Finished Any Games Lately?

I beat Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition (or whatever the Switch version is called), but it is a stupidly good time! It's a great "I just want to switch my brain off" game, and it hit everything I would want from a Dynasty Warriors-type game.

Get this game for around $25 if you see it. Very worth it.

Finished the very short 198X last night. I enjoyed it, for what little there was to enjoy of it. It's a short variety show type of game where the central narrative revolves around a teenager living in the suburbs who finds an escape from the pressures and sorrows of their daily life by diving into the offerings of their local arcade - hence the mix of game genre vignettes that comprise the whole of the game.

There were some hints of greater things in there - one section of the driving game, for example, where the narration plays over the gameplay - that made me feel like this could've been a great little homage to 80's arcade gaming. Sadly, it fails to live up to any expectations I had beyond those little glimpses of what could have been.

The mini-games themselves are decent, if not good. The sidescrolling spaceshooter, in particular, was what I enjoyed the most. Second to that is the sidescrolling runner (think Shinobi III's auto-run on-horseback stages). The final game - of 5, iirc - is a first-person dungeon crawler that showcases much of the potential that ultimately wasn't delivered upon.

For $9.99, it's not a bad purchase, but it certainly feels like it wasted its potential.

Finished both Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order this weekend. The former was played all co-op; the latter's local co-op camera made it necessary to play solo.

Enjoyed Youngblood with the added bonus of it getting the boyfriend into both Arkane and the other Wolfenstein games (there was a Bethesda sale at the end of last week, so it was easy enough to pick things up). There are some design decisions that make me scratch my head (like checkpointing in case of a lose all lives situation only being at the beginning of a level), but for a cheaper game between main entries in the series, felt I definitely got my money's worth. Stealth in co-op is definitely more of a challenge as you're syncing things up.

MUA3 was okay? It's about what I recall from that series, and I hope to play it co-op more at some point. Mostly just wanted to get through the story and get a feel for all of the characters. As there is DLC with more story and characters down the road, may just set this aside and pick it up here and there when I get an ARPG itch I need to scratch.

I rolled the credits on What Remains of Edith Finch and found it creative yet tedious and wearisome. With frequent intervals to ponder and ruminate (due to the limited and sparse interactivity - a trait of the genre to be fair) I predicted what was coming much too often, and much too soon, which detracted from the storytelling experience. This will vary for each individual, though, so do not dismay.

It is not without merit. Far from it. The stories were handled beautifully, and the voice work laced with elegance and grace. The runtime is fittingly brief. The art is wonderful. It can be quite thought-provoking which in turn can spark wondrous opinion pieces and conversation. I took much from two of the stories.

Glad to have experienced this one.

I finished Red Dead Redemption 2. Read on if you are someone who purchased it and put it down because after a few hours you decided it wasn’t your cup of tea — and are wondering if you should return.

I picked up the game upon release and tried it straight away. And straight away I had the same thought I always do whenever I play a Rockstar game, namely, why do I buy Rockstar games? The amount of upfront exposition was a turn off. And like all Rockstar games, the tutorials are flying at you quickly but are poorly explained and certainly not reinforced enough through gameplay (I seriously doubt anyone played this game and didn’t — at least once — shoot someone accidentally when what they actually meant to do was talk to them or point their gun at them to simply threaten). My initial impressions were: great looking game, but boy am I fighting these controls and so far this story isn’t connecting with me.

And so I put the game down and played something else.

But about a month or two ago, I decided to give it another go. I re-read the glowing reviews, watched some youtube videos waxing poetic on the game and committed to giving the game at least 10 hours of my time. Without any spoilers, here are the three things I would say about RDR2 for those wondering if they should go back to it or try it:

* Play it IF you are mentally ready for a slow opening burn — and in more ways than one. The game slowly introduces you to its mechanics. If you’re like me, because there are so many, you will take some time to get accustomed to them. The game slowly introduces you to each character. And the game, and more on this below, slowly introduces you to its plot. Honestly, I felt I was probably 20+ hours into the game before I felt I was truly playing RDR2.

