Looking at my Backloggery page, it came to my attention that there are a number of games I titled "likely to beat" in 09. It has also come to my attention that I have a few weeks at most left in 09 to finish said games. How likely are these predictions? Let's find out!
* Disgaea 2 (PS2)
Possible, just need to get back into it and power level some. I believe I saved after a round of transmigrations, but I am towards the end of the game chapter-wise. (Meaning that a.) I'm close to done anyway and b.) the real awesome plot will kick in soon) The only problem is that Disgaea is quite a timesink, and getting to the proper level to beat the final boss may require more time than I could allow if i want to beat other games as well before 2010.
* Pokemon Leaf Green (GBA)
Not bloody likely. Anyone who has played through a Pokemon game knows that it can take a VERY long time / lot of dedication. (In hindsight, Pokemon requires a LOT of grinding. Not sure how we all put so many hours into it as kids. . . ) Just in hopes of beating other games, probably won't be happening.
* Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360)
Quite Likely. Ultimate Alliance is by no means hard or long, it just requires people with enough perserverance to play it through. Ryan bailed out on our original grouping (never seemed too interested in it), but Adam and Beka's new roomie Jason is more than a bit of a gamer / comic nerd. I could see him joining us to finish this.
* Rock Band 2 (360)
The band has gone their separate ways for the moment, needing to overcome apathy before they can reunite. Worst case scenario however could see the Bassist Edge (or possibly even guitarist Ziff Thunderbolt) completing solo mode just for backloggery standards sake. Chances are high of this one at least being technically 'beaten' before 2010.
* Persona 3 (PS2)
Not likely at all. I'm probably halfway or so through this game, with the end not really in sight. (At least, with me wanting to finish the Dark Tower on my first time through)
* Deus Ex: The Invisible War (PC)
Oh god, do I still have my save. . . ? If so, Very doable. This game will not escape me a second time.
* Left 4 Dead (PC)
I need but request "the guys" come back together for one playthrough of the final campaign. Even if I don't technically survive, I'll have experienced all 4 Episodes and can mark this beaten in my book. Outlook good.
* Devil May Cry 2
Most Likely. Would require a couple days of powering at absolute tops to finish.
There are a number of other titles I could think on, but this is a list I required a while ago. As such I'll worry about completing set goals for the time being. I feel that come new year's day on 2010 I'll compile a list of gaming goals for that year. (2010 will be quite beastly with all of the new games due to recent sales. . . )
-Ed Kun Out-
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Issues in Game Completion
Hi blogspot. How are you? I know I've been gone for a while. I hope you can forgive me. Are we cool now? We are? Glad to hear it.
I was just speaking with a friend not too long ago about games we've both recently played, and it reminded me of a couple issues I have in completing games. I already know that were it not for these issues I'd probably have a lot more games done, but it's something I'm slowly working towards and having trouble with nonetheless.
The first issue has to do with 'sequels'. For example:
I have not beaten the original Half Life. I saved in a bad spot, lost my save, and now don't want to have to re-play the beginning yet again just to catch up with where I was. (More on this in a bit) For this reason however, I have completely neglected Half Life 2, and both of it's Episodes. (Now granted I own them, and even did before buying the Orange Box. At the same time I have yet to play them)
I have the full intent of getting to and beating these games some day, as I've heard amazing things and I am a fan of the genre anyway. The problem lies in the fact that I feel I should not be touching the sequel without playing the original first. If you had never seen the original Star Wars Trilogy, would you start on 'The Empire Strikes Back' without watching 'A New Hope' first? While I realize most games don't share quite this level of continuity between sequels, there's still a lot of content that can be missed (plot, running jokes, homeages, etc) by not playing the original first. Another factor that comes to mind is that often times you cannot fully appreciate a game without having played it's predecessors. One thing that made WarCraft 3 so amazing for me was just getting to see the progression and where we had come gameplay wise across the WarCraft series, culminating in 3. (I had a similar experience with Command & Conquer 3 as well upon its release)
Now granted, this indeed has kept me from a number of titles in my collection. (I feel bad playing through more of C&C3 when I haven't beaten the original and Tiberian Sun. The aforementioned Half Life is another, Doom 2 before Doom 3, and Quake 2 before Quake 4 for another example.) It gets particularly out of hand when I start to apply the "spiritual sequel" thought process. Even though it's a completely different world / universe / plot and has a lot of differing gameplay, I can't help but tether Mass Effect to KotOR. Both are very sci-fi Bioware RPGs with somewhat similar playstyle and mechanics, with KotOR having pioneered much of Mass Effect's playstyle.
That said, I'm getting close to finally going through with Mass Effect anyway (since there isn't too much if anything I'd need KotOR finished to appreciate) so hopefully this'll be slightly less of a concern.
The second issue stems from co-op enabled games.
I can honestly say that co-op experiences are my favorite in video gaming. Any time that you can team up with friends towards a common goal and see the result of teamwork happening is an accomplishment and feeling that few can match. The social interaction that comes from multiple players all working together (imo) elevates the gameplay to a whole new level.
It's for that reason that I have great difficulty playing co-op games alone. I can start up a game such as Gauntlet, X-Men Legends, Ultimate Alliance, or Rock Band. I can play it for a bit, but I know that I'm really depriving myself of so much entertainment and fun I (and others) could be having if I were playing it with friends at the same time. Sure I -could- beat it alone, but why bother when it would be much more enjoyable doing so with others?
It's for this reason that I find myself having not yet "beaten" Rock Band, Ultimate Alliance on 360, Gauntlet, and others. In such cases I try to hold out for 3 (or preferably 4) players so we can get the maximum value out of the game in terms of co-op experience. The problem just comes in with trying to get 4 people together who all want to play this game at a given point in time. . . (much like card games, tabletop games, and the like)
The last issue is one I think strikes a lot more players than my first two. Not wanting to replay segments.
