I beat 18 games in January!
From the challenge thread:
From the challenge thread:
1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (XSX) | 1st January - 29hrs | ★★★★½ | It's incredible just how well this game holds up in pretty much every aspect (except visually) even after 18 years. Easily some of the best work Bioware's ever done, and that's saying a lot. A really, really great start to 2021 for me! Also, just what is it with western RPGs and unnecessary card games? I will never understand that.
2. Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (XSX) | 3rd January - 7.5hrs | ★★★★ | A gorgeous metroidvania that has great traversal/platforming and decent combat, but it was a bit overhyped for me. I was expecting more, but I still had an enjoyable time with it. Hopefully Will of the Wisps manages to live up to my expectations.
3. My Friend Pedro (XSX) | 3rd January - 3hrs | ★★½ | It's like a sidescrolling Hotline Miami, except nowhere near as good and not as pretty. If anything, this just made me appreciate how meticulously designed and paced the two Hotline Miami games and Katana Zero were. I wasn't shocked to learn that this was originally a flash game, because just like many flash games, it's fun in very small doses. This might be the poster child of games that outstay their welcome.
4. Forza Horizon 4 (XSX) | 4th January - 10hrs | ★★★½ | This game doesn't really "end" (AFAIK, credits don't roll unless you trigger them manually) so I decided to stop and mark this completed after finishing the last showcase.
I love kart racers, but "realistic" racing games (things like Driveclub and Need for Speed, for example) are not my cup of tea. Forza Horizon 4 falls into the latter category, which would make it a very "not my cup of tea" game.
Forza Horizon 4 is an exceptionally well made video game. It's absolutely gorgeous and chock full of content. The driving feels fantastic, and the cars are recreated incredibly faithfully as far as I can tell. You can tell that it's a game made with a lot of love. I just don't think it's incredibly fun to play, and I really don't think it's the game's fault. It's just not my cup of tea.
However, I did think that it was fun enough to "finish," and it really deserves props for that, as I usually find games like this insanely boring. I think that says a lot about the overall quality of the title.
5. Sunset Overdrive (XSX) | 5th January - 7.5hrs | ★★½ | Where do I even begin?
I find it shocking that Insomniac made this game. Just on basic level, it feels like something's missing here, but I really can't put my finger on it.
The writing is...interesting. I usually don't mind Saints Row-esque writing, but it just absolutely does not work here. Not a single joke landed for me. It felt like something trying so hard to be funny instead of actually being funny. It legitimately feels intentional, but it isn't.
The mission design is very 2014. This is the most 2014 game I've played in a while. It just felt extremely cookie cutter and basic, and I honestly expected better. The PS2 Ratchet & Clank games had better mission design than this, and the first one came out in 2002. You do a whole lot of defending objects in this game, and that's not something I particularly enjoy.
The game's saving graces are the traversal and combat, both of which are extremely fun to just mess around with. The game feels really good to control, and combining grinding with air dashes and wall running is extremely fun. Very reminiscent of Jet Set Radio. You can also pinpoint exactly what they took from this game and put into Spider-Man, which is really cool.
I don't know, maybe it's just me. I've seen a lot of praise for this game, and while I respect that, I personally don't see it. It was not the serve I expected it to be.
6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (PC) | 9th January - 30hrs | ★★★★ | This game might quite possibly be the most well written Star Wars related thing ever. If not, it is certainly the most intriguing. It's a deeper, more complex exploration of Star Wars, and it tackles subjects Star Wars doesn't usually touch on. It manages to genuinely have nuance, something I think Star Wars generally lacks. Then you get to the actual game, which is a fucking mess.
Even with TSLRCM installed, it's painfully obvious that the game is unfinished. Aside from the vast amount of bugs I've encountered (the most annoying of which is random line skipping, which genuinely ruined a good amount of the experience for me), the game has absolutely no flow. Instead, it feels like disjointed. Like a bunch of scenes that are stitched together in hopes that they somehow make sense. It's not unlike the state Final Fantasy XV launched in.
