Yesterday I beat Pokémon Black. I actually beat White when it first came out, but I wanted to give Black a try.

Quest for Glory I

The first Sierra game I finished since Gabriel Knight 2 four years ago. Unfortunately I spoiled myself on quite a bit of the late game with a walkthrough, but at least it let me learn that I hit one of those infamous Sierra Dead Ends (that don't tell you when you hit them) before too much progress was lost.

The only other QFG game I ever played was #4 over 15 years ago, and I played a Thief at the time, so this time I decided to be a mage. Strangely, most of the random encounters I still meleed, since Flame Dart eats too much MP. It was disappointing how several of the spells turned out to be mostly useless. Trigger, for example, was only needed to access a minigame winning which gives another spell. Here's hoping it gets more use in the sequels.

Overall I had fun with it, I just wish the dead ends had been patched out or something.

Little tip: Thieves only lack 3 skills, and getting points in a skill starting at 0 costs 10 skill points. You get 50 at character creation, so thieves can have all skills, costing 45 to give them 5 points in each of the 3. Then you have a character with all skills to carry through the series, so really have every option whenever something pops up.
Carried mine through 1-3 back in the day, maxing out everything (oh boy, remember all the time spent in the streets of Shapeir at night practicing odd spells and hoping guards won't walk past at the wrong time) in each game and therefore starting high up in the next.
For some reason 4 didn't want to import him anymore though, and starting with a new one was part of the reason why I gave up, but only as aggravating circumstance. The changes rubbed me the wrong way in that one.

Space Quest 1 (I played the 1987 DOS version via ScummVM)

A very fun and simple adventure game with a lot a humour and oh so many ways to die :)! There are some dead ends but the game is short enough that it's not much of an inconvenience, so keep multiple saves :)! Recommended.

Royal Defense

A mediocre tower defense game. Not really good, but it kept me awake during my nightshift week. There are some good towers, upgrades and spells, but in the end you just need one tower type and one support building to get through most levels.

The most problematic thing is that the game originally had microtransactions. In the version I've played it was removed, but you still need diamonds to permanently upgrade towers and spells and it is purely luck-based if you get enough diamonds. So sometimes you have to do senseless grinding and replay levels several times to finally upgrade something.

Complete list of finished games in 2016

i finish quake 1 again for 2nd time in my life! :-/ only original campaign though, i still have to play dissolution of eternity and scourge of armagon. it was kind of a metnak game imho, considering it's 20 kosmak years old. big thank you from me to developers! (^_^)

Shadow Warrior 2

It was a great pleasure to play Lo Wang again, as Shadow Warrior 2 is a worthy addition to the series. Fun, ultra-dynamic, lots of ennemis, lots of weapons, lots of ways to go through the levels, lots of hidden things, and lots of loot!

Played in normal, yeah, I know, I know, the real challenge starts with the upper difficulty levels, but I was in for the story, not for the challenge. In that, SW2 is much alike to Borderlands games. Really fun to go through, but I have so many games left on my backlog that I can't see myself playing again anytime soon, except in the case of a worthy DLC or with friends, of course.

All in all, I really had a great time with Lo Wang and I'll welcome a Shadow Warrior 3 if there's any!

So far in 2016: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2016/post46

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS3)

Oh I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it so much I got all the trophies, and there was 1 that didn't tell you how to get it, and you get it by beating the 5 bosses at the end, watching 20 minutes of cutscenes, then you have to watch the credits (Which I did), and this is the fun part, at the end of the credits your presented with a screen that says Fin, at this point I pressed start, but little did I know I should have left it on that screen for 30 seconds so some secret scene can be played, yeah that was really fun finding out after thinking the hidden trophy was for maxing out all your characters (You don't actually get one for that). So yeah, thats how I spent my weekend, and thats what I get for deciding that I wouldn't use walkthroughs anymore.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II:

Alas the game takes place in the city most of the time against Van Harker's army of machines, while the first Van Helsing game had much more outdoor areas fighting monsters, but it's still a wonderful game nonetheless. A nice addition is your lair, which includes your stash, your allies, a place to upgrade your weapons and send your allies on missions, plus far more options that I didn't make use of (the ability to get randomized properties for items for instance doesn't appeal to me). Due to these extras the game is a bit more complex, but not too much. On normal difficulty at least, I was able to get through with ignoring some of the more complex mechanics.

The most beautiful part of the game is it's soundtrack. It truly deserves the adjective incredible for it's atmosphere. Coupled with the very well done voice-acting of Van Helsing and especially his ghost companion Katherina, the humour and the steam-punk atmosphere of the game-world, it truly makes for a wonderful game that I've had lots of fun with. I'm glad there's still Van Helsing III and then start of the entirety with the Final Cut as I want more adventures of Van Helsing.

*edit: One mention about the Final Cut: it requires you to start from scratch with a level 1 character, that's why I started the separate version of Van Helsing II to continue where I left off after I had finished The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing I.

