Your 2016 Gaming Diary

**Fierce_LiNk** · January 31, 2016

I've been busy lately looking back at my current PS4 collection and working my way through some of the smaller games that I've been neglecting.

First up...Grim Fandango Remastered.

The style, humour, presentation and story of this game are fantastic. That's essentially what got me hooked and what carried me through to the end. However, I have to say that I didn't enjoy the puzzle-solving mechanic an awful lot. Some of the sign-posting in this game isn't great and a lot of the solutions for the puzzles are a bit obscure.

I would say that I enjoyed it and I'm glad that I played it. But, it definitely tells you how far videogames have come. Some would say that there's a bit too much hand-holding these days, but I'd argue that some of the design has improved tremendously. So, not so much games being easier now, but rather that the combination of visuals making it clear what's taking place and having mechanics that tend to fit in a bit more with their surroundings...makes a huge difference. An interesting argument for another time, maybe.

Race The Sun

This was another PS+ game, although this is from quite a while back. I played a bit of it then, then put it aside in favour of something else. It's a pretty great game. Simple, yet fucking hard. I love the sense of speed in this, the minimalistic visuals and the mechanics. I'm a big fan of this. Moar please.

Games of 2016

Flower - Finished

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Finished

The Unfinished Swan - Finished

Grim Fandango Remastered - Finished

Race The Sun - Finished

Hero-of-Time · January 31, 2016

I had a great weekend session that has rounded off the month of January nicely.

I bought Life is Strange (PS4) on Friday night. I started it early Saturday morning and played it practically all day. I couldn't put the thing down.

DON'T CLICK ON THE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME.

There were so many moments in the game that hit me hard.

I was unable to save Kate when she was on the roof, despite siding with her and trying my best to talk her down.

The end of the 3rd chapter blew my mind. I knew there would be some consequences to my actions but seeing Chloe in that state was hard to see. I actually granted her what she asked of me and killed her. It was a hard decision to make but I feel I made the right call.

Watching Max not hide the keys, knowing what fate was in store for Chloe's dad, was a difficult scene.

The reveal of Jefferson's involvement was and wasn't a shock. In the back of my mind I was toying with the idea that there was something off about the guy. When the camera panned out and I seen who it was I shouted at the TV " I KNEW IT!". I was clearly caught up in the moment.

Finding Rachel's body was tough to watch, especially when Chloe broke down.

During the last chapter I kissed Warren ( i'd also kissed Chloe in an earlier chapter ). The guy had helped me over the course of the game and I figured I would show some affection, especially as he may not remember the event, due to me time travelling.

My final decision was so hard. I spent a good few minutes going back and forth, trying my hardest to weigh up the options. I eventually pulled the trigger and decided to save Chloe. Yeah, the town may have suffered but I figured Chloe deserved some happiness in her life.

A special mention goes to the soundtrack of the game. There are some amazing tunes in the game and all of them fit perfectly for the setting.

The only negatives I have to say about the game is that the lip syncing is a bit iffy and the graphics and animations can be a bit rough. In an ideal world they would have used the same engine that was used for Until Dawn.

After finishing the game, I went back and mopped up any photos I needed and nabbed the platinum. Brilliant game and I recommend everyone who enjoys this types of games to pick this up.

Next up is Xeodrifter (Vita). I've had this sitting on the Vita for a while, thanks to PS+. It's a cool little game. I don't usually like Metroid style games but this one isn't too big, so I didn't end up getting lost.

The end credits are fantastic. Its a remix of As The World Falls Down from Labyrinth.


	Audio


	Audio

:bowdown:

Last up is Grim Fandango (PS4). I never played this back in the day but I know its highly thought of. PS+ gave me the chance to have a crack at it.

I have to be honest, I didn't care for the game at all. The controls were clunky ( I played with tank controls for the trophy ), the writing was alright but not hilarious and some of the puzzles were just flat out annoying.

I feel this may be a product of its time and anyone coming in fresh will probably see the games flaws and not have the luxury of having any kind of nostalgia to hide these problems.