* Play it IF you want to understand the characters before you even hear the plot — this was a very unusual decision and honestly, I can’t think of another example of where this happened. But RDR2 doesn’t even tell you the plot, the heart of the game, until you have gone on missions with each of the characters in the posse (and there are many). Imagine if Star Wars opened and instead of a space ship fight sequence it explained who Luke was and what motivated him. Then Leia. Then Han. Then Chewie. Then Obi-Wan. Then Darth. Then C3PO. Then R2D2. And only after you spent time with each did it say, okay, here’s the deal, there’s rebellion going on and now that you know a little about each of those, we’ll tell you a story.

* Play it IF you are willing to give over 50+ hours for a memorable experience but not necessarily a great one. And this last one is tough to write without spoilers but I’ll simply say: the plot is interesting. But ultimately, I never felt truly surprised or drawn into RDR2. The writing in the game is the best Rockstar has ever been... in terms of dialogue, in terms of restraint (the juvenile antics are cut from this game). But where it falls short is having a central driving force.

Ultimately, I couldn’t help but compare RDR2 to the Witcher 3. Both are grand open world games with plenty of missions and activities. But in every respect, the Witcher 3 is better. I felt I was on a journey, with a clear overarching goal in Witcher 3 (and at times with smaller story arches occurring concurrently). In RDR2... I felt I was meandering through Rockstar’s world at Rockstar’s pace and had to trust that Rockstar would eventually tell me why I should care, which they did, but far too late and not in a compelling enough way.

JakePlane wrote:

* Play it IF you want to understand the characters before you even hear the plot — this was a very unusual decision and honestly, I can’t think of another example of where this happened. But RDR2 doesn’t even tell you the plot, the heart of the game, until you have gone on missions with each of the characters in the posse (and there are many). Imagine if Star Wars opened and instead of a space ship fight sequence it explained who Luke was and what motivated him. Then Leia. Then Han. Then Chewie. Then Obi-Wan. Then Darth. Then C3PO. Then R2D2. And only after you spent time with each did it say, okay, here’s the deal, there’s rebellion going on and now that you know a little about each of those, we’ll tell you a story.

I haven't played RDR2, but I actually quite like this approach in JRPGs. First you spend some time with each of the main party members, maybe sort out a few issues for your neighbours in the village, then after 30 hours or so head off to save the world. Don't want to rush these things, you know!

Finished the single player campaign in For Honor. Have no interest in the multiplayer really, just wanted to see what the mechanics were like.

ComfortZone wrote:
JakePlane wrote:

* Play it IF you want to understand the characters before you even hear the plot — this was a very unusual decision and honestly, I can’t think of another example of where this happened. But RDR2 doesn’t even tell you the plot, the heart of the game, until you have gone on missions with each of the characters in the posse (and there are many). Imagine if Star Wars opened and instead of a space ship fight sequence it explained who Luke was and what motivated him. Then Leia. Then Han. Then Chewie. Then Obi-Wan. Then Darth. Then C3PO. Then R2D2. And only after you spent time with each did it say, okay, here’s the deal, there’s rebellion going on and now that you know a little about each of those, we’ll tell you a story.

I haven't played RDR2, but I actually quite like this approach in JRPGs. First you spend some time with each of the main party members, maybe sort out a few issues for your neighbours in the village, then after 30 hours or so head off to save the world. Don't want to rush these things, you know!

I find character development in games to be much more interesting than the usual overarching storyline - especially in AAA games. That's because the plot often turns out to be very cookie-cutter save-the-world/galaxy/universe, but also because games are actually good vessels for slow and steady character development - simply due to the time we spend within the world.

Finished Valiant Hearts: The Great War. It's a wonderful and sometimes gut-wrenching story, set within a stunning art style, marred by frustrating actiony parts and okay to good puzzling.

dejanzie wrote:

Finished Valiant Hearts: The Great War. It's a wonderful and sometimes gut-wrenching story, set within a stunning art style, marred by frustrating actiony parts and okay to good puzzling.

Finished this myself last month, and loved it to death.

