2021 Backlog Thread

[mooncancook]

I finished the Dragon Quest 2 Demo and I dont think I'll buy the full game.
Its like Minecraft with a small world and lots of quests. The quests are mostly boring crap, and there isnt very much stuff to do outside the quests. Also the combat is boring and tedious. Not recommended unless you desperately need a sandbox game in the Dragon Quest universe and dont care that it doesn't have very much Dragon Quest lore.

I have it in my wish list. Sounds like it's not worth it unless deeply discounted. I probably should try the demo sometime.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Guess I should actually try to keep a log updated.

January - Hades + Darksiders
February - Darksiders 2
March - Dawn of War Soulstorm + Unification Mod.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Completed the Banner Saga last night. Will definitely be picking up the 2nd and 3rd in the future but Jesus what a stark game.

Need something lighthearted and silly after that...

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, I have fired up Ori and the Blind Forest. Excellent, beautiful Metroidvania this far, really enjoying myself. Escaping the Ginkgo Tree with the rising flood waters was intense.

On a side note, through sheer dumb luck, I managed to guess my U-Play account's username and password correctly after years of being unable to log in (and the User name being an old now defunct @msn account) and was able to fire up Blood Dragon... So that is next on the list for pure silliness.

 

[shortylickens]

I have it in my wish list. Sounds like it's not worth it unless deeply discounted. I probably should try the demo sometime.

On consoles its like 10 bucks. and thats what its worth, to me.

 

[Stg-Flame]

March - Dawn of War Soulstorm with Unification mod.

Soulstorm was a pretty big letdown, but it's honestly not Relic's fault since they were dissolved before it was supposed to be fully released. Mods definitely help but for all the things the mods fix, you're left with the additional changes as well. Unification fixes a ton of things wrong with Soulstorm, but they also made it strictly for the veteran players who were tired of the easy AI, so it's significantly more difficult, even on normal mode.

I think I'm going to push to complete a Total War Warhammer 2 campaign. Last few times I picked it up, I just couldn't get into it and I think it's likely because it's so vastly different than the Total War games I love playing.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

March - Dawn of War Soulstorm with Unification mod.

Soulstorm was a pretty big letdown, but it's honestly not Relic's fault since they were dissolved before it was supposed to be fully released. Mods definitely help but for all the things the mods fix, you're left with the additional changes as well. Unification fixes a ton of things wrong with Soulstorm, but they also made it strictly for the veteran players who were tired of the easy AI, so it's significantly more difficult, even on normal mode.

I think I'm going to push to complete a Total War Warhammer 2 campaign. Last few times I picked it up, I just couldn't get into it and I think it's likely because it's so vastly different than the Total War games I love playing.

-I don't think Relic was dissolved at the point of SS (Hell, they still we're to release the fantastic Company of Heroes and DOW 2 series, and Space Marine... and then the supremely disappointing DoW 3).

Looking it up, Soulstorm was outsourced to some no name studio, which is likely why the game was botched.

While Nuns with Guns are cool, literally no one (including GW) care about Dark Eldar, so it's not surprising that the last expansion got farmed out.

 

[Artorias]

Halo CE Anniversary
Halo 2 Anniversary
Halo 3
Halo 3: ODST(In Progress)
Homeworld 1 Remaster

Working my way through the Halo MC collection on PC. Good start to the year so far, might be a record for putting a dent in the backlog lol.

 

[Stg-Flame]

-I don't think Relic was dissolved at the point of SS (Hell, they still we're to release the fantastic Company of Heroes and DOW 2 series, and Space Marine... and then the supremely disappointing DoW 3).

Looking it up, Soulstorm was outsourced to some no name studio, which is likely why the game was botched.

While Nuns with Guns are cool, literally no one (including GW) care about Dark Eldar, so it's not surprising that the last expansion got farmed out.

Weird, I always heard Soulstorm was rushed due to the company going under. Guess there was bad information back in the day as well.

It's pretty obvious the new races were quick cash grabs since the Sisters of Battle are just women Space Marines and the Dark Eldar are something completely different that I hated playing. The new titan units in the unification mod as well as the new relic units are really interesting to use, but the lackluster campaign really just seals the coffin shut. I finally completed the campaign twice, tried all the races, saw the new units, and I feel like I'm done with the game. That being said, I'll still go back to Dark Crusade since it's one of my favorites.

 

[Zenoth]

Weird, I always heard Soulstorm was rushed due to the company going under. Guess there was bad information back in the day as well.

