Games Played in 2005

Cuckooguy · Post by **Cuckooguy** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:13 am

So, list all the games you've completed (or you think you went deep enough into the game to form a well-thought out opinion of it) in the year 2005. Not necessarily games that were released in 2005. The reason so many of these games on this list are from before 2005 is because I only got a PS2 in late 2004 (around the time Katamari Damacy was released in the States, because that and Kingdom Hearts were the first games I bought).

Beyond Good & Evil
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Gitaroo Man
Ico
Klonoa
Klonoa 2
Magna Carta: Tears of Blood
Metal Gear Solid 3
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (Puppet Princess)
Sonic Heroes
Suikoden 2
Suikoden 3
Suikoden 4
Suikoden Tactics (Rhapsodia)

And now, some thoughts on select games.
Final Fantasy X was alright; I really dig the battle system and the level up system and it's one of the few Final Fantasy games where I actually like and care for a majority of the cast... but wow, the story sucked, particularly in terms of timing and pacing of events.

I also played Final Fantasy X-2, which probably took 8 months to finish.
What happened was I borrowed it from a friend, played it, and got sick of going through the same damn environment over and over again. The last straw was the Cactuar subquest, where I was all like, "I have to go there again?!?!" Then I shelved it for about 8 months before I picked it up again because I figured I should return the game to it's original owner, but before doing that, I thought that I should just finish the game and get it over with. I managed to finish it right when I was about to get sick of it again.

I thought Disgaea was decent... it's funny with a great sense of humor, but I hate power levelling. Even though it's a Strategy RPG, I didn't get the impression that much strategy was involved. It felt more like the game was about being 15 levels higher than the enemy and mowing them down... I didn't feel like doing any of the extra stuff that could shave ten years of my life, so I stopped playing once I got the ending.

Gitaroo Man's a cool game, but in major need of polish. It has some pretty cool game mechanics for a Rhythm game, which took me a while to completely understand. At first, I didn't know the direction of the anlogue stick was also what determined the pitch of the guitar, and when I realized that pressing up caused the guitar sound to have a high pitch and vice versa for the low pitch, I was like "Oooh, wow, so pressing a certain direction does have some kind of purpose." My favorite stage is definitely "Tainted Lovers" with that freaky Gregorio II guy. However, I feel like the visuals distract you from the actual Rhythm game taking place; that is to say, when the game is telling you to press certain buttons, there's also visuals in the background that seldom have to do with what you're doing. I think that, if the game could somehow unite the visuals and the Rhythm game more seamlessly like Space Channel 5, we could've had something really awesome here. How that could be accomplished, I have no clue.

Ico... I know that someone will probably quote me and reply "douched" or "banned", but I don't get Ico, especially after hearing all the praise it got. I mean, yeah, it's got nice aesthetics and attention to detail... but, well, that's all I get. Is there some kind of mindset I'm supposed to play it with? There are some moments I really like (particularly the moving bridge scene, where I subconsciously performed an action because of what's happened throughout the game so far), but for the most part, Ico doesn't seem to have a profound impression on me.

There's the Suikoden series... I had Suikoden 1 for a couple of years, but refused to check out Suikoden 3+ until I got myself a copy of Suikoden 2... so then I had a marathon and played Suikoden 2-4+Tactics. I loved Suikoden 2 (especially after the average-in-all-aspects Suikoden 1), but found myself disappointed in Suikoden 3. I still think Suikoden 3 is still an important title in the series and that it should've been made, but the overall execution of the game, I found poor. For one thing, the game moves at a snail's pace; I'm not referring to the pace in terms of story, but in reference to the battle system and and the walking speed. I just feel battles take way too damn long; I imagine the main reason that giving orders in battle are given in pairs (since orders are, well, given in pairs) is because the battles would feel much longer if you gave everyone individual commands. But even then, that doesn't excuse the excessively long enemy attack animations (those damn butterflies, wyverns, golden suns, songsprites, etc.). Coupled with a horrible walking speed, you get tired of walking through the same environments again.