Earlier I mentioned having played a ways into Half-Life, and then losing my save. (Forgot to back up during a reformat) Getting to other Half Life titles isn't a remote problem assuming I just jump back in and replay it, right? Well, problem is that I've played through the opening few hours quite a number of times. I guess part of it is just being sick of the same old scenery and wanting to jump right back to where I was (without the use of cheat codes).
This problem in particular has kept me from finishing Half Life, Jedi Knight, Neverwinter Nights (ESPECIALLY this one), and Morrowind among others. Is it really that difficult? No, but after having experienced opening areas in a game plenty of times, it often feels more like a chore than playing a game to have to replay through them yet again. I am fortunate however that with some games, a long period of time allows the beginning to feel fresh and new again. It's for this reason that I'm contemplating picking back up the original NWN or KotOR yet again in the future.
Now there are exceptions to these general issues. I had a blast playing through X-Men Legends 2 with 3 friends, while having barely touched the original. (For the record, XML2 is in my top 10 of gaming) WarCraft 3 and C&C3 are titles I was also willing to try, not having completed the prior to games. Even so though, these are issues that I know I just need to work on so that I can experience some truly great games.
I was just speaking with a friend not too long ago about games we've both recently played, and it reminded me of a couple issues I have in completing games. I already know that were it not for these issues I'd probably have a lot more games done, but it's something I'm slowly working towards and having trouble with nonetheless.
The first issue has to do with 'sequels'. For example:
I have not beaten the original Half Life. I saved in a bad spot, lost my save, and now don't want to have to re-play the beginning yet again just to catch up with where I was. (More on this in a bit) For this reason however, I have completely neglected Half Life 2, and both of it's Episodes. (Now granted I own them, and even did before buying the Orange Box. At the same time I have yet to play them)
I have the full intent of getting to and beating these games some day, as I've heard amazing things and I am a fan of the genre anyway. The problem lies in the fact that I feel I should not be touching the sequel without playing the original first. If you had never seen the original Star Wars Trilogy, would you start on 'The Empire Strikes Back' without watching 'A New Hope' first? While I realize most games don't share quite this level of continuity between sequels, there's still a lot of content that can be missed (plot, running jokes, homeages, etc) by not playing the original first. Another factor that comes to mind is that often times you cannot fully appreciate a game without having played it's predecessors. One thing that made WarCraft 3 so amazing for me was just getting to see the progression and where we had come gameplay wise across the WarCraft series, culminating in 3. (I had a similar experience with Command & Conquer 3 as well upon its release)
Now granted, this indeed has kept me from a number of titles in my collection. (I feel bad playing through more of C&C3 when I haven't beaten the original and Tiberian Sun. The aforementioned Half Life is another, Doom 2 before Doom 3, and Quake 2 before Quake 4 for another example.) It gets particularly out of hand when I start to apply the "spiritual sequel" thought process. Even though it's a completely different world / universe / plot and has a lot of differing gameplay, I can't help but tether Mass Effect to KotOR. Both are very sci-fi Bioware RPGs with somewhat similar playstyle and mechanics, with KotOR having pioneered much of Mass Effect's playstyle.
That said, I'm getting close to finally going through with Mass Effect anyway (since there isn't too much if anything I'd need KotOR finished to appreciate) so hopefully this'll be slightly less of a concern.
The second issue stems from co-op enabled games.
I can honestly say that co-op experiences are my favorite in video gaming. Any time that you can team up with friends towards a common goal and see the result of teamwork happening is an accomplishment and feeling that few can match. The social interaction that comes from multiple players all working together (imo) elevates the gameplay to a whole new level.
It's for that reason that I have great difficulty playing co-op games alone. I can start up a game such as Gauntlet, X-Men Legends, Ultimate Alliance, or Rock Band. I can play it for a bit, but I know that I'm really depriving myself of so much entertainment and fun I (and others) could be having if I were playing it with friends at the same time. Sure I -could- beat it alone, but why bother when it would be much more enjoyable doing so with others?
It's for this reason that I find myself having not yet "beaten" Rock Band, Ultimate Alliance on 360, Gauntlet, and others. In such cases I try to hold out for 3 (or preferably 4) players so we can get the maximum value out of the game in terms of co-op experience. The problem just comes in with trying to get 4 people together who all want to play this game at a given point in time. . . (much like card games, tabletop games, and the like)
The last issue is one I think strikes a lot more players than my first two. Not wanting to replay segments.
Earlier I mentioned having played a ways into Half-Life, and then losing my save. (Forgot to back up during a reformat) Getting to other Half Life titles isn't a remote problem assuming I just jump back in and replay it, right? Well, problem is that I've played through the opening few hours quite a number of times. I guess part of it is just being sick of the same old scenery and wanting to jump right back to where I was (without the use of cheat codes).
This problem in particular has kept me from finishing Half Life, Jedi Knight, Neverwinter Nights (ESPECIALLY this one), and Morrowind among others. Is it really that difficult? No, but after having experienced opening areas in a game plenty of times, it often feels more like a chore than playing a game to have to replay through them yet again. I am fortunate however that with some games, a long period of time allows the beginning to feel fresh and new again. It's for this reason that I'm contemplating picking back up the original NWN or KotOR yet again in the future.
Now there are exceptions to these general issues. I had a blast playing through X-Men Legends 2 with 3 friends, while having barely touched the original. (For the record, XML2 is in my top 10 of gaming) WarCraft 3 and C&C3 are titles I was also willing to try, not having completed the prior to games. Even so though, these are issues that I know I just need to work on so that I can experience some truly great games.
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