It's pretty obvious the new races were quick cash grabs since the Sisters of Battle are just women Space Marines and the Dark Eldar are something completely different that I hated playing. The new titan units in the unification mod as well as the new relic units are really interesting to use, but the lackluster campaign really just seals the coffin shut. I finally completed the campaign twice, tried all the races, saw the new units, and I feel like I'm done with the game. That being said, I'll still go back to Dark Crusade since it's one of my favorites.

That's exactly what happened.

Soulstorm was developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. It was announced that they were developing the game in around October 2007 (not sure when they actually started to work on it; but they announced they were working on it at that time). In February 2008, just about 4 months later, it was announced that they would close down. The expansion was then released just 1 month after that, in March 2008. So, yeah it was rushed out, and turned out to be the developer's last project (they couldn't find the funding for their next game). Then Relic provided the two patches that came out officially post-release, if I recall correctly (or one of them anyway). And that was it after that.

The community fix mod already helps a lot, but of course it doesn't quite add content per se nor any game modes or features; so Soulstorm will always be a rushed-out expansion, but to be completely honest, I find it impressive that they had the time to make 2 new factions in the very short period of time that they actually could work with before they went kaput.

EDIT: As for my Backlog, for now I'm not quite sure where to start and which games to keep playing. I'm mixing up my games a lot lately. I suppose that I should get back to Streets of Rage 4 (still haven't finished it), that and I could always get back to my 2018'ish saved game for Red Faction Armageddon (not sure I will). More realistically (in terms of available spare time in the coming days and weeks) I should just stick to mostly multiplayer (short sessions of pew pew for the heck of it) and arcade style games (horizontal / vertical scrolling shooters, beat 'em ups, or something relaxing like Bejeweled or Peggle... I can use the calm lately as well).

 

[sactoking]

I just started Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remake on PC. Been wanting to try KH for a while but I haven't had a Playstation since PS2. I'm about an hour in and it's... interesting. The story makes zero sense so far. And who's idea was it to put a Riku and a Rikku on the starting island?

 

[Artorias]

Halo CE Anniversary
Halo 2 Anniversary
Halo 3
Halo 3: ODST(In Progress)
Homeworld 1 Remaster

Working my way through the Halo MC collection on PC. Good start to the year so far, might be a record for putting a dent in the backlog lol.

Completed Ruiner and Halo 3: ODST.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Still playing Blood Dragon & Kingdoms of Amalur. Methodically picking apart BD enemy stronghold by strong hold, very fun game for quick 1 hour sessions where you do a stronghold and a couple side missions and have some discrete progress then stop. Absurd style and homage to 80's straight to VHS action movies brings a tear to my eye.

KoA is sort of my laptop game at the moment. Same thing as BD, beautiful huge game with deceptively simple mechanics that is very easy to pick up and crank out a couple quests, then stop. Relaxed controller play while lounging is a huge plus for me. Looks like overleveling is a pretty common issue with this game, so I'm not really afraid to follow the main quest,do a couple side quests per area, and then move on as I get bored.

Tried to fire up the OG Assassin's Creed, but God did Ubi totally flub the controller support on the port. Wireless XBX controllers are basically mapped by Satan and the number of hoops and modding required to make things work just doesn't feel worth it. Might dust off my old wired 360 controllers at some point and see if I have better luck, but I'm not really pushing it at the moment.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Completed Ruiner and Halo 3: ODST.

-Fired up OG Halo in the MCC a while ago just to check out the updated graphics, and they're nice, but good lord the game is way harder than I remember it being on Heroic or Legendary than it was back on the Xbox...

Also, the lack of couch co-op makes baby Jesus cry. I'd love to go through the games with my kids but we're not at the point of getting a whole lan party going to make it work.

 

[rivethead]

Tried to fire up the OG Assassin's Creed, but God did Ubi totally flub the controller support on the port. Wireless XBX controllers are basically mapped by Satan and the number of hoops and modding required to make things work just doesn't feel worth it.

I remember that! And I remember jumping through all those hoops and cursing the entire time. But as I had never played an AC game, I endured it. I'd say it was worth it - I did enjoy AC but in reality it's more a tech demo than a game.

AC 2 is much better.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I remember that! And I remember jumping through all those hoops and cursing the entire time. But as I had never played an AC game, I endured it. I'd say it was worth it - I did enjoy AC but in reality it's more a tech demo than a game.

AC 2 is much better.

- The only one I am legitimately interested in playing is Black Flag thanks to the really unique setting and the general positivity surrounding the game.