Storywise, it's fine, but I think cutscenes are in major need of polish. I was reading the Suikoden 3 manga and noticed how much more powerful scenes were in the manga; you know, I actually gave a fuck about [spoilers]Lulu's and Wyatt's death[/spoilers] in the manga, yet found myself untouched during the game (I played the game before reading the manga volumes that have been localized so far). The scene between Chris and Wyatt felt much more personal in the manga, whereas in the game, the event between them... just happened. There're more scenes I could probably recollect, but then, well, this post would feel too long and be very spoilerific. I kinda wish Aki Shimizu (artist the manga adaptation) was Suikoden 3's storyboard artist.

Suikoden 4 addresses all the problems I had with Suikoden 3, but pretty much degrades every other elements that made the Suikoden series a good one in the first place. Examples of what I didn't like in Suikoden 3 were the average music, the unpolished animation, and the horrid walking speed, and scenes feel much more personal (I like the scene where Elenor pokes people with her wine bottle); all of these were improved in 4 (except maybe some animation). However, story-wise and maybe battle-wise (compared to Suiko 3), it degrades. The story, for the most part, was mediocre. Suikoden 4 starts out strong and stays strong until about the time you get exiled, and deteriorates to a pile of mediocrity after you get your base. The 108 Stars of Destiny barely have any presence; It suffers from the same problem as Suikoden 1 where the Stars of Destiny just feel like they're there just to fill the 108 Stars of Destiny requirement. Suikoden 1 had the excuse for being the first Suikoden. This is 10 years after the first Suikoden was made, so Suikoden 4 has no excuse to be like this. I could talk about Suikoden Tactics now, but I already did in another thread, so, uh, yeah.

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood (Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata) sucks. I cannot recommend this game to anyone. First, what I like: I actually like the battle system, the visuals are nice, and the story's decent enough. However, there are a couple of glaring flaws that keep this title from being anything more than decent.

For one thing, the loading times suck. 15 seconds is way too long for loading times. They really grated on my nerves, and I'm willing to bet that if I were to add up all the time it took just to load after finishing this game (which took about 70 hours), it would be about 1 hour worth of loading.

The camera sucks, in battle and out. Inside of battle, the camera is fixed with a bird eye's view of the current active party member. Since battles are real-time, this can pose an annoyance, because enemies aren't always in view. You have to run around the battlefield hoping you run to where they are before they can do anything to you.

The camera on the maps sucks too. Camera angles are fixed, so you have no control over it. This poses a problem when you want to sneak up on a monster in order to ambush them. The camera might not give the most desirable view, so you end up risking being caught. Sometimes, the camera might suddenly jump into another view while you're being all stealthy, which may screw up your concentration and cause you to lose a couple of seconds to recoordinate yourself to the new camera angle.

Another problem is the fact you repeat 9/10 of the maps in the game. This doesn't happen until about 20 hours into the game, but eventually you'll find yourself repeating dungeons you've already been to, just to proceed. This feels like a poor way to artificially increase the hours you put into playing this game. The game may make you repeat some maps up to four times (god I hate trudging through the Astine Marshs)! If the environments didn't look as good as they did, I would've stopped playing about halfway through.

The battle system is good enough; it's nice to know it's not a cookie-cutter battle system, and not a bad one at that. It does have a steep learning curve, which may turn off a lot of people. Once I did learn all the bells and whistles, I started liking the battle system. In order to attack, you have to put in a timed button combination (kinda like Space Channel 5). If you miss one button, you don't get to attack, but if you manage to press all the buttons, you get to attack. I like this method, because if you miss, it's because it's your fault. All attacks use up a certain chi; when a certain chi runs out, you can't use that attack anymore. But chi rejivenates during the course of battle, and how fast it rejuvenates depends on the territory. Some maps have more ice chi than fire chi, and vice versa. You must utilize characters and styles in order to make the most of chi. The more chi of a particular element there is, the stronger your attack, so it's not so much choose-your-three favorite characters. You need to choose a good party for specific maps to be effective, or else battles may last longer than you'd want it to. If played efficently, you can take out the enemy before you even get hit!

