BB's Backlog Challenge

[BB]

We've all got one, right? In this era of steam sales and humble bundles, we've all got a stockpile of games we've not so much as spent five minutes with just loitering around on our To Play list. We'll "get to them eventually", or "it's next after this one", or "I'm just not in the mood for that kind of game right now". Years down the line, it's still there, the weight of it bearing down on you every time a shiny new game comes out and you buy it instead of playing the ones you've already got.

So lets do something about it.

Bring together all the games in your backlog. Yeah, even that 20p platformer you got in a bundle one time because it came with that other 20p platformer you thought looked alright. Make up a list, post it here, and the games masters of NPF will collectively nominate a title from that list for you to play. If they can't agree on a single game, choose one of the nominated games at random.

Within seven days of being nominated a game, you have to give it one solid hour of play. Then, come back here, write up a short review, and at the end of your review make a decision- will you finish here meaning "play through until you're satisfied with the amount of completion", not necessarily to get 100% it, or bin here meaning you remove it from your backlog and let it never haunt your thoughts again... unless you want to come back to it in the future it? Then rinse and repeat until you've whittled your list down to a level you're happy with.

The end result will hopefully be a lot of games being played, a lot of nice surprises, the warm feeling that comes from having a good clear-out, some good discussion on what games were good and what games weren't, and maybe even some purchases based on these recommendations.

-

To kick things off, here's my backlogue:

https://66.media.tumblr.com/3b5f84ac1459721290d869a8fcadf0b6/tumblr_objuwiZZf21qdx54to1_1280.png https://67.media.tumblr.com/b57784ff3effc30c9ec5ac4568b0128e/tumblr_objuwiZZf21qdx54to2_400.png

Please don't nominate Trine 2, Jamestown or Outland as I'm playing those co-op. Disregard which ones are installed and which aren't, all games are up for nomination.

Happy gaming!

[MuMu]

Despite not being a fan of VNs or Social Justice, I really enjoyed Analogue and it's narrative, to the point of buying the sequel(Also OK) at launch, so that's my nomination.


http://i.imgur.com/g8RfZ9f.jpg

There are a lot of Point'n'Clicks there because that was my favorite genre as a kid and I keep buying new ones to relive those memories but end up never playing them.

[mauve]

Well, I'm horrible at giving a single recommendation if I see multiple games I like, so I'll give you a few and let you guys choose:

BB: Transistor is beautiful, if a little confusing in terms of narrative. The story itself unfolds both as the actual plotline AND in the (for lack of a better term) power/ability descriptions. The game forces you to unlock new powers in order to learn more about the backstories of various characters and the world, and while it can be hard to force yourself to try new ability setups once you find one that you really like, it makes it worth your while. The actual narrative itself is a little confusing, although this is done purposely at the beginning. Combat is a hybrid between turn-based strategy and real time beat-em-up, where you can either pause time and plan your attacks, or just run around mashing buttons. This works surprisingly well.

Borderlands 2 is immense fun once you get past the first few levels, and it's pretty funny to boot. If you're into first-person shooters with a weird comedy-Mad-Max flair, and you're OK with adult humor and the occasional immature mockery (there's a few things in the game that rub me the wrong way, like an allusion to a specific mental illness that kind of offended me, but I still love the game to bits) give it a shot. Plus, you'll need to play Borderlands 2 and MAAAAYBE also Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel if you ever want to play the absolutely amazing Tales from the Borderlands by Telltale Games, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

MuMu: The Blackwell Epiphany: If you have played the rest of the Blackwell games, PLAY THIS IMMEDIATELY. If you have not played any of the other Blackwell games, PLAY THE REST OF THEM, IN ORDER, IMMEDIATELY, AND THEN PLAY EPIPHANY IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS. Blackwell is my absolute favorite point-n-click series. In spite of its many flaws, (bad audio quality, differences in art from game to game, etc) I really do adore the stories and the characters, and I hope you do too.

Ghostbusters is fantastic. I adore it so much; it's basically the Ghostbusters movie sequel we're never going to get. While gameplay might be a little simplistic, it is incredibly fun to chase down ghosts, poke around locations from the films (and new ones!) and suit up alongside the original Ghostbusters cast. Sure, there's plot holes, and the female love interest is annoying and poorly voice-acted, but the characters of the Ghostbusters themselves are spot on and the banter between them is great.

Primordia starts out great but loses a little steam in the second half. It's still a really good game from the same studio that made the Blackwell games, though. The visuals and atmosphere are gorgeous and the main two characters are really fun. Give it a shot once you've finished everything Blackwell has to offer.

You can skip Gemini Rue. It's ok I guess, but to me it just seemed like bad fanfiction.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall is superb. The writing and characters are really top notch and more than make up for the somewhat simplistic gameplay. I love every single character (OK, everyone except Glory), and the world is deep and multi-dimensional. The game really makes you care about these characters and their lives. As a warning, however, it occasionally delves into some very dark issues like abusive relationships, addiction and racism. The game also tends to take a somewhat grim and nihilistic view of things. I LOVE this game, but I like to let people know about that in advance just in case. NOTE: I haven't finished the Director's Cut of the game, just the original release, so I can't say whether the new missions and mechanics are any better or worse than the original.


Mauve's Unplayed Games:
-Banner Saga 2 (haven't played yet because it's a large download and my internet connection is terrible)
-Deponia (played an hour, got bored)
-The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (large download, shitty internet)
-Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (large download, shitty internet)
-Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
-Rayman Origins
-Resonance
-Bioshock (large download, shitty internet)
-Cthulu Saves the World
-The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (large download, shitty internet)
-Mass Effect 2 (large download, shitty internet)

[BB]

MuMu: Gonna second Mauve on Blackwell if you've played the others.

Mauve: Cthulhu Saves The World is a really neat little parody RPG that actually takes the time to be a good game in its own right. Nominated!

[phil_]

BB: play Carpe Diem. You get a fully cleared Steam game in five minutes. Play it late at night alone for the proper effect.

MuMu: I recently watched _Mike play through both Abe Oddworld games. The attempt at making a puzzle game with communication elements ended up making pretty unique games.

Mauve: play Rayman. I played some of it at a friend's house, and it's just a great, fast platform. Plus it seems to already be downloaded.

I'd post my backlog, but I'm on my phone because no one at my ISP works weekends. I'll put writing it up on my backlog.