Maybe I will break out that 360 controller and give the original AC a spin...

 

[Artorias]

-Fired up OG Halo in the MCC a while ago just to check out the updated graphics, and they're nice, but good lord the game is way harder than I remember it being on Heroic or Legendary than it was back on the Xbox...

Also, the lack of couch co-op makes baby Jesus cry. I'd love to go through the games with my kids but we're not at the point of getting a whole lan party going to make it work.

Yeah I think legendary is not a fun difficulty.

Heroic however is the perfect setting, its hard but balanced just right where you feel accomplishment when you get through a hoard. If you're playing CE, the magnum and plasma pistol are your best friend. Don't forget about grenades, enemies drop them like candy so you will never run out.

The Xbox also had aim assist where as with PC it doesn't with a mouse. Maybe you're also not familiar with the slower pace and movement, the original trilogy Halo is unique in that regard.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yeah I think legendary is not a fun difficulty.

Heroic however is the perfect setting, its hard but balanced just right where you feel accomplishment when you get through a hoard. If you're playing CE, the magnum and plasma pistol are your best friend. Don't forget about grenades, enemies drop them like candy so you will never run out.

The Xbox also had aim assist where as with PC it doesn't with a mouse. Maybe you're also not familiar with the slower pace and movement, the original trilogy Halo is unique in that regard.

-I think the subtle aim assist on the console halos was a big factor... That or I've just gotten older and crappier at some games than I used to be. I've beaten both H1 & H2 on legendary before.

I only played through H3 at a friend's house and never even touched ODST or H4 before, so maybe I should start there. Or plow through the first two games on easy just to mainline the nostalgia.

I've heard murmurs that split screen couch co-op is coming to the MCC in a future patch as well.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Guess I should actually try to keep a log updated.

January - Hades + Darksiders
February - Darksiders 2
March - Dawn of War Soulstorm + Unification Mod
April - Warhammer 2 Total War and Company of Heroes 2

I only played one campaign on W2TW and the Soviet campaign on CoH2. Warhammer just doesn't grab me like everyone expects it to and everyone on the Steam discussions said it would make me forget the historical TW games ever existed, but it's quite the contrary in my experience. There's so many different aspects and different things to account for now, I just want to go back to the more simple Total War games like Medieval 2 where all I have to do is build an army and just steamroll the map without having to worry about corruption, chaos invasions, skaven infiltrating underground in my territory, or micro-managing diplomacy with all 400 kingdoms in-game.

Company of Heroes 2 campaign was really boring which is why I didn't bother with the other one (whoever it was - German maybe?). The skirmish maps were really fun to play solo and it brought back a lot of the older fun I had with the first game, but I really loved the first game's campaign because it was one big map with various objectives and after it dumped you in the map it let you do your thing. CoH2 took the EA approach and decided to segment every single campaign battle into smaller objective areas and then hold your hand the entire time. I don't know if they were going for realism regarding the actual history surrounding each battle, but the scripted events made me feel like I wasn't playing a game, but rather watching a slightly interactive movie. You can fail the campaign missions, but it takes a lot of effort to actually fail them. The game tells you where to garrison troops, who to train, where to send them, and what to do with them. As long as you follow all the instructions like a mindless drone, you won't lose.

No idea what I want to play next. I've been going back and getting into SNES randomizers (specifically Final Fantasy 3/6 and Secret of Evermore randomizers), but I usually play those at work if I have any spare time or before bed.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Company of Heroes 2 campaign was really boring which is why I didn't bother with the other one (whoever it was - German maybe?). The skirmish maps were really fun to play solo and it brought back a lot of the older fun I had with the first game, but I really loved the first game's campaign because it was one big map with various objectives and after it dumped you in the map it let you do your thing. CoH2 took the EA approach and decided to segment every single campaign battle into smaller objective areas and then hold your hand the entire time. I don't know if they were going for realism regarding the actual history surrounding each battle, but the scripted events made me feel like I wasn't playing a game, but rather watching a slightly interactive movie. You can fail the campaign missions, but it takes a lot of effort to actually fail them. The game tells you where to garrison troops, who to train, where to send them, and what to do with them. As long as you follow all the instructions like a mindless drone, you won't lose.

- Damn, that is really disappointing to hear.

I played CoH MP & Skirmish a lot, and always made it about 1/2 through the campaign before something else lured me away, but I always remember being on edge through the campaign because it was one of those old school RTS games where you could be an hour into a map and already failed it and not know thanks to poor decisions and heavy losses earlier in the same mission.

