digdugnate Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 1 hour ago, wongojack said: Regarding Hades - I heard so much about this game in the past 2 years or so. 10/10 GOTY type stuff. I think it was actually at the top of many "Best of" lists for 2020. Higher than darlings like TLOU II, Flight Simulator, Animal Crossing, and Half-Life: Alyx. Anyway, someone bought me the PC version last month on Steam. You may have noticed I was playing Bastion which is by the same company (Supergiant games). I wanted to run through Bastion before trying Hades. ANYWAY - Hades is fine. If I had played it without any of the hype around it, I would have thought that it was a perfectly fine game for $20 - $25. However, with all the coverage, I am not really impressed. In fact, there's nothing really "impressive" at all about this game. It fits right in where it should with other lower-scope titles (avoiding the term "indie" here because that doesn't really fit Supergiant) and does nothing to push any new boundaries that I can tell. It comes complete with average voice acting and a very bland script that make me want to skip almost all the dialog. The art style also does nothing for me and seems anachronistic with the Greek mythology theme in a way that I don't think really works at all. If this was someone's GOTY then why not Lonely Mountains Downhill, Two Point Hospital, or Xeno Crisis - next year Circus Convoy? All that being said, it is fun. About as fun as Lonely Mountains Downhill, Two Point Hospital, or Xeno Crisis . . . ALSO - sorry to hear you aren't sleeping well. It seems to be more and more prevalent. I hope you have a more restful weekend coming soon. Thanks! For me a lot of it depends on stuff going on and last week was a doozy at my job. That's a pretty fair assessment of Hades, I think. It controls well and plays reasonably smooth on the Series X, but otherwise there's nothing outstanding from version to version. If anything, I felt like the extra lighting stuff was more distracting playing on the XBox versus the Switch. Good game, for sure, but I don't feel like it's 'the best ever'. I did finish Hades (again) on the XBox like I had the Switch, but really once I had sufficiently embarrassed dear old Dad in the game, likely I'll set it down unless I'm dying to get more achievements. Bastion is a neat game and I really enjoyed that one (notsomuch some of the other Supergiant games), but once I had finished it I felt like it was when I beat Hades later (not much impulse to play more). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Xbox Series X MLB The Show 21: 390 minutes Xbox One Butterfly: 9 minutes PUBG: 133 minutes iOS Pop! Blitz: 423 minutes Posting early as Hurricane Henri is poised to move nearly right over me tomorrow & I’m expecting to be off the grid for a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) I feel really tired today, so I'm going to post way earlier than I normally do and attempt to sleep for 13 hours. No Galactic Battlegrounds, Summer Pockets, or Blaster Master this week, but I did try a certain PS2 game that I dislike to see if it would cause image retention on my monitor with the RetroTINK-5X Pro. Interestingly, unlike on the PS3, not image retention! Also tried that mediocre remake of Rondo of Blood to see how the RetroTINK handles PSP games. PS4 Blue Reflection - 509 Kangokutou Mary Skelter Finale - 59 I've actually been thinking about dropping the PS4 version and playing the far inferior Switch version just because of handheld mode so I can play it in bed while being ultra lazy. Not sure if I will, though I think I may. PC Medal of Honor Allied Assault - 30 Vita Blue Reflection: Maboroshi ni Mau Shoujo no Ken - 53 It seems that because I have the preorder bonus DLC for the Japanese PS4 version that I can't use that save file on the Vita version because of how accounts and DLC work on the Vita. This version is not great, so it seems that I basically just wasted 3000 yen or so. Oops. PS2 Thunder Force VI - 29 PSP Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles - 3 Edited August 22, 2021 by Steven Pendleton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt_Woloch Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Here are my times for this week (August 16th through 22nd) on modern systems... Browser based: Ms. Pac-Man - 50 min. Shapez.io - 30 min. Yorg.io - 170 min. Yorg.io 3 - 49 min. Commander X16: Rally Speedway 2020 - 10 min. As for modern systems, I retried Shapez.io since I'm now on a PC the game runs on, but they shortened the demo version which now ends at Level 7, so I had that finished in about half an hour and then turned to two other games by the same developer, Yorg.io and Yorg.io 3, in both of which you have to collect ressources and build up structures to defend your base against zombies. This may also be the first entry for the Commander X16 which has since been renamed to something with Chicken 16, at least in its physical form. This is a new retro computer based on the C-64 but greatly enhanced so that it's more comparable in scope and power to an Amiga, but it has different strenghts in a 2-layer display (like the Sega Genesis) and 128 up to 64x64 sprites, but no blitter (but there is DMA). I tried one of the games developed for it which is a remake of Rally Speedway called Rally Speedway 2020. I also started to map it out, but then read that you can look at the maps using a map editor called Tiled, so I did that. Finally, I tried a HTML5 version of Ms. Pac-Man which you can find at: www.mspacman1.com. It looks pretty faithful to the arcade, but the sound is way off, playing samples from Pac-Man instead of Ms. Pac-Man, and then they appear in wrong places, such as the starting music every time you start a level or a life (not only the game) and the "bonus life" chime sounding every time you finish a level. And the 3rd intermission is missing. There is also a similar port of Pac-Man by the same team. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Who, me? Zip. Nada. Zilch. The big nothin’. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 6 hours ago, Kurt_Woloch said: This may also be the first entry for the Commander X16 which has since been renamed to something with Chicken 16, at least in its physical form. I think the renaming was a very unfunny April Fool’s joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 I was in a Stardew Valley groove this week plus spent some time finishing a playthrough of Borderlands and reminiscing playing Quake. Switch: Mario Golf: Super Rush -- 450 minutes Stardew Valley -- 810 minutes XBox Series X: Borderlands -- 1320 minutes Borderlands 3 -- 240 minutes Hades -- 240 minutes Quake -- 360 minutes 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 The storm was a dud & power was only out for a few hours. I can't edit my original post, so please disregard that one & go with this one. Xbox Series X MLB The Show 21: 477 minutes Xbox One Butterfly: 9 minutes PUBG: 253 minutes Twelve Minutes: 41 minutes iOS Pop! Blitz: 425 minutes Posting early as Hurricane Henri is poised to move nearly right over me tomorrow & I’m expecting to be off the grid for a bit. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 21 minutes ago, StormSurge said: The storm was a dud & power was only out for a few hours. I can't edit my original post, so please disregard that one & go with this one. Xbox Series X MLB The Show 21: 477 minutes Xbox One Butterfly: 9 minutes PUBG: 253 minutes Twelve Minutes: 41 minutes iOS Pop! Blitz: 425 minutes Posting early as Hurricane Henri is poised to move nearly right over me tomorrow & I’m expecting to be off the grid for a bit. yikes- hope you guys stay safe. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 PC Bastion 290 Hades 116 X360 Fable Heroes 41 XOne Mass Effect Legendary Edition 230 Nowhere Prophet 288 Slay the Spire 34 Stranger Things 3: The Game 100 Finished the story in Bastion and started on Hades. I shared some thoughts about Hades above in this thread. Its fun but nothing to really get excited about. I also expect to finish the first campaign on Nowhere Prophet, but not sure if I will play much more. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 20 minutes ago, wongojack said: PC Bastion 290 Hades 116 X360 Fable Heroes 41 XOne Mass Effect Legendary Edition 230 Nowhere Prophet 288 Slay the Spire 34 Stranger Things 3: The Game 100 Finished the story in Bastion and started on Hades. I shared some thoughts about Hades above in this thread. Its fun but nothing to really get excited about. I also expect to finish the first campaign on Nowhere Prophet, but not sure if I will play much more. If I mentioned it already, I apologize, lol. When you play through Hades, the God Mode in the options gives damage reduction (but you still can get the achievements if you care). I found the damage reduction to be really helpful at keeping me from getting frustrated with the game. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Not a super eventful week here, but I did manage to wrap up my Alien: Isolation playthrough with 100% completion for the first time! I managed to collect every single archive log, Nostromo log, and ID Tag there was to find in the game so I feel pretty darn chuffed! Aside from a few minutes in a couple Street Fighter games the only other game of note I played this past week was the brand new Nintendo Switch port of the original Quake. Seeing Quake remastered in 1080p widescreen alone is pretty awesome, but the additions of HD rumble, modern dual analog stick controls, and gyroscopic motion aiming really make it something special. Never in a million years could I have played Quake as well on a PC as I can with the Switch's gyro aiming (though admittedly I do really suck with a keyboard and mouse ) and I've been having a ton of fun with it all weekend! Combine all those features with all 4 official expansions included and this game is a total steal for $10! Anyone who ever enjoyed Quake on the PC back in the day or has even the slightest interest in trying it out really can't go wrong picking it up on the Switch eShop. Ineligible Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) - 11 minutes Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Arcade) - 4 minutes Nintendo Switch Alien: Isolation - 1,090 minutes Quake - 210 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,315 minutes (21 hours 55 minutes) [1,300 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Nintendo Switch: 1,300 minutes Arcade: 15 minutes 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 2 hours ago, Skippy B. Coyote said: Not a super eventful week here, but I did manage to wrap up my Alien: Isolation