Your 2017 Gaming Diary

drahkon · February 2, 2017

January is already over...time for my first GOTM this year.

Excluding Super Mario World from the equation, since it's my favourite game ever, and Titanfall 2, because I already finished it in 2016, I have to go with:

Platforming perfection! Nothing else to say : peace:

In other news: The Witness makes me feel dumb at times but also like a genius whenever I find the solution to a puzzle. Love it

Glen-i · February 3, 2017

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a 3DS port of the PS2 game that came out in 2006. It's a traditional turn-based RPG.

The plot follows some bloke who works for the King of Trodain. Problem is, the Kingdom of Trodain kinda has a horrible curse on it, as well as the King and Princess, who have been transformed into some kind of monster and a horse.

Luckily, Mr. Bloke wasn't affected by the curse, so he's journeying with Monster King and Horse Princess to stop Dhoulmagus, the guy who started this mess.

It's a pretty typical RPG story, like most Dragon Quest games, nothing wrong with that, but don't expect anything amazing.

Unlike most Dragon Quest games, however, this one has voice acting.

I'm not gonna lie, given the variety of different accents the Dragon Quest NPC's talk in, I was a bit worried that this game wouldn't do it justice, but thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. The voice acting is top-notch. Mainly because of European voice actors. The whole Xenoblade approach, works like a charm! Speaking of.

Same voice actor, noticed it instantly, very funny.

There really isn't much to say about the gameplay that I didn't already cover with Dragon Quest 7. If you like Turn-based RPG's, you can't go wrong.

Thankfully, the 3DS port allows you to speed up battles, much like Bravely Default. It's much appreciated, because otherwise, the game would go pretty slow!

Faster battles aren't all the improvements the 3DS has. Some new sidequests, new dungeons, even some new playable characters. It means there's quite a lot to do in this game.

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The visuals hold up well on the 3DS. The 3D effect is incredibly limited, which is a bit of a shame. But other than that, it's a very pretty game. Not amazing, but pretty.

The soundtrack also holds up well, but like the 3DS port of Dragon Quest 7, it's been re-recorded MIDI style, which, once again, is odd.

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And with that...

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - DS

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse - 3DS

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

Edited February 3, 2017 by Glen-i

Jonnas · February 5, 2017

I've been playing a bunch of stuff, lately. Stuff I'm not sure if I should include them in my log, but I'll mention them.

-After the FE direct, I started yet another casual playthrough of Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade for the GBA;

-Fire Emblem Heroes has also caught my attention in the last few days, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I wonder how far I'll get before I consider it "complete" or "beat";

-There's a free demo of Freedom Planet 2 :yay: It's just so fun to play around with the characters in that one level.

And then a bunch of games I'm still going through. I did complete one, though:

Super Meat Boy

You know what? I don't want to disrespect the game's creator Ed McMillan, but I'm not gonna mince words: fuck this game. "Precise platforming", they said. "Hard but fair", they said. "Tight controls", they said. No, it was none of those things.

I don't know how it plays on consoles, but this is just obnoxious on PC. For starters, the default controls are ass, space bar to jump and left shift to run? Who thought that was a good idea? I had to take breaks to rest the cramps on my fingers. This wouldn't be so bad if you could just change the controls (you know, like almost every PC game since the 90s), but noooo, instead I get a snarky comment about how the joypad is better the keyboard every single. Time. I boot the game. Fuck you, Ed McMillan, you don't get to make a sub-par version of the game and laugh about it as if you're proud.

But that's not all. Since this is a game made in Flash (or partially made, not 100% sure), slowdowns are really frequent, especially with gear-intensive levels. This leads not just to you losing control of your character very easily (Meat Boy's more slippery than Luigi), but the multiple elements of a level slow down at different times. So, fuck my timing, sometimes an obstacle will crush Meat Boy at a higher speed, and sometimes Meat Boy will run into that obstacle because it didn't move away in time.

And that's besides the crap that didn't work just because. At the beginning I was playing around with screen resolutions to see which one fit better, and the screen went black on one of the settings. Since I couldn't change it back, I had to close the program, and then go online to find a way to change the settings without the in-game menu. This is a common problem, normally solved by having the new settings last 3 seconds before turning back and asking "You want that to be permanent?". But not here! Maybe I have to buy a joypad to fix that too, huh, McMillan?

Nevertheless, there are good things to this game. There's a reason I bothered to beat even Bandage Girl's levels (though not the Minus levels, 'cuz I ain't bothering with unlocking them by dying hundreds of times more). Gotta respect the infinite lives and the instant respawn, they're effective anti-frustration measures. And when the game's behaving properly, it can be the genuinely thrilling experience that was promised.

But fuck the Steam version.

Played/Beat/Completed:

-Huniepop (2015) Completed (January 8th)

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

Currently Playing:

-Dungeon Keeper

-Edna & Harvey: The Breakout

-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

-Fire Emblem Heroes

Edited August 20, 2017 by Jonnas
Needed reformatting

drahkon · February 5, 2017

I didn't have any problems with Super Meat Boy on PC when I played it years ago ::shrug:

Iit is the prime example of a "hard but fair" game. Yes, keyboard controls suck but that's the only "problem" I encountered (I played with a controller, anyway). No slowdown whatsoever...

