Topic: Last Game You Beat

Just finished GTA III on 360. Can't believe that I've actually finished this game after having first played it years ago. I remember thinking back then that this game was not fun to play. However, after having played through it now I actually liked it quite a lot. The game was really fun even though the controls weren't that great. But at least the driving felt good and the missions were short but sweet. There were a fair amount of annoying missions but, with the exception of the final mission, they were all fairly easy. I read that GTA III is considered to be the toughest 3D GTA game, so it feels reassuring now that I've finished it and that the rest of the 3D games are easier than this. But yeah, even though I only played it for a short while, I'm still going to miss this game.

Coincidentally, I also got in the mail today San Andreas and Episodes from Liberty City, so now I own all the remaining 3D GTAs that I still haven't played yet. Can't wait to start up Vice City next since I've heard so many good things about that game. But that will have to wait for another time.

I just finished Costume Quest 2 last night. I enjoyed the game, a fun little title. I was pissed off though because i accidentally got into a battle without the dumb candy corn costume and shot that achievement into dust, then i started the last boss without knowing it was the last boss and finished the game without finishing up my few remaining tasks...as well. So no 100% for me but screw it. Game was fun and recommend it if you're looking for a quick change of pace.

Just finishing up the campaign on Battlefield 1. I gotta say that the game looked great and i really appreciate the tone of the game. It's a war game that tried to show that war isn't actually fun. It goes through 6 separate stories about unique characters with a focus on a particular battle. I highly recommend you play it.

@Krzzystuff I played through the game last year and honestly, I thought the game was okay. It's just hard to be interested when the focus is on multiple smaller stories rather than a continuous one. Not to mention that the story was clearly made as an afterthought since some of the levels felt like multiplayer maps rather than handcrafted levels. The narrative and setting were great though!

I wonder if Battlefield V is any different or if it's structured pretty much the same as Battlefield 1. I definitely want to play that game as well since I love historical settings in video games.

@LtSarge I'll play all the Battlefield games for
the campaign at some point but i gotta get through what's on my system first....i have 100GB free space and I'm fighting the urge to just fill it and then be stressed out about what to play next. I had battlefield 3 on PS3 but i don't really remember the story. Something about nukes?

Just finished Bayonetta 2 on Wii U. Definitely one of the most fun hack and slash games I've played in a long time. I remember not liking the first game that much but this one was great and it didn't feel overly difficult or anything. Great variety in terms of combos and weapons as well. The only thing I thought the first game did better is the story. The story in Bayonetta 2 just didn't feel memorable at all. Even though I've been only playing it for about a week, I can barely tell you anything about what happened in this game lol. Maybe that's because I just wanted to focus on the fun combat or something, but personally I thought the story in the first Bayonetta was better.

Either way, this was an absolute blast to play and I'm glad that I've found some more use of my Wii U!

Just finished Trails of Cold Steel IV on PS4 after roughly 127 hours of playtime and I managed to get the true ending, which was amazing! This is by far one of the best JRPGs and JRPG series that I've ever experienced. It's the culmination of over a decade of almost a dozen entries and it's finally reached its conclusion. Even though I haven't played Trails in the Sky or the Crossbell titles, I still found immense joy after having experienced the four Trails of Cold Steel titles and seeing the end of this long journey. I first started playing this series back in 2017 when I decided to randomly buy Trails of Cold Steel 1 on Vita. And boy am I glad that I did because ever since then this series has got me hooked. From its exceptional world building to its in-depth gameplay system, these games are exemplary of quintessential JRPGs. Only other franchise that rivals it is Persona, which I have strong fondness of as well.

The fourth game did have some issues, most notably with padding. There was just not enough fresh content and the game would constantly tell you to return to previous areas over and over again. Other than this it's a remarkable game. I do still think the third Trails of Cold Steel is the best one of the four titles.

All in all, I'm extremely glad that I've experienced these four games and that I finally saw the conclusion of this long-running series. Games like Trails of Cold Steel are the perfect examples for why I love gaming. They bring me so much joy and this series in particular brought me joy on a whole other level. I'm sad that it's over, but coincidentally the developer announced the other day that more games in this series are coming out in 2022 and 2023 respectively so I'm definitely looking forward to playing them as well!