I guess Relic probably got a lot of backlash or harvested a bunch of data around that and decided to swing wildly in the opposite direction, both alienating existing fans and not really drawing in new ones.

The whole point of seeing a Russian front in a CoH game was to increase the scope of the battles, not shrink them!

 

[Fenixgoon]

Beat Doom Eternal and the DLCs - Ancient Gods Part 1/2.

Ancient Gods 1 was solid. Very challenging, almost frustratingly so, on Ultra Violence.
Ancient Gods 2 felt too easy, and pretty short by comparison (I did play on Hurt Me Plenty...but I'm not sure Ultra Violence would have made that much a difference). The ending was also a bit lackluster.

Collectively, both DLCs add some interesting new enemies/mechanics, as well as some pretty stunning environments (the last chapter of TAG-2 is especially cool).

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Beat Doom Eternal and the DLCs - Ancient Gods Part 1/2.

Ancient Gods 1 was solid. Very challenging, almost frustratingly so, on Ultra Violence.
Ancient Gods 2 felt too easy, and pretty short by comparison (I did play on Hurt Me Plenty...but I'm not sure Ultra Violence would have made that much a difference). The ending was also a bit lackluster.

Collectively, both DLCs add some interesting new enemies/mechanics, as well as some pretty stunning environments (the last chapter of TAG-2 is especially cool).

- What was your opinion on Doom Eternal? Seems like a pretty divisive game depending on what people liked from the 2016 edition...

 

[Fenixgoon]

- What was your opinion on Doom Eternal? Seems like a pretty divisive game depending on what people liked from the 2016 edition...

Overall? A solid follow up to Doom 2016. If Doom 2016 is an A+ (which I firmly believe it is), Eternal would be about a B. Still a very much above average game, but it doesn't really elevate itself above its predecessor. And 2016 is a damn hard act to follow.

My biggest complaint is that you're either exploring or fighting. It's very much like a square wave pattern where the intensity is 0 (exploring) and then immediately jumps up to an 11 (fighting).

Along the same lines, the "arena combat" feels very predictable and segmented towards the end. Kind of like monster closets. You know it's coming, and you're going to have to deal with it. I wish they had more gradual encounters that ramped up at critical locations instead of trapping you in arenas on the regular.

I tried the multiplayer and it was pretty neat, but you definitely need to be matched with people of the same skill level, otherwise it's a steamroll in either direction. I had one uber good guy play as the slayer and capped both demons (one of whom was me) in what felt like 10 seconds, 9 rounds in a row.

 

[DigDog]

i have for the first time in years added a new game to my Steam list:
Ballistic NG - https://store.steampowered.com/app/473770/BallisticNG/
which is, essentially, WipeOut. More WipeOut XL/2097 than WipeOut 3/Fusion. MY kind of WipeOut.
I mean, it really really is just WipeOut:

and i LOVE WipeOut.

I was very disappointed in the later games because after WipeOut 2097 they changed the handling physics, which is what made the game so awesome.
Ballistic NG was just over £5, but i'm waiting to get me a PS5 controller (£65) to play it. And that totally makes sense, money-wise.

 

[Stg-Flame]

i have for the first time in years added a new game to my Steam list:
Ballistic NG - https://store.steampowered.com/app/473770/BallisticNG/
which is, essentially, WipeOut. More WipeOut XL/2097 than WipeOut 3/Fusion. MY kind of WipeOut.
I mean, it really really is just WipeOut:

and i LOVE WipeOut.

I was very disappointed in the later games because after WipeOut 2097 they changed the handling physics, which is what made the game so awesome.
Ballistic NG was just over £5, but i'm waiting to get me a PS5 controller (£65) to play it. And that totally makes sense, money-wise.

Are PS5 controllers just plug-n-play like wired 360 controllers? I could never get my PS4 controller to work without a third-party Bluetooth adapter and even then, most of the reviews talked about the noticeable latency issues when playing games like Hades or Hollow Knight.

Not to derail the thread, but you might want to look into Afterglow wired 360 controllers. No idea what they cost in Europe, but here they are usually around $15 at Target and they work great. £65/$77.88 is incredibly steep for just a controller in my opinion.

To stay on topic, I'm finishing up the Trine series. I started Trine 3 a long time ago, but I couldn't push myself to finish it since it was just bad. Not even playable, but all around just a terrible game. Trine 4 is actually incredibly polished and really fun, so after I finish this, all this Doom 2016 talk has made me want to go back and actually finish the game and start the DLCs.