Community Backlog Blitz Season 6 - Runs January 1 through March 31 with a raffle at the end

[C-Dub]

I didn't click with Super Lucky's Tale, so I've dropped it. Not sure what I'll switch in its place but I'm going to try and beat the rest of the games on the list first before I work out what its replacement will be.

Speaking of, I also finished Gears 5 Hivebusters today. 'Twas good. It's Gears distilled into a short 2-3 hour campaign, which is no bad thing. It felt a little rushed in places but I liked what I played.

 

[freshVeggie]

Finished Deus Ex Mankind Divided! Only took me a couple years

 

[Futaleufu]

Finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and 2 of the DLCs. A worthy successor of the first game,

 

[C-Dub]

I'm disappointed in One Step from Eden - I wasn't sure what I expected, but I wanted more story. Art style is great, the battle system is fascinating (if a bit frenetic), but I couldn't get on with the fact that there's literally no story other than a vague setup.

Also, the game is a roguelite/roguelike, which wasn't mentioned at all in the game's description, and honestly I'm sick to death of those.

I am enjoying Sam & Max, though. Plus I'm gonna give Asgard's Wrath a go in a moment.

 

[ganmo]

Finished Lego Hobbit
Actually finished it couple of days already. But I grinded toward 100%, since Lego, so why not

 

[mssq]

Finished Bendy and the Ink Machine.

This was one uneven game. I was not feeling it at all after first chapter, but the second one was lot better with actual puzzles and interesting world building. Sadly the third chapter is just one hour long fetch quest which to put mildly I was not a fan. Then the last two chapters were easily the best ones and I had a blast playing them. Overall I enjoyed it but it sure had some problems.

I gotta say though I love the old timey cartoon aesthetic and the game also had some great tunes.

 

[Futaleufu]

Arcania and its expansion completed. Compared to Gothic 3, what a letdown.

 

[Cacher]

Batman Arkham City's main story done. Hmm.... I am actually fairly disappointed, mainly due to the story and pacing. The final fight also doesn't feel like a final boss fight. The gameplay variation is way better in City, but I feel that Aslyum is a better game. It's more focused and down to earth.

 

[Deku]

Batman Arkham City's main story done. Hmm.... I am actually fairly disappointed, mainly due to the story and pacing. The final fight also doesn't feel like a final boss fight. The gameplay variation is way better in City, but I feel that Aslyum is a better game. It's more focused and down to earth.

I finished the main story in Arkham Knight yesterday , it's same thing with the final fight. It wasn't even a fight, and it just ended. No epilogue, no end credits or anything...

Now I'm just doing the side quests to the true ending. I'm not even sure if I want to find all the Riddlers trophies

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Realized I hadn't chosen my games yet! Whoopsie!

I have corrected this error and have chosen the following:
Paradise Killer
Firewatch
Resident Evil 3
Florence
Animal Crossing: New Horizons

I initially had Murder By Numbers but replaced it with Florence as that's apparently a bit longer than I expected. I'm probably already biting off more than I can chew having Animal Crossing on here

 

[Parsnip]

All my recent gametime has been consumed by Minecraft.

 

[Kurt Russell]

I'm at 2 out of 5 so far, I think this has been my most productive start to a Blitz yet
I think I'm gonna do Hellbound next. Still need to pick a 5th again too, since Outriders got delayed and the one I subbed in wasn't really my cup of tea.

 

[ganmo]

I finished the main story in Arkham Knight yesterday , it's same thing with the final fight. It wasn't even a fight, and it just ended. No epilogue, no end credits or anything...

Now I'm just doing the side quests to the true ending. I'm not even sure if I want to find all the Riddlers trophies

You get to see the end credits after the true ending is unlocked. Not really worth the work to get there though. I would suggest you to play any of the DLC stories instead

 

[Wibblewozzer]

You get to see the end credits after the true ending is unlocked. Not really worth the work to get there though. I would suggest you to play any of the DLC stories instead

Not quite. There's essentially three endings, two with credits. This is something I complain about all the time.

