2022 - Halfway through hell

[drahkon]

2022, which is the fucking third horrible year in a row, is now halfway complete.
With all the shit that's going in the world, it's time to celebrate our biggest hobby: console wars video games. Wooohoooo.

So tell us. How were the first 6 months for you gaming-wise?
How many games have you played?
Favourites?
GOTY contender (or winner already)?

I've been keeping track of games this year as I have done last year. However, I have dropped the "games abandoned/finished" category as I don't really care about that anymore. If a game is so bad that it makes me drop it, it's not even worth mentioning in any statistic  
Which is why I'm only going with platforms, backlog? yes,no,maybe,I don't know, can you repeat the question? and total score.

So far, I've played 40 games this year on 8 different platforms:

No surprise, Sony devices dominate. There's nothing interesting coming from Nintendo and MS for me, so there's the explanation.  

I've decided to separate the games I've bought and the games I've gotten through PS+ to see how the sub impacts my gaming habits.
I've played the Halo series via GamePass, but since I've only subbed to that service for 2 months to do just that, I've decided to put them into the "No" group.
Pretty happy with the 40/60 distribution. 
The last 3 games I've played came from PS+ Massive Dingus Edition. Pretty sure it'll be a big part of my gaming environment for the remainder of the year.  

Other than that:

So far, 4 games have gotten 10/10 points. The best is of course: Elden Ring. It'll most likely win GOTY for me. Unless the next GoW will be released in 2022 and is as good as the first (and if I buy/finish it this year).

Surprise hit: Vampire Survivors.

Disappointment: Sekiro (runner up: Tales of Arise).

Worst game: Halo 2, thanks to the most game crashes I've ever experienced.

 

Now it's your turn  

Edited June 29, 2022 by drahkon

[Glen-i]

Okey dokey. No pie charts though because "mobile, lol".

So far, I've finished 21 games. Almost all of them on the Switch. Mostly because that's the only current gen console I own.

The two games I think will be fighting for my GotY so far are Kirby and the Forgotten Land and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Two absolutely joyful games that have very few criticisms that I can chuck at them.

Surprise hit: Final Fantasy XIII-2. An adequate RPG that I wouldn't even acknowledge here if it wasn't for the fact that it's a sequel to the worst Final Fantasy I've ever played! So, credit where it's due.

Disappointment: Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The year where a Pokémon game is a contender for worst game of the year is a very sad one for me. A game that truncates almost everything I like about Pokémon games to chase that boring open world trend. This game has actually made my excitement for the next generation games dwindle from a raging inferno to a lukewarm splutter.

Screw you, Legends: Arceus. You're destroying my inner child! For that reason, it's also on my Worst Game nomination.

[Julius]

Well, this has just reminded me that at some point I need to stop procrastinating on actually putting something in the Gaming Diary thread  can't believe it's already the end of June! 

I've only finished 12 games so far this year, as I ended up with a bit of a gaming hangover from Elden Ring (exactly like I did with The Last of Us Part II a couple of years ago), and took a break for a little while there besides GT7. The last month has exclusively been me going back and replaying games, but so far this has been a good year for me knocking out big games (two 100+ hour titles in Elden Ring and Gran Turismo 7, and another two 50+ hour titles in Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Dragon Quest VIII); maybe I'll tackle some smaller ones soon...ish? 

Anyways, GOTY so far is Elden Ring, not even a question. Have I played enough new games so far this year to really give an opinion here? Probably not. But Elden Ring is firmly in my Top 5 of All Time, and is my favourite (new) game I've played these last few years. I loved Breath of the Wild, but I did have some issues with it, and I think my highest praise of Elden Ring is that I'd point Nintendo towards it for examples on how to improve with the sequel. This isn't to say it's a flawless game - there are a few boss fights which are more spectacle than they are practical, a good bit of repetition, and a good (but very fun) bit of jank - but the journey to the end kept me coming back in a way that sprawling open worlds barely do it for me. 

Surprise hit? It's probably between Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Gran Turismo 7, right now I'm looking back on both too fondly to really split hairs and choose one over the other. 

