VideoGame_Discussion

I enjoyed Days Gone for what it was, but it took way too long to get into. And yeah it really stretched it out way too long and overstayed it’s welcome by like 15-20 hours. Just when I thought things were starting to wrap up it was like nope, we’re just getting started.

Black - "Turn me around!" / 10

I have not played 'Black' since 2006 via a trade on GameTZ, after which I sold the game. I downloaded it on my Series X thanks to Game Pass/EA Play, and decided to randomly give it a go last night because I almost bought a physical copy last week.

Holy crap does it look great! The visual upgrade is phenomenal. Not a full widescreen experience, but the game is sharp on Series X! For the most part the gameplay itself holds up, which is to say it's a fine, mid-2000s FPS, but holy crap is turning/looking slow! Like...geez! And there's no way to adjust it! It makes aiming really hard. I don't remember this being an issue back then, but compared to nowadays, hell, compared to the original 'Halo' I can't believe how slow it is. I found the most accurate way to aim and shoot was to generally look towards an enemy, and then move the character to line up shots. Almost like the gyro with the WiiU Gamepad in 'Splatoon.'

I played through the first two levels, and while it's still entertaining, aiming is such a slog, I don't know if I'll continue.

Still playing Vampire Survivors. I'm out of the loop since this was maybe a thing on Youtube/Twitch for a while, but I can definitely see why it blew up. It's not Diablo at all but it sort of scratches that itch a bit. Nothing is more fun than maxing out and evolving an arsenal of weapons and seeing enormous waves of enemies explode into gold fountains. This game is dirt cheap, so it's well worth a shot.

Star Ocean First Departure 7/10 - Definitely fun, but some major balance and pacing issues, story ended very abruptly and wasn't anywhere near as good as second story.

God of War: Ragnarok
So far it’s a 9/10 for me. The opening prologue of thunderous action sequences reminded me of the opening to movies likes Revenge of the Sith.
Weeeeee!

I just fired up Majoras Mask on 3ds. I thought I had played the intro before on N64. Apparently I have never played MM so this is a completely new experience for me. I mistakenly confused the intro of OOT on N64 with MM. I just finished the intro and I’m pleasantly surprised. The remaster looks great on 3ds. So far I’m really digging it.

Majora’s Mask remains one of my favorite games. Still love the Clock Town music!

Clock Town theme is top tier for sure.

I was going to start a new game. Switch Lite was out of battery.

So what am I currently playing? Nothing

Score: idk/10

I really enjoy the Switch Lite. One of the few things I don't like is that if you don't pay attention to the battery, that's it.

As opposed to the switch which, if docked, will stay charged.

You can't plug in the Lite and still play?

Anxiouz wrote:

Yes, you can. Done it many times with my own.

Snake Pass {} 6/10
I remember hearing a lot of positive impressions about this game when it first released back in 2017. I was in no rush to buy it, but had always kept it on my "I'll check it out eventually" list. That day finally came. And after barely an hour I was ready to uninstall it but ultimately decided to come back and give it a little more time.

The graphics remind me of a Rare game with how colorful they are. Adding to that, the music was done by David Wise who is most known for his work with Rare back when they were actually relevant. So that's two things the game had going for it from the beginning. How a game plays is more important than how it looks or sounds though, and once I started actually playing it these godawful controls had me ready to tap out in no time. I just couldn't deal with them. They have two control options in the pause menu and after changing it to the easy controls I thought it felt a little better, but they still weren't as good as they could've been. I'm glad I stuck with the game a little longer instead of just uninstalling it like I was thinking of doing, but I'm still undecided if I'll actually finish this or not, even though user reviews say it's a short game.

I give the game credit because there isn't much else like it out there, but originality only gets you so far. I feel like there is a decent game in here, but the controls might turn a lot of people off to it.

Just started playing Splatoon 2.

I'm very glad that there is an option to turn off motion controls. I find that when games have motion controls, the camera often self calibrates as you're moving your handheld device, eventually forcing you to either recalibrate or turn your hands very far in order to move where you want; kudos to Nintendo for implementing a feature that you can instantly recalibrate by pressing Y

Double points to Nintendo for giving the option to turn off the motion controls altogether.

