I am joining a challenge that Alienjesus is doing where I pick 10 classics that are in my collection that I have not yet beat and beat them over the course of the summer. For me, the summer is from now till the official end of summer on Sept. 21. Further more, I will challenge myself to write about each game I play for the challenge when I finish it.
The games I will play in no particular order:
1). Final Fantasy VI. I really had the pick of the series here as I haven't finished any of them I thru IX. I could have done IV, but I figured that is cheating since I am close to the end on it when I got frustrated with the difficulty jump. Also, VI is widely praised and has beautiful pixel art. This should be a joy.
2). Metroid Prime. I started this when the Metroid Prime Trilogy was released, but I think I will just restart this for the challenge.
3). Super Mario Brothers 3. While I haven't beaten 1, 2, Lost Levels or World, I chose this one since it really introduced the overworld idea used in pretty much every Mario game since. I will be playing the All-Stars Wii version of the game.
4). Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. I had a choice of multiple Zelda's and multiple versions of this game, but I chose to play the portable one since I won't be limited to playing while home. I think the reputation of this game has been keeping me from it mostly.
5). ICO. The collection that this came in was one of my reasons for choosing a PS3 over 360 and I have yet to play it or Shadows of the Colossus. Its about time I play one of my reasons for getting the system, no?
6). Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. While I haven't played any of the Metal Gear games, this is the first one in terms of story time line and that is the order I am going to play them.
7). Broken Sword: Shadows of the Templars. I needed a point and click in here some where and this fits the bill of being classic. I hope I enjoy this series as much as I do the Telltale games and Aminita Design's.
8). Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. This one may not be a classic, but the first game in the trilogy is and I have already beaten the first two in the trilogy, so I might as well finish it.
9). Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars. While I wanted to stick to one RPG for this challenge, I don't think this will be overly long and I've seen enough differing views on it to want to see for myself.
10). XIII. This is more of a cult classic FPS. I like the art style... Will have to see about the game itself.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
May Goals and Such
Well, let me just say this up front. If there is anyway for me to not want to play a certain game it is to set it specifically as a goal to beat. So, for May I am going to be a bit more general in my goals. Overall I would like to get my unbeaten down below 340, though with currently being at 348 and with two guaranteed and one other possible addition coming, that may be a stretch.
I also decided to change how I handle DLC. I had been counting each DLC that had objectives as a :U:, but I decided that unless the DLC has significant content to it then it will just count towards completion of the main game. For example, all the DLC except Awakening for Dragon Age are this way now, as are both DLC for Mass Effect. Awakening is the exception here since it is really a fully realized expansion. I am keeping the Borderlands DLC except Mad Moxie's as :U: since they all have significant length to them and are story driven. Mad Moxie's is more of a challenge map type DLC and thus will only count for completion of the main game. The last one I would like to comment on are the Civ DLC. While the campaigns in these DLC aren't necessarily long, they change the core game significantly with special rules and have multiple factions each, thus earning :U: status.
During the next month, I will be adding two, possibly three games to my backlog. I will try to avoid what happened towards the end of this month with the random purchases of the Metal Gear Solid HD pack, Batman, Assassin's Creed II and Sonic Generations. I did also purchase the original Assassin's Creed for PS3, but since I already had it on another system, it just changed my primary copy.
Definite additions will be Diablo 3 on May 15th and Batman: Arkham City GOTY at the end of the month. D3 is coming free since I signed up for the annual WoW pass. Batman is preordered, and may even spark a hard mode run of Arkham Asylum leading up to its release. The possible purchase is Legend of Grimrock. I have heard nothing but good things about this game and have always wanted to try a dungeon crawler. Also, it is made by a Finnish studio and I am part Finn. I may also be adding the DLC for Assassin's Creed II if I get to that this month, though they will count for completion of the main game, not seperate :U:s
As for what I am playing currently, I am still going through my RPG rotation, though Avadon seems to be skipped a lot. I am getting towards the home stretch of Final Fantasy XIII and am making steady progress in Xenoblade. Though I will say Xenoblade will not be done before Last Story comes out. I would like to finish Avadon before then so Last Story can have the third slot in the RPG/long game rotation since I fully expect XIII-2 take XIII's spot.
So while my general goal is to beat around 10 games or so (yeah right) I would like to specifically make progress on getting both Steam and GoG under 60 :U: and beat some of my new games for the year.
I also decided to change how I handle DLC. I had been counting each DLC that had objectives as a :U:, but I decided that unless the DLC has significant content to it then it will just count towards completion of the main game. For example, all the DLC except Awakening for Dragon Age are this way now, as are both DLC for Mass Effect. Awakening is the exception here since it is really a fully realized expansion. I am keeping the Borderlands DLC except Mad Moxie's as :U: since they all have significant length to them and are story driven. Mad Moxie's is more of a challenge map type DLC and thus will only count for completion of the main game. The last one I would like to comment on are the Civ DLC. While the campaigns in these DLC aren't necessarily long, they change the core game significantly with special rules and have multiple factions each, thus earning :U: status.
