Now Playing

(B)
GCN
Resident Evil Zero
[Rebecca & Billy / Conference Room] - The train derailed, I am in a Training Facility, and there are weird Leech-Monsters-Zombies... idk...

Updated about 3 days ago

My Rating --- Game: 9, F'n'S: 9,5, Sound: 9, Time: 8,5, Graphics: 10 - TOTAL SCORE: 9,5/10
(U)
PC
Black Isle Compilation: Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn + Throne of Baal
[112 Days/2 Hours - Me/Jaheira/Minsc/Aerie/Nalia/Imoen] - Forest of Mir. Defeated that stupid Wraith... now to get inside the temple...

Updated about 4 days ago

(U)
3DS
New Super Mario Bros. 2
[World 4-4] - Ice World... I hate thee... as usual...

Updated about 4 days ago

(U)
PC
The Witcher - Enhanced Edition
[Chapter 3 - Druid Grove] - Got the reward for the White Fang, gathered some contracts, helped the Heirophant (and myself)... now there's a robbery!

Updated about 1 week ago

(B)
GCN
Resident Evil Rebirth
[Jill/End][Chris/End] - Finished the game today! Loved it! The script is bad, but the rest of the game is just soooo good!!

Updated about 1 week ago

★★★★★ My Rating --- Game: 9, F'n'S: 10, Sound: 9, Time: 9, Graphics: 10 - TOTAL SCORE: 9,5/10
(U)
PC
Guild Wars - Prophecies
[Fighter/Monk 20 - Abbadon's Mouth] - I realized (too late) I had sold my infused armor for better armor, so I had to infuse it again...

Updated about 1 week ago

☆★★★★
(B)
360
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
[12:50 - 83/131 Jiggies] - Beaten! Finally! The Hag was quite a chore to do within that time limit, but... of, well. L.O.G. gave me back my home!

Updated about 2 weeks ago

(B)
Switch
The legend of ZELDA - Tears of the Kingdom
[Beaten 28/1/2024][ā™„x28 - 18/18 - 4/4 - Great Plateau] - Finished the Bargainer Statue's Quest, got the rewards. This was nice.

Updated about 4 weeks ago

Celebandune's Status

(U) Unfinished ?No significant accomplishments.     (B) Beaten ?The main objective has been accomplished. Usually marked by the defeat of a final boss and/or viewing of credits.     (C) Completed ?For games which are 100% done. All extras and modes have been unlocked and finished. All significant items have been collected.
4 (U)
1.2%
261 (B)
81.3%
56 (C)
17.4%
Wishlist  0 ?         Top-Rated  37 ?????         Master Runs  3 (M)
PC 3 (U) 84 (B) 7 (C) 326 Total
Nintendo Switch BEAT 2 (B) 0 (C) 2 Total
Wii U BEAT 3 (B) 1 (C) 4 Total
Wii BEAT 10 (B) 0 (C) 13 Total
Virtual Console (Wii) BEAT 4 (B) 0 (C) 4 Total
GameCube BEAT 33 (B) 13 (C) 62 Total
Nintendo 64 BEAT 26 (B) 13 (C) 45 Total
SNES BEAT 9 (B) 1 (C) 10 Total
NES BEAT 4 (B) 1 (C) 7 Total
Nintendo 3DS 1 (U) 7 (B) 1 (C) 9 Total
Nintendo DS BEAT 10 (B) 5 (C) 21 Total
Game Boy Advance BEAT 9 (B) 1 (C) 13 Total
Game Boy/Color BEAT 8 (B) 1 (C) 11 Total
PlayStation 4 BEAT 3 (B) 1 (C) 4 Total
PlayStation 3 BEAT 8 (B) 0 (C) 8 Total
PlayStation 2 BEAT 13 (B) 1 (C) 19 Total
PlayStation BEAT 10 (B) 3 (C) 21 Total
Xbox 360 BEAT 4 (B) 0 (C) 5 Total
Xbox BEAT 8 (B) 1 (C) 12 Total
Amiga BEAT 5 (B) 1 (C) 7 Total
Dreamcast BEAT 1 (B) 0 (C) 1 Total
Browser C O M P L E T E ! 5 Total
All Games 609 Total
?Use this field to quickly search your backlog. If you enter in a single letter, you'll get a list of all the games you own that start with that letter.
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Dialogue Box   (add comment)

