Your 2017 Gaming Diary

[nekunando]

I cleared a couple more games on my PS4 before the Switch arrives on Friday with Breath of the Wild taking centre stage

 

On Monday morning, I played through the last few stages of Unravel

 

 

The game is obviously rather charming to look at and I found it to be mostly beautiful throughout. Thankfully, there was enough gameplay there to make it an enjoyable experience which is perhaps more than can be said for my next title..

 

 

Oh Journey..

 

Journey had a chance to make an impression on me back on PS3 a few years ago and failed to live up to the adulation received. On that occasion, I played through the game by myself and was perplexed at the excessive positivity surrounding it as there wasn't much of a 'game' to it. It was merely a short 'journey' from start to finish, as you might expect

 

I noticed when I bought my PS4 that I was able to download the game onto my system for free since I already owned the PS3 version so I decided then that I would give it another opportunity to win my affection.

 

After Unravel ended, I immediately moved onto Journey and met a couple of people along the way, the second of which partnered me through to the end

 

Unfortunately, that was perhaps about the only positive thing I could really add to my original impressions of the game If anything, there's actually less to it than I remember and is lacking any real enjoyment..

[Blade]

I have completed and platinumed Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4) my thoughts are in the thread. I really enjoyed it. Recommended!

[Jonnas]

Well, since this game has occupied so much of my free time as of late, and since I only got around to completing its base content this weekend, it's only fair I mention it:

 

Fire Emblem Heroes

 

	Audio

 

"The main theme sounds like Vic Reeves singing the FE theme for Shooting Stars! This game now has a way to entertain me." -Glen-i

So, since the Fire Emblem Direct sent me into such a FE craze, this mobile game was just perfect for me, and it turned out to be pretty fun, and deeper than I originally thought.

Some of my first impressions from the game's main thread are still true:

Quote

I've never played a free-to-play strategy RPG on the phone before, but this one... is pretty darn fun! It's very simple, with basic mechanics, but they work, and not once have I felt like positioning and tactics were unimportant. It doesn't really hold a candle to the main series proper, but that's probably for the best.

[...]

I like all the different modes. The Story eases you into the game and provides harder versions of itself, the tower is nice to grind a little and try out new characters & skills, and the Arena gives you the real challenge [...]. I think I like the Achievement system the most, though, encouraging you to play differently, or seek out specific goals.

The story is throwaway, but it's awesome to see so many familiar faces. As a FE fan, I love seeing the likes of Matthew, Fir and Nino with new artwork and voices. And plenty new dialogue to boot, I love talking to random people at the base.

And with a few more weeks under my belt, there are a few other relevant points to make:

 

-The extra content they've been putting out has been very satisfying. They've added 10 new characters into the pool, a few extra maps with great rewards, and new quests/achievements every so often;

-The Grand Challenge maps are great. They present a very difficult situation that can't be brute-forced with your best units. You need to use characters with support skills or specific stats/attributes of skills, so you better have been training a wide variety of them. Great to see challenges you can't simply grind your way out of;

-Speaking of which, the metagame formed in the Arena has become quite fun, though a tad skewed towards certain characters (armour knights grant extra points by default, while mages suffer a penalty). Love to see it evolve further;

-Raising your characters to the max ranking is way harder than it should be. I get that they want to encourage paying for new character pulls, but this is needlessly frustrating as it is (I mean, you start with 3 characters you can't roll more of, and we're unlocking more of them every two weeks);

-I don't know what's going to happen once the free orbs run out. Half the fun is getting new characters, and if I must pay for more, my interest might plummet.

 

All things considered, I still stand by what I said before:

Quote

So yeah, I think this game deserves to find success, even if it is Fire Emblem-lite. And for those of you playing this as your first Fire Emblem... if you like how this one plays, you should absolutely check out the main series proper. It offers much greater gameplay depth, as well as dialogue actually worth reading.

 

 

Played/Beat/Completed:

-Huniepop (2015) Completed (January 8th)

-Super Meat Boy (2010) Completed (February 3rd)

-Fire Emblem Heroes (2017) Beaten (February 25th (Base Content))

 

Currently Playing:

-Fire Emblem: Awakening

-Edna & Harvey: The Breakout

-Dungeon Keeper [On-Hold]

-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance [On-Hold]

 

Misc.

-Freedom Planet 2 Demo

-Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade Replay

Edited August 20, 2017 by Jonnas
Needed reformatting

[Glen-i]

Yep, that title theme is still very funny.