Sorry @Glen-i, but Legends: Arceus was the most fun I've had with a brand new Pokémon game since maybe Gen V? It was more Monster Hunter than it was Breath of the Wild, and while I think a truly open world Pokémon game can be done well (I just don't think Game Freak is a team that can necessarily deliver it), the music which pulled so much from the Gen IV titles and hinted at them in a way I always love; the vibe; the totally not a rip-off of Mystery Dungeon's story; the joy of always being able to use the right stick to control the camera; and the core mechanics of this game being a constant feedback loop I'm sure could turn someone into a crack addict were all entirely up my alley. It's just a shame that it meant Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl came out as half baked as they did as a result 

As for Gran Turismo 7, it rightly got a hell of a lot of flak for its microtransactions and how much they were pushed, but it also completely overshadowed the conversation of just how fun a game it is, as did the fact that 99% of it's content is online-only; and it's a bit of a shame, because it's easily the most I've enjoyed a racing sim since GT3. License Tests and some of the challenges and music rally were super fun, as was racing against friends (the leaderboard on License Tests meant I spent way more time on the game than I reasonably should!), and towards the end of my time with it, there were workarounds in order to make for an easy grind of some 2.4 million+ credits per hour, so I would just soar through one of my favourite tracks (Tokyo Expressway) in the fastest car in the game while listening to podcasts and various soundtracks. Unfortunately it got updated and the workarounds were rectified (after a few updates in a row not rectifying then gave a sense of false hope that it would be left as is), and I dropped the game as a result soon after instead of grinding for the remaining Ferraris as I had planned to. 

For disappointment: Mass Effect (the Legendary Edition of the game). This one is kind of a default answer just because I think the first half of the game is shaky as hell at the best of times, but the second half is much improved and it gets much stronger in the final act. It's simply here by virtue of it being the overall weakest game I'd say I've played so far this year and my expectations for Mass Effect being high, but from what I've heard, I fully expect that any time I spend with Mass Effect 2 will be a vast improvement over the first game. The gunplay is loose as hell, the enemy composition of some locations kind of suck, and despite being a remaster (with a good bit of rework), I just don't think it does a great job at getting newcomers to come to terms with its mechanics, and traversing some of the larger settlements can be very disorienting. But, like I said: much better in the second half, specifically that final act, when I think it becomes much more linear. 

Lastly, seeing as I don't really have a nominee for worst game, as I've been replaying a few games over the last month I want to instead throw my favourite replay out there: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. This was the first game I got for and completed on my PS2, and playing it on my PS3 this month with Obi-Wan Kenobi on my mind was simply a joy. The inclusion of concept art, duelists, bonus levels, etc., just fleshed the game out so much when hunting down secrets and completing levels, and it does a fantastic job of hinting at what some earlier ideas for the film were. The combat is still really fun to mess around with (and, for a PS2 game, felt surprisingly and incredibly fluid; I'm pretty sure Hayden Christensen did mo-cap for Anakin's lightsaber wielding in the game?), the levels are short and sweet, the bonus levels are cool as heck (you get to be Vader fighting Obi-Wan on the Death Star in A New Hope!), I had an absolute blast playing through it again. Getting to that final level, which shows an alternate take on Anakin vs Obi-Wan on Mustafar and ends with Anakin winning, is just such a fun bit of fan service too, I loved it. Because the soundtrack to the film wasn't scored until February 2005 you also just - hilariously - end up with a soundtrack running through themes from mostly A New Hope and The Phantom Menace, and Qui-Gon's Theme is even used as Obi-Wan's! Just a mighty fine time 

Thanks for the thread @drahkon (also, love the return of the graphs)! I haven't talked about what games I've been playing too much since Elden Ring and have been feeling a bit burnt out on them/a lot of things over the last few months, but typing this up has been a nice reminder of just how much I love talking about games on here and reading about what others have been playing  looking forward to reading what others have to say! 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Julius

[Jonnas]

I haven't played any games actually from 2022. Unless you count the demos for Triangle Strategy and Three Hopes. If so, Triangle Strategy is the GOTY by default.

With that out of the way, my actual GOTY so far is Katamari Damacy. It's a beautiful game that fed me pure joy.

Surprise hit... well, definitely Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, but since I haven't played that one properly yet, I'll have to give this prize to the quality of Steamworld Dig 2, which was a hell of an improvement over the first one.

