by blzzzrrttt
The third annual list of video games I finished in a given year. I'll toss ya some links to the previous years lists:
I don't think I'll surpass the total of 108 games that I managed to finish last year so I'm not going to try! I'll be satisfied if I manage to finish at least 45 games by the time 2017 rolls around.
I chose the number 45 because it just might be my favorite multiple of 9. The number 9 is my favorite number due to the fact that if you add all the digits in a multiple of 9 until you get a single digit, you'll always end up with the number 9! Coincidentally, 2016 is also a multiple of 9 and so is 108!
Going to try and add times here wherever possible because stats are fun!
EDIT: Finally finished my goal of 45 games on November 22nd! Got 'em all in before Thanksgiving and December, the time of the year where I am least likely to be in a position to play and finish video games! It also gives me some time to fill in a lot of the empty space on each entry that I said I'd fill in before I start gearing up for Game of the Year stuff.
EDIT: Here's some games (non-commercial/jam games) that aren't in the wiki that I also finished this year. I'm not going to count these as part of the 45.
Germ (by carpetbones) (Completed 04/24) Time to Completion: ~30 mins
Game wherein you play as a germ and eat things and grow so that you can eat more things. I always appreciate games where you do a thing to become bigger thing such as Katamari Damacy or Feeding Frenzy. Germ isn't quite like the games I mentioned but it certainly does have that sort of spirit to it. I really like the art-style and the fact that you can mess with the decorations that exist outside the area of play. The music is also pretty rad! Made by the same person who is working on the music for Burrito Galaxy 65 which also seems pretty rad.
windowframe (by Daniel Linnsen) (Completed 04/24) Time to Completion: ~1 hour
A platformer where you must manipulate the boundaries of the games display window to finish levels. It was made for a Ludum Dare game jam but I can't remember the theme off the top of my head. Regardless, the game has such a novel concept that I had to try it once I heard about it. The execution on said concept is actually pretty well done too, even the forced scrolling levels manage to be pretty cool in this game. If it interests you at all I suggest you check it out!
Wish Project (Completed 06/22) Time to Completion: ~40 mins
I actually don't remember much about this game other than the fact that it's a vertical bullet hell shooter.
Showing 1-10 of 51 items
Date Completed: January 3rd (Beta Version) Time to Completion: 13 minutes for one ending out of 10. I saw this on a few GOTY lists on the site and it reminded me that I bought this game at some point last year. After playing and finish it one I can see the appeal. Driving a car while also trying to have a conversation with someone is kind of cool? But there's definitely some room for improvement. The driving isn't the best. I got into a street race with some jerk and weaving through traffic while trying to also input dialogue choices wasn't the best controlling thing. The conversation system also seemed kind of broken when it didn't quite work. There are obviously a set number of conversations you can have with your passenger before you're just left to drive to the next branching point. There were also a few moments where my passenger would comment on something, like an arch or castle on the side of the road, well before I could see it. Also, sometimes they would just cut you off after you ask them something and that's just rude! The vibe, look and sounds are all there and when it all comes together; cruising and talking to someone is pretty relaxing. Hopefully the full release is a bit more polished than the version of the game I played though.
Date Completed: January 3rd Time to Completion: 30 minutes for each playthrough. Finished twice. I think this game's pretty rad! So rad, that I'm upset at myself for not trying this out sooner. Its got the signature Arcane Kids brand of weirdness to it and its aesthetic is so on point. The controls are pretty fun albeit a bit unwieldy. The physics are about as weird as the rest of the game but are consistent enough to where I could figure out how to get good at steering the coffin. I also really dig the whole social media/millennial motif. Its probably some kind of sick burn, perhaps even some kind of sick self-burn, towards people who vape (you select your character in a vape shop and throw yourself into a dumpster to start the game) and use Twitter (the points icons are retweets and fav's, extra lives are follows). And since it's an Arcane Kids joint, the soundtrack is 100% certified bangers.