Maybe you were just unlucky :p

I've been making some progress with Dishonored 2. Doing a no powers, high chaos run without caring about collectibles. It's awesome

Ganepark32 · February 6, 2017

I started February off by going back to one of last year's games that I enjoyed immensely, Steep, and finishing up the remaining challenges I had to get 100% complete at Gold medal standard and find all of the remaining points of interest to nab the platinum and managed it pretty swiftly. I'd left myself with the most difficult challenges, which just happened to be wingsuit ones, but after about an hour and a half of trying, I managed to put them behind me and a little bit after that, the final trophy popped for me.

So happy to have managed to get the platinum here as the 2 wingsuit challenges I had left, La Fieuse and Fallen Rocks, really were trying in their difficulty. They're pretty much a culmination of everything you learn about flying with the suit through the other challenges and have you shooting through tiny gaps at high speed, scraping the ground and having to nail your lines otherwise you'll be getting a face full of rock. Managed to frighten the missus who was sitting beside me reading the news on her phone when I nailed these challenges with how loud I shouted :laughing:

Fantastic game though and I can't wait for Friday's update that brings with it the free Alaska DLC and a whole new region of mountains to explore.

Next up, I finished Tiny Troopers Joint Ops, which was a PS+ title for the Vita a few months back but due to cross buy, I was playing on the PS4. It's evidently a low budget title with simplistic visuals and mission design, more often than not simply swapping out a location to play out the same scenarios.

It all plays very simply, acting like a twin stick shooter but not having the refinement to really nail the gameplay as directional aiming from the right stick seemed to miss the target more often than not (though there is an automatic lock on thankfully to offset some of this). There's some upgrade options in there as well and some additional perks, like calling in supply drops during missions, but they don't really change up the game and in the case of some of the secondary weapons, the method for deployment is shoddy and in the early stages ended up in more deaths for me than the enemy forces.

So yeah, it was ok, nothing particularly special. It's low budget is apparent from the off but I got some fun out of it so that's more than can be said of some PS+ titles.

Finally, I picked up The Turing Test last week and saw it to a close last night and I really enjoyed this. It's influences are clear to see, evoking strong Portal vibes throughout but it manages to take that template and run with it well. Bulkhead Interactive's previous title, Pneuma: Breath of Life, didn't really manage that but with this title, they've taken a massive step forward and produced a really well put together game with an intriguing narrative and strong themes that resonated with me and some of my interests.

You play Ava Turing who is woken from cryostasis to find a missing crew down on the surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Guided by the omnipresent voice of T.O.M., an A.I. companion for the missing crew and yourself as part of an international space agency (ISA) venture, you land on the surface and begin to work your way through the ISA base on the surface to uncover what's happened.

What becomes immediately apparent, if the game's title hadn't given it away, is the testing nature of what you'll encounter. The base has been altered to act as a sort of Turing Test to prevent the progression of non-human entities through the facility. Each room you come across tasks you, then, with logically moving platforms, opening doors and using power gates to progress. The difficulty of these rooms, presented in blocks of 10 as part of 7 chapters, rises steadily, adding new elements as you progress to keep you on your toes but never throws you in at the deep end, rather easing you through the new mechanics till you're sure enough to go at them with less obvious steps.

The puzzles themselves are really well done throughout, making you think about what's at your disposal; be it your gun that can siphon power nodes from holders or platforms and magnets that can be moved to cameras and robots that can help you unlock doors and use pressure pads later on. There were a couple of times where I was left scratching my head trying to figure out the correct procedure needed but I was never left infuriated by the task at hand and always came to the logical conclusion even if it took 10 minutes as opposed to 2.

The game puts a heavy emphasis on the interactions between your character and that of T.O.M. along the way, particularly with regards to him as an A.I. and his ultimate motive. It tackles several grey area topics, even leaving you with one final choice on how the game will end), that have strong ties to today's society and about the construction of artificial intelligence. Quotations and references back to Alan Turing himself throughout flesh some of the ideas out to discussions on free will and consciousness as well as discussions on themes of immortality are abundant throughout in audio logs and emails you'll find dotted around the facility. Though initially overwhelming, it coalesces into a really interesting story with a nice twist (admitted done before in games, though that doesn't take away from how it plays out here) and encapsulates the gameplay really well.

I came away from it really impressed with not just the game but also the progress made by the developers between the previous game. The Turing Test plays extremely well and the discussion of themes and topics in the way it does is handled really well creating perhaps the most memorable game I've played so far this year. Here's hoping that this is the foundations from which Bulkhead continue to make their games as it's a thoroughly enjoyable game.

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

Currently plodding away at Dishonored 2 and still really enjoying it. The performance issues are still irritating and I'm not liking that if I'm trying to knock someone unconscious and get caught that if they then shoot at me and kill the person I'm holding, it counts as a kill for me. Trying to do a low chaos run and I've yet to manage to finish a level without kills because of that.

Also away to start The Little Acre later this week, looking forward to some point and click action before probably going back to Knack and then tackling one of the Metro Redux titles that I've had sitting for ages now.

Magnus · February 7, 2017

Currently plodding away at Dishonored 2 and still really enjoying it. The performance issues are still irritating and I'm not liking that if I'm trying to knock someone unconscious and get caught that if they then shoot at me and kill the person I'm holding, it counts as a kill for me. Trying to do a low chaos run and I've yet to manage to finish a level without kills because of that.