[Menarker]

@BB: Have the same "huge backlog" issue you do. Only played a few of the games you got on the list though. There are two games I played on your list though in particular that I can comment on.

Played Eternal Senia before. Despite not being THAT long of a game, it is grind-heavy and I probably wouldn't rate it higher than some of the other games on the list you got there.

Transistor is stylish and have some nice music, but it is also kinda short and repetitive (like it was forced to be rushed to completion or not be made at all), although combat is fairly interesting.

@MuMu: Blackwell Ephiphany is one of several games in the Blackwell series (The last one in fact). Was a bit humorous and have some atmosphere for an older series but basically old-school point-n-click story-game. You also won't enjoy it nearly as much if you don't play the entire series in order, especially since some character motivations/behaviors will be harder to understand if you don't play from the first one.
The Blackwell Legacy (2006)
Blackwell Unbound (2007)
The Blackwell Convergence (2009)
The Blackwell Deception (2011)
The Blackwell Epiphany (2014)

[Revising Ocelot]

DID SOMEBODY SAY BACKLOG?

Alien Isolation
And Yet It Moves
Apotheon
The Banner Saga
Battleblock Theater
Broforce
Burnout Paradise
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Child of Light
Cogs
CounterStrike Source
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
Divinity Original Sin
The Evil Within
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Fallout 4
Fallout: New Vegas
Far Cry 4
Final Fantasy X/X2
Fractured Space
Freedom Planet
Gratuitous Space Battles
Grim Fandango Remastered
Grow Home
Hammerfight
Hell Yeah!
Hitman: Blood Money
Jet Set Radio
Jotun
Legend of Grimrock 2
LIMBO
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Max Payne 3
Metro: Last Light
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
NightSky
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Ori and the Blind Forest
Pillars of Eternity
Race the Sun
Rayman Legends
Red Orchestra 2
Renegade Ops
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations
SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics
Shadowrun Returns
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Sleeping Dogs
Sniper Elite V2
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Steamworld Dig
Styx: Master of Shadows
The Talos Principle
Tomb Raider 2013
Transistor
Valkyria Chronicles
Viking: Battle for Asgard
The Witcher
The Witcher 2
The Witcher 3
XCOM 2


These are all games I have either not played yet or spent less time playing than it took to write this list. It's about 40% of my Steam library, but I have more unplayed games besides Steam.

You think you can beat my backlog? You cannot.

[Token]

man my backlog is just kinda sad
FFVII (i was never able to get into this at all)
FFIX (this was my jam when i was a kid, but never got past the first disc)
Ace Attorney 2
Persona 3 (never finished, keep getting distracted)
Persona 4 (same thing)
Persona Q (REALLY enjoyed what I've played, but figured I should stop until I got through the above two games)
Kid Icarus Uprising
SMT: Digital Devil Saga
SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2
...SMT
SMT III: Nocturne
Devil Survivor 2 (kinda? Got the remake, never got around to playing the new campaign)
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Halo 4
Hyrule Warriors
Shovel Knight
Soul Hackers
Fire Emblem Fates
Little Big Planet
Batman Arkham City
finishing goddamn skyrim jesus fuck

[MuMu]

@Everyone, I've played all the other Blackwell games before but it has been so long I might as well replay the entire series instead of just going into Epiphany. So that's what I'm doing!

@Mauve, I'm going to make a reccomendation here, Rayman Origins for being a great and pretty much a flawless plataformer, and a counter reccomendation: Drop the Deponia series, it just ain't worth it. They tried to make the MC a Jerk With A Heart of Gold but with no gold and while at the end of the first game it seems like he may have got some growth and matured, it all goes out of the window right in the beggining of the second one.

@Menarker, you cheated, where's your backlog!?

@Ocelot, you have way too many good games, I can't choose one

@Token, That's a lot of RPGs, I'd suggest finishing the Mass Effect series since it looks like you're already into it and maybe balance it with Arkham City so you have some punching to do when you're tired of talking people to death.

[BB]

RO: Hammerfight!
Token: Kid Icarus!

[mauve]

RO: Oh gosh, I just realized that promised I'd let you know if Grim Fandango Remastered was good back when it came out and I don't think I ever did! So yes. Yes it is good. Controls are a little wonky still, and it's a little difficult to pick out details in a few scenes (which is really just the fault of the old graphics more than anything else) but it's still a great point-n-click.

Battleblock Theater is hilarious and infuriating, but you'll get the most out of the experience by playing in co-op mode with a friend you won't hate if they yell at you (and vice-versa. It's an enraging game in the best way). It's all the co-op rage of Mario Bros (trolling and all) with great music, a fun art style, seriously funny cutscenes, and the best narrator ever.

Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall I've already discussed in this thread. Returns is good but Dragonfall is superior in terms of story and characters. See my disclaimer in my last post, howerver.

I've also discussed Transistor already, and I still recommend it.

Styx Master of Shadows is basically Goblin Batman: Goblin Arkham City. It's fun and has an interesting aesthetic, but it tries too hard to be edgy sometimes, which is inadvertently hilarious.

Token: Batman: Arkham City suffers from some serious plot holes but damn is it fun. It lacks the tension of Arkham Asylum (I honestly forgot all about Joker halfway through the game) but the world is huge and fairly well developed, and combat has been improved. The atmosphere is fantastic. The main downside is that Harley Quinn is super annoying.

FF9 was my first and most favorite Final Fantasy, so I am heavily biased when I recommend it. But I loved it so.

Looks like I've received two votes for Rayman and one for Cthulu Saves the World. Time to get a-downloadin'!

[Solid Snake]

...Sure, why not join in the fun.

