General Gaming ~Backlaugust 2021!~

[Brick]

Year 4 of Day 1 Patch's Backlaugust begins! We do this every year over at Negative World, so we should make this an annual thing here too! Last year was fun, and people seemed to enjoy the encouragement to clear out more games from our collective backlogs during the month of August, hence Backlaugust!

 

The rules are simple:

 

- tell us what you're playing, and on what system so we can cheer each other on, and help each other out if we have any tips

 

- play a game from your backlog, either a game that's been sitting in your library for a long time that you've decided to finally play and finish, or a game you started long ago, but for whatever reason stopped playing and have been meaning to get back to and finish

 

- don't use a game that is new, or a game that you're already currently playing, pick a game from your actual backlog

 

- pick a game that you already own (no buying games you've been meaning to get for a while)

 

- when a game is actually "finished" is up to you. Whether that is completing the main story, getting 100% completion rating, getting all Achievements/Trophies, or just whenever you feel "done" with a game is up to you

 

- post when you're finished, and all the games that have been finished will be added to this OP

 

 

All right, let's get started, and have some fun getting some of our backlogs done! Let's see how many games we can complete!

 

Last year we completed 17 games, let's see if we can beat that, or at least beat the folks over at Negative World!

 

 

THE FINISHED PILE

 

1. A Hat in Time Seal the Deal DLC - crispy4000

2. Telltale's The Walking Dead Season Two - Brick

3. Skyrim Special Edition + DLC - Nokt

4. Wonder Boy: The Dragon Trap - crispy4000

5. The Stillness of the Wind - Raggit

6. The Evil Within - Nokt

7. Metroid: Zero Mission - Raggit

8. Bad North - crispy4000

9. Metroid: Zero Mission - crispy4000

10. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Brick

[Dodger]

Trying to finish Skyrim Special edition achievements on a new play through. At 1050/1550 now.

[Nokt]

55 minutes ago, Dodger said:

Trying to finish Skyrim Special edition achievements on a new play through. At 1050/1550 now.

I might steal this and use it too. I beat skyrim originally, then my friend saved over my 360 save file and I never went back and did the DLC.

 

Never finished Doom Eternals DLC either.

[crispy4000]

Good excuse for me to wrap up Uncharted 4.  I feel off the train at the ‘open’ part a few months ago, but I would like to see it to completion.  God of War is another… but that PS5 patch might make me wait until I pick one up someday.

 

I’d also like to try Hat in Time’s Seal the Deal DLC.  Owned it forever, but the itch for cheery 3D platformer vibes is getting me and it sounds perfect. I won’t do the ‘Deal’ challenges part, which are just stupidly difficult speed run trials from what I hear.  There’s another DLC as well which reviewed better, so this is also a test for if I’d get that.

 

Beyond those two, we’ll see.  I just started Monster Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, but only enough to demo it really.  Haven’t touched Paper Mario: Origami King in a month, but it might be too long for something like this.  At least for me.  I might pick something more random and niche instead to share about.  That’s how I found Supraland last year.

[best3444]

I'm currently deep into ME2 then I have ME3. Then after that I'm so lost lol. Probably Zelda SS.

[Keyser_Soze]

I think I might use this opportunity to finish The Outer Worlds DLC. Both of them. I started the first then kinda fell off.

[skillzdadirecta]

On 7/31/2021 at 10:33 PM, Nokt said:

I might steal this and use it too. I beat skyrim originally, then my friend saved over my 360 save file and I never went back and did the DLC.

 

Never finished Doom Eternals DLC either.

Think I'll use this to play Doom Eternal's DLC as well.

[crispy4000]

One time piece away from finishing the Hat in Time DLC.  Love this music from it, it’d fit naturally in Mario Odyssey.
 

 

[crispy4000]

Finished the Hat in Time DLC.  The Arctic Cruise is a smaller level than base game ones, but the first challenge zone kept me going for quite a while.  Second one was cakewalk.

Hat in Time is still as charming but cluttered as I remember it.  The camera really doesn't work well in tight spaces, which leads to lots of unintentional wall sliding.  But if you're okay with a little jank in your 3D platformers, it's a good time.
 

I checked out some of the mod levels too.  Pretty great in-game implimentation, and if you enjoy the base game there's more than enough there to continue tinkering around with.  It’s sometimes surprising how good they look.

[Kal-El814]

Gonna see if I can finish my Master Mode / all DLC run of Breath of the Wild.

[Raggit]

I'm going to try to get through a few indie games that I have been meaning to play for a while. Starting with The Stillness of the Wind.