Biggest disappointment was The Room. I wanted a simple, enjoyable puzzle game, but I did not enjoy this overly complicated game I did not oh hi Mark.

Worst game would also be that... if not for Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive). *shudder*

[Glen-i]

29 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Worst game would also be that... if not for Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive). *shudder*

I played this on the Mega Drive Mini a couple of years ago.

It's certainly a game that embodies the notion of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

[Hero-of-Time]

Loving the pie charts! I'll post my results and thoughts tomorrow as I'm still in the middle of playing a couple of games and will probably get one of them finished this evening.

[bob]

Loving the pie charts! I'll post my results and thoughts tomorrow as I'm still in the middle of playing a couple of games and will probably get one of them finished this evening.

I'm imagining you playing through a couple of games while typing that comment.

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, bob said:

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Loving the pie charts! I'll post my results and thoughts tomorrow as I'm still in the middle of playing a couple of games and will probably get one of them finished this evening.

I'm imagining you playing through a couple of games while typing that comment.

Haha. If only.  Sadly I'm stuck at work. 

[Sheikah]

Does a game count as "backlog" if you played 4-5 hours of it and never want to go back to it?

[drahkon]

4 minutes ago, Sheikah said:

Does a game count as "backlog" if you played 4-5 hours of it and never want to go back to it?

We told you to let Death Stranding go  

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, Sheikah said:

Does a game count as "backlog" if you played 4-5 hours of it and never want to go back to it?

That's an accurate description of my playthrough of The Room Virtua Fighter didn't even get that much time.

[Sheikah]

1 minute ago, drahkon said:

We told you to let Death Stranding go  

I know, I know. I wanted to give it another chance, view the game from a different perspective and all that. The trouble is that after playing a bit more, I realised I hated everything about the game on a really fundamental level. It's like they combined the absurd story of Kingdom Hearts with a walking simulator, with a sprinkling of QTEs on top.

It's fine though, I've moved on to I am Dead now, which is a pretty charming indie game.

[darksnowman]

20 hours ago, drahkon said:

No surprise, Sony devices dominate. 

What am I doing. I can't even pretend I'm shocked.  At least you did the right thing and joined in for Kirby and the Forgotten Lands.

Loving the midyear charts.  

I've been having a pretty decent year on the gaming front. Here're some highlights:
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore
The Last Campfire
Hotshot Racing
Inside
Limbo
FAR Lone Sails
Bastion 
Gris
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Axiom Verge
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Child of Light
Valiant Hearts
Resident Evil

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is my GotY so far. It's gonna take something special to displace it. Could end up being a dingdong battle between it and Persona 5 Royal come the years end.  Looking forward to seeing how Splatoon 3 turns out as well.

[drahkon]

10 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

What am I doing. I can't even pretend I'm shocked.  

Second goal I gave you  

10 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

dingdong battle

Is this the politically correct term for cock fight?

Edited June 29, 2022 by drahkon

[Cube]

So far I've played 55 games. 

Platform distribution:

• Xbox Series S: 54.
• PS4: 1

Service distribution:

• Game Pass: 50
• Purchased: 4
• Games With Gold: 1

 

Some highlights for me:

Sunset Overdrive: You can see where Spider-man started out here. It was massively overlooked but is a really great game.

The Outer Worlds: A great space RPG. I ended up enjoying this more than the likes of Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Fun combat, extremely likable characters, great soundtrack.

Tunic: Even though I turned the combat off, the puzzles were so good that I still enjoyed the game

Horizon: Forbidden West: Even better than the first.

Bugsnax: So much more than what I was expecting.

Paradise Killer: A mystery game, not much gameplay other than walking around but still extremely interesting.

Supraland: A puzzle metroidvania. I tried it because it looked dumb and wanted to play a silly game, but this was genuinely amazing.

Sonic Origins: Three great games in widescreen. Plus Sonic CD.

 

Some disappointments:

Hollow Knight: I'm sure there's a great metroidvania here, but I couldn't get into it. 

Weird West: You can see the potential, but it felt like an early access title with unfinished quests and gameplay

 

And some bad games:

Pupperazzi: A terrible photography game.