Ending 1 - Beat the main story. No credits. It leads into the endgame.
Ending 2 - The first main ending. After you beat the main story it'll task you with completing a certain portion of remaining side quests. This is not a set number and is based on how many you have remaining. If you completed zero side quests before finishing the story then it asks you to complete 7 to trigger the ending. If you completed 7 before the ending it then tasks you to complete three or four more. No matter what you'll always have to complete more. Once you complete the required number then you get an ending with credits that ties up the game well enough.
Ending 3 - The true ending. Get this by completing all sidequests (including all the Riddler stuff, and excluding DLC). Just watch this on YouTube unless you really want to do all sidequests for fun.

I think Ending 2 is absolute bullshit that it will always task you to complete more side quests no matter how many you've completed up to that point. Someone that completed 0 will only need to complete 7 total whereas I completed 7 thinking that number was set and then found out I would need to complete 10 or 11 total to trigger the ending. And if you completed all but Riddler before finishing the story you're forced to finish the Riddler. It's such a dumb way of handling it.

 

[ganmo]

Not quite. There's essentially three endings, two with credits. This is something I complain about all the time.

Ending 1 - Beat the main story. No credits. It leads into the endgame.
Ending 2 - The first main ending. After you beat the main story it'll task you with completing a certain portion of remaining side quests. This is not a set number and is based on how many you have remaining. If you completed zero side quests before finishing the story then it asks you to complete 7 to trigger the ending. If you completed 7 before the ending it then tasks you to complete three or four more. No matter what you'll always have to complete more. Once you complete the required number then you get an ending with credits that ties up the game well enough.
Ending 3 - The true ending. Get this by completing all sidequests (including all the Riddler stuff, and excluding DLC). Just watch this on YouTube unless you really want to do all sidequests for fun.

I think Ending 2 is absolute bullshit that it will always task you to complete more side quests no matter how many you've completed up to that point. Someone that completed 0 will only need to complete 7 total whereas I completed 7 thinking that number was set and then found out I would need to complete 10 or 11 total to trigger the ending. And if you completed all but Riddler before finishing the story you're forced to finish the Riddler. It's such a dumb way of handling it.

It is indeed weird. Must be the first game I played in which finishing, or let you think you finish the game at least, and you aren't given the end credit. Anyhow in overall it was still okay Batman game. I didn't had that much problem with the batmobile which many complained about

Oh by the way I finished Aegis Defenders, very grindy game if I must say... though I felt some old RPG vibes from the story. Though I did not like the TD-ish game play you had at each end of the level. To but it into more stressing factor you had to replay levels to grind resource to upgrade your skills... Anyhow second game finish regardless

 

[Cacher]

My complaint to City's ending:

Spoiler

Ok, Joker is dead. He's THE rival, so Batman being sad is reasonable.

Oh, Talia also dead? Who?

 

[ganmo]

My complaint to City's ending:

Spoiler

Ok, Joker is dead. He's THE rival, so Batman being sad is reasonable.

Oh, Talia also dead? Who?

Because they are secretly in love with each other

 

[Cacher]

Because they are secretly in love with each other

Spoiler

What I try to say is, she doesn't even appear in any scenes after getting shot.

 

[Madventure]

I disappointed myself with my Blitzing attempt last segment but will try it again this go around

I've vaguely decided on...

Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age Origins (I'm Going to probably replay it, explained in a second but not on my list)
Lost Planet 3
Styx Shadows of Darkness
Valkyria Chronicles
&
Something Easy that wont make me claw my eyes out

I already started playing Dragon Age 2 but was super disappointed that I no longer had my 90+ hour saves from Origins anymore because apparently its one of the few games that doesn't use Cloud Saves, so that makes me want to play it again so it can use my game decisions for 2 instead of random generic ass ones (Even if I know probably deep down it has little to no bearing on the game)

 

[Deku]

Not quite. There's essentially three endings, two with credits. This is something I complain about all the time.

