Games We Complete In 2023

[Dang117]

Life is strange before the storm, it was okay think I definitely preferred the first game 

[King Ellis]

Thanks to the wonderful world of Game Pass I finished Infernax, a retro inspired hack and slash platformer very much in the mould of the 'red-headed stepchild' sequels of Castlevania II and Zelda II, what with the the different villages to visit, castles to traverse and various weapons/spells/upgrades to obtain. Seems to have a bit of depth to it too with the morality system inspiring repeat playthroughs to see the different paths the story can take, plus there seems to be different cheats and options to shake things up a bit like give you a jetpack, chainsaw or just turn you into a Contra dude. I've only played a couple of minutes of that but it makes the game feel like you've just turned it into that Super Mario Crossover fan game.

Probably wont be looking at the different playthroughs since I was wrapping this up in time for Monster Hunter but fun little game overall.

[Ruki]

I should be completing my next game of the year! I'm on the final mission for Saints Row, currently engaged with the final boss before my work alarm went off. I don't get why people were complaining that the companions were cringy. I feel like they were more fleshed out and enjoyable than any other Saints characters from past games (except for maybe Johnny Gat). The gameplay is solid, minus some bugs (I went through most of the last mission without any HUD. Had to restart the game to get that back). I hope this on gets a sequel. 

[King Ellis]

I technically finished Monster Hunter Rise as in I got the credits but there's obviously more to do after that. Felt completely unexpected, like it felt like game was starting to open up and then BAM, credits. I suppose in a way it is opening up because it's like "don't worry there are still lots of monsters to hunt" but it still felt very anti climatic.

It has established the big bad monster and set up that I was going to fight it but it was just a regular hunt same as any other large monster. MHWorld felt like a big event at the end, like I remember there was a big ship or something with people all firing weapons at this thing. I figured this was going to be a fucked finish where it runs away or another monster jumps in or something.

Could do more but I am tempted to jump over to Goldeneye or HiFi Rush that just came out.

[Trey]

My wife just beat Mass Effect 1 after I've been trying to get her to try it out for years so that's exciting stuff in this household. 

 

Never having played FemShep, watching all the main quest stuff has been the best part for me and I'm ready to get her started on 2

[Dang117]

Played through life is strange before the storm which was okay, I always liked Chloe as a character so was good to play as her from before Max comes back. 

Also played through life is strange 2 now, this was a game of two halves really. Sean is quite likeable as a character and is doing all he can to look after his brother after a tragedy on the other hand his brother Daniel is so annoying and spends pretty much the whole game whinging no matter what you do. I liked the use of the brotherhood/moriality mechanic as the actions you take shape Daniel. This story hits on some dreadful topics but at the time it was based in was very truthful during Trump's run as president.

[Your Mom]

Just got back around to finishing the last little bit of The Chant and I enjoyed the experience but it reminded me why I don't play very many Horror games. They tend to end the same way a lot of the movies do and after putting in so much time playing I kinda hate that.

[stokeriño]

Finished Persona 3 Portable today.

The funny thing is, if I hadn't been spoiled as to the crux of the ending ahead of time, I would have found the ending mildly odd but not understood it properly at all (I suppose this was intentional at the time of the game's creation, although now that its clarification in FES's 'The Answer' has essentially been... discarded? It leaves the whole thing hanging on an implication, which is just really weird to me).

Observation containing vaguely-spoilerish allusions to the late stages of the game:

Spoiler

The fact that I knew the ending in advance made the last couple of months VERY depressing to play through (the bloody music for daytime/school/etc. that the game uses in January doesn't help!) - and I wonder if it would have been infinitely more pleasant to play if I hadn't had this foreknowledge. WHICH IS IRONIC AS FUCK given that the main cast have to make a similar decision about whether to live out their last days in blissful ignorance or live with knowing what's coming. 😑

 

[Chris2K]

Yakuza 4 done.

I cannot stress enough how much better 4 was than 3.