I just played through the Marvel vs Capcom campaign last night...not too bad overall regarding the story and it's pretty short. I'm not big on fighters and usually just focus on the campaigns...this was definitely short of any NetherRealm game but miles ahead of the horrible Tekken 7 one. Leaving gamepass on the 30th

Just finished Ghost Recon Future Soldier on PS3. The campaign was honestly not that memorable and the characters were dull and forgettable but the most important thing is that the levels were fun to play. I loved the stealth in this game, it really made you feel like a badass as you sync shoot groups of 3-4 enemies and then proceed as if nothing happened. The drone made scouting out and marking enemies much smoother. Then there were some turret sections and even a mech section which were really fun. So overall I really enjoyed the campaign but it wasn't anything special. I'm just glad that I've finally experienced the story now considering I used to play this game online a lot back in the day.

@LtSarge I played that recently as it was one of my PS Plus games that I was going through. I thought exactly the same as you about it. Forgettable campaign but the sync shots were cool!

@ralphdibny Nice! Have you played other games in the Ghost Recon series or other Tom Clancy games in general? Future Soldier was actually my first and only game I've played of this series. The others don't really appeal to me that much, except for Wildlands which looks really good. I used to play a lot of Rainbow Six with my brother when I was younger so that's why I have a soft spot for these games. Splinter Cell is actually another Tom Clancy series I've been meaning to get into as well.

@LtSarge no other ghost recon games and im not that inclined to after future soldier. Also not inclined to try the newer open world ones. I would if they were on PS Plus maybe. They are probably better with friends but I don't have any 😂. Well at least any that would be interested in anything Ton Clancy.

I love Splinter Cell though. I played through the first 4 on GameCube/Wii when I was a teenager and the PS3 HD collection when I was at uni. I played all of them again last year including the newer ones I hadn't tried yet, I even swapped out the Wii version of Double Agent for the 360 version as they are very different from eachother.

I am somewhat inclined to pick them all up cheap and physical on Xbox because they are all BC. The framerate on the HD collection is trash and while the Xbox BC versions aren't wide-screen, they do look buttery smooth in the gameplay clips I've seen.

I did actually play a bit of a more recent ghost recon game on a free weekend as it had a splinter cell crossover but it was too "late game" and I couldn't easily access it without knowing how to play the game. One of the few times I watched the gameplay on YouTube but it was worth it as I had no interest in learning how to play ghost recon.

I did have like rainbow 6 2 on GameCube or something but I don't really remember playing it to be honest.

Not sure what other TC games would be good really. Splinter Cell was a bit of a storm in a teacup. I had no PS2 so the MGS sequels were off limits to me for a long time, the voice acting was great, the gameplay was great etc. I suspect that's how most people get into Ubisoft games in general. They don't make the greatest games that appeal to everybody (even though they try) but people will have their pick of the bunch if they really like a certain series. And splinter cell is mine!

@ralphdibny If you want to play more Tom Clancy games I highly recommend the Rainbow Six Vegas titles on 360 or PS3. Definitely the best games in the series in my opinion.

I actually have the first Splinter Cell on the original Xbox but haven't played it yet. I was contemplating on getting the HD trilogy on PS3 but like you said I think I opted against it because of technical reasons. Honestly though, I'd rather play the more recent Tom Clancy games rather than the original ones. But I also tend to play series in order, so we'll have to see what I end up choosing to do. Otherwise I'd rather just play Blacklist first I think.

@LtSarge I liked Blacklist a lot when I played it for the first time last year. Despite avoiding it for ages due to the change in voice actor, the game itself was actually brilliant. It's exactly what a modern Splinter Cell should be and I hope they revisit the formula if they decide to start the series up again.

It's a weird one though because despite it being considered a fresh start, it is still absolutely a sequel to Conviction and the storyline that started off way back in Double Agent.

It's hard to describe the overarching story of the whole series. There definitely is one but there's more gameplay than story in the earlier titles. There's probably a bit more story than gameplay in double agent and especially Conviction. Blacklist gets the balance just right though.

I'd probably start at the beginning to be honest, the games aren't that long (maybe 10ish hours?) and they're not that expensive. I don't think Blacklist is a terrible place to start but the story will have more mmph if you've seen what happens up to that point. Might be harder to go backwards too after experiencing the gameplay improvements in Blacklist too

@ralphdibny Ah I didn't know the story between Double Agent, Conviction and Blacklist was connected. So basically there are two trilogies in the series. Well in that case I'm definitely going to start out with either the first game or Double Agent.

Speaking of Double Agent, you mentioned that there are two versions that are very different. I did some research and apparently the original Xbox version and 360 version are two different games. Are they different enough that I should experience them both or should I just choose one and which version did you like the most in that case?