Ending 1 - Beat the main story. No credits. It leads into the endgame.
Ending 2 - The first main ending. After you beat the main story it'll task you with completing a certain portion of remaining side quests. This is not a set number and is based on how many you have remaining. If you completed zero side quests before finishing the story then it asks you to complete 7 to trigger the ending. If you completed 7 before the ending it then tasks you to complete three or four more. No matter what you'll always have to complete more. Once you complete the required number then you get an ending with credits that ties up the game well enough.
Ending 3 - The true ending. Get this by completing all sidequests (including all the Riddler stuff, and excluding DLC). Just watch this on YouTube unless you really want to do all sidequests for fun.

I think Ending 2 is absolute bullshit that it will always task you to complete more side quests no matter how many you've completed up to that point. Someone that completed 0 will only need to complete 7 total whereas I completed 7 thinking that number was set and then found out I would need to complete 10 or 11 total to trigger the ending. And if you completed all but Riddler before finishing the story you're forced to finish the Riddler. It's such a dumb way of handling it.

Do I have to find all the riddler trophies too for the true ending?

I have three side quests remaining including the saving cat woman. Can do the second ending now

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Do I have to find all the riddler trophies too for the true ending?

I have three side quests remaining including the saving cat woman. Can do the second ending now

Yes, for the basic ending you just need to complete however many side quests it tells you to upon finishing the story. For the true ending you must complete all side quests in the base game. There's definitely story in the true ending, it's like 2.5 minutes long, but I'd really recommend just YouTubing it unless you really enjoy the Riddler stuff or you're doing it for like achievements or something?

 

[Deku]

Yes, for the basic ending you just need to complete however many side quests it tells you to upon finishing the story. For the true ending you must complete all side quests in the base game. There's definitely story in the true ending, it's like 2.5 minutes long, but I'd really recommend just YouTubing it unless you really enjoy the Riddler stuff or you're doing it for like achievements or something?

I found all the trophies in Arkham Asylum, did not enjoy doing that. In Arkham City I didn't find all trophies. I don't think I want to find all the trophies in Arkham Knight either. I guess I am going to youtube it then

 

[MegaApple]

2021 Letsfuckinggooooooooooo

 

[BlueOdin]

Finished Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Not everything it does hits in the story department and the combat system needs some refinement but overall it is probably one of the best complete packages of the last couple of years.

 

[Ascheroth]

I finished the main game of Resident Evil 5.
Lol. I thought 6 was the one bashed because of its action-y nature, so I expected 5 to be somewhere between 4 and 6 in term of scary/action balance. Lol. 5 is even less scary than 6, that one at least had the Leon campaign!
Not that I had a bad time though, it's a great "zombie" punching game with bombastic set pieces.

Still have the DLCs left, and then I'll probably go back and finish up Higurashi 7.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I still haven't completed any games yet, as I started the year working on other stuff, but I'm now probably about halfway into Steins;Gate. The first eight or so hours were fine but I was pushing myself to keep moving forward but now I'm deep enough I don't mind playing more so I'm making it a bigger focus and putting time in. I'd like to be done with it in around a week.

I also started The MISSING back up. My save was gone, which was fine since it was only about 20 minutes in, and I'm already now further than that previous save by a little bit. It's kind of clunky and so far not really all that interesting on the gameplay side but I do want to see more of the story and I'm assuming the gameplay also will present more puzzling or challenging sections the further in I get.

But Hitman 3 (and some other new stuff) is definitely going to slow me down. So we'll see! This might be one of those Blitzes where I'm rushing my last games in the final week.

 

[Kurt Russell]

Beat Hellbound. Sadly, I still think the same thing I thought last year when I'd refunded it: It's a "retro" shooter made by people who loved the look of old FPS games but didn't really play them. It looks good, has a nice soundtrack, but the gameplay is very much not up to the standards of DUSK or Amid Evil, for instance. Also, the save system kinda sucks (if you quicksave, your quicksaves apparently only count as "checkpoints" and not "saves" so if you die, then go to load save, then load the latest thinking that's your quicksave, you will find out that it's the previous level, and your quicksave is now lost and you have to replay a level)
With this, I'm officially further down this Blitz than ever I'd never managed to beat more than 2 Blitz games per Blitz if I remember correctly.

 

[Parsnip]

Finished Soma. Liked it.

 

[C-Dub]

My Blitz is not going well.

