Community Backlog Blitz Season 7 - Runs April 1 through June 30 with a raffle at the end

[Cacher]

I am playing the Bard's Tale Trilogy. Still very early into the game but I am loving it. Honestly, haven't played a traditional WRPG in years so it is a great change of pace.

A fun little thing I got curious about. I figured out how to adapt the game counting code that handles the list on the right side of the Blitz that lists the games and frequency of their selection to now track across all the different Blitzes. I created a tab that's at the very end of the Sheet titled "Every game in the Blitz" and it now has a total of all the games so you can look through if curious and be surprised by what has been the most Blitz picked games!

That's a great idea! Thanks for making the compilation.

 

[ganmo]

Finished of Borderlands 2

Few points about that game.
Story, not interesting at all. There's lots of side quests though, but none of it that really got me caught into interest. Not sure why Borderlands series became so famous. It is famous right? I suppose people which like this game are also the same people which like to loot items? I did not get into online play on this one anyhow. So I think the game became kind of grindy, since I needed to level up and get better gears so I could progress forward into the main story.

All in all, not a very fun game to play if you are going to play for the story only. But perhaps it is fun to play if you have friends to play with

I also finished my second game which was Anomaly Warzone Earth, quite short game, only 14 missions in the main story. Not much to be said, Kind of reverse TD game where I play as the mob and the enemies are the towers
Was it fun? Well the first few missions where fun, but this isn't a game also where you play for the story, but only for the gameplay, which also became quite boring after a while... am I getting old? I think I used to like these kind of games when I was younger, but not so much anymore...

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Finished of Borderlands 2

Few points about that game.
Story, not interesting at all. There's lots of side quests though, but none of it that really got me caught into interest. Not sure why Borderlands series became so famous. It is famous right? I suppose people which like this game are also the same people which like to loot items? I did not get into online play on this one anyhow. So I think the game became kind of grindy, since I needed to level up and get better gears so I could progress forward into the main story.

All in all, not a very fun game to play if you are going to play for the story only. But perhaps it is fun to play if you have friends to play with

Borderlands has reached a more mainstream appeal. I don't really remember why, probably just really good marketing and people liked the style of writing in the first game. But however it started it's now mass market in its appeal. I have coworkers that don't play tons and tons of games but they know and enjoy Borderlands. When Borderlands 3 was nearing release these were folks I never outwardly heard discuss games but they were excited for a new Borderlands.

So it's just one of those things at this point. Quality isn't super important for the excitement because it appeals to folks that don't have lots to compare against. They just know they like Borderlands and that works for them.

I've tried multiple times to put time into Borderlands 2 and bounced off. I think I've tried three times now and have a combined 5ish hours. Sounds like co-op attempt may be coming up soon for me and maybe that'll finally do it.

 

[ganmo]

Borderlands has reached a more mainstream appeal. I don't really remember why, probably just really good marketing and people liked the style of writing in the first game. But however it started it's now mass market in its appeal. I have coworkers that don't play tons and tons of games but they know and enjoy Borderlands. When Borderlands 3 was nearing release these were folks I never outwardly heard discuss games but they were excited for a new Borderlands.

So it's just one of those things at this point. Quality isn't super important for the excitement because it appeals to folks that don't have lots to compare against. They just know they like Borderlands and that works for them.

I've tried multiple times to put time into Borderlands 2 and bounced off. I think I've tried three times now and have a combined 5ish hours. Sounds like co-op attempt may be coming up soon for me and maybe that'll finally do it.

Same here I tried a few times and if it wasn’t for raffle so I get a reason to beat this game I probably wouldn’t have finished it. So in one sense it is good that I got a reason, but then even so the game wasn’t all that great

I haven’t played the first game. But I heard that the Telltale Borderlands supposedly has the best story which I guess might be right.
If you do play co-op you perhaps can share later on how it was?

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Second game complete! Pharaoh Rebirth+ has been completed. I ultimately really liked it except for two things: the part with the car is pretty annoying and bad. And more importantly: For a Metroidvania with like 80+ unique items they made one of them missable right near the start of the game and that deflated all my interest to try to collect everything and do more of the bonus material. What a terrible decision. But still a great game. Just look up the missable item if you plan to start it so you don't regret that later.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

Completely forgot to note we had $1.61 left over from the previous Blitz and prize selections so the prize pool is starting at $21.61. We're nearing the third week so if anyone wants to chip in here's the usual places to do so:

Paypal - Wibblewozzer@gmail.com
Venmo - @Nicholas-Garboden
Square Cash App - $NicholasGarboden

It helps if you let me know who you are and that it's for this since I do run one other thing that gets a rare prize pool drop, too.

