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Making 'Eventually' Happen: Operation Backlog Obliteration.

I remember when MM9 was released I couldn't determine if it was actually more difficult than MM2/3 or if I simply didn't have 20-ish years of playing the game over and over and over to curb the difficulty. Now that we're almost 20 years from MM9's release - Jesus why did I type that - and I've had time to play through MM9 a dozen or so times, I'm thinking it's a little of both. I've acclimated to a lot of it; it's still tougher than any of the NES games.
 
I'd say...
You know, other than the tokusatsu theming...
What if: Shining Force but with Disgaea's throwing-your-allies mobility nonsense.
 
It's a lot of fun! There's nothing else quite like it out there. It's a blend of turn-based strategy RPG with some light management simulation on top of it.
 
That last level in Chroma Squad is a son of a gun. It took over an hour to finish! It was a good game and I'm glad I finished it, though!

Cruising through some backlogged titles, I've bounced off Just Cause 3 because it felt tedious, Bloodborne because it's just too hard for me to enjoy (I may come back if/when I get more Souls experience elsewhere) and I've finally decided to settle on Dragonball Xenoverse 2 as the next game to play, since it seems to be improved from the first one which I got tired of.

Also some Naruto games, which I might get back to once I properly watch Shippuden, if I ever do. Bandai Namco anime games live and die on your fondness for the property in question, I find.
 
I removed Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-yo from my own Backlog Bingo Board. Absolutely loved it, though there was some unintended grinding before boss fights owing to the way the game handles passive upgrades (buying them puts you into debt instead of buying them outright, which comes with some, sometimes huge, debuffs until you can pay them off).

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I wanted to ask for quite some time, how does your bingo card work, Octo? Do you just randomly add 25 games on there, and when you get a bingo, you get a treat?
 
Basically yes; it's 25 games that I've played enough to know I want to finish, but haven't beaten before.

...and I get myself a treat when I clear a line.
 
Donkey Kong Bananza and Octopath Traveler 2 not being Xs on that bingo card hurts my soul, Octo.

My soul.
 
Xenoverse 2 feels like a wrapper for a mmo that I'm never going to play, it doesn't really seem to be a lot of fun. I think I'm good with throwing it in the DNF hole.
 
Next was going to be Last of Us, but...not to get too political but knowing what I do about Neil Druckmann's views and how they influenced the story of this series...I just can't do it. I wouldn't be able to put it out of my head while playing.

Moving on, next up on the docket is...stop! Hammer time! It's the remaster of Red Faction Guerilla!
 
Violentvixen said:
I have loaded the following games on my Switch that I own but never got around to playing and plan to try to get through a few on our trip over the next couple weeks:

Short games:
- A Tiny Sticker Tale
- Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
- Horgihugh and Friends
- ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove

Middle length:
- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
- Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
- RPG Time: The Legend of Wright
- Tales of Kenzera: Zau

Longer:
- Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
- Valkyria Chronicles
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I ended up spending very little time on my Switch on planes/trains and did a lot more reading on the trip instead, but did make progress on three of these.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau was up first. I am liking it, but sometimes the next area would be behind a sudden spike in difficulty. I was reading a few reviews and the main complaint people seem to have is that it was billed as a "metroidvania" but it isn't one. I think that's absolutely true, it's more of a sidescroller with a bit of backtracking. I do think the game gets a bit repetitive and navigation can be a bit confusing, but I like it. The story is lovely and having both the Swahili and English voices is very cool. I also want to play more of it on the TV because it's gorgeous and I'm sure I was missing a ton of detail playing on the screen with weird train/plane lighting:

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A Tiny Sticker Tale is a cute little puzzle/adventure game. This one very quickly felt like something I would prefer to just sit down and play in a couple long sessions rather than quick bursts as I kept getting distracted. To be clear the game world isn't big and it's not hard to keep track of what to do, just a personal preference. It's apparently only 2-4 hours long so I plan to revisit it soon, maybe even just finish it up this week.
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The final game I started up is Horgihugh and Friends. First thing to note is this is currently listed on the Switch store as $30, I checked and I got it for $9. It is absolutely not a $30 game, it's very short, it's really hard and I didn't feel like I really understood how all the systems were working. The game could use a lot more clarity, there is a virtual manual but it still didn't explain things well. Also while none of the text I saw so far was misspelled or incorrect grammar something just felt slightly awkward and off with the translation.

If you like difficult sidescrolling shooters and this goes back down to less $10 it's worth checking out, but it's not one I'm going to strongly recommend.

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I'm still at this! Since finishing the main campaign in Red Faction Guerilla, I have:

Played a handful of indie games not really worth mentioning.
Played through Infamous First Light, a spin-off game for a game I didn't play.
Played Anodyne, which I didn't enjoy.
Played Hollow Knight through to the first ending. That game has some teeth!
Played through Forgotton Anne, a nice little puzzle platformer with beautiful graphics.
Am now playing through Night in the Woods, an interesting look at being a 20 year old college dropout in a dying small town.

Chronologically, it looks like I've hit the year 2020 in my backlog! Only 5-6 years worth of games to get through now!
 
Here's a little something that I think could help if you're looking for motivation to trim your backlog:
 
Paul le Fou said:
Hell yeah Hollow Knight, hell yeah Night in the Woods. Two stone-cold classics
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They were both a lot of fun!

I did finish Night in the Woods, I appreciated the very realistic approach to its ending, where nothing is really "fixed" but it still ends on a pretty optimistic note for our characters. I'd be interested in checking in on them in 10-20 years! It's too bad so much of the circumstance around the creators ended up as unfortunate as it did.

I played Bioshock Infinite! I thought it was kind of dumb. AAA gaming confuses me sometimes, because the shooting in that game was only mostly okay, and the plot was kind of confusing and not very well written, but at the time it was considered one of the best games of that year? But it was just okay!

Now I'm finally taking an earnest crack at the Mega Man X Legacy Collections. I finally beat MMX1 after a very long time of stalling out on the last boss. Now it's time for X2!
 
2013 was a stacked year but Bioshock Infinite had the good will bestowed by the prior two entries in the franchise that it was a fairly big release that year. If you desired an FPS that was not a military shootmans, there were slim pickings. It largely fumbles its themes but the gameplay is probably the best it has been in the franchise and Elizabeth as an AI assistant was novel for the time. If not for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, it probably would have been my favorite game that year.
 
The ethics were very stupid, I wish I had a handy link to the “these two people are equally evil, said the most prolific serial killer in history” critique, but it was a decent stab at timey wimey multidimensional bullshit reminiscent of a good star trek episode. I enjoyed my time with it.
 
Oh yeah, I want to stress that I wasn't mad that I played it! I think I just expected my socks to get knocked off a bit more than they were.
 
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