I dropped Asgard's Wrath (boring), Super Lucky's Tale (didn't like the controls, animation or level design - everything felt wrong) and I don't know what I was expecting from One Step from Eden, but I didn't get what I wanted.

I replaced Asgard's Wrath with Defector, which was also boring but I managed to finish it.

I haven't decided what I'm gonna play once I've finished with Sam & Max: Save the World (which I'm enjoying), Phasmopobia (up next) and Unravel (after that). But I've come to the conclusion that I have a lot of games in my backlog that I know I won't like - which is why I've let my backlog get so big.

 

[Ascheroth]

Played through the Lost In Nightmares DLC in Resident Evil 5. Well almost. It's short but good... and then the final boss "fight" is among the worst pieces of shit I've ever had the displeasure to experience. These QTE's are completely fucking impossibly timed and your garbage AI partner just watches as you get insta-killed over. and. over. and. over once you fail a single one. (While you can save them if the boss targets them instead of you, if RNG so decides).
And of course after failing a dozen times I've mistakenly clicked "No" on the "Do you want to continue?" screen and the DLC literally does. not. save. at all. There are checkpoints for when you die during it obviously, but if you don't finish it one sitting? Yeah though luck, gonna start from the beginning again.

Fuck you Capcom, I'm outta here. Not even gonna bother with the second DLC campaign, I'm done with RE5.
This is Lords of Shadows DLC boss level of fucking garbage idiot game design.

/rant

 

[Madventure]

So I beat Dragon Age 2, I was going to go straight to Dragon Age Inquisition but then I found out about Dragon Age Keep & World states and yeah now I want to play Origins because I haven't done it in like 9 years and it hasnt saved any of my info and it didnt keep my saves etc

Overall? I liked the game it's definitely fun but it had some stuff that kind of annoyed me but I think it has more to do with the time period of how RPGs were being made or designed back then and I just forgot about how dumb some of the decisions for shit were, like 4-5 boss phases or whatever. On harder difficulties it was just getting tedious.

Storywise it was pretty great! Combat etc was pretty much a step right back into origins although I want to say that the camera was complete shit for this one since I could never get it to work the way I wanted. I also struggled at times to move my characters to specific spots when I would pause the game they would just flat out not move at all until I clicked some insanely far off spot.

I held off on Buying/playing DA 2/Inquisition because EA did their dumb excuse shit with Steam and once they came back I immediately bought both so that's why I'm playing them now (I also avoided using the DLC weapons etc because they're broken as shit)

 

[lashman]

So I beat Dragon Age 2

my condolences

 

[Parsnip]

I'm thinking about switching one of my games to DA Inquisition actually. Already went through the keep, I actually did that back when they launched it and that world state was still saved there. But I went through all the choices again anyway to give myself a little refresher.

 

[Futaleufu]

For an adventure game made in Russia in 1998, the production values of Red Comrades Save The Galaxy are very high, rivaling games like Monkey Island 3 and Leisure Suit Larry 7.

That's 3/5.

 

[Kurt Russell]

Hitman 3 marks 4/5 done
Now it's 100% the furthest I've made it on a Blitz.

 

[Ascheroth]

Done with Higurashi Chapter 7 - was very good.
That's half of my 3rd game done then, so I'm at exactly 2.5 games done in this blitz

 

[freshVeggie]

Another one down with Far Cry 5

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I finished Steins;Gate late last night so that's my big one down. I expect the total time for it will be about equal to my other four games combined so I'll be able to knock the rest of my games out pretty quickly.

Steins;Gate was ultimately a good time, but I sure have a lot I could complain about. The known thing is the lead character is extremely frustrating and he can really make the first half of the game drag (it improves as more side characters come into things as their interactions make things better). My other big complaint is there's a lot of things that take them far too long to do, consider, try, or talk about. There's supposed to be some real smart folks involved in their adventure yet things that are immediately apparent or at least worth trying to get through situations are simply never done or talked about! So for a game that has a lot going on and to follow it's also a game I just had to turn off my brain to really enjoy because otherwise I just wanted to complain at the actions the characters were taking constantly.

And like I said, it's ultimately a good time so I do think people into VNs would all likely enjoy it if they can just get through some of the more frustrating stuff.

