completing my backlog of unfinished vidyagames

[Guest my usernames always really suck]

So here is a list of games which, over the last ten years, I bought and never finished. I not-finish games for various different reasons, be it that a game either got boring, or I got distracted by another game I bought while in the middle of the game I was playing, or some event came up where I couldn't play the game and then never regained the interest I had in it when I was capable of playing it again. Also, for a sizeable chunk of this decade I spent much of my time (too much of my time) in MMORPGs like EverQuest Online Adventures and EverQuest 2. I have since completely renounced MMORPGs from my life as they aren't really games... they're eternal item-fetching and boss-raiding charades with no winning condition to them. I basically did my extremely tedious and time-consuming Necromancer Epic Quest in EQOA back in 2007 and, two weeks later after lots of standing around, waiting for guild members to get their shit together, waiting for hours for contested boss mobs to spawn, constantly dying in the innermost guts of the froglok cave of Guk while hunting spore-people, and other bullshit... as soon as I received the rewards, I considered that game "completed". No more MMORPGs for me ever again.

 

Anyway, back on topic, I feel like I wasted money buying these games and not actually completing them, so I'm going to be using my ample free time to get these out of the way once and for all.

 

Deciding which games to finish first and which games to finish last, however, is the tough question. "Do I start with the games that are kinda-boring first, or do those last?" Some of these games I know in advance which to pick up last (Dragon Warrior games, for example, take 110% of your time and a long time to complete, so I'll do those after finishing most of the other games). And I probably want to do the games-I'm-almost-finished-with first, just because it would take at most an hour or two to get them out of the way.

 

But I've resolved not to buy any more vidyagames until ALL of these are completed. And, even after I finish these, I might just drop this hobby altogether and find something more constructive to do with my free time.

 

I'm not listing most of the shmups I own, which I have many of, because you can't simply complete them just by merely playing them. They take a sizeable amount of dedication and practice to master. Sure, I've "beaten" Ikaruga and Gradius V... but never without using continues.

 

So, first off, my TODO list of my unfinished 1999-2009 purchases, in no particular order:

 

Nintendo Gamecube:

* Luigi's Mansion

* Super Mario Sunshine -- was at the last part, pain in the ass controls for FLUDD make it annoying to complete

* Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles -- boring game, but I might give it another chance

* Metroid Prime -- defeated Ridley and stopped playing

* Metroid Prime 2: Echoes -- haven't played yet

* The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker -- game is fun as long as you're on land, but the tedious Triforce piece fetching got on my nerves to the point where I just stopped playing

* The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

* Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door -- ragequitted at this dragon boss in the underworld that kept killing my party. Came back to play the game about 14 months later, beat that same boss on my very first try. Then just got bored again.

 

PlayStation 2:

* Silent Hill 2 -- I'm going to be honest here: I'm a huge pussy when it comes to games like these. I tend to have realistic dreams sometimes over a game I played, and I really don't want to "meet" Pyramid Head. But I'm going to man up and play this, and complete it.

* Fatal Frame -- same thing as Silent Hill 2. In fact, I think this game is even scarier. You're a teenage Japanese girl armed only with a camera, not a gun like Silent Hill 2... it's an even bigger feeling of vulnerability. And the way the artists and sound engineers executed everything was fantastic. Too fantastic.

* Xenosaga -- I hate this game. Not sure if I'm going to even bother. It didn't live up to the standards of Xenogears at all, and the most disappointing thing besides the gameplay is the music. Yasunori Mitsuda shined best when he composed with various world-music instrumentations in Chrono Trigger and the amazing soundtrack to Xenogears, but Xenosaga is mostly slow, ambient, orchestra music that doesn't lend anything interesting to the mood of the gameplay or story. If I finish this game, it's going to be one of the last in my list.

* Mister Mosquito -- I don't remember why I stopped playing this game. It was pretty damn fun, and very unusual. Actually, I think my original PS2 stopped reading this disc. May have better luck on my slimline now.

* Shadow of the Colossus -- mostly boring, but I can probably do one Colossus per day and it won't feel like a chore. But fighting the giants is extremely fun even when struggling with the terrible controls.

* Final Fantasy 12 -- I've been playing this on-and-off. Game's story would've been better and more interesting if either Balthier or Basch, and not Androgynous Clueless Oiled-Up Teenage Bishie #5,205, was the main character.