The Callisto Protocol 8/10 - This is pretty sweet once the "dodge" mechanic clicks.

Beat God of War III Remastered (PS4 on PS5) in less than a week. In 2022 I'd probably have to give it a 7.5/10. I had played the original on PS3, then the remaster on PS4, and now again on PS5 (since digital is on sale for $10). I enjoyed it quite a bit but it does feel aged. Can't skip cutscenes (or the lengthy end credits), and giving the levels a more critical eye 12 years after it came out...there is a lot that is super clumsy.

Obviously climbing titans is still incredible but the labyrinth stuff and some other bits are pure filler. You battle and gain powers from several gods in likely the same session, and then deal with weird levels of roaming/fetching for hours before the next god. The pacing is intense or unbalanced but never consistent.

It's still outstanding though, no question. It's just amazing how far games have come in 12 years. But for this style of game I'll mention that I play Dante's Inferno on Xbox every year or two (since it got the BC HD and 60fps improvements) and I'd definitely prefer to play DI over this again. It's not a better game but it's so consistent and enjoyable.

I’ve reached chapter 5 in the last of us remastered. I know there’s much love for this game… I’m just not feeling it. It’s well put together and looks amazing but I must be missing something. It feels paint by numbers to me. I’m pretty sure I’ll see it all the way through till the end I’m just not getting that omg best game ever vibe that so many others have expressed.

For what it’s worth, I kinda felt the same way playing The Last of Us Remastered on PS4 a couple of years ago. (I suspect it was more unique when it first came out.). However, then I got into the multiplayer, which is great, and The Last of Us Part II is one of my favorite games of all time (and you need the first game for its big moments to be impactful).

loztdogs wrote:

I’m hoping by the end of LOU I’ll have enjoyed it enough to want to dive into 2.

loztdogs wrote:

Yeah same here. Last of Us 1 is probably an 8/10 for me - it’s pretty good but not like life-changing. TLOU II is a 10/10 for me - gameplay and presentation-wise it’s one of the most polished I’ve played, and the story is great (at least in my opinion).

Just tried the demo for Forspoken and stopped playing after about 10 minutes. I kinda hate it. The controls are unintuitive, the framerate is poop, the combat is all style no substance, the constant chatter during combat is annoying, and the world is completely barren. Not a very good first impression. This is my biggest issue with modern Square. The combat in all their games takes forever to get used to. It's flashy, sure, but there is too much going on and it just isn't particularly responsive or fun. I just don't have the patience to play any more of this, but I'm eager to hear what others who have tried it think.

This is a bummer because I was looking forward to this, but I may just skip it altogether now. Deleting this demo and jumping right back into the post-game stuff for Midnight Suns!

Heavyd814life wrote:

Yeah I deleted it within 30 min myself. I was excited for it a bit until I played it. Kinda lackluster. The parkour idea is kinda neat tho for a Square style JRPG. The combat controls and world were annoying to me so I uninstalled and removed it from my wish list.

Supersonic Tank Cats {} 3/10
No Gravity Games is back to give away another bundle of turds to Switch owners this holiday season.
I'm someone who will play pretty much any kart racer I can get my hands on. I know the majority of them suck ass in comparison to the king of the genre, Mario Kart, but every now and then you might find a hidden gem. But "hidden gem" sure as hell ain't what this game is. It's one of the most bland kart racers I've ever played. Everything from the graphics looking so bad (PS1 quality), track designs being dull and the music and controls not being any better, I'll never understand how do the developers not realize (or care) that it sucks when they're testing it out? I doubt they had the kind of tight deadline a AAA game would. I'd be embarrassed to have my name displayed in the credits to something like this. Gross.

nonamesleft wrote:


Do you only play in handheld? I don't like the gyro controls in handheld mode but I find when playing docked I do much better with the motion controls enabled. In fact, I wish more games on the PlayStation side would support that feature. I use it a lot in Horizon: Forbidden West and then get bummed when I try to use it in other games only to realize it's not supported.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
Yeah, I mainly play in handheld mode.

