Your 2017 Gaming Diary

[nekunando]

I cleared Parappa the Rapper Remastered this morning before a stressful and intense day..

 

 

If you've already played the original, you're basically getting the same experience here with updated visuals. What that means, though, is that any frustrations or inconsistincies you may have felt with timings and ratings previously appear to have carried over

 

I flew through the first 3 stages without any failure and then stage 4 came along and I repeated it 7 or 8 times before finally deciding to take a break as it seemed to be punishing me unfairly when everything sounded fine but there were other occasions that sounded like a mess where my rating would inexplicably increase

 

Stage 5 was beat first time and the 6th stage was easy until I mucked up the last section a couple of times in succession dropping my rappin' from 'GOOD' to 'BAD'.. but I beat it soon after

 

Enjoyable game with great music but, as with the original, scoring doesn't feel entirely reliable..

[bob]

I bought Sniper 3 last year. The first part seemed fun sniping people seemed like dumb fun but then as soon as the stealth stuff kicked in I lost all interest and never went back to it.

You bought a sniper game and didn't like it because it had stealth in it?

[Happenstance]

You bought a sniper game and didn't like it because it had stealth in it?

 

I didn't like it because the stealth parts felt like shit.

[bob]

Fair dooooooooooos!

[drahkon]

So...Final Fantasy VII just got a little more confusing. Quite the plot twist...

 

Cloud is a Sephiroth clone made with Jenova cells. Holy shit

So, Jenova is an alien? Not sure if this has already been confirmed within the game's story, yet, but I'm pretty sure it is an extraterrestial being.

 

And now Sephiroth's plan to destroy the world/become God is in full motion.

 

Incredible story so far, and I can already see how this revolutionized JRPGs when it was first released.

Edit: Well...it just keeps getting better.

 

Cloud's story is actually really sad...he wanted Tifa to notice him, he was jealous of those three other kids...and the town's folk blaming him for Tifa's accident.

 

All this made him create a story, an illusion for him to live in.

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Put some more time into Final Fantasy VII. Reached Disc 3, I'm pretty sure I could take on what I assume is the final area, but I'd like to get the trophies out of the way first. Gonna take some serious grinding, though. Thank God for that speed 3x booster. I've used it for at least 80% of my playtime. I find the game speed to be a little slow without it.

 

Played Steins;Gate for an hour yesterday. It's a little boring since I've seen a few episodes of the anime. Just a matter of pushing through until I've reached the point at which I've stopped watching the anime.

 

The lady and I started playing Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. I'm not that much into it but she seemed to enjoy it so I'll keep playing. It's nice to have a game that we can play together at the same time that she enjoys.

 

We still have to tackle that challenge in The Witness, though It can wait.

 

Edit: The Platinum for Final Fantasy VII is mine. : peace:

What a wonderful game. Truly revolutionary for its time.

 

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - Multiplayer (PS4)

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

Ghost Recon: Wildlands (PS4) co-op playthrough

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (PS4) co-op playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

Steins;Gate (PSVita)

 

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4) - GotM

Color Guardians (PS4)

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (PSVita)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Mario Land (GameBoy)

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GameBoy)

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Actual Sunlight (PSVita)

 

February

________________________________________________

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

Nioh (PS4) - GotM

 

March

________________________________________________

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - GotM

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

The Witness (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Shadow Complex Remastered (PS4)

 

April

________________________________________________

Mega Man X (SNES)

Final Fantasy VII (PS4)

 

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

 

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

 

Edited April 9, 2017 by drahkon

[Fierce_LiNk]

This evening, I ploughed through to the end of Horizon: Zero Dawn and have a lot of great things to say about my time with this masterpiece!

 

I was initially a bit dubious about playing through this game as I wasn't gripped by the idea of tribes and robotic dinosaur-things. However, after hearing so many people on here bigging-it-up, I decided to just go for it.

 

First of all, this is graphically one of the most stunning games that I've played. It looks even better on @Eenuh's new tv! I have no idea how it can look even better on PS4 Pro...it must just melt your face off! There were so many moments where I just stopped exploring or whatever I was doing and plunged into the game's photo mode, which should really become a standard feature for all games, imo.