It's so forced and clumsy, it brings a massive smile to my face listening to it.

 

I kinda wanna mod it to the Castle Siege stage in Smash.

[nekunando]

Today was indeed the dawn of the final day..

 

 

It has taken a while for me to finally put Majora's Mask 3D to bed as I just couldn't seem to stick with it for any length of time.

 

To be honest, it's probably one of my least favourite in the series due to the structure of it but I can absolutely see why it is adored by others

 

I resumed my save file at the Stone Temple a couple of days ago and took a few moments to find my bearings again and figure out what I was doing but the constant switching of masks throughout that area really irritated me and I was almost glad when it was all over this afternoon.

 

I probably didn't even experience half of what the game has to offer, especially when you consider the fact that I basically ignored the stray fairies and didn't even attain enough heart pieces to make it onto the second row

 

Anyway, I set myself a goal recently of finally beating it before Breath of the Wild and that has been achieved!

[Hero-of-Time]

Today was indeed the dawn of the final day..

 

 

It has taken a while for me to finally put Majora's Mask 3D to bed as I just couldn't seem to stick with it for any length of time.

 

To be honest, it's probably one of my least favourite in the series due to the structure of it but I can absolutely see why it is adored by others

 

I resumed my save file at the Stone Temple a couple of days ago and took a few moments to find my bearings again and figure out what I was doing but the constant switching of masks throughout that area really irritated me and I was almost glad when it was all over this afternoon.

 

I probably didn't even experience half of what the game has to offer, especially when you consider the fact that I basically ignored the stray fairies and didn't even attain enough heart pieces to make it onto the second row

 

Anyway, I set myself a goal recently of finally beating it before Breath of the Wild and that has been achieved!

 

@dazzybee take note!

[Fierce_LiNk]

After playing Metro 2033, I decided to go straight ahead into Metro: Last Light Redux. The game essentially functions as Metro Part 2. It carries on after the events of 2033 and features the same sorts of themes and conventions.

 

I had a fantastic time with Last Light and once again fell in love with the harsh world and characters of Metro. The game has more of a focus this time around on the human characters that exist in this world, rather than just being a struggle with the mutants. It's essentially a story about how humans still cause conflict amongst themselves, set to the backdrop of a nuclear war. The visuals on the surface are fantastic and the game still contains that classic claustrophobic fear of life living in the Metro tunnels.

 

There were only a few frustrating moments. Just little niggles where it felt like the shooting sections went on a tad too long or that it was quite difficult to see certain enemies due to a combination of the dark lighting and then being blinded by their headlight.

 

The story has caught my interest and now I'm tempted to get into the Metro books to fully immerse myself in this world. Apparently there's a new Metro game in the works, too!

 

 

Games of 2017

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

Metro Last Light Redux

[drahkon]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild done. Good but I don't understand the insanely high praise.

 

I might get Horizon Zero Dawn sometime this week. Or maybe I'll continue with God of War III.

 

Didn't even choose my GOTM for February...only two games to choose from and it's an easy choice:

 

Nioh

 

Gameplay at its best. Loved it from start to finish and can't wait for the DLC to release.

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

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

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

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)

 

March

________________________________________________

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

 

 

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

 

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

 

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've followed The Last Guardian for years and have always been interested in its development and just the whole mystery and aura surrounding it. I played through Ico last year and loved it, so my hopes were set quite high for The Last Guardian.

 

I've just finished the game and loved it immensely. Yes, there are issues with the camera. The controls are quite similar to Ico, so I wasn't as taken aback by them, but they are quite fiddly in places. The frame rate is dodgy. Still, despite all of those problems, the positives far, far outweigh the negatives for me. I am in love with Trico and he has to go down as one of the best gaming companions of all time. I spent such a large part of the game studying Trico and watching his movements and mannerisms. The relationship between Trico and the narrator was crafted masterfully and I'm just so sad that I've reached the end of the game where there's no more to be seen. It's that fine balance where you have your fill, but you have that hunger for slightly more.

 

Overall, this has surpassed Ico for me and is going to be a personal favourite for a long while. The music is sporadic, but it's used well to highlight key emotional moments. I'm very happy that I managed to experience this game!

 

 

Games of 2017

 

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

Metro Last Light Redux

The Last Guardian

Edited March 11, 2017 by Fierce_LiNk

[drahkon]

Finished Horizon Zero Dawn and got the Platinum. Absolutely astounding game.

