PS2 Backlog Committee

Game releases this week, as far as I can tell:

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles 2
1000 Deaths
Gradius Origins
House of the Dead 2 Remake
Operation Night Strikers
Static Dread: The Lighthouse
Tiny Bookshop
Mafia: The Old Country





Played recently: Dave the Diver

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

I've spent a lot of time with Dave the Diver this week. Very fun game that I'd recommend to everyone here. Since I'm apparently retired now (since no one will hire me), I'm doing some virtual work in the sea and beyond. Too bad it doesn't pay real money.

Games added: The Knight Witch

Last week: Finished The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, finished WITH Horace, played The Knight Witch & probably dabbled with some others

This week: Probably more KW, and thinking about starting Octopath 2.

While I'm not going to say I got EVERY possible ending in TSP, I got quite a few of them and feel content enough to move on. It's an interesting game - the $12 or so I paid for my physical copy is probably about right, maybe a touch high. It was amusing, but it's definitely not something you'll ever revisit once you're done with it. Worth playing to see what the fuss was about if for no other reason, and you'll get more out of it if you enjoy a good bit of meta in your games and don't mind what's basically a short walking sim that you're expected to replay multiple times.

Horace sure did start out promising. I really would have liked to have finished the game it was in the first couple of chapters. But then it became something else...one of those very precise brutal 2D platforming games, to be specific. It was pretty jarring how sudden the switch was from "this is some interesting puzzle-platforming that makes you think while telling a good story" to "OK, this is just one nasty platforming room after another that requires very precise timing." Not for me. To add to that, this is another game that was advertised as a "MetroidVania" that 1000% *IS NOT*. The whole purpose of genres is so you can help describe a game to someone, and they'll know if it's the kind of thing they're looking for or not. If you just slap a genre label on everything that sorta-kinda-not-really resembles whatever it is, then they're pointless. There is almost no exploration to be had in this game outside of very minor "choose which door you want to go in first in the hub area" type stuff. You get in a area and progress linearly through room after room until you reach the end. There do appear to be some things you'll need to come back for later on, but that alone does NOT a sidesplorer make.

What IS a sidesplorer, however, is The Knight Witch. I did something I haven't done in a few months now, I swung by Gamestop to see what they had. And they actually had several quircky games on the Switch that I had either been eyeing or that I just plain had never heard of before but looked interesting. I settled on The Knight Witch because I had been interested in it, it has a gorgeous art style, and I had heard it was a sidesplorer. I'm happy to report that it is - it's a shoot-em-up sidesplorer, specifically, which is a pretty cool twist. I'm still early in, so no real judgements yet, but it's tough but fun/fair so far, and if the difficulty does get out of hand for me I'm pretty sure I saw a setting that will remedy that. Will report back later.

The Octopath 0 announcement, along with you guys talking up 2 recently, has gotten me wanting to play one of the games. I saw J's post in the last thread replying to me and I also saw a YouTube video that basically said start with 2, so that's what I'm going to do.

I've gotten stuck into a rut where I'm only playing OOTP, ha. I guess I'll ride that wave as long as it crests. It's not like I haven't done so before, and after 1000 hours or so, I've usually had my fill, lol.

I do want to get back to Inferno Climber and hopefully make some more progress. I've played 60 hours and have yet to face the 3rd of (apparently) 5 bosses. It has been quite a grind in some respects, but it's very well designed in the "masochist" game category with plenty of charm and a unique flavor.

canedaddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 04, 2025 1:31 pm Added to backlog: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

I've spent a lot of time with Dave the Diver this week. Very fun game that I'd recommend to everyone here. Since I'm apparently retired now (since no one will hire me), I'm doing some virtual work in the sea and beyond. Too bad it doesn't pay real money.

Geez, that's rough on the work front.

I see that DQ game added to the backlog.

argyle wrote: ↑Mon Aug 04, 2025 3:27 pm The Octopath 0 announcement, along with you guys talking up 2 recently, has gotten me wanting to play one of the games. I saw J's post in the last thread replying to me and I also saw a YouTube video that basically said start with 2, so that's what I'm going to do.

Awesome, enjoy!


Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Two Point Campus

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 39 games

I am in the 2nd area in Two Point Campus, built too quickly at first and then needed more space for the cooking labs that I didn't know were coming. One of these days I'll learn.

https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/on ... a-katamari

Forgot to mention that a new Katamari game was announced...I may have to pick this one up - I like the different "ages (jurassic, ice, feudal japan, etc) as levels" idea.

I remember when I bought a Japanese PS2 to play the first Katamari and was convinced they'd never bring the game over here.


........it's *possible* I was wrong about that one.

Hey. Quick Jamaica vacation for several days last week for our 8th anniversary. Now back to work this week before 2 weeks 'off' (entertaining the child who no longer have camp, work or day care) before heading back to work next month! Yay!

Played: Maneater, that JRPG in UFO 50. It is fine.

Beat: Maneater. Short, goofy pick up and play fun. Have the DLC but not feeling it as much for some reason.

Bought: Chained Echoes and the DLC (it was pretty busted on PS4 but apparently the PC version is pretty solid so I held off until the game and DLC were sub $20. It was $19 on Steam. Sold). Oh and that Humble Bundle from WB for $12. It's like 16 old games with all their DC, LOTR and MK stuff.

This week: That One Piece open world game everyone hates...World something I think, some UFO 50 and Chained Echoes. FF continues in September!

Hope all's well friends!

crimson_tide wrote: ↑Mon Aug 11, 2025 3:47 pm Hey. Quick Jamaica vacation for several days last week for our 8th anniversary.

Congrats! Man I sure could use a few days in the Caribbean.

I think this is the first time in *ages* that we haven't had a new weekly thread, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm in the middle of my third season of my fictional baseball league - the USBL. After an awful first year, and a much improved second, my team is 45-33 and 3 games out of the only wild card spot, but with still plenty of season to go. I'm in second in my division, but 8 1/2 game back thanks to an opponent that has been on fire since the inception of the league. I don't really have too much hope of catching them, but I can still strive for the wild card. My GM/Manager rating is "Excellent" through nearly 2 and 1/2 campaigns, even though I've yet to taste post-season play. I've finally got my overall roster and system depth to the point that I've got guys in the minors that deserve to be in the bigs, but there's simply no room. It's a good problem to have though as they can always serve as trade bait (for draft picks or trades for other players with more controllable years), or they can push out the status quo players due to just being too good to ignore, and that can help me keep my finances modest when I unload larger contracts, if I move on from someone on the big-league roster. I'll get back to updating that thread sooner or later hopefully so that I don't have it nagging at my brain, ha.

I'm still also playing Inferno Climber, albeit sporadically. I also have to squeeze in a PS2 game at some point relatively soon to keep my streak going of playing at least 1 new-to-me game on that incredible and endlessly deep console. My year end for 2025 is going to be pretty small in comparison to some years. Well, it's all good. When you're playing something you love so much that it eats most of your time, it's hard to complain about that.

isthatallyougot wrote: ↑Wed Aug 13, 2025 1:02 pm I think this is the first time in *ages* that we haven't had a new weekly thread, isn't it?

I made one but it was under construction when you posted this.