Games We Complete In 2023

[Skummy]

I adored Unpacking. I found it so unexpectedly emotional in a few points, and fell absolutely in love with it when I realised what they were doing.

[Ruki]

Completed Catherine: Full Body, got the true ending for Rin. It got fucking weird...

 

Spoiler

From succubus', to gods, to angels who are actually aliens.

Good puzzle fun though!

[Ruki]

Played and beat Pony Island in one sitting. It was available for a $1, and I haven't played it in years so I figured why not. Not as fun the second time through. 

[Gongsun Zan]

On 05/12/2023 at 17:45, Skummy said:

I adored Unpacking. I found it so unexpectedly emotional in a few points, and fell absolutely in love with it when I realised what they were doing.

Unpacking seems like a game I would enjoy, but I can't go for more than 5 minutes before the crushing guilt of not tidying up my own real-life house gets to me.  

[Ruki]

I have finished Star Ocean Second Story R. I... did not like this game. The music and the graphics were good, but the combat too simplistic, the story is all over the place, it's too easy to break the game and make combat pointless... until the difficulty spike that is the final few bosses. I was lured in with a neat crafting system...

[gunnar hendershow]

Back when I played the original 25 years ago or so the crafting system was fascinating. Curious how they tailored it for a modern era when every single game has a crafting system seemingly.

The game itself I would not be surprised if it has not held up. It was full of big ideas for a PS1 RPG, but in the end was limited. Not sure what you build off of that to make a better game with so many years of new gaming innovations.

I think it's worth remembering a lot of these games came out in Japan at a time when Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were at their creative peaks, and the response to that was to constantly try to reinvent the wheel and see what magic you could capture with your own game. Some of the fresh ideas (Suikoden) really worked at the time and still hold up, others (maybe Star Ocean) were fun at the time because they felt fresh but certainly may not have aged well.

[Captain Kirk]

6 hours ago, gunnar hendershow said:

Back when I played the original 25 years ago or so the crafting system was fascinating. Curious how they tailored it for a modern era when every single game has a crafting system seemingly.

The game itself I would not be surprised if it has not held up. It was full of big ideas for a PS1 RPG, but in the end was limited. Not sure what you build off of that to make a better game with so many years of new gaming innovations.

I think it's worth remembering a lot of these games came out in Japan at a time when Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were at their creative peaks, and the response to that was to constantly try to reinvent the wheel and see what magic you could capture with your own game. Some of the fresh ideas (Suikoden) really worked at the time and still hold up, others (maybe Star Ocean) were fun at the time because they felt fresh but certainly may not have aged well.

I’ve been playing it as normal, it’s been given some QOL upgrades to the crafting, fast travel and also tells you when PA’s are available and where. Also way easier to get Job Points etc.

I think it’s held up really well but then again it was one of my PS1 favourites.

[Ruki]

I "finished" Zenki Zero. In quotes because while I myself didn't finish the game, I did watch the last little bit on youtube. The reason I didn't finish it was because while the story  and whole aesthetic of the game is awesome, the gameplay is suspect at times. Some of the dungeons in this game were perfectly fine, and then there were others that are totally bullshit. I dropped it down to the easiest setting in the last 2 dungeons (no enemies, no hunger) just to see the story (and I wanted to cheat to get this completed before the end of the year). The last dungeon I got blocked by a door... I needed to find one more key SOMEWHERE. I had 6 or 7 different floors to trek through to find it with no clues of where to find it (there are no guides online for this game) and I said fuck it. Again, great story and aesthetic (Spike Chunsoft is great for that)... but questionable gameplay stuff. 

 

With this being the last game of the year I am going to beat, I feel like I need to rank the games I did play!

[Ruki]

Bam! List! I at least liked all of these games enough to complete them

Spoiler

1. Baulder's Gate 3

2. Octopath Traveler 2

3. Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

4. Spiderman 2

5. Like A Dragon: Gaiden

6. Final Fantasy 16

7. Persona 4

8. Persona 3

9. Like A Dragon Ishin

10. Chained Echoes

11.  Marvel's Midnight Suns

12. Final Fantasy 6

13. Final Fantasy 5

14. Final Fantasy 3

15. Final Fantasy 2

16. Final Fantasy 1

17. Final Fantasy 4

18. Spiritfarer

19. Starfield

20. Fire Emblem Engage

21. Persona 5 Tactica

22. Zenki Zero

23. Saints Row Reboot

24. Resident Evil 3 Remake

25. Resident Evil 2 Remake

26. Thirsty Suitors

27 Fuga Melodies Of Steel 2

28. Unpacking

29. Catherine: Full Body

30. Final Fantasy Strangers Of Paradise

31.Star Ocean Second Story R (So disappointing)

32. Pony Island (Really great experience... the first time through)

33. The Big Con

 

[9 to 5]

10 hours ago, Ruki said:

Bam! List! I at least liked all of these games enough to complete them

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Baulder's Gate 3

2. Octopath Traveler 2

3. Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

4. Spiderman 2

5. Like A Dragon: Gaiden

6. Final Fantasy 16

7. Persona 4

8. Persona 3

9. Like A Dragon Ishin

10. Chained Echoes

11.  Marvel's Midnight Suns

12. Final Fantasy 6

13. Final Fantasy 5

14. Final Fantasy 3

15. Final Fantasy 2

16. Final Fantasy 1

17. Final Fantasy 4

18. Spiritfarer

19. Starfield

20. Fire Emblem Engage

21. Persona 5 Tactica

22. Zenki Zero

23. Saints Row Reboot

24. Resident Evil 3 Remake

25. Resident Evil 2 Remake

26. Thirsty Suitors

27 Fuga Melodies Of Steel 2

28. Unpacking

29. Catherine: Full Body

30. Final Fantasy Strangers Of Paradise

31.Star Ocean Second Story R (So disappointing)

32. Pony Island (Really great experience... the first time through)

33. The Big Con

 

How do you have the time?!

[Ruki]

2 minutes ago, 9 to 5 said:

How do you have the time?!

My hobbies are video games and D&D. Outside of work and taking care of children, I don't do much else lol. Also, a bunch of these I played DURING work when it's slow since I work from home and my PC is on the same desk as my work computer. Like The Big Con, I played and beat that during one particularly slow shift.