, and then hitting up the Cold Steel games on PS4 and then Switch.  Really wish I could have everything on the same system, but it is what it is.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (10/10)
God of War Ragnarok (9.5/10)
Dark Souls III (9.5/10)
Resident Evil Village (9.5/10)
Bloodborne (9.5/10)
The Witness (9/10)
Tunic (9/10)
Inscryption (8.5/10)
Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
Firewatch (8.5/10)
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
Horizon Zero Dawn (8/10)
Spider-Man (8/10)
Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (7.5/10)
The Walking Dead Complete (7.5/10)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (7.5/10)
The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
Resident Evil 3 (7.5/10)
The Talos Principle (7/10)
The Quarry (7/10)
Trails in the Sky the 3rd (7/10)
A Plague Tale: Innocence (7/10)
Bravely Default (6.5/10)
Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
Trails in the Sky SC (6/10)
Dark Forces (5.5/10)
Beyond Oasis (5/10)
Turok 3 (4.5/10)

 

[Floating Platforms | 824]

Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor is done.

Only 1 more planned Nancy game left this year. This was the toughest and longest game so far. Senior detective mode will still give you some hints in other games, but not here. The puzzles are usually straight-forward enough but a couple will require some interpretation. There were a couple of times where I tried something just because I didn't have other leads and it ended up being the right way. I did get stuck and look things up once. I had 5 of the 6 pillar items and misinterpreted how to combine two things to unlock the 6th. I thought I needed to wait and use the key to break into a room, but I just needed to use a different thing first to unlock the puzzle.  Some of the backtracking along winding corridors and through puzzle rooms multiple times got tedious, but I liked the variety, the depth, the characters and the story. One of the better entries in the series I've played.

I am now 2/3rds done with my 2024 backlog goals. I still haven't tackled any of the 3 holdovers I'm requiring as part of my quest. I'm saving Metroid as a reward for beating World Bowling (which is so RNG dependent and incredibly difficult). I will maybe try to get No More Heroes done in the very near future, and I'm debating whether to do Perfect Dark on stream sometime after Metroid or not. If I haven't gotten to it by November, then I'll likely play it offline.

[Foochie776 | 1,070]

Between work and my insatiable reading lately I’ve fallen off bad. Still hoping to knock 2-3 more off this year!

[Splain | 2,725]

Finished Commander Keen ep. 5: The Armageddon Machine on Normal mode. Nice silly game. The last level is crazy hard, but the background music is totally Mars by Holst, so that was neat. And you guys, check out what's gonna drop on Christmas '92!!

[T-Pac | 8,148]

37/40 - Wrecking Crew [Nintendo Famicom - 1985]

Finished: 2024/09/29

Caveats: Used save-states for each level-start.

[T-Pac]

[T-Pac | 8,148]

Just 3 games left on my 2024 Backlog Challenge list!

I might have to take a break for most of October, but I'm still feeling pretty good about finishing with some time to spare for bonus games at the end of the year.

[T-Pac]

[Gloves | 12,290]

Man, looking back, unemployed me had way too much time on his hands.

I played through Kabuki: Quantum Fighter on NES again today. Love that game.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,116]

I haven't really invested as much time into my backlog as I would have liked to do. Maybe next year I'll have to invest a bit less time into the NES completions challenge, so that I have more time for other games. Any,way I did manage to get through two games from my backlog during this summer, and these were: Might and Magic VI and Might and Magic VII.

Both are very nostalgic games from my childhood and playing them brings me back, especially MM VII. That one is close to perfection for me, if it wasn't for the bugs. Also, looking back at it now, I wish that there would have been more enemies to kill. That was one of the things I liked about VI so much. However, I think that MM VII is much, MUCH more interesting with its classes, skill system and balancing. It's also shorter, easier and thus more beginner-friendly.

Anyway, this time around I did a run with four mages in both games. This was a bit slow and frustrating at the beginning, but later on it was sooo much fun blasting everything away with magic!