playthrough with 100% completion for the first time! I managed to collect every single archive log, Nostromo log, and ID Tag there was to find in the game so I feel pretty darn chuffed! Aside from a few minutes in a couple Street Fighter games the only other game of note I played this past week was the brand new Nintendo Switch port of the original Quake. Seeing Quake remastered in 1080p widescreen alone is pretty awesome, but the additions of HD rumble, modern dual analog stick controls, and gyroscopic motion aiming really make it something special. Never in a million years could I have played Quake as well on a PC as I can with the Switch's gyro aiming (though admittedly I do really suck with a keyboard and mouse ) and I've been having a ton of fun with it all weekend! Combine all those features with all 4 official expansions included and this game is a total steal for $10! Anyone who ever enjoyed Quake on the PC back in the day or has even the slightest interest in trying it out really can't go wrong picking it up on the Switch eShop. Ineligible Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) - 11 minutes Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Arcade) - 4 minutes Nintendo Switch Alien: Isolation - 1,090 minutes Quake - 210 minutes Total Video Game Play Time This Week 1,315 minutes (21 hours 55 minutes) [1,300 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Nintendo Switch: 1,300 minutes Arcade: 15 minutes Quake is soooo gooooddd. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGameCollector Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 This week I just have 1 game in the modern section: Sonic the Hedgehog - (2013 mobile version fan ported to PC in 2021) - 90 minutes I played this one a few weeks ago as Sonic. This week I played through the game as Tails, then again as Knuckles. They gave Tails his flying and swimming abilities from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Knuckles plays the way he usually does in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. I've collected all the emeralds as each of them too. I still haven't really gotten a grasp on recording HDMI footage so unfortunately none of this game is going on my Youtube yet. It's easy enough to just play again though. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 Week 33 Top games 1. Borderlands (Xbox Series X) - 1320 min. 2. Alien: Isolation (Switch) - 1090 min. (#6) 3. Stardew Valley (Switch) - 810 min. (#7) 4. Blue Reflection (PS4) - 509 min. (#4) 5. MLB The Show 21 (Xbox Series X) - 477 min. (#2) 6. Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch) - 450 min. (#3) 7. Pop! Blitz (iOS) - 425 min. 8. Quake (Xbox Series X) - 360 min. 9. Bastion (PC) - 290 min. 10. Nowhere Prophet (Xbox One) - 288 min. Top systems 1. Xbox Series X - 2637 min. (#1) 2. Switch - 2560 min. (#2) 3. Xbox One - 955 min. (#5) 4. PS4 - 568 min. (#4) 5. PC - 526 min. (#3) 6. iOS - 425 min. (#9) 7. Browser based - 299 min. 8. 3DS - 65 min. (#7) 9. Vita - 53 min. 10. Xbox 360 - 41 min. Total 8171 minutes and 33 different games on 13 different systems, with 7 participants. Two games reach 1000 minutes this week, and it is Borderlands on the Series X that exceeds that mark by the biggest margin. The Xbox Series X also maintains its first place on the systems list, though the Switch is only 77 minutes behind. This week saw the addition of a new system, the Commander X16 at 12th place in the systems rank. For those who were late to post your times, please add them below and I'll include those with next week's stats. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agamon Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 Dang it, missed again by a few minutes. I'm slacking... PC Hero Realms (151 min) Magic: the Gathering Arena (619 min) Rimworld (671 min) Oculus Quest Beat Saber (288 min) More of the same, though I'm in on the Hero Realms beta, which I also play on Android, but like my Star Realms play on Android, it's next to impossible to track playtime when I play asynchronous turns in games whenever I have a bit of downtime to spare. In RW, I was able to buy a bunch of meat from a merchant to keep the stores from emptying over winter, a combat merchant also wondered in near the landing spot of some androids that were causing me a lot of problems, helping me eliminate them. Despite the nudist religion, I think I'm going to need to suit up in armor for big fights...wandering into a swarm of bullets with zero protection sucks. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 Yeah. Perhaps I should ask for editing capacities into these threads so I can go back and amend previously posted stats. The thing is that Wednesdays fit me worse, so alternatively I could postpone it until Thursday evening European time before posting stats from the week before. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt_Woloch Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) On 8/23/2021 at 5:04 AM, jgkspsx said: Who, me? Zip. Nada. Zilch. The big nothin’. Which reminds me of this... As well as Wonder Boy reminded me of something I forgot to mention... the game has a "Congratulations" screen where you enter your name into the high score list at the end of a game, and like "Jungle King", it starts out playing some music that seems to sound like "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard, but only the first few notes are the same, then the melody goes on in a different way. Just compare this: to this... and this... Edited August 25, 2021 by Kurt_Woloch 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 5 hours ago, Kurt_Woloch said: As well as Wonder Boy reminded me of something I forgot to mention... the game has a "Congratulations" screen where you enter your name into the high score list at the end of a game, and like "Jungle King", it starts out playing some music that seems to sound like "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard, but only the first few notes are the same, then the melody goes on in a different way. I prefer to think they’re celebrating my birthday instead 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 I started up a Dragon Quest XI playthrough on the XBox so I'd expect that to take up the majority of my time for this current week, lol. Fair warning! I had completed it on the Switch with a 100+ hour playthrough- it's such a good game (if you like JRPGs). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 The congratulations music to Wonder Boy could just as well be the beginning of the Bubble Bobble music. Three tones like C-D-E is not much to go on when it comes to comparing different songs. However I agree that Jungle King does a good attempt ripping off Cliff Richard, but that they bailed out early on. Well, good luck with your playthrough and we'll see if it helps setting any new records for the tracker. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Pendleton Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 So Battle Garegga Rev.2016 is here. I was really not sure if I wanted to put this over on the other tracker as Battle Garegga since I am pretty sure it's an emulated version of the arcade game, but I decided to put it here because of its bug fixes and the added difficulty settings, which change the game significantly from the arcade version. One of my weird goals in life is to no miss Battle Garegga, even though you're "not supposed to" since you are supposed to intentionally die to prevent the game from getting too difficult. Supposedly getting the 1CC or no miss on Battle Garegga is the single most difficult thing that you can do in any shooting game ever or something, so yay. No Star Wars or Blue Reflection this time, to my surprise. PS4 Battle Garegga Rev.2016 - 88 Kangokutou Mary Skelter Finale - 1,454 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt_Woloch Posted August 29, 2021 Share Posted August 29, 2021 On 8/26/2021 at 3:16 PM, carlsson said: The congratulations music to Wonder Boy could just as well be the beginning of the Bubble Bobble music. Three tones like C-D-E is not much to go on when it comes to comparing different songs. However I agree that Jungle King does a good attempt ripping off Cliff Richard, but that they bailed out early on. That's true, but both screens also say "Congratulations" while playing the music, so Bubble Bobble would probably not the first thing I think of when hearing the music (especially since I know the song by Cliff Richard). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 29, 2021 Author Share Posted August 29, 2021 15 minutes ago, Kurt_Woloch said: That's true, but both screens also say "Congratulations" while playing the music, so Bubble Bobble would probably not the first thing I think of when hearing the music (especially since I know the song by Cliff Richard). I made a very quick and dirty comparison, and it would seem that the high score music in Wonder Boy is something of an amalgam (unless I'm misusing that word) of the other two. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jgkspsx Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 For me this week: Game Boy Advance: Rock n Roll Racing - 90 minutes. Almost beat it. Gamecube: Smashing Drive - 75 minutes. This arcade port, Gaelco’s only prominent home port, is full of jank and looks like an early PS1 game, but for me it has that “one more time” quality and keeps me trying again. The mechanics are either surprisingly deep or horribly arbitrary, I don’t know which yet. I saw this in bargain bins for years and years and only recently picked it up. I say it’s worth a shot. Sonic Adventure DX - 15 minutes. Playing the demo a few times as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. There’s still nothing quite like it, for good and for ill. Wii: Boom Blox - 15 minutes. This is going to be one of those games that middle aged people in fifteen years will be racking their brains to remember. It’s weird, but it’s also kind of generic, but it’s also quite fun. Pandora’s Tower - 75 minutes. That is some gross-ass s%*t right there. I can’t decide if the art direction is great or horrible. Some real courageous decisions here and there, I have no doubts about why Nintendo of America wanted nothing to do with it. Batman: The Brave and the Bold - 35 minutes. I never watched this TV show but this was the generation of Batman I read the most comics from. Wildcat, lol, how 70s. This game is so lovingly made and so incredibly polished but I don’t want to shake the wiimote so much. PS3: Papo & Yo - 120 minutes. Started from scratch, got further than I have before. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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