It will be interesting to see if Day of the Tentacle suffers the same fate when that is released. I think that may have aged better due to the art style and it being 2D. I will have the nostalgia goggles on for that game as I loved it as a kid.

Anyway, I nabbed to platinum but was glad that the experience ended when it did.

A great start to the year. I will have to do a proper tally tomorrow ( full list is at work ) and see what was my game of the month. I'm pretty sure I know what it is already....

drahkon · January 31, 2016

I bought Life is Strange (PS4) on Friday night. I started it early Saturday morning and played it practically all day. I couldn't put the thing down.

DON'T CLICK ON THE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME.

There were so many moments in the game that hit me hard.

I was unable to save Kate when she was on the roof, despite siding with her and trying my best to talk her down.

The end of the 3rd chapter blew my mind. I knew there would be some consequences to my actions but seeing Chloe in that state was hard to see. I actually granted her what she asked of me and killed her. It was a hard decision to make but I feel I made the right call.

Watching Max not hide the keys, knowing what fate was in store for Chloe's dad, was a difficult scene.

The reveal of Jefferson's involvement was and wasn't a shock. In the back of my mind I was toying with the idea that there was something off about the guy. When the camera panned out and I seen who it was I shouted at the TV " I KNEW IT!". I was clearly caught up in the moment.

Finding Rachel's body was tough to watch, especially when Chloe broke down.

During the last chapter I kissed Warren ( i'd also kissed Chloe in an earlier chapter ). The guy had helped me over the course of the game and I figured I would show some affection, especially as he may not remember the event, due to me time travelling.

My final decision was so hard. I spent a good few minutes going back and forth, trying my hardest to weigh up the options. I eventually pulled the trigger and decided to save Chloe. Yeah, the town may have suffered but I figured Chloe deserved some happiness in her life.

Glad you enjoyed it Hope my semi-spoiler didn't ruin much...

Do not read the following if you haven't played the game

Wow, we both made the same choices there

I had the same suspicion about Jefferson and when he was shown...I mumbled to myself: "I knew it"

Those other moments...I have to admit that I had tears in my eyes during quite a few of them...

A great start to the year. I will have to do a proper tally tomorrow ( full list is at work ) and see what was my game of the month.

Great idea. I'll look through my list and post my GOTM

Edit:

A special mention goes to the soundtrack of the game. There are some amazing tunes in the game and all of them fit perfectly for the setting.

Agree. I went to an Alt-J concert last November and when I heard the following tune in Life is Strange I was immediately back in the concert hall. One of the greatest concerts I have ever attended.

Now, whenever I hear that track I have to think of Life is Strange and that concert

Edited January 31, 2016 by drahkon

**Fierce_LiNk** · January 31, 2016

I feel this may be a product of its time and anyone coming in fresh will probably see the games flaws and not have the luxury of having any kind of nostalgia to hide these problems.

I feel the same way. Although, tbh, there was a lot that I did enjoy about the game. I did enjoy the characters and the humour. The puzzle-solving is what lets it down, imo. I'd definitely be up for another game with the same characters, similar humour and storylines but with a more modern take on puzzles and a bit more sign-posting going on.

drahkon · January 31, 2016

With January at its end, it's time to award my GOTM - sponsored by @Hero\-of\-Time.

Thinking about all the games I've finished it comes down to a three-way-fight:

Transistor (PS4)

Its presentation alone is incredible. The art-style is lovely, the music is awesome and the gameplay puts a fresh twist on turn-based combat. I'm glad I finally finished it and enjoyed every minute.

Life is Strange (PS4)

An emotional journey. Great story, cool characters (albeit sometimes a bit too cliché with occasional cringe-worthy lines) and good use of music.

Tearaway (PSVita)

One of the finest, most creative platformers I've ver played. So much effort has been put into making the Vita's different functions part of the gameplay. And everything works perfectly.

After the recent uncreative and disappointing Mario-games this was such a refreshing platformer.

And the winner is:

It's Tearaway

Loved it from start to finish. A perfect fit for the Vita and - I'll gladly repeat myself - such a refreshingly creative platformer.