 

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

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

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

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)

 

March

________________________________________________

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

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

 

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

 

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

 

[lostmario]

I've had a great start to the year so far gaming wise

 

Cleared:

 

PS4

 

Heavy Rain

Beyond Two Souls

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Deadpool

Ratchet & Clank

Just Cause 3

 

Wii U

 

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

 

 

Currently playing: Ghost Recon: Wildlands

[drahkon]

God of War III Remastered is done. Very enjoyable

I'll leave the Platinum for some other time.

 

I'm in the mood for another brutal game so I decided to download Hotline Miami. Finished it quite some time ago but I'll play it again over the next few days/weeks depending on the amount of free time I have. : peace:

 

Currently Playing

____________________________________

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Multiplayer (PS4)

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

Stardew Valley (PS4) long-term playthrough

 

The Witness (PS4)

Hotline Miami (PS4)

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

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)

 

March

________________________________________________

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

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (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 March 12, 2017 by drahkon

[Ganepark32]

Been a busy couple of weeks for me what with moving house and so I've only just recently in the last week or so had time to spend on playing and finishing up some games.

 

I start off March with what has to be the biggest surprise title of the year in the form of For Honor. I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did but I loved it. I went in knowing that the game was predominantly being placed as a multiplayer title with a tacked on single player campaign and in some ways it does feel like that when playing the single player.

 

There's a lack of depth or forethought that's apparent through playing it and it's a shame that they didn't take the campaign further and really develop the factions and their individual histories. You get glimpses of history, of lore, surrounding the factions but it's so underdeveloped that it begs the question of why. If all they wanted to do was use the campaign as an enlarged tutorial, then they should have just done that. What makes it more criminal as the foundations are there to have gone off and run with it, turning it into a fantastically deep single player experience. But as it is, it's serviceable in letting you learn the ropes and giving a few moments that stand out, though these parts fall so late in the game that again it shows the afterthought nature of the campaign.

 

It's not all bad on the campaign front, thanks to the gameplay on display and it's certainly a good idea to see your way through it to learn the ropes of the combat before venturing online. The combat is the real highlight of the game and it's just so well put together and visceral; it feels great to control and despite only a couple of inputs to it, it's surprisingly deep. Movement of the right stick to the top, left or right allows you to change stance on the fly and use of the right trigger and bumper buttons allows for heavy and light attacks. On the surface, there's not too much to it but in the height of battle, planning your attacks in conjunction with a stamina bar and the ability to block enemy attacks with the same directional input on the right stick, it quickly becomes a hugely satisfying game of life and death where one tiny mistake can see you dead online and off.

 

Other additions such as parries, shoves and feints really open up the combat, especially in duels, and some well timed counters can easily turn the tide in close combat. Executions are also there for dispatching your foes, coming in especially handy in multiplayer matches for preventing revives.

 

When that combat system is put into practice online, it works wonders and it's remarkably satisfying taking it to an enemy player as a Viking, Samurai or Knight. There's only a smattering of online modes to choose from but with an added meta-game in the form of Faction Wars, where you align yourself with a faction and send troops to take over territories, there's good incentive to get involved in all types. Throw in the ability to choose from 12 warrior types (4 for each faction, each with their own strengths and weaknesses) and it all builds to some really special, I feel anyway. Been enjoying playing as the Berserker and Valkyrie classes for the Viking faction due to their speed but have met many an end at the end of other light weight and heavy weight combatants.

 

It's a shame some of the online parts didn't transfer over to the single player; incorporating the Faction Wars into the campaign along with fleshing out the lore and the general missions would have greatly improved that side of things. Hopefully a sequel might do such a thing. But even with that being said, I enjoyed it immensely both in single and multiplayer and it's definitely one of my favourite games of the year.

 

Ubisoft really do seem to be on a bit of a roll lately with some of their smaller titles. This and Steep have been fantastic to play through on top of Watch Dogs 2 and last year's Far Cry Primal. More of this kind of thing please Ubisoft.

 

Finally got round to also playing the rest of Batman: The Telltale Series after playing the first episode on release last year and not picking up the rest. I was hesitant to play through it as while I enjoyed the first episode enough, it didn't grab me and that's a sentiment that's remained after playing the full experience.

 

I don't think it's Telltale's finest work; the writing feels stilted and awkward in places and it doesn't quite seem to know what style of Batman it's going for. I didn't care much for the story or how quickly they went to certain things and then they kind of got thrown away. It just didn't seem to gel as well as some of their other games. And the inevitable set up for season 2 was something you could see coming a mile off. I just knew they were going to go that way before you even got to the latter episodes. Here's hoping that when/if they go ahead with a second season, a bit more time is spent on the writing and pinpointing the identity they want to go with because this felt schizophrenic at times for its characters. For now, Tales from the Borderlands is still may favourite Telltales series.