@LtSarge yeah sorta that. There's a catalyst that kicks off the plot of the last 3 games and I can't remember if it happens at the end of Chaos Theory or the start of Double Agent. I wouldn't say the games are too connected plot-wise (except Double Agent and Conviction) but things like characters turning up, the relationships between characters, relationships between different agencies would make a lot more sense if you played them from the beginning. There is also a key moment in Double Agent that would have a lot less mmph if you hadn't played the first 3 games.

I would say both versions of Double Agent are worth playing but maybe not one right after the other. I think the 360 one is the canon version of it but even then, there is a decision you make in the game (don't look it up as it's a major spoiler) that they had to make canon for the sequel, whether you chose to make it go that way or not.

There's also a PSP game called Splinter Cell Essentials that might be worth checking out if you really get into it. It's sort of a greatest hits of various missions from previous games with a few new ones chucked in for good measure but it's set between Double Agent and Conviction though. There's a few plot inconsistencies with it too but you'd probably be used to that by then with the two versions of Double Agent before that!

Essentials is probably best played on PSTV or (I'm guessing) the Vita as the camera controls are mapped to the D-Pad and on the PSTV at least, the D-Pad gets mapped to the right stick so it's a more traditional control lay out. If I've remembered correctly that is!!

It's hard to say whether to start from the beginning or try Blacklist to see if you like it. The first one is probably a bit dated and these things tend to digest better if you played them when they came out so if may put you off a bit. Having said that, I think it could be worth doing if you are able to stick through the somewhat (but not very in my opinion) aged mechanics of the original games.

@ralphdibny Gotcha, those are good things to know for the future! I might start up a Splinter Cell game during the summer, but I'll have to see if I'm in the mood for it or not.

Just finished Shadow of the Tomb Raider on PS4. I think this might just be the best Tomb Raider game I've played so far. I've played the 2013 game, Rise and now this one and while I really liked 2013, I feel like Shadow did an amazing job at introducing an open world with lots of things to do in it. From side missions to challenge tombs and even the DLC tombs, there were so many different things to do and I think it's implemented well into the game. While the story wasn't on par with 2013's, I just like the fact that Shadow felt more like its own game rather than an Uncharted clone with chase scenes and so on. I haven't played much of the early Tomb Raider games, but supposedly this is how TR was back in day, i.e. levels to explore with minimal story. So I guess this is a return to form compared to 2013 and I think Rise as well, which is nice. There were however some very cool moments in the story, such as when Lara snaps and turns into a complete scary badass for a moment. The final boss fight was really cool as well. So all in all, this was an excellent game and I can't wait to see what the next Tomb Raider game is going to be like.

@LtSarge Uncharted and Tomb Raider are like a snake eating its own tail! It's so weird how Uncharted is heavily influenced by early Tomb Raider amongst other things but Tomb Raider had to nick a load of stuff from it to become properly relevant again. It's good that experience has led them to go in their own direction a bit more though.

Despite my gripes with the story and characterisation, I think Shadow is my favourite of the trilogy. From a gameplay perspective at least. I definitely agree with what you've said here and in the Yakuza thread about the open world, the sidequests, the tombs, the DLC etc. I think completing Shadow 100% really made me want to go back and 100% the first two games but I am yet to do that. Maybe I'll give them another go in a few years time!

@ralphdibny I too feel like going back and checking out the previous Tomb Raider games, although not the ones from the modern trilogy. I actually still haven't played through the 360/PS3 trilogy of Legend, Anniversary and Underworld, but I have all three games on 360. I might just give them a shot next since the PS1 games are just awful lol.

@ralphdibny Even though I can only really be a part of half of this conversation, I'll still join in. I'll always like Rise the best of the three as that was one of my favorite games of the last generation. I didn't care that it was a lot like Uncharted as I had an absolute blast regardless. It probably doesn't hurt that Uncharted 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but still, Rise of the Tomb Raider was one of the rare games I gladly played a second time (once on Xbox One and once on PS4).

I can understand people liking Shadow better, as it technically was more of the classic Tomb Raider than the previous 2. It also didn't help that I started to rush through the latter portion of the game in order to get to the next game I really wanted to play (Assassin's Creed Origins I believe). I would really like to be able to take the time to replay it again though to see if my opinion of it improves, and likely in typical fashion where I play it on PlayStation the second time since I have it installed and waiting.