 

The combat is outstanding. It really is. You can approach each battle in your own way. You can go stealth, you can override creatures or you can go all guns blazing. Even then, there's a tactical element with how you fight due to the way that you can target specific parts of the creature, freeze them, etc. By the end of the game, I was switching between 3 or 4 (sometimes 5) weapons and then switching between arrow-types. Sometimes I'd lay a blast tripwire, then shoot a round of fire arrows before switching to the precision arrows and targeting specific points. It's just brilliant. There's depth with the different types of enemies too, as they all have different weaknesses and weakspots and so forth.

 

One area that I think it underrated is definitely the music. There were tons of occasions where I travelled along a beautiful landscape or through a forest and then some kind of atmospheric music would subtly come through. It helped accent some of those moments and that just highlighted the beauty of the world that you were exploring.

 

The story definitely went through the gears towards the second third and became so much more fantastic.

 

I LOVED the mystery over what Zero Dawn was and I did initially go along with the whole "weapon" angle. But, it's revelation did shock me and so many pieces seemed to click into place afterwards. Just an absolute genius piece of storytelling and the game just seemed to get better and better as it progressed.

 

 

Overall, I think highly of this game and it definitely deserves its praise and hype. There is a lot of scope for a sequel, too. My only criticism would be that the settlements were a bit empty at times with not a whole lot to do. I thought the sidequests were great and they were a welcome addition to the main over-arching story. I just wish that there were even more of them and just a bit more to do in these little villages. In this respect, I think The Witcher 3 has spoiled us rotten and has just upped the ante here.

 

One thing that I did love about the sidequests:

 

I LOVED how the characters that appear in the sidequests appear towards the end of the main story, particularly after Aloy goes back to help the Nora and also with the final battle preparations. It was just a nice little moment that helped the whole world to feel connected. It added some nice depth to these characters, too.

 

 

Overall, would highly recommend. I'm going to mop up the remaining sidequests and then just wait patiently in the corner for moar.

 

Games of 2017

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

Metro Last Light Redux

The Last Guardian

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Edited April 13, 2017 by Fierce_LiNk

[nekunando]

Like many, I've been playing Breath of the Wild since the launch of the Switch last month, taking it at my leisure to just explore and go after the Divine Beasts when I felt ready to do so. This weekend, though, I found myself much more focused on making progress which ultimately led me to take down the final two Divine Beasts and, subsequently, Calamity Ganon.

 

 

Open world games usually don't do it for me but thankfully a sprinkle of that Zelda magic from Nintendo was enough to keep me interested in Breath of the Wild

 

While I absolutely appreciate the freedom that is available and all the things the game does right, it's probably not even close to being my favourite game in the series (and there are a few I don't exactly love )

 

I played the game over 50 hours and, to be honest, it's probably exactly what I needed to start my Switch journey as it highlighted so many times the benefits of the portability of the system and the ease at which I could dip in and out of the experience to take care of different things in Hyrule.

 

I was disappointed with the dungeons, though

 

I actually enjoyed the feeling of figuring out how to conquer each Divine Beast and the freedom in doing things my own way but I honestly missed not having more variety in their designs and not having some of the weapons and items that we've become accustomed to. I know it was probably time for a change but, for me, the next game needs to strike the right balance between the 'old' and the 'new' Zelda as Breath of the Wild may just have deviated too far away from what makes the series special to me.

 

Anyway, after I beat it I kinda felt like unwinding with something a little more casual.

 

I was in CeX yesterday and, for whatever reason, I picked up Samba de Amigo on Wii when I saw it sitting on the shelp for 75p. I had the game years ago but sold it as it was frustrating in the higher difficulties but I saw a clip of it recently on YouTube in some video I was watching and took a strange hankering for it!

 

I played through Easy and Normal, despite at one point questioning what I was doing with my life as I shook my Wii Remote & Nunchuk to Pon de Replay, but Hard mode has once again highlighted the frustrations I originally had and why I got rid of the game in the first place. The controls just aren't good enough to keep up with the pace of the action

[drahkon]

Managed to progress a fair bit with Steins;Gate and it is soooooo good.

The story is absolutely incredible...it has twists, turns, theories, thought provoking themes and more.

 

Just finished one chapter that glued me to the screen. It was so intense I could not stop. Really looking forward to seeing how everything plays out and I expect even more twists...

 

Edit: Wanted to go to sleep but I had to keep on "playing" (if you can call it "playing"...it is a visual novel, after all). Reached one ending...I won't spoil it, though. It made me think about a lot of things.