 

Picked up Hue in the recent PS4 sale and was pleasantly surprised to find a simple but hugely enjoyable game. The core mechanic is handled extremely well and small iterations as you play through it to change things up prevent it from becoming stale. It plays so well and I found myself grinning at how simple and clever the mechanic is used throughout, and never felt it outstayed its welcome. Definitely worth a punt if you're looking for a reasonably short (about 4 hours) platform/puzzle title.

 

And finished up the recently release Eekeemoo: Splinter of the Dark Shards for the platinum earlier today and well... let's just say that it was pretty awful and felt like one of those shovelware PS1 games you used to see when you went into the post office or wherever back in the late 90's. It just played so poorly, looked awful and became a bore by the end even though I was more or less done in just over an hour. Never Alone is how an eskimo game should be done, not like this.

 

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)

 

 

I'm now juggling both Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost Recon: Wildlands but with Mass Effect Andromeda out next week and a slew of other titles (Nier Automata, Rain World, Snake Pass, etc.), there's just so little time for all of these amazing games that are being release in the first 3 months of the year. It's crazy.

[Glen-i]

It's a bloody Slime! Stop getting battered!

 

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is a spin-off of the Dragon Quest Series. It's a gooey action adventure much like the Zelda Series. It came out in America in 2006, but never made it over here.

 

The game follows a bog-standard Slime enemy named Rocket. He lives in a town called Boingburg, a town full of Slimes. Stuff quickly gets messy when a organisation called the Plob invades and kidnaps 100 of the Slimy population.

Luckily, Rocket didn't get slimenapped because for certain reasons, he didn't look much like a Slime at the time.

 

So Rocket's quest involves defeating the Plob and rescuing the other 100 Slimes. Pretty simple, right?

 

As I mentioned before, the game plays much like a Zelda game. A 2D one, mind you. None of these new-fangled open-world shenanigans here.

Most of the mechanics revolves around Rocket's Elasto Blast attack, which catapults him places, which he uses to attack and carry stuff. He can send all this stuff back to his hometown, which can be used in a segment I'll get to.

All around the world are Treasure Chests that contain your Slime brethren which, naturally, you should look for, otherwise, what's the point?

 

What's this Slime on!?

 

These bits don't get too taxing. Combat is pretty simple. Rocket is kinda ridiculous in how strong he is. (Which is strange, considering he's a slime) Not to mention all the Heart Container rip-off's, you shouldn't be dying in this game, really. I still found it enjoyable, a few puzzles, a bit of exploration, it does what it sets out to do.

 

The other half of the game involves Giant Tank Battles. Oh yeah, there's giant tanks in this. And you get one in the shape of a Slime, naturally.

These sections involve you shoving all the stuff you've collected on your journey into cannons and shooting them at the enemy.

 

 

This is surprisingly in-depth, you can equip your tank with 20 pieces of ammo at once and they all have different effects, some are for attacking, others can block incoming cannon fire, while others heal your tank. You can even fire yourself from a cannon in an attempt to infiltrate the enemy tank and sabotage it from within, fight a commander or even nick their ammo, bring it to your tank and use it against them. You can even enlist some Slimes you rescue to help you out and they all have different behaviours.

 

Once a tank loses it's HP, the engine gets exposed, allowing someone to run into the tank and blow it up, ending the fight.

 

These are loads of fun. And it's even Multiplayer to boot, good luck finding someone else with this game though...

 

Also, Chrono Twigger

 

The visuals and sound are nothing amazing, not offensive, but just... well, there. It's all very cute though.

 

Wait, is that a pistol? And this game is rated E?

 

I certainly enjoyed Rocket Slime. It's nothing amazing, but it's a nice Zelda-Lite that oozes charm and fun.

That said, if you hate Slime puns, you might want to look elsewhere...

 

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

 

 

My next write-up is gonna be a biggie, a game of a long-running series that decided to look back on it's roots to influence a later entry.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

Stopped playing Hotline Miami as Shadow of Mordor has gripped me.

 

Wish the lady would take some time off from studying so we can finally finish The Witness...

 

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

 

The Witness (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

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)

 

March

________________________________________________

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

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (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)

 

[Aperson]

Took a break from Pokemon SoulSilver because I picked up Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) on the cheap. Playing that as something to keep me going until I can finally play Breath of the Wild (it's a complicated story).

