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

Deku

Just nothing
Oct 19, 2018
4,261
8,615
113
20XX
www.seikens.com
I have beaten the story in Supraland. That's the second game for the blitz
I might be able to finish one more game before the blitz ends
 

Cacher

Romantic Storm
Jun 3, 2020
4,133
12,609
113
Iris and the giant's main route done! The more I play, I love it more. And the ending is also worth it. It's really wholesome!

The game still has two post-game route. I tried the first route a bit and got rekt after a few levels in. It seems like they will really test a player's skill in the game. I am ticking it off the list now but will continue playing it. It is really fun and I would recommend it to all people who enjoy deckbuilding games.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
Finished my third game of the Blitz with Aquaria. Woof. I can understand how it was impressive in 2007 but playing it today was a chore in many ways. The last boss in particular would make me drop the score for the game a point or two just because how much I hated it. It has five phases, deals a lot of damage and has super annoying attacks, and long stretches of mindless traversal between two of the phases. With the five or so times I died it ended up taking like an hour just because of how long the whole fight takes and most my deaths were on the last phase. I also used a guide off and on just to help nudge me in the right direction to cut down on exploration.

Two left with Wuppo and Valdis Story. Both should be much more enjoyable. I should be able to complete both before the end of the month, I hope!
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
Sad to hear Aquaria doesn't quite hold up. Still on my replay list though.
I'm sure there are people that still would enjoy it if played today but I'm not one of them. It just has a lot of fairly annoying design decisions. For example the dash to move quicker can't be held so you're constantly hitting space bar or left click but mashing it isn't great because a second press while dashing causes the character to somersault with no apparent benefit. So instead you have to time the button presses like two seconds apart and you'll do this the entire time you play for 10+ hours. About 2/3 of the way through the game there's an optional form that does move quicker than the rest but it also takes like 2x damage from what I could tell so you're quick but also more likely to run into enemies and take a lot of damage.

One other big one is that when you "sing" (a ring of eight symbols are around you that you mouseover in patterns to do things) it would have benefitted greatly from pausing or even slowing down the world so you could take a moment to cast the spell you want. But instead you often have to use them in boss fights so you switch over to the base form, right-click, try to hit the right notes without making a mistake, and usually the boss is shooting homing attacks, making very large movements to attack, etc. so you get pelted while you're trying to clumsily pick up objects or put them down.

It's not an altogether terrible game. It's just frustrating. There's some neat aspects and other than clicking a lot the majority of the game was smooth enough and I didn't really mind it. But those annoyances above along with just frustrating bosses and high damage from enemies really could make moments where it can be tough to want to continue when you lose progress.
 
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Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
3,028
6,665
113
Finland
It's fascinating to read this because I literally have no memory of some of this stuff at all. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes: Like having to sing during boss battles and such, no recollection whatsoever, but one would think that that kind of annoyance would have stuck with me. Though to be fair I don't remember much about it in general, just the music really. And I guess there was cooking, or some kind of item combining? Yeah, it's all a bit of a blur.
It's actually making me think about bumping it up on my list a bit haha. Very very curious to return to it after 14 years.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
By the way, only two weeks left! Finish up those games! The current prize pool is $21.61 but it'll hit mid-Steam sale so that should help it go towards something a bit bigger? Winners choice, of course!

It's fascinating to read this because I literally have no memory of some of this stuff at all. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes: Like having to sing during boss battles and such, no recollection whatsoever, but one would think that that kind of annoyance would have stuck with me. Though to be fair I don't remember much about it in general, just the music really. And I guess there was cooking, or some kind of item combining? Yeah, it's all a bit of a blur.
It's actually making me think about bumping it up on my list a bit haha. Very very curious to return to it after 14 years.
Yeah, cooking. And the singing is mostly to lift and drop things. A couple bosses have you do it. I think the rest is just switching forms and other mechanics that don't require singing. Good luck. Maybe you'll like it more. And maybe if I explored a bit more to get health upgrades I wouldn't have found it as frustrating but I really just focused it down.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
And fourth game down. Finished Wummo really quickly. With selecting the Metroidvania theme I sure picked a lot that are untraditional and when I moved on to Wummo I thought it would be a bit more standard and I was in the mood for that. Instead it's more of a Cave Story + Tomba sort of thing that I'd consider more of a Metroidvania-lite as it feels a bit more of an adventure game sort of thing with a large set of items and progression isn't made with new abilities or weapons but instead just puzzles, completing assorted tasks, and often just getting the right item by talking to people and then giving the item to other people or whatever. But it's also super creative, pretty funny, and has a ton of optional content that I largely skimmed and did a bit here and there.

I definitely recommend it but just know what you're getting into!

That leaves me with only one game left: Valdis Story. I think this one is finally more traditional and it's my final Blitz game so I should have no issue finishing up my Blitz. And then go back to the other stuff I'd been focusing on and giving priority to.
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
And final game completed: Valdis Story.