I just beat Mega Man 11. A fitting new entry in the series and quite the challenge for someone whose MM skills have tarnished greatly over the years.

beanman101283 wrote:

Rolled credits on Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

This is definitely the best expansion of the game so far...

It's true! I also just finished Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers MSQ a couple of weeks back. It is really good and I'm still prepping for extreme primals and maaaybe raid (I'm late) and tons more other stuff. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by the amount of content I still want to go through! Kudos to the dev team; they really listen to player feedback (fixing AST issues among others, with more to come like NIN improvements) and they keep in touch with us via Producer Live Letters.

I finally got around to playing Last Guardian. I only recently got a PS4 and I’m trying all the exclusives. Enjoyed it a lot. Love the way it integrates climbing Trico into the game. Trico was very well done visually and in the way it presented personality. My kids really enjoyed watching the game as Trico reminded them of their dog. There were some parts where I had no idea what to do and spent time trying to combine the mechanics I had without any luck and it turned out I just had to wait for Trico to decide what to do. Not a fan of that but it was rare enough it didn’t detract from the overall experience.

After that I just had to buy Shadow of the Colossus on PS4 as well as I hadn’t played it since PS2. Hopefully it holds up well.

Finished The Last of Us Remastered last night. Glad I gave it another shot after bouncing off it a couple years ago.

"Finished" The First Tree. Quotation marks because I encountered a bug that wouldn't allow me to finish properly right at the last part of the game. After hitting my head against the issue, I looked up a guide and found that I was trying to fight the game's code which had misbehaved. So I ended up looking up the ending to see what I was missing.

My thoughts on the game? Well, I think it barely qualifies as a game; it's more of an excuse for a narrative, a vehicle, and it doesn't do a very good job of it. I feel like this was tackled by a very small team, if not a single human being, and therefore can't be too hard on the actual product in regards to technical issues. Ultimately, I appreciate that the creators of the game tried something a little different and didn't just make a walking simulator, yet I'm left with the sensation that a walking simulator might have been a better vehicle for this effort.

The art style was very enjoyable and is, perhaps, the highlight of the game. It feels like a combination of cel-shading and faux-retro 3D graphics, and I found it charming. The music was also wonderful and sent me on a few nostalgia trips in my head.

Now, the writing isn't all that great, but it's not atrocious, either. The sentiments and emotions it tries to convey do come across and the message is delivered, so it does its job.

Not a bad hour and change to spend if you can find it on the cheap.

brokenclavicle wrote:

"Finished" The First Tree. Quotation marks because I encountered a bug that wouldn't allow me to finish properly right at the last part of the game. After hitting my head against the issue, I looked up a guide and found that I was trying to fight the game's code which had misbehaved. So I ended up looking up the ending to see what I was missing.

Crazy that the same happened to me with Seasons After Fall, another beautiful-looking game starring a fox.

Mario_Alba wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:

"Finished" The First Tree. Quotation marks because I encountered a bug that wouldn't allow me to finish properly right at the last part of the game. After hitting my head against the issue, I looked up a guide and found that I was trying to fight the game's code which had misbehaved. So I ended up looking up the ending to see what I was missing.

Crazy that the same happened to me with Seasons After Fall, another beautiful-looking game starring a fox.

Just what is up with these foxes?!

brokenclavicle wrote:
Mario_Alba wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:

"Finished" The First Tree. Quotation marks because I encountered a bug that wouldn't allow me to finish properly right at the last part of the game. After hitting my head against the issue, I looked up a guide and found that I was trying to fight the game's code which had misbehaved. So I ended up looking up the ending to see what I was missing.

Crazy that the same happened to me with Seasons After Fall, another beautiful-looking game starring a fox.

Just what is up with these foxes?!

They like to break games, apparently. XD

I just re-finished Halo 1, I forgot was a frustrating game that was toward the end with the flood. Dying makes you repeat quite a bit.

Finished a bunch of games, in my post-Resident Evil binge funk. Some of them were quite good, even if they weren't dumb, melodramatic zombie nonsense.