 

On the battle against the 1000 Heartless at the moment so made quite a fair amount of progress. Controls are so much better than the first game (camera being on the right stick is so much better than the shoulder buttons) but I also feel like the improvements to the combat and the amount of hits you can do in a single combo which rank up quite rapidly after a few levels from the basic combat which makes defeating enemies rather easier. I suppose I did pick the power option but the only boss battle I failed at so far is the Barbossa fight and that's more because I didn't realise that if Jack Sparrow died it was Game Over (playing on Normal difficulty). That said, the first game's boss fights were rather easy for the most part and then Ursula turned up and was a massive difficulty spike, with the late game fights being even more of a challenge.

 

This game also seems to continue the first game's trend of extremely repeititve in battle quotes ("GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!", "DANCE WATER DANCE", "THAT'S RIGHT AWAY YOU GO!") although I did like the scene when Tifa was asking if Sora has seen someone with spiky hair.

[drahkon]

Been playing Shadow of Mordor a bit over the past few days.

 

I have absolutely no interest in the lore (LotR is not for me) so I skip every cutscene. But I'm still having a blast It does get repetitive but I don't mind. It's fun, the combat is great and the Nemesis system is awesome.

 

I'd enjoy it even more if it had a different setting, but that's not the game's fault.

[Glen-i]

My next write-up is gonna be a biggie, a game of a long-running series that decided to look back on it's roots to influence a later entry.

 

I think you've figured out where I'm going with this...

 

Of course! What else could it be?

 

Final Fantasy IX is a traditional RPG in the...

Huh? You were expecting a more recent game? Nah, I have no idea why you'd think that.

 

Anyway, Final Fantasy IX is a traditional RPG in the long running Final Fantasy series. It originally came out for the Playstation in 2001.

I, however, played the PC port that came out last year. They are both essentially the same game, but the PC version has some quality-of-life improvements.

 

A bit of a recap of my history with Final Fantasy...

Back in the GBA days, I played my first ever Final Fantasy, the GBA remake of Final Fantasy. I enjoyed it and went on to play Final Fantasy II. I enjoyed that too, even if it was a little borked. Then I played the DS remake of FF III.

 

So I've been playing through each mainline Final Fantasy game in order for the first time.

2 years ago, I played through Final Fantasy VIII. I posted my thoughts on it here.

This led to a... discussion between @Sheikah and I.

 

Actual footage of our discussion.

 

And then @Jonnas said this.

 

Well, I hope you enjoy Final Fantasy IX, then One of the best RPGs I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

 

No pressure then, let's get started.

 

The story follows a dude called Zidane. He works with a group called Tantalus, a band of bandits pretending to be a theater troupe.

Their latest job involves kidnapping Princess Garnet. She's the Princess of Alexandria. It goes pretty smoothly, but it turns out Garnet is in the middle of doing a runner anyway, which simplifies matters. Shame their Airship gets shot down, forcing them to crash land into Evil Forest, which sounds like a lovely place to crash into.

 

So why does Garnet want to escape her kingdom? Could there be a sinister plot in the making? Can Zidane stop all this possible evil-ness and save the day? Don't look at me, I'm not spoiling the story.

 

I quite liked the story here, it's definitely more of a medieval setting that most Final Fantasy stories are known for, and I feel it works well. Especially after the more Steampunk settings of the two previous games. The characters are quite different to each other, from cocky Zidane to far too serious Steiner to "Clearly here for Comic Relief" Quina.

Which is definitely an improvement over unlikable Squall, and utterly pointless Selphie from VIII.

 

That said, the main villain, Kuja, might just be the lamest FF villain so far.

He starts off like a typical, "I want ultimate power" bad guy. But near the end of the... actually, better spoiler tag this.

 

Kuja learns through another character that he won't live forever, because he can never gain true immortality. So the natural reaction is to throw a massive hissy fit and decide that if he has to die, the whole world might as well not exist.

What a lame excuse, he never aimed to blow up the world in the first place. It felt like a total personality shift, and it was a bit clunky.

He's not even the final boss anyway, so *Shrugs*

As far as I can tell, the final boss, Necron, is Final Fantasy's version of Death? He just kinda appears out of nowhere with pretty much no warning though.

 

 

Anyway, Gameplay.

It's a traditional turn-based RPG using the ATB system that Final Fantasy IV used. Basically during the course of a battle, each character has an "ATB bar" that fills up over time, when it's full, that character can do something. This system works, making sure the player decides on what to do quickly because enemies will still attack if you wait around.

