

So, a couple of days ago I finally finished Mass Effect 2 on PS3. I did a Paragon run on normal difficulty as default soldier Shepard. It was of course very good but frankly I very much preferred the first game.

While I guess that ME2 is generally the more polished game there were tons of little and some major things that kinda annoyed me about it. I guess my biggest gripe was the highly streamlined structure. I really didn't like that the whole game is just preparation for the final mission and you follow a very specific pattern which is, in my opinion, further made worse by the strict separation into combat-free hubs and missions. It made the whole thing feel very artificial. And while I understand their decision to scrap the exploration of uncharted planets with the Mako, which really was mediocre filler content in the first game, they pretty much sacrificed that feeling of grandeur that defined the first game. In ME2 I didn't feel like I'm exploring that vast universe anymore, I didn't quite feel the scale of the story. Things really felt pretty small and personal this time which has its upsides but wasn't that great for me personally, especially because that put more weight on the writing and characters and frankly they aren't entirely my taste in Mass Effect.

Oh yeah, and I really wasn't a fan of the progression system. The research system was unnecessarily convoluted and unrewarding at the same time. Especially the loot system is kinda absurd. Admittedly the first game had you spend too much time managing the equipment of your whole squad but in ME2 I didn't really feel like there was any kind of progress weapon-wise, especially because weapon parameters were conveyed very vaguely through lengthy text descriptions. It seems like getting better armour can only be done by buying DLC and then you have it all along, dafuck. And then there's the, in my opinion, much worse and super generic zimmerish soundtrack and finally the lack of a good villain. Sigh.

And yet, I still liked it. Combat was a lot better than in the first game, the writing was decent, graphics have improved (although the PS3 version looks really shitty now and runs crappily at that). I hope that ME3 will be more up my alley, though.

And half an hour ago I finished GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, also on PS3. Being the dumbass I am I played on Agent difficulty which means that the game was ridiculously easy most of the time (screw the developers, though, for not making it clear which difficulty level is the "normal" one for frigg's sake). I was very positively surprised at first. Pretty good graphics and really smooth performance for a PS3 game, the gunplay also seemed pretty good at first and it has really great original soundtrack by David Arnold. It actually almost appeared to compete with Call of Duty's singleplayer campaigns. Over time the game really begins to show its ugly face, though. The stealth mechanics are very simplistic, of course, as is the combat and the game soon begins to feel very repetitive - even the soundtrack doesn't seem to change at all over the course of the game. The only thing mixing things up are the secondary objectives of which, like in the original N64 game, there's more on higher difficulty levels. So on agent I didn't have many of those and they were actually all optional so they really don't affect the game all that much and in the end they are frankly just an annoyance that keeps you from going ahead as you look for the objects to take pictures of or to hack. What really really sucks, though, is that cover is pretty messed up in the game. Especially towards the end there's tons of objects which seem to hide you entirely if crouched but enemies are still able to hit you. That's some seriously amateur bullshit. And the aiming is seriously off. There's some smoothing that makes manual aiming very shitty. There's target assistance like in the CoD games that automatically puts your crosshair on enemies when you raise your aim sight but it's almost impossible to hit moving enemies this way. Also the blood effect that reflects your health is one of the worst ones I've ever seen as it's rather subtle and it's really hard to tell when you're about to die. Oh, and it has some really shitty QTE sequences. And finally the "reimaginings" of the characters from the movie are pretty lame. These versions of Alec and Xenia are just pathetic and Boris Grishenko was removed entirely. Man, that sucks.

Still, it wasn't really that bad. I had some fun, occasionally the stealthy approach felt really satisfying and generally mowing down bad guys to Arnold's music was fun. I might have enjoyed it more on a higher difficulty level with more of a challenge and more objectives, alas, the game really isn't worth another playthrough.
The Secret of Monkey Island - Special Edition

I've played the original game more than 20 years ago. Didn't remember much of it except for the characters and the main plot (and to my surprise most of the stuff that I thought I'd remember wasn't even in the game, but in Monkey Island 2).
Game was much shorter and the puzzles a lot more logical and obscure than in my memory. I still had great fun with the game, because of the humour and the likable characters.

I liked the new graphics (except for Guybrush's haircut, used a patch for that) and the remastered soundtrack. Voice acting ranged form mediocre to pretty good. Worst thing about the game was the new control sceme (a mixture between mouse use and hotkeys). Whoever thought that would be a good idea should be punished. Switched to classic mode for nearly every inventory based puzzle.

Complete list of finished games in 2018
AdVenture Capitalist (2015) (Linux)

I have literally no idea why I started to play the game, but I really liked it. It's, well, American dream simulator ;) One of these games in which a few clicks and idle-time leads to success (and it's easy to make everything faster with some real money spent in-game). Mindless, but addictive and somehow relaxing. I really liked sense of humour ("it's easy! squeeze a lemon and go!" or recommended "Illuminati" upgrade for your banks;) and how the numbers quickly become impressive/funny. I'm not sure if it's possible to complete the game - it looks like endless adventure. I've become quadrillionaire on Earth and quintillionaire on the Moon. For now it's enough for me; it's important to know when to say enough xD I must admit that It's tempting to play further, but I don't feel it makes any sense to continue, so let me finish here and say thanks to game devs. Nice game!