* Dragon Quest 8 -- will be one of the last, since Dragon Warrior/Quest games take a very, very, very long time to complete, even if you just do the bare minimum

* Metal Gear Solid 2 -- I remember constantly fucking up the part where I have to find the President using a microphone that picks up the sounds of his pacemaker. I kept getting caught by the guards despite the fact I was sneaking.

* Metal Gear Solid 3 -- I actually bought this just so I could fight The End, and I did, and it was fun. I'll pick up from where I left off, but this will be one of the last.

 

Nintendo Wii:

Note: I stop playing most of these games because I seriously hate the Nintendo Wii's controls. It was a novel idea but I think every Wii game should have the motion-sensing gimmickry optional and provide alternate control schemes to choose from that would allow the Classic Controller or Gamecube Controller. But now that I found a more comfortable way to sit in front of the television without getting cramps in my back and shoulder, I can probably tolerate it better now.

* Super Mario Galaxy -- last time I played, I'd collected all the minimum required stars to, I think, fight Bowser and finish. But I don't consider any Mario game complete until I've acquired all the stars and beaten all the levels, and unlike Sunshine, this is fun enough to make that effort worthwhile.

* Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

* Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

* Super Paper Mario

* Metroid Prime 3: Corruption -- going to do the Metroid Prime games in numerical order, so this is last.

 

Nintendo Gameboy Advance:

* Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

* Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

* The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap -- up to the last boss, so this shouldn't take long

* Yoshi's Island -- I think I'll just play this on a SNES emulator instead. Controlling Yoshi hurts my hands on the Nintendo DS.

* Golden Sun -- good game but even with about 25 hours clocked in I still couldn't make heads or tails of the magic/summoning/elemental system. What the hell?

* Final Fantasy Tactics Advance -- game got boring when I made my party exceedingly powerful to the point where nothing was a challenge. But, with this logic, finishing it shouldn't be too much of a problem either.

 

Nintendo DS:

* Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

* Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

* Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia -- very challenging boss battles, but the level design is uninspired. Maybe it gets better and more interesting after the prison island?

* New Super Mario Bros -- at one of the last levels (second to last fortress?)... this god damn level and its moving snake-platform and all the sudden things falling on you from above. I used to be good at that kind of level from my Super Mario World days :(

* Nanostray 2 -- saving this for when I go traveling

* Dragon Quest 4: Chapters of the Chosen -- again, being a Dragon Quest game, saving this for last, since it will very likely take a long time to complete

* Trauma Center: Under the GIANT YELLOW PRICETAG THAT WON'T COME OFF -- this is also one of those games you play when traveling. Saving this for Germany, if I go :3

* Front Mission -- I'd ragequitted this game when I was forced into a boss battle that destroyed most of my party and reduced the hitpoints of my last remaining mechas to a few slivers of health, and then... AND THEN IT PUTS YOU INTO ANOTHER BOSS BATTLE IMMEDIATELY AGAINST LIKE 7 ENEMIES WITH LONG-RANGE MISSILES, WHAT THE FUCK. This is also why I stopped playing Front Mission 3... is there some trick I'm not seeing? Unless there's some clever cheap tactic I don't know of, this game is a "maybe".

 

Sony PlayStation 1:

* Metal Gear Solid -- time and time again, I start a new game, make it very far into the game... and then get distracted by some other game, and don't get back to this game. This has happened about four times now.

* Front Mission 3 -- see my notes on Front Mission for the Nintendo DS.

* Brave Fencer Musashi -- this game was fun as hell, I don't know why I dropped it.

* Vagrant Story -- I keep making bad choices with my weapon configurations, making battles with certain types of creatures frustrating and long. But this is definitely a game I want to experience fully.

* Dragon Warrior 7 -- again, I'm doing all the Dragon Quest/Warrior games last. I think I was already well 50 or 60 hours into this game only to find out I was only 1/3 through the entire story. I remember raising a village and inhabiting it with people... that's where I was.

* Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee -- I might rather buy the PC version on Steam instead of the PlayStation version.

* Final Fantasy Origins -- still need to do Final Fantasy 2. Of course, I beat Final Fantasy 1 in like, 89 or 1990 or whenever that was.

* Clock Tower -- see my previous notes on the other two survival horror games I have. The low-detail, flat-shaded polygon graphics and awkwardly-coded animation actually amplify the creepiness of this game. I understand this franchise turned into a joke with ridiculous anime cliches in later games for the PlayStation 2. Tis a pity.

 

Sega Dreamcast

* Skies of Arcadia

* Shen Mue -- I was pretty much near the very end in this game by the time I put it down. I just hope the battery in my save-cartridge is still ticking...