Well, of course the game blames you for their deaths - if it weren't for your botched attempts at stealth, they'd still be alive. :p

Besides, can't you just load a saved game if you mess up? I got the achievements for never killing anyone or being spotted, but my global stats tell a different story (I've only played the game once):

Dishonored%202%20-%20global%20stats_zpseltbl65b.png

killthenet · February 8, 2017

The last game I completed in January was Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES Classic. It was much easier than the first game thanks to not losing all of your items when you lose all of yours lives, although it was quite difficult to navigate through the side-scrolling world without a map. It definitely refines a lot of what the first game did well but compounds some of the more awkward issues, especially the stiffness of the controls. The day/night cycle is interesting but the flow of the game is interrupted by it far too much and it just ends up becoming very irritating.

The next game on my list was Metroid Prime 3: Corruption which I was really looking forward to playing after enjoying my first play throughs of the first two Prime games last year. The dialogue and waggle heavy introduction to the game definitely soured my excitement somewhat though as the motion control implementation beyond the pointer is clunky and gets old fast, and the reliance on cutscenes and dialogue goes against what was so good about the earlier entries. Once you actually land on a planet and the game gets going these gripes are mostly forgotten as the classic exploration based gameplay resumes. The level and world design in this game is some of the best in the series with Skytown in particular an absolute joy to explore. I feel like Corruption manages to get closest to matching the atmosphere of Super Metroid out of all of the Prime games, providing an engrossing adventure that is both eerie and awe-inspiring in equal measure. The forced motion controls can get a little annoying at times but my only other major issue with the game is that they don't let you jump in elevators any more, something that was my favourite past time in Echoes.

I'm hesitant to start something big like Dark Souls II for a while so that my game time is completely open to explore Breath Of The Wild in a few weeks time, so I'm going to play through a few of the less time intensive games on my list, starting with Life Is Strange on the PS4.

drahkon · February 10, 2017

Finished Dishonored 2 just now. Did a no-powers run. Excellent game.

Now to play it again but this time with powers : peace:

Will most likely play Nioh and Dishonored 2 in the next few weeks.

The Witness will be played when the lady is coming over. She seems to enjoy the puzzles a lot

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)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (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)

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

killthenet · February 12, 2017

I finished playing through Life Is Strange last night after playing through about an episode a night throughout the week and I really enjoyed it. It was a lot weirder than I expected and clearly wears its Twin Peaks influence on its sleeve (the 'Fire Walk With Me' graffiti was a nice touch) but it combines its mystery solving plot line with a great time travel mechanic and a heavy dose of teen angst to create a really unique gaming experience. The controls feel a little stiff at times and the object gathering gameplay can be a bit fiddly but rewinding time feels really smooth and the ability to skip things you've already seen stops it from getting stale. I railed against the use of music by Jose Gonzalez in Red Dead Redemption because it felt really out of place but here music by him and others of that ilk really suits the tone of the narrative and setting even though i'm not a huge fan of that style of music, the morning sequence in Chloe's bedroom with 'Lua' by Bright Eyes playing was a really beautiful moment and will stay with me for sometime. It's moments like that as well as the weirder moments towards the end of episode five that really justify the decision of Dontnod to tell this story in the medium of videogames, being able to drink in the moment and feel like a part of the scene make your decisions feel all that more important and the emotional moments all that more poignant, even if the gameplay itself isn't particularly deep it helps to add weight to a really great story. There are definitely a few issues in presentation and language, the inconsistent syncing of lip movements and dialogue being the most glaring, and there are few words and sentences that sound awkward but for the most part they nail the way teenagers talk and knowing that English is the developers second language means it's easy to forgive some of the more over the top or out of place dialogue.

I really hope that Dontnod and Square consider porting the game to the Switch as I think my brother and his girlfriend would enjoy playing it but I don't want to have to lend them my PS4.

@drahkon I also just started playing 'The Witness' on PS4 - I'm about 90 minutes in and i'm already hooked.

Dcubed · February 16, 2017

Tis the year for completing text adventures it seems! For I have two more games under my belt.

Let's start with this one...

The 6th title in the mainline series, Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice doesn't massively change up the formula, but it does massively change up the setting. Set in the village of Khura'in (not Kurain, that's totally different!), here, superstition and religious fanaticism rule the day and, without spoiling anything, this does tie into the gameplay.

The big new gimmick this time comes through the introduction of Insight...

Insight

This is a plot and gameplay convenience device that lets you see the last moments of a victim's death. Sounds ridiculous, and it is, but it's actually really well done! It's a brilliant little gameplay device that shakes the courtroom gameplay up by quite a bit and it's a much more substantial gimmick than Dual Destiny's Mood Matrix or Apollo's Bracelet and amazingly enough, actually manages to achieve a suspension of disbelief more successfully than either of them! Good stuff!

I can't really go into too much more detail without spoiling anything, but it's a cracking entry into the series. While I was a bit disappointed with Case 4 and 6 (the extra DLC case), the others are absolutely brilliant and Case 5 in particular is nothing short of spectacular! It may even be the single best case in the entire series (or at least, it's right up there with Case 4 from Trials and Tribulations!). Otherwise, about all else I can say is that the punny names have been upped to absolute ridiculous extremes, far more so than previous titles (and that's saying something!), to the point where you will probably be eyerolling or guffawing, or sighing (or all three) at practically everyone's name...