Devil May Cry 5 is a very good brawler/character action game. The environments are a bit sparse, and the story is a load of old nonsense as per usual for Capcom, but when it comes to combat it's kind of absurdly generous in giving you three different characters with a massive moveset to choose from and master.

Judgement - Well, it's no Yakuza game, but I enjoyed it. Yagami is fine, but he's no Kiryu, and kinda crucially, the detective stuff is less engaging than punching people in the face, which doesn't fit the character that well.

It's always good to be back in Kamurocho though, the side stories are as fun as ever, and after a slow start, the mystery picks up steam and becomes proper engaging. I want to hang out with these characters more, but I hope they iterate on the detective mechanics for the next game.

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case - Memetically transferred murderers, experiments in social control, 4th wall breaks, surrealism, all the the things you'd expect from a Silver Case sequel is here, but stripped down to the point where 3d spaces are entirely menu-based and interactivity is minimal, and...given how awful that stuff was in the first game, I wastly prefer this. I'm here to have as concentrated a dose of Suda 51 transferred into my eyeballs as possible, and the less obstacles there are, the better.

Not that it's completely free of boring sh*t, and the final chapter is basically an enormous troll baiting players to go through a stupidly boring ordeal for a joke.

Also, good luck following anything unless you played the first game.

But I liked it.

Dragon Quest XI - which I started way in the beginning of the year and finally got around to finishing is what you get if you take the platonic ideal of the JRPG and execute it to perfection. The aesthetics aren't exactly my thing, and the music drowe me barmy, but when it's so well done overall, I can get over it.

It also has acrafting system I genuinely enjoyed engaging with, for maybe the first time ever.

merphle wrote:

I just beat Dark Souls Remastered.

Two weeks later, and I just beat Dark Souls 3 (start to finish with a new character). I've played about half of DS3 once before so some of this was familiar, but still there was a ton of content I got to experience for the first time. Excellent game, looks gorgeous (though lacking a bit of variety in color palette), controls very well, and has some very ool boss battles. It gets a lot of flack for feeling like a phoned-in rehash of Dark Souls 1, but I think I'm kind of ok with that -- it fits in with the already timey-wimey aspect of the series.

And if Iudex Gundyr's fight was just a bit simpler or pushed a bit further back into the game, I'd have no hesitation recommending Dark Souls 3 as an entry point into the Souls series for a player who had never tried it before; I think it's otherwise very approachable and generally friendly to newcomers. Hopefully I don't get too many angry responses to this opinion though.

merphle wrote:
merphle wrote:

I just beat Dark Souls Remastered.

Two weeks later, and I just beat Dark Souls 3 (start to finish with a new character). I've played about half of DS3 once before so some of this was familiar, but still there was a ton of content I got to experience for the first time. Excellent game, looks gorgeous (though lacking a bit of variety in color palette), controls very well, and has some very ool boss battles. It gets a lot of flack for feeling like a phoned-in rehash of Dark Souls 1, but I think I'm kind of ok with that -- it fits in with the already timey-wimey aspect of the series.

And if Iudex Gundyr's fight was just a bit simpler or pushed a bit further back into the game, I'd have no hesitation recommending Dark Souls 3 as an entry point into the Souls series for a player who had never tried it before; I think it's otherwise very approachable and generally friendly to newcomers. Hopefully I don't get too many angry responses to this opinion though.

Time for the DLC!

Rise of the Tomb Raider done, 68%

Standard Croft fare overall although they have tried to expand into a restricted open world. That didn't work for me as the hournal and map system were poor and it just felt messy. Enjoyed it overall.

Balthezor wrote:
merphle wrote:
merphle wrote:

I just beat Dark Souls Remastered.

Two weeks later, and I just beat Dark Souls 3 (start to finish with a new character). I've played about half of DS3 once before so some of this was familiar, but still there was a ton of content I got to experience for the first time. Excellent game, looks gorgeous (though lacking a bit of variety in color palette), controls very well, and has some very cool boss battles. It gets a lot of flack for feeling like a phoned-in rehash of Dark Souls 1, but I think I'm kind of ok with that -- it fits in with the already timey-wimey aspect of the series.