Hypnospace Outlaw: Tries to be Papers, Please, but with immensely annoying and convoluted minigames. 

Trek to Yomi: A combat game with bad combat.

Black: I couldn't play more than a few levels

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Games I've completed during the first half of the year: 75

Platform Distribution:

• 3DS 7
• PS5 10
• Switch 23
• PS4 35

Spoiler

2nd Jan - Guardians of the Galaxy = PS4 
7th Jan - Matterfall = PS4 
9th Jan - Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition = PS4 
14th Jan - Kena: Bridge of Spirits = PS5 
15th Jan - Shantae: Risky's Revenge = PS4 
1th Jan - Super Stardust Ultra = PS4 
16th Jan - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon = PS4 
18th Jan - Monster World IV = PS4 
23rd Jan - Banjo Kazooie = Switch 
29th Jan - Dirt 5 = PS4 
30th Jan - Dead Nation = PS4 

2nd Feb - Pyre = PS4 
6th Feb - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions = 3DS 
13th Feb - Returnal = PS5
13th Feb - Pokemon Legends = Switch 
16th Feb - Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest = 3DS
17th Feb - Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World = PS4 
21st Feb - Earthbound Beginnings = Switch 
24th Feb - Ocarina of Time 3D = 3DS 
24th Feb - Metal Slug: First Mission = Switch 
28th Feb - Immortals: Fenix Rising = PS5 

7th Mar - Elden Ring = PS5 
9th Mar - Life Is Strange: True Colours = PS5 
20th Mar - Alien Soldier = Switch 
22nd Mar - Hades = PS5 
22nd Mar - Super Fantasy Zone = Switch 
24th Mar - 13 Sentinels = PS4 
26th Mar - Majora's Mask = Switch 
27th Mar - Kirby and the Forgotten Land = Switch 
28th Mar - Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins = PS5 
31st Mar - Earthworm Jim 2 = Switch 

2nd Apr - Inkenfell = PS4 
3rd Apr - Spongebob Square Pants = PS4 
5th Apr - Record of Lodoss = PS5 
19th Apr - Dragon Quest III = Switch 
23rd Apr - Sonic Spinball  =Switch 
28th Apr - Dragon Quest VIII = 3DS 
30th Apr - Megaman X 5  =PS4 

1st May - Megaman X 6 = PS4 
3rd May-  Super Mario Land = 3DS 
4th May - Tales of Arise = PS4 
10th May - Super Mario World Switch 
12th May - Metroid Dread = Switch 
12th May - House of the Dead Remake = PS4 
13th May - New Pokemon Snap = Switch 
13th May - Resident Evil VII = PS4 
17th May - My Name is Mayo 2 = PS4 
17th May - Super Mario Land 2 = 3DS 
19th May - Megaman X7 = PS4 
20th May - Megaman X8 = PS4 
21st May - Kirby 64 = Switch 
22nd May - Yoshi's Story = Switch 
22nd May - Sin & Punishment = Switch 
26th May - Super Mario Bros 3 = Switch 
27th May - MUSHA = Switch 
27th May - Space Harrier 2 = Switch 

2nd Jun - Mario Golf = Switch 
3rd Jun - Resident Evil 6 = PS4 
5th Jun - A Link Between Worlds = 3DS 
9th Jun - Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl = PS4 
11th Jun - Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl = PS5 
12th Jun - Mario Strikers: Battle League = Switch 
16th Jun - Sackboy: A Big Adventure = PS5 
18th Jun - Coffee Talk =PS4 
22nd Jun - Shantae and the Pirates Curse = PS4 
24th Jun - Pokemon Snap = Switch 
25th Jun - TMNT Shredder's Revenge = PS4 
25th Jun - Ape Escape = PS4 
25th Jun - Kurushi = PS4 
26th Jun - Syphon Filter = PS4 
27th Jun - Everybody's Golf = PS4 
27th Jun - War of the Monsters = PS4 
28th Jun - Telling Lies = PS4 
29th Jun - The Artful Escape = PS4 
30th Jun - Shadow Warrior 3 = PS4 

I was quite surprised to see how many games I had played on my Switch and then I seen that 16 were from the NES/SNES/Mega Drive/N64 service. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

At the start of the year I set myself some gaming goals. 

