Moving some more games to completed

So that I can buy and trade new games. There is somehow this part of games I really want to complete/start but can’t motivate myself to. At least I keep playing the new additions so that my unplayed usually stays below 10. Also trading reduces my shadow backlog step-by-step. Although for some games people are sitting on them as they were pure gold.

• The Walking Dead: The Final Season
  

  17 hours playtime

  48 of 48 achievements

• Moons of Madness
  

  7 hours playtime

  23 of 23 achievements

• Songbird Symphony
  

  6 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

• Minoria
  

  11 hours playtime

  15 of 15 achievements

• Mega Man 11
  

  24 hours playtime

  50 of 50 achievements

The Walking Dead: The Final Season: I got lucky. Shortly after finishing the New Frontier, the Final Season appeared in a bundle and I was able to quickly trade for it. The Walking Dead still has issues with its trope of “There is no hope” and by design you can’t save everyone. But similar to Season 3 it ends on a more concilatory note. And for the first time in the whole fricking series, it makes sense that the NPC’s are behaving irrational and doing poor decisions or are tasking Clementine with the hard decisions. Because you are working together with other children which partially are much younger than you. Overall an improvement. But I am glad that the series is finished. I played all the games with the exception of Michonne which - so I assume - has no impact on Clementine’s story. Achievement-wise they mixed things up with adding several achievements bound to finding things or doing certain stuff. Makes it more interesting but also forced me to replay certain parts after the first playthrough. While I normally have no issues with that it feels weird in a game where you have to make so many decisions influencing nuances. There shall appear a comic - I think beginning of July - where Clementine will be featured. I may try to get my hands on that one but fear to be disappointed again by more gruesome happenings.

Moons of Madness: Not exactly a Walking simulator but I think it comes close by. Belongs probably in the same category as Amnesia. You play an Engineer on a Secret Mission to colonize Mars. So Secret that your father thinks you are on the Northpole and the rest of manking hasn’t been informed either. Reason for this is that the original purpose of the mission is different from what the crew thought it was. And for this reason things start to go down (and strange) like the plants growing more and weirder and also this weird eldritch abomination temple on Mars. I’ll keep from more examples as this would probably spoil the story a bit which is partially kinda non-sensical. Then again the game plays into the lore of the “Secret World” which is all about conspiracies and supernatural stuff. So it is kinda fitting there. Achievement-wise mostly relaxing with one achievement which can be missed. Sadly, no chapter select so in worst case you have to replay the first 60-90 minutes of the game.

Songbird Symphony: A really cute game and a game I wanted to have solely because of the cute, fat, little bird …. whose name I’ve forgotten. Birdie looks different than the other birds and his uncle Peat so he is getting mocked. And to find out what kind of bird he really is, he asks the Great Owl for help which sends him to all the different regions and their birdy inhabitants. The game is visually appealing and doesn’t take itself to seriously with showing dance contests between the Penguins and the … beach birds. Or having the birds working in the mine just to waste the money in the casino. Each area has some simple sidequests like finding certain stuff or playing the right melody. Story-wise you have small rhythm games in regular intervals which change in design and get more and more difficult with the protagonist learning more and more notes. The rhythm games are getting brutally difficult and some are really insane. Luckily, the developer decided to not make this a reason for failure. So even if you mess up you still can continue the story. You just have a bad rating. Also achievement-wise they are not important. Achievements are for finding secret areas or doing some sidequests. Nothing to difficulty and nothing which can be missed as far as I can tell. Mostly a cute, heartwarming game with a fat little bird.

Minoria: A 2d-sidescroller fighting game from the makers of Momodora. Nothing much to say. Lots of combat, different weapons, different areas, several bosses and some minimal Metroidvania elements. All in all a good game with this kinda intended depressing subtone (visible also in colour-style) although nothing to memorable.

Mega Man 11: Well, since I already completed Mega Man 1 - 10 on Steam, I thought why not keeping going on. Overall, a solid game. Graphics, Aesthetics have been brought up to date, sound is still good and gameplay was diverse. What I have to say though is that the game is pretty challenging. I have not understood how some people said that it is an easier game because I have played all previous entries. I think the main issue was that in my first playthrough I have been going for the “No-shop” and “Only buster shot for bosses” achievements which make this game pretty hard. Some levels are really long and have several cheap shots. If you use all stuff available as well as the new double gear system (a slow-down mechanism and a power-up mechanism) the game becomes easier. I still have most older games easier in my mind. Achievement-wise a lot to do with some specific level bound stuff which is actually kinda fun and some challenge based ones like no continue used or bosses only with starting weapons. Hardest one though is the Speedrun and the Light’s challenges one. The time for the speedrun is pretty strict (we ignore that people manage to complete the game in 40 minutes). I am no stronger to speedrunning and you are simply not allowed large screw-ups and even the small ones have to be kept down to a minimum. I needed to testplay each level a few times before I got an acceptable time and still managed it only we exactly one hour. Most people should have more trouble with it especially since time for saving and potential shopping are ticking the clock away as well. Dr. Light’s challenge is the other difficult one where you have to pass a sequence of 30 challenge rooms with recovery items only each 10 rooms. So you have to avoid damage at all cost but use your powers strategically where you need them most.

And with the old pile on the completed side, I will go forward with the new ones. I have already succesfully traded for Seven Mysteries. And will try again for Forgottton and and Don’t Escape: 4 Days to Survive. Maybe I will get back to After Hours as well. There are still some games to complete :P