Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

I'm enjoying FIFA at the moment and will be required to play it with the lads right up until the release of the next one, so for my livers sake I'm having onto my copy and practicing.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS



I have four challenges left, and three Golden Hammers.  One seemingly requires thirty more hours of the Smash mode.  One requires me to get many more Streetsmash hits.  And the other two are collecting every customisation option and Smash Run power respectively.  I'm not going to finish this.


General playing: Top notch.  Feels faster and more balanced than Brawl, and not so old as Mêlée.  As for other people's complaints, the circle pad just has a learning curve, and I've never had problems with the screen zooming.  Full marks here.

Characters: Again, top one.  Lots of newcomers that play in weird and wonderful ways, several tweaks to existing characters, and Mario is actually pretty good.  Still not convinced by Palutena, though.

Unlockable characters:

Miis: I'd have liked to see more moves from Wii Sports and Wii Play, and fewer clones of other characters' moves.  Just me?  Or, er, just Mii?

Stages: Meh.  A lot of the new stages are very good, especially the unlockable ones; but as I play, I find more and more that I don't really like.  The Tomodachi block of flats is the latest one.  And still too high an old/new ratio.

Single-player modes: Classic and All-Star are just the right length for a portable, the bonus games are a relatively disappointing mixed bag (HR > MMM > Targets-and-Bomb), and I tired of Streetsmash quickly.  Still feels like it's missing at least one mode - possibly two, given the lack of Event Matches.

Multiplayer modes: Smash Run remains, due to its limited customisation, a missed opportunity.  Basic Smash is still great.  Don't know about online.

Challenges: Too much emphasis on patience over skill, and the three-panel setup means fewer hammers to tackle the final challenges.  See my problem.

Customisation: A missed opportunity, I reckon.  Some custom moves are great (Palutena's entire set, (unlockables) Ness' PK Freeze, Ganondorf finally having his sword); but they could have gone further.  What about Mario hurling Green Shells instead of his Fireball, or having the Mario Tornado as an optional down?  Robin having different elemental spells, or being tailored to a more physical approach?  Pit having a range of different KIU weapons?  Using the Pokémon's huge movesets?  It's early days for this feature: hopefully they'll hone it in future games.

I don't like the equipment at all, mind.  Every piece seems to give a net gain, rather the shifting the balance.

Visuals: Gorgeous.

Music: Obviously it has fewer tracks than its siblings, but it also has a bit too many recycled pieces for my liking.  By-product of the recycled stages, natch.


Overall: The game seems a little rushed in places, the "big new mode" is a disappointment, and the challenges can get stuffed; but at the end of the day, it's a very good game of Smash on the bus.  Probably will only be played on the bus once U comes out, but for now:

8/10

Balladeer wrote:

Miis: I'd have liked to see more moves from Wii Sports and Wii Play, and fewer clones of other characters' moves.  Just me?  Or, er, just Mii?

I'd never actually thought of that until now but I agree, would have gave them a lot more character, even if it were just aesthetic changes to existing moves like attacking with a Tennis racket that'd be a big improvement.

Starwing!

To say I didn't get this game as a kid, I sure do now. It feels so epic for a humble SNES game, and once you get into the refresh rate of the screen, it feels just like its younger N64 relative. It's a pity I suck at one particular miniboss right near the end. In my defence, it can be tricky to pick out lasers heading your way when you start to get bombarded with them.

Shadow of Mordor. I didn't finish it, but I loved playing it. The combat and nemesis system was great.

So I actually finally finished the last game I mentioned in here: that was just a matter of patience, however.  I'm pretty sure I won't finish this:



Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

I may do a more detailed piece on this for the Editorials site, so I'll keep this brief.


SSB is a series that can't really undergo revolution, or not without seriously annoying its massive fanbase (who get snarky enough when Sakurai puts Dark Pit into the character roster).  Unless the game goes MMO, eight-player Smash is probably the nearest thing we'll get to one.  It is hard to follow, utterly chaotic, even random at times.

