VideoGame_Discussion

I loved the idea of multiple paths through the Quarry, but I didn't really want to spend an extra 10 hours getting there.

Ratchet & Clank on

This is not exactly a 1:1 remake of the original, and I'm glad, because as good as the original game was, they fixed all the things that needed to be fixed and this is damn near the perfect 3D action/platformer now. Basically they gave this game the treatment that Nintendo desperately needs to give Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, instead of releasing them with no improvements like in Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

The gameplay runs at a smooth 60fps (only when played on PS5), which apparently was added in via patch 5 years after the game's release. The cutscenes though are still 30fps, and you absolutely notice that after playing the game at double that. Now having played through this it makes me want to watch that R&C movie.

The Last of Us Part 1 Remake

10/10

Although I’m becoming burnt out of remakes and remasters alike, especially of one that already had a remaster several years ago, it still felt pretty damn good to experience this masterpiece in interactive storytelling with action/stealth mechanics again on a modern console. The revamped and re-recorded voice over lines felt impactful to the story as well as the updated graphics and framerate. I’d say I hope Part II gets the same treatment, but I didn’t really care for the sequel as much as the first entry.

I guess...Peggle again. I saw a strangely captivating speedrun of it during the most recent GDQ and decided to give it another go. I'm sure Peggle Nights will follow shortly. I love these games.

King Oddball

I played this long ago on Android which is how I knew about it. This is the quintessential videogame. The only knock I have against the game is that it's better suited for playing in short bursts, not the type of game you play for hours on end.

空気読み KUUKIYOMI: Consider It on
Not even sure if this counts because it hardly felt like a game and took under an hour, but I saw the credits roll and that's good enough for me.
It feels like an early 2000s flash game and is supposed to teach you about being polite in Japanese culture or some crap, but 90% of this just feels like common sense you'd use anywhere in the world, certainly not exclusive to Japan.

Beat Diablo 4. I rushed the main campaign minus some side content and used my mount whenever possible after Act 4 and still ended beating the game at level 45. It takes about 15-20 hours. I felt this was more character focused then previous games and didn't care for the story as much. They do mention Deckard Cain and was hoping he would somehow return. The story also was a bit more bleak then usual in my opinion. The biggest issue was the lag spikes and viable builds for me. For some reason my character would sometime cling to an object despite me moving forward previously. My internet connection is bad and the lack of no online ruined it for me. I don't care to play on harder difficulties knowing a single lag spike could kill me. I played as a Sorceror and have a feeling Barbarian would be more logical for me simply due to lag spikes.

Beat Final Fantasy XVI Demo. It was a decent story but not having some terms explained and watching the cutscenes especially the jump near the end spoiled some things. I also messed up as I didn't really read the tutorial on switching powers and tried to look up it via tutorial but it was missing from it. I somehow switched to Titan and felt having a block ability versus a teleport might be better but not being able to really try out the third element wasn't great to me. You can at least spend ability points and equip better items in the demo. I didn't know that at first but the extra attack power and defense may help. Unsure what kind of boost the extra 10 defense and 25 attack really did to my numbers. I would basically like a glossary possibly but felt the terms were easy enough to understand but I didn't know much about some factions and would like if the tutorial in the menu included element switching.

Tinykin on
9/10
Fun 8ish hours of exploring a somewhat unique world with a great art style and simple enough gameplay/puzzles. GamePass title at about it's finest.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This took me exactly a month to finish the story, or around 80 hours according to my Switch. I want to preface by saying it's not fair to 'Tears of the Kingdom,' or even repeat playthroughs of 'Breath of the Wild,' but nothing is going to touch the first time exploring this Hyrule in 'Breath of the Wild.' Not knowing what was around the next corner or over the next hill made BOTW so special I was immersed in it like no other game before. With TOTK it was more, "oh yeah, I remember this area. This is what it looks like now." For that reason, TOTK, for all its improvements and additions, will never match BOTW for me.