My Backlog:

PS4:

Dark Cloud 2 (haven't started; played a bit of the PS2 version way back when)
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (haven't started)
Fallout 4 (need to complete my first playthrough, but I haven't enjoyed it so far)
Final Fantasy VII (need to replay it and grab the PS4 trophies, it's been nearly a decade since my last playthrough)
inFamous: Second Son (haven't started)
The Last of Us: Remastered (played the original, want to see what the fuss is on PS4)
MGSV: The Phantom Pain (beaten, but I need to trophy hunt)
Rogue Galaxy (made it to the capital, got bored, dropped it for a bit)
Until Dawn (haven't started)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (just beat it, was phenomenal, need to try a Death March playthrough to grab the Plat, but gonna wait years for that)

PSVita:

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (started, but haven't really gotten anywhere)
Chrono Trigger (just recruited Ayla in my fifteen millionth replay)
Final Fantasy X Remastered (beat it, now into post-completion sphere grid grinding to take on the optional bosses)
Freedom Wars (about halfway through the story)
Gravity Wars (haven't started)
The Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel (beaten, replaying before Cold Steel II is released so I can transfer a New Game Plus save)
Lost Dimension (beaten, need to replay at least once for the Plat)
MGS2 HD (haven't started, probably won't start anytime soon)
MGS3 HD (beaten, need to replay for the Plat)
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (haven't started)
Persona 3 Portable (about halfway through the FemMC playthrough)
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (haven't started)
Toukiden: Age of Demons (end of Part 2, I think)
Vagrant Story (been dying to replay this for years)
Valkyria Chronicles II (about a quarter of the way in)
Ys: Memories of Celceta (haven't started)


PS3:

Alpha Protocol (beaten, need to replay for other endings and to grab the Plat)
BioShock (haven't started on PS3)
BioShock Infinite (beaten, need to play the DLC)
Braid (haven't started yet)
Catherine (beaten, need to replay for the True Neutral ending)
Child of Light (about a third of the way in)
Dark Souls (need to garner the willpower to keep meandering through it)
Dishonored (haven't started)
Dragon Age II (beat it twice, but I need one more playthrough for the Plat)
Dragon Age: Origins (need to beat it once more as a Warrior for the Plat)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (got about halfway before purchasing the far superior PC version. Might still trophy hunt)
Dragon's Dogma (I just really want to replay this one some time)
Drakengard III (about halfway in)
Ducktales: Remastered (haven't started yet)
Fallout: New Vegas (just need to finish my Legion playthrough for the Plat!)
Final Fantasy XIII (beaten, just need to trophy hunt)
Fuse (haven't started yet)
God of War
God of War II
God of War III (haven't played through any of the trilogy on PS3 yet)
Grand Theft Auto V (beaten, just trophy hunting left)
Heavy Rain (beaten, just need to trophy hunt with alternate endings)
inFamous
inFamous 2 (beaten as a 'good' Cole, need to beat as 'evil' Cole)
ICO (beaten, but I want to Plat it)
Shadow of the Colossus (beaten on PS2, just before the last boss on PS3)
KH2 Final Mix (about two-thirds in with the PS3 remaster, need to finish it)
KH Birth by Sleep (haven't started yet)
Lightning Returns (finished, just have a couple more trophies to nab)
A new Mass Effect Trilogy playthrough on the hardest difficulty (Ugh. The things I do for Plats.)
Medal of Honor: Frontline Remastered (haven't started the PS3 version yet)
MGS: Revengeance (beaten, but I want to play through the Blade Wolf and Jetstream DLCs)
MGS4: Guns of the Patriots (beaten pre-trophies, need to beat it again to grab the new trophies)
Mirror's Edge (on the third mission, I think?)
Ni No Kuni (gave up about three-quarters through)
NieR (beaten several times over, just need to grind out a few more trophies)
Okami HD (haven't started the PS3 version yet)
Outland (haven't beaten)
Prince of Persia (Platinumed, but I haven't played the Epilogue DLC yet)
Puppeteer (haven't started)
Red Dead Redemption (need to finish the Undead DLC)
Resident Evil 4 HD (haven't started the HD version on PS3 yet)
Resident Evil 5 (barely started, would probably just start fresh)
Resonance of Fate (started Chapter 2, lost interest, need to delve back in)
Saints Row: The Third (only finished the second or third mission so far)
Sleeping Dogs (Platinumed the original title, need to complete the DLCs)
Sonic Adventure (haven't started the PS3 version)
Spec Ops: The Line (haven't started)
Tales of Graces f (basically finished, but I have some post-game content to clean up)
Tales of Xillia (played through as Jude, need to start Milla's playthrough)
Tales of Xillia 2 (got the 'Bad' ending, felt it should be canon, need to find the energy to try the other endings)


PC:

Age of Mythology: Extended Edition (need to replay this version, and try the new DLC)
Analogue: A Hate Story (beaten, need to try for more endings)
Bastion (about halfway in, lost interest)
Chantelise (haven't started yet)
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (haven't started yet. Probably watched too much of it on Youtube.)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (honestly, I have no intention of even starting it, but it's a game I technically own for some reason)
The Dig (haven't started yet)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (beaten, but want to replay it with a new main character)
Dust: An Elysian Tail (got stuck some portion of the way in)
Eden* (haven't started yet)
The Fruit of Grisaia (barely started)
Gunpoint (barely started)
Hate Plus (same story as Analogue)
If My Heart Had Wings (beaten, just need to play through Amane's route to call it complete)
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (beat way back when as a young'un, need to replay on Steam)
The Longest Journey / Dreamfall (would like to replay on Steam)
Magicka (haven't started yet)
Might and Magic VII (eager to replay this some time)
Never Alone (barely started)
Pillars of Eternity (lost interest in my initial playthrough early, need to retry it)
Portal 2 (barely started)
Psychonauts (haven't started)
Quest for Glory (eager to replay the entire series through GoG.com)
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (haven't started)
Renowned Explorers: International Society (haven't succeeded in a playthrough attempt yet, it's hard!)
Rogue Legacy (haven't started)
Scribblenauts Unlimited (stopped shortly before the endgame)
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (haven't started this version yet, but I love Sleeping Dogs, so I will)
Starbound (fooled around with it a bit, but haven't genuinely started a playthrough)
Stardew Valley (will start my 'real' playthrough once Emily is a romance option)
Stories: The Path of Destinies (haven't started)
Total War: Rome II (haven't finished a main campaign playthrough yet)
Undertale (need a genocide playthrough; yes, I said it)
The Witcher 2 (tried it briefly, now have renewed interest in completing it post-Witcher 3; I did give up entirely on the original Witcher, though)
XCOM (haven't played Enemy Within expansion content yet)


3DS and DS:

Bravely Default (lost interest fairly early in, need to restart this)
Fire Emblem Fates (need to start the third route and finish Birthright sometime; only finished Conquest)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina 3D (haven't started this version yet. Not a huge Ocarina fan)
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (haven't gotten far with a P3 Protag playthrough. May just restart with Yu)
Shin Megami Tensei IV (haven't started yet)
Super Mario 3D Land (barely started)
Tales of the Abyss (haven't started yet)
999: Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors (lost interest about halfway through, but this has been recommended enough to retry it)
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (haven't started yet)
Dragon Quest V (haven't started yet)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (really need to restart this and finish it this time)
Infinite Space (barely started, lost interest early)
Last Window (will start once I finish Hotel Dusk)
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (barely started)
Radiant Historia (nearly finished, but at this point I've forgotten so much that I might as well restart it)
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (haven't started)
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (haven't started)
The World Ends with You (lost interest very early in, should retry this some time)


...I have a long, long backlog.

