Your 2018 Gaming Diary

[nekunando]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

You be crazy! This is the kinda of comment I would expect coming from @nekunando, not from you!  

Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourite games of all time, whether it be the original PS1 release or The Twin Snakes (which I also played first, @drahkon, though I saw plenty of the PS1 game at my friends' house)

The series has since declined to the point where I still can't be bothered to dip into The Phantom Pain..

[Ganepark32]

6 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The final game I played before Monster Hunter World took over my gaming life was The Last Day of June.

I noticed it was on sale on PSN at the end of January and quite liked the look/style the developers had chose for the game. I watched the trailer for it and decided to pick it up. I’m really glad that I did because I loved it.

The gameplay is kind of a mix of Back to the Future meets Groundhog  Day. You play as a man who goes on a trip with his girlfriend. You both end up in a car crash and sadly only he survives. You then spend the rest of the game trying to change what happened by influencing other events that occur during the time that you are driving.

The game is very touching, the art style used is gorgeous and the gameplay I found to be very unique. It’s only a few hours long and I certainly think it’s worth the time and money. @Ganepark32 you play a lot of indie games, have you played this one yet?

Funnily enough, I have this sitting on my PS4 waiting to be played but I'd completely forgotten about it. I picked it up when it released last year amongst a rather large helping of indie games, with the likes of Sundered, Pyre, Lawbreakers and such all bought around the same time, but I just kept putting it off for a better time to play it and just haven't gotten round to it. And with the latest swathe of indie game purchases, I don't know when I'll get to it (to give an idea of just how many I'm juggling, I've got: InnerSpace, Black The Fall, Hob, A Hat In Time, Dandara, Crossing Souls, The Fall Part 2: Unbound and probably a few others sitting on my PS4 dashboard that I'm playing through in drips and droves). I'll make a point to play through it once I've finished moving house next week but glad to hear that it's a solid game. Did mean to ask, you picked up Pyre didn't you? Have you had a chance to play it yet?

[Hero-of-Time]

15 minutes ago, Ganepark32 said:

 Did mean to ask, you picked up Pyre didn't you? Have you had a chance to play it yet?

Nah, not yet. It's still sat on my PS4 home screen. 

[Aperson]

Playing through Dark Souls although at a relatively slow pace (read: I keep dying). Made it as far as the Bell Gargoyles. Thought I was doing well at first... then another showed up and started breathing fire.

 

However, I have learned that they are also weak to fire (because video game logic) and that you can avoid taking damage from the fire by rolling through it. I will bear that in mind the next time I try.

[drahkon]

After a mate gave me access to his "copy" of The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ on PC my gaming time has been entirely focused on that. Good God, this game is addictive. I Platinumed the vanilla version back in the day on PS4 and always wanted to give the expansions ago but found them to be a little expensive. Knowing what I know now they definitely aren't. Still, I won't get them for PS4 because why would I now.

[Magnus]

Yay, piracy...

[drahkon]

4 minutes ago, Magnus said:

Yay, piracy...

That's a very nice assumption there. I just borrowed my mate's Steam account. So...yay.

[Jonnas]

Due to some major changes in my life, I haven't gamed much lately. I've played a grand total of two new games in the past couple of months.

The first one is Edge, a very cheap game on the 3DS eShop, which looked like an okay puzzle game from Two Tribes. Unfortunately, it was not a puzzle game at all, but a platformer where you roll a cube through an obstacle course to the exit. The levels kinda resemble the floating islands in Captain Toad, except white, cubical and bland. I think the appeal of that game is supposed to be speedrunning, but there's nothing about it that I liked. Also, I hate how it controls. I played 10 levels before uninstalling the thing. I'm mentioning it here because I rarely drop a game willfully (it's usually because I slowly lose interest, or because the game goes on for too long), but this one made me want to bury it forever.

On a more positive note:

The King of Fighters XIII

 

Remember how I was going through key games of the series? I didn't drop this one, it just took me longer to beat. For various reasons.

So, after SNK Playmore regained control of their properties in 2003, the NESTS arc with K' was done, a perfect opportunity to continue the series with a fresh start. As such, they started a new "saga" with KOF 2003 (tenth game in the series), with a new protagonist, the more cocky, arrogant and villainous Gary Oak Ash Crimson.