That said, I still really enjoyed it, especially the sky portions. In fact, I wish there were more sky portions. The Depths is cool and all, but I'm not someone that likes dark and colorless places, so I didn't spend more time in the Depths than I needed to. Building is cool, and thankfully doesn't feel intrusive, but I just built what got me through sections and that was it. I also appreciate the attempts at a deeper story, but I also felt it hindered the overall experience because there's nothing special about it. Much of it was retread from previous Zelda games and other games in general. It felt beat for beat cliché, and again, I've complained about this will Japanese developed games before, so I won't go into detail, but the story bored me. It doesn't help that Matthew Mercer was a voice in this game and every character he does sounds exactly the same. I can't stand his voice anymore. I also really want a new villain. People complain that Sonic always faces Eggman, but Mario always faces Bowser and Link (mostly) always faces Ganon, and that doesn't seem to bother anyone.

I don't know, it's weird. TOTK is a great game, and I sincerely enjoyed my time with it, but I also was ready to move on much sooner. With BOTW I did everything except find all the Korok seeds (though I maxed out my inventory slots with them) and a few of the side quests. With TOTK, I still have 50 shrines to do, a lot of side quests (but I don't feel they're really worth it), about 10 armor sets to get, many inventory slots to open via Korok seeds, about half the Depths to explore (and whatever the "X"s from the old maps are), and right now, I have no desire to complete any of those. I didn't even touch parts of the map because I saw them in BOTW and they didn't entice me because of that. Opening new parts of the map quickly became going to a tower or shrine in the sky, and gliding down where I wanted to go. It doesn't help that...

So, honestly, I don't agree with the perfect scores given to this game. It still has its flaw, like basic enemies doing way too much damage with a stick, or "slipping" on an edge negating your jump. The story is whatever and the writing is bog standard for Japanese developed games. But, it's still an amazing game from an open-world sandbox perspective and I did enjoy it.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond

8/10

I enjoyed the remastered edition quite well for the most part. I just wish the global trade system was a bit more polished and fleshed out. The final Elite Four champion gave me a little run for my money too. Took me a few tries to beat her. Other than that it was another return to my early 20’s with this one. Next I think I’ll try out Arceus to see how the new Pokémon formula works.

Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure! on
Not worth the 5-ish hours. And the ending, even if I was 7 years old and actually enjoyed playing this, the ending would have made me feel like it was not worth it at all, just being a very brief cutscene that didn't explain anything.

Pokémon violet 6/10

This game is a technical mess. Black/white screens leaving you wondering if the game froze. Horrendous pop in. Frame drops. I think a 6 is being a bit gracious. The star team parts were dumb and the pre battles even dumber. The pre gym test were equally stupid and did nothing but distract from completing the gym. Some of the gym bosses were stupid, looking at you rhyming grandma. Arceus was a much better game imo. The pokemon battle were typical/traditional. Sitting through all the nonsense dialogue was a pain. Not sure what more I can say. It was probably one of the worst pokemon games I’ve played. The environments looked good. I’m going to wrap the end game and shelf this.

Rhyming grandma was the highlight of the game for me.

Just finished It Takes Two. Really fun game that constantly introduced new mechanics. The best platformer I played in years, but it can be (and was) frustrating to a partner not used to the genre.

Axiom Verge

Finally opened this sucker. Overall, it's a very good Metroid-style platformer. For the most part the areas are designed well with aesthetic and environmental differences. The enemy variety is good and there isn't a very "cheap" enemy. The music rocks, and I'm glad the Multiverse Edition comes with the soundtrack, but the tracks are short and they fully stop before starting again instead of being mixed together well. It's amazing one guy made this game, but it's moments like this where that comes through. The bosses look impressive, but they can all be beaten by either quick brute force or standing in one spot being patient. There's lots of weapons, but most aren't worth using. There are jumps that definitely feel doable until your character slides backwards off them, before realizing it's programmed that way to force the use of an upgrade. The beginning half is definitely more fun than the second half too.