 

According to the trophy list I'm 50% done with the "main" story line (I'm assuming there is one "real" story), but there are still 5 endings left.

Looked up a guide and I know what to do to reach them. Thankfully that guide doesn't contain spoilers so I can still enjoy the story : peace:

Edited April 16, 2017 by drahkon

[Ganepark32]

Feels like ages since I last updated my completion list but then I've not had much time to play and when I have been playing, it's pretty much been invested in one big game.

 

But anyway, over the weekend there I managed to finish up Rez Infinite. I'd been waiting for this to drop in price for quite a while as the initial asking price seemed quite high considering I'd got it on the 360 back in the day for half of what it's currently going for. Eventually jumped when I saw the sale price of £15.99, though I still would have preferred it to be cheaper. But that didn't take away my enjoyment from getting to replay what is one of my favourite games of all time and enjoy the slither of new offerings tucked away within.

 

I loved the game back in the day for the soundtrack, the aesthetics and the gameplay. Such a simple yet elegantly put together game that's immediately captivating. And that still remains my take on it now. The upkick in resolution has made the game look squeaky clean and with a good pair of headphones, the soundtrack still sounds fantastic. And the gameplay, while simple, still packs a challenge when going for that 100% shotdown target as I found out myself after a relatively easy run in on Area 1 only to struggle to get through Area 2 (I don't remember that one being as difficult as it was, especially the boss).

 

The best bit though was finally getting a chance to play through the new Area X, which it's safe to say is beautiful. It's an amalgamation of what both the original Rez brought to the table as well as what came after in Child of Eden and the end result is something truly engrossing. The soundtrack is incredible and the sights (particularly the particle effects) are jaw droppingly good. It's a shame that it's really the only addition this time around but what an addition. I'd certainly be up for more if this is the avenue they were going to go down for another game in the series.

 

So yeah, a cult classic from back in the day still plays, looks and sounds every bit as good as it did and the added new area is superb. I'm going after the platinum but so many near misses in getting the full 100% in levels means it may be some time.

 

I also managed to finished up Mass Effect Andromeda the other day as well. I won't say too much on it here (I'll probably write up some more in depth thoughts for the respective thread) but what I will say is there while there are some technical issues as well as some spotty writing instances, the game is far from bad (as the likes of the Giant Bomb review have made out as half the technical issues there didn't crop up for me). In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. Sure, it doesn't come close to hitting the high notes of ME2 and even falls behind the original game in some aspects but it's still a solid effort to build on going forward for the studio, especially considering that this wasn't made by the original Mass Effect team but the ones who did the multiplayer for 3.

 

It's the worst ME title but that's not a bad thing, it's still a good game in the way some thought Twilight Princess was a bad Zelda game despite still being a good overall game, it's just marred by some issues. Probably a solid 7/8 out of 10 from me as it's got me itching to play more and see what's coming with the DLC and any possible sequels, though I hope EA don't put the brakes on there given the reception to this one as there are some interesting plot lines left wide open to explore going forward.

 

January

Bastion

Hitman - Intro Pack

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (Platinum)

Color Guardians

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (Platinum)

Velocity 2X

Titanfall 2 (Master Difficulty playthrough, Platinum)

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (Platinum)

 

February

Steep (Platinum)

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops (PS4)

The Turing Test

Coffin Dodgers (Platinum)

Dishonored 2

Shu

Not A Hero

Thomas Was Alone (Replay)

The Little Acre

The Last Guardian

 

March

For Honor

Batman: The Telltale Series (Platinum)

Hue

Eekeemoo: Splinters of the Dark Shard (Platinum)

 

April

Rez Infinite

Mass Effect Andromeda

 

 

Been trying to get to grips with Yooka-Laylee but think I've run my course on that one as I'm not enjoying it, so I'll likely head back to Horizon Zero Dawn and hopefully finish that up before I settle down with the likes of What Remains of Edith Finch and Dreamfall Chapters when they drop.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I fancied something a bit short and not too time consuming after finishing Horizon a few days back. We got back from Manchester around noon and I thought I'd give PaRappa the Rapper 2 a try after buying it in the sale after enjoying the demo.

 

I've just finished it and had a fun time with this quirky, nonsensical title. It's packed with humour and charm. My favourite level was the Romantic Karate segment, which I thought was great.