about 1 day ago

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
On Fire: 3 beat or complete in a row
I had just completed Majora's Mask and already I miss it a lot. Currently I'm attempting to play through every game chronologically until I get burnt out. I really liked that the world felt lived in and how they managed to make arguably a more memorable experience (In my opinion at least) than Ocarina of Time in only 1 year and with a lot of reused assets. And yeah I have heard a lot about the changed aspects in the 3DS version I might possibly pick that one up one day as well. (I've been eyeing a new 3DS recently, the R trigger on mine is broken which makes playing most games almost impossible. ) I think I like Breath of the Wild a bit more because of all the time I spent on it and the vast world it has. But this game is definitely my favorite traditional 3D Zelda so far.

I don't have much else to say about it unfortunately which is why I'm not a game reviewer. And yeah the Switch Online ports of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are pretty close to the original emulation wise. I think I heard at one point that Gamecube was slower than the original or something? Luckily that problem is eliminated here. I've only had slowdown once or twice in weird situations such as when chasing Captain Keeta for like 2 seconds the visuals and audio were messing up and the second time I don't entirely remember the circumstances but I believe it was in great bay where one of the mini bosses had slowdown for a second or two as well. On a side note I remember that when the service launched, OOT had slightly delayed controls from what I had heard but that has since been patched. (That or it's something I never noticed). The Dark Link room was broken as well in a way that hadn't been seen in any other version if you had heard about that.

Side question have you done a complete playthrough of the Oracle games? I'm trying to look up the correct path to completion and I found out that you have to do Seasons->Ages->Seasons->Ages and/or Ages->Seasons->Ages->Seasons but the and/or is the confusing part. would I be able to grab all 64 rings in both games by doing one path or both? I'm probably overthinking it to be honest but it's also a shame that I'm probably gonna have to restart my progress in Ages because of this.
about 6 days ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
It is one of the very few times I actually agree with the masses. That and Phantasy Star 4. I do like Devil May Cry 2, but it does have a certain blandness to certain elements of it (the weapons especially) that I could definitely see leading to burnout.

That's exactly it: scores, whether numerical, letter, or something else entirely, are a good starting point and nothing more; the value of a game is much more nuanced than that, especially given that a C or 5/10 could either mean very bland or lots of ups and downs that cancel in the middle, and those are VERY different experiences.

I think that's just a matter of mentally shifting scale to something with less precision, but what works in your head is what works in your head, and that's what you should go for. That certainly would be a problem, since HuniePop has H graphics, and they're very high quality.

To be fair, I pick on IGN, but it's been a very widespread issue for quite some time; they just get the most punches thrown their way because the Internet decides that's the outlet that most needs to be shoved down my throat. There is kind of a spot there for me, too; I rate most everything A- or B-tier, and after several of the same ratings in a row, I start to question myself until I get something better or else significantly worse. In any case, rating everything a 7 is much better than using nothing lower than a 9 for anything.

Bested Shadow Link legitimately; I didn't know about the trick until the Angry Video Game Nerd episode. I can't say I've ever been great at Racers, and lately, I find that I struggle with 3D Platformers quite a bit, too. Not that I was playing it constantly, but Mario 64 took me about three years to beat, and about ten total to get all 120 stars. But yes, I picked Diddy Kong Racing up again recently with that hack that lets you play as the stopwatch guy right from the beginning, and I couldn't even do basic things like grab the key in that one race in the first world. I'm definitely getting worse at them as I age, since I'd totally completed the first two worlds and I think got close to beating the second bosses in the other two back when the game was new.
about 1 week ago (edited)

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
I donā€™t usually replay games in general, but itā€™s been so long that revisiting the Portal / Half-Life universe with adult eyes would be worthwhile. I did dabble in a few of the games a few years ago, but never did a full, proper replay of any of them.