It's a shame, because the writing is gold. I rank this below the original simply because it's a nightmare to play. Still, everything else is so good that I can't give it a lower score than this.
7. Donkey Kong Country (Switch) | 12th January - 1.5hrs | ★★★★ | Still an extremely solid platformer. Some cheap bits here and there, but it has aged incredibly well overall.
Also, I really don't remember it being this short. The rewind feature on Switch might have to do something with it, though. Using it cuts playtime quite a bit.
8. Dragon Age: Origins (XSX) | 17th January - 23.5hrs | ★★★½ | Maybe it's because I'd just come off of playing the two KOTOR games, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I still had a blast, don't get me wrong, but something here feels a little less...nuanced. The characters are great, but the setting is kind of a generic medieval fantasy setting. I didn't find the story particularly strong, either. It was also incredibly buggy, but that might be the result of playing it on Xbox Series X. It seemed like the game was loading a little too fast and screwing things up.
Still, I'm really looking forward to playing all the DLC and the rest of the entries.
9. Dragon Age: Origins - The Stone Prisoner (XSX) | 18th January - 1.5hrs | ★★★ | I love Shale so much!
Shale disapproves
10. Dragon Age: Origins - Leliana's Song (XSX) | 18th January - 1.5hrs | ★★★ | I actually missed Leliana in my playthrough of Origins, so it was nice to get know her and some of her backstory. Other than that, it's meh. Wish she'd gotten a longer and bigger campaign, because she's really interesting.
11. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (XSX) | 19th January - 12.5hrs | ★★★½ | I thought this was about as good as the main campaign. I think I liked it a little more? I appreciated the tighter pace and the lower amount of areas. I also really, really like the mostly new cast. It was also more fantasy that medieval, which also might have something to do with why I enjoyed it a bit more.
12. Dragon Age: Origins - Witch Hunt (XSX) | 20th January - 1.5hrs | ★★ | Extremely mediocre. Probably my least favorite piece of Origins DLC. Docked an extra ½ star because the final boss completely bugged out me and wouldn't appear. I had to Youtube the ending (which was disappointing, honestly, so I wouldn't have missed out on much anyways).
13. Dragon Age II (XSX) | 21st January - 24hrs | ★★★½ | I'd put this at the same level as the original. I vastly preferred the cast of characters and the story (even if Act 3 is a bit of a mess) and maybe even the combat, but the game has a ridiculously smaller scope than the original. That's not an inherently bad thing, obviously (I even tend to prefer games with smaller scopes), but it doesn't feel...intentional here at all. Seemed like it was either a budgetary issue or a time management one, or both.
Still, I had fun and I really don't think it deserves all the hate that it gets.
14. Dragon Age II: Legacy (XSX) | 21st January - 2.5hrs | ★★★ | A solid piece of DLC that sets up Dragon Age: Inquisition surprisingly well. Other than that, it's unremarkable.
15. Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS5) | 28th January - 66hrs | ★★★★ | Yes, the MMO world and quest design kind of sucks (even though I honestly don't think it's that bad), and the combat is nothing special. But honestly, all of that isn't what I'm here for. Dragon Age, to me, is all about storytelling and characters, and I honestly think Inquisition does both of those things extremely well. Better than the previous two games, even. I mean, come on, Dorian's in this game.
And yes, I love the singing scene. Fuck you.
16. Dragon Age: Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon (PS5) | 28th January - 2.5hrs | ★★★ | This was alright. Frostback Basin is a great area, and some of the lore introduced here was nice. Disappointing final boss, though.
17. Dragon Age: Inquisition - The Descent (PS5) | 28th January - 3hrs | ★★ | Was not a big fan of this, unfortunately. Seeing more dwarves and learning about additional dwarven lore was cool, but the entire DLC felt like one giant dungeon that dragged on and on, and the final boss is quite possibly my least favorite Dragon Age fight ever. Disappointing.
18. Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser (PS5) | 29th January - 6hrs | ★★★★½ | I can't say too much without spoiling anything, so I'll just say that this is easily the best Dragon Age content yet. The future of this franchise in incredibly exciting.
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