 

The game itself is a bit of a mixed bag. It's challenging, but the timing seems a bit off on occasions. I swear that I had my time just about right, but the game penalises you for it. Also, there are occasions where I felt like I had made tons of mistakes, yet somehow the game forgave me. So, it's a bit off at times.

 

On the whole, I thought it was good fun and would probably have been a favourite of mine had I played it when it first came out. For the couple of quid that I paid for it, it's not a bad little game to have in your collection.

 

I GOTTA BELIEEEEEVE!

 

Games of 2017

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

Metro Last Light Redux

The Last Guardian

Horizon: Zero Dawn

PaRappa the Rapper 2

[Blade]

Last week I finished Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I have given my thoughts about the game as I played through it on the thread. I loved it. Such a fantastic game and I am so happy that they have changed the formula as the traditional one had become stale.

 

I did really enjoy the game but at the same time I found it frustrating. Not difficilty wise but that in my view it was a missed opportunity. The game lacked a deep and expansive story and lore. I think some Witcher 3 style story telling would have made the game 10/10. The gameplay is second to none!

[Fierce_LiNk]

Last week I finished Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I have given my thoughts about the game as I played through it on the thread. I loved it. Such a fantastic game and I am so happy that they have changed the formula as the traditional one had become stale.

 

I did really enjoy the game but at the same time I found it frustrating. Not difficilty wise but that in my view it was a missed opportunity. The game lacked a deep and expansive story and lore. I think some Witcher 3 style story telling would have made the game 10/10. The gameplay is second to none!

 

That doesn't bode well for me. My biggest issue with Skyward Sword was the poor narrative and world building.

[Glen-i]

Hold up! Marle can't use Fire spells!

LIES!

 

Chrono Trigger is a SNES JRPG that released in America in 1995. It never got released over in Europe. Even when it got released on the Playstation 4 years later. (might have to re-read that sentence)

It wouldn't be until the DS port in 2009 that most Europeans got a chance to play it. But sound issues and a... questionable re-translation might have put off some purists.

Luckily, in 2011, it got released on the Wii's Virtual Console, and that's the version I played this time.

 

The game follows a guy called Crono (Not a typo, that's how it's actually spelt) who lives in the year 1000 AD.

He wakes up one morning and goes to the nearby Millennial Fair.

Naturally, this causes the apocalypse.

 

OK, yeah, there's more to it than that. But I'd rather not go into much more detail than that. Chrono Trigger's story is remarkably well-paced, well thought out and hosts a remarkable amount of "What if?" scenarios and even a few philosophical conversations. Which you wouldn't expect from a 90's SNES game.

Helps that the characters are interesting as well. Well, apart from Crono himself, who is so silent, Isaac from Golden Sun thinks he needs to project more.

 

The gameplay is quite similar to the Final Fantasy games from the same console. Following the ATB system those games utilized.

I'm not explaining it again. I'm sure you've read my Final Fantasy IX write-up, and if not. That's your fault. It's on page 4 here. I'll wait.

 

The key differences here are that battles don't take place in a separate screen, that's kinda hard to explain...

 

Basically, once this battle is over, you go back to exploring this room.

 

It's cool having no transitions in between battles. Keeps the game flowing nicely.

Another difference is that some attacks depend on where enemies are positioned. For example, one of Crono's attacks involve him spinning his sword around to hit an enemy. Normally, this hits one enemy, but if any other enemies are nearby, they get hit as well. It's a small thing that promotes some planning and observation.

The main defining mechanic are Dual Techs. What this boils down to is having two of your party members use their moves in unison.

 

 

This does require both characters to be ready to attack at the same time, and it will use up both of their turns, so while they may be powerful, it might just screw you over if you're not paying attention and suddenly realise you've used up your healer's turn right when someone is about to cop it.

There's even some Triple Techs that involve all 3 members of your current party. And they all change depending on your current setup. So there's plenty of options when it comes to strategy.

 

That said, outside of a few battles, the game doesn't get too difficult. It's a pretty easy-going RPG. With most of the challenge coming from what the player self-imposes on themself.

 

This game is probably the best-known example of the "New Game +"

You know, that feature that lets you use a finished save file to start a new game while carrying over stuff from the finished file.

It's required to get some of the game's multiple endings.