To clarify, I meant that I want to play Resident Evil 5 before its inevitable remake hits. 4ā€™s remake foreshadows one, apparently, and Iā€™d be surprised if they remake Zero or Code: Veronica next (or at all; they seem to carry less prestige). Regardless, I am still enjoying Symphony of the Night! While I am not far and, again, plan to skip the Inverted Castle this playthrough, Iā€™ll say that nothing about the game so far feels like it requires a remake. Graphically and mechanically, itā€™s holding up well!

Thanks. The Sea of Thieves piece doesnā€™t cover much our discussion on the game didnā€™t. It was fun to write, though, and a nice venue through which I reacquainted myself with a long-neglected series of mine. Getting to work with someone outside the SG team was novel, too. That doesn't happen often, even accounting for guest writers.

And thanks again; so far Iā€™m enjoying Endless Ocean 2. Back when I bought the game, I got to Chapter 3ā€”so roughly halfway through the single-player modeā€”but trailed off for some reason. I donā€™t remember what I was doing, so at this point it made way more sense to restart it, especially since Iā€™m looking to review it. Probably wonā€™t finish it until after the new one hits, sadly, but thatā€™s okay. Rushing things isnā€™t fun.
about 2 weeks ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
Oh, man, you're missing out; 3 is the best one! Well, depends what you want, I guess; there are a lot more choices with weapons, and you can only bring 2 Devil Arms and 2 guns into a mission, so boss fights aren't a high-speed puzzle to figure out which moves to use when, because they couldn't.

I know a lot of people don't use it that way, but 10/10 is still a "complete" score, so when I'm forced to give a numeric score, I absolutely will not give any game that; that's why I enjoy both the wishiness and washiness of the letters. Again, I don't take issue with anyone else using them, but that's why it doesn't work for me, personally; if you're not going to use the whole scale, then why use that rating system? Like what is this: IGN? It's weird, though, because I used to be all about math and numbers, but the older I get, the more I slide into language.

I'd think I was completely delusional when I hear people talk about Shadow of the Colossus, because they seem to be describing a completely different game from the one I was playing, but my significant other played it at a museum exhibit one time, and stopped after a minute or so because of the controls. We both found it to be absolutely fucking unplayable, the graphics ugly, and the music bland; the only thing I can praise about the game at all is the premise, because running around on giant monsters to take them down piece by piece is a fantastic idea. So yes, I'll take my wrong opinion to the grave; bury me with my flaming crown, because I am the queen of hot takes. Got plenty of other wrong opinions, if you want them, particularly when it comes to Konami on the NES. But yeah, I know you're not the type of dogmatic asshole who believes that the only types of opinions in the world are theirs and wrong ones.

I figured you'd get that reference; that might be the only RareWare title on the N64 I really enjoyed. Well, I did have some fun with Diddy Kong Racing, and love the overall structure, but I'm not great at Racers, and it was a bit too bullshit hard for me.
about 3 weeks ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: July 24, 2019
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Focus: Only playing one game
I gotta be honest with you mate, it doesn't really look like an improvement to me. The 'page note' in the center is kind of nice and the unlimited memory card is also a welcome addition...but everything else looks kind of rough. The limits on the page colors and banner size is pretty disappointing. But maybe it's just something to get used to, like you said.

Is it already known when the site is going to make the transition?

Haha, I lowkey kind of regret starting with Dragon Quest XI as well, because the earlier games are probably going to feel a bit like a downgrade, but oh well. Dragon Quest VIII is probably the best game to start with.

Is Nuts & Bolts really that bad? You want to be done with that game according to your update, so I'm guessing it is.
about 4 weeks ago (edited)

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
(post 1 of 2)

Thereā€™s nothing wrong with ignoring parts of a game that donā€™t interest you if youā€™re only playing recreationally. I do plan to give a Call of Duty gameā€™s multiplayer mode a shot at some point out of curiosity, though. Off the top of my head, Prey is the only shooter I spent any real time online with. But even then that was more so because I didnā€™t have a lot to play on my Xbox 360 in 2006, so I wanted to haggle out as much value out of my collection as possible.

