[Event] The PokeCommunity Game-Along V: The Gaming Strikes Back

[Explorer of Time]

Can I count a game that I started in late December? I finished Rebel Galaxy Outlaw today and it took me less than a month, but I started it just before the beginning of 2024.

 

[gimmepie]

Can I count a game that I started in late December? I finished Rebel Galaxy Outlaw today and it took me less than a month, but I started it just before the beginning of 2024.

Go for it.

 

[gimmepie]

In other news, I finished my game for the month.

 

[Devalue]

Successfully punched a god for over 100 damage. Still had fun on the third playthrough...most of the time. Game journal entry (for both Fire Emblem and another game).

 

[Janp]

Beat Baldur's Gate 3 few hours ago. I almost had to rush it to make it on time. It's really deserving all the awards it got. It's great RPG. You can read my thoughts in my journal.

 

[gimmepie]

February - KISS

Kiss isn't just a word that most find thematically appropriate to this time of the year, it's also a wonderful acronym meaning "Keep it Simple, Stupid." Given that February is a shorter month, I think it's a good idea to follow this advice and not go too crazy with what we're hoping to accomplish with less time. So, in saying that, the theme for February is once again short games.

Your game of choice this month can be of any genre or style, but it must have an expected completion time of ten hours or less.

 

[Janp]

Short games are my speciality. I bought quite a few of them alongside Baldur's Gate 3 during this Steam Winter Sale. So, let me (randomly) choose... Hyperbolica. It's about 2-3 hours long according to HLTB, so it should fit this month's theme.

 

[gimmepie]

I'm going to play Inside for this month.

On another note, apologies for the absolute mess that is the OP right now. Something about how Xenforo parses css/bb code just does not agree with the old code. I'm gradually going through and doing my best to tidy it up and make it not look awful and (literally) all over the place, but it's an ongoing process. If I can't figure it out soon, I might just re-do the whole thing with something simpler.

 

[Setsuna]

This... could be a tough one for me? Because I'm just trying to stick with games I've never beaten before and I swear I'm in some big JRPG mood, I'm left scraping up whatever potential options to make this work. Short games are great as breaks in-between longer ones like those though, and I've been sitting on Kero Blaster for just that occasion. It probably won't be like last month where I just finished it immediately, thankfully...
Pixel makes short games (based on Cave Story and Ikachan) and howlongtobeat estimates it at 3 hours for the main story.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I'm going to play Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. I already made it through the first two worlds this afternoon, so it shouldn't take too long.

 

[Cherrim]

I was gonna play Muse Dash but I hopped in just now to make sure it was something I'd actually want to play and while it is, it doesn't actually seem to have a story so I'm not sure I'd even know when I've beaten it. Just seems awkward to do for a challenge like this in particular.

So instead I will play Cat Museum! HLTB says it's about 2 hours.

 

[Janp]

And... I'm done with Hyperbolica. I know I won't have much time for the remainder of February, so I decided to play it yesterday. It was such a trippy game. The non-euclidean geometry is something so alien to me. But it was fun to tackle challenges like getting through maze or completing a parkour course with completely new perspective. I'll hopefully write my in-depth thoughts in my journal soon.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I have completed Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards! It was quite a short game, though it made excellent use of 2.5d graphics with some excellent backgrounds. The combat was not as good as most Kirby games, thanks to imbalanced copy abilities, but overall it was still a fun game and Miracle Matter is one of my favorite boss battles in the series.

That being said, it continues the Dark Matter Trilogy's annoying mechanic where you need prior knowledge to get the right copy abilities to get Crystal Shards because the enemies with those abilities aren't in the same area of the level, and sometimes not even in the level at all, so this game is best played with a guide to find all the Crystal Shards.

 

[Devalue]

Picks Return to Monkey Island for this month. Googled how long it takes to beat. Says 10 hours.

 

[Setsuna]

Short games are great as breaks in-between longer ones like those though, and I've been sitting on Kero Blaster for just that occasion. It probably won't be like last month where I just finished it immediately, thankfully...
Pixel makes short games (based on Cave Story and Ikachan) and howlongtobeat estimates it at 3 hours for the main story.

Kero Blaster took me 2.7 hours (according to Steam) and I had a ton of fun! I'm glad I had something short prepared for a theme like this and I'm always happy to play more games like this by Pixel. This is something I'd happily pick up and replay.

Spoiler:

 

[Cherrim]

Finished Cat Museum today. I'm glad it was short because it turned out to lean very much into the creepy sort of art style which isn't for me, but I did enjoy it!

 

[Devalue]

Finished Return to Monkey Island. Guesses a hair over ten hours. Describes the game as okay. Would not recommend it to someone who has never played Monkey Island, however. (Play the first two games first.) Wrote the usual game journal entry.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Can I do a game that 'technically' isn't listed on HLTB? The PC base version is, but the one on the switch (same main name, but with an extra 'A New Hope' style extra title tacked on) isn't listed. The 'base PC' version is only 5 hours though, so I can't imagine it's much longer.

 

[gimmepie]

Can I do a game that 'technically' isn't listed on HLTB? The PC base version is, but the one on the switch (same main name, but with an extra 'A New Hope' style extra title tacked on) isn't listed. The 'base PC' version is only 5 hours though, so I can't imagine it's much longer.

It's probably fine, yeah.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Well, I 'finished' "Out There - The Alliance" (actually, I completed my first successful run of it like a week ago lol, I just did it so fast that I wanted to grab a couple extra endings as well lol)
and I must say that it was rather tedeous at points, but still a pretty fun game for the most part. More rougelike than I had expected at first, and a bit like if FTL didn't have ship battles, but resorces were even more annoying to balance. I'd give it a solid 6.7/10.