 

[ganmo]

I finished Steins;Gate late last night so that's my big one down. I expect the total time for it will be about equal to my other four games combined so I'll be able to knock the rest of my games out pretty quickly.

Steins;Gate was ultimately a good time, but I sure have a lot I could complain about. The known thing is the lead character is extremely frustrating and he can really make the first half of the game drag (it improves as more side characters come into things as their interactions make things better). My other big complaint is there's a lot of things that take them far too long to do, consider, try, or talk about. There's supposed to be some real smart folks involved in their adventure yet things that are immediately apparent or at least worth trying to get through situations are simply never done or talked about! So for a game that has a lot going on and to follow it's also a game I just had to turn off my brain to really enjoy because otherwise I just wanted to complain at the actions the characters were taking constantly.

And like I said, it's ultimately a good time so I do think people into VNs would all likely enjoy it if they can just get through some of the more frustrating stuff.

Never played visual novels before, or does click click adventure games counts as visual novel?
Since I think the game itself is just story driven. But isn't Steins;Gate already predefined story? I wonder since I watched the anime, so I suppose the game has already a plot which you have to follow with little choice you can pick, or am I wrong?

Oh, I finished my third game also. SteamWorld Heist. Storywise not as deep as Steins;Gate perhaps. Gameplay-wise it was fun at start, but then it became quite meh, and to the end I was struggling just to finish it off ...

I played SteamWorld Dig by the same developers before, as I remember that one was a bit more enjoyable than Heist

 

[Routa]

Is it too late for me to enter? Not sure if I'll even finish one game but I'll try

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Is it too late for me to enter? Not sure if I'll even finish one game but I'll try

Anyone can join whenever. I think the latest we've had someone join was like three weeks before the end.

Never played visual novels before, or does click click adventure games counts as visual novel?
Since I think the game itself is just story driven. But isn't Steins;Gate already predefined story? I wonder since I watched the anime, so I suppose the game has already a plot which you have to follow with little choice you can pick, or am I wrong?

Depends entirely on the VN. What you're thinking of are called Kinetic VNs where they don't have any choices and you're just clicking through and reading it with visuals and music (and maybe voice acting).

Steins;Gate is not that. I haven't seen the anime but I would assume it largely just follows the True Ending path of the game but the game has five other endings. At least three of them would be considered Bad Endings. I don't know what the general consensus on the other endings. I'd consider two to be Normal Endings. Usually in a VN with choices they come up as buttons to hit on the screen like a choose your own adventure. Sometimes it's picking a direction (go left or go right) but most often it's picking dialogue options. Steins;Gate is more like the latter where all decisions are made by pulling up the lead's phone and replying to texts by selecting from a few options. Or choices can be made by inaction of not sending a text or answering a phone call. There's actually a lot of branching paths with some having zero outcome and just for flavor, many leading to CGs (fancier full screen scenes), and achievements. But they also are what lead to the alternate endings.

No real spoiler to take a quick glance but you can click this link and scroll down to see how all the chapters have a bunch of branches: Steins;Gate 100% Completion Walkthrough

 

[Deku]

Never played visual novels before, or does click click adventure games counts as visual novel?
Since I think the game itself is just story driven. But isn't Steins;Gate already predefined story? I wonder since I watched the anime, so I suppose the game has already a plot which you have to follow with little choice you can pick, or am I wrong?

I believe you mean point and click games? or maybe games like Walking Dead? Those games aren't same type as VN games, while they share a few same features, they are still not same type of games.

As for the story for Steins;Gate. the anime is based on the game. Not the other way around. There is an Elite version which I believe is based on the anime

 

[Wibblewozzer]

As for the story for Steins;Gate. the anime is based on the game. Not the other way around. There is an Elite version which I believe is based on the anime

Reading about it last night, and I could have just not read deep enough, but it seems it has all the same story content as the original game but just the art was replaced with shots/scenes from the anime. So it's really just a matter of preference mainly as the art is the big thing and then it's just some small quality of life improvements.

 

[Spamlynguist]

With the latest patch potentially having a new gamebreaking bug (thanks CDPR), I'm gonna have to switch Cyberpunk 2077 with something else. Switching it for Tell Me Why.