During the next month, I will be adding two, possibly three games to my backlog. I will try to avoid what happened towards the end of this month with the random purchases of the Metal Gear Solid HD pack, Batman, Assassin's Creed II and Sonic Generations. I did also purchase the original Assassin's Creed for PS3, but since I already had it on another system, it just changed my primary copy.
Definite additions will be Diablo 3 on May 15th and Batman: Arkham City GOTY at the end of the month. D3 is coming free since I signed up for the annual WoW pass. Batman is preordered, and may even spark a hard mode run of Arkham Asylum leading up to its release. The possible purchase is Legend of Grimrock. I have heard nothing but good things about this game and have always wanted to try a dungeon crawler. Also, it is made by a Finnish studio and I am part Finn. I may also be adding the DLC for Assassin's Creed II if I get to that this month, though they will count for completion of the main game, not seperate :U:s
As for what I am playing currently, I am still going through my RPG rotation, though Avadon seems to be skipped a lot. I am getting towards the home stretch of Final Fantasy XIII and am making steady progress in Xenoblade. Though I will say Xenoblade will not be done before Last Story comes out. I would like to finish Avadon before then so Last Story can have the third slot in the RPG/long game rotation since I fully expect XIII-2 take XIII's spot.
So while my general goal is to beat around 10 games or so (yeah right) I would like to specifically make progress on getting both Steam and GoG under 60 :U: and beat some of my new games for the year.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
April 19th Update
Well, it is already apparent that I bit off more than I can chew for April. I will still see how much I can accomplish in the time that is remaining though. The largest development is that I switched out Mass Effect 2 for Final Fantasy XIII. Every time I considered playing ME2 I just didn't feel at all motivated to do anything, so I figured it was best to set it aside for a while and go back to a game that has been on the back burner. The fact that I have XIII-2 waiting in the wings also made me want to go back and finish XIII.
I have also found a system that seems to prevent or at least prolong burnout on long games, and that is to have two or three of them going at the same time and rotate so I am not playing the same game two or more days in a row. At the moment, the three games on this rotation are Xenoblade, Final Fantasy XIII and Avadon, though Avadon hasn't been touched in a week. (Should change today!).
Another change I made is in how I handle cookie games. My original idea was to have a Beat cookie and a Starter Cookie, but I decided to change that. Instead, I will only have one cookie game going at any given time. The type of cookie will be chosen when I go to open one. For the first cookie on this new system, I chose to do a handheld cookie where it only considered unbeaten games on one of my handheld systems since I didn't have any handheld's on my now playing.
And now for a general update on the games in my now playing.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike: This is my handheld cookie game. I haven't done much with it since opening the cookie besides figuring out where I left off. When I started it, I had two save files. One was on the level select screen with mission 15 as the next mission and the other was in the middle of a battle. I finished the battle and found that it was in level 9. I then saved over the first save and thus will be picking up with mission 10. I also fooled around with the combat mode a bit. Need to figure out how long that mode actually is.
Avadon: The Black Fortress: I haven't touched this in over a week. The last time I played, I finished the Beraza Pit and then got my next assignment, which is to go deal with a wizard tower in Khemeria.
Capsized: Haven't played this one much either in the past few days. I poked around in level four, but didn't finish it.
Final Fantasy XIII: Just got back into this the other day and finished Chapter 9. Next session I will start and maybe even finish Chapter 10, depending on how long it is. Not sure what side tracked me from this in the first place, but it feels good to be back.
Hard Reset: Started and got partway through level 2. I've been dying a lot on this level and from what I read there are 7 more after it. This will be interesting. Hopefully I will get better and be able to finish this soon so I can move onto other new bundle games from this year.
SSX: This is beat, but I am still keeping it in now playing as I am still having fun with it and working towards complete/platinum. I have most of the online required badges, including the 50,000 person global event and the badges involving beating rivals and defending against rivals, so it should really be up to me now.
Xenoblade Chronicles: This game has been a blast so far. From what I have seen, it is either 60 hours if you don't do side quests or ~120 hours if you do them all. I am seem to be heading towards the 120 hour side, which doesn't bother me at all. Lately I have been cleaning up side quests and exploring the Satorl Marsh. I have also just begun the rebuilding of Colony 6. Next session I will need to put together a shopping list of what I need for the first set of upgrades.
I have also found a system that seems to prevent or at least prolong burnout on long games, and that is to have two or three of them going at the same time and rotate so I am not playing the same game two or more days in a row. At the moment, the three games on this rotation are Xenoblade, Final Fantasy XIII and Avadon, though Avadon hasn't been touched in a week. (Should change today!).
Another change I made is in how I handle cookie games. My original idea was to have a Beat cookie and a Starter Cookie, but I decided to change that. Instead, I will only have one cookie game going at any given time. The type of cookie will be chosen when I go to open one. For the first cookie on this new system, I chose to do a handheld cookie where it only considered unbeaten games on one of my handheld systems since I didn't have any handheld's on my now playing.