The story, for the most part, is decent. Basically, there's a war between the Yason and the humans, mainly because of land issues. The two races start pillaging and killing eachother because of their differences, and the main character is a victim of his hometown being burned by the Yason. Calintz holds a deep hatred for the Yason, and pretty much wants revenge/end the war. He becomes the Captain of the Tears of Blood, a mercenery group who performs front-line operations. Eventually, you get separated from your group and meet a chick named Reith, who happens to suffer from amnesia. And we all know what that means.

Basically, it takes a couple of videogame cliches, but the end result of the cliche doesn't turn out to be so cliche. For example, you might predict the Yason and the humans will finally reconcile their differences, but this doesn't really happen. But even then, the story is extremely predictable, and you can pretty much see any story event coming a mile away.

So, uh, yeah.

Brazillian Cara · Post by **Brazillian Cara** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:51 am

This is going to be a freakin' big thread, I presume. Anyway...

Rockman Megaworld (emulation)- taught me to love the original robot.
Valis (emulation)- the first of a series that should continue.
Syd Valis (emulation)- weird like Japan.
Valis 3 (emulation)- not as good as the first one, but still nice.
Megaman X8- pretty solid for my standards, and has some of the best battle themes ever.
Saint Seiya: Chapter Sanctuary- a wet dream for Saint Seiya fans, but can bust your control if you're not careful.
Paper Mario: TTYD- one of the best reasons to buy a Gamecube, unless you're illiterate.
Sonic Gems Collection- it's already obvious, but the three main games are worth the price.
Pokemon XD- makes Pokemon Colliseum look like a beta test.
Devil May Cry- a honest 6-hour passtime.
Metal Gear Solid 3- I wish I hadn't watched the ending before playing it.

Post by **Squirrelknight** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:56 am

Eh, why not:

- Resident Evil 4
- Killer 7
- Viewtiful Joe 2
- Samurai Legend Musashi
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Soul Calibur 3
- Mario Kart DS
- Nintendogs
- Forza Motorsport
-Half-Life 2 (XB ver)

Resident Evil 4 was probably the best game of the year, even though it came out only 2 weeks into 2005. The graphics, the gameplay, the everything just came together to form the perfect action game. I don't care if you have to buy a Gamecube or a PS2 to play it, you need this game. If you don't have it, you're a fucking douche bag and you won't go to Heaven.

I can't really write anything about Killer 7, cause it's the type of game you either love or you hate. If you can come to terms with its esoteric presentation and storyline, as well as it's barely-there gameplay, it's an enjoyable experience. Viewtiful Joe 2 was alright, more of the same really, but in VJ's case, that's not a bad thing.

Wow, Nintendo should really be thankful to Capcom, cause outside of Capcom's games and a few scattered first party releases, there wasn't much on Gamecube this past year.

I picked up Samurai Legend Musashi for 12 dollars on a whim, and at first I regretted buying the game-- It starts off slow, the camera sucks, and it has some of the worst voice-acting in history. However, once you get past the initial few areas and learn some different combat techniques and combos, the game picks up a bit.

Shadow of the Colossus was second only to Resident Evil 4 this year. You need this game also. If you don't have it, you're going to Hell and Hitler's ghost's zombie will sodomize you.

Soul Calibur 3 was alright, though it was a pain in the ass to re-learn all my characters. I actually just borrowed this one from a friend; I'll wait until it comes out on a stronger system (i.e. XB360) before I put money into it... I want better graphics and no stupid long-ass load times in between matches.

Mario Kart DS was probably the best handheld game of the year, and being online didn't hurt it's replayability, either. Nintendogs was fun, for about a week, and then it just got old. Just like a real puppy.

Forza Motorsport on Xbox is my new favorite racing game-- It's amazing how it completely brutalizes Gran Turismo in almost every way; the only advantage GT has over FM is it's graphics... Last time I checked, the Xbox was stronger than the PS2, yet GT4 looks much, much better than pretty-on-the-inside Forza. But whatever, Forza has superior physics, controls, custom soundtrack support (no stupid Ferris Bueller songs like GT4), and most importantly, online play.