I finished with 70% items collected and 89% of the map opened (there some crappy vertical sections of large areas that are only there for map completion). Because the game is on the short side, none of the shortcomings are a big deal. My one large complaint is I wish fast travel to the save points was an option. The game is enjoyable and the pixel art looks great on a giant screen (I usually play games like this on handhelds or my smaller PC monitor). I definitely recommend it for fans of the genre, but like SRPGs, I think I'm Metroidvania'd out. It's not a genre I enjoy much, especially when there's no fast travel.

Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception 9/10 - via the Nate Drake Collection
Unlike 2, I really enjoyed 3 from beginning to end. I realize I didn't like some of the just over the top things in 2 and to me, 3 felt more like 1 - surely a video game with some 'yeah right' type of things, but less 'I can't believe that' level of actions like 2 had. Plus 2 had a bunch of sections that royally frustrated me causing me to have to repeat them 5, 6, 8, or more times. 3 had a few places that were annoying, somewhat thanks to inconsistent checkpoints in a fire fight, but I maybe had to retry a section at most 4 times before progressing and those were less frequent.
I also liked the settings more, the opening in London was cool, the playable memory of a young Nate gave great foundation to the characters, the castle in Yemen was better than the castle in 2 with the instant-fail for being spotted. Then the ship graveyard was really cool and the lost city, without overpowered 'mutants', also was an improvement over 2 IMO.

I was too harsh on 2, but feel like 3 corrected the series' direction, back into a package that I fully enjoyed.

Immortals Fenyx Rising

8/10

This game was way too much fun to be put out by Ubisoft of all folks. It’s how I felt about the Mario+Rabbids titles in the sense of man how are these Ubi made games? Immortals is pretty much a Greek Zelda BOTW without such annoyances as breakable weapons. While it’s not perfect and has a lot of the usual open world tiresome tropes such as ticking off a million boxes of things to do, it’s just so much fun to engage in for the most part. The vaults (like shrines in Zelda) offer creative puzzle like challenges to overcome which rewards you with stamina upgrades and it’s pretty much the basis of the game. It’s one half hack and slash action game and one half puzzle platformer with some really unique puzzles to solve which aren’t going to stump most folks but offer just enough of a brain tease to feel rewarding and adds that sense of accomplishment once you figure them out by using objects in the environment as well as your godly powers which ranges from being able to lift up light and heavy objects or slow down time by shooting arrows in first person. The combat is fun the more you unlock abilities and godly powers but by the end of the 25ish hour journey rhe combat can become and feel a bit on the tedious side. And lastly the story is quirky as heck somewhat cheesy dialogue at times but overall it makes me feel like they were at least trying to give us a decent Greek mythology story and this version of Zeus in a video game has to be the most charismatic yet flawed version of the god that almost made me feel like he wasn’t a complete butt munch at times. Overall if you’re looking for a similar experience to Zelda BOTW without those darn breakable weapons with a story length about 1/3 of its size then this game may be worth your time.

One Must Fall 2097

Found some of my old dos games and giving them a go. I played way more OMF than was healthy back in the day. Best PC only fighting game ever.

Pinch 50 Renpatsu! for 3DS. Came over here as 50 Pinch Barrage but was delisted some time back so I picked up the Japanese one before the eshop closes.

It's a pretty basic platformer that trolls you with surprises and subverting expectations.

It records your play so when you are finished you have a replay of every single challenge and every time you died.

It took me just over 2 hours to clear it but that can be broken down into an hour to complete the first 40 challenges, and another hour for the last 10.

Some of those later challenges get more frustrating than fun. There is some super precise jumping needed but the control isn't super precise. In the end though I cleared it.

One more for today... the Slot Car Rivals Streetpass game.

After years of off and on playing, I finally completed it this afternoon.