Iā€™ve actually been feeling really nostalgic for Half-Life and Portal lately. One of my friends / our guest writers even wrote about the latter, which highlighted how much I miss them. Later this year I outta replay Portal 1 and 2. Maybe Iā€™ll even write about best girls Chell or GLaDOS. And yeah, Half-Life 1 and 2 are great. A friend of mine recently told me he never played them and I told him he should.

Admittedly, NSO isnā€™t my favorite service for the same reason, because you donā€™t actually own your games (the fact Nintendo discontinued two of their 99-style games isnā€™t a plus, either). Still, it has value in introducing a wealth of older stuff to people whoā€™ve never played them before. Itā€™s also convenient, since I actively use my Switch. Thankfully, Iā€™m on a family plan, so the price isnā€™t outrageous.

F-Zero and Wave Race are good picks. Technically, the former did come back through F-Zero 99, but I get that isnā€™t the sort of game people envision when they think of an F-Zero revival (and since it requires an NSO subscription, not everyone can even play it). But Iā€™m sure F-Zero fans will get a more traditional game eventually, either a GX remaster or something new. I actually feel like a Wave Race revival is within the realm of possibility, too. A lot of it probably boils down to able development teams being available, making a solid pitch, and someone within Nintendo being interested. Things somehow aligned for Another Code, Famicom Detective Club, and Endless Ocean. More franchises will get lucky.
about 4 weeks ago (edited)

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
(post 2 of 2)

Yeah, the Resident Evil remake is a classic, speaking as someone whoā€™s only played it for the first time a few years ago. I do hope the OG Resident Evil gets re-released again, though. Same for 2 and 3. Remaking older games is cool, but the originals are still important and different enough, so they should also be available. Thankfully, 4ā€™s dodged this bullet, as the original versionā€™s already been ported to every platform and toaster conceivable. The original Resident Evil 5 should also be safe, too. Iā€™m currently thinking Iā€™ll play that after Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, since I want to have beaten it before its inevitable remake hits.

And thanks! Iā€™m enjoying it a lot so far. I figure Iā€™ll skip the Inverted Castle during this run. I know that means Iā€™m effectively skipping half the game and am locked into the worst ending, but Iā€™m curious how that experience holds up. Had I played the game when it came out, I absolutely would not have unlocked the Inverted Castle.

I hope you enjoy Resident Evil Zero when you get to it!
about 4 weeks ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
I think that kind of imprecise fuzziness is what I wound up liking about the tiers; for something as subjective as how good a game is or how much you like it, something like a numerical scale just doesn't work for me. I flick that little scientist off my shoulder, telling him that there's no room for precision in the measurement of something as malleable as my mood. To me, a numerical scale means that anything with the top score is complete; perfect. 10/10 has absolutely everything and there is no room for improvement, and then an 11/10 can't be something I take seriously. With the letters, it's just "I love this game!" or "FUCK this game!" or something in between. I use the letters because they're based on a grading system I'm familiar with, because I play too many video games, and it comes from Japan, where a lot of my favorite games from back in the day come from, AND ALSO DOES NOT EVEN HAVE AN ALPHABET WITH THESE LETTERS IN IT!? I do agree that having AA and AAA is kinda dumb, though, because we've all played Devil May Cry 3; the only letter that can be doubled and tripled is S, and then you have to start the scale at D.

The other problem comes down to experience. It's the same as the Einhander example I gave last time, but it's a question of, "When have I experienced enough to come up with a rating system that won't shift so much that I'll have to reevaluate everything I've ever rated?" Also a question of how you even tell when you're at that point. Sure, something that helps a great deal is to wait a week or so before deciding on a rating, because you're no longer riding high on the game's climax, but that's not a certainty, either. Just another reason why, like you, I'm fine with people doing their own thing; just this is what works for me, personally, and why.