And that's just the tip of the iceburg...

So yeah! One of my favourite games in the series. Big improvement over Dual Destinies and a must play.

Alright, next up...

17 years is a long time to wait, but it was one well worth waiting for!

Grasshopper Manufacture's debut title finally gets an English release! The Silver Case forms the first of the Kill The Past trilogy, a loosely connected series that consists of this game, Flower Sun and Rain and Killer 7. Unlike the latter two titles however, this one is mostly a straight up visual novel with light sprinkles of guided first person exploration; but what style! What grace! (and no, it doesn't have a funny face) This is a true blue Suda51 game. He was the writer and director for this title (you know, before he pulled a Quentin Tarantino and just became an executive producer... oh hey! Did you guys hear that he's returning to writing/directing with his new NMH game for Switch!? Oh you did? Good!)

No time travel is involved with the enacting of this, for realsies

This game is a glorious Mind Screw of the highest order and will make fans of predictable plots, boring writing and humdrum characters weep tears of anguish as they fail miserably to grasp anything that is going on.

It's a period piece of the same year in which it was released (1999, for those that can't work out that 2016 - 17 = 1999; math!), taking place within Japan, and the writing is reminiscent of Japanese police detectives of the pre-millenium, with more than a dash of misdirection and double, triple, quadruple and quintuple bluffery. It's beautifully edgy and bizzare in the way that any fan of Suda51's other works will understand instantly.

Perhaps the most important character in the game? Perhaps not? Who knows?

It's gripping stuff that will test the limits of your sanity as it pulls you into its dark, twisted and nonsensical world. An essential cult classic!

Oh and I should also mention that Active Game Media (the developers behind the HD version) did an amazing job with this remake. It brings most of the art up to HD standards (the original FMVs and live action video, yes it does feature live action video, are presented in their original PS1 quality though for obvious reasons) extremely faithfully. The interface also maintains its unique, striking look and feel and shines even brighter in HD. The localisation is also absolutely excellent and is up to the standards of Grasshopper's other English language works (though there are a few minor typos I noticed throughout; considering the massive volume of text involved in this game though? It's understandable). Its a masterpiece of storytelling that is unlike anything else (other than Suda's own other works though and even then, it still feels unique in its form of text based storytelling). It's disturbing, funny, heartwrenching and mind boggling! I can't recommend it enough! If you have any appreciation for text adventures and good writing, I emplore you to dive right in right now!

Indeed I have. And so will you.

The Last Guardian

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

Rhythm Paradise Megamix

Tembo: The Badass Elephant

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice

The Silver Case

Edited February 16, 2017 by Dcubed

drahkon · February 17, 2017

The Witness is becoming a true contender for my favourite puzzle game ever. It rivals The Talos Principle. Both games are examples of incredible game design.

The lady and I are most likely almost done with The Witness. One area left to unlock what we assume is the final region of the game.

We had a great playthrough on Wednesday. 7 hours straight

I'm playing Nioh whenever possible. Amazing game. Money well spent.

Glen-i · February 18, 2017

Shining Force II: Excelent The Sword of Hajya came out on the Game Gear in 1993. It's a Strategy RPG, much in the same vein as a small little series called Fire Emblem, you might have heard of it.

The game follows the Cypress Army, specifically, a bloke called Deanna (Yeah @Dcubed, turns out he does have a name) is found unconscious nearby Cypress Castle. He then joins the Cypress Army, or well, I assume he does, it never shows that scene.

Anyway, Prince Nick (he's the prince) has a most horrific curse on him. His hand has been turned to stone! No, just his hand. What's that? Uh, no, it's not his dominant one. What do you mean "That's a rubbish curse"? How can he possibly function!? Have you no sympathy!? Well, yeah... I suppose you could club your enemies over the head with it. SHUT UP!

Carrying on, as soon as Prince StoneFist Hermitaur leaves, evil army Iom invade Cypress Castle and steal the Sword of Haj... Hajy... Sword of unpronounceable-ness and run away. Forcing Deanna and friends of 5 minutes ago to go get it back, leaving the castle completely unguarded, of course.

The story is serviceable, it's clearly not the focus and it tends to be unintentionally funny. Makes it really charming, strangely enough.

Kinda like Lufia: The Legend Returns actually... (He killed Conas for no reason!)

The gameplay revolves around turn-based strategy, you move your army around a field and attempt to smack the Iom army upside it's head.

Quick, Batt 'im! Batt 'im good!

It's a lot like a typical JRPG in terms of setting. You have your sword flailers, your squishy mages, your immensely useful healers, etc.

MP is there, as well as buying equipment from shops. A lot of JRPG staples show up here. Even leveling up.

Compared to Fire Emblem, it's a lot simpler, but I kinda like that. I'm not the biggest fan of Fire Emblem, so this provides a nice alternative for me.

Not too hard, even when enemies start getting the more broken spells. (Stupid Bugged Freeze 3...)

The graphics are, well, it's a Game Gear game, so nothing is gonna blow you away. But everything looks really cute. Which is made funny when you compare it to the artwork of some of the characters.

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I don't know about you, but I think they nailed the likeness!

Actually... Cute field sprites?

Inconsistent, yet epic battle scenes?