EDIT:


You think you can beat my backlog? You cannot.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sure, okay, buddy. Thanks. I needed a laugh today.

[MuMu]

Even Snake's backlog is a Snakepost.

I'll ignore everything you already played because I don't want to force anyone to do something they wouldn't enjoy. And since it's such a big list, I'll make multiple reccomendations:

• Dishonored - It's a great original stealth game, fine gameplay and I love the designs. There are multiple endings and while they do follow the "Good" and "Bad" structure that most games do, the actions you take to achieve them tend to be a bit more grayer(To the point that the methods "sparing" your targets is arguably more cruel than just killing them)

• Gunpoint - This one is the very definition of short and sweet. I've played through it multiple times, both the writing and the Wirelinking mechanics are great.

• Recettear - I can't believe you never played this one, it was THE shit when Carpe Diem translated it years ago. Taking care of your shop is at the same time very relaxing and infuriating while dungeon crawling makes for a nice roguelite moment.

• Rogue Legacy - I remember me and Ocelot suffering through this together; even though I rarely enjoy roguelikes(I hate losing) this one is lighter enough that I still managed to beat it as even if you lose there's still progress to be made.

• Infinite Space - Even though I never finished(Game really needed some sort of Journal) this is still unique enough to give it a try. It has a really rough start, with a bland protagonist and generic story but all of sudden it turns into something else(I heard that 999 also does in it's TRUE PATH but I didn't get to experience it, maybe if it really gets a Steam re-release). If you really don't enjoy the gameplay I'd suggest checking a Let's Play somewhere.

[Solid Snake]

I'll ignore everything you already played because I don't want to force anyone to do something they wouldn't enjoy.

Unless I explicitly specified that I lost interest in the italics, it's more likely that I was very interested but real-life shit derailed my playthrough to such an extent that I found it hard to get back into the game one I had free time again. A great example is that I loved my FemMC playthrough in P3P, possibly even more so than I loved my original playthrough of FES, because FemMC's a better protagonist -- but I had a family trip that completely derailed my progress and by the time I felt like playing again I found I had forgotten what I was doing and would probably need to restart.

I have a pretty short-term memory when it comes to games and if I drop one for a while, it's hard to reinvest myself. It took me this long to finish Witcher 3 because my first two attempts were false starts that were quickly derailed. Third time was the charm, I finally got sufficiently hooked on the plot to follow it to completion.

What frightens me about Dishonored are the incredible requirements for some of the trophies. I'm addicted to trophies like it's no joke so I'd probably force myself into a No-Kill, No-Detect first time playthrough that would require tons of restarts.

Recommendations:

MuMu: The Game of Thrones RPG is awful, don't choose that. BioShock Infinite was a tad overrated with the hype upon its initial release, but of all the games I've played on your list I'd say it's my favorite -- and well worth playing if you haven't tried it yet. Just don't expect any sort of life-changing masterpiece, instead expect an above-average, thought-provoking story paired with thoroughly mediocre gameplay mechanics.

Mauve: If you played through the original Mass Effect, enjoyed it and have a character to transfer into ME2, ME2's a great bet. It's my favorite in the ME series in terms of plot and characters (though the first has grown on me over time.)
If not, you can't go wrong with Revengeance -- the gameplay's excellent (though if you're playing on PC make sure you have a controller) and it's basically Metal Gear Solid's campiest moments turned up to eleven, without any hint of Kojima's occasional philosophical pretentiousness.

Ocelot: Fallout: New Vegas is the best in its series, in my opinion (counting only the 3D Fallouts), and well worth looking into if you have some time to kill and don't mind subpar graphics (so long as it's buttressed by tons of exquisite world-building and storytelling.)
Grim Fandango Remastered is an excellent game to play if you have only a few hours to spare, want to invest in something that requires minimal effort but tells an engaging story, and you want to laugh your ass off.
Shadow of Mordor has the Nemesis system, which is one of the most ingenious new mechanics I've seen in a recent release. Combat's great, too, if a little formulaic at times. Aesthetically it leaves a lot to be desired and the story is dull as bricks -- really a shame given the lore they could've drawn from -- but the Nemesis system alone is worth experiencing.
Valkyria Chronicles is my favorite strategy RPG ever and any human being on this planet with a soul will love it dearly. Just be prepared to cry like a baby.
If you do decide on a Witcher series playthrough, skip the first game, which was awful for a variety of reasons, and jump straight into either the second or third. I jumped straight into Witcher 3 after trying (and hating) the first Witcher and didn't feel like I missed out on much.

Token: Any list in which Ace Attorney appears will immediately receive the highest of recommendations from me, particularly if it ain't Apollo Justice, which was the weakest link. The second Ace Attorney isn't quite as great as the first but, if you haven't played the third yet because you haven't finished the second, you need to plow through that shit to get to the best game in the series.
SMT: Nocturne's pretty dang good if you don't feel like reinvesting into either of the Persona titles you're working on.
...Absolutely don't attempt Q before finishing either Persona 3 or Persona 4. You don't have to beat them both, so long as you choose to play as the protagonist in Q associated with the game you've beaten.

[Revising Ocelot]

Screw you Snake, I still have the bigger PC backlog. Owning consoles is cheating! And putting games you've already played/halfway through on the list. But mostly consoles. Cheating!

On a side note, glad I downloaded the Metroid 2 Remake this morning before it got DMCA'd.

[Solid Snake]

Screw you Snake, I still have the bigger PC backlog. Owning consoles is cheating! And putting games you've already played/halfway through on the list. But mostly consoles. Cheating!


Not cheating at all; it's still in my backlog regardless of where I stand with my progression.
Oddly enough, PC games are under-represented on my list because, when I own titles for both PC and one of the Playstation consoles, I'll usually prioritize the Playstation Platinum. For example, I own -- and have not beaten -- New Vegas and Skyrim on PC. I didn't include them on the list because I prioritized the PS3 versions, even though the PS3 versions look worse and are buggy as hell, because I want those damn Plats. Got the Skyrim PS3 Plat and it required so much tolerance of so many awful bugs that I may never even try to finish a PC playthrough. The New Vegas Plat is high on my list.