This is a really great Metroidvania. Out of my five Metroidvania I picked for this Blitz this easily was saving the best for last. It plays really well, has a ton of depth, and in most ways was simply super enjoyable to play through and made me continue to want to play it instead of feeling like a chore and requiring breaks between sessions. It's not perfect, as the map is a bit shitty, it doesn't do a good job explaining certain mechanics and aspects of the game systems, and it has missable stuff which is a bit frustrating. But they did design it with the intention of replaying so you just have to accept that in your initial run you simply won't play perfectly.

I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes Metroidvanias and feel they've played most of the good ones and are waiting for something new. A few tips:
  • When you get new magic make sure to try out every spell. I was stuck in a room because I didn't realize magic had more purposes than the most obvious.
  • The skill cancel (which activates from pressing down, which I swapped immediately), is not obvious how to use it. It does a dash and outside of combat refreshes quickly. In combat it's slower cooldown and it's because it's meant to be more than a dash. It can be used defensively to dash out of attacks but offensively is where it shines. After you do an attack combo if you hit the skill cancel it lets you immediately attack again to make larger chains of attacks. Hitting the button without a direction resets your actions without moving you. This was something I didn't really realize until the final quarter of the game and it made the last boss fights far more fun.
  • And finally, in the mines there is a crew member that must be rescued before you fight the boss. Look thoroughly!
I probably could give more tips but those first two are really the biggest things that greatly changed how I played once I realized both. The skill cancel one made the early bosses far more clumsy than they had to be. And I'm sure I'm missing out on other aspects of the game (there's some good vs evil meter thing on the stat screen I ultimately ignored completely).

Such a fun time. Glad I played it!
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
Finally started to play Darksiders 3. This one is really fun!
But I highly doubt that I will be able to finish it before the blitz ends
I liked it way more than I expected. I finished it in 14.5 hours and did a fair bit of stuff beyond just the main path so you can use that as a bit of a guide in figuring out if you'll get through it in the next week.

Only one week to go, everyone! Some of you may want to already start considering what will be on your Blitz next time. I've already got a theme and five games picked!
 
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Deku

Just nothing
Oct 19, 2018
4,261
8,615
113
20XX
www.seikens.com
I liked it way more than I expected. I finished it in 14.5 hours and did a fair bit of stuff beyond just the main path so you can use that as a bit of a guide in figuring out if you'll get through it in the next week.

Only one week to go, everyone! Some of you may want to already start considering what will be on your Blitz next time. I've already got a theme and five games picked!
Played a bit further and it seems that I always am too late to dodge attacks. Always get hit and after a few hits I die :( Need to learn to properly dodge enemy attacks, even if it doesn't give me a counter attack
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
Final day of the Blitz! Make sure you update your progress on the tracker!
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
Meant to do it last night but the new Season has been added to the spreadsheet. Won't do the drawing and make the new thread until tomorrow (or maybe midnight tonight in my timezone since I think that'll be the last to hit midnight for anyone that takes part).

But feel free to add games prior to the new thread being made. The new chart is simply the second one over (I'll move it over when I take care of the thread/raffle/etc.).
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,119
11,978
113
Finished 4/5 of my blitz games. As expected I just wasn't in the right mood for Finding Paradise, but I also didn't really have anything in mind to change it.
I think this time I'll be a bit more ambitious and focus on some longer games that I've already started but kinda fell aside due to shiny new things.

Potential list:
  • Code Vein
  • Subnautica: Below Zero
  • Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (only Iceborne, I already finished the main game a while ago)
  • Yakuza 3
Last slot could be Ys IX but that doesn't really feel like backlog (but it would fit the "long game" theme lol), in which case I'd probably put Chou Dengeki Stryker there. We'll see.
 
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Deku

Just nothing
Oct 19, 2018
4,261
8,615
113
20XX
www.seikens.com
Well, this was my worst Blitz so far. 2 out 5 games finished. I am going to move the remaining games to the next Blitz season. Maybe switch out Darksiders 3 for something else since I already started on it
 
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gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
Still trying for the elusive 5/5, hopefully this season:
  1. mutant year zero: road to eden
  2. Halo 3 ODST
  3. The Church in the Darkness
  4. Metro Exodus
  5. Homefront
 
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Wibblewozzer

Wibblewozzer

Robot on the inside
Dec 6, 2018
1,095
1,646
113
All right, the proper end of this thread and season is here. Let's all give a big congrats to the big winner this time around for C-Dub with the win given by completing Tomb Raider (2013)! Woo!

Some quick stats:

19 participants
61 completed games
95 games set as goals
6 participants completed all five of their goals!

And with that we come to a close yet again and a new thread is upon us. I'll get it up very shortly but make sure to give C-Dub your congrats here or there, or both!