This is bloody Golden Sun!

Well, actually, it's not that surprising. Camelot made this game, and it really shows. Even conversations have that Golden Sun vibe to it.

The music is plinky-plonky typical JRPG fair, it's nice enough, but not gonna stick in your head.

So overall...

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Oh yeah, I went there. Nothing wrong with Fire Emblem, but I just had more fun with this.

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BTW, the game ends with an awkward dance scene that has nothing to do with the rest of the game. Which is the best kind of ending.

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

Aperson · February 19, 2017

Finished Xenoblade Chronicles X on Wii U. The gam definately got better as the story progressed and even got to the same level of intrigue as the original did in it's later portion in the latter chapters.

I think the last time I updated I was on Chapter 9. Done quite a bit since then, so here are a few snippets courtesy of Miiverse.

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Also bought Pokemon SoulSilver second hand. I know I already have HeartGold but buying that game cheap landed me with a fake and my save got corrupted and I lost the entire team. Started a new file and was a bit reluctant and down, but the Gen 2 update in Pokemon Go has reignited my interest in playing through Johto again. Current team is Zubat Lv10, Totodile Lv12 and Mareep Lv12.

Completed games in 2017 list:

Final Fantasy X

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Next up, SoulSilver if I can get the charger, otherwise it's about time I go back to LEGO Star Wars II (PS2) as the next game in my backloggery.

**Fierce_LiNk** · February 19, 2017

This is going to be my first contribution to this thread! It's been a very busy start to 2017!

Here are my lists for 2015 and 2016 for future reference.

Games of 2016

Flower - Finished

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Finished

The Unfinished Swan - Finished

Grim Fandango Remastered - Finished

Race The Sun - Finished

The Wolf Among Us - Finished

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Story Finished

The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone

Ico - Finished

Tokyo Jungle - Finished

Grand Theft Auto 5 - Finished!

Batman: Arkham Asylum - Finished

Batman: Arkham City - Finished

Life Is Strange

Uncharted 4

Heavy Rain (PS4 Version)

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

Unravel

The Last of Us

The Last of Us/Left Behind

Virginia

Transformers: Devastation

Bioshock

Bioshock 2

Bioshock Infinite

Games of 2015

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Transistor

The Walking Dead Season One

inFAMOUS Second Son

Watchdogs

The Walking Dead Season Two

Batman: Arkham Knight

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture

Entwined

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Cities: Skylines

Which leads me to my first game of 2017...Rise of the Tomb Raider!

I'm a huge fan of its predecessor and it was my first retail PS4 game, with Resogun being the first overall title. I was hugely hyped for this and this game didn't disappoint!

Graphically, this game is stunning. I love the settings and locations within this game. I'd say that the overall plot is better in this than the previous game and that there was a great deal of interaction and communication with other characters that maybe didn't happen as much beforehand. I enjoyed learning about the lore and the letters, recordings and other media you find along the way help to enhance that. I think it was @Shorty who mentioned that it might have been better to do this like the BioShock games do, where your character can still move around and interact with the world and the recordings play over the top. That possibly would have been better because there are a looooot of collectibles in this game which can just break up the flow slightly at times.

The gunplay is excellent and every battle felt fun to play. I never once felt like it was overwhelming or that the characters were bullet-magnets. This can sometimes happen in the Uncharted games and sometimes the gunfights do drag (not as much in 4, which had a better balance).

The platforming in this game is obviously fantastic. I had a great deal of fun traversing the world. I don't know if its my memory failing or not, but this game feels a lot more open than the previous Tomb Raider, particularly the two bigger regions in the game that you spend a great time in. I loved that and it just made the world feel more like a world rather than a sequence of levels or areas.

Overall, a hell of a start to 2017 for me!

Games of 2017

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Edited February 19, 2017 by Fierce_LiNk

Ganepark32 · February 20, 2017

Been a busy couple of weeks but managed to finish up a few smaller games as well as one bigger title.

I picked up Coffin Dodgers as it was going dirt cheap on the PS Store and promptly grabbed all the trophies and thus nabbed the platinum for it. It's a kart racer that reminds me a lot of the PlayStation 1 era kart racers that came out in droves trying to ape the Mario Kart formula, each failing to varying degrees. It's a pretty straight forward and easy racer but offers none of the thrills of even some of the games from that era of racers (I have fond memories of Speed Freaks and Crash Team Racing and it doesn't even match up to those let alone a Mario Kart title). A nice diversion but nothing I'm in the hurry to play, really thankful to have gotten it at a rock bottom price.

Next up, I managed to put to an end my play through of Dishonored 2, completing a low chaos run with powers and minimal deaths (think I ended up with 32 confirmed kills at the end, which is pretty decent considering how many times I got caught trying to knock enemies unconscious) as Emily Kaldwin. And apart from a bit of a flat ending, I loved it.

I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to get around locations without being detected, knocking enemies out and then either using bodies to lure other enemies, or hiding them and setting off a clock alarm or something to get them into an area where I could easily dispatch them. I'd have preferred to have managed to get away without killing anyone as most of the kills were because of my incompetence or, as in one case, because I jumped from a height and landed on an enemy, knocking him out, only for the other enemy standing at a ledge to fall over it in fright. But I thought that wasn't too bad going for the number of times I was detected.