Hero-of-Time · February 1, 2016

With my negative feelings towards MadWorld thrown into the mix, it's becoming pretty apparent that games featuring some sort of melee combat just isn't really for me While I may have loved No More Heroes on Wii and Streets of Rage 2 holds some great memories, a lack of interest in trying to get into [i]Devil May Cry 2[/i] or God of War in my collection speaks volumes about the level of appeal, in general, for these types of games.

I'm sure there have been, and will continue to be, exceptions but this January has helped to reinforce that the breadth of games which appeal to me is, and has been, shrinking!

Devil May Cry 2 is an absolute shambles of a game, especially compared to the first and third entries. Awful. :shakehead

I'm the complete opposite in that i'm finding my tastes are a lot more varied than I ever thought they would be. Over the past few years I have started stepping out of my gaming comfort zones and try new genres and games that I didn't think would appeal to me. I think this has had a huge impact on me and has opened my eyes to more experiences.

There's a few people on here who have done this as well. One of my favourite threads of last year was the Bloodborne topic. I didn't play the game but it was amazing seeing people give the game a chance, push through the difficulty, learn how the game worked and get an amazing experience from it.

I honestly put this down to the PS4. There's many on here who were previously Nintendo only. This generation many have jumped ship and are now seeing just how diverse gaming can be. While i've been a multi console owner ever since I started working, its not until now that I have started to appreciate a lot of the quirky indie/PC titles due to them being on the PS4.

Anyway, back to the main topic of the thread. Here's what I managed to finish in January.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. (3DS)
Bastion (Vita)
Wave Race (Wii U VC)
Superfrog (Vita)
Hardware: Rivals (PS4)
Super Mario Land (3DS VC)
Super Mario Land 2 (3DS VC)
A Boy and His Blob (PS4)
Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)
Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
Steins Gate (Vita)
Life is Strange (PS4)
Xeodrifter (Vita)
Grim Fandango (PS4)

It was a toss up between Life is Strange and Tales From the Borderlands. Both were brilliant but I think one was more polished than the other. That being the case, my GOTM has to go to Tales From The Borderlands (PS4).

This was a game that was hyped up and managed to deliver. A fantastic story, hilarious dialogue and amazing characters made for a stupidly enjoyable experience. :bowdown:

Magnus · February 1, 2016

Last up is Grim Fandango (PS4). I never played this back in the day but I know its highly thought of. PS+ gave me the chance to have a crack at it.

I have to be honest, I didn't care for the game at all. The controls were clunky ( I played with tank controls for the trophy ), the writing was alright but not hilarious and some of the puzzles were just flat out annoying.

Grim Fandango was never meant to be hilarious, though...

And complaining about the tank controls being clunky when they're entirely optional is a bit unfair. You made your bed. :heh:

Hero-of-Time · February 1, 2016

Grim Fandango was never meant to be hilarious, though...

And complaining about the tank controls being clunky when they're entirely optional is a bit unfair. You made your bed.

I've read different over the years.

Meh. I stand by my criticism.

**Fierce_LiNk** · February 1, 2016

I'm the complete opposite in that i'm finding my tastes are a lot more varied than I ever thought they would be. Over the past few years I have started stepping out of my gaming comfort zones and try new genres and games that I didn't think would appeal to me. I think this has had a huge impact on me and has opened my eyes to more experiences.

There's a few people on here who have done this as well. One of my favourite threads of last year was the Bloodborne topic. I didn't play the game but it was amazing seeing people give the game a chance, push through the difficulty, learn how the game worked and get an amazing experience from it.

I honestly put this down to the PS4. There's many on here who were previously Nintendo only. This generation many have jumped ship and are now seeing just how diverse gaming can be. While i've been a multi console owner ever since I started working, its not until now that I have started to appreciate a lot of the quirky indie/PC titles due to them being on the PS4.

I've got to agree with all of this.

Although, it may partly come down to me just not giving a fuck anymore with what I buy or play. Bloodborne has destroyed everything I've ever really believed about gaming. It's probably the game which has rewritten the rule book for me.

Tutorial? Nah, you don't need that.

Maps? What the fuck is that?