Which one you get depends on exactly when you decide to face the Final Boss. Seriously, you can go fight the Final Boss about 4-5 hours into the game. (And if you're playing New Game +, you can get there in about a minute)

This adds a hell of a lot of replayability. There are some pretty weird things that can happen because you get impatient.

 

The visuals are very nice. Sprites are full of life, from Marle's impossible High School Musical Jump, to the variety of Dual Techs that some people will try out just to see what they look like. I know I did.

 

The sound is top-notch. From the meaty sound effects, (Luminaire comes to mind) to the absolutely amazing soundtrack. It was a Youtube video about how much the music of this game adds to the atmosphere that got me to play it again.

 

Chrono Trigger is a game that pops up on a lot of 90's gamer's top 10's. Especially when it comes to RPG's from that era. And for good reason. It's a game that... Yep, I'm going there... stands the test of time. Go ahead and shoot me now.

If you can, give it a go. Whether it be the original SNES version or the DS one, or even the PlayStation one... Actually, given the loading times, might want to use that as a last resort...

 

And with that...

 

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - DS

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse - 3DS

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King - 3DS

Shining Force - The Sword of Hajya - Game Gear

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime - DS

Final Fantasy IX - PC

Super Mario Land - GB

Chrono Trigger - SNES

 

[drahkon]

Finished and Platinumed Yooka Laylee just now. Thoughts are in the dedicated thread.

 

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - Multiplayer (PS4)

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

Ghost Recon: Wildlands (PS4) co-op playthrough

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (PS4) co-op playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

Steins;Gate (PSVita)

 

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4) - GotM

Color Guardians (PS4)

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (PSVita)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Mario Land (GameBoy)

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GameBoy)

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Actual Sunlight (PSVita)

 

February

________________________________________________

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

Nioh (PS4) - GotM

 

March

________________________________________________

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - GotM

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

The Witness (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Shadow Complex Remastered (PS4)

 

April

________________________________________________

Mega Man X (SNES)

Final Fantasy VII (PS4)

Yooka Laylee (PS4)

 

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

 

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

As I'm a huge fan of Injustice, it only seemed natural to dive into Mortal Kombat XL. I've had a craving for a fighting game recently, so it made perfect sense to just go ahead and play it.

 

I fucking love it. It's probably one of my favourite fighting games now. I love the way that the characters move and I'm a big fan of the movesets that you find within the MK games. This is very similar to the Injustice game, which was in turn modelled on MK9. The character roster is pretty good and there's a nice number of variations with each character, as well as costumes to keep it looking fresh.

 

I finished the story mode today and it's quite a meaty experience. It's pretty long for a fighting game, so there's good value there. The storyline isn't going to win any Oscars, but it's entertaining and keeps you interested. The combat is just fucking fantastic though, particularly the X-Ray moves and (obviously) also the Fatalities and Brutalities, which are just as gory as ever.

 

The Krypt is a fantastic mode that adds further longevity to the game. I'm a sucker for unlockables and there's plenty of stuff to unlock here. It's like a dungeon crawler sort of mode where you have chests to open, with things such as concept art, music and costumes, as well as brutalities and fatalities to unlock. It's quite enjoyable actually and I spent a fair amount of time on the game tonight just going through the Krypt and finding out what I could or couldn't unlock just yet.

 

I really enjoyed the trash-talking that took place in Injustice at the start of each match and I'm glad to see that this is further expanded here. It does make each battle feel unique and it creates the perfect illusion that all of the characters are part of the same universe, and are not just a series of characters that are just plumped together randomly. Even the DLC characters like the Alien and Predator fit in well into the game and they don't aesthetically look out of place either.

 

This is giving me high hopes for the next Injustice game. If it follows on from this, it is going to be one of the best fighters out there, imo.

 

 

Games of 2017

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

Metro Last Light Redux

The Last Guardian

Horizon: Zero Dawn

PaRappa the Rapper 2

Mortal Kombat XL

Edited April 23, 2017 by Fierce_LiNk

[drahkon]

Finished Steins;Gate on the Vita yesterday. It has one of the best stories I have ever experienced in any kind of media. I'm a little biased, of course, because I love the concept of time travel and everything it entails but still...the way the characters developed, the way the story progressed, the twists and turns. It blew me away.

 

I still haven't reached the final ending (and nabbed the Platinum), though, because it requires specific actions at specific times. I'm currently following a guide. It's a little annoying, because while you can skip everything you've already read (which is basically everything I've seen) you have to pay attention so you don't miss those certain moments.