1. Might and Magic VII (10/10)
2. Might and Magic VI (9/10)
3. Little Nemo: The Dream Master (8/10)
4. TMNT III: The Manhattan Project (8/10)
5. Destiny of an Emperor (6.5/10)
6. Wurm - Journey to the Center of the Earth (5.5/10)

[Floating Platforms | 824]

Picross S3 is done

There's not much to say about this that I didn't say in past years about other Picross S games. It's all more of the same, which is quite alright with me. Although, they did add Color puzzles this time, which can be quite tricky for those that aren't used to them. I usually have the most trouble with the Mega puzzles, but I only recall one that really slowed me down. Pretty manageable overall.

I've also finally started God of War (2018) but it's early. The hub and second main area opened up and I haven't had a chance to start looking around it yet.

[Floating Platforms | 824]

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is done

I'm really not an RPG guy but I can make an exception for action RPGs. Give me a situation where I can see the enemies on the screen rather than stumble into a random encounter ever two steps, and I'll be more likely to play the game. If the area stays cleared out, even better. However, even with those, I usually don't last in RPGs because of how long they can be. If I put them down, I forget where I'm going, forget the story, etc. It took me several years to be Chrono Trigger. I've played Bowser's Inside Story and that also was one I stopped and then picked up years later with some confusion about the mechanics and where to go.

This thread, along with my Game Boy challenge, has helped me change my mentality and largely stick with one game until it's done - and to try to keep picking that game back up more frequently.  Having a game like Dream Team that's so accessible also really helps with clear sections, the ability to save at literally any time, and an easy to pick up control & special ability set.

I had a ton of fun with this and I think I enjoyed it more than Inside Story (but maybe that's because this playthrough wasn't as fragmented). Doing the expert challenges added a little bit of extra...challenge with all the no-hit stuff, but nothing was overwhelming. The story and characters are charming of course but I do wish there was more reason to use coins or swap equipment or badges. The puzzles were decent and simple enough for a younger kid but still kept me engaged for those brief moments. I wasn't wild about the giant luigi battles where you held the 3DS like a book but learning how to dodge the other enemies was fun.  I'm certainly looking forward to the new game coming up for the Switch, but I doubt I'll play that for a couple years.

The next game I'll probably finish is either the last Nancy Drew I'm planning this year on steam or maybe SMB Advance 4 (played through Wii U). I'm working through the e-reader levels and need 2 more e-coins and 44 more advance coins across however many levels are left (a little more than 1 page worth in their menu)

[Philosoraptor | 482]

On 10/5/2024 at 7:16 AM, Gaia Gensouki said:

Destiny of an Emperor (6.5/10)

Did I miss your write-up for Destiny of an Emperor? I've been curious about this one for a long time.

Edit: Found it!

On 3/3/2024 at 6:04 PM, Gaia Gensouki said:

That being said, I at least beat Destiny of an Emperor and actually wanted to do a write-up on it, but somehow kept delaying it more and more until I kinda forgot what I wanted to write. I would probably give it maybe a 7 out of 10. I had some good fun with this game most of the time, but it eventually became really repetitive and at times a bit unfair. I might return to this game at some point in the future, but it's no Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, which I can play over and over again.

Interesting. I'll put this one on my short list to play for the near future then. I'm also trying to also thin the collection, and this might be a candidate for the for sale shelf. 

Edited October 9 by Philosoraptor

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,116]

30 minutes ago, Philosoraptor said:

Did I miss your write-up for Destiny of an Emperor? I've been curious about this one for a long time.

Interesting, that you were asking. I actually forgot about the write-up for this game myself. I remember having lots of thoughts about this one and wanting to write something pretty extensive, but I kinda put it on the backburner and eventually forgot about what I wanted to say. I did a slightly longer write-up in the NES completions thread:

Iirc, my biggest gripes about this game were the repetitive nature of it, how long every single battle took later on and how frustratingly difficult the endgame was. At the beginning, I still really liked it and would have probably given it something of a 7.5 or 8 out of 10, but the later stuff really soured me on this one.