* Sonic Adventure 2 -- being a Nintendofag most of my life, this was my first and still my only Sonic game. This game's music got on my nerves something terrible. I can probably tolerate this game with the TV muted.

 

Nintendo Wii Virtual Console

* Kirby's Adventure (NES)

* Paper Mario (N64)

* Super Mario RPG (SNES)

* Contra III (SNES) -- I hear once you beat this game, you're finally able to lift aircraft carriers with your penis

* The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64) -- I absolutely love this game and yet I can only tolerate it in bite-sized pieces for some reason. Baby-stepping through this game every few days.

* Super Metroid (SNES)

* Sin & Punishment (N64) -- I can forgive the annoying amount of anime cliches in this game because it's a Treasure shooter, nigga

* Beyond Oasis (Sega Genesis)

 

PC:

These will probably be last. It's the console games I want to get out of the way first and foremost.

* X-COM: UFO Defense -- getting used to the clumsy user interface will take some time, but for this game, it will be definitely worth it

* X-COM: Terror From The Deep

* Unreal Gold -- I wanna beat this game playing co-op with someone for twice the fun.

* Deus Ex -- those fucking robots at the airport. How the hell do I sneak past them? They spot you from a mile away and hunt you down even when you're in the shadows. This one was a ragequit for me.

* System Shock 2 -- oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit

* Diablo -- haven't played yet

* Diablo 2

* I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

* LOOM -- haven't played yet

* The Dig -- haven't played yet

* Bioshock -- I was making really good progress until my computer's motherboard died. Then I was without a computer for a week, and just never got back into Bioshock when I got my new computer.

* King's Quest 1-7 -- I did beat King's Quest 6 in the early 90s. Great game.

* Space Quest 1-6

* The Longest Journey -- see my notes on Bioshock. Was playing this and Bioshock until that incident, then I just never picked up interest when my new computer arrived.

 

Questions, comments?

 

I'll be updating this thread as I go through each game with my musings, thoughts, and other babble about what I'm playing. I'll be starting off by continuing my progress in either Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Super Metroid, but I'm still debating if I should rush through these games, or actually play them where I make the effort to find most or all of the secrets, extras, bonuses, easter eggs, etc. That might add a considerable amount of time for many of these games, though. We'll see...

[Mr.Sensi]

* Silent Hill 2 -- I'm going to be honest here: I'm a huge pussy when it comes to games like these. I tend to have realistic dreams sometimes over a game I played, and I really don't want to "meet" Pyramid Head. But I'm going to man up and play this, and complete it.

 

All I can say is good fucking luck. I've NEVER made it out of the first apartments you explore about 40 minutes into the game. It freaks me out so much.

 

* Metal Gear Solid 2 -- I remember constantly fucking up the part where I have to find the President using a microphone that picks up the sounds of his pacemaker. I kept getting caught by the guards despite the fact I was sneaking.

 

You need to beat this one asap.

 

* Final Fantasy 12 -- I've been playing this on-and-off. Game's story would've been better and more interesting if either Balthier or Basch, and not Androgynous Clueless Oiled-Up Teenage Bishie #5,205, was the main character.

 

I've been playing it on and off for a few months now. I just left the viera camp last time I played. Balthier as the main character would really make the game a whole lot better, you're right.

 

* Diablo -- haven't played yet

 

Watch out for The Butcher.

[Dementia]

* Deus Ex -- those fucking robots at the airport. How the hell do I sneak past them? They spot you from a mile away and hunt you down even when you're in the shadows. This one was a ragequit for me.

 

Which difficulty setting did you select? Wait until they're not facing you and then make your move. You might also be able to disable them from a terminal in either of the towers or you can cause the turrets to recognize them as hostile. What was your impression before the ragequit? I love the soundtrack.

[Guest viscosity]

some good games in that list

 

I would finish Bioshock and The Longest Journey. both great games

 

Metroid Prime is also fun, I played them on the cube

 

 

[Guest Drahken]

Crystal Chronicles

Fuck this game and the horse it road in on. The same boring playstyle the whole way through. Having to redo stages over and over again to fill your chalice. Figuring out how to get the 'mystery' element is bogus with almost no ingame direction on how the fuck you do it in that one stage. Your not missing anything by not finishing this game. Oh, and a big fuck you to Nintendo for requiring a god damn GBA for every player if you want to play multiplayer. Utter bullshit.

 

Metroid Prime

Fucking last boss is a bitch, even with every upgrade/missile. Pretty easy to defeat the 'first' version, but the last part is bullshit and not very fun. Only beaten it a handful of times. Kick ass graphics though, love this game.