And if Iudex Gundyr's fight was just a bit simpler or pushed a bit further back into the game, I'd have no hesitation recommending Dark Souls 3 as an entry point into the Souls series for a player who had never tried it before; I think it's otherwise very approachable and generally friendly to newcomers. Hopefully I don't get too many angry responses to this opinion though.

Time for the DLC!

I finished DLC1 and got a bit more than halfway through DLC2 before calling it off -- I really wanted to jump into Sekiro next, since I've been on total media blackout on the game, waiting until after I finished either DS2 or DS3.

I finished Golf Peaks! It was a great, relatively short grid-based puzzle game about getting a ball around a level with a series of hazards. The concept reminded me, somewhat, of Lara Croft Go. Solid value for $3.

I finished Detroit Become Human last night. If you've played other David Cage games this is like those, but a bit more polished and refined. It seems to have taken a few welcome lessons from visual novels (with flowcharts for each chapter) and Until Dawn (better pacing and branching paths) that I noticed, and probably others too - I don't play a lot of this kind of game.

Ironically for a game about androids becoming self-aware, it seems completely unaware of how ridiculous it is! It's not even worth pointing out plot holes, they are so many and fundamental. Nevertheless I enjoyed my time with it. It still has the goofy QTEs and such from previous games but refrains from making them too obtrusive, and it's a beautiful looking and sounding world to coast through. I guess I might be less forgiving if it wasn't a PS plus freebie, but I think it was worth it as a big dumb amusement park ride.

I wonder what might have been with a more interesting writer and director, though. At the start of the game, the androids you're controlling are bound to follow instructions, and this matches the limited input options you have. Each model of android even animates a bit differently, which was a nice touch. Then as they become sentient I was hoping your control options might open up, but of course they don't. It's just more QTEs.

Overall it was right in that PS plus sweet spot for me - a game I wouldn't actually buy, but did enjoy playing.

Just wrapped up the Japanese version of Batman: Arkham Asylum, for my 5th 1K, not including finishing it for Minarchist.

I remembered it being much longer, but was about 12 hours from 0-100%. Perfect length, and still my favorite, even though the combat shows its age.

I Slayed the Spire! My first time beating the heart with any character. It was the Ironclad and I had an amazing engine going, with cards like upgraded Apotheosis (upgrade all cards in your deck for the fight), Apparition (take 1 damage from incoming attacks this round) A pair of upgraded Demon Forms (+3 non-expiring strength every round) and some big attacks like Whirlwind (damage all enemies for X, where x is the amount of energy you can spend on it)

After a few rounds of those Demon Forms paying off I could wreck elites and bosses quickly. The penultimate boss died on the 2nd turn to a lucky timing of Pen Nib (double damage once after 10 attack cards are played) + Whirlwind did over 140 points of damage on 2 big bads.

On the final boss I got lucky with the distribution of my Apparition cards, drawing them when I needed to nerf several potential run-ending hits to a piddly 1 damage. Some strategic cards helped with that, like putting a card from my hand back on top of my deck.

I was on Ascension 1, since I haven't beaten the game very much yet.

Just finished Far: Lone Sails, and I had a very good time. Also, I'm glad it was only a three-hour-long game, because it might have started to feel a bit repetitive had it been longer than that. The whole time I was playing, I kept thinking it felt like a was a Jawa operating a sandcrawler, which made me think that a Jawa (or a bunch of them) operating a sandcrawler might make for a cool game... hopefully one without microtransactions, even though Jawas do like their shady transactions...

Finished the base game of Assassin's Creed Syndicate this weekend. Of this formula, I think it's my favorite, largely because it feels like most things are smooth. Unfortunately, toward the end my PC started acting up while playing it, which made using the carriages super annoying.

Trying the Jack the Ripper DLC next, which I'm about halfway through already. Similar to the Dead Kings DLC for Unity, I'm enjoying this 'post-story life events' way of telling us about the assassins we just spent a lot of time with. I also really like seeing an older Evie Frye with more experience behind her (halfway wish we'd gotten an entire game out of this character similar to older Ezio).