Edited October 9 by Gaia Gensouki

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

Side Quest: Demon's Souls (remake)

My Souls kick continues, with the last (non)From game left for me: the PS5 remake of the game that started it all.  I, like many people, got my start with the series waay back when the original came out, and it was getting all sorts of attention from the gaming press.  It was actually the very first PS3 game I bought and played.  And my memories of it were very warm, and very fuzzy.

This remake takes that exact same experience, and adds a shiny new coat of paint.  That's it.  For better or worse.  There's no tuning, no play balancing, no new areas, none of that.  So I'm judging that gameplay against the Elden Rings, Bloodbornes, Niohs, and Dark Souls of the world.

And it still manages to stand strong.  There are problems, for sure.  The bosses are a gigantic, gimmick-heavy, mess, in a way.  None of them present much of a challenge, and most of them are a joke.  But that's to be expected.  They've iterated on these designs a thousand times.  They've made all of them more demanding, and more complicated as the years have gone by.  So what we have here is the prototype.

The healing stacks are another problem.  A well-known one.  It's obvious why From solved for this with every game afterwards with the estus flask.  But it still trivializes most of the game.

I also don't really care for all of the sections that are sealed behind world tendency.  I don't really want to try and figure out how to get items that end up being unattainable.  That's not very fun.

Still, even with those demerits, this game is a blast.  The worlds are all a ton of fun to explore.  The combat never, ever gets old.  The bosses, as wimpy as they are, at least look impressive for the most part.  And the game looks amazing.  You can see why it was the PS5 launch showcase.  So while I'm only giving it an 8.5/10, which is lower than the scores I recently gave Sekiro, Elden, Ring, Erdtree, Dark Souls III, AND Bloodborne, it's still relatively super high.  Better than the majority of games out there.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (10/10)
God of War Ragnarok (9.5/10)
Dark Souls III (9.5/10)
Resident Evil Village (9.5/10)
Bloodborne (9.5/10)
The Witness (9/10)
Tunic (9/10)
Inscryption (8.5/10)
Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
Demon's Souls (remake) (8.5/10)
Firewatch (8.5/10)
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
Horizon Zero Dawn (8/10)
Spider-Man (8/10)
Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (7.5/10)
The Walking Dead Complete (7.5/10)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (7.5/10)
The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
Resident Evil 3 (7.5/10)
The Talos Principle (7/10)
The Quarry (7/10)
Trails in the Sky the 3rd (7/10)
A Plague Tale: Innocence (7/10)
Bravely Default (6.5/10)
Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
Trails in the Sky SC (6/10)
Dark Forces (5.5/10)
Beyond Oasis (5/10)
Turok 3 (4.5/10)

[JamesRobot | 6,049]

Celeste - PS+ - Beat 10/9/2024

6/6 Backlog Complete

So I started this a while back and kinda quit out of frustration.  In the end, the platforming is exquisite, even if it is infuriating at times.  But that frustration is largely due to my own need to get as many of the optional strawberries that typically force you to take more difficult routes in the levels.  I'm also big fan of the dash mechanic and wonder if the Nebs N Debs homebrew may have been an influence.  (The original demo for Nebs was for the 2016 NESDev Competition.) 

As far as gameplay, my only complaint is that the game will block you from going back at certain checkpoints.  So if you've realized you missed a secret, you'll have to come back to the level later on.  Not a huge issue, but there were several instances where I intended to backtrack for a secret and was not able to do so.

Graphically, Celeste has that retro pixel art aesthetic with a pseudo-anime character design for the cutscene stills.  I dig the gameplay style but the offsetting anime style doesn't really do much for me.  It's fine but nothing special.  The pixel style lends to the overall beauty of the levels and mystique of the game though.  

And finally, the game is full of charm and some good humor with a fairly compelling storyline.  Maybe a little heavyhanded on the mental health theme but I felt it worked well for the main character and her journey to the summit.  