Half-Life 2 was nice, but its hard to play the Xbox version after playing it on PC.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:27 am

Games I beat in 2005, eh? Hm. Consiering I got my Gamecube last Christmas, most of 2005 was spent playing and beating several GC games:

- Super Mario Sunshine
- Luigi's Mansion
- Metroid Prime
- Sonic Heroes
- Starfox Assault
- The Matrix: Path of Neo

Um. Actually... I think that accounts for pretty much all of'em. I doubt SSBM counts because it's a fighting game and you can beat it in like 10min, and Sonic Gems doesn't count because it's a collection.

Mario Sunshine... just wasn't very good. It wasn't horrible, but it was nowhere near the standard I've come to expect from a game like that.

Luigi's Mansion was... predictable. For a game I bought practically brand-new for only $7, it was... decent. Typical "Tech-demo turned game" stuff - fleshed out enough to be a game you can play, but not enough to really be something memorable that you'd go back and want to re-play. Also pretty short. (what? 4 hours? 5?)

Metroid Prime was crazy-awesome until some retard at Retro Studios seemed to think it would be a good idea to put in a fetch quest right before you faced the last two bosses. Took me over 6 months before I finally was bored enough to complete that fetch quest and finish the game. (Actually, I beat Luigi's Mansion and Metroid Prime back-to-back in the same night)

Sonic Heroes was... Sonic Heroes. Tragically awful control, horrid player models, excruciating bosses, some catchy music, and - dare I say it - some rare moments of geniune fun.

Starfox Assault was a lot better than I was expecting. I had been anticipating the game for awhile, but when initial dissapointments were fired off, my expectations of the game dropped like a stone. But, as long as you're willing to tolerate the less-than-spectacular on foot controls, Starfox Assault seems to expand on Starfox 64's "All Range Mode" by providing you with more options and more depth. I hear it's Multiplayer is better than SF64's, too. It's a solid game with great music that's unfortunately over-priced. Nobody should pay $50 for a game you can beat in 2 hours or less.

When I played Path of Neo, I was at a sleepover at my cousins. I beat the entire game in a single night and it was most certainly entertaining. It's got quirks, but honestly, if I'm the kind of guy who can overlook Sonic Adventure 1's glaring flaws, Path of Neo was nothing. Solid, varied gameplay that, at first, takes the Matrix trilogy seriously, but eventually devolves into the utter, complete insanity it's developer Shiney is famous for. Seriously, Agent Smith taking over Congress is by far one of the most hilarious moments in gaming.

jenkins · Post by **jenkins** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:21 pm

Not such an impressive variety, but...

-Super Metroid
-Ristar
-Lemmings 2
-Advance Wars 2
-Zelda: Minish Cap
-Zelda: Link to the Past
-Megaman 2
-Megaman 6
-Megaman X

The only ones I really remember are the ones which I liked.

chriscaffee · Post by **chriscaffee** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:27 pm

FarCry Instincts is the only game I have beaten last year that I hadn't already beaten. I made some good progress in Doom 3, but still haven't made it through the single player campaign. Aside from those two I have done a lot of KotOR and KotOR 2 play throughs trying out various builds and glitches.

Double-S- · Post by **Double-S-** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:55 pm

In alphabetical order because I can't remember when I bought each game.

Forza Motorsport --- A good sim racer.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas --- For PC, because mouse look/aim is so much better. In my opinion, the first worthwhile GTA3 game.

Lost in Blue --- Got it on its release date (one of two games I did that for the entire year). Played it for a bit then stopped because of school. It's pretty fun once you get past the "barely surviving each day" stage.

Mario Kart DS --- The other release date purchase, only because Fry's Electronics had it for $25. Fun multiplayer, but I can't be bothered to play alone.

Mercenaries --- I had a $20 voucher for GameStop.com that was expiring at a point when there were no better games to buy. It's like GTA in a war zone, only a lot of the missions suck and it's more fun just to run around calling in air strikes and blowing stuff up.

Metal Gear Solid 3 --- Bought it for $15, beat it 2 or 3 times (got all the frogs), and promptly traded it in to wait for Subsistence.

Resident Evil 4 --- Most probably game of the year. Too bad it wasn't scary whatsoever.