Oh, and I'd absolutely give Shadow of the Colossus a 1; I can't think of any game I've ever hated more, and I've played quite a lot. Yes, I know I'm in the vast minority on that one, but the only thing I didn't hate about it was the basic premise.
about 4 weeks ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row


When rating a game, I tend to toss technically impressive right out the window, like a piece of anti-gravity chocolate. A technically impressive game is something that's neat to behold, but extremely temporary, something that you have to care about the development process to care about, and has no bearing on whether or not the game plays well. To me, "...for its time..." is an excuse as to why a game isn't as exciting as it was at launch, but a good game will always be good; pick up any Mario or Mega Man game on the NES, and it's still good, for example. Granted, we now have the problem where most games are not exciting at launch, because they're threadbare, glitchy messes with a "roadmap", because soon-to-be-broken promises are okay if you give it a cute name; GIVE ME YOUR WALLET. The only real exceptions for games that didn't age well that I can think of are games like the original Legend of Zelda, which aged poorly because the way people play games changed on a fundamental level, but those are few and far between.

Yes, and I definitely used to finish more games, too, and I don't necessarily subscribe to the idea that "Games just suck now." Plenty of great titles coming out all the time; they're just not in the places we're used to looking for them. RPGs would be a good example, too; the older I get, the less I like them, but there's enough of a sprinkling of ones I really enjoy that I can't say I'm fully done with the genre just yet. Not even really sure how to say what I'm into these days, either; my squirrel brain makes me too capricious, I think.

I'd considered watching the TV show at some point, but after playing the games, I didn't care about any of the characters in the slightest, so I figured it wasn't worth my time.
about 4 weeks ago

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
On Fire: 3 beat or complete in a row
Thank you for offering I see Majoras Mask is in the corner of your banner. I've started a playthrough about 4 times (3 of which on the debatably shoddy gamecube port) but nowadays when I start a game I am committed to finishing it. I only made it past Woodfall Temple on one of the playthroughs and quit shortly after so I'm already ahead of that point.
Speaking of I really need to get to Tears of the Kingdom as well I made it out of the Great Sky Islands and put it on hold for a while. I'm not really sure why I prioritized Majora's Mask first but I'll go with it.
about 1 month ago

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
I appreciate your answer I'll keep that in mind. I guess I'll be playing both in the end, my curiosity is getting too much to contain
about 1 month ago

Badges
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Thanks Celebandune! I didn't actually log in all last year apparently, but happy new year 2024!
about 2 months ago

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
(post 1 of 2)

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first-person shooter; I made a typo. And I totally get not wanting to add more series onto the backlog pile! Iā€™m only just getting into touchstones like Metal Gear and Resident Evil and still have yet to start diving into Sonyā€™s catalog. Most of the Call of Duty games I own either came bundled with something or were given to me. I think Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the only one I bought (I wasnā€™t especially interested in it, but it is one of its generationā€™s defining games and I saw a copy for cheap, so I snatched it).

Your experiences with the first Call of Duty are similar to my vague memories of trying it at a cousinā€™s house. FPS games were never exactly my thing either, even if the Nintendo 64ā€™s lineup of them were popular among my friends (I didnā€™t ā€œgetā€ GoldenEye at the time, though Iā€™ve come to appreciate it). The Half-Life series was the first time I remember thinking ā€œyā€™know, this kind of game can be cool, actually,ā€ its sister series Portal furthered that, and Iā€™ve come to enjoy the genre fine over time.

I still have one big disconnect with it, though: Iā€™m not usually that interested in their multiplayer modes. Thatā€™s where Call of Dutyā€™s meant to shine. I know people who buy them just for the multiplayer, barely, if ever, touching their single-player campaigns. Same for Gears of War, a shooter series I am a fan of.

Altogether, I thought the Partner Showcase was solid. A co-writer has praised Pentiment, so thatā€™s a must-buy. I say this every time a new Super Monkey Ball is announced, but I plan to buy this one. A friendā€™s ecstatic over Epic Mickey. And Iā€™m happy about the Rare games. Yeah, nobodyā€™s subscribing to NSO for RC PRO-AM, but the fact Microsoftā€™s relationship with Nintendo remains strong is encouraging. Iā€™m confident the Donkey Kong Land trilogy and 64 will come eventually regardless, but I feel even more optimistic for a Diddy Kong Racing re-release. Iā€™m sure Tooieā€™s coming eventually, too. Personally, I really hope their Game Boy Advance titles come eventually. I deeply regret not buying Sabre Wulf and Banjo-Pilot and now they are super expensive.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
(post 2 of 2)