[Revising Ocelot]

I used to be an achievement chaser on Steam. Team Fortress 2 broke me. It became impossible to keep up with everything they were putting out, culminating around the time Mann vs Machine came out with a plethora of things to obtain, requiring a well-coordinated group to pursue collectively. Which just brought back all kinds of MMO flashbacks. Stopped playing TF2 shortly after... although I think Dota 2 contributed to that. Now I've stopped playing that too, because I can't keep up with something entirely different - the little goals they keep putting in their annual compendiums to get cosmetics. Too tiring.

There's that, and the fact that nobody else really cares what achievements one has. Right now I'm playing Overwatch (time-limited cosmetics just introduced! NotLikeThis NotLikeThis NotLikeThis). I picked up Resident Evil 4 in the summer sale and am replaying that for the first time in many years, since my PS2 is probably dead by now. It also looks and runs a lot better than that version. Still dying like a scrub at silly stuff. Like dogs.

[Solid Snake]

I've avoided feeling quite as broken by Playstation trophies during my trophy hunting by simply refusing to hunt for multiplayer trophies. I'll never Platinum most the Assassin's Creed titles with multiplayer components, but I consider my progress with them 'Complete' because multiplayer trophies just don't count in my mind. They're just too painful because so much is dependent on factors outside your control in terms of other players' capabilities.

There are also a few Platinums I've just conceded I'm never going to get. I'm not skilled with fighting game mechanics, so I'll never get every single-player trophy for Persona 4 Arena.
I basically try to determine which trophies are achievable and whether a Plat is achievable before committing, and then I stick to one hundred percenting the content I preemptively agreed to 100%.

[Nikose Tyris]

My backlog is 240 games long and I will be damned if I type up that entire list. I play 8 games and I am too tired to really play more, although Isaac_Zephyr has made it his mission to make me play and record every single one. (In return he'll run the pokemon RPG for me)

[Menarker]

@Menarker, you cheated, where's your backlog!?



I clearly didn't want to bother flaunting my self-inflated ego with my absurd list of games I've bought/found/been-gifted. =P But since you insist...

Steam tells me that I got 264 owned games (several of which I've completed, but not even a 10th done with the list, since I tend to play as close to 100% completion as I can get). I don't know how to copy my entire list of games onto a clipboard to share (and I don't wanna write down every single game I own), so any advice on how to shortcut the copy-pasting would be nice.

In addition, I got several games for the Wii/WiiU, Playstation2/3, 3DS each that I've not yet completed/started. I estimate another 25 games there.

And I'm also in the middle of playing PC games that aren't on steam, such as fan-made games like Pokemon Reborn.

[phil_]

These games were chosen because they are very short and you can get them off your backlog quickly:

RO: LIMBO.
Snake: Never Alone.

These games were chosen by jabbing at the screen with four fingers and rolling a d4 because I haven't played anything on your list:

Token: SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2

Theses games were chosen by Nikose play Kitty Collector.

And here's my backlog of Steam games, with games I've beaten/fully cleared/given a decent shake crossed out. If the Hanayo event really doesn't happen next on SIF I might even have time to play your suggestions after I finish Undertale.

http://i.imgur.com/j2syZfP.jpg

I got some Humble Bundle games, too, but it's a hassle to get at them all without an account and I'm drunk, tired, and lazy.

[mauve]

@Phil: Crypt of the Necrodancer is a fun, catchy little roguelike rhythm game with great music and an infuriating level of difficulty. Levels are randomly generated so you never play the same dungeon twice. Give it a shot!

@Snake: I will second MuMu's recommendations of Gunpoint and Dishonored. Gunpoint is a personal favorite of mine and Dishonored is a good stealth/combat game with an interesting world.

The World Ends with You is hard to get into at first (I ended up putting the top screen on auto control and just focusing on the bottom screen), but I remember really liking it. Final few bosses were a bit of a disappointment, but overall a great game.

Portal 2 because why the hell have you not played Portal 2 yet? Finish it, and if you like it, download the free fan game Portal Stories: Mel on Steam. It's the Portal 3 we'll never get because Valve forgets that being a game studio means having to make games.

Psychonauts is a classic and an all-around great game. Fun character designs, a funny and legitimately creative world, and some interesting and thoughtful looks into what makes these various characters tick. It's a basic platformer in a lot of ways, but the story, characters and concepts are the real focus here. Give it a shot.

[BB]

Snake: Ducktales!
Phil_: They Bleed Pixels! Save Trine 2 for when you can co-op it with someone.

Time to check in with my first fin/bins.

Analogue:
Feels a bit like someone throwing a manuscript at you and the pages going everywhere and then you're told "OK READ IT" while a cute anime keeps talking to you. It felt a bit too much going into it but now I AM into it and I'm curious where it's going. I'm up to the part where I can tell Hyun-ae to wear different outfits and I haven't spoken to Mute yet but I have the option to.
Fin or Bin: Fin!

Carpe Diem:
Uhh, well, I finished it, so... mission accomplished. It's well worth the asking price of 5 minutes of your time.
Fin or Bin: ...Fin, I guess!

[Solid Snake]

Portal 2 because why the hell have you not played Portal 2 yet?

I was sort of disappointed with the original Portal, which I beat and...didn't really care for. I mean, objectively, it was good! But it certainly wasn't as revolutionary as it felt hyped to me.
I'm kind of a weird gamer in that I have a very, very strong preference for well-written stories with human(oid) companions, and value plot, characterization and a certain aesthetic cohesiveness over gameplay mechanics. I'm not sure how else to explain it, but Portal 2 suffers to garner much hype with me because it feels so lonely and the environment's so closed and stifling. You interact with AIs (yes, I'm aware that you're always interacting with AIs in videogames, play along with me in fantasyland for a sec here) and you're very limited in terms of what you can see and explore and the entire experience of Portal was just claustrophobic. Even boring. Not bad by any means, everything was well-executed, but you're stuck in generic looking grey/white rooms and corridors with no personality or flavor.

For the record, I think Until Dawn, which I just started yesterday because I apparently listened to none of you for some reason, is Exhibit 1A of this conundrum. I usually hate horror stories in gaming. But I don't hate horror stories in games because I hate jump scares or gore or stories that take place at night. I hate most horror stories because they're so closed and confined and you're alone and there's no real character development or genuine exploration. Until Dawn confines you to a physical place, but you're constantly interacting and shifting perspectives and engaging in a way that just makes it much better as an experience for me than, say, Silent Hill.