I thought the stealth gameplay worked extremely well, with a decent amount of leeway to get around peeking around objects or corners, and plenty of opportunity to isolate and eliminate enemies without the use of crossbow/gun/sword. The powers were especially helpful in this regard, using blink to get around and up high so I could drop down on enemies or miss some out entirely. I particularly loved the shadow walk ability, especially after a few upgrades that let you stay in form for taking out multiple enemies, and Domino was great for chaining that together.

When forced into confrontation though, such as when confronting the Clockwork Soldiers, I didn't feel the gameplay held up as well. The aiming wasn't particularly great and the auto-aim was slightly annoying at times sticking to areas where I didn't want to shoot but I worked round it, devising traps to dispatch them without having to directly confront them. And I think that's where, despite some clunky aiming, the gameplay shines in letting you devise plans and strategies like that.

The performance on the PS4 isn't particularly great though, quite a lot of frames dropping throughout and screen tearing and this was after a couple of patches. I also had 2 crashes during my play, though thanks to getting into the habit of saving before every confrontation I never really lost out on anything big.

It's a shame that it wasn't as solid on performance as the majority of the gameplay and that the ending felt a bit flat but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I thought the game never overstayed its welcome and with each level, it remained remarkably fresh. It makes me wish I'd gave the first title more time the other year, but that's something I may go back to later down the line especially as it doesn't look like we'll be seeing much of the franchise from now on after poor sales which sucks really. Between this and Titanfall 2 and Watch Dogs 2 (I'd have included Steep here but Ubisoft are saying it's exceeded sales expectations now), there were several big titles at the tail end of last year that deserve to have done much better than they did.

Following that, I jumped on Shu, which I'd picked up in the recent PS Store sale and I really enjoyed this too. A short but nicely put together side scrolling platformer that brings to mind elements of Rayman throughout. I think the game might have looked better if it had dropped the 3D stage elements and gone full on 2D art style like the cutscenes and character models, which looked great but the stages less so. Despite that, it's a charming little title that plays well and uses some interesting ideas. Well worth a look.

Next up, Not A Hero. One of this month's PS+ titles and something I'd been contemplating picking up for some time. Glad to have had the opportunity but having finished it, I don't think I'd have enjoyed it as much has I paid for it as it was a bit frustrating at times which some of the mechanics for sliding into cover/enemies which didn't always work and the manual loading for weapons really lead to some unnecessary deaths at times in later stages where the samurai enemies would jump your shots. Even with that being said, I still enjoyed the game and for the most part, the quick gameplay was engrossing and enjoyable as you blasted your way through the levels and the humour at times was hilarious (such as the quips from the characters themselves and some of the bosses). Could go back and get Bunnylord to higher position of power but not all too fussed as I've seen what the game has to offer.

I then decided to have a replay of Thomas Was Alone, which is easily one of my favourite indie titles and still an immense joy to play a second time around. The little story that develops as you play, expertly narrated by Danny Wallace, is well written and adds a huge amount of depth to a minimalist game about blocks. The music is great and the gameplay is top notch as well. I flew through the levels but enjoyed every second of it. I'd love to see more beyond the Benjamin's Flight DLC that I already have but it seems Mike Bithell is off working on other things (which admittedly resulting in the fantastic Volume so I can't complain).

Finally, I started and finished a play through of The Little Acre and adored it. The visuals are superb, that hand drawn look works really well here. The writing can be a little goofy in the dialogue but for the story, it's well written providing some humorous moments but also managing to engage you with the cast of characters. It doesn't control the best in terms of the menus on the PS4 (which when trying to get some of the trophies for quick actions can be irritating) but it's another brilliant point and click title that's short and sweet. Where other's might outstay their welcome, this is just the right length. I've another playthrough to do for the platinum so looking forward to that and to see where Pewter games goes next.

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

killthenet · February 20, 2017

I finished the main gameplay of The Witness a couple of nights ago and my impression of the game definitely soured as it went on but overall I still enjoyed it. Some of the puzzles and solutions were fantastic and the game was really beautiful in places. Unfortunately as the game wore on it felt like the developers had too high and opinion of themselves and their creation, with the inclusion of some of the hidden audio clips and films really coming off as pompous and self-important. I enjoy myself most of the time though but could never get the hang of the shape based puzzles. I've had a few appalling attempts at the final (optional) challenge and definitely intend on giving it a few more goes but I doubt I'll ever be able to complete it.

I also played through The Last Of Us: Left Behind last night. It was a nice story but suffers from many of the same problems as the main game. It was definitely more enjoyable being able to play through the whole story as Ellie though.

Wary of keeping my slate clean for Zelda next week, I'm going to play through Kirby's Adventure and maybe something short on Steam.

**Fierce_LiNk** · February 21, 2017

A while back, I bought the Heavy Rain/Beyond: Two Souls collection on PS4. After loving Heavy Rain, I decided that now was the right time to give Beyond a bash. Again, I knew very little about the game before starting it up, so it was quite exciting going into it blind.

I've just finished up on the game...I LOVED it. I'd say I preferred this to Heavy Rain overall. Whilst I'm a big fan of the noir setting of Heavy Rain, I felt that the main character was quite compelling in Beyond. The story is nice in this game and it does have an interesting conclusion. My favourite overall chapter had to be the Navajo section of the game and I enjoyed that setting and the characters involved. I could have spent a bit more time there, really.