Spoiler

The four protagonists worked perfectly, each providing something different with a common link between them, and 3 of them were pretty badass (I'm still not sold on Tanimura.

Keeping Okinawa very much in the background made me very happy. It's not that I don't care about the orphans, it's just... I care very little about them except Haruka.

The only criticisms I'd have is that the underground/overground traversal felt way too forced and unnecessary, travelling the city as Saejima was way too painful. And I'm sure that the final boss fight against 20 police brutes and a guy firing a gun at you every five seconds would have been a nightmare if I wasn't playing on Easy.

On to 5 we go...

[Ruki]

30 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

Yakuza 4 done.

I cannot stress enough how much better 4 was than 3.

  Hide contents

The four protagonists worked perfectly, each providing something different with a common link between them, and 3 of them were pretty badass (I'm still not sold on Tanimura.

Keeping Okinawa very much in the background made me very happy. It's not that I don't care about the orphans, it's just... I care very little about them except Haruka.

The only criticisms I'd have is that the underground/overground traversal felt way too forced and unnecessary, travelling the city as Saejima was way too painful. And I'm sure that the final boss fight against 20 police brutes and a guy firing a gun at you every five seconds would have been a nightmare if I wasn't playing on Easy.

On to 5 we go...

If you liked 4, I think you're gonna REALLY like 5. And then 6 knocks it out of the park even more. 

[Ruki]

Finally completed Fire Emblem Engage! A good entry, but Three Houses is still superior in story and characters.

[BuddyAwesome]

Ghost Of Tsushima. Now not only complete, but I just couldn't stop and got the platinum.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by BuddyAwesome

[jrhodes]

Finished Persona 4 Golden.

Now I'm onto Persona 3 and I'm thinking I did this the wrong way round, from a quality perspective.

[stokeriño]

11 hours ago, jrhodes said:

Finished Persona 4 Golden.

Now I'm onto Persona 3 and I'm thinking I did this the wrong way round, from a quality perspective.

I actually recommend people that they start the Persona series at P5R and work backwards, because all the reductions in quality you suffer as you travel backwards will be offset by your familiarity with/fondness for the series.

Hell, if my first experience of Persona had been the fucking Tartarus grind I may never have made it out.

[Ruki]

5 hours ago, stokeriño said:

I actually recommend people that they start the Persona series at P5R and work backwards, because all the reductions in quality you suffer as you travel backwards will be offset by your familiarity with/fondness for the series.

Hell, if my first experience of Persona had been the fucking Tartarus grind I may never have made it out.

It was for me! Thankfully it didn't scare me away... but the dungeon design is so bad.

[stokeriño]

Currently doing NG+ for achievements (...my character name is 'Skip Speedrun'...) and my God, being able to over-level everyone quickly in Monad so that you can literally walk through Tartarus in minutes (since all the shadows run away from you) is the most refreshing thing ever.

[Ruki]

I do like how in Portable, you can stay in Tartarus without the annoying "You're tired" message. So I generally run through from beginning to gate once, and then spend the rest of my time doing the social stuff. But I am currently in section 5... which I think had 3-5 bosses before you hit the next gate. SOOO LONG. 

[jrhodes]

I've played Persona 3 and 4 before (albeit FES for 3) so I knew what I was in for. 3 has really aged poorly though. I'm hoping the rumours of a remake are true and a lot of the grindier/more punishing elements are remove.

9 minutes ago, Kazuma KiRuki said:

I do like how in Portable, you can stay in Tartarus without the annoying "You're tired" message. So I generally run through from beginning to gate once, and then spend the rest of my time doing the social stuff. But I am currently in section 5... which I think had 3-5 bosses before you hit the next gate. SOOO LONG. 

That's good to know. That was a bane of my first playthrough of Persona 3. Let me level grind, dammit!

[stokeriño]

Technically, all the "you're tired" messages remain... They're just now irrelevant because you can ignore them and carry on.

[FestiveJack]

I will hopefully - finally - complete Fire Emblem Three Houses this year.

Also want to go deep in Across the Obelisk.