The Bridge

It's a puzzle game with a lot of cool mechanics like Möbius-strip-like-illusions, mirroring, controlling gravity, etc. that should blow your mind and free it from a cosy "three dimensional world" prison. Does it succeed? I'm not the best person to judge. My mind was freed from the aforementioned prison years ago (a few topology or even better quantum mechanics lectures is more than enough for that) so my mind was definitely not blown. I did enjoy solving those puzzles, some of them were really hard. Unfortunately later chapters (so called mirrored chapters) were more about precise positioning, timing and reflexes and I didn't like it at all. From the beginning the game was slow paced and the trick was to figure out how to solve a puzzle, not how to precisely execute it. Many times I knew exactly what should I do and yet I failed several times because I tilted the screen slightly too fast/slow or something like that. It didn't fit well for such a game. Nevertheless I do recommend it to any puzzle-fans, the game is really challenging so you should have a nice time.


Full list

I haven't updated my list in nearly five months so I will update it a few games at a time instead of all at once. If I would try that, I would probably just get bored again.

09.07. - 13.07. / 8:51h
The Wolf Among Us
It alway felt like I should have read the comics because I felt quite lost in this setting.
Besides that I liked the main character and that it's more of a game than The Walking Dead.

10.07. - 13.07. / 2:33h
Sakura Spirit
A short and boring Visual Novel. The only good point were the drawings. They should release an 18+ version. ^^

12.07. - 14.07. / 9:23h
Dungeon of Elements
Dr. Mario with RPG elements. The game was quite fun and since there are two different endings I might replay it one day.

02.07. - 19.07. / 9:47h
Duke Nukem Forever
One of the most hated games and I don't understand why. While whis game is nothing great it was fun enough.
I probably whould have loved it if I were still in puberty. I'm too old for this game.


Additional to my game time I've started to keep track of my deaths. Which gives me a figure I call "Deaths Per Hour" (DPH). I hope it gives a rough understanding of how hard I think the game is.


19.07. - 20.07. / 4:50h / 10,76 DPH
Alleyway (Game Boy)
A Breakout clone. Somehow boring and addictive at the same time.

20.07. - 20.07. / 0:40h / 10,50 DPH
Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
This was much easier than I remember it but it still is a fun game.

20.07. - 21.07. / 2:21h / 5,96 DPH
Dr. Mario (Game Boy)
I never was able to beat the last few stages as a kid. Now I did it and since we are allegedly influenced by videogames I'm now a fully qualified doctor.

21.07. - 25.07. / 6:12h / 12,10 DPH
Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (Game Boy)
The first Mega Man game I ever managed to beat. I still think that beating this game gave me so many experience points that my gaming skill got quite a few level ups. (I could have invested those points into social abilities, but who needs those...)

25.07. - 26.07. / 2:14h / 8,06 DPH
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)
Not as good as I remember it and I finally managed to beat Wario on the normal dificulty level.

22.07. - 09.08. / 24:56h / 0,00 DPH
Mario's Picross (Game Boy)
I've solved so many Picross riddles by now that this game was no challenge. Still it was a nice trip into my childhood since this game was how I learned about Picross.


Here's my 2014 list.

Finished Costume Quest 2

While it's indeed inferior to the first installment of the series, this game is still quite fun. Quite short yes, but good humor and nice costumes. Worth a try if you liked the first one.

So far in 2014: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2014/post132

What makes it inferior? I'm a huge fan of CQ, so of course I'm interested in the sequel, but my specs don't quite meet the requirements.

Hmm, first, there's no element of surprise like the first, you know it's kids using costumes. But you can't really hold that against CQ2, it's a sequel after all... No, it's just that i found the dialogues less entertaining, there was almost no challenge in the fights, the new system (cards) is vastly inferior to CQ1's combat stamps (I never had to really use the cards, while stamps were really helpful), and the "fountain" system is annoying, but you can ignore it and just use candies to refill your health.

So, I consider it inferior, but it doesn't mean it's a bad game, not at all ! ;)

Thanks for the info!
If it were only half as good as CQ1, I'm sure I'd still love it. It will definitely be one of the first games I buy when I finally upgrade my system.

Oh, personnally I'd rate it 75% as good as CQ1, so I don't think you'd be disappointed ;)

Baldur's Gate 2 + Expansion

I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said already. It is one of the best RPGs ever. I took me more then two years to complete the whole saga. Mainly because I wanted to enjoy every moment of it and after spending some time I was getting slighlty bored. So I was taking a few months long breaks and continuing when I was really eager to play again. This way I got the most of those games.

I'm not sure why but I did enjoy the first part more. Maybe it's a standard issue: a lot of fantasy books, movies, games have epic-scale endings. Fate of the worlds, gods, Armageddon etc. Nothing wrong with it, it's just that I prefer more local stories (like ToEE) and the first BG seemed to be more like that, at least most of it. In BG2 it was obvious from the very beginning that the ending will be BIG.