EASY MODE? BWAHAHAAHAH.

Auto-save...lawl.

In general, there's a ton of diversity out there. The only thing standing in the way of that is the mindset of the gamer. If you go into each game not giving a fuck and go into it completely open, then only good things can come of it. I NEVER would have thought that I would ever love a game like Bloodborne.

nekunando · February 1, 2016

With it being the first day of February already, I thought I may as well have a recap of my gaming in January

January

Spyro the Dragon (PS1)

Bayonetta 2 (Wii U)

Mario vs Donkey Kong (GBA [3DS Ambassador])

Kirby's Adventure (NES [Wii U VC])

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny (PS2)

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)

Last month was certainly something of a mixed bag with several games disappointing me with relatively monotonous combat. I had to go back through the thread to remind myself that I beat Kirby's Adventure, which highlights just how little I actually thought of it, but what little I had to finish in Spyro The Dragon was fun and Mario vs Donkey Kong surprised me by unexpectedly drawing me in and not letting go until I beat it completely : peace:

February looks set to increase the quality, somewhat, as I've already resumed both Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast) and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS) and am being sucked into both with the former, in particular, feeling much more enticing than it ever has before :hehe:

Beating Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) last year has made me feel more encouraged to tackle some of my RPG backlog and don't find the idea of 30-40 hours quite as daunting as perhaps I once did :grin:

bob · February 1, 2016

I finished off the 2nd of three 'zones' in Just Cause 3 (can't remember what they call them), so now just have the majority of the largest zone to do. Think i've got four missions of the main story to go as well, then it'll just be doing challenges and fucking shit up. Probably won't go for 100% on everything, but i see how far i get - still enjoying it which is pretty good!

Glen-i · February 3, 2016

Need to round off the games I completed during January.

First up is...

Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path came out in Japan in 2011. And due to localisation hell, never released over here.

It's a sequel to the spin-off game, Ace Attorney Investigations.

And before you ask, no, I can't read Japanese.

Luckily, there's a full fan translation for this game, so I used that.

(Oh, and before anyone calls shenanigans, @Dcubed has an actual Japanese copy of this game, so in all essence, I borrowed it, which is par for the course for me. I'm sure half of the games I finished are his.)

Anyway, you play as Miles Edgeworth.

He's a prosecutor.

If you've played any of the Ace Attorney games, (And you really should) you should know what to expect. It's a visual novel that has you tackling 5 cases using the powers of deduction and logic with just a little hint of pointing and shouting at people.

The main difference being that the way of navigation has you actually run around crime scenes instead of the more point-and-click nature of the mainline games.

Personally, this is a more enjoyable way of getting around, I kinda wish it was implemented in the main games.

Of course, when it comes to visual novels, story is a key component. The first Ace Attorney Investigations game was notorious for having the most ridiculous and long-winded finales of all the games.

Thankfully, the sequel seems to have learned from that mistake as the majority of the cases are very good. Ranging from the absurd to the heartwarming.

Case 3 is a bit of a drag, but nothing disastrous.

Anyway, won't go into details. Don't wanna spoil things. But trust me, it's one of the best this series has to offer.

But the most impressive thing about this has to be the fan translation itself.

It's not just a simple text job, they really went all out on this...

The patch translates all the common screens of the game (title screen, case selection screen, save screen, profile/evidence screen), all the text, all the graphics (yes, including backgrounds, sprites and even evidence) and all the voices (recycled the old voices when possible or dubbed by voice actors for the new characters) in English for all cases.
In other words, we eradicated all Japanese from the game and you would think you have a US release of the game in your hands.

They even went and did new voice recordings for new characters. That's some hard work and dedication.

You could never guess that it was a fan translation just by looking at it (Apart from the "This is a fan translation" screen at the start)

It's chock full of pop culture references, there's seriously a Pokemon anime theme song reference in there and being the massive Pokenerd I am, I couldn't help but smirk a bit.

But yeah, great game. Shame it never came out here, because it's top notch.

Oh, and Raymond Shields totally looks like Danny from Game Grumps.

He even kind of acts like him. It's surreal!

Next up!