It's not my favorite of the streetpass games, but it's not bad once you get the hang of it

Hi-Fi Rush 8/10
I love music, but am not great with staying on beat, especially the constant beat of this title. But the art style, atmosphere, story/writing/jokes and overall package were solid here. I wouldn't call it my GotY or anything like that, but for a game that they kept 100% buttoned down, it was a lot of fun and I had virtually zero bugs/issues. Kuddos to that team and if you want a decent length 3D hack & slash with a different spin on it, then I suggest checking this one out.

EDIT, dropped 1 point b/c I forgot about a bit that was annoying. The QTE style bits that were around a good amount - unlike better QTE design (sort of an oxymoron there) they were randomly all over the screen with ABXY vs. what the God of War series got right with them by putting Triangle always in the top, X at bottom, etc. Also you had to break some walls with the 1 support character and called them in via holding in the Right Trigger. With him, you lined him up and needed to release the RT on beat... well holy &^@$ did I suck at that... but really using an analog trigger for that was completely stupid.

I just wrapped up Guacamelee! 2 on
I certainly wasn't going for 100% but I did try to find as much stuff as possible along the way, it took around 11 hours. I actually thought I'd have it finished on Monday evening, turns out I think I was just barely reaching the 3/4 mark through the game at that point. The farther you get into the game, the funnier it gets. I did experience a glitch during a boss fight where I had to restart from the checkpoint right before it, but no big deal. I had maxed out all the stats, including one that came in handy during the last couple of boss fights where you can refill your health and stamina by just holding down on the left stick. I tried not to use it too much, but I mean, as much as I enjoyed the game, I did want it to end at some point.

Knocked out Ravenlok tonight. 6/10
It was just okay, nothing really noteworthy, middle of the road as it was far from terrible, but not exactly close to great. Just over 4hrs means I didn't get sick of it, hard to argue against this as a GP title.

My 4+ hrs included a little time spent collecting all the figures and going back after the credits quickly to buy some supplies that I clearly didn't need, as well as visit the one npc to exchange basically my xp for actual level increases. Both actions earned me the final 3 achievements to get to 1000gs.

The Treasures of Montezuma 4

Several times now I'd start playing on a full charge and refuse to pull myself away until the Vita goes kaput in the middle of a level. And this is even after I installed the batteryfix app. (which works wonders btw) Best match-3 I've ever played, and *much* better than than the trash that was Puzzle Quest.

Haiku the Robot - 8/10 pretty good, shortish Metrodvania game. Read some people complaining about the final boss but he's very telegraphed movements. Got this in a recent bundle.

Beat Ghost Trick on the Switch. I missed it on the DS. It is basically a game where you possess objects to change fate. The story is good and clocks in around 11 hourish. It has a mystery that slowly is unraveled and has a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend at least one playthrough. Back to Final Fantasy 16 then Pikmin 4 then Atlas Fallen if reviews are good.

What Remains of Edith Finch. I usually prefer gameplay to story, but I had a couple of hours to kill. Strange game that couldn't really decide on a tone. Player input is superfluous so you can easily just YouTube it.

Speaking of Youtube I also watched the Death Stranding plot. Glad I saved myself 40 hours of delivering packages.

Orlandu wrote:
Death Stranding. Even after five hours in I couldn't seem to enjoy it. People state you need to play it for 10+ hours for it to get better but that is insane to me. Games should be enjoyable throughout with maybe a couple of points of pain here and there. The Order 1866 and that entire damn stealth sequence comes to mind.

@ued222 I used to be more patient with games, but I just knew that one wasn't for me. If Death Stranding hits for you you'll probably never find another game like it, but it's hard to imagine it having broad appeal.

I think I maybe made it 2 hours into The Order 1866 before I asked myself why I was playing it. Cool premise but not even remotely fun to play.