[Brick]

Finally played through Telltale's The Walking Dead Season Two. These games are an emotional gut punch. I'll play New Frontier, Michonne, and Final Season in October for the Halloween spirit, and I'm sure they'll be on sale on Steam at that time.

[Nokt]

Skyrim SE + DLC is finished. I liked Dawnguard quite a bit, Dragonborn was so-so for me, which is the opposite of how they got rated.

Seemed like Dawnguard was a much more personal and involved story, I liked prodding the characters for extra information about their stories. Dragonborn was cool for its visuals and setting, but I didn't really dig Miraak stealing so many souls from me when all I needed was one soul to finish the word to battle him. Nor did I really care what was happening to any of the characters.

 

Idk what I will move onto and try to finish. Doom Eternal just isn't my jam right now.

[crispy4000]

Finished Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap.

 

It’s a proto-Metroidvania that experiments with lite puzzle and RPG elements (ie: weapon upgrades for cash).  The game handles progression by giving you a new transformation after you beat each boss, which in turn lets you access new areas.  And you can’t switch forms back until very late on.  Still is a clever twist.

Parts of the game definitely feel old though.  There’s lots of repeated room designs with slight variations, and long scrolling sections where you just keep killing the same enemies as they run at you from both sides.  The farther you get from the central town, the more predictable everything becomes, which is bit of a shame in ‘dungeons.’  Every so often you’ll hit a slow moving up-down block hazard, which is always a joke.  It feels like some intern programmer added it, so they left it in the game knowing it wouldn’t really amount to anything.

 

On the positive, the length feels just right and it generally doesn’t overextend itself.  The remake work is also spot on, and definitely breathes new life into the game as a whole.  I could see someone aggravated by Cuphead really enjoying this.  The difficulty curve is pretty much non-existent: the secondary weapon attacks you stockpile feel useless. I’m pretty sure I killed the final boss in 4 hits.  

 

I want DotEMU got permission from SquareEnix to do an EVO Search for Eden remaster.  That game, done this way, would be amazing.   And probably a step up from this as a game.

 

7.5/10

[gamer.tv]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:42 AM, Brick said:

Finally played through Telltale's The Walking Dead Season Two. These games are an emotional gut punch. I'll play New Frontier, Michonne, and Final Season in October for the Halloween spirit, and I'm sure they'll be on sale on Steam at that time.

I may well get Season 2 for the Halloween’s months. I played through season 1 with my wife about five years ago and we loved it - but never delved any further.

[Raggit]

Just finished The Stillness of the Wind. It was a sad story, but I enjoyed it overall. I did encounter quite a few glitches, though.

 

I'm thinking of playing Metroid Zero Mission next. I haven't really been playing on my PC much, so I figured I'll try a handheld game next. I got it a few months back, but haven't played it beyond making sure the cartridge works. With Dread releasing soon, I might as well give this a shot. Although I'm not looking forward to playing on a tiny ass screen.
 

[Fizzzzle]

I wanted to join in, but I still haven't got my PC fixed (I think my MB is fucked, or at least the censor that detects the CPU temp) and I'm going out of town next week, so... Playing a bunch of Stardew valley on switch it is.

 

I haven't played since the 1.5 update, though, so there actually is a fair amount of new content I haven't played.

[Nokt]

The Evil Within is finished. Idk if I want to play the DLC or just move onto the second game.

[best3444]

47 minutes ago, Nokt said:

The Evil Within is finished. Idk if I want to play the DLC or just move onto the second game.

 

Just move on to part 2. It's great!

[Nokt]

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

Just move on to part 2. It's great!

I hear the kidman DLC has a lot of information that helps you understand everything that is going on. Its really the only reason I would play it. I might just read a synopsis though and move on.

[Brian]

In honor of @best3444, I am going to give RDR2 another shot. I got to about the “make camp” part of the game before I moved on. 

[best3444]

1 minute ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

In honor of @best3444, I am going to give RDR2 another shot. I got to about the “make camp” part of the game before I moved on. 

 

Just be patient with it and enjoy the world, story, and AI. Sure, the controls aren't perfect but Jesus do I love that game.

 

Just hunting the animals for upgrades etc was extremely fun and impressive. 

[gamer.tv]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Just be patient with it and enjoy the world, story, and AI. Sure, the controls aren't perfect but Jesus do I love that game.

 

Just hunting the animals for upgrades etc was extremely fun and impressive. 

