I've managed to fully compensate my lack of completed games last December. Most of them were started way earlier, though.
3rd - Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy
6th - Soul Hackers 2
12th - Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2
19th - Trials of Mana
20th - Terra Memoria
29th - Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Best: Swordcraft Story 2 is absolutely epic, a true hidden gem. I've played with retroachievements enabled, so the low difficulty wasn't a problem at all.

Worst: I don't get why people praise Trials of Mana. It has virtually no story, no interesting dungeons, and no in-depth combat. This "remake" shouldn't exist.

Good to see another person giving me the +1 to go for the original Trials of Mana through co-op on my snes mini. Excited to go through Swordcraft Story 2 when I eventually cop an anbernic SP, when I eventually go travel through England for 3 weeks. I do have an n3dsxl but I'd seppuku if I lost the stylus, and I wanna keep it truly pocketable, with no fiddling around while moving in and out of public transport.

Thanks everyone for sharing, it was nice to read through these. Might reply to a few later :)

11/01/ - 40k Mechanicus

Aside from the difficulty falling off sharply after acquiring some AoE weapons, it's a very good experience, with a stellar soundtrack and design to boot, despite the simple enemy models.
7.5/10

11/01 - Thank Goodness You're Here

Lived in UK for 10 years, and it really made me miss the intricacies of a small English town. I will never stop romanticizing living in one, despite originally living in London. Just too expensive to move back there with no family or connections that are millionaires.
8/10

13/01 - Mouthwashing

The gameplay is obviously nothing to write home about, but it's rare for me to enjoy such a dread filled story despite my favourite genre being horror. Great romp.
8/10

15/01 - Vividlope

This is it right here. This is how you push the boundaries of puzzle platformers further. With a combo of frutiger aero + Y2K to serve for its look, it never actually seems derivative of any inspiration it has, as it maintains its own appeal seamlessly. Top 5 personal GOTY contender.
9/10

17/01 - Singularity

Was looking for a 360/ps3 era FPS campaign that wasn't extremely generic. This hit the spot, and successfully made me feel like a walking tank while keeping it fun. Hard is the right difficulty choice though - normal is a cakewalk.
7/10

19/01 - Halo CE

Glad I finally got around to starting the MCC. Don't know how so many games fucked up grenades so bad when CE perfected them in 2001.
8/10

30/01 - Halo 2: Anniversary

More of the same and better. Story was a bit weird in terms of the way it presented itself. A bit disjointed if you will.
8.5/10

Vividlope was incredible and I urge everyone to play it - even if you have barely any interest in puzzle platformers ala Captain Toad, Bomberman, and many others.

Pretty good month for me

8/10 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii): 53:58 7/10
8/11 The Forgotten City (PC-Steam): 5:42 7/10
8/12 Severed Steel (PC-Epic): 2:46 8/10
8/13 Barbie: Dreamhouse Party (Wii): 0:58 5/10 - WORST
8/13 Black Widow: Recharged (PC-Epic): 2:42 6/10
8/14 Centipede: Recharged (PC-Epic): 2:19 6/10
8/20 Dead Space 2 (PS3): 9:16 8/10 - BEST
8/26 Dead Space 3 (PS3): 11:18 7/10

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn was a massive disappointment for me. I think it did a bad job following up Path of Radiance's story and I wasn't a fan of the game being split-up into parts. This game was also significantly harder than the previous, purely due to how dogshit the Dawn Brigade is. I don't think there's been a weaker mc than Micaiah, and the Jagen Sothe sucks too. I'm still a fan of the gameplay because I like Fire Emblem, but this is almost my least favorite (it's lucky FE Fates: Conquest has such a terrible story).

Dead Space 2 was a great sequel to Dead Space. I loved the improvements to the gameplay and the side characters. It's hard for me to say whether this or the first game are my favorite in the series.

I can't say the same for Dead Space 3. This is not a Dead Space game, it's a generic Sci-Fi shooter. The tone is nothing like the previous games to the point where it isn't even a horror game. The side characters are awful, especially Nolan and Carver. I wasn't a fan of how crafting replaced the store system since it just leads to having too much ammo and health. Every shot mattered in the first two games, I can waste 70% of my ammo in this game and be fine. The redesigns for the necromorphs suck too. The first two games really made you feel like you were fighting twisted and corrupted corpses, but they just feel like generic aliens in this one. The game feels fine to play, just nothing special like the first two.

"8/13 Barbie: Dreamhouse Party (Wii): 0:58 5/10 - WORST"

Made me laugh. Thanks.
Cool that we synced up with the Dead Space 2. I beat the first one on my ps3 back in Jan, and would have done the same with 2, but then it blew up on me. Don't think I'll venture into DS3 without co-op, since co-op probably make my digestion of the game as a (poor) sequel more tolerable.
________________________________________________________________________________

In mid august I left to Armenia and my 1 week vacation turned into a 3 month stay - so I bought myself a gaming laptop along with some clothes. Can only hold a n2dsxl for so long.

[August 13] Half Life 2 - 6/10 (Steam, PC) 7h
Couldn't get the techdemo-ish feel out of the way.

[August 16] F.E.A.R. - 8/10 (GOG, PC) 11h
Reputation and expectations were reached.

[August 17] F.E.A.R. Extraction Point - 8/10 (GOG, PC) 3h50m
A worthy follow up.

[August 21] Dead Space 2 - 8.5/10 (Steam, PC + Mousefix) 14h
Issac's characterization doesn't detract from the development of his genuine and grounded personality, blending in well with amazing action horror levels.

[August 22] Frog's Adventure - 7.5/10 (Steam, PC) 2h
Charming, funny, relaxing, and just stimulating enough for me to settle down after 10 days straight of ghosts/aliens trying to rip my head off.