 

[ganmo]

I have to drop Dead Island, single game with such a terrible camera, not just causing me to get motion sickness, but also made my stomach so bad I had to go to toilet ...

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I thought I might have to drop Aquaria and I wasn't totally into it at first but I'm about an hour in and this seems fairly neat. Obviously with 13.5 years later there's been some different expectations for indie games and the Metroidvania genre but overall it still plays pretty decently and doesn't look too bad. I can see now why it was a big deal at the time of its release.

 

[Parsnip]

I wonder if they ever fixed one of the controller bugs in Aquaria from the initial release back in the day. Maybe I should replay that.

 

[gabbo]

Wolfenstein 2009 done. Fun, but clearly not as good as New Order/Old Blood, especially that kinda lackluster ending cutscene (or lack of one - a voice over and static image mission report, really?).
Would recommend, if only because Raven made solid shooters, but good luck finding it for a good price unless you hunt older titles down (FB marketplace is good for retro pc).

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I wonder if they ever fixed one of the controller bugs in Aquaria from the initial release back in the day. Maybe I should replay that.

Tied to the main menu? Still janky as hell. So pretty much all menu stuff I reach over and use a mouse and most gameplay stuff I'll use the controller.

I do think on the controller hitting specific notes can be a bit fiddly so I have reached over to use the mouse quickly for that a couple times, too.

 

[Parsnip]

Tied to the main menu? Still janky as hell. So pretty much all menu stuff I reach over and use a mouse and most gameplay stuff I'll use the controller.

I do think on the controller hitting specific notes can be a bit fiddly so I have reached over to use the mouse quickly for that a couple times, too.

I don't remember when you unlock the second form with fire attack, but there was something about how the automatic seeking wasn't working when your character was still, but worked when you swam around, or something like that. It's been a while.

But hearing that the menu is still janky too they probably never updated the controls at all.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I don't remember when you unlock the second form with fire attack, but there was something about how the automatic seeking wasn't working when your character was still, but worked when you swam around, or something like that. It's been a while.

But hearing that the menu is still janky too they probably never updated the controls at all.

I'm past that point and using a controller and that all seemed to work well. But maybe I was always moving so I never tested sitting still? I'll have to check that out.

 

[Parsnip]

1/5, The Sexy Brutale
It's pretty good, kind of sad I didn't get around to it when it came out.

 

[Ascheroth]

I'm past that point and using a controller and that all seemed to work well. But maybe I was always moving so I never tested sitting still? I'll have to check that out.

This might be of interest to you:

GitHub - AquariaOSE/Aquaria: Aquaria open source, forked from icculus.org due to inactivity. Has many enhancements compared to the original version.

Aquaria open source, forked from icculus.org due to inactivity. Has many enhancements compared to the original version. - AquariaOSE/Aquaria

github.com

It's an open source fork of the engine that has lots of improvments (including better controller support, bug fixes, etc).
It's a bit involved to set up though, so you need to build it yourself and throw your Steam installation in it and it loses the connection to Steam, so no achievements and stuff.
But maybe worth a look.

 

[Deku]

More than 20 hours played and I think I am halfway through Tales of Berseria. Kinda slow to play through this. At first I played in moderate difficulty, but yesterday I lowered it to Normal. The fights are a bit faster now. The enemies don't defend as much as they did in moderate difficulty.
I also stumbled on my first dire foe. The first went well until the monster got like 1500 hp left, then suddenly shit happened and two of my party members died and the others got quite low on health. But I revived the dead members and won the fight

 

[Kurt Russell]

Forgot to add it before, but I got my 2nd game down
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy for Xbox 360

Way too many QTEs and very samey looking, but otherwise an enjoyable game.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

This might be of interest to you:

GitHub - AquariaOSE/Aquaria: Aquaria open source, forked from icculus.org due to inactivity. Has many enhancements compared to the original version.

Aquaria open source, forked from icculus.org due to inactivity. Has many enhancements compared to the original version. - AquariaOSE/Aquaria

github.com

It's an open source fork of the engine that has lots of improvments (including better controller support, bug fixes, etc).
It's a bit involved to set up though, so you need to build it yourself and throw your Steam installation in it and it loses the connection to Steam, so no achievements and stuff.
But maybe worth a look.

Thanks for posting this. Looks a bit too much for me to bother doing (though I have compiled code many, many years ago so I'm sure I could do it if I wanted to devote the time). But ultimately I'm fine with how it plays and it doesn't seem outright broken or impossible to continue.

 

[Ascheroth]

I finished 2/5 games

1) Smile For Me

Just very good. Definitely worth checking out. Interesting story, puzzles, aesthetic, etc. The full package.