And now for a general update on the games in my now playing.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike: This is my handheld cookie game. I haven't done much with it since opening the cookie besides figuring out where I left off. When I started it, I had two save files. One was on the level select screen with mission 15 as the next mission and the other was in the middle of a battle. I finished the battle and found that it was in level 9. I then saved over the first save and thus will be picking up with mission 10. I also fooled around with the combat mode a bit. Need to figure out how long that mode actually is.
Avadon: The Black Fortress: I haven't touched this in over a week. The last time I played, I finished the Beraza Pit and then got my next assignment, which is to go deal with a wizard tower in Khemeria.
Capsized: Haven't played this one much either in the past few days. I poked around in level four, but didn't finish it.
Final Fantasy XIII: Just got back into this the other day and finished Chapter 9. Next session I will start and maybe even finish Chapter 10, depending on how long it is. Not sure what side tracked me from this in the first place, but it feels good to be back.
Hard Reset: Started and got partway through level 2. I've been dying a lot on this level and from what I read there are 7 more after it. This will be interesting. Hopefully I will get better and be able to finish this soon so I can move onto other new bundle games from this year.
SSX: This is beat, but I am still keeping it in now playing as I am still having fun with it and working towards complete/platinum. I have most of the online required badges, including the 50,000 person global event and the badges involving beating rivals and defending against rivals, so it should really be up to me now.
Xenoblade Chronicles: This game has been a blast so far. From what I have seen, it is either 60 hours if you don't do side quests or ~120 hours if you do them all. I am seem to be heading towards the 120 hour side, which doesn't bother me at all. Lately I have been cleaning up side quests and exploring the Satorl Marsh. I have also just begun the rebuilding of Colony 6. Next session I will need to put together a shopping list of what I need for the first set of upgrades.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
State of the Backlog April 2012
So far my goals system has been working out ok, though the second half of March was a complete failure. I have decided to go for goals being for the whole month as opposed to half a month increments. The end of March and early April have/will be bad for new games. The end of March saw two indie bundles plus a freebie from gog.com. So far early April has seen Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Capsized purchased. Originally I was going to wait on XIII-2 until I finished XIII, but it was on sale for $40 instead of the normal $60, so I picked it up. Capsized was on sale for $2.50 on Steam. Coming still in the next few days is Xenoblades Chronicles (preorder) and SSX (Easter Gift) as well as the possibility of another freebie from gog.com as they hinted at a gift being given out on 4-5-2012.
For the month of April I would like to do the following.
1). Finish Mass Effect 2. This has been in progress for a while and I know I am getting close to the end. Only a few Loyalty missions left and some side quests before Omega 4. Once this is done, I will probably go back to FFXIII since the onus is on to finish that with enough time left in the year to finish XIII-2 as well.
2). Finish the two indie bundles. This includes Avadon, Snuggle Truck, Zen Bound 2, Hard Reset and Vertex Dispenser.
3). Play through Capsized and Treasure Adventure Game. Possibly also the thank you freebie from gog.com, depending on if it is a game and what game it is.
4). Finish SBCGFAP. Wanted to finish it last month, but didn't. Also would like to finish Gemini Rue and open another starter cookie, but that isn't a priority.
5). Get a Beat on SSX. I don't think this will take long. And it is one of those games that I see myself going back to from time to time to kill time ect.
6). Make significant progress on Xenoblades. I do not see myself beating this in April. From all accounts a single play through can take up to 120 hours depending on how much you do and with my sporadic play habits and the fact that I like to work on multiple games means this will take some time. I would like to finish it before Last Story comes out in Mid June.
7). The overall goal for the month will be to get my unifinshed back below 340, which is where it was before the indie bundles came and spoiled my parade.
For the month of April I would like to do the following.
1). Finish Mass Effect 2. This has been in progress for a while and I know I am getting close to the end. Only a few Loyalty missions left and some side quests before Omega 4. Once this is done, I will probably go back to FFXIII since the onus is on to finish that with enough time left in the year to finish XIII-2 as well.
2). Finish the two indie bundles. This includes Avadon, Snuggle Truck, Zen Bound 2, Hard Reset and Vertex Dispenser.
3). Play through Capsized and Treasure Adventure Game. Possibly also the thank you freebie from gog.com, depending on if it is a game and what game it is.
4). Finish SBCGFAP. Wanted to finish it last month, but didn't. Also would like to finish Gemini Rue and open another starter cookie, but that isn't a priority.
5). Get a Beat on SSX. I don't think this will take long. And it is one of those games that I see myself going back to from time to time to kill time ect.
6). Make significant progress on Xenoblades. I do not see myself beating this in April. From all accounts a single play through can take up to 120 hours depending on how much you do and with my sporadic play habits and the fact that I like to work on multiple games means this will take some time. I would like to finish it before Last Story comes out in Mid June.
7). The overall goal for the month will be to get my unifinshed back below 340, which is where it was before the indie bundles came and spoiled my parade.
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