Shadow of the Colossus --- What SK said.

Shinobi --- After leaving it on the shelf for a good 2 or 3 years, sat down and beat it. Better than I was expecting, although it's aggravating since the main cause of death is the bottomless pits.

Spikeout: Battle Street --- Classic beat-'em-up play. A good fighting system coupled with multiplayer makes for great quick sessions.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike --- I decided to truly learn the game (parries, links, cancels, kara throwing, and what have you) for the first time. And it's good. I even got and modded an arcade stick for it.

We ♥ Katamari --- Pretty much the same game as the first. Which, in my mind, does not validate a sequel.

And probably some other titles which I cannot recall.

Baba O'Reily · Post by **Baba O'Reily** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:13 pm

Resident Evil 4 - One of my favorite games of all time. I actually didn't hate the wisecracking main character for once. However, I am fairly certain that he likes the penis.

Shadow of the Colossus - Beautiful. A work of art. Forgiving it's plot (or lack thereof), it still manages to move me emotionally.

Guitar Hero - FUCK YOU JAKE E. LEE YOU MUSICALLY INSIGNIFICANT PIECE OF SHIT.

Half-Life 2 - Fabulous. I don't see what all of the fuss is about, though.

Final Fantasy Tactics... again - I've beaten this game so many times that I can't count any more. This time I tried doing a low level challenge, which was both thrilling and frustrating.

Guilty Gear XX#Reload - The most brilliant fighting game I've ever played, bar none. However, nobody is ever on X-Box live. Ever.

PoPoLoCrois - Lovely. An immersive game with excellent visuals. A tad bizarre. But to steer away from that for a moment, there is seriously never anyone on X-Box Live playing GGXX. It's such bullshit. Not once have I ever seen anyone on there.

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Wonderful in every possible way. I got it used for $15. I should've shelled out the extra $5 for a new copy, but eh. That's life.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:31 pm

How is the create-a-fighter mode in Soul Calibur 3? I was looking at the game for that reason alone (actually, <a href="http://3d.skr.jp/3d/src/1139068847112.jpg">that's a lie</a>), except I'm afraid it's the sort of thing that you play, like, twice, and enjoy, but then never touch it again. If it's gonna come down to the basic story mode, I think I got my fill of that last time unless there are major enhancements (which I seriously doubt)?

Also, what's the dialogue curve in Lost in Blue? I really want it, but it seems you can't get the US version anymore. Some online stores still have the Japanese version in stock, which is the one I'd prefer anyway for collector's sake, but will I be able to get through it?

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:37 pm

Well I really can't remember what games I played for the first half of the year so we are going to start around Mayish.

World of Warcraft
From when I bought this game in Nov '04 until around Oct '05 I played the shit out of it. By the time I was done I had two 60's and was in one of those guilds that has scheduled 40 man raids 3 or 4 nights a week along with set up pvp groups and all that crap. The only reason I quit was because it is kind of hard to go to class, play WoW for 5 to 10 hours a day, sleep for 6 to 8 hours, and still have some kind of a social life. I'll be 4 months semi-clean on the 17th. I say semi-clean because my account is still active cause a friend is using it and I'll log on for 20 minutes now and then to say hi to old friends. Good game though, if you want to sell your soul to Blizzard.
Doom 3 (Xbox)
I played through the co-op campaign on Xbox Live with a friend and then dicked around in multiplayer with the same friend. We spent something like 8 hours messing around with it and I don't think either of us have touched it since. It really wasn't meant to be played on the Xbox.
Psychonauts
All the games from this point on are what I played after I quit WoW and found myself with a ton of free time and nothing to do. I started buying old games that I never played because I was playing WoW. I'm still doing that to catch up (currently played Resident Evil 4), but I bought those in '06 so I won't mention them. Anyway, Psychonauts rocked, but you all have probably heard plenty about it on this forum by now. So if you haven't played it yourself, go buy it. It's only like 30 bucks I think.
Fable: The Lost Chapters
I never played the original and I was really bored over the Christmas break so I threw down the 20 to get this. It was quite entertaining except the new content amounted to something like an extra 90 minutes of playtime meaning that the main quest is still under 15 hours even if you do most of the side stuff. Plus after about 2 or 3 hours this game is painfully easy. The final boss (the one most of you probably never saw cause he wasn't in the first game) could be taken down to half health before he even started to attack you. By that point in the game you have like 90 health and mana potions too because you never really have to heal while fighting any normal monsters especially if you mastered heal or drain life. So you end up just kinda taking the damage in the face for a minute while mashing the potion button until the boss lands and then you take out the other half of his life.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
I've had this game since it came out, but finally got around to beating it right before Two Thrones came out for the story. I absolutely loved Sands of Time. It's probably on my top 5 games of everness, well was anyway. This game however kinda sucked just because the atmosphere was so wrong. However once you manage to get over the shitty looped metal music and the whole 'smoldering with generic rage' bit, the story isn't that bad. It's kind of interesting how the whole thing turns out with the sand wraith and what not. However the game has a view major bugs that could make you start over and the storyline that continues on to the next game involves the secret ending. That's kind of dumb since I'm guessing most people, myself included, didn't bother to unlock this secret ending. I just watched it online though, so whatever.
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
The reason I said Sands of Time was on my top 5 list is because this game knocked it off. This game had everything SoT had plus the combat system from WW, but still had the feel of SoT. My only complaint is that I beat it in like three days and then I was sad cause it was over. Oh and that totally cheap third boss fight, which so nicely happened right after a really annoying chariot race thing that had no save after it.