2) Tsioque

On the other hand I cannot recommend this. It is really really pretty looking. But that's it.
It's slow, the puzzles aren't really straightforward so I just ended up using a walkthrough starting really early and the story didn't do anything for me either.
With a walkthrough it's pretty short so if you really just want to experience it for the art and animations, then I guess it's fine, but just barely.


Also started Dective Di: The Silk Rose Murders and played through chapter 1.
Very very promising start. And I solved the case without a walkthrough

 

[Parsnip]

2/5 The House of Da Vinci
It's fine I guess. I do remember enjoying The Room games more, but I wonder if time has colored that memory. We'll see.

 

[Futaleufu]

Hitman 2016 makes it 3/5. Great game as usual, It makes you think why Absolution got so much hate when this game mechanics wise is pretty much identical.

 

[freshVeggie]

Finished Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order just a couple minutes ago.

The first one in the blitz down.

 

[Parsnip]

3/5, Okami HD.
Excellent, though has some things where it feels a bit like the game doesn't respect your time.

 

[Deku]

I am still playing Tales of Berseria, I was sick last week so there were not much play time at all for a week.
I am close to the end game now according to a walkthrough

Velvet found out the truth about her brother

 

[Parsnip]

4/5, Stacking.
It's a neat little puzzle game but easy as hell and even if it wasn't the hint system is very generous.

 

[Deku]

Feels like I am not going to finish all five games for this Blitz. I am still playing Tales of Berseria and I haven't started the other games yet. The bad thing is that I start playing other games instead...

 

[BlueOdin]

Finally finished DQIX! Like it, don't love. Still pretty good overall but probably in the last three of my personal ranking list of the series. Mainly I am just glad that Level 5 is not touching Dragon Quest anymore.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

We're at the halfway point!

I had a strong start finishing two of my games, started the third, but then all the games came out that are now in the way. And that's not really going to slow down much. But I'm finishing some of those up so I'll return to Aquaria soon enough. Thankfully my other two games are a bit shorter than Aquaria but it's going to be a challenge finishing everything. I do have a week off in June so that'll help.

Also, just a reminder the prize pool is still at the default $21ish.No requirement to chip in but it's certainly a bit more entertaining for the raffle winner if they have a bit to use to pick something and usually means multiple winners as the prize pool gets used. Maybe this is revenge for me finally winning a Blitz last time!

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

I've only finished Call of the Sea so far.

I'm nearing the end of Nioh 2, I've got one more side mission left in the second DLC before I start the final one. Other than that I've started reading Song of Saya and played the first couple missions of Desperados III.

 

[Futaleufu]

I got "stuck" replaying Hitman and Metal Gear Survive MP. I'll have to replace Fortune Summoners because the game is full of graphical glitches on Windows 10.

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

I've only finished Outriders so far. Actually, Outriders is the only game I've played since it released

Time to move on to other much shorter games

 

[Deku]

Finally finished Tales of Berseria

Spoiler

The ending was sad for Velvet and her brother who have to live for eternity

 

[ganmo]

Finished last game which was Supraland, heavy puzzle oriented game, and lots of secrets to collect. Not a game if you look forward for an interesting story. It is rather short actually, but if you are into puzzles, then it game for you

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

Finished reading The Song of Saya last week and beat the 3rd DLC for Nioh 2 today so I'm at 3/5 for the current blitz.

 

[Parsnip]

I've been plucking away at Nioh. I'm not sure how far along I am, no real blockers yet. Like, nothing like the trouble I had with pikachu and snorlax in Dark Souls, still kind of do actually. Though one completely optional side mission boss in particular was a tough nut early on, wasted 4ish hours on him before giving up.
But then I explored some of the magic status effects and they are actually super helpful, I kind of didn't expect that. I feel like usually weaken and such are so anemic as to not even matter, you did 200 damage before, now you do 202, yay. Maybe that's just a bad impression left by some game and they are usually actually good and I just never use them.

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

But then I explored some of the magic status effects and they are actually super helpful, I kind of didn't expect that. I feel like usually weaken and such are so anemic as to not even matter, you did 200 damage before, now you do 202, yay. Maybe that's just a bad impression left by some game and they are usually actually good and I just never use them.

I went way too long in Nioh 2 without knowing what the status effects were. Had already beat the main game when I learned 2 status effects would cause confusion for an additional 50% damage and didn't unlock weakness talismans until the final DLC. Being my build was magic it really would have helped to know about those early on.

 

[Parsnip]

I went way too long in Nioh 2 without knowing what the status effects were. Had already beat the main game when I learned 2 status effects would cause confusion for an additional 50% damage and didn't unlock weakness talismans until the final DLC. Being my build was magic it really would have helped to know about those early on.