 

Like I said a while ago, I played the PC port of this game. Which involves a few gameplay improvements. The game has faster loading, a number of options that skip some animations in battle, and some totally cheating options that max out character levels, money and abilities. Naturally, I never touched these, but it's nice that they're there.

 

A few new mechanics in FF IX include the Trance system, which when activated, transforms a character, giving them special skills. It's similar to FF VII's Limit Breaks. But much more temporary.

Another feature is the way equipment works. Not only does it affect stats, but it also allows party members to learn abilities, whether they be spells, or more passive abilities.

 

Doomsday is a pretty late-game spell, to be fair...

 

I really like this system, even if a piece of equipment is not good, stat-wise, it might have a new spell or ability to learn, making a lot of equipment much more useful. It's very clever and I enjoyed it a whole bunch.

 

But unfortunately, not everything is perfect.

The pre-rendered background still causes some confusion with where to go, it's not as bad as FF VIII, but it still crops up.

 

But my biggest gripe is well, an issue I've had with all of the Playstation Final Fantasy games...

 

Yeah, you're never getting this sword.

 

This one takes the absolute cake...

The amount of obtuse, ridiculous and downright missable stuff in this game is off the chart!

That picture above is easily the worst of the worst. That's one of the "Ultimate Weapons", it's in one of the last rooms in the game and is invisible.

Hmm? That's not too bad? Yeah, I guess it doesn't seem too bad. A thorough person could find that. Mario RPG had worse stuff.

Oh wait, did I mention that weapon disappears forever after 12 hours of game time?

 

That's completely unreasonable! No normal player is going to ever find that. This game has loads of "Guide dang it!" moments that are clearly there to sell the guide.

Fortunately, FF VII and VIII (Especially VIII) taught me to just have a walkthrough to hand throughout the game. Ruined a bit of the fun, but it can't be helped.

Thankfully, TV Tropes has listed three of the worst occurrences.

 

Receiving the most powerful weapon, the Excalibur 2, requires that one must reach a certain room in the final dungeon within the very difficult time limit of 12 hours. Not only is this information not given to the player at any point in the game, but the location of the weapon is just as difficult to find. What's worse, once the time limit has been reached, the weapon is Permanently Missable (the "!" above your head disappears if you made it to the right spot in time but don't actually pick it up quickly enough). The guide also doesn't tell you that there is a technique that allows you to skip the cutscenes completely, which certainly makes the time limit easier to cope with. (In fairness, the makers of the guide may not have realised this.)

 

Getting the first Excalibur is no picnic either. There's nothing at all that even hints at how you're supposed to find the MacGuffin a certain NPC wants (you have to buy four other MacGuffins, sell them around town to specific townspeople, then re-buy them for it to even appear), and then you have to bid a king's ransom at the Auction House to buy it. Not only not fun, but it's not even his best sword! (That would be, not counting the above mentioned Excalibur 2, the sword Ragnarok, though Excalibur is the only sword that can teach Steiner one of his most powerful skills...except the one Ragnarok teaches is even more powerful. Go figure.)

 

The Nero Family side quest. It involves proceeding forward into the final dungeon, then leaving immediately after each cutscene and boss to backtrack to Tantalus' hideout in Lindblum. You have to do this nine times, and at the end, you get a Protect Ring. If you fail to backtrack too many times, then it will be Permanently Missable. This quest was so obscure, that it was discovered and recorded for the first time in 2013, nearly thirteen years after the game came out!

 

13 YEARS!

 

 

Good thing the actual game is fun! It's a much more solid game and I still enjoyed it, stupid impossible secrets aside.

 

The graphics are great by PS1 standards, they nailed the art style, a nice, happy medium between Lego Final Fantasy (7) and too realistic for the hardware Final Fantasy (8). The PC version is in a higher resolution to boot. And that even includes the FMV cutscenes. (Yeah, Square still had the original files so they look really nice now)

 

Like, really nice!

 

The soundtrack is really stellar too, I do prefer the music from FF VIII, but this is a great soundtrack in it's own right. The world map music is a straight-up masterpiece!

 

Go on, listen to it.

 

So all in all, the Playstation Final Fantasies ended on the best of the three. FF IX is a great RPG, but stupid impossible secrets and pre-rendered background issues keep it from knocking FF VI off of my top spot.

The PC port is a great way to play the game to boot. FF X is gonna have a tough time following this.

