@thatdudeguy: Thanks :) and aye the opening episodes really don't do a great job to pull you in. There isn't a great amount of tension to begin with so without some new or intriguing places to go it all gets a bit dull.
@slag: No worries my dear, I'm terrible at replying to most things myself, including family emails, so I'm glad you even took the time to write ^_^ Expectations certainly have their effect on me with games, and for the series and genres I like I almost certainly treat them more harshly. I want things to be the best they can be, and so for series I see potential in, when the next iteration does not meet what I expect I can get pretty frustrated with it. That said, there are so many games these days, that even if something goes in a direction you're not so keen on, there's always something else. I long for the days when I was younger though, as discovering great new games with no prior knowledge of them was pretty special and all too rare for me these days.
@cav829: Thanks! :) yeah, I have a friend who is constantly re-jigging their goty lists as you can never really play everything you want over the course of the year, hense why I only managed to finish my own relatively recently and I'm sure there's lots of hidden gems I've missed. I'm hopeful telltale will act on improving the engine for their games now that the previous generation of consoles is pretty much wrapped up now. That and I wonder if there might be a degree of telltale fatigue as so many games have the same sort of look to them. An overhaul could do their games a world of good in terms of keeping things somewhat fresh and interesting. Hope you enjoy Sunless Sea if/when you try it, it seems a little divisive, but it's pretty unique.
@slag: Thank you so much for the kind feedback, I must admit it took me a long while to finish all the games I wanted to before doing this list. I was certainly surprised with how it ended up. 2015 was an odd year for me as many of the games that I was looking forward to (Pillars of Eternity, Fallout 4, Xenoblade etc.) didn't really do it for me, so other games I might normally have overlooked found their way here, not that I'm complaining of course ^_^
I do not disagree that GoT had issues, certainly technically. Telltale could do well to develop/use a better graphics engine as the one for TWD, GOT etc. is a bit long in the tooth at this stage. That said, I suppose it allows them to make games cheaper and faster, but I'd love to see them utilise more advanced technology in future, as the storytelling could benefit a lot from more sophisticated animations and environments.
@slag: I feel your pain *hugs*, as I certainly felt like that once I hit the champion level. I had a number of wipes that had me seriously considering just moving on to a new game, but instead I kept coming back, and I don't often do that. I was just drawn in by the quality of the battle system itself and engaged by the challenge of it. The high stakes nature of the battles was kind of intoxicating. The tension of risking a wipe for the slim hope that I might do it, and then the glorious feeling of catharsis once I did. I had a wipe within the last dungeon missions and yet was somehow victorious, where my last party member survived 12 death's door rolls before finally succumbing. It was these sorts of pay-offs that had me squealing with joy, especially after feeling that there was little hope from being chewed up and spat out so many times.
But I suppose that is masochism in the end; where the experience is painful for what looks like little or no reward, where any normal person would avoid it, but I can't deny I had an amazing experience. Lots of incredible moments like above, some were bad, most were amazing, but all were memorable and gripped my emotions.
I think we're on the same page with repeating the bosses though, more variety would have not hurt things.
I'm sorry you grew to dislike it so much, but on reflection I can certainly appreciate why. Also, thanks for the upvote and taking the time to read/comment :)
Well steam says it took me 99 hours to complete it but a good chunk of that was me messing up/grinding. It varies a lot according to skill etc. but most of my research suggests around 50 hours at least.
@slag: To be honest the cornering is harder than in Forza, mainly down to the roads in Dirt Rally being much harder to drive on generally, that and the punishment for messing up being much more severe. I think if you tend to play more arcade style games then this could be quite hard to get into. If you've tried more sim style stuff (or perhaps the other Dirt games) and didn't like them, then I'd err on the side of caution and probably avoid Dirt Rally.
@riostarwind: Thanks :) prior to this I only played a few hours of Risky's Revenge, but I definitely feel this is a step up from that. Curious as to what they'll do with the next one.
@slag: Alas, Bubsy was the second game that came to mind when thinking of colourful 90s platformers ^^ So...neutral reference maybe? that was the intention at least. Also, thankie kindly :)
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