 

I'm pretty sure that it'll be worth it, though. Can't wait to see what the "true ending" has in store.

 

I already added that Platinum image down below because I can't be arsed to edit this later :p

 

What to play next...I decided against buying Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 as I've read from several sources that it's a bug ridden glitchfest and to be honest, I don't want to wait until the devs patch everything.

 

Maybe I'll give Volume another go. I remember @Hero\-of\-Time recommending it quite some time ago. Correct me if I'm wrong, though :p

 

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - Multiplayer (PS4)

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

Ghost Recon: Wildlands (PS4) co-op playthrough

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (PS4) co-op playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

 

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4) - GotM

Color Guardians (PS4)

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (PSVita)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Mario Land (GameBoy)

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GameBoy)

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Actual Sunlight (PSVita)

 

February

________________________________________________

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

Nioh (PS4) - GotM

 

March

________________________________________________

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - GotM

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

The Witness (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

Shadow Complex Remastered (PS4)

 

April

________________________________________________

Mega Man X (SNES)

Final Fantasy VII (PS4)

Yooka Laylee (PS4)

Steins;Gate (PSVita)

 

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

 

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

Aye, that was me. I hope it clicks for you this time.

[drahkon]

Aye, that was me. I hope it clicks for you this time.

 

Nabbed the Platinum for Steins;Gate just now and will download Volume later. Anything I should prepare for trophy-wise?

 

Have you ever played a visual novel/are you open to "playing" one? If you are, and if you aren't averse to some anime character tropes (which I assume you aren't after Persona 5 ) and time travel sci-fi you should definitely check out Steins;Gate.

 

Everyone should.

[Hero-of-Time]

Nabbed the Platinum for Steins;Gate just now and will download Volume later. Anything I should prepare for trophy-wise?

 

Have you ever played a visual novel/are you open to "playing" one? If you are, and if you aren't averse to some anime character tropes (which I assume you aren't after Persona 5 ) and time travel sci-fi you should definitely check out Steins;Gate.

 

Everyone should.

 

If I remember correctly the trophies are pretty straight forward.

 

Yeah, I played Steins Gate last year on the Vita. Thought it was a bit pants. Same goes for the one that we got free off PS+. I played through Root Letter and thought was decent enough.

[drahkon]

Yeah, I played Steins Gate last year on the Vita. Thought it was a bit pants.

 

 

You shouldn't have rushed it...

 

If I remember correctly the trophies are pretty straight forward.

 

Like I care anymore. Volume SUCKS.

 

:p

[Happenstance]

I still need to get back to Steins Gate on my Vita. I started it ages ago but didnt get all that far. I need to really be in the mood for visual novels. If I am then I'll fly through them, if not it can take me years to complete them!

[killthenet]

Been a while since I've posted in here, like pretty much everyone my game time in March was taken up almost entirely by The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. There's not much to say about it other than I absolutely loved every minute of the 170+ hours that I've put into the game. There are a few issues, particularly the lack of traditional dungeons, but nothing that seriously detracts from the quality of the game and the sheer amount of fun you can have whether you play it for 5 minutes or a couple of hours.

 

Alongside BOTW I also bought FAST RMX on the Switch. I played the original game on the Wii U and enjoyed it a lot so I was not surprised to sink a lot of time into this, although I was surprised I was able to 100% the game. Thankfully the new update has added a time trial mode so I've been chipping away at that so will still get a lot of mileage out of the game over the next couple of weeks.

 

Due to my suffering from severe anxiety and agoraphobia I've been basically housebound since May 2015 so I wasn't able to go and see Rogue One when it came out at the cinema so in preparation for me finally getting to watch it when it released on home video at the end of April I played through Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader on the Gamecube (via Wii component cables thanks to @nekunando). I had fond memories of playing through the opening Death Star attack level when the Gamecube originally came out but I never got very far past that in the game so I felt I needed to do a proper full play through. The game is a lot worse than I remembered and it's infuriatingly difficult at times so much so that I had to put on the infinite lives cheat to be able to complete a few missions.

 

Since then I've been ploughing through Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin on PS4 and I'm nearing the end of it, I think i'll definitely be playing through some shorter games next, there are a few eShop games on the Switch that I should probably invest in.