 

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

 

[drahkon]

Whenever I see a screenshot/hear a song from FFIX I get nostalgic...11 year old me playing his first JRPG. Good times.

 

In other news: Shadow of Mordor continues to be very fun. The Nemesis system is awesome, can't wait to see how the devs expand it in the next game. Trying to finish it and get the Platinum before Yooka Laylee is released, but that should be manageable.

 

I've also bought the new maps for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered because I'm a sucker. But the maps are awesome.

I'll most likely skip this years CoD until it's cheaper mid-2018 and spend most of my multiplayer-shooter time with MWR and Infinite Warfare (which I should definitely get back to, but MWR is just so good ).

Edited March 25, 2017 by drahkon

[Jonnas]

No pressure then, let's get started.

 

Haha I'm glad you enjoyed it, though! "Second to FFVI" is still a pretty respectable position.

 

That said, the main villain, Kuja, might just be the lamest FF villain so far.

He starts off like a typical, "I want ultimate power" bad guy. But near the end of the... actually, better spoiler tag this.

 

Kuja learns through another character that he won't live forever, because he can never gain true immortality. So the natural reaction is to throw a massive hissy fit and decide that if he has to die, the whole world might as well not exist.

What a lame excuse, he never aimed to blow up the world in the first place. It felt like a total personality shift, and it was a bit clunky.

He's not even the final boss anyway, so *Shrugs*

As far as I can tell, the final boss, Necron, is Final Fantasy's version of Death? He just kinda appears out of nowhere with pretty much no warning though.

 

I honestly like that his final plan is a hissy fit. So many villains have such generic, stock goals, it's nice to see someone who's driven by more basic emotions, and one that ties into the game's overarching theme (the meaning of life). Especially since he's willing to have an honest conversation with Zidane after mellowing down, it makes him feel like an actual person.

 

As for Necron, yeah, he's pretty much there because the developers thought they needed a final battle against someone who represented Death. So his role in the story is still ambiguous for many (Is he literally Death, a Grim Reaper, or are the characters actually dying and only seeing him as a hallucination, a symbol that they need to overcome to wake up? There are multiple interpretations)

 

 

But my biggest gripe is well, an issue I've had with all of the Playstation Final Fantasy games...

 

Yeah, you're never getting this sword.

 

This one takes the absolute cake...

The amount of obtuse, ridiculous and downright missable stuff in this game is off the chart!

That picture above is easily the worst of the worst. That's one of the "Ultimate Weapons", it's in one of the last rooms in the game and is invisible.

Hmm? That's not too bad? Yeah, I guess it doesn't seem too bad. A thorough person could find that. Mario RPG had worse stuff.

Oh wait, did I mention that weapon disappears forever after 12 hours of game time?

 

That's completely unreasonable! No normal player is going to ever find that. This game has loads of "Guide dang it!" moments that are clearly there to sell the guide.

Fortunately, FF VII and VIII (Especially VIII) taught me to just have a walkthrough to hand throughout the game. Ruined a bit of the fun, but it can't be helped.

Thankfully, TV Tropes has listed three of the worst occurrences.

 

 

I knew you'd freak out by that :p What annoys me in this game are the "missed forever" quests (that chest behind the gears in Dali Village still infuriates me to this day), so stuff like the obtuse Auction house thing I still don't find too bad. However, the way to get Ragnarok II is so ballsy, I ain't even mad.

 

What did you think of the Chocobo side-quest, though? When I was younger, I only found out at the end that a lot of good items were hidden in that mini-game. And it's fun, but if you only start it at the endgame, it'll feel very time-consuming for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

13 YEARS!

[Glen-i]

I knew you'd freak out by that :p What annoys me in this game are the "missed forever" quests (that chest behind the gears in Dali Village still infuriates me to this day), so stuff like the obtuse Auction house thing I still don't find too bad. However, the way to get Ragnarok II is so ballsy, I ain't even mad.

 

What did you think of the Chocobo side-quest, though? When I was younger, I only found out at the end that a lot of good items were hidden in that mini-game. And it's fun, but if you only start it at the endgame, it'll feel very time-consuming for sure.

 

On the plus side, the PC versions cheat options make a 12 hour run much more achievable.

 

Chocobo hot and cold was strangely relaxing. It made a great minigame to break up the usual gameplay. The Chocographs were executed well. Giving you an image which you had to find on the world map.

 

So now we know where Breath of the Wild got that idea from.

 

The only issue I had with all of the Chocobo stuff was getting Zidane's Ultimate Weapon, uhh, Ultima Weapon...