In short, it encapsulates all the best aspects of the series.  Love Mario vs. Link vs. Kirby vs. Pikachu?  Add "vs. Fox vs. Ness vs. Mega Man vs. Pac-Man" into the mix.

It compares very favourably to its 3DS brother, as you'd expect: more courses, more modes, more music, better looking, and Gaur Plain is actually playable.  It's not the best example of a move between generations, though: nothing to compare to the SSE, or even Mêlée's Adventure; lots of new characters, but some disappointing clones; too many old stages; and a dearth of new remixes compared to Brawl.  

So, looking at it in the context of the generational leap, it isn't all that (although the fighting style has improved immeasurably over Brawl).  What it is is simply the best Smash there is.  It'll probably last me for years in single-player alone.

10/10

But why can't I use my Golden Hammers on the top-left challenge? Injustice!

I am a serial non-finisher of games.  I honestly believe there is potentially as little as 10-20 games I have ever finished.  Nothing shocks me more than the End Credits.  I have finished Advance Wars and Fire Emblem games, a couple of Final Fantasy games and I struggle to think of any after that, except maybe one Pokemon game, the title I can't remember.

My most recent failures to finish were:

Bayonetta (Wii U)
I thought that I would finish Bayonetta, my second try, last one on the PS3, before I tackled Bayonetta.  I poured a good 6-8 hours  into it.  It drove me nuts.  It looks great, it plays great, but my skills are just not up to it.  No matter how many times I looked up how to beat a section, it was always many attempts.  Then I hit a part I just couldn't get past.  I was no longer having fun, in fact, I was getting cross.  So I gave up.  

Metroid Prime (Wii)
With the imminent release of Metroid Trilogy on the Wii U eShop, I thought to myself that it might be a good time to actually try and finish the games - all of them.  I have all three in their original form, plus the Trilogy set.  I put in about 4 hours on the first and then remembered why I stopped playing it - motion sickness.  I felt terrible; nausea and headache.  I think I could have kept going, as I was succeeding at progressing, but I couldn't handle feeling sick.  So I gave up.

This is just after giving up on Zelda WInd Waker (I have never finished a Zelda game and I have then all), Tales of Xillia, Tales of Symphonia (I have a stack of Tales games and never finished one of them either) and Xenoblade Chronicles.  I was looking for a game I would just stick with.  I have been filling in time with Advance Wars on the Wii U and a little more of the original GBA Fire Emblem, a game I never finished back in the day - literally, I only didn't complete the final chapter.  Then I went into my comfort zone, I started playing a game I have completed 3 times, a game I just love, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Wii).  I can just complete a chapter a day and enjoy myself.  Now I getting the urge to go back and finish one of my favourite games I never finished, Baten Kaitos.  I really have gaming OCD.

Hyrule Warriors/Bayonetta 1: Dude-Killing Games Edition!




One of my most important things in one-player games, I've realised, is level design.  To wait with bated breath to see what's around the next corner.  It's something that Nintendo have always been great at, from Mario to Zelda.  

I like to explore, to discover.  I like finding out how the level furniture fits together to create a breathing environment, or an interesting challenge.  Will the next trial require precision platforming?  Puzzle solving?  Chucking water globules around?  Or, occasionally, killing some dudes?

If what's around the next corner is the same thing that was around the previous five, i.e. more dudes to kill, I'm likely to be disappointed.


Don't get me wrong: I like dude-killing in moderation, especially when it provides a challenge.  But when dude-killing is all there is to a game, I get bored quickly.  The thought of killing yet another set of dudes, possibly new kinds of dudes, and occasionally really massive screen-filling dudes...  Give me something else to do, damn it!

Especially when the approach to killing said dudes is "dodge the attack, mash the buttons (but not for too long), rinse, repeat".  I've played exactly one game like this to completion - No More Heroes.  And that was mostly to see which bonkers boss came next.  Not to mention, the number of assassins I'd offed was a good indication of how far I was through the game, how close to a point when all the dudes would be killed.