According to the ole rumor mill, Metroid Prime 2 and 3 remasters seem to exist but arenā€™t top-down makeovers like the first game got (so theyā€™re probably akin to what Pikmin 1 and 2 got). Hopefully they get some touch ups, though. Though I havenā€™t been following the rumor mill too closely because, well, Iā€™m perfectly content with everything already on my plate. Iā€™m even starting a new system where Iā€™ll only buy a new game* after finishing a certain number of unfinished ones.

*If somethingā€™s on a good enough sale, Iā€™ll probably still snatch it up. But I am not looking to buy any new games right now.

I was excited to get a new Nintendo system this year, but I have no issue holding off until 2025. I do wonder what Nintendoā€™s release schedule for the rest of 2024 holds, though. Assuming their next system was meant to release this fall, that leaves a pretty big holiday gap. But theyā€™ll definitely have something: 2020 is another year where Nintendoā€™s plans were palpably affected, and they mustered up the Hyrule Warriors sequel as their ā€œbigā€ holiday game. ā€¦Of course, assuming the long-rumored Donkey Kong game is a Switch game, this could leave a nice window for it. A May release for a Returns remaster would be lovely, too, to coincide with the parkā€™s opening.

In the least surprising confession ever, the Nintendo series I most want a revival of is the Kyle Hyde saga. But Another Code literally just came back, so Hotel Dusk and Last Window are absolutely in the cards if Recollection does well enough. Aside from that, thoughā€¦ Iā€™m actually not sure which dormant Nintendo IP I want to see revived. Itā€™s a tough question! Iā€™m inclined to say Wario Land, but like Donkey Kong, the series has gotten attention over the years, so I donā€™t think of it as dormant (and besides, Iā€™m confident Land will come back eventually). Part of me would like to see a good Geist game, but thatā€™s definitely not the IP Iā€™d most root for.

Also, I beat Resident Evil Zero last night. Overall, I liked it and thought it was interesting enough, even if itā€™s definitely the last breath of the seriesā€™ classic formula. I was looking to start 4 or maybe Revelations next, but I actually think Iā€™ll finally start Castlevania: Symphony of the Night first. My poor copy got, like, twelve minutes of game time well over a decade ago and has been sitting in my backlog ever since. Hope you're enjoying REvival.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
Easily my favorite Shooter; no contest. I love the entire series (haven't played Tiny Tina's Wonderlands yet), but this one was just incredible. Beautiful worlds, tons of cosmetic customization (even gun skins!) that you don't have to pay real money for, hijack and build your own custom vehicles, a LOT more customization for your builds, and one hell of an adventure behind it all!

Well, it wasn't exactly a fully-grown California Redwood landing on me from full verticality or anything; I was just cleaning up the treeline, the thing came down, and I got pinned underneath it. I mostly just remember trying to lift it, then having to call them outside, and my sister doing most of the heavy lifting, because she is INSANELY strong. Unfortunately, it became too difficult to find a bow saw big enough to cut down trees, and I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT trust myself with a chainsaw, so I don't get to do that kind of work anymore.

I'm not sure if it is, but it's an excellent word for it, I think. Yeah, grading systems will do that, if for no other reason than playing more games expands your horizons and makes you realize that, "Yeah, maybe the reason I thought Einhander was an excellent game is that I didn't have enough else to compare it to; it's actually kinda mid." That and your tastes change; back in the '90s I was OBSESSED with Racers, Fighters, and Shooters (Doom and its ilk), and these days, I find most of those to be pretty unplayable. To clarify, I do still like Shooters as they exist now; it's the older ones, like Doom, Blood, and Duke 3D that I can't stand anymore, and I did fairly recently give Heretic and Hexen a try just to be sure. My tolerance for RPGs is a lot lower than it used to be, too. I'd almost have to go through my entire library, playing everything again to reevaluate everything's ratings. You know: in all my spare time. I did go through and redo my entire rating system at one point, though, to be more in line with those tiermaker things (is that what they're called?), because ratings are personal, and F- through S-tier say more about how I liked a game than a number, so that's what works for me. We play it fast and loose, here at The Beautiful Nightmare.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
Clearly, I'm thinking of a totally different game; can't remember for the life of me what it was called, though. The big thing with that one was that it has 4-player co-op, like the Guacamelee games do, but doesn't have any sailing, as far as I'm aware. I don't think I know this game; it's on my Steam ignored list, so it must've come up in my discovery queue, but I don't remember it at all.