 

It's the only Chocobo chest that has absolutely no indication it's there. No Chocograph picture, no bubbles in the ocean, not a thing.

Doesn't help that it only appears after Disc 4 as well. (Oh yeah, the PC version has no Disc switching, forgot to mention that.)

 

But that's a very small part, the Chocobo sidequests were all enjoyable.

Like you said, the thought of doing all of it in one sitting is very daunting.

But doing it now and again throughout the game is very enjoyable.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

The lady and I finished The Witness last night. All that's left is one trophy for the Platinum and holy hell...gonna be tough.

It requires practice and a good understanding of all puzzle types. "The Challenge" is a series of randomly generated panels that you need to complete in a limited amount of time (aprox. 6 1/2 minutes). We spent an hour on it this morning but became a little frustrated since luck definitely influences the chances of success. Sometimes the puzzles are quite difficult and take too long...

 

We gave up for now because our concentration had reached rock bottom Even though it was slightly frustrating it was still fun and I can't wait to give this another try. The lady and I complement each other quite well because she can solve a certain puzzle type easily while I'm just too slow. It's the other way round with a different type. : peace:

 

Also: I did not expect a puzzle game to make my heart race. I shit you not, we were close to the end...The following plays in the background (it's the second song that plays during the challenge - the first one is Anitra's Dance by Edvard Grieg):

 

	Audio

 

Just seconds before the song entered its epicness I solved the puzzle thinking "Oh yeah, it is done."...but noooo, two more puzzles showed up. My heart started racing, I activated one panel looking for the solution, the music speeding up, my heart beating faster...I was panicking..seriously

 

And I failed...

 

But this moment will be one of my favourite gaming experiences ever.

 

Edit: Finished Shadow of Mordor today and got the Platinum. The gameplay was somewhere between good and great, I didn't care for the lore/setting so I can't judge it, some trophies were a little annoying. All in all a fun game and well worth the 10 bucks I spent

 

What to play next...I think I'll have to finally get on with Steins;Gate on the Vita. I could use a visual novel game after that open world onslaught I took part in Might be a good idea to mix it up and play the Vita version of Salt and Sanctuary in between.

 

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

 

The Witness (PS4)

Steins;Gate (PSVita)

Salt and Sanctuary (PSVita)

 

Completed

____________________________________

 

January

________________________________________________

Titanfall 2 (PS4)

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)

 

March

________________________________________________

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

Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

The Witness (PS4)

Shadow of Mordor (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 March 29, 2017 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Started Shadow Complex Remastered on the PS4 two days ago and finished it just now.

 

A fun, little Metroid-style game. Nothing spectacular but a nice game to play after the recent games I've finished. Won't bother with the Platinum, though, because I don't think I'd enjoy the trophy hunt with this.

 

March is reaching its final hours. I've finished 6 games, all of which I've enjoyed. Time to choose my GotM

 

 

Easy choice. A masterpiece in my opinion. Top notch gameplay (especially combat), incredible world, great story and absolutely gorgeous. Have to agree with @Hero\-of\-Time, a generation defining game. : peace:

 

A great puzzle game. Finished it with my girlfriend and we had so much fun. We definitely will go for that challenge.

I'll now wait for Salt and Sanctuary to be patched on Vita. In the meantime I might go for Steins;Gate as already mentioned but I'm not so sure...Really want to play Nier Automata but I can't afford it right now...

 

Think I'll choose a NES or SNES game to play next

 

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

 

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)

 

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 March 31, 2017 by drahkon

[Glen-i]

Who fancies a quickie? I sure do.

 

You must have JavaScript enabled on your device to view Miiverse posts that have been embedded in a website. View post in Miiverse

 

Super Mario Land is a 2D Mario Platformer that came out on the Game Boy in 1990. Funny fact, amazingly, it sold more than Super Mario Bros. 3.

 

How do I sum up this game? Oh, I know!

 

Super Mario Land is weird.

 

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

 

[drahkon]

How do I sum up this game? Oh, I know!

 

Super Mario Land is weird.

 

My first video game ever! And that comic strip describes it perfectly Such a weird game...but very fun. It had some awesome tunes, too.

 

 

Was in the mood for a SNES game and decided to play Mega Man X. Never played it before and holy smokes...what a freaking glorious game.

Good old Mega Man gameplay but everything cranked up to 1000 :awesome: Awesome graphics, great music, cool enemy and level design...Enjoyed it very much, even though it was easier than the NES games. Started and finished it today

 

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

 

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)

 

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)