 

Deus Ex

EMP grenades. I can't remember the other tricks, but the airport is pretty easy. This is my favorite FPS style game ever if only for the storyline. Speaking of, I might just give this a go tonight. I didn't like the first act after the part where you shutdown the generator. Hong Kong is kick ass though and its pretty good from there out. I can't comment enough how much I love this game.

 

Shenmue

God damn what an epic RPG. The amount of detail in this game is insane. Every god damn person has a 'life' they follow. Its only setback is it ends right at the best part and is kinda all WTF, what a let down. I really wish more RPG games put as much effort as was put into this one. Never tried the sequel, did it ever get released?

[Braintree]

I beat Shadow of the Colossus in 12 hours. It was a damn good 12 hours.

[Guest my usernames always really suck]

* Silent Hill 2 -- I'm going to be honest here: I'm a huge pussy when it comes to games like these. I tend to have realistic dreams sometimes over a game I played, and I really don't want to "meet" Pyramid Head. But I'm going to man up and play this, and complete it.

 

All I can say is good fucking luck. I've NEVER made it out of the first apartments you explore about 40 minutes into the game. It freaks me out so much.

 

This is also where I ended up putting the disc back into the case and shelving. I remember it pretty well -- I had exited a room and immediately came across a barred part of the hallway... on the other side of the bars, Pyramid Head was standing there, just staring at me.

 

* Deus Ex -- those fucking robots at the airport. How the hell do I sneak past them? They spot you from a mile away and hunt you down even when you're in the shadows. This one was a ragequit for me.

 

Which difficulty setting did you select? Wait until they're not facing you and then make your move. You might also be able to disable them from a terminal in either of the towers or you can cause the turrets to recognize them as hostile. What was your impression before the ragequit? I love the soundtrack.

 

I think normal difficulty. And I don't really remember any towers, though I do remember two corners with turrets, but you couldn't go near the doors because the turrets would shoot you.

 

I may have built my character with too many wrong choices and inappropriate upgrades, too.

 

Metroid Prime

Fucking last boss is a bitch, even with every upgrade/missile. Pretty easy to defeat the 'first' version, but the last part is bullshit and not very fun. Only beaten it a handful of times. Kick ass graphics though, love this game.

I've seen YouTube videos of the last boss and it looks easier than Ridley. I might actually "cheat" and consider myself as having beaten Metroid Prime, then -- if I've beaten an earlier boss who is more difficult than the end boss, then, really... I've technically beaten the game.

 

I came to this conclusion when I beat Final Fantasy X, with that very last boss that literally did not fight back at all.

 

Deus Ex

EMP grenades. I can't remember the other tricks, but the airport is pretty easy.

 

I had only one EMP grenade in my inventory, and there were at least 5 or 6 of those sentry robots buzzing around.

 

On one hand I wish Deus Ex, technically being an RPG, would allow me to go back, grind and "level up" a little bit if I'm having trouble in one area. On the other hand, I also know that would ruin the game's style.

 

Shenmue

God damn what an epic RPG. The amount of detail in this game is insane. Every god damn person has a 'life' they follow. Its only setback is it ends right at the best part and is kinda all WTF, what a let down. I really wish more RPG games put as much effort as was put into this one. Never tried the sequel, did it ever get released?

 

The second one made it for the XBox (or 360?). I really want to play the game, but I've no intention of buying that console or its successor.

 

I think the Dreamcast version of Shen Mue 2 was released in Japan. And I think it may have even had English subtitles despite being Japan-only. Not too sure, though.

[Guest Iain C]

You play (or rather don't play) loads of Japanese shit. I had a good time with Luigi's Mansion. The first time my parents left me home alone for two weeks, I just got stoned a lot and played my little brother's copy of Luigi's Mansion alone inbetween long sessions of Mario Party with my mates. You might as well play it, even though it's probably not that good because I'm being nostalgic. Fuck you.

[sneaksta303]

You play (or rather don't play) loads of Japanese shit. I had a good time with Luigi's Mansion. The first time my parents left me home alone for two weeks, I just got stoned a lot and played my little brother's copy of Luigi's Mansion alone inbetween long sessions of Mario Party with my mates. You might as well play it, even though it's probably not that good because I'm being nostalgic. Fuck you.

 

it was decent for the time. especially if you only had 1 or 2 other games at the time...