Full list

Wasteland 2

A great game really, a bit buggy towards the end. That's probably going to change with the new patches though. I can't really think of anything to complain about otherwise. Hope they make WL3.

You're probably not interested in advice anymore, and I can see why some don't get along with NWN very well, especially if you're not that familiar with the rules or more keen on great gameplay mechanics than interesting stories and exploration, but playing a spellcaster in NWN is actually quite easy if you keep your distance and distract your opponents with your pets. A fighter or even worse a rogue is always on their own or dependent on henchmen backup (I find playing rogues in NWN much more difficult than spellcasters because of this), while a spellcaster can always have a party of three, even without henchmen: a familiar (e.g. panther) and a summoned creature for melee, while the spellcaster just shoots bolts, bullets or magic from a distance and runs if opponents get too close. You just have to pick your fights carefully instead of barging in.

Anyway, when I tried NWN I had already heard a lot of negative thoughts about the campaign from a friend, so I was prepared that it wouldn't be that great, but I still abandoned it after the prologue because it felt so boring. I never tried SoU at that time either, I started with playing short community modules, than longer ones and I played through Hordes of the Underdark, which is the best of the three official campaigns, even though lots of community modules are better. You just have to pick the right ones, many have also improved AI and more interesting henchmen.

Eventually, after three years of fun with community modules, I gave the official campaign another try, played through it and ended up hating it even more than my friend, although it's not all bad, but IMO the main plot sucks and the campaign is too long and too hack-and-slashy. for what it offers storywise. After that, I started SoU and lost interest in it, too, so these two aren't really what I'd consider fun about NWN.

Still, tastes differ and if you don't like the gameplay at all or you're fed up with D&D, it's fine to move on, of course. :)

Crimsonland

Finished the normal playthrough, unlocked all weapons and perks. Decent fun, somewhat like an amped-up version of the arcade classic Robotron. Not especially deep, and sometimes your success hinges on the luck of the weapon drops more than your play ability. I don't think it's worth the base asking price, too short and shallow for that, but a good game to grab when it's on sale for 50% off or more.

Bastion

Finished normal mode.Briilant game,amazing sound track and narration that create beautiful atmosphere.
The visuals,soundtrack and narration make the gameplay a lot better.Lots of options with different weapons and difficulties.Very recommended.

I've just finished my first play-through of Borderlands, and haven't gone to the DLC yet - I won't do those until the second play-through, I'm overleveled as it is. This game is simply amazing.

Of course, at this point the fourth in the series has just come out, so it's not as if the world doesn't know how good it is, so I won't dwell too much. I haven't played any of the others yet, so I can't compare, but this the first is spectacular. It's a cheeky, silly, over-the-top shooter set in the ruins of an alien world which people have colonized and pretty much laid to waste; you, as a level one arrival on-planet (but with such possibilities that a ghostly presence chooses you out of all the others to challenge to a secret mission), start off with minimal weaponry but with a deadly mouse and keyboard, which you will use to massacre native alien life forms and human bandits of all flavors.

I like shooters, but I don't always love shooters, and it's a credit to how cleverly Borderlands is put together that I took to it immediately. It's not all that hard, but it makes the player feel accomplished; the story, choked with side-quests (always my downfall, I do too many and then I'm far too powerful for chunks of the plot), moves you steadily into new territory, and while I'm not a lootz guy, the zillions of possible weapons are endlessly fascinating. While some of the locations get a little monotonous over time, the artwork is clever, and all of the new settings are fascinating when you move into them for the first time.

Borderlands is ridiculously violent, which is easy to overlook given how silly and wacky it is in tone. I read a piece somewhere suggesting that if the game weren't funny it would be one of the bleakest ones ever made, and that might be accurate. Fortunately, it is funny, and the human enemies are mostly masked, so there isn't a sense that you are killing people in such grandly theatrical ways (skulls jump out of heads, limbs fly off, this sort of thing).

While YM, of course, MV, I had more fun playing Borderlands than I've had playing anything in ages. Ages, I tell you. If there were a table here, I'd bang my fist on it for emphasis. Going back in now for the pre-set second playthrough (the game is designed for this). I think I'll stick with my Siren, now that I've got the hang of the phasewalking thing. Steam tells me I spent 59 hours in there completing the first play-through, and that sounds about right: I play slowly and like to check things out from a distance before charging in. My overpowered sniper rifle is my friend. I landed 33 achievements on the first play-through, which I imagine is standard - most are plot-based.

My small list of games finished in 2014.

If you think you're overleveled after 1 playthrough, go ahead and try to breeze through the DLC with that character - you'll fail. And probably be slaughtered quite quickly, especially in Secret Armory.

The DLC scales to your level, and not in a friendly way.