[nekunando]

Been a while since I've posted in here, like pretty much everyone my game time in March was taken up almost entirely by The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. There's not much to say about it other than I absolutely loved every minute of the 170+ hours that I've put into the game. There are a few issues, particularly the lack of traditional dungeons, but nothing that seriously detracts from the quality of the game and the sheer amount of fun you can have whether you play it for 5 minutes or a couple of hours.

 

Alongside BOTW I also bought FAST RMX on the Switch. I played the original game on the Wii U and enjoyed it a lot so I was not surprised to sink a lot of time into this, although I was surprised I was able to 100% the game. Thankfully the new update has added a time trial mode so I've been chipping away at that so will still get a lot of mileage out of the game over the next couple of weeks.

 

Due to my suffering from severe anxiety and agoraphobia I've been basically housebound since May 2015 so I wasn't able to go and see Rogue One when it came out at the cinema so in preparation for me finally getting to watch it when it released on home video at the end of April I played through Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader on the Gamecube (via Wii component cables thanks to @nekunando). I had fond memories of playing through the opening Death Star attack level when the Gamecube originally came out but I never got very far past that in the game so I felt I needed to do a proper full play through. The game is a lot worse than I remembered and it's infuriatingly difficult at times so much so that I had to put on the infinite lives cheat to be able to complete a few missions.

 

Since then I've been ploughing through Dark Souls II: Scholar Of The First Sin on PS4 and I'm nearing the end of it, I think i'll definitely be playing through some shorter games next, there are a few eShop games on the Switch that I should probably invest in.

 

I'm not into Star Wars at all but I only cleared Rogue Leader a couple of years ago. I always thought it was just OK but I agree with it being very difficult in places. I must have tried to navigate the final stage about a hundred times

 

I figured my disinterest in the franchise was why I never really loved the game but it's interesting to see a fan being negative on what I had assumed was possibly the 'best' Star Wars game.. but then I'm pretty oblivious to subsequent releases

[Ganepark32]

So I wrapped up a few games over the last week, some gems for the year and a hyped up game that didn't really hit the notes some people seem to be singing for it.

 

First up, What Remains of Edith Finch. The has been on my radar for a couple of years now and something I kept checking up on to find if there was any new info as the game seemed to disappear underground for quite some time only to resurface briefly and then be gone just as quickly as it had appeared. Thankfully, it finally saw it's release this week and I have to say, as I mentioned in the PlayStation 4 thread, it's a fantastic game and a superbly strong follow up to Giant Sparrow's previous game, The Unfinished Swan.

 

As much as I enjoyed their previous title, especially for the gameplay mechanic of painting the environment around you to find your way through it as well as for having a strong and touching narrative, this easily surpassed that. Arguably, The Unfinished Swan was more interesting to play from a gameplay perspective as you were more involved in what was happening compared to here where it follows the likes of Gone Home and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture in terms of how the game plays, with some obvious deviations in allowing more interactions.

 

The story is superbly told, slowly oozing out through the familial narratives you uncover through returning to the family home some 7 years after you left it with your mother. As you walk through, Edith ruminates about episodes that have happened, text appearing in the environment to accompany the vocalisation of it. Going from room to room, you begin to uncover the history and tragedy surrounding the members of her family, some close to her and others whom she never met. And it's through these that the game steps beyond the shadows of similar titles in the genre and stakes a claim for progression, doing so ably and creating a truly touching and evocative experience.

 

Each of the family members has their own story to tell, told through vignette sequences of gameplay. Each of these tackles a topic personal to that character and though we're never given a full personality chart for each member, these segments tell so much about each member without going overboard. The deftness with which these segments are told makes some of the tragedies and events even more tragic but also sheds light on the family itself, long believed to be cursed and all dying before their time, it's enlightening to the true plight and reasoning behind the family's demise.

 

These segments vary drastically in the content you'll play through. From extended sequence as different animals to a trippy bath scene to a groundhog day-esque sequence, each story has something different to tell and show, more often than not matching to tone of the narrative unfolding. Some sequences hit the mark incredibly well; one in particular surrounding a character named Lewis is frighteningly realistic in it's telling and that groundhog day one hits a similar note, carrying on from a previous segment. It threw up different emotions within me for each, some striking a chord more than others but all doing so more than any the game in the genre has done previously.