Oh, alright; that's a different story. Sorry, corporate propaganda is EVERYWHERE (especially here in the US), and anyone who was a kid in the '80s or later was brainwashed to be good little consumers, and often doesn't even realize when they're regurgitating it, so I tend to see it everywhere. I absolutely do not mean that in the shitting on young people, either; it's not their fault. I might check it out sometime; right now, I've been working on a lot of projects around the house (I'm off this week), and my YouTube viewing has been pretty focused on Tales from the Borderlands, because I hated the quick-time events too much to actually play through it (that and choose-your-own-adventure books were never my thing), and apparently, it's canon, so I want to learn where the Rhys and Vaughn characters came from.

"Your face; your ass; what's the difference?" "Geralt, have you been neglecting your monster studies?" Honestly, even the combined efforts of that and leaning into the absurdity of collecting all the trading cards wasn't enough to get me through it, so I'll just have to cheer you on from the sidelines. My lady's a big fan of the books and the TV show, and was excited when she found out that we have the games, and I said, "Geralt is SUCH an edgelord; I can't take him seriously!" Well, apparently, the books are like that, too... It's like... the way he's written smacks of the most pathetic male power fantasy as written by some sugared-up little kid in the '90s who just discovered the X-Men and wants to create a character with EVERY SINGLE SUPERPOWER... except with sex. "He's sterile, so like, he can have as much sex as he wants and never have to worry about getting a girl pregnant OO OO and he's immune to ever disease ever, so he can't get STDs either and and and and HE'S GOT CAT EYES!" I'm fine with male power fantasy existing, even in games that I play, despite neither being male nor caring about exercising power (agency is fine, thanks), but this is on a whole other level.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
I do; you drop in when you can, and that's fine. If you're going to damage yourself to reply, you'd better do something dramatic, like bursting in to something like this: [Link] ...for some reason, this version's a little limp; the one I have is WAY more dramatic.

It doesn't seem like it's actively melting down right this second, but it's a crapshoot. I've been playing mostly without incident, but the hard drive still disengages (sometimes seemingly at random; it did that while I was just chatting on Discord the other night), and sometimes even after shutting off Borderlands 3, it breaks anyway; I've had it bluescreen on me just from opening the start menu one time. I have next week off, so I'm hopefully going to get some shit sorted out then. Probably almost finished with Borderlands 3, though; I have one main expansion left, and after that, I may or may not do the Takedown missions, depending what those actually are, since the series does have a nasty habit of making some content that is unfriendly toward single players.

They tend to age better than more traditional 3D styles, especially for older games, I think. Not sure what my first one was, but I guess it also kinda depends what you count, because there were games on the PlayStation at least that kinda did that? Like Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22; I'd never heard of the game, picked it up on a whim, and it sorta does the Mortal Kombat digitized graphics thing, but with animation cells; it's not 3D, but it is cel-shaded in a way. Iunno, maybe that's not quite the same thing; I wouldn't fight it. I think the first might've been Cel Damage, but I could be wrong about that... that might've been the day that my sister brought her boyfriend at the time up to my place, and I had to have them help me lift a fallen tree off of myself; that's surprisingly hard to do when you're on your back underneath it. Anyway, I wouldn't count the first Paper Mario, since the paper characters may or may not be two-dimensional, but the backgrounds are polygonal (sometimes distractingly so), but I'd have to play Thousand Year Door or Super again to see if they do; it's been quite some time.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: August 21, 2014
Backlog Completed: September 27, 2014
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
Invincible: 10+ beat or complete in a row
Time is a good way to describe it, but the Thesaurus-Rex that rages within me knows there's a word specifically for it. Rar. But yes, it is pacing and content (both amount and quality) and difficulty and many other things. Some things just don't work in longform; I used to love Jim Carrey on In Living Color (a sketch comedy show from the early '90s), but his movies are torture for me to watch. Multiplayer doesn't factor in for me, because I don't usually do the multiplayer thing; I can be kind of a control freak with my games, so I don't want to have to wait on someone else just to finish playing. YES, I KNOW THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY IS THE EXACT WRONG PLACE FOR ME TO WORK. Sea of Thieves... is that the Platventure with the pirate... raaaaats? I can't remember if they're rats or mice, but I might be thinking of Theodore Mouse now.

