Deadly Premonition (Xbox 360)--It's going to be very interesting to see if I actually go back to playing this one. Although I loved the bizarro story when I started playing it many moons ago, I wasn't so enamored with some of the gameplay (anything resembling a battle scene, basically). Still, I'd really like to finish it someday--if only so I can say I did it.
EarthBound (SNES)--I know, I know--it's wronger than wrong that I've yet to "beat" this legendary RPG. (I've tried three times now, if memory serves.) The thing is, I've loved every second I've played of it during each of my attempts--but something's always distracted me before I could complete it. Hopefully I can avoid that when I go back to my most recently created save file in early 2014.
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS)--This situation surrounding this game is a bit strange, as the only thing I have to do is beat its final boss. I've actually battled it a number of times already, and even made it as far as its third (and final, I think) form, but I faltered each and every time. So, I'm going to make another run at it next year--probably after bolstering my party a bit (or a lot).
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)--Another crying shame, right? I can't remember how many hours I put into this title before being pulled away by Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but I know it wasn't close to enough. Hopefully I can give it the attention it obviously deserves at some point during 2014.
Opoona (Wii)--I bought this unique, Dragon Quest-esque RPG with the best of intentions earlier this year, but only made it an hour or so in before walking away for some reason or another. I found the first 60 minutes to be pretty enjoyable, though, so I'll definitely do my best to further explore it in the next 12 months.
Are there any games you guys and gals started in 2013 (or before) and would like to finish next year? Let me know which ones in the comments section below.
I didn't finish a lot of games I started, either. Animal Crossing pulled me away from a lot of them. The ones I most want to clear off the backlog are:
ReplyDeletePersona 4 Golden - I'm halfway through it, I think. I'd like to finish it before Persona 5 comes out.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time - Another game that fell victim to Animal Crossing, since I was carrying the 3DS everywhere and leaving the Vita at home.
Tomb Raider - I started it and really liked it. The only question now is if I start over on the PS3 or wait and upgrade after I get a PS4.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - I got frustrated by a mission and stopped. I just need to sail around and do some other stuff before going back to it.
Honorable mentions: Fire Emblem Awakening, Mass Effect 3, Ocarina of Time 3D.
Well, I'm glad to hear I'm not alone, Terry. And not only that, but New Leaf was responsible for some of your failure to complete games, too. Here's hoping we both finish at least some of them in the new year :)
ReplyDeleteOh man, Fire Emblem, Opoona and Deadly Premonition are all on my list of games-to-go-back-to as well. I think I've only played about an hour of each of them. I actually re-bought Opoona a few weeks ago just to get the instruction manual.
ReplyDeleteFour Heroes of Light can suck it, tho. And, as far as Earthbound, it's just never really done it for me (unpopular opinion, I know).
Wait, what? Why can Four Heroes of Light suck it? Did you not enjoy it, or are you an RPG hater?
ReplyDeleteI love that we both want to get back to three of the same games, though :)
It's pretty enough, but it had no soul, and the fact that there were no dungeon maps was a complete deal breaker for me. Ditto for Final Fantasy III DS. You know I'm not an RPG hater, but I'm starting to think playing Megaten games constantly has made my standards too high.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I completely disagree that it lacked soul, but we're all entitled to our opinion!
ReplyDeleteI'll agree that FFIII DS lacks when compared to the Famicom original, though. It just didn't click with me for various reasons.
Oh, I realize I'm probably in the minority on 4 Heroes of Light. I remember the reviews were quite stellar back when it came out. Cuz of the map thing, I quit playing and sold it before I even finished the first dungeon. I suppose it could've got better at some point.
ReplyDeleteThere's been a LOT of games where I can't beat the final boss, even with a FAQ and leveling up, but I usually call it quits when that happens. I think they make final bosses near-impossible just to keep people from selling their games off.
I don't completely understand what you're saying about the map thing RE: 4 Heroes of Light, Steve. Regardless, if the game didn't click with you, it didn't click with you--nothing wrong with that!
ReplyDeleteAs for near-impossible final bosses: I agree with you that they suck. I mean, 4 Heroes of Light is/was a pretty tough game, so a tough final boss makes sense, but it really shouldn't be as though as it is, IMO.
Well correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I remember there's no map displayed on your screen when you're in a dungeon in 4 Heroes of Light. That really makes a dungeon frustrating for me. I suppose if I was th3 l33t hardcor3z I would map it by hand, but this is a portable game we're talking about here.