Anyway, I liked it quite a bit.  Not sure if I'll return to get the additional secrets to get to the bonus level but certainly not out of the question.  I'm about a 7/10 overall I think.  

Final Stats:

• Strawberries: 109/175
• Deaths: 4861
• Time: 16:56:47.985

Spoiler

 

Also had a blast playing the Pico 8 version!

 

[Floating Platforms | 824]

Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 is done

One of the two Wii-U eShop purchases made before the store went completely down (well, actually three, but the download of Metroid Prime Trilogy is in a state of perpetual failure and I had to get a refund from support).

So, this was actually the first time I've gone through Super Mario Bros. 3 while beating every level. As a kid, we got to level 7, but had some trouble with a couple levels and ended up warping. I don't need to tell anyone how great SMB3 is. The e-reader levels were also a lot of fun. A couple of them gave me quite a bit of trouble when trying to find all the advanced coins in one run and I did look up some things because the game also mixes in Super Mario 2 and Super Mario World mechanics and I wasn't completely sure what the game was asking me to do, or didn't fully remember how a certain powerup worked since it's been 3 decades. For most of it, I explored as much as I could and learned the route on my own and that was a lot more satisfying.

You can tell that they were planning to release more levels, because there's no fanfare or message when you get everything and also there's a castle area where you can see all of the e-reader coins in a hallway that is marked 1F, but there's no way to go do another floor. I would say that's too bad, but eventually we got Mario Maker and the Nintendo-created levels to fill that need.  By the way, I only went through the levels as Mario. If anyone knows if the game gives you anything specific for also going through with Luigi, then I don't mind going through them again to fully complete it.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

Side Quest: Lies of P

aka Pinocchio Souls

That was a lot of fun.  It very much wears its Dark Souls (and Sekiro, and Bloodborne) inspiration on its sleeves, but that's fine.  If you're gonna clone something, clone the very best.

There's a few mechanics that aren't quite as polished as something like Elden Ring, as far as movement and combat goes, but it's a minor grievance.  And I don't especially care for the gold coins system.  And it's very, very linear, especially compared to the From titles.

But it's always fun.  And the bosses are a blast to beat.  And the mechanical arm system is cool.   And it truly feels like a game that could have been made by From Soft.  I guess that's maybe the highest compliment one of these games could get.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (10/10)
God of War Ragnarok (9.5/10)
Dark Souls III (9.5/10)
Resident Evil Village (9.5/10)
Bloodborne (9.5/10)
The Witness (9/10)
Tunic (9/10)
Lies of P (8.5/10)
Inscryption (8.5/10)
Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
Demon's Souls (remake) (8.5/10)
Firewatch (8.5/10)
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
Horizon Zero Dawn (8/10)
Spider-Man (8/10)
Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (7.5/10)
The Walking Dead Complete (7.5/10)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (7.5/10)
The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
Resident Evil 3 (7.5/10)
The Talos Principle (7/10)
The Quarry (7/10)
Trails in the Sky the 3rd (7/10)
A Plague Tale: Innocence (7/10)
Bravely Default (6.5/10)
Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
Trails in the Sky SC (6/10)
Dark Forces (5.5/10)
Beyond Oasis (5/10)
Turok 3 (4.5/10)

[twiztor | 923]

On 10/13/2024 at 10:37 AM, Floating Platforms said:

Super Mario Advance 4 - Super Mario Bros. 3 is done

If anyone knows if the game gives you anything specific for also going through with Luigi, then I don't mind going through them again to fully complete it.

i just went through this earlier this year too. I beat every level as Luigi, but did not collect all the special coins. I didn't get any cool ending screen either. I'm with you in assuming they were going to keep releasing levels, so there's no real "ending" to speak of.

[JamesRobot | 6,049]

On 10/14/2024 at 6:44 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Lies of P

Lies of Playstation?  What is that?  Like the 8K claim for the P5?