it got great reviews

problem is, this time of year, by the time the rooms are done, I'm too damn tired to play anything that requires thought. :P

I don't know if it's better, but it's damned good. If you liked the first one, there's no reason to think you wouldn't like the second.

Today, after many, many years, I have finally finished Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator. I played it for the first time around year 2000, but I've never finished it. The story is pretty solid, with the exception of the ending, but in the last 20 hours of the game, the combat gets very tedious, and there is to much of it. It kind of spoiled my enjoyment of the game as a whole, and then the ending nailed it down little bit further :P

More about my finished games ----> here

I really enjoyed this game. It was one of the first I bought and played on GOG. But I completely agree the last 1/3 or so of the game was a little too much and I found myself consulting a walkthrough for most of it. As such I don't really even remember how it ends.

It's definitely better than the first.

Finished the Specter Knight campaign in Shovel Knight, didn't quite get all the collectibles, but close enough for me. Now playing the Plague Knight campaign, which I skipped before for some reason.

Recall just one area that seemed tedious to me, Shell 7 I think it was, bottom one, with those dark forests? As for the combat towards the end, was more interesting in terms of what you could do at least, better skills, neat magic/card combos... and Corgan and Selina settling their differences so I could use them at the same time with no risks.
But I did play it a long time ago, sometime between 2006 and 2009 (2006 highly unlikely though).

Tedious isn't the right word. I can't quite describe it. More like a little burned out. For example I've quite enjoyed Icewind Dale 2 but 50-60 hours in and I'm ready for it to be over.

Splinter Cell Conviction (XB1X)

The only Splinter Cell game I've played, which I'm aware is not a favorite of fans of the series. I played the 360 version which on original hardware looked like blurry ass and ran like it as well apparently. But that's all taken care of on an Xbox One X, it renders under emulation at near 1800p, looks sharp and pretty good overall for a game from the early years of the 360.

As a game it's average at best though. Average USA Tom Clancy style conspiracy story. Average gameplay, average levels and environment- though the amusement park looks pretty good for its time and the way in which the game projects your objectives onto the environment is quite unique. Stealth is average. The enemy encounters are pretty much scripted and they run to where they are meant to run to, and pretty much stay put because they're too stupid to do anything else. It all makes it sound like a terrible game but it isn't, it's just average with nothing much to stand out and 7-8 hours of entertainment. It was recently a GwG title and is pretty decent in that regard.

I know it doesn't exactly help now, but when you're in combat, you can press ctrl+F3 and instantly win battles (and still get the rewards).

Hehe I wish I knew that at least for the battles with the mobs who chain cloaked. Sooo annoying :-P but thanks anyway :-)

Icewind Dale 2, May 23 (GOG)-The final battle left a really sour taste in my mouth. It took me about 2.5 hours and even then I needed to turn the difficulty down to easiest. Even then I barely survived. I could kill all the cohorts with ease even on medium difficulty but I couldn't even damage Madea or Isair except one time when they spawned with no buffs for some reason. The rest of the game was enjoyable but its still probably the worst of the Infinity engine games. And at some point I stopped getting XP from everyone except the bosses. That was pretty obnoxious. Hasted enemies that I could barely hit that dealt a ton of damage and I get nothing for killing them.

Full List

Games Completed in 2019

1. What Remains of Edith Finch (Epic Store) - Completed: May 24, 2019
2 1953 KGB Unleashed/
3. Submerged - Completed: July 23, 2019

Huh, don't recall any such loss of XP, but then again been a long time, finished it in 2006 I think? Most likely, remember the period that took place in quite well, but may give or take a year to be certain... Do recall that I won that final battle quite readily. I mean, just have to get one of them down to half HP, or something of the sort? Recall having my cleric take him on and last almost to the end, when a critical fortitude fail before his Black Blade of Disaster disintegrated her, but all others had been ganged up on his sister and just about at the same time got her low enough to win. Did sort of want to do it again to try to finish with all party alive (or at least resurrectable), but didn't care to do it again in the end.
Party was... let's see... Know the cleric was aasimar and the wizard tiefling, both starting with 20 in main stat as a result, and pretty sure they were at level 16 at the end due to the level penalty, with the rest of the party at 17. Quite sure I had a half-orc barbarian, and then recall shield dwarf fighter, I think halfling (but may have been half elf) rogue and I think half elf ranger.

Last time I played Icewind Dale 2 I couldn't win the final battle and just gave up. iirc there's some nonsense with a spell that paralyzes your characters and which can't be saved against. Evil characters are immune...but I didn't have any.
Agree with you about Icewind Dale 2, it really is the worst of the Infinity engine games and eventually becomes quite tedious. Pity, since the prologue and the first chapter are pretty interesting and well done imo.

Pfft, one round of stunning. Can survive that well enough.