Yeah. I feel like I've been taught by jrpg's that most bosses are immune to any and all status effects.

 

[Futaleufu]

I just completed the police campaign of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and it was great. It's the usual thing for racing games with progressive unlocks: the earlier cars are not representative of the experience you get when driving the end game cars. No wonder it got a remaster because the core gameplay is very good. I still have to complete the felon campaign, and that should be 4 out 5 games for this season.

As an easter egg, the guy driving the cars is clearly inspired in the FMV guy from Need for Speed 3DO.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I just completed the police campaign of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and it was great. It's the usual thing for racing games with progressive unlocks: the earlier cars are not representative of the experience you get when driving the end game cars. No wonder it got a remaster because the core gameplay is very good. I still have to complete the felon campaign, and that should be 4 out 5 games for this season.

As an easter egg, the guy driving the cars is clearly inspired in the FMV guy from Need for Speed 3DO.

That was the first Need For Speed game I put serious time into (I played the early 360 Most Wanted a couple hours at most) and I loved Hot Pursuit. I think it has the perfect balance of good races, plenty of long straights and shallow curves to get some great speed, and all the abilities on both sides allow for some really exciting cat and mouse gameplay. I don't think they've really ever matched that feel in their games that came afterwards and it's a real shame.

 

[MJunioR]

I ended up replacing Kingdom Hearts with Days Gone. I just can't see myself playing a long JRPG on a console anymore it seems. Maybe next year once it releases on Steam.

 

[ganmo]

I ended up replacing Kingdom Hearts with Days Gone. I just can't see myself playing a long JRPG on a console anymore it seems. Maybe next year once it releases on Steam.

I'm looking forward to when Kingdom Hearts get PC release. I hope I can find myself playing it by then. Remember good times when I played the two first games on PS2

 

[Deku]

I'm looking forward to when Kingdom Hearts get PC release. I hope I can find myself playing it by then. Remember good times when I played the two first games on PS2

It's available on PC, just not on Steam

 

[Mutant Strawberry]

Good luck everyone!

 

[Cacher]

I am in the mood of playing deckbuilding games (as well as trying to complete game acquired from bundles) so I switched out War Tech Fighters to Iris and the Giant. Louis Rigaud's art looks fantastic so expect fun times ahead.

 

[Parsnip]

I finished Nioh...?

Well, I saw the credits, and then some more missions popped up on the map. So far two of them have just been extra boss battles with previous bosses teaming up.

There's also dlc, but I'm considering Nioh done in terms of this blitz when I finish this epilogue. [UWSL][/UWSL]

 

[Rockin' Ranger]

I'm still going in Nioh 2 despite beating it. I've got one more achievement to go which requires beating a side mission from the final DLC in NG++. I'm close to unlocking the level but probably still need a few levels and gear upgrades because my damage output on bosses at this level is still pretty low.

 

[Parsnip]

Finished Nioh epilogue and that's 5/5 of blitz games done.

I'm kind of mixed on the game overall. In general I did enjoy my time with it, but the way enemies, especially bosses, track you during their combos kind of sucks. It looks stupid too. It also has the usual issue with grab attacks, those just shouldn't exist.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

I forgot to do my one month remaining post the other day. Well, one month remaining!

I'm still at only two complete. I've put in a lot of time into very few games over the last month so my Blitz games came to a half. Between Destiny 2, Yakuza 6, Judgment, Yakuza 7, and Outriders that's been like 250 hours in two months. And between those I completed some other games! Finishing all my Blitz games will be tough considering upcoming releases, too. But I am taking a week off from work later this month so that's my only hope of catching up!

Also, another reminder that the prize pool is still at the starting value. No requirements to chip in but it's always fun when the winner has more options to pick from!

 

[Cacher]

Iris and the Giant is hard and very luck-based. It is pretty different from the usual deckbuilding games. In games like Slay the Spire, cards are recycle in the deck and players need to carefully control what cards should be kept between battles. Whereas in this game, most of the cards are exhaustive, and a game over is resulted if all cards are used. So players need to collect as many cards as possible but there is no way to control what games are being drawn from the deck, so it is purely luck to spawn the right card.

Can't say I love it, but it is a nice change of pace from StS.

 

[Futaleufu]

Finished Deponia Doomsday and that makes it 5/5

Spoiler

It's the most convoluted time travel story in fiction I've ever experienced. It's also the biggest fanbase trolling I've ever seen. "You wanted a happy ending? Fuck you. You get a do over"

If you've played other Daedalic adventure games you know what to expect. I highly recommend it and the whole quadrilogy.