List of all games completed in 2018.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Its really late today to write a lot about this game, so I ll be short - its a proper metroidvania title.
Not "hey, dudes, I've pirated yniti assets, lets make a platformer!", but real castlevania - with backtracking, medium-difficult (yet not bullet sponge) bosses, secrets, action and fancy visuals. Storyline is kinda cliched, but who cares about story in action game?
Controls are a bit off (I've played with gamepad and you cant rebind them there), but its not hard to get used. Linux port is pretty much flawless (atleast on my laptop with intel hd graphics).
Overall game takes about 4-6 hours to beat - not much, but there is NG+ if you wish. 2 endings, both can be obtained via single playthrough (wont spoil there).

In my current library of action metroidvanias, its currently on second place (1st is taken for, probably, eternity by Salt and Sanctuary, which is steam exclusive but doesnt have steamworks drm).
Mafia II

Got it here on GOG during the sales. Did not regret buying it, gave me a very L.A. Noire feeling, which is a good thing. So you play a Mafia goon and I must say the story is well told. Thank God it's not an open world game, or else I might not have been able to finish it (been trying to play the GTA and Saints Row games for ages, but quickly lose interest).

Graphically it's nice. The handling of the cars is at best unrealistic and something you'll curse against pedestrians and other drivers - again just like L.A. Noire... Gunfights are good, handfight not so much, due most of the time to an awkwardly placed camera.

Got some AI bugs that broke missions, mainly when your partner doesn't follow you when he should and in the 14th it's literally game-breaking since you can't trigger the last event without him. I had to replay the whole chapter, which was a pain in the ass since it has the most difficult fights in the whole game, I believe.

I'll let the DLCs aside for the moment, the game was nice but I need a break from mafia games.

So far in 2018:
Elisa: The Innkeeper - Prequel (VN)

I'm not sure if this game was more bad, or more confusing. It does nothing to make me interested in playing much less purchasing the full game.

-The Innkeeper does get one funny/clever line, and
-mercifully it ends after 15-20 minutes.

The narrative of the game is a bit confusing, as you alternate between characters as choosing dialogue, and by and large the differences between those options are minor (should I be: slightly dickish, dickish, or ragingly dickish?).

The gist of it seems to be that a condescending prince and a condescending merchant are competing for the affections of an innkeeper who wants nothing to do with them, but instead pursues the condescending knight merely because he resists her and expresses disinterest in all women and she wants a challenge. ....yay?
Post edited May 21, 2018 by bler144
F4LL0UT: I hope that ME3 will be more up my alley, though.
Good luck with that. ;)

Did you mean less logical?
Leroux: Good luck with that. ;)

Leroux: Did you mean less logical?
No, I wanted to say more logical and less obscure.
Post edited May 21, 2018 by PaterAlf
PaterAlf: No, I wanted to say more logical and less obscure.
Oh, ok. Thanks for clearing that up! :)
Rogue Legacy, May 22 (GOG)- The first couple hours of this were really good. Saving up a couple hundred gold each run to improve stats was fun and getting those rare first equipment upgrades or runes felt really good. And there was a big just one more run draw as well. After a while though it just turned into a grind where I'd clear most of the rooms less bosses and rack up gold for more and more upgrades. Eventually I'd clear the bosses but it was just more of the same. I can see how some people would really like this game but for me after a couple hours it got a little stale.

Full List

Loved it, game totally still holds up. Ashamed to admit I was forced to rely on a walkthrough 6 or 7 or 8 times.
kalirion: Toonstruck
Congrats! I have to replay it some day. My favourite scene is the one with the alligators


kalirion: Toonstruck
toxicTom: Congrats! I have to replay it some day. My favourite scene is the one with the alligators


Wow, it's amazing how much cleaner the graphics look in that video than in my own gameplay....
Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers

I really wanted to like this game. Artstyle is great, music is awesome and even the concept is solid. But unfortunately the level design is extremely uninspired and though the whole game is quite boring. Also the controls didn't work too well (at least not with a controller) and so every sequence were timing was important was much more frustrating than challenging. I'm glad the game was short, otherwise I would have quit.

Complete list of finished games in 2018
Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside

Unlike most people playing this game on Steam, this is my first encounter with it. For a kids game it was actually pretty entertaining to this adult. Apparently the puzzles/solutions are randomized each playthrough, so I may play it again sometime.

Marvin's Mittens

A cute collect'em'up platformer but kinda dull unless you're a kid. Frankly I expected more out of a "121/122 positive reviews" game with the single negative review being this. Didn't find 10 of the snowflakes and didn't photograph 4 of the animals, and without achievements feel no urge to chase them down.


Fun twinstick shooter with a ton of weapons/upgrades/etc of which I only ended up using a few. Pretty well optimized - ran with no hiccups on my ancient 4850. I might keep playing occasionally trying to get all the stars for different challenges/difficulties of the levels.

9 Clues 2: The Ward

Needed a break from the frustrations of Tiny Barbarian DX so decided to play a HOG. Not bad, but no one of Artifex Mundi's best either.

Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek

Another HOG. Enjoyment spoiled by the fact that I was forced to use the SKIP button on a puzzle that bugged out on me. This has been a bug known for years, Steam forums are full of complaints about it.
Post edited May 29, 2018 by kalirion