ReplyDeleteThe Vita will be getting a lot of love in the next few months. I'm playing through the first season of The Walking Dead at the moment, and I got Tearaway for Christmas. Final Fantasy X and X-2 are on the way.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's great, Terry! Are you planning to buy Danganronpa, too, or are you passing on that one?
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth, Steve, I can't remember if a map is displayed on the bottom screen while playing 4 Heroes of Light. I would imagine there is, but I haven't played the game in at least a year, so I think you're probably more of an authority on the matter than I am at the moment.
ReplyDeleteOut of that list, I still need to finish Deadly Premonition, Earthbound (which I just started), and Fire Emblem. This is not made easier by the fact that due to Christmas I *just* started playing Super Mario 3D World, Lego Marvel Superheroes, and Y's: Memories of Celceta. o_o
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, I think yours is a pretty common problem this time of year, Ken. Hell, I added to my backlog, too, and I didn't get a single game as a Christmas gift! Sigh.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good problem to have :D I'll take it over any of my other problems any day... hehe.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Ken. Very true.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the other 32 pages of the manual. I'm member of The New Image and involved in the development of the MSX2 port of the game, of which we didn't manage to get a manual for to translate and adapt to MSX.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, what're you playing Earthbound on?
I'll probably buy it, but I don't know when I'll get around to playing it.
ReplyDeleteJust playing it via emulation at the moment, Jyr. Once I get a Wii U, though, I'll pick up the eShop version--unless it eventually comes to the 3DS eShop, too. Also, I'm planning to pick up the Japanese Super Fami version sometime this year :)
ReplyDeleteWell, then, I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it ... eventually :)
ReplyDeleteOh ok, what's the furthest you've gotten in it?
ReplyDeleteI'm near the end once more, having used my Wii-U present as fine excuse to get into it again. Dread to finish, though hoping Earthbound's success on eShop somehow convinces Ninty to buy up and release Tomato's Mother 3 translation.
Oh, boy, I can't even remember, Jyr! I'll have to hunt down my last post about it, as I'm pretty sure that's the furthest I've made it so far.
ReplyDeleteAs for Nintendo releasing Mother 3 outside of Japan in some form or fashion in the future--boy, do I hope so as well!
New Leaf has also really pulled me away from few games. Mainly Shin Megami Tensei IV, Pandora's Tower, and Radiant Historia are the games from this year I need to finish. I also bought a collection on Steam so my backlog has grown a good deal with that and I tend to go slower with PC games because I don't find it comfortable to sit at my computer for an extended periods of time. I'll probably end up rebuying one of the games on PS3 (when I get one) because it's frame-rate makes it looks like a poorly animated stop-motion movie so at least that's one less game for now.
ReplyDeleteNew Leaf kept me from even opening my copies of Etrian Odyssey IV and Shin Megami Tensei IV, sadly--and a few other games, too. Hopefully I'll get around to them in early 2014...
ReplyDeleteDeadly Premonition is fantastic. The battle sequences are tedious but the story and characters are truly amazing. It's really worth giving another try!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Balloonfighter, I'll get back to it. I promise!
ReplyDeleteFire Emblem is on my list, too. It joins GTAV. I succeeded in my goal of finishing at least one game every month in 2013. Sometimes they were two hour affairs, but I finished quite a few titles. I feel pretty good about that, too. The only ones I'm ashamed not to have finished are the two mentioned above. I think...
ReplyDeleteHey, that sounds pretty great to me, Justin. (That you were able to finish at least 12 games in 2013.) I doubt I can say the same. I'm going to do my best to do the same in 2014--with Fire Emblem being one of those 12 games.
ReplyDeleteThere's quite a few games I started and would like to finish in 2014.
ReplyDelete1) Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
I am very much in love with this game, and considering that it only came out on the 26th (in Japan, and I only own a Japanese 3DS) I don't feel too bad about not being done with it yet XD
2) Gyakuten Saiban 5 (3DS) I feel way worse about this one. This has been on my shelf for way too long! I read the first case... and that's been it >_<
3) NieR Replicant (PS3)
I have started this months ago. I hate the sidequests, but the story is really good... as expected of Cavia. I really want to finish this before I play Drag-on Dragoon/Drakengard 3... but considering that the game will arrive tomorrow... Unlikely. Will finish 2014, though. I can do it!
4) Dangan Ronpa 1・2 Reload (Vita)
I have played both games on PSP, but I at least want to replay the first one for the new mode they added... and see the free-time events I missed. I started, but as expected, the replay value is quite low when you know everything already. You guys should watch out for spoilers before it comes out in the US.