 

[ganmo]

Anyone can join whenever. I think the latest we've had someone join was like three weeks before the end.


Depends entirely on the VN. What you're thinking of are called Kinetic VNs where they don't have any choices and you're just clicking through and reading it with visuals and music (and maybe voice acting).

Steins;Gate is not that. I haven't seen the anime but I would assume it largely just follows the True Ending path of the game but the game has five other endings. At least three of them would be considered Bad Endings. I don't know what the general consensus on the other endings. I'd consider two to be Normal Endings. Usually in a VN with choices they come up as buttons to hit on the screen like a choose your own adventure. Sometimes it's picking a direction (go left or go right) but most often it's picking dialogue options. Steins;Gate is more like the latter where all decisions are made by pulling up the lead's phone and replying to texts by selecting from a few options. Or choices can be made by inaction of not sending a text or answering a phone call. There's actually a lot of branching paths with some having zero outcome and just for flavor, many leading to CGs (fancier full screen scenes), and achievements. But they also are what lead to the alternate endings.

No real spoiler to take a quick glance but you can click this link and scroll down to see how all the chapters have a bunch of branches: Steins;Gate 100% Completion Walkthrough

I believe you mean point and click games? or maybe games like Walking Dead? Those games aren't same type as VN games, while they share a few same features, they are still not same type of games.

As for the story for Steins;Gate. the anime is based on the game. Not the other way around. There is an Elite version which I believe is based on the anime

Interesting. I totally would think that the game was based on anime. Still I haven't any VN as off to date then... or perhaps if Toki Meki Memorial which I played long long ago in Japanese on SNES counts though I did not understand a single word by then. And I was wishing for a very long time that some fan translation would come out haha

Anyhow sounds interesting from how you described Steins;Gate might give it a try one day

 

[Ascheroth]

Interesting. I totally would think that the game was based on anime. Still I haven't any VN as off to date then... or perhaps if Toki Meki Memorial which I played long long ago in Japanese on SNES counts though I did not understand a single word by then. And I was wishing for a very long time that some fan translation would come out haha

Anyhow sounds interesting from how you described Steins;Gate might give it a try one day

If you read only one VN in your life, make sure it's Fata Morgana!

While it's production values aren't as high as the "big names" (there is no voice acting), it's one of the best stories I've experienced in any medium.

Or Umineko if you want to read something incredible unique that will make your brain melt and that's also around 3-4 times as long

(For the record, Fata Morgana is around 20-30 hours )

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I'll continue fighting the opposite fight and say Fata Morgana is not a great first VN for someone that isn't already into the genre. Fata Morgana is for someone that's already read at least a few and is ready to dig in a bit deeper. When you do Fata you need to be in the right mindset and be willing to apparently push through a fair bit because I put it down an hour in as I really wasn't getting into the events or the writing style and people always tell me that you have to get deeper before it gets engaging. These are not great features for someone new to the genre.

Go for something like Necrobarista if you want to try out a VN (though in this case with a very different aesthetic) as the main story is fairly short (my total time was under five hours and that included some optional side stories) and it still tells an intriguing story with good characters and with fun, fast-flowing dialogue.

 

[BlueOdin]

Finished Outer Wilds

I love the vibes of the game and a lot of the stuff that it does but there are sections in the game which were just frustrating to me and lessened my enjoyment of it. But it also made me wonder that it was Giant Bomb which gave it GotY when they wrote off other games for much, much less. Which I guess speaks to the strengths of Outer Wilds being really good.

 

[freshVeggie]

Started and finished the campaign of Star Wars Battlefront 2 (no not EGS, on Steam lol).
I enjoyed it quite a bit tbh. Really surprised.

 

[Futaleufu]

I just made quick and rough calculation and realized that it could probably take me 100+ hours to reach Season 10 in Project Cars and complete it. Between practice, qualifying and racing, it takes at least 20 minutes to finish a racing session, in Season 4 I'm getting at least 2 sessions per week and a season lasts the whole year. So while I'm not droping the game at all I think I will replace Project Cars with something less evergreen like Resident Evil 0.