It's bizarre that I'm an extremely introverted person, but apparently, my videogaming preferences suggest I'm a very extroverted gamer? Except I only play single-player games so I enjoy the illusion of extroversion? I'm not sure if it even makes any sense. But some of my greatest thrills in games like Witcher 3, Dragon Age, New Vegas and Persona isn't even controlling combat, it's controlling (however indirectly) what other NPCs think and do and say how they act and interact around me through my own actions and dialogue choices, influencing NPCs as individuals and influencing the society in which the game takes place in the aggregate and exploring deep political and philosophical themes through real-time interactions, not just flashbacks or abstract deconstructions of someone's inner mind or something.
Which...is something I HATE to do in real life!!! I cannot solve this paradox.

[mauve]

I can see your point. Portal was very much an "isolation" type of game. To its credit, Portal 2 has several characters and a bit more variety in level design. You still spend most of the game in Aperture Labs, but you're seeing more of the facility and it's not all sterile grey walls. There's a bit more plot this time around, too. Plus the game blatantly mocks you for being a silent protagonist and that's great.

Re: Introversion IRL and extroversion in-game: That's a very interesting observation! I'm that way as well, come to think of it. I just love well-written characters and seeing how they develop and react to things in the story and the things I do. Who knows: Maybe it's because interacting with AI's in games is "safer" than interacting IRL, because I can control when and how I interect and I don't have to worry about what people think of me, or maybe because there are pre-set parameters for social interaction and I don't have to worry about accidentally offending anyone or doing something stupid. Or maybe I just really like RPGs that seem like the choices I make actually make a difference. Or maybe I just like RPGs.

[MuMu]

Had nothing to do so I finished The Blackwell Legacy today. It's still a pretty good game, aside from one bullshit puzzle that seems every point'n'click game must have. Moving on to the second game soon.

✓ One Game Done

---------- Post added 08-11-2016 at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was 08-10-2016 at 10:31 PM ----------

Felt like replaying a Batman game so I downloaded Origins while playing with The Blackwell Unbound, again a very good game and no bullshit puzzle this time. I really like this series Notepad mechanic, it reminds me of the Logic from Ace Attorney(But I think this one came first?) and makes more sense than the usual Item Mixing from most point'n'clicks.

✓Two Games Done

[mauve]

Batman: Arkham Origins kind of sucks, unfortunately.

Glad you're enjoying your replays of the Blackwell games though!

[Revising Ocelot]

I disagree with Origins sucking. It's better than Arkham Knight, and doesn't need a beyond-monster PC to run at acceptable settings unlike Knight. Just don't play it too close to City, as part of the map is shared (albeit several years in the past so the place isn't completely trashed, flooded, demolished/built over and has proper snow). A major plot element that some complained about becomes REALLY ironic after Knight, too.

[Arcanum]

I disagree with Origins sucking. It's better than Arkham Knight, and doesn't need a beyond-monster PC to run at acceptable settings unlike Knight. Just don't play it too close to City, as part of the map is shared (albeit several years in the past so the place isn't completely trashed, flooded, demolished/built over and has proper snow). A major plot element that some complained about becomes REALLY ironic after Knight, too.

PC port issues aside, Knight is a way better game. The only thing Origin had going for it was the new crime scene thing that let you piece together the scene and rewind/replay the holograms of what happened as you discovered more clues. The combat was a step down from City, often feeling unresponsive or like it was suffering from input lag. The electric gloves giving you instant knockouts for a time cheapened the combat even further. The boss fights in Origin are also the weakest in the series, with the only ones I can remember off the top of my head are Deathstroke, which was great, and Firefly, which I only remember because it was annoying and repetitive.

The plot was pretty bland, and wasn't helped by Joker being the main villain yet again. Meanwhile Knight's use of Joker was pretty entertaining and allowed for some great dialogue without pulling the spotlight away from Scarecrow. Also I really enjoyed Knights take on an existing batman story which I shall hide behind a spoiler tag so those who haven't played it dont look it up or remember something and spoil any surprises for themselves: Red Hood.

Also was pretty immersion-shattering for Batman to have way better gadgets in Origin compared to Asylum since it's a prequel. Having new and interesting gadgets isn't the issue, it's portraying them as better and more advanced that is. Had they made them look like rough prototypes or something I would've been fine with it. Granted Knight has its fair share of immersion problems as well, the most noticeable being ramming people at full speed in the batmobile knocks them out with an electric shock and they are perfectly fine otherwise so there's no real winner for this comparison.

I dunno, maybe I'm biased when it comes to this. Arkham City is one of my favorite games, one that I bought and played 3 separate times (once on 360, once again on PC in a steam sale, and then the GOTY edition on PC in another steam sale because it was cheaper to get that than buy the DLC separately). I even went out of my way to fully complete the game and get all medals in the bonus trials (well, the core ones, never played all the DLC ones). So then coming off that high note and expecting another amazing Batman game, all we get is a steaming pile of mediocrity that is Origin. I played through Asylum twice, City three times, and tried to play through Knight twice (my second playthrough was stopped because while the game worked fine on my PC when they updated the game to "fix" it, it became broken and unplayable and never felt like trying to get it to work again). But Origin I only ever played once, and never felt the urge to play through it again. In my opinion it is by far the weakest game in the series.

A major plot element that some complained about becomes REALLY ironic after Knight, too.

Not sure what plot element you're referring to here, since like I said I only played through it once and remember very little of the story since it didn't leave much of a lasting impression on me.

---------- Post added at 02:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 AM ----------

Also since I'm here, might as well post a sizeable chunk of my backlog and see what you people think I should play.