Bastion

I’ve finished the game, I don’t regret it, I had a bit of fun with it and I’m sure I’ll never play it again. Why? Well, the game was rather boring in my opinion. Gameplay wise it was okayish most of the time - you just walk around, terrain appears below your feet, and you fight some monsters which was more tedious than interesting. Many people praise the game for its narration but frankly, I don’t see anything special about it. Just an old guy describing what you are doing. The game is rather linear so I don’t think it added anything valuable. Sure, it was a nice touch but the game wouldn’t differ a lot if it had standard plot exposition techniques. For me the best parts were proving grounds because only there it was required to master each weapon and use it as intended. Otherwise you could simply smash enemies with everything you had at your disposal.



Full list

BloodRayne

Well, what can I say? I really liked it. The combat is very fast-paced. and just loads of fun. I was jumping around, doing fancy acrobatics while dismembering enemies with my blades, often mixing it up a little by firing my dual-wielded WWII-weapons. There's just so much combat, and it's good combat! Surprisingly, I didn't find it clunky either. The gore is great too, I call it ultra-violence done right. There's also some platforming, but I think the controls are good enough to warrant it. Rayne is a great character as well. With personality and one-liners like that, she's like a female Duke Nukem :D

As for the negative things; The first area wasn't that interesting. It wasn't entirely terrible, but it was just an hour of linear swamps. Nothing special. The last two areas are a lot better, and from there on, your objectives are to kill officers from a target-list. This gives the game a more open feel, as you will sometimes be going between areas, and choosing who to kill next. I'll also mention that the cutscenes have a very "stilted" feel to them, but the cheesy FMV-cinematics are awesome. I did prefer fighting human enemies, and halfway through, the game suddenly went very "David Cage", but it was still fun, I just find it slightly silly to kill flying spinalcords. It also went back to human enemies after a few levels.

The in-game time counter showed just over 5 hours when I completed it. I played on hard difficulty, but it wasn't that challenging. The weapons are really effective, and all the jumping around works well for dodging bullets. You can also heal yourself easily as you can suck the blood of most enemies. All in all, a very fun game. I'll move on to BloodRayne 2 now, I haven't heard the best things about it, but I hope it doesn't suck!

Space Quest 2 (I played the 1989 DOS version via ScummVM)

Another game very similar to Space Quest 1, a lot of humour and a lot of ways to die :D! As with the previous game, it’s fairly easy although it does have a number of dead ends, but because the game is fairly short you can just reload an old save and it won’t take long to catch up.

Overall, a very fun game and very much recommended.

Just finished <span class="bold">Gothic 2 Gold</span> on a 142 hours gameplay, playing with a Paladin Level 46 and 165 dexterity, the ending was too easy :(
Anyway, what an amazing RPG!. :)

<span class="bold">Lumini</span>

It's impossible to talk about this game and not compare it with Gathering Sky, especially after having recently played the latter. So let the comparison begin:

· In both games you are in control of a whole group of animals: a flock of birds in GS, and a flock/school of fishbirds (or birdfish) called lumini in the homonymous game. They move in an elegant and harmonious way, and their control feels very responsive.

· While the art styles in both games are radically different (2D hand painted in GS, and 3D rendered in Lumini) they are quite beautiful and detailed. If anything, the cavern sections in Lumini can become a little monotonous and dull, but sooner or later the environment changes into something far more interesting and visually appealing.

· Both games provide a mostly relaxing gameplay, but while in Gathering Sky this is almost the sole purpose of the game, Lumini offers many more mechanics and things to do: for instance there are different classes of lumini, each one with a distinctive colour and special power. There are also enemies, but they won't really pose a serious threat to the player, especially after the red lumini are unlocked and it becomes possible to strike back. I personally found spikes to be far more dangerous, as I'd normally go speeding around with the blue lumini's power and sometimes that would end up with my poor creatures hitting a spikewall headfirst. Finally, there are some puzzles here and there. They are almost insultingly easy to solve, but they involve a neat mechanic: splitting up the lumini in two groups, each one to be controlled with a different thumbstick. Some of these puzzles require to fly in circles around a wheel with both groups in order to open a door, and if you're as badly coordinated as I am, you're gonna have a bad time in those. :P

· The story here is barebones at best, but that's already more than in GS, where it was almost non-existant. Something about the lumini having been missing (extinct?) for a long time, and having to re-gain its planet/land after being revived. It's all supposed to be told by some paintings in rocks you find during the game, but I personally didn't care much about them. I felt the game could be equally enjoyed for its gameplay alone...

· ...and for its music! Though not outstanding and spot on as the one in Gathering Sky, I quite liked the soundtrack in Lumini. Pity it's tied to Steam...


To summarize, Lumini is a short and relaxed action game, with good enough graphics and sound, and a couple of easy puzzles mixed in. Particularly recommended if you enjoyed Gathering Sky but wished it had more actual gameplay. Plus, it's still 75% on the Humble Store if anyone's interested.


My list of finished games in 2016

Time Gentleman, Please

Sequel to 'Ben there, Dan that', this is a lucasart style point and click adventure with plenty of humour and references. About 75% of possible interactions seem to have their own unique dialogue, where as in other games using two items together that you weren't suppose to would just give a generic 'I can't use those two things together'. The game is quirky, ridiculous, british (woot) and a good throwback to previous games. One annoying thing is a lack of voice acting, which I think would've made it better. I only had to consult a walkthrough once, and in my defence 'If you spilt a cup of liquid on to the floor, you shouldn't be able to scoop that liquid back up with the cup'. Yeah anyway I recommend it, and it's currently discounted in the fall sale.