My only real complaints about the game is with regards to the "combat", particularly the dodging and moments where you throw punches. Having an on-screen prompt would work better, imo, at least like it did in Heavy Rain. Aside from that, there's a decent bit of variation in this gameplay, particularly the stealthy-sections. It's interesting to see how they've moved it on a bit since Heavy Rain. I loved the themes within Beyond, especially how it all ties together right at the finale. I also loved the non-linear narrative of the game and can't even begin to contemplate playing it in chronological order. Why would you do that?!

I had "Black Hole Sun" in my head during that entire chapter.

I chose Life, but it did stop me for a moment and I had to think hard about which option I'd want. It made sense I thought for Jodie to want to live, so I went with that. I loved how Sunshine-esque that final chapter was and it was a bit trippy in places.

I'm glad that I've played both games and I'm looking much more forward to Detroit!

Games of 2017

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Ganepark32 · February 21, 2017

I really must get back to Heavy Rain so that I can finish it and move on to Beyond. Told myself I wouldn't start the latter till I'd finished the former but Beyond: Two Souls has always interested me more than Heavy Rain and seeing it mentioned has sparked that desire to play it again. Will have to wait till I've moved next week but hopefully be on it sooner than later.

Anyway, last night I put to end my play through of The Last Guardian. I'd stepped away from this for quite a bit to play other things but had a strong desire to jump back on to it the other day and I'm glad I did because despite the issues it has, the game is just beautiful and Trico really is one of the greatest pieces of design work I've seen in a game to date.

To get the issues out of the way first, as has been mentioned by just about everyone that's played the game, the controls and camera are shockingly bad. It feels as though despite improvements in these across the generations since Ueda's last game, it seems firmly planted in the PS2 era and as such, playing in some areas can become laborious and keeping control of the camera can be clunky to say the least. I found myself shouting at the screen multiple times because the camera just wouldn't move or would get hung up on scenery, same with controlling the boy. Perhaps it's a by-product of the elongated development time but it's something you'd have thought would have been some what improved after it's re-unveiling and all the hands on from journalists. Then again, from what I played of Shadow of the Colossus, that game didn't fare too well on the same grounds so maybe it's just the team involved.

But to put too much stock into the issues would be to discredit everything else that is superb about the game. If anything, after finishing the game those issues felt like small pot holes along what was a fantastic and emotional journey that already has me itching to play again just to see Trico one more time.

Initially, I wasn't too keen on the absence of narrative; it felt a little obtuse in leaving you to wander these ruins without really knowing what was happening. Yet, the more I played, the more I came to like that about the game. It's not so much about what's transpired to get you or Trico here, it's the burgeoning relationship that develops as you progress that takes centre stage and it blossoms it one of the greatest in gaming, I feel.

To make a comparison to another recent title, much like the narrative was more or less bunk in Titanfall 2, it was the relationship between Jack and BT which made the game so enjoyable. The exact same effect is happening here; Trico carries that air of uncertainty: what is it? What is it doing here? And why is it helping you? But unlike TF2, the relationship is more tangible; Trico is not only a living creature, it acts and behaves like one and so you connect with it effortlessly early on and it runs rampant from there. You feel for the creature, it's trials and moments of triumph become your own story. And that's partly what makes the game so great. Would it have been anywhere near as good without Trico, probably not which speaks volumes for the work gone into creating Trico's A.I.

Sure, some time Trico can be more than a handful and at times I found myself on his back jumping all the way back to where I'd started in a jumping puzzle section but it's never really that frustrating, it feels more like when a pet does something stupid and you're like "Oh you!".

It goes a long way to making the game engaging, then, having Trico as your companion and scouring the ruins for the way to progress is made fun and genuinely interesting. As said, the controls aren't great for traversing as the boy but the intrigue of finding a small passage and finding the way to let Trico follow more than off set this. I will say that I wasn't particularly keen on how you essentially mashed buttons to free yourself from the guards, that just seemed a bit half arsed. But again, moments like that were few and far between for my play through and before long, I was back to exploring with Trico.

The way the story reveals itself towards the end and the ending itself (which was heart wrenching saying good bye to Trico in that way after all you'd been for and not getting a chance to help other than to tell him to more or less flee) are particularly powerful. Sure, there could have been some more detail on why things were happening as they were and who the Master of the Valley was but leaving some questions like this open to interpretation didn't detract from my experience. It provided enough of a propellant at the end to escape the Nest.

It's definitely left an indelible mark on me, and it's more than just Trico as the whole setting and soundtrack helped to buoy the experience. I do feel that Trico has ruined video game companions forever now after this, I don't see much enamouring me to the same extent. I'd probably go so far as to say it's probably my favourite game that I've played so far this year despite its issues and probably among my favourite experiences in gaming ever.

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

I've seen that an old favourite of mine from the 360 days, digital title Chime, has a sequel which has just been released on the PS4 in the form of Chime Sharp so I can say a lot of my time will be spent playing that as I loved the simplicity of that game and how relaxing it was to play. I'll maybe get in a bit of LittleBigPlanet 3 time as well as giving the Ghost Recon Wildlands beta a go but think that first one will have my attention the most over the remainder of the month.

drahkon · February 21, 2017

Finished Nioh. Cracking game. : peace: This early in 2017 I already have a GOTY contender

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)

Nioh (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)

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

**Fierce_LiNk** · February 21, 2017

I really must get back to Heavy Rain so that I can finish it and move on to Beyond. Told myself I wouldn't start the latter till I'd finished the former but Beyond: Two Souls has always interested me more than Heavy Rain and seeing it mentioned has sparked that desire to play it again. Will have to wait till I've moved next week but hopefully be on it sooner than later.