Date Completed: January 4th Time to Completion: 90 minutes. I didn't necessarily enjoy my time with Cibele but I'm glad it was made. I hope this game has a positive impact on the medium of video games because it certainly has the potential to do so. EDIT: I wrote perhaps a bit too much about Cibele in the form of a Steam review. Check it out if you want: http://steamcommunity.com/id/blzzzrrttt/recommended/408120/
Date Completed: January 4th Time Until Satisfaction: 2 hours. What a neat game! Searching through a database of video clips is surprisingly all while trying to figure out where the pieces fall in the larger picture of a crime story is very compelling. Her Story seems to be designed and built so that you'll have at least one "Aha!" moment over the course of the game. Several of mine came from picking up on some of the recurring themes and words used to narrow my searches down until I found "that on video" that makes everything else fall into place. The use of musical and visual clues really help in leading you along and letting you know you've found something of interest. I found to open structure of the game to be pretty neat too. There's a real sense of freedom to it all. Deciding what is and isn't important or enough of a lead to follow. It all feels like what I imagine detective work to be like but it all takes place on a computer! Her Story is really one of a kind and is a few different kinds of cool. I can safely say that I've been satisfied after seeing it through to what I perceive to be the end.
Date Completed: January 5th Time to Completion: 3 hours. The game keeps track of your total time spent in levels and tallies it up at the end of the game. My time was somewhere around 2:16:00. I got an achievement for beating the game quickly. I really, really like Flywrench.
Date Completed: January 12th Time to Completion: New Game+ ready save file displays a time of 24:13. Steam says I've played it for about 29 hours. It's hard to say definitively if I would have liked FFIV if I played the original SNES release. I've read that the translation and gameplay has been changed heavily, and sometimes ruined, across the many releases and remakes this game has seen. The pieces of FFIV that are constant across every version - the story, the characters and the basic gameplay structure - are all very solid. The presentation is definitely a lot nicer in the version I played but if the content is at all similar to what I saw then it's very easy to see why some call this their favorite Final Fantasy. The DS version (and the PC port I played) adds a lot of cool features that obviously weren't present in the original. Cinematic cutscenes with voice acting, augments that allow you to keep the abilities of temporary party members, sidequests and an auto-battle mode are all additions that serve to modernize the game and make it a pretty good version to play.
Date Completed: January 13th Time to Completion: 4 hours I've been aware of the Sonohana series for as long as I can remember. This game is the 18th(?) game in the series, a prequel to one of the more popular entries AND it's the first game in the series to receive an official English translation. I pre-ordered this game as soon as I got the chance. As for the game itself, it's a yuri VN about two girls at a private academy who end up falling for each other. There's some very light interpersonal conflict and it's a lot less lewd than the other Sonohana games but there's something extremely calming about it. I do want to go back and play some of the other games (especially the one this game is a prequel to) but very few of them are in English. So I guess I'll just wait until they get translated or I'll have to start seriously learning Japanese...
Date Completed: January 16th Time to Completion: 4 hours. Time Tenshi is a visual novel that focuses on two things; time travel and boobs. Both of these elements are... fine. The time travel and the way it's used as part of the story is kind of interesting and there are plenty of boobs (and breast expansion). It's just that everything surrounding those two things are very poorly executed. It stumbles way more often than it succeeds.
Date Completed: January 17th Time to Completion: 90 minutes. There's definitely some precedent for me to enjoy a game that's been birthed from the depths of 4chan. I really liked Katawa Shoujo (it was the game I played the legitimized VNs for me) and Homuha is alright too. It's a fun little thing, plain and simple. It plays around with a few well worn anime stereotypes. Never in a way that's particularly novel or creative but it managed to get a few good laughs out of me. There's also a lot of incestuous overtones that somehow manage to be painful to sit through and the funniest parts of the game. Because they're very knowingly played for laughs and are almost always followed by something absolutely ridiculous or just shrugged off as the norm. There's also full voice acting for all the dialogue. It's done by some people with credits from games you've probably heard of (Dust: An Elysian Tale, Skullgirls, HuniePop) and it's all pretty well done. I've done a bit of reading up and apparently a more fleshed out sequel of sorts is in the works. I'm looking forward to it???
Date Completed: February 2nd Time to Completion: 5 hours The first game I finished as a part of my self-imposed challenge to stream and finish 9 games over the course of February. When everything works in RONIN, it's super cool and a lot of fun. Problem is; there's just so much inconsistency in the game, namely in the controls and the hitboxes, that the cool stuff almost never happened because I planned it that way. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but RONIN is a turn based game where you are always a hit away from death. Not being able to trust the one thing that clearly telegraphs that you will die because sometimes it's just wrong isn't good. Luckily, the checkpointing in this game is pretty good. If you mess up, die or accidentally noclip through the environment and end up somewhere you shouldn't be (which happened to me quite a few times) you're always placed at the beginning of an encounter. Death is never punished heavily and there are only 2 encounters that I would consider to be too hard or even unfair when compared to the rest of the game. The gameplay is solid but it's definitely a little rough around the edges.