PS2 Backlog Committee

So I am starting the long process of covering what I finished last year. I'm shamelessly copying Izzy this year and just covering everything I finished - all 20 of them. I go on a 1-5 rating system, because I'm not nuanced enough to score out of 10 let alone 100. So I'll be grouping my games by their rating, not necessarily in any order of preference otherwise (ie, all of the 4-star games are pretty much equal, etc.). I will pick one overall GOTY tho, so I'm not going to cheat my way out of that. So without further ado...I'll list the games that I played that *don't* qualify because I didn't finish them.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Look, I *love* the LAD games. But they have a LOT of talking. I mean, a LOT. So I really have to be in the mood for a talky game. Add to that I finished the first LAD in early 2024 and then played through the side-story LAD Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. So I've had a lot of Yakuza this year. I got a good ways into Infinite Wealth, and it's fantastic, but I had to take a break. I'll finish it this year, and I'm sure it will rank very high on my next year-end list.
Unicorn Overlord - I love this game. LOVE. I LOVE IT. It's amazing. It should be on this list, and it should be very, very high up. But look, it takes a lot of focus and that's something I just haven't had a ton of especially the second half of last year. So I got sidetracked from it in the spring and just never got back to it. But I will, and it will be glorious. In the meantime, if you like SRPGs, I can go ahead & VERY safely recommend this as a must-play.
Yars Rising - There's some very cool things about this game that are unique and work really well, but there's also some elements that are a little "eh". I do want to get back to it however, and I don't feel like I can pass judgement on it one way or the other yet. I'll *probably* finish it this year sometime, but who knows.
Chasm - I gave this one a really good try. I wanted to push through it, but after a while I just couldn't do it anymore. A sidesplorer should NOT be randomly generated. It adds *nothing* to the game, but it takes away the main draw of the genre - fun exploration. It turns it instead into a bunch of wandering around trying to find the next whatever you need with no real logic to the layouts and no way to look up any help online. Add to that the fact that the gameplay was pretty mediocre anyway and I've already completely forgotten the story, and it was just a bad game. I removed it from my backlog with extreme prejudice (I sold it). Good riddance.
Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission - HOW THE CRAP DO YOU MAKE A LIGHT GUN GAME WITH NO MOTION CONTROL SUPPORT ON THE SWITCH? I sold this one as well - FAIL out of 5.
Lies of P - This was a fun game for what I played of it (maybe a third or so?), and I can see how big soulslike fans would really enjoy it - but I'm not one. So even though I don't have any interest in returning to this one, I don't have anything bad to say about it either. I've learned over the years that I don't need to finish every game I play - sometimes I get the "good" out of them and I'm satisfied. This is one of those times.
Kaze and the Wild Masks - Y'know, I was really enjoying this game, I finished off at least the first couple of worlds with all collectables & the bonus levels, and then I somehow got sidetracked and...just forgot about it. I didn't think about it again until Izzy started playing it later in the year, but I was playing something else at the time so when he finished it I forgot about it again, until I was just looking back over my list of played games for last year. I *need* to get back to this one and finish it, it was a very solid platformer.

Those top two are very high on my list of games I want to play. I've been holding out for the PS5 versions... we'll see if that can continue.

I will say re: Yakuza that I have always tried to put a year or two between games. They are big games with a lot of talking (as you said) and a lot of similarities from one to the next, so that's how I maintain my love for the series.

argyle wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:53 pm So I am starting the long process of covering what I finished last year. I'm shamelessly copying Izzy this year and just covering everything I finished - all 20 of them. I go on a 1-5 rating system, because I'm not nuanced enough to score out of 10 let alone 100. So I'll be grouping my games by their rating, not necessarily in any order of preference otherwise (ie, all of the 4-star games are pretty much equal, etc.). I will pick one overall GOTY tho, so I'm not going to cheat my way out of that. So without further ado...I'll list the games that I played that *don't* qualify because I didn't finish them.

No, if you're going to copy me, you must do it EXACTLY. JK. Really looking forward to your reviews as well as anyone else here that is planning on doing some sort of year-end thing.

argyle wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:53 pm Chasm - I gave this one a really good try. I wanted to push through it, but after a while I just couldn't do it anymore. A sidesplorer should NOT be randomly generated. It adds *nothing* to the game, but it takes away the main draw of the genre - fun exploration. It turns it instead into a bunch of wandering around trying to find the next whatever you need with no real logic to the layouts and no way to look up any help online. Add to that the fact that the gameplay was pretty mediocre anyway and I've already completely forgotten the story, and it was just a bad game. I removed it from my backlog with extreme prejudice (I sold it). Good riddance.

I really enjoyed Chasm. I gave it a 4/5 back on July 26, 2021. Granted it's on the lower end of my 4-start games, but I still thought it was really fun. I do agree about the random generation being unnecessary and having no real value though.

argyle wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 12:53 pm Kaze and the Wild Masks - Y'know, I was really enjoying this game, I finished off at least the first couple of worlds with all collectables & the bonus levels, and then I somehow got sidetracked and...just forgot about it. I didn't think about it again until Izzy started playing it later in the year, but I was playing something else at the time so when he finished it I forgot about it again, until I was just looking back over my list of played games for last year. I *need* to get back to this one and finish it, it was a very solid platformer.

Yeah, this was a really good one. I had a blast doing everything - well, most everything in this game. Where will it rank in my rankings? Well it could be 31, 17, 8, 1? Who knows! Stay tuned.

canedaddy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 13, 2025 9:45 am I will say re: Yakuza that I have always tried to put a year or two between games. They are big games with a lot of talking (as you said) and a lot of similarities from one to the next, so that's how I maintain my love for the series.

I'm the same with Yakuza. I've still only played the PS2 original and 0 on PS4. They're both 5/5 games for me, but I don't want to binge this type of series in any way at all. When the time comes to play another entry, I'm sure I'll know. I'll know because I will be playing it.