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

8/10

I’m glad this got a western release after I think it was 9 years. I really enjoyed the story as I do with most Yakuza titles. I loved the feudal Japanese mid 1800’s esque setting. It felt very The Last Samurai-ish and since I adored that film, it somewhat resonated here in it’s storytelling in a sense. With that being said though, the combat I felt like even with its 3 swappable play styles between swordsman, gunsmith or wild dancer (gun+sword combo) it felt a little too tedious towards the latter half of the game, even with various trooper cards you get to diversify your play style a bit. But then again most Yakuza games are a bit on the tedious side in regards to combat, albeit overall enjoyable for the most part if you can look passed the tedium. Overall length I clocked in at a little under 23 hours with doing about 1/4 of the sub stories. Technically speaking the performance mode was most good at 60fps with the exception of one chapter where there was lots of fires spread about and when fighting within the flames the framerate tended to die a bit. Since this got my Yakuza blood boiling again my next stop in my queue I think shall be Lost Judgment and the Yakuza 8.

@TalonJedi87 Nice. If the gameplay in the brawlers is a bit tedious to you, I'd go with 'Yakuza 8' next, especially if you've finished the previous 'Yakuza' proper entries. I just beat -

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

After the chaotic nature of 'Yakuza 5' with its many playable characters, fluff and length, 'The Song of Life' felt like a back to basics approach all for the better. You only play as Kiryu, he only has one fighting style and the story is laser focused (it's still a great story). There's only two cities, Kamurocho and Onomichi, with the latter being pretty small with next to nothing to do in it and most areas blocked off at any given story point. There's not a lot of activities to distract in general. Just a god-like strategy game and a few arcade games. There isn't even much to collect on the street outside of specific keys for specific safes in specific places. Normally I complete a little more than half the sub stories, but I only did about 15. I don't know how many there are (the final stat screens doesn't show the number), but they aren't as easy to find as in past games. You just come upon them by luck unless using a guide. Because of all this, the game only took me less than 17 hours to complete. By far the shortest amount of time to complete any 'Yakuza/Like A Dragon' or 'Judgement' game. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to 'Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name' this fall. So far it isn't getting a physical release over here, which means it might be a while before I play it. But I've now completed every Western release for the whole franchise except 'Dead Souls.' Damn I love this series!

Doki Doki Literature Club! - 9.25/10

The word "unique" gets thrown around a lot, but I can honestly say that this is one of the most unique games I've ever played. It's a visual novel at its core, but it is soooo much more than that. I can't say much more without spoiling it, but if this is a game you've had even a passing interest in, I can't recommend it enough. If you're going to play it, please don't look it up online and please be very mindful of the disclaimers at the beginning of the game. But yeah, I beat it last night and I'm still thinking about it today. It's now probably my 3rd favorite VN of all time behind VA-11 Hall-A and Steins;Gate.

Heavyd814life wrote:

I can do VNs as long as they have interesting gameplay elements. I just bought Relayer on sale. Playing that soon

kevolones wrote:

Never heard of Relayer. Just checked out some gameplay and it looks cool! Definitely let me know if you end up enjoying it. Doki Doki isn’t really like Relayer at all. This is very much a visual novel, but it’s only about 5 hours long so it’s very manageable and I played through it in 2 sittings.

Heavyd814life wrote:

I had downloaded the trial over PSN+ when it came out. I liked it but didnt feel like it was worth the full price. Its on sale for like $12 so I went for it. I love mecha games so very likely Ill enjoy at least that portion of the game. The attack animations are neat. Kinda like Super Robot Wars

Beat Final Fantasy 16. It needed a deeper combat system and other builds. The equipment overall just increased defense, attack and hp. It would have been nice to go for a more ranged build or use status effects. It isn't a bad game but there isn't much to do besides the story and side quests. I hit around 45 hours with most quests and bounties completed. It is a mostly depressing game and is worth one playthrough at the least. I am not playing the new game+ as it doesn't seem to change much. Onto Atlas Fallen on Sept 10th if reviews are low Armored Core 6 on the 25th.

Pentiment

It should be prefaced that this is not a jolly game. I don't want to give anything away, but there is strife throughout. That isn't a bad thing, but rather something to be aware of. Again I don't want to give anything away, but this game doesn't shy away from objective takes on religion and the church's place, citizen rights, women's struggles and nobleism. And yes, the game is gorgeous. Though the game takes place during the period of Mannerism, the characters especially are more Gothic in design. They're meant to evoke early mass produced Bible illustrations, and they nail it for the most part.