[August 23] Half Life - Opposing Force - 6/10 (Steam, PC) 6h
Did not care for the environments and level structure. Gunplay however very solid.

[August 24] Nova Drift - 7/10 (Steam, PC) 1h20m
This is a fun roguelite, and it's not something I'm often willing to give a chance to.

[August 26] Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - 7/10 (Steam, PC) 8h
Not often that I can say a third person shooter from "that era" lets me have a genuinely good time.

[August 29] F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - 6.5/10 (Steam, PC) 7h30
Pretty good fun? Yes. Shallow sequel? Also yes.

Physical health declined, games were beaten, therefore mental health was kept up :)

Hope u get better soon dude. The next walk I take will be dedicated to you...
About the topic, other than pure fun I find myself playing games rather than maybe watching a movie or reading a book because of the interactive nature of the medium.. The interactivity really makes my brain go tard Mode..

go get them steps in bro

as a former athlete, it's heartbreaking to see people throw their body away

Hey fellas

I wanted to start a discussion because I wanted to talk to people more about why they love playing video games, for reasons that might not be directly related to their personal enjoyment as a consequence of flashing green lights/number go up.

This is not by any means supposed to be a high-brow approach to why we play games, but rather a discussion of other external factors.

As an example, I've got 3 main other reasons:

Cultural value/legacy

Games to me are an art form just like music and film is, which influences my way of approaching certain franchises.
Finding the origins of something is relatively important to me when approaching something that left a mark on the world. A movie example would be refusing to watch Shadow of the Vampire before seeing the original Nosferatu. Razor sharp demographic reference right there.
Turning that over to games - despite having the Metroid Prime trilogy installed in my Wii, I won't even dare touch it before giving Super Metroid a good shot (or finishing it), plus the GBA games. In the same manner, I'm not allowed to touch Metroid Dread. Obviously there's a line regarding this, having no interest in games I consider very much relics of time that won't bring me joy in actually playing them.

Applying this to myself only, certain franchises or artistic visions should be approached with knowledge of previous iterations, so that the artist's/team's vision can be examined with reference points.

Bonding

I'm blessed to have friends that come over regularly, and it's very much a reason why I still keep home consoles around - each with multiple controllers. Some of my most precious memories have been made in Mario Party 8 (Wii), Rayman Legends (PS4), Goof Troop with my brother (SNES), etc.
Considering the times we live in, there are few things that I value more that these moments.

Escapism

Despite having an autoimmune disease, I found a way out. Should be back on my feet in September-ish. Found healing medication-free (with doctors telling me the opposite), but the process of getting better is extremely slow, which has left me somewhat physically disabled - unable to leave the house for longer than an hour a day or so (past 2 years).
Movies are a social activity for me so I don't have that much enjoyment watching them alone, while music and books can only do so much. Games have provided me with immersive worlds that let me forget where I am, and I'm thankful for having access to them. Living alone, it's very difficult sometimes to wake up and very slowly leave the bed without having no one to say "good morning" to.
As much as it sounds like a pity party, I'm coming here with an angle of genuine appreciation for being able to sit down and just play for most of my day, working part time.

Sometimes I'm just thinking what I'm going to do with this hardware when I'm all well again ahahah

Every day is a blessing if you make it one. Use your body if you can, and keep yourself in shape. It's the only thing you will ever truly own.

hot damn, a GBA game? not a bad shout

aside from that

since I'm quite sure everyone here can figure out how to emulate + has a rig at least capable of running psx - I nominate Koudelka

(because i really have to play that one before venturing into Shadow Hearts)

Just now dipping my toes in n64 games, enjoying the fuck out of Banjo Kazooie
However, my thread is actually about something else - because I haven't played games like this before.

I've been becoming fascinated with the way that console architecture affects rendering capabilities, forcing devs to create certain types of games per console, or having some ports be a certain way (ex. n64/PS1 RE2 differences, and even the fact that an n64RE2 exists). Another example could be the PS1/Saturn Tomb Raider differences.

Even snes vs genesis sound boards differences are fascinating to me

Does anybody here have some detailed resources/podcast episodes/video essays that can explain/compare those differences in detail, as well as give more examples in the way those differences manifest themselves? I would love to know more. Unfortunately I'm not the most tech savy person, so do keep that in mind.

Thank you kindly

Currently having a damn good time playing Luigi's Mansion for an hour in bed, on my steam deck (dolphin), right before sleep. Just the right atmopshere of cozy-spooky. After a rough day it's exactly what a fella needs.
Not challenging, but at the same time, that's not a detriment to this game in particular tbh

I did try this before on the 3ds, but it didn't capture me back then.

Would you look at that, F.E.A.R. will be my nomination since it's spooky, AND the Platinum edition is 90% off on GOG. Would be a good chance for me to finally go through it. Bought it this morning anyways.

In order of enjoyment

Carrion (8.5/10)
Ori and the Blind Forest (8/10)
Hollow Knight (8/10)
Hyper Light Drifter (7/10)
Cave Story + (7/10)
Demon's Crest (7/10)
Super Metroid (6/10)
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (6/10)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (6/10)
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (5/10)

I know I know, I'm the contrarian in this thread

Friend has a Switch. Held if for 10 seconds, decided I could never use something that I could snap in half so easily.

Videogames plentyful during quarantine, but probably worst time to quit my job (was before the quarantine) to start my consulting business
Yo, if anybody's looking for advice in terms of nutrition and exercise, I'm a certified sports nutritionist with experience in multiple sports. I don't charge for people just asking for advice, so please drop me a message and keep me busy.
Binding of Isaac has been absolutely busting my balls, don't know why I keep playing on hard as if those large rooms with 10 fat fu--ers in them aren't enough of an annoyance.