Quote

• Play The Witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2
• Reach 500 Platinums - Completed
• Play an RPG every month (or 12 before the year is over) - 11 out of 12 (Ara Fell, Mario & Luigi, Pokemon Legends, FE Fates: Conquest, Earthbound Beginnings, Elden Ring, Stranger of Paradise, Inkenfell, Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest VIII, Tales of Arise)
• Platinum Yakuza 0  
• Get through all of Housemarque’s games - Completed
• Play Hades - Completed
• Play Resident Evil 7 - Completed
• Get through every Shantae game  - 2 out of 5 (Risky's Revenge, Pirates Curse)
• Play Judgment
• Platinum every game that I play 

It's not going that bad. Could be better but I'm happy with how things have gone so far. My platinum run is still going strong. Every game i've played has been platinumed, with the exception of Nexomon and Neo: The World Ends With You and that's because I'm still playing them.

Favourite Games - Each month I marked a game down as my favourite. Here's what I've got.

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits - Fantastic adventure game that took me back to the PS2 era.
• Pokemon Legends - A kick up the backside that the series really needed. I haven't enjoyed a Pokemon game as much in years.
• Elden Ring - Miyazaki masterclass. How the Souls team manage to keep pulling off amazing game after amazing game is beyond me. 
• Dragon Quest VIII - Charming, colourful, funny and plenty of grinding along the way. Yup, it's another amazing DQ game. 
• Resident Evil VII - A different take on the franchise but one that somehow manages to bring back the feeling of the original Resident Evil game.
• TMNT: Shredder's Revenge - A blast from the past, both in terms of IP and genre. Perfectly recaptures what a game like this should be.

Worst Games - Like the favourites section, I also record d the worst games that I played each month.

• Monster World IV - A fun adventure but it was pretty dated. Plus, it was played in Jan and every other game was a banger.
• Earthbound Beginnings - Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but it still wasn't great. The praise this series get's continues to baffle me.
• Alien Soldier - Awful game that hasn't aged that well. Not one of Treasure's best games at all.
• Inkenfell - Bland and overly long RPG. It tried to be funny with it's writing but it just didn't work for me.
• Tales of Arise - Worst JRPG I have played in a long time. Story is garbage, characters are rubbish and the gameplay is clearly built around DLC/microtransactions
• Mario Strikers: Battle league - The game had very little content to it and was pretty easy to finish. I had long hoped that Next Level would return to the franchise but after only 5 hours of game time, I had finished the game.

Looking at the lists so far, I think the worst game out of them all is clearly Tales of Arise. A lot of the others are products of their time but there is no excuse for the state of Tales. As for my GOTY running, out of the games I've mentioned I would probably say it's between Elden Ring and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Both games were amazing and both deserve a massive amount of praise. Given what we know is coming the rest of the year, the only thing I can see possibly dethroning either of these games is God of War Ragnarök. 

[drahkon]

I was bored so I made three more diagrams of my gaming journey so far:

Spoiler

Not bad, not bad.
A few disappointments. Tales of Arise was pretty bad and Halo 2: Anniversary was a technical disaster.  
And the top 4 are no surprise  

Spoiler

Well, this is easy to explain: Both Nintendo and Microsoft offer nothing of interest to me  
Still, playing through the Halo series at the start of 2022 and the occasional other PC game (+ one mobile game) was fun (for the most part). But nothing to sway me over to these systems.

And one for @Hero-of-Time:

Spoiler

With the arrival of PS+ Big Chungus edition in June, the number of Platinums I've acquired has increased drastically. Mostly due to the instant availability of shorter experiences.

Edited July 26, 2022 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

I would give you a like for the effort you've put into the graphs but then I see how low Sekiro is on your list and...

[Sheikah]

What is this "score"? What you personally score them?

[darksnowman]

 

I would give you a like for the effort you've put into the graphs but then I see your Nintendo comment and...

...I don't even think there's a gif that covers it. 

1 hour ago, Sheikah said:

What is this "score"? What you personally score them?

That's what I was thinking but that Oceanhorn score brings the whole thing into disrepute.

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

I would give you a like for the effort you've put into the graphs but then I see your Nintendo comment and...

What Nintendo comment? It mysteriously vanished.