As far as the gameplay itself, it's best categorized as a point-and-click, though there are set paths to walk, a nice map and anything to interact with has a clear icon. About 90% of the game is dialogue. The story is quite good, as is the writing most of the time. There is branching dialogue that directly affects both your character's choices but also the overall story, with many, many endings. My complaint here is that nothing visually really happens when in conversation. Characters might blink from time to time, but they are otherwise extremely static. Long conversation can feel like they drag on because of this, particularly in the first half of the third act.

Besides an achievement glitch that didn't award me for completing the first act (online others have complained about other achievements not unlocking, both on Xbox and Steam), this is a highly enjoyable, thought provoking game. It's worth at least one playthrough, but anyone that likes seeing all outcomes and playing out each branch will get a lot more out of it. I wish it got a physical release (it can be purchased digitally), but for now it's another perfect Gamepass game.

Stray - 7/10

Started and finished this in 2 nights since it's leaving PS+ Extra soon. Pretty entertaining. I had fun with it. Gameplay was super simple but minimal direction was a nice change of pace in trying to figure out how to advance the game. Really enjoyed the Blade Runner-inspired environment for part of the game.

Now if I can just finish Tears of the Kingdom, I can start FFXVI. Took a break from TotK to beat Stray.

Lost Judgment 7.5/10

The sequel spin off to the Yakuza franchise felt a little bit too long for my tastes in the dialog department but that’s Yakuza games for you. I did rather enjoy the 3 different combat styles though and the lite detective work. Although I will go on the record for saying the forced platforming and stealth sections did not belong at all and felt so out of place in this game. It was such a waste of time running thru those motions. Visual wise, the graphics look like they got a bit of an overhaul though which is kinda nice and I felt like the voice acting (I did Japanese) was as dramatic as ever and pretty solid. And the side cases were okay but I rather got frustrated trying to progress in some of them by using the keyword function app to find clues to their next waypoint section that felt like it took away from the overall momentum of those side cases. Other than that if you want a good action game which is lite on puzzle solving you may enjoy this one. Just forgive it’s completely awkward and wonky platforming and stealth segments.

Killzone 2 6.5/10

I'm only 14 years late to this, but the series wasn't too impressive with the first game and while 2 wasn't bad in any particular area, it wasn't noteworthy nor great in any either. Your squad-mate Rico is a foul-mouthed dumbass was about the only thing I took away from the story. Graphically it did alright, it was a bit dark at times could be hard to follow in the mayhem of battle. Your guns likely realistically became very inaccurate while moving or after each shot, which stunk as nearly all were automatic and even your 6 shot revolver was this way. Only being able to carry 1 main weapon and your sidearm (I think I could've collected an alternative or 2) felt too limiting, I don't necessarily want to tote around a dozen guns, but 2 primary would've been a lot nicer. Also the game gave you zero direction on where you needed to head toward next - in most cases this didn't matter much b/c areas were often fairly linear, but I got turned around a few times during fights and without really any help on where to go next, it was more trial and error until I went the correct way.
One final negative was the endless spawning enemies. I didn't notice this really until the final push towards the end boss, but in that section, if I didn't push forward and basically take ground, then the foes kept spawning and with the lack of direction as mentioned, I wasn't sure that was what I needed to do. I'm way more used to a set of enemies needed to take out to stop the chaos and move forward. I don't believe this was the case in all areas, but I also recall feeling like that was happening in a bridge fight around the mid-point of the game, possibly others too I suppose.

Well beat Baulder's Gate 3 early access. An interesting game, the combat is more turn based then I expected as I never have played the other games in the series. You have a ton of customization and if the early access is any proof of length it should be a 50+ hour game.

Going to be doing a Final Fantasy 16 new game+ run and get the trophy. Don't have much else to play at this point.