HW and B1 are, I'm told, two of the absolute best dude-killing games in the business.  But I struggle to put either back into the disc slot, because I simply cannot be bothered to kill the next wave of dudes they chuck at me.  


(If anyone can tell me why this dislike of repetitive dude-killing gameplay does not extend to fighters, like Smash Bros. or SCII, I'll give them a proverbial biscuit.  I don't know the answer myself.)

Balladeer wrote:

(If anyone can tell me why this dislike of repetitive dude-killing gameplay does not extend to fighters, like Smash Bros. or SCII, I'll give them a proverbial biscuit.  I don't know the answer myself.)

You mentioned you like puzzle-solving in your games, and there's an element of tactical play in fighting games that's lost when you transfer it to big action games like the two games you didn't finish above.

Take Soul Calibur - two players of reasonable skill playing this isn't too far off two players playing chess. Will my opponent jump in, meaning I need to hop back or defend? Can I get close enough for a grab, or will I get punished? If I attack now, will he parry me? Could I hit him with a projectile? This extends to Smash Bros too, or any fighting game really. You might not be explicitly thinking these sort of thoughts, but it's definitely ingrained into how anyone plays a fighting game. These sort of thoughts even creep in when fighting the computer. Every fight can be totally different, whereas each encounter in Bayonetta and Hyrule Warriors will likely begin to be formulaic.

That tactical element is definitely diminished in big action games like Hyrule Warriors - dodge, attack, unleash a super attack, repeat. Bayonetta and spectacle fighters like that certainly have more of a tactical element than Hyrule Warriors, but they're more about chaining together ludicrous combos than anything else.

So yeah, that might be it. I could be totally wrong though, but I reckon that tactical element might be what you're missing in HW and Bayonetta.

I still don't quite know if you're right (I avoid overly tactical games, like the Advance Wars series, like the plague), but I reckon that's as good an answer as any. I definitely think that this

JayMoyles wrote:

Every fight can be totally different, whereas each encounter in Bayonetta and Hyrule Warriors will likely begin to be formulaic.

is bang on - no two Smash battles feel the same. So the biscuit is yours, Jayseph!

It's not really tactical in the "strategy" Advance Wars way, but I was thinking more tactical in a chess way. Biscuit accepted, nonetheless!

Her Story

There's not a whole lot I can/want to say about this. It's brilliant, but it's properly fucked me up and I wasn't playing it all that long. I want to know more, I need to know more but it just fucked me up. I saw literally no indication that it was going to ruin me as much as it has from any review and I am sitting here absolutely devastated. I can't stop thinking about it, I can't bare to look at any image from the game. Fuck.

I just can't say any more. If I say anything it'll ruin the game for anyone else that decides to play it, but fuck... I've had to uninstall it after I went back in, watched one more video clip and then shut the program down as quickly as I possibly good.

It's bloody brilliant though...

I've got know idea what game your even on about. Well her story whatever that is.

It's a Steam/iOS game where you're given a police database regarding an old crime with the term murder searched in it. You can then watch a series of videos relating to the search and start uncovering the mystery of what happened by searching on further bits of info from the last video. It's about £4 and I don't regret paying it even though I gave up so quickly. It really is something special.

I've seen a bit of chatter about this on Twitter - will have to have a look.

Definitely well worth it. I really wish I wasn't such a wimp! I've read around the story so I don't go back to it a 4th time before running away scared and it's just really cool.

Lord of Magna. It's one of those games where you can tell the developers loved making it, but its fundamental idea is just a very flawed one. One of the sloppiest strategy games I've ever played -- perseverance wins over pure strategy.

This isn't a thread I post in often as I do like to try to finish my games and I do have lots of unfinished but will get to them at some-point. Anyway whilst having a clear out which I got rid of most of the Wii U collection and the Xbox One.