Life is Strange (played a bit of the first chapter, I do want to play the game, but never had time to really dig in)

Mega Man Legacy Collection (I'm a huge MM2 fan, grew up on it, can beat it in an hour or two, but I've barely played MM3, and never played any of the other old ones)

Not a Hero (got like halfway through this and kind of just stopped for no reason)

Salt and Sanctuary (wasn't really a fan of my build and wasn't motivated to restart at the time)

Samurai Warriors 4-II (if you die in a battle then you need to slowly skip through all the dialogue and cutscenes at the start of it unless you save right at the start of battle which I always forget to do, so lost motivation to play it more)

Space Hulk Ascension

Strider

Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut

Styx: Master of Shadows

Valdis Story: Abyssal City

Alan Wake (played it for a few hours and just kind of stopped. I tend to do that a bunch, and then when I remember I should play the game again it's been too long and I forget how to play or where I am or what I'm doing or why I should care)

Alien Isolation (I'm a big baby and can't play horror games. Please don't pick this)

Alpha Protocol

Bulletstorm

Legend of Grimrock

Spelunky (played it briefly, controls felt clunky/unintuitive to me and never put in the time to get used to them)

Thief (the new one that's supposedly not good. Played it a bit but then got busy with stuff and never went back to it)

Satellite Reign

State of Decay

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Valkyria Chronicles

[Revising Ocelot]

Not sure what plot element you're referring to here, since like I said I only played through it once and remember very little of the story since it didn't leave much of a lasting impression on me.


People said that Origins was too much Joker. Knight turns out to have even more Joker in it than the original Asylum. Often you'll fly up to a building and there's your half-imaginary buddy giving you some meta commentary. That's not to say he wasn't well-handled, he turned out to be my favourite part of the game. Red Hood was a very meh moment for me. Rocksteady had hyped up their new and amazing villain with a serious grudge for Batman, everyone guessed who it would be and then dismissed it with "nah, too easy". Well, I guess they're adhering to comic books well with the reveal? But the other problem was that there were zero mentions of Jason Todd in the previous games.

Most of the problems with Arkham Knight were that half the game is Batmobile. And the Batmobile becomes really tedious after a couple of hours with it. The vehicle combat was a repetitive joke, some villains who should have had proper boss battles turn out to be "shoot their tank and then punch in a cutscene", and the aforementioned immersion issues of running people over and hundreds of vehicles that are all unmanned, solely so you can use explosives without feeling bad. Oh yes, whilst there were some good boss battles in Origins, Knight had none. A very disappointing stepdown consider Asylum had no good boss battles, and Rocksteady had apparently learned their lesson with City, only to regress. I'd have appreciated the Batmobile more if the tank combat was solely for a few side activities, and otherwise for driving around. The Riddler races were good fun, at least.

I didn't really have the issues with combat and immersion in Origins that you did, but it's a very subjective game. Some people such as myself thought it was retroactively better in the wake of Knight. What I can't comment on is the DLC in Knight, which I've seen get a LOT of flak. Cold Cold Heart was a decent chunk of non-story, even if it's just Mr Freezes story verbatim.

[mauve]

@Arcanum: The only game I've played from your list is Styx: Master of Shadows. As I said before, it's basically Pseudo-Edgy Goblin Batman. It's a decent stealth game and has an interesting aesthetic though, so give it a shot.

Re: Origins: I still haven't played Knight yet (file size is scary huge for my horrible internet) so I can't compare it to Origins. I can, however, complain endlessly about my dislike of Origins' half-assed storytelling, poor continuity, and shittily-rehashed City/Asylum moments. Also I really wanted to have Black Mask as the actual villain because it would've been nice to let one of the lesser known baddies have a chance to shine. To me, Origins just felt cobbled together. The game promises one thing and delivers something else, or nothing at all: You're promised a fight with Penguin, and he locks himself in a room for the rest of the game. You're promised a fight with Electrocutioner, and he runs away after three punches and gets killed by Bane in a cutscene. You're promised a confrontation with the Riddler, and after going through all the effort to track down his bullshit "Riddles," you get an empty room with a recorded promise of future danger that never comes. You're promised Black Mask, and... well.

Aside from that, the game reuses so many elements from City yet still manages to be buggy and feel rushed. They try to reskin fights from the first two games but they lack the entertainment value they had in the other two (Copperhead's fight is a mishmash between a Scarecrow encounter and Talia's ninja team, Anarchy is Riddler all over again, etc).

Plus they decided to focus on releasing DLC rather than fixing existing problems, and then STILL didn't tie up the game's loose ends in the story DLCs.

I have opinions about Batman games.

[BB]

Arcanum: Strider!

It should be noted the ultimate purpose of this thread is to get people playing games they probably would never bother with in the end, so I'm really just picking my recs at random and without any actual recommendation behind them. But still! Play em! I played and loved Analogue (just got 100% completion, one off the list, success!) which I very likely would never have done without being forced to.

---------- Post added 08-13-2016 at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was 08-12-2016 at 11:00 PM ----------

Reporting in!

Borderlands 2:
Unfortunately it runs too slowly on my computer to play it through to the end, but that's a shame because I've enjoyed what I've been able to put up with so far. I feel like it's probably more fun with co-op anyway, so I don't mind waiting. It's in essence a dungeon-crawler but it's launched itself far enough away from the drudges of that genre to become its own thing, and I like it.

Fin or bin: Fin! But it'll have to wait until I can run it.

[mauve]

If you need a co-op partner when you get it running, gimmie a shout. I loves me some BL2.

[BB]

I'll hopefully be living with my wife-to-be by then (apparently that's "more important" than buying a new computer, tch) so if you don't mind babysitting two newbies that could be fun!

Also, reporting in-

Transistor:
This one's kind of a cheat since I played it hot-seat style with my fiancee, but we were rushing through the story and it's nice to get a chance to sit down with the mechanics and see what's what. I feel like Bastion's superior overall, but Transistor tells a darker story (or more accurately, doesn't tell you anything) and the combat is more strategic. It's a fun rip.
Fin or Bin: Fin... again.

[MuMu]

@Arcanum: A game that probably won't get nominated by anyone else, Valdis Story is one of my favorite PC Metroidvanias, mostly from it's fast paced DMC-like combat. It does have some stupid things like getting Attribute Points from bosses depending on how well you did or Timed Side Quests but still.

I wish I could coop even though I'm burned from BL2 but every time I try to play with someone else it just results in infinite lag. Yet another con from living so far away from everythign else.

Anyway, I finished Blackwell Convergence today and although the story is still quite good, I'm miffed that they removed the Clue piecing system. This one is just a lot of talking and occasionally using itens :(

✓Three Games Done(I should really count all these as just one given how short they are)

[MuMu]

Alright, I'm done with the Blackwell. Did Deception yesterday and Epiphany today and man, it got some awfully sad bits. But still both of them were great(Notebook system was back!) and I greatly enjoyed finally ending this series. Definitely Reccomend for anyone who cares about point'n'clicks.