You're not wrong; I shit on Ubisoft, but they were just the latest in a long line of "Fuck the consumer" stances, and while I tend to prefer the term customer, because consumer is demeaning, I think it's time to face the fact that that's all we are anymore; the real customers are the shareholders. I don't really know Scott the Woz, and haven't watched... probably any of his content that wasn't a direct collaboration with someone else that I do watch, but I think that's a stupid take. Yes, a game is going to be in its case when you're not playing it, and no, you're not going to play every game equally; that's just absurd. The whole thing sounds like someone trying to justify the war on ownership, and that's the opposite of what we need right now.

Oh yeah, if you're hellbent on playing through it, then definitely save that for after your finish, but I loved it; I was disappointed to find that he didn't do the same for 2 or 3, even though I did manage to finish 2. I was also really surprised to find that 2 plays better with a controller than with a mouse and keyboard, since CD Projeckt Red is all about PC. For sure; everything's super gritty, everyone's a complete dick, and Geralt is such a littler edgelord that I can't help reading all of his lines in an over-the-top Duke Nukem voice... or at least my closest approximation thereof.
about 2 months ago (edited)

Badges
Minion of Bak'laag: 100+ unfinished games
Consider Yourself a Hero: Majority of games are beaten
Treasure Hunter: 1000+ games
I know, right? Call of Duty is definitely not something within my wheelhouse. But as a gamer and a critic, I feel it's important I try a wide array of games, not just ones I'm interested in. Besides, I felt like playing a mechanically competent third-person shooter and something that was narratively mindless, and Ghosts hits both. For what it is, I'm enjoying it fine. I will never be a Call of Duty fan, but once in a while they're nice. How was the original?

I haven't been following the rumor mill lately, but I heard that the launch of Nintendo's next system was delayed, which in turn delayed the reveal for it that was planned for next month. Now, we might be getting some kind of general Direct, Mini or no, in April with the next system debuting in some form in June. I think that's the gist of it? For what it's worth, June feels about right for some kind of hardware reveal. June's always been a big month for gaming news. Hopefully one of these events has Donkey Kong. His last solo adventure was ten years ago!

Either way, I'm not fussed over things. They'll happen when they happen, and I'm confident the Switch has some life left in it and that we'll at least see Nintendo's next system this year.

What'd you think of the Partner Showcase? I still need to watch it, but Penny's Big Breakaway releasing was exciting for me. Really cool that Endless Ocean is coming back, too (guess I better boot up and maybe review the second game soon). Looking forward to seeing which obscure Nintendo franchise gets revived next.

Thanks. It was one of those special articles that made me feel really, really old.
about 2 months ago

Badges
Backlog Beaten: July 24, 2019
Legendary Weapon: 5 or fewer unfinished games
Master of Unlocking: Majority of games are completed
Focus: Only playing one game
Are we not able to create themes anymore when the new layout of Backloggery drops? I really hope we still can, I made it a tradition to create a theme for every game I play since 2016 or so I did check out the beta version of the new Backloggery layout by the way, I'm honestly not sure what to think of it yet, but maybe I'm just too attached to this one haha.

Anyway, it's time for Dragon Quest XI now. Really loving that game so far, highly recommend it if you feel like playing a new JRPG in the future.
CelebandĆ¹ne's look backā€¦ Donkey Kong 64 - 8/10