 

Adding to that, there's the cinematic travel system, which makes the whole travelling better (and gives you a good amount of time to play on your phone at the same time). 

[Raggit]

I think I'm nearing the end of Metroid Zero Mission... 

Spoiler

I just beat that weird looking brain boss that causes the area to self-destruct  upon defeat. I must say, that was the biggest load of bull shit, I've experienced in a long time. Between dealing with tiny buttons of my DS, and the spammy ass bullet hell that was the boss fight, I was annoyed as fuck by the time I beat it. It only took me three tries, but damn that boss fight pissed me off. I'm all for a good challenge, but that was just annoying. The bullet hell was bad enough, but having two tiny platforms to stand on lest you get damaged by the liquid bellow... that was not fun. Every two seconds I'm getting knocked off the tiny platforms and trying to jump back up while being fired upon from every direction.... 

In most games I feel great after I overcome something "difficult".... but that just left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Sorry, I needed to vent.  

[Raggit]

So I beat Metroid Zero Mission... it was alright. I think much of my enjoyment was hampered by the tiny screen and device I'm playing on. I think it'll be a while before I play another game on this. 

[crispy4000]

Beat Bad North.

8/10 solid little RTS puzzle-game rogue-like.  Gets a little repetitive, but it’s 4 hours long and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[crispy4000]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:17 PM, Raggit said:

So I beat Metroid Zero Mission... it was alright. I think much of my enjoyment was hampered by the tiny screen and device I'm playing on. I think it'll be a while before I play another game on this. 

 

You inspired me to give this game a go.  Don't think I'll beat it before the end of the month though.

 

I'll probably beat Samus Returns as well in prep for Dread.

[crispy4000]

23 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Don't think I'll beat it before the end of the month though.

 

 

Guess I was wrong.  I'm done!

I'll do a write up later in 2021 games thread.  It's good, nearly as good as Super, and not redundant to Metroid 1 at all really.

[Nokt]

If starting games in August counts I'll probably finish Bravely Default and Samus Returns at some point in the next month or so. I can update the thread when I do.

[Brick]

I picked up Halo: The Master Chief Collection on a Steam sale a while back. Got distracted with other games in the meantime, but I just finished Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. I do not think this game has aged all that well. I found the difficulty more frustrating and cheap than anything. Maybe it's just because of its older design. It is almost 20 years old now.

[Remarkableriots]

I almost finished Far Cry New Dawn but i couldn't get the co-op trophy to finish getting the Platinum.

[crispy4000]

7 hours ago, Brick said:

I picked up Halo: The Master Chief Collection on a Steam sale a while back. Got distracted with other games in the meantime, but I just finished Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. I do not think this game has aged all that well. I found the difficulty more frustrating and cheap than anything. Maybe it's just because of its older design. It is almost 20 years old now.

 

Been meaning go back and play it, I think I might have stopped in the Library back in the day.  Haven’t touched a Halo campaign since.

 

BTW, you can add Metroid Zero Mission to the list for me.

[Brick]

2 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Been meaning go back and play it, I think I might have stopped in the Library back in the day.  Haven’t touched a Halo campaign since.

 

BTW, you can add Metroid Zero Mission to the list for me.

 

Oh yeah, totally forgot you said you beat it. I was going to tell you you could easily beat it in a day. 

[crispy4000]

On 8/22/2021 at 9:09 PM, Raggit said:

I think I'm nearing the end of Metroid Zero Mission... 

  Hide contents

I just beat that weird looking brain boss that causes the area to self-destruct  upon defeat. I must say, that was the biggest load of bull shit, I've experienced in a long time. Between dealing with tiny buttons of my DS, and the spammy ass bullet hell that was the boss fight, I was annoyed as fuck by the time I beat it. It only took me three tries, but damn that boss fight pissed me off. I'm all for a good challenge, but that was just annoying. The bullet hell was bad enough, but having two tiny platforms to stand on lest you get damaged by the liquid bellow... that was not fun. Every two seconds I'm getting knocked off the tiny platforms and trying to jump back up while being fired upon from every direction.... 

In most games I feel great after I overcome something "difficult".... but that just left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Sorry, I needed to vent.  

I felt the same way, but eventually figured out there was the ledge on the top right you could wait on, then drop down to the lower right when you see an opening.

 

It's still much more BS than the NES original was.  Which is sort of surprising.

[Brick]

Thanks to everyone who participated in Backlaugust this year. Didn't get as many games done as I wanted, mostly because I'm back to work, but it was fun regardless to chip something away. Hope you guys had fun too. See you next year!