I think you'd like Beyond. I had a great time with both games and they're unique experiences. I'm glad I went with Heavy Rain first as I feel that Beyond takes a few of the ideas and concepts (and controls) from that and takes them a bit further forward. I'd recommend doing it in that order.

Blade · February 21, 2017

Wow @Ganepark32 I loved your post on The Last Guardian, a simple "thanks" is just not enough. I loved the game and I loved Trico. Its how a companion should be and I really did care for the creature. I used to ensure all of the spears were taken out and used to ensure that all the blood was were gone too. I enjoyed the interaction with Trico, the "story telling" and the gameplay in general.

nekunando · February 22, 2017

I've been slowly chipping away at several games over the last few weeks so I'll update my 2017 progress before I forget :red:

Firstly, I finally played through Mega Man X on the Wii Virtual Console

I've had it for a few years but never really took the time to get into it! The levels themselves are, at least initially, extremely straightforward to get through but the bosses certainly provide a bit of challenge until you figure out the best way to take them down. It's a very good game, even if there were a couple of infuriating deaths along the way :heh:

The next two games on my list are difficult to consider 'finished' but could be qualified as 'cleared' in some way.

Drive Club (PS4) is a game I got along with my PS4, never really expected to enjoy it but I actually really like it :hehe:

I've finished the Drive Club Tour and came first in all of the cups within it so that portion of the game is beat. However, I bought the season pass and Drive Club Bikes so there's so much more content to tuck into that I'll happily keep returning to it in the months to come :hehe:

Next is FIFA 17 (PS4)

I don't usually play football games with a view to beating everything the single player has to offer as the real pleasure comes from taking down your friends in heated competitive play Unfortunately, that is in short supply these days and I decided to purchase FIFA this year for the first time since 2010 partly to delve into the new 'Journey' to give me something of a reason to play the game by myself.

It started out good and I enjoyed the feeling of being on trial but the mode quickly became a little dull and repetitive with my actions on the pitch feeling inconsequential.

Last, but certainly not least, is Uncharted 4: A Thief's End on PS4 :love:

While I steered clear of story spoilers since the release of the game..

I kept expecting Nathan to die in this one given the title of the game and people acknowledging that this was the end of his story

..I was aware of some complaints of pacing issues and other minor niggles. I didn't seem to find anything that particularly bothered me throughout and I had a great time with the game, possibly my favourite in the series :hehe:

With the Switch out next week, I may try to take care of Unravel before it arrives and possibly take the opportunity to replay Journey on PS4 having originally beat it, and been underwhelmed by it, on PS3.

Aperson · February 23, 2017

Committed to Soul Silver in the end. My new team doesn't feel quite as unique as the old one but there are still some strong Pokemon on it. I've got five of the six Pokemon I plan to use long term now and they've all fully evolved. Just caught the Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage.

This was my team's levels when taking on Jasmine. As for their current movesets:

Crocoate the Feraligatr:

Flail

Crunch

Surf

Ice Fang

Crobatgirl the Crobat:

U-Turn

Confuse Ray

Fly

Bite

Baad Puns the Ampharos:

Tackle

Charge

Discharge

Thunder Wave

Beetleborg the Heracross:

Aerial Ace

Dig

Rock Tomb

Brick Break

Espeonage the Espeon:

Bite

Swift

Quick Attack

Shadow Ball

The Kingler is my HM Slave.

**Fierce_LiNk** · February 27, 2017

I bought Metro Redux a long time ago in a PSN deal. I enjoyed it but never got around to finishing the story. I decided to just start afresh a few days ago and finished the game last night.

I love the world that is created within this game, as well as the tension and atmosphere. The post-apocalyptic style interests me greatly in any case, but it's achieved to a great effect here. I'm so interested that I had a little browse on Amazon for the Metro books and am tempted to read them.

The gameplay can be tricky at times, especially as there are occasions where there do seem to be an abundance of enemies, which makes progressing feel difficult. Thankfully, those moments are few and far between. I did find the "Librarians" to be a pain in the arse and they did slightly ruin the final third of the game for me, although they were only prevalent during one chapter, so again it's forgiveable. On the whole, I had an excellent time with the game and have immediately started Metro: Last Light Redux.

Games of 2017

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Beyond: Two Souls

Metro 2033 Redux

drahkon · February 28, 2017

Finished Nioh a couple of days ago. I'll hold off on getting the Platinum until all the DLC has been out (and completed).

The lady and I are almost done with The Witness (well, we assume we are).

Aaaaand I've started playing God of War III Remastered. It still looks amazing. And I don't need to say anything about the gameplay as it's incredible

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)

Platinum Trophies I might get sometime

____________________________________

Shovel Knight (PSVita)

Nioh (PS4)

Dishonored 2 (PS4)

Put on hold

____________________________________

Seraph (PS4)

Your 2017 Gaming Diary

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