So this backlog thing might just be because I haven't had any other good games to play, who knows. Anyway,

✓ Blackwell Series Done

Edit: Also thank developer for adding stupid achievements

http://i.imgur.com/dFyYhdS.png

Edit 2: Also, the villain from Deception is totally George Lucas(Who feeds on people's positive thoughts),
http://i.imgur.com/n4DpGPv.png

[phil_]

Phil_: They Bleed Pixels! Save Trine 2 for when you can co-op it with someone.If I'm getting back into They Bleed Pixels, I'm ignoring the books. Getting them is... not fun. It's rewarding, but not fun. The game is really frustrating after the first few levels, the books make it even harder. As for Trine, I keep getting the controls working right, then I get _mike in the game and something is inexplicably broken, almost always something with the Wizard. And then we leave it for a while, and Steam updates, and any progress I made in fixing the controls is erased because for some reason Steam changes how it reads Xbox controllers on Linux every time it updates. We would have finished it years ago if it would just work right.

But I'll get back on Pixels. After I kill Flowey. And T2 this Chika/Riko event. When I'm not working. I'll get back to you in two weeks. Maybe.

[BB]

If I'm getting back into They Bleed Pixels, I'm ignoring the books. Getting them is... not fun. It's rewarding, but not fun. The game is really frustrating after the first few levels, the books make it even harder. As for Trine, I keep getting the controls working right, then I get _mike in the game and something is inexplicably broken, almost always something with the Wizard. And then we leave it for a while, and Steam updates, and any progress I made in fixing the controls is erased because for some reason Steam changes how it reads Xbox controllers on Linux every time it updates. We would have finished it years ago if it would just work right.

But I'll get back on Pixels. After I kill Flowey. And T2 this Chika/Riko event. When I'm not working. I'll get back to you in two weeks. Maybe.

My argument here would be:

1) You sound like you didn't have a good time with it, so;
2) you already know you don't want to play more of it, so;
3) it comes off the backlog!

[phil_]

3) it comes off the backlog!Necrodancer it is! Let's see if I an give it a better shake now that my legs aren't ridiculously weak.

[mauve]

Finished downloading Rayman Origins tonight and played about an hour and a half. I'm playing on the keyboard, so the "arrow keys plus S to attack" is taking some getting used to. My hands keep going back to WASD instead of Shift, Space, S.

Aside from that though, the game is incredibly charming with a side of weirdness. Levels are fun and well designed, at least those I've seen so far. The music is great.

Fin or bin: Fin

[BB]

Finally finished Transistor, including recursion mode and achievements hunted. Combat is a lot of fun but I wish losing your health was just a straight up game over- losing your powers for the next 2-3 save points sucks a lot and I'd just restart the fight any time I lost one.

Anyway, outside of NPF I've been nominated Child Of Light next, so I'll begin that tomorrow!

[Terex4]

Have a backlog built up now so I'm in!

I'm going to alter the nomination process for myself slightly and ask that I'm assigned an RPG and a not-RPG. Platformers are hard to play when one of your hands is trying to stand-in for a rumble pak so I'll need to switch off between a couple of games depending on the day.

The lists!

RPGs
Harvest Moon
Lufia I
Lufia II
Terranigma

Not RPGs
ActRaiser
Axelay
Cannon Fodder
Donkey Kong Country 2
Donkey Kong Country 3
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim II
King Arthur's World
Kirby Super Star
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Lost Vikings
Lost Vikings II
Magical Quest-Mickey Mouse
Megaman X
Megaman X2
Megaman X3
Pilotwings
Plok
Sparkster
Tiny Toon Adventures
UN Squadron

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Terex: If you have a good computer, give Stardew Valley a chance. Great game

[BB]

Terex: Lufia 1 and Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse!

[Terex4]

Terex: If you have a good computer, give Stardew Valley a chance. Great game
It looks fun. Once I get my living situation figured out I'm going to retrieve my good computer and snatch it up.

[mauve]

Tried to play Mass Effect; couldn't get it to run on Windows 7. I could get the launcher to run in administrator mode, but not the actual game. It's a shame because I started playing on an older PC a few years ago and I would've liked to have finished it.

Fin or Bin: Bin, I guess.

[Terex4]

Alrighty, been working on my first two games, here are my thoughts:

Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse: It's a cute game and I want to like it, I really do. Unfortunately, Mickey just moves way too slow and I can't dodge anything effectively. Since I'm unable to make any real progress, I'm going to have to bin it.

Lufia I: This game is neat. I love being able to play through the prologue and I thought being able to explore the dungeon and pick up treasure was a nice touch. The mechanics are different from what I'm used to which is both good and bad. On the one hand, it's a refreshing change from what the standard has become, on the other hand, I like being able to target specific enemies. This mechanic really amps up the challenge on certain fights (goblins when you get your ship comes to mind) which can get annoying at times. Otherwise it's fun figuring out how to plan your attacks around it.

All in all, I'm enjoying it and I'm going to finish it. Which non-rpg should I try next?

[mauve]

Update: Still can't get Mass Effect 1 working, but I installed ME2 and it runs fine. I have nothing but the rudimentary "You killed a dude and someone on your team died and then you died and nobody believed you about the big bad aliens" overview ME2 gives you and my faint memories of the first half of the first game to go by, but I am enjoying it so far. Garrus is best space bro.

Fin or Bin: Fin

Also found Rayman Legends for the WiiU; playing in multiplayer with my sister and enjoying it immensely.

Fin or Bin: Fin

Installed Banner Saga II, played about an hour, kind of indifferent about it. Love the character designs, but I forgot how annoying some of the battles are until my entire squad got flattened by an army of dredge in like two turns. I am, however, slightly better at the Viking Oregon Trail bits than I was last time. I want to like the game but ME2 is taking up my time.

Fin or Bin: Ehhhh...??? I might go back to it later when I'm not playing ME2: Totally Not KOTOR??

[BB]

No one told me to do it but

Tadpole Treble

As a long-time fan of Brawl In The Family I knew I'd like this if it was even 1% as charming as the comic. Luckily, it's at least 6% as charming, so after a shaky start I'm loving it. The game kinda throws you in without explaining much of anything and it's not until you're a fair ways in that you meet a friendly face who tells you what's what, but the charm is undeniable and the humour is A+. The music is of course lovely, but you already knew that if you've heard BitF's The History Of Nintendo.

Fin or bin: haha it's funny because there's fish and they have fins