I think I mentioned this here, though not in this thread, but I've spent hours and hours creating a relatively exhaustive bucket list. I started with RPGs, because that is what inspired the idea, and I've been playing through them in (quasi) chronological order.

I finished Final Fantasy Legend, aka Makai Toushi SaGa, today. I owned it when it first came out in the US, but I never got far. The draw for me was and is the non-traditional RPG weaponry like guns, grenades, etc. I played through it on the Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend on the Steam Deck.

There are far more clouds than silver linings. Weapons decay, generally after 50 uses. Equipment doesn't have stats, so you can assume more expensive stuff is better, but there is a lot of trial and error.

You can choose humans, mutants, and monsters for your party. Humans get equipment but have to have their strength, agility, and HP raised by buying and consuming items that have a roll to determine the improvement. Mutants get random abilities as long as you use other abilities in battle. For the end game I was stuck with almost completely useless abilities for my two mutants and wound up having to exclusively use weapons with them. Monsters, which I was advised not to use on a first play through, evolve by eating the meat of defeated enemies.

It is typically important to me to see where a series came from, so I didn't want to skip this one before moving on to later SaGa games. If you don't share this mental defect, I advise skipping it. I can play 8-bit games in other genres without issue, but, outside of Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy, RPGs from that era are rough. Even with those, I would recommend the Sega Ages and Pixel Remaster versions for the quality-of-life improvements.

SaGa is a VERY MIXED bag. Also hit/miss depending on the entry.

Gypsy wrote:

Are there any in particular you would recommend playing or avoiding?

Lotta folks hate on Unlimited Saga

Yoshi wrote:

Romancing SaGa 3 is probably the best one. As Benstylus said Unlimited SaGa is one widely regarded as bad. I liked Frontier 2 a lot more than the first Frontier. Worth starting most to see how they feel for you though.

Back 4 Blood {} 7/10
I swear I've played this before. These devs really like the "4 humans vs hordes of enemies" schtick and don't wanna step out of their comfort zone, is that it?
While I do have fun playing this, there are times where I'm also kinda bored. I feel it's way too much of just doing the same thing over and over again. Beat the level, then repeat it all over again in the next level, but with different scenery.

What I don't get is there are these card things you're supposed to collect or something, and I haven't even gotten to know what their purpose is. The game explains it pretty early on, but I just didn't care enough to listen. I just wanna shoot these undead mofos, there's no need to make things complicated by adding in new gimmicks.

If you get a good group of friends to join you, you'll have more fun. But I feel bad for anyone who might've bought this with the intention of playing through it solo, because this is a terrible game for that. Even still, I'm glad I paid only something like $20 for this, because I'd want to kick my own ass if I had paid the full $60. But the devs are still supporting it with new content, so if you and 3 friends are enjoying yourselves then there should be enough content here to keep you busy. As for my friend and I, I plan to just move on as soon as we see the credits roll, because there are times the game feels like it's really dragging on.

Been playing God of War Ragnarok, I havent beat it yet but so far its around a 9.5 to me. Id give it a 10 but I have some nitpicks.

I just got to Asgard and I have to say, the character designs in this game are amazing. Theze gods look amazing.

Evil West feels like great coop action linear games from the Gears of War days of olde and I’m digging it. 8/10 so far.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

This one's on my radar now, but I'll probably wait for a cheap GameFly sale TBH.

Ya it’s 47 now on sale on PSN. I wanted to wait for 30 or less myself but my buddy talked me into it for the coop.

Need for Speed: Unbound (PS5) - Maybe a 7 out of 10. There is a lot to like here, but man, the grind is real. I'm used to grinding NFS games but this one feels too slow. The starting car (after the prologue) is terrible and not too fun but you have to use it for far too long.

Although a single race may net you $7k, the buyin will be like $3k so although you think you're going to make a lot you end up with $4k. If you get 1st place. Otherwise you end up with less. And every race adds heat so you may do several races, earn only $6k and then need to head to the garage because your car is to crapty to handle the high heat.