Oh and I think I might have played Dead or Alive Ultimate at some point in time during the year, off and on, but there really isn't much to say about that assuming you've played any game in the series since DOA2 on the Dreamcast. The game really hasn't done much but get shinier and sexier since then.

I also played a bit of Halo 2 on Xbox Live, but I've been playing that off and on since it came out in '04 so I don't really count it.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 3:30 pm

Star Fox Assault
Lumines
Metal Gear AC!D
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Shadow of the Colossus
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Kirby Canvas Curse
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

A bit of a slow year, really, but every single one of these was either good or super-great.

I still need to play Two Thrones.

James McGeachie · Post by **James McGeachie** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:02 pm

Star Fox Adventures
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Sonic Rush
Mario 64 DS
Mario Kart DS
Tales of Symphonia
Devil May Cry 3
Metal Gear Solid 3
Viewtiful Joe 2
The Minish Cap
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi
Resident Evil 4
Gradius V
Jak 3
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Iridion 2
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
Ikaruga
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Sonic Heroes
...True Crime: New York City (Christmas present from relative)

Counting games I purchased/put a substantial amount of time into this year. Not a chance in hell I'm typing out comments on all of them (and I'll be honest, a few are uncomplete, but I spent far enough time on them to have a full opinion), but I can say without a doubt in my mind Resident Evil 4 was top of the crop...although only slightly above Tales of Symphonia, I guess.

There's a chance Mario Sunshine was last year as well, same goes for Paper Mario 2, but I really can't recall when I played the both of them.

smiths32 · Post by **smiths32** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:27 pm

Tales of Symphonia Got this one for Christmas 2004 and decided to play through it with my friends to get the best out of the battle system and so we could all enjoy the story. Daft idea seeing as how the game is a billion hours long and we had different stuff to do. After getting about 20 hours through it in 2 months I did the rest solo in about 3 weeks. Great game btw.

Donkey Konga Well this one wasn't really completed but I played a good bit of it. Pretty fun at parties where you can show off by doing the tunes on Gorilla mode, although, for that reason multi-player was a bit defunct (plus the whole thing about buying another drumkit). Decent fun, probably worth it if you find it cheap and you want something a bit more stimulating.

Paper Mario TTYD Cracking game, if not a bit on the easy side (apart from the last boss which is quite hard). Nice visuals, creative battle system and the whole nostalgia thing ("Jumpman?") = really good game.

Klonoa 2 Klonoa 2 solves the main problems that the first game had: lack of difficulty and short lifespan, giving us a rich and juicy adventure. Yeah, this one's really good as well.

Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls One day I thought "Hmmm, I never did play much of the first 2 Final Fantasies, maybe I should get this." Bad idea. Both games are very slow, boring and repetitive. Got about half way through both of them before shelfing it.

Resident Evil (remake) Before play RE4, I decided I'd play through the other 3 first (now I realise that there's about 50 other games outside the numbered ones), so I bought the GCN remake of the first one. It's not too bad: the control scheme is awful but the puzzle solving is pretty nifty. The game was good enough to hold my interest through to the end, it's also actually pretty scary (seriously).

Metroid Prime Shelved this one ages ago after getting bored with the whole "find the artifacts by going through that room you've been through 3 times already slaying all those enemies you did during those said 3 times," and then decided to finish it because I'd nothing better to do. Outside of the frustration of regenerating enemies it's a pretty solid game.

At the end of the year -Christmas and Birthday money, woot- I got an Xbox along with Metal Slug 4, The Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, Phantasy Star Online, Halo 2 and Project Gotham Racing 2 which came free with my Live kit. I also bought Resident Evil 0, Soul Calibur 2, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Viewtiful Joe for my Game Cube, and Metal Gear Solid 2 for my PS2.

The only one which I've really played enough of to come to a good conclusion on is Fire Emblem which I like a really, really, really lot, but then again I'm a sucker for Strategy RPGs. Well other than that, I suppose the only other thing I can conclude right now is that Street Fighter 2 is as good as ever but I need one of those special controllers damnit! Or an arcade stick.

I've also played some older games, I'll try and keep this short:

Mega Man 2 is probably the best Mega Man (or is that "Megaman?") game ever.

There's something appealing about playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES even though you know you're going to have to turn it off when you go out and start on Grass Land next time you boot it up.

Played Rocket Knight Adventures for the first time in years and it's still as good as ever.

Phantasy Star is strangely addictive despite being very repetitive...

Played Panzer Dragoon for the first time (my first entry to the franchise) and found it to be very enjoyable.

Knuckles Chaotix is far worse than what I thought it was when playing on emulation... At least the sprites are pretty.

Played Shenmue for the first time, it definately lives up to the hype.

Grandia might be the best RPG I've ever played...

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is alright until you discover that to be good you have to use certain characters and use their respective infinite combos... You get the most fun out of it if you ignore that little fact.

tl;dr

Dark Crow · Post by **Dark Crow** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:53 pm

I haven't posted in a while, but regardless here is my list. FYI, the multiplatform games were all played on PC.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Damn good game with a massive amount of freedom and truly inspired missions. I honestly donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t see what people have against this game or the series in general.

F.E.A.R Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Really fun shooter marred with tragically bland environments, mediocre storyline, and the chick from The Ring to provide cheap scares. It arguably also has one of the worst acronyms in video game history.

Quake 4 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Essentially Quake 2 without the orange saturated skies, stuck in the Doom 3 engine, with the multiplayer section stolen from Quake 3. I didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t really enjoy it, but still cared enough to finish it.

Interstate Ã¢â‚¬â„¢76 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Ancient game that IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve mentally noted to pickup and only just found last year. Essentially itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Mechwarrior 2 with muscle cars and funk music. Needless to say, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s utterly awesome.

Gunstar Future Heroes Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Fun but disappointing pseudo remake of the first Gunstar game. I clocked a total time of about 31 minutes as either Red or Blue, even on hard.

Deus Ex Ã¢â‚¬â€œ I honestly cannot believe IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve never played this up until now. An absolutely fantastic FPS with an RPG skills system, and a intriguing plot inspired by the X-Files.

Trackmania Sunrise Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The best racing/puzzle game that nobody else has played. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a real shame, because the novelty of racing on insane stunt tracks and building your own still hasnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t worn out yet.

Guardian Heroes Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Another game IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve desperately been tracking down to play. Seeing a laser beam coming from ZurÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s crotch is almost worth the price of admission alone, but it also helps that this is one of the best side-scrolling fighting games ever made.

Sonic Heroes Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Ugh.

Guilty Gear X Ã¢â‚¬â€œ ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s such an excellent 2D fighter, that it made me want to find X2#Reload post-haste. Which I did. And now all is right with the world.