That when I got to the PS4 games on my shelf, and decided I would play Andy's GOTY 2014....



The last time I played DA:I was 12 months ago as I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the story, I didn't like forced side-quests and the combat is a bit off to me. If you have read the Favorite RPG thread, you will see I really like DA:O and Bioware that you would of thought I loved DA:I but no.

Anyway I played the game after those 12 months, which I was 20hrs in that I looked how far I had to go and it was only like 4 missions that I thought I'd get this finished.

Now I'm 26hrs in and on the second to last mission, that you may be wondering why I'm posting here and not finishing it well I've got to a boss who kills me in about 3 hits and when I didn't die right away, I did like no damage and talking on twitter about I see no way I could beat the boss.

And I can't do anything as my saves are a autosave at the boss and a milestone save which neither will help me that my only option is to start the game again and that's not going to happen.

DA:I will be remain unfinished, also if you've got a PS4, XBONE or a decent PC and want a Fantasy setting RPG then buy Witcher III.

Spider-man 2



Spider-Man 2, despite being released on every format under the sun, is a quintessential Gamecube game. The game’s appeal is entirely down to the feel; the snap of a web going taught as Spidey swings round the corner of a building, the rush of air as he plummets from the top of the Empire State Building, the heart-in-your-mouth thrill of leaving it until the last possible second to swing away.

Despite samey missions and crap levels, Spider-Man 2 was absolutely spectacular to actually sit down and play. Swinging around New York had never felt so spot on and, for me, never has since. That feeling was absolutely perfect on the Cube’s unparalleled controller.

Curved to fit just right in the hand, it was the controller of choice for really feeling a game. That great big green button for jumping and the deliciously tactile triggers launching webs, the connection between man and Spider-Man was sublime. Nowhere but a Nintendo machine can the most basic act of playing be something quite so magical.

Today, open world cities that let you swing and fly and jump around as a superhuman are ten-a-penny. They can be prettier, they can have stories and missions you actually want to complete, they can have more satisfying combat, but none of them are quite so fun to traverse.
Since Spider-Man 2, the webhead hasn’t had the best luck. A crap sequel, an unnecessary remake and a crap sequel to that unnecessary remake have bogged him down in the cinemas, a string of budget knock-offs have sullied his name on consoles. Batman has well and truly taken the crown as king of swinging around cities being cool.

Much as I like Bruce and his exploits, the wall-crawler has always been my boy and the gloom of Gotham is never quite as joyous as the bright sunshine of New York. For as much relief as the lack of little girls’ balloons to retrieve brings, the lack of cars milling about and innocent people to protect means I never quite feel as heroic.

Legend has it Spider-Man 2’s swing mechanic was developed by one man as a passion project. The sheer love of Peter Parker that it exudes makes that easy to believe, but at the same time you have to wonder what game they thought they were making without it. Stopping my hundredth bank robbery, pursuing my thirtieth mugger or rescuing my millionth clumsy construction worker would feel horrible if I were playing anything else.

Spider-Man 2 is one of my all-time favourite games, yet I have no intention of ever completing more than the first couple of missions. As I entered adulthood, I finally began to accept I’ll probably never be Spider-Man.  At least once a year, though, I fire up that tiny little disk and go for a swing. It still feels bloody amazing.

I've never beaten Spider-Man 2. I don't even think I've made much progress at all in its story. I had too much fun swinging about the city, as you've so aptly described Drunka. I remember spending ages trying to get to Liberty Island by grabbing onto a helicopter.

I bought the game on launch on GameCube I think over Xbox, I've got no idea why though.

Also isn't the one gut making a name game based on the swing mechanics?

I remember reading about that ages ago. No idea what became of the project though.

I think Amazing Spider-Man 2's game went back to the webs actually sticking to things, so when I eventually see that for a fiver I'm excited to try it out.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

The amount I talked this game up, you'd think I'd at least finish the damn thing huh?

Given the review a read this morning, and the negatives you bring up is the reason I stopped playing it.