[Guest Iain C]

Also I think you should play the Dig. Never mind the console nonsense. It was the only LucasArts point-and-click I'd never played but I finally got a decent torrent a few weeks ago and completed it over the course of a couple of nights. It doesn't deserve the bad press it got; despite some shitty Myst-style puzzles it has an original and interesting storyline, some quality voice-acting, and a very immersive atmosphere, despite a general rushed feeling. I would give it a 7/10.

[sneaksta303]

Also I think you should play the Dig. Never mind the console nonsense. It was the only LucasArts point-and-click I'd never played but I finally got a decent torrent a few weeks ago and completed it over the course of a couple of nights. It doesn't deserve the bad press it got; despite some shitty Myst-style puzzles it has an original and interesting storyline, some quality voice-acting, and a very immersive atmosphere, despite a general rushed feeling. I would give it a 7/10.

 

looking it up

[Guest Drahken]

Oh if your talking about the small sentry robots you just need the rocket launcher (Not the LAW, the other one). You can pick one on the first mission as your weapon but after that its only available in a few spots. I always pick it in the beginning.

[Dan C]

Shenmue 2 made it to English speaking markets on Dreamcast, I have a copy of it it here, like... right next to me. It's better than the first, and I fucking loved the first, you need to play it.

[essines]

you should get laid.

 

faggot

[Guest abracadabra]

Silent Hill 2 was easy to beat IMO. However there are like 7-10 ways to beat the game with different endings.

Shenmue's ending was a let down. I really enjoyed that game.

Oddworld: Abe's Odysee is a game I too haven't beaten. It's fucking hard, but such a good game. Soooo gooood.

Metal Gear Solid 2, definitely finish this one. It's not so hard. I think it's the easiest out of the MGS series. But then again, coincidently I haven't finished MGS3 either and gave up my PS2 also shortly after beating The End.

 

One game I would definitely love to finish is Seaman. So frustrating.

[Guest assegai]

The only games that came to mind that I never finished that I own are..... Ninja Gaiden for XBOX and Shenmue 2 for XBOX

 

FUCK Ninja Gaiden, that game is ridiculously hard, and shenmue 2 (shenmue 1 was awesome) I just kind of forgot about. I may revisit them. I haven't had an epic gaming experience in years, fuck modern games.

 

 

edit: I agree with Silent Hill, my blood pressure/heart rate would go up playing that so I stopped

[Q27]

Luigi's Mansion is awesome imo. It was my first Gamecube game back in 01. I was like 9. lol.

[EnjoyableFog]

Silent Hill 2 was good...it just took me forever to beat because I got stuck a few times and only played for a few hours at a time... Love Pyramid Head though. I wanna try Silent Hill 4 but I cannot find a copy.

[modey]

i usually have bursts of gaming where i'm completely addicted to a game and play it for hours a day, then all of a sudden forget about it for 6 months to a year. the only game that has been an exception to that recently is prey. i finished that in less than a week. and yet, i still haven't finished hl2, bioshock, and a bunch of others i can't remember at the moment.

 

oh, also i never finished tomb raider. maybe i should one of these days lol.

[awesomeperson]

Zelda Wind Waker turned to wind wanker with that fucking fetch quest, Nintendo later even apologized for that shit. Good game until then even if it was unfinished.

 

 

You should get an XBOX1, great games on that system plus you can turn that shit into an awesome media player.

[Guest]

i can probably count on my fingers the number of games i actually finished.

 

I'm sure i have like a 1/10 ratio of games i finish/games i played.

[SR4]

i got the PS3 Silent Hill:Homecoming for my birthday....I got to the part where I get my first gun...but stopped after that...i should keep going..hopefully it lives up to previous SH incarnations (Except Origins and 4, fuck those shitdumps)

[pabs]

You've never beaten Super Metroid??! What's wrong with you?!

[kaini]

currently on my HDD

 

oblivion - just can't get into the right frame of mind

silent hill - haven't even started

civilization IV: colonization - played once, then went back to civ1 in dosbox

company of heroes - looks great, but meh

half life episode one - meeeeeeh, why did i start playing this again

uplink - meh

darwinia - good, but meh

defcon - good, but again, meh

tiger woods PGA tour 08 - sick of it

fallout 3: the pitt, broken steel, operation anchorage - kinda getting into it but i decided to play from the start as an evil ginger woman called Ayn Rand so this will take some time

plants vs zombies - semi-obsessed

team fortress 2 - obsessed

[Guest WhoNeedsElectricity]

MGS3 is definitely worth it, despite some funky control moments and overdrawn cut-scenes. And any Infocom games are worth a shot, since they're all fantastic.