The day heat also carries over to night, and those races make more money so I just stopped doing anything during the day...which is half of the game. And after about half of the races you immediately enter being chased by cops. So that gets old pretty quick.

The progression is based on 4 weeks where you have a week (1 day + 1 night set of events per day) to do things and earn enough money for a tournament qualifier at the end of the week. Beat all 4 qualifiers (1 per week) to get to the final race. The first qualifier was $20k to get in and I barely made that much while also trying to get parts. The second one was $50k and that entire second week I had earned about $70k but couldn't do much with it (certainly not buy a better car, or upgrade my garage for $50k to unlock better parts) so I basically had the same crapty car for half of the game. Where's the fun in that?

I don't see a way to possibly ever be able to afford a $150k car unless you can re-do a week entirely and have things carry over.

Graphics are nice, story is fine, art style is actually good, and it plays nice. There are also some nice cat-and-mouse missions where you have to watch the radar to drive around cops to deliver a car. I enjoyed those bits a lot. It's just the main gameplay loop is starting to no longer be actually fun.

I've been taking a break from RPGs for the last week or so but still rockin' in the best decade, and I've come to solidify an opinion I've held for decades. In terms of third-parties, Konami was head and shoulders above everyone else during the mid-1980s. I've always thought of Konami and Capcom as #1 and #1a, but Capcom really wasn't close until the late 1980s or even 1990s.

Look at some quasi-direct comparisons in terms of sub-genre and release year. Capcom's 1984 1942 is not as good as Konami's 1985 Twinbee, a pleasant surprise I have slept on for way too long, since "cute 'em ups" were never my thing with few exceptions. Capcom's 1985 Section Z barely deserves mention next to Konami's 1985 Gradius, though the idea of the direction-switch button was interesting that far back. Capcom's 1985 Ghost 'n Goblins is similarly obliterated by Konami's 1986 Castlevania. It's conceivable that Konami was able to use what Capcom did to improve their games that are a year later, but now that almost four decades have passed, I am more interested in which ones are worth playing.

Taito and -- to a lesser extent -- Namco are really the only others in the conversation in terms of overall breadth. I haven't gotten to revisit their stuff yet. Companies like Falcom, Tecmo, and Technōs were just getting started, and of course Sega was already a multi-genre powerhouse, but they were a platform holder so excluded from the comparison.

Anxiouz wrote:

Very interesting take. Just finished it up last night. Never felt like a grind at all. In fact, it felt less grindy than most NFS games to me. You get 4 restarts per day and coming in 1st was never too difficult. The progression from week to week felt really nice and the races felt fair. And I love the fact that the heat carries over from day to night. It means you have to be very selective about which races you take on. And you really don't have to do more than 3-4 races a day. With the deliveries you get from Tess and Rydell and the activities around the map, you'll have plenty of money to upgrade your cars. And don't forget that every week you get a chance to win 3 cars, I believe. It's always highlighted on the little progression map. After week 4, I ended up with 10 cars in my garage and over 2 mil in the bank.

It's not a perfect game, but I enjoyed it. The gameplay loop kept me coming back for more and the game doesn't overstay its welcome which is always a plus. The story is meh, but as you mentioned, the graphics and the art style are very nice. I went in with no expectations really and was pleasantly surprised.

Maybe I'll try to be less conservative or just try to progress farther. I did win 2 cars but their stats are terrible and I don't want to waste money on them. My biggest purse so far was I think $18k which is nice but doesn't go very far.

@Heavyd814life Ok, so I won an Evo 9 and after just a couple basic parts it immediately made the game significantly more fun. I escaped a full heat pursuit and am driving better during races. Bummer that this got buried so far into the game (at least for me). I can now see the light at the end of tunnel.

I also only just last night figured out the heat multiplier on the cash you bank so I'll be taking more risks now.

Got through The Lost Legacy (Uncharted) this is my 2nd time beating it and this time did it on the Steam Deck. It's a great game, great story but more climbing and frustrating puzzles than I remember. Length was great for my life right now and the final chapter is easily my favorite (on a train.) I'd love to see Naughty Dog do a sequel for this.