Battlefield 2 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Great online shooter with fantastic graphics and Middle Eastern battles. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty much guaranteed to leave your hardware a smoking heap after playing it, though.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The REAL tactical espionage action game. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty similar to the earlier games, but sneaking around in a fetish rubber suit still manages to be fun due to the excellent level designs. Incidentally, I have yet to play MGS3.

IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m certain there are other games I finished last year, but the above were the games I remember the most.

Post by **Esrever** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:04 pm

Hey Gibbon, the Canadian version of Amazon still has lots of copies of the English version of Lost in Blue in stock:

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B ... 23-5333115

Cheap, too... about $30 in US currency. It requires that you have it shipped to a Canadian address, but it's not like you're short of people you know who live up here. I know I'd be happy to recieve it and then re-mail it to me, as long as you don't mind paying for the postage.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:05 pm

Dark Crow wrote: Interstate Ã¢â‚¬â„¢76 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Ancient game that IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve mentally noted to pickup and only just found last year. Essentially itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Mechwarrior 2 with muscle cars and funk music. Needless to say, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s utterly awesome.

So like Twisted Metal?

Dark Crow · Post by **Dark Crow** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:25 pm

Light Speed wrote:So like Twisted Metal?

Yes, but with realistic physics. And a real plot.

Light Speed · Post by **Light Speed** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:46 pm

Cool cool, how old is it?

chriscaffee · Post by **chriscaffee** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:48 pm

Early to mid nineties. There was a sequel that took place in the 80s.

Dark Crow · Post by **Dark Crow** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:18 pm

Interstate '76 was made in 1997. I had a fair amount of trouble trying to run the game because of that fact, since the game doesn't like Windows XP.

Senbei · Post by **Senbei** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:31 pm

Stuck on oldies as I am...

-MDK2: A fun action game with a mad doctor, an eight-legged dog, a space janitor, and farting aliens. Its quirky humor is appreciated and the gun-blastin' action is fun, but this game has made me despise respawning enemies. There are a lot of puzzles, which is nice, but I think I'd have been more comfortable with more shooting than sniping.

-Mega Man Legends: Fun, short game. Controls are wacky, but you get used to them. Background graphics are chunky, but the colorful, fully 3D environment is nice to see on PS1.

-Metal Gear Solid: Only played through it once, with the bad ending. Is it possible to get past the torture event without buying a special controller? It was the most discouraging thing in the world to break my thumb mashing that button only to lose my health just as the time was up.

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee: Great little action puzzler, but something more of a story would have been nice. Plan on playing Abe's Exodus if I can find it.

Space Channel 5: Again, fun game, but nothing to get too excited over. Micheal Jackson's cameo is about the high point of the game. Nonetheless, the words, "up down left right shoot shoot shoot" will forever be engraved in my mind.

I also played Boktai, which is an excellent Metal Gear Solid clone for Game Boy Advance. It eventually becomes rather easy, but the interesting backgrounds and semi-difficult puzzles keep you going, especially if you're a treasure hunter like I am. I actually haven't beaten it yet, because it's hard to play a game that requires sunlight when you're living in the dead of winter.

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:21 pm

Senbei wrote:-Metal Gear Solid: Only played through it once, with the bad ending. Is it possible to get past the torture event without buying a special controller? It was the most discouraging thing in the world to break my thumb mashing that button only to lose my health just as the time was up.

Try Easy mode.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:40 pm

Green Gibbon! wrote:Also, what's the dialogue curve in Lost in Blue? I really want it, but it seems you can't get the US version anymore. Some online stores still have the Japanese version in stock, which is the one I'd prefer anyway for collector's sake, but will I be able to get through it?

I've still seen the U.S. version around where I live, but I doubt it will be around for much longer. As for it being text heavy...I dunno. You ever play its Game Boy Color older sibling, Surivial Kids? I imagine it would be on the same level.

Post by **Esrever** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:42 pm

I count one person here who played Psychonauts.

The rest of you can all burn in hell.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:43 pm

I never even played Snatcher, let alone ANY Hideo Kojima game. Guess I'm going to Hell.