 

The game is a visual stunner at times, with a level of detail that gives further realism and credence to the events unfolding or that have unfurled. There are a few stutters, some visual blurring when turning the camera but the attention to detail in the aesthetics and similarly deft use of music to book end some of the key themes and moments makes the game beautiful to experience.

 

I finished it all at just under the 3 hour mark, making it a short experience for the price of entry. Yet, comparative to some of the other titles in the genre, it strikes such a chord that I didn't feel cheated out of my time. I felt it lasted just long enough, given you enough of a taster for each of the family members and wrapping things up well but still leaving an air of mystery surrounding things. For me, it was easily worth the price and I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for a short but extremely well written experience to play between the glut of bigger titles that we seem to be getting bombarded with currently. Definitely one of my favourite titles this year.

 

Next up, I played David O'Reilly's Everything. It's a simulation game but to call it a game would be disingenuous to what it really is. It's more of an experience piece, one meant to evoke thoughts on our place in the world, the universe and how we connect with everything and everyone.

 

There's little substance to the gameplay: you can jump between animals, objects, plants, buildings, cars, etc. at whim, walk around an environment and read thoughts from those objects before ascending or descending to another plain of existence, be that microscopic and bacterial to intergalactic or subatomic. In each of these, you can occupy objects from these levels of scale, move around, "speak" to other objects, group up and then dance to produce more objects. That's all there is too it, simply adding to an ever growing list of things that you've been while collecting thoughts.

 

That doesn't sound like much but the gameplay is bookended by the inclusion of recordings of philosopher Alan Watts discussing the topics and themes that the game is aimed to get you thinking about. And these audio logs add some flavour to the background as you go about trying to be every object at each scale level, providing food for thought and certainly making you think about things.

 

It's not on a level that would remotely be considered a stellar title but there was something engrossing about the experience; hearing these audio logs and thinking about the bigger picture, the interconnectedness of things made the experience one that has certainly stayed with me and kept me coming back to work through the arduous task of obtaining the platinum trophy.

 

It's not for everyone, indeed I'd be hard pressed to recommend to most people because of how off the scale it feels but it's an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed for its simplicity and for the topics of discussion it brought up. Much like how playing The Turing Test made me want to go off and read some Turing, this has made me want to go off and read/listen to some more of Alan Watts' thoughts on the topic. And that's perhaps the biggest compliment to the game, that's it's engaged my mind in a way few other titles have and got me thinking about topics that I never really put much thought into.

 

And finally, I played through Nier Automata getting 2 endings before calling it quits. It's a game that's garnered a lot of attention as the game at the fringes that will mostly be ignored but shouldn't. From my experience, however, it didn't match up to those standards that people and reviews were stating and ultimately fell flat. I thought the action was ok but it felt a bit dated and I wasn't taken either by the story, the characters or the quests you were given. While nothing about it was overly bad, it just didn't land where I thought it would and seemed to be more middle of the road than anything else.

 

I also object to having to play through multiple times to get the full story/true ending even if you get to jump on a different character the second/third time through. Sure, it extends the life of the game but surely they could have handled it better with a single run through instead of like this. Maybe I'll go back to it further down the line and see how it all pans out (though I think I've figured out the big twist in the story) but for now it goes onto the shelf while I get stuck in with other games.

 

January

Bastion

Hitman - Intro Pack

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (Platinum)

Color Guardians

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (Platinum)

Velocity 2X

Titanfall 2 (Master Difficulty playthrough, Platinum)

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (Platinum)

 

February

Steep (Platinum)

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops (PS4)

The Turing Test

Coffin Dodgers (Platinum)

Dishonored 2

Shu

Not A Hero

Thomas Was Alone (Replay)

The Little Acre

The Last Guardian

 

March

For Honor

Batman: The Telltale Series (Platinum)

Hue

Eekeemoo: Splinters of the Dark Shard (Platinum)

 

April

Rez Infinite

Mass Effect Andromeda

What Remains of Edith Finch

Everything (Platinum)

Nier Automata (Endings A and G)

 

 

I'm currently playing through Syberia 3 but that's not gelling with me as it's a pretty poorly made game. Thankfully, I've got Little Nightmares to play and have pre-ordered GNOG for Tuesday coming so looking forward to getting stuck in there. Also looking forward to finally sitting down with Dreamfall Chapters next Friday when it arrives.