5) Atelier Escha & Logy (PS3) and all the Atelier Vita ports.
I have no excuse for not having played this.
There's quite a bit more, but this is probably where I'm going to start ;<
It's definitely quite a list, kamion, but at least it's full of good games (or games that I've heard are good, at least) :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious about Dangan Ronpa, especially, but it seems I won't be playing it for some time. Oh, well.
I'm right there with you on Earthbound. I love that game, but I haven't returned to it since the month of its Wii U release. It'll be super great when I get there, but there's just so much to do... It's also one of those games that I really want to sit down and thoroughly enjoy, so I typically only play when my roommates are out. Also: Opoona's always looked so cool! Hope you get around to both of those soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way with EarthBound (and most RPGs, it has to be said), Zach--I really want to sit down and *savor* them when I play them, but I rarely have the time to do that these days.
ReplyDeleteAs for Opoona: I'll definitely let you know what I think of it when I finally get around to playing it!
Hello there, BiFi. Sorry for my late response -- I didn't see this comment until just now. I'll see what I can do about scanning the rest of the manual for you. Is there a way I can contact you off of this blog? Perhaps you could e-mail me if you get this? bochalla (at) yahoo (dot) com.
ReplyDeleteI'm just a passer-through who's been binge reading on your Animal Crossing and Denpa Men stuff (You know when Rodney gave you that dynamic painting for free? The exact same thing happened with my Rodney in my town!), but when I saw this post, I just had to comment (I hope that's not too weird!). Mostly because I TOTALLY LOVE three of the games here. So I'm being a bit of a flyby fan here...
ReplyDeleteDeadly Premonition: It is TOTALLY worth playing the story through to the end on this one! If you were having problems with the combat sequences, the game was rereleased on PS3 and PC last year with a number of improvements. Most notably, the controls are better, and the combat... well, they made it pretty easy, so you can pretty much just blaze through it. Even the infamous "wall ladies" pose little threat now. (Although I don't know if you made it that far, or have, or whatevs.) Plus, the rerelease adds even MORE insanity to the story! At first it just seems like a pretty mental framing device, but the payoff is awesome. Yeah, I'm a bit of a shill for this game. What of it?
Earthbound: Confession time: I played Earthbound up until the very, VERY end many years ago... and then stopped abruptly right before the final dungeon. Just quit. Seeing this post here actually totally inspired me to go dig up my file and actually finish the dang game. Ahem. Sure, I know how it ends--it's a fairly legendary ending at this point--but I wanted to do it with my own two hands! Plus, I'd gotten the Sword of Kings in my playthrough, and it seemed like a waste to not follow through when I got like the one item everybody wants yet some people go their whole EB-playing career without seeing man. I seem to recall I originally stopped because I think I found the ending frustratingly difficult. But I either prepared too well for the final dungeon and/or The Denpa Men has totally skewered my perceptions of what a "hard" RPG looks like, because aside from a few unfortunate deaths it weren't no thang.
Opoona: And going back to when I was speaking of shills. This bizarre, offbeat little RPG is actually my absolute favorite game of the last generation. For-freakin'-serious. Sure, the battle system is pretty fun (who doesn't love a game where you constantly "flick?" Really?) and the soundtrack is pretty much astounding every step of the way, but the real reason I love it so deeply is because it creates the illusion of a real "place" so well. The developers really put their all into making the game's world feel like somewhere that could really exist, with an extensive history, culture, and interconnected places that give the world a fantastic depth, and the illusion of being infinite. And it'll charm the pants right off ya too.
Hey there, Freezair! Thanks for the comment :) I'm glad to hear this post was able to pull you away from those New Leaf and Denpa Men ones and actually prompt you to share your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as to some of your points:
1) I'm definitely not picking up either of the updated versions of Deadly Premonition, but thanks for letting me know they're improved versions of the original. That said, I am planning to go back to the copy I have sometime soon. The atmosphere's just too interesting (and weird) for me to pass up.
2) Sounds like we're sort of in the same boat RE: Earthbound. I mean, we both love the game but haven't been able to finish it for whatever reason(s). I actually loaded up my old save the other day but quickly turned it off again because I realized I didn't have time to play the game at that moment. I'm planning to go back to it this weekend, though.
3) I'm so glad to hear you not only like Opoona but love it. It certainly looks like a fun/lovely game. I'll be sure to share my thoughts on it in a future "Shall We Do It?" post, so you may want to keep an eye out for that.
Thanks again for the comment, and don't be shy about commenting again in the future!