However, the decline of Arcade gaming, along with SNK's precarious financial position, really affected the company, and they couldn't release yearly entries of KOF anymore. They dropped the old naming conventions, and only in 2005 did they release King of Fighters XI. After that, SNK turned to Pachinko machines to stay afloat, but their desire to return to traditional gaming burned bright, and they knew they needed to reinvent themselves if they were to stay relevant. They toyed with a 3D spin-off (KOF: Maximum Impact), but it was awful, so they instead decided to jump into the realm of HD spritework.

And so they worked tirelessly to release the exciting conclusion to the Tales of Ash, but... this new gorgeous artstyle takes a lot of time and resources. They released KOF XII in this style back in 2009 (because they had to release something), but it was obviously incomplete, with a small roster and non-existent story. Heck, at the time they actually had to promise the "real" complete game would be coming at a later date. And it did, as KOF XIII was released in 2010 (2011 on consoles), to the cheers of fighting game fans everywhere. SNK was back, and ready to take the fight to Street Fighter IV.

(Unfortunately, development for such a high-quality game was so expensive, they realised the series couldn't continue in this direction. King of Fighters XIV would go on to have a 3D look that, while passable, doesn't hold a candle to these sprites)

Needless to say, the game's presentation is off the charts, with high quality artwork, beautiful animated sprites, and backgrounds with more detail than I ever thought possible. It's actually really hard to convey how good it looks with just images or gifs. Any given background has 20+ individuals with unique mannerisms, every sprite moving as smoothly as the ones I'm posting here, in the middle of a fluid fight with no slowdowns. And have I mentioned there's alternate costumes, and even a robust colour customization mode? It allows you to do some cool things, like recolour individual arms and legs, or make a character more tanned, or recolour skin so that it looks like skin-tight clothing (or vice versa, ya pervert).

There's even character endings with slightly animated CGs. It's a very good-looking game, and very polished, too. And the music is just as good (Team Yagami strikes again), with a healthy mix of jazz, rock, and a few other genres. I don't think there's a single bad track in the game, and they even give you the option to use tracks from '03 or XI. Pretty neat fanservice.

Seriously, those ladies in the background are hilarious in motion

Now, the other two games I played were celebratory games of their respective arcs, but the Tales of Ash have no such luxury, due to the difficult development it had. KOF XIII's reduced roster ("only" 36 characters) serves as the definitive game of this era. But unlike the other two games I played, this one actually has the story within the game itself. A quick recap:

Spoiler

(Quick reminder that Kyo, Iori and Chizuru are all related to Orochi, the villain from the 90's games, and that their combined power keeps him sealed away)

In 2003, Kyo's friend Chizuru starts acting strange, holding a tournament and being aggressive about it. Kyo and Iori defeat her in combat but suddenly, a mysterious Illuminati-style group, called "Those From the Past", is revealed to have brainwashed Chizuru, with the intent of stealing the mystical powers of those three. Kyo and Iori fight back, but in the middle of the confusion, Ash motherfuckin' Crimson appears out of nowhere and steals Chizuru's powers for himself. Those From the Past are confused by this development and retreat.

In XI, a businessman in cahoots with Those From the Past holds another tournament. Kyo and Iori enter it, hoping to know more bout what's going on, and whether the villains really hope to revive Orochi. They win the whole thing and beat up the bad guys, but they still don't have any answ- Ash motherfuckin' Crimson appeared out of nowhere and steals Iori's powers. He turns to Kyo, giggles and goes all "You're next. Smell ya later!" and disappears into the shadows.

In XIII, Those From the Past approach Ash Crimson to learn what the hell's his deal. Ash says he's just helping them out, that his goal is the same as theirs, and that he'll give up his stolen powers when the time comes. Their leader Saiki is unconvinced. Regardless, they brainwash Rose Bernstein (daughter of Rugal, that German asshole from '94) into hosting a new tournament. Elizabeth's team wins, and Saiki reveals himself. He reveals that the stadium was built on top of an ancient time gate, and that with the power of Orochi, he'll be able to open that gate to the past and gain absolute control over time itself. He fights them for a while before Ash motherfuckin' Crimson steps in and... attacks Saiki and steals his power.

Now brace yourselves: Ash reveals that his ultimate goal was always to kill Saiki directly and prevent him from accomplishing his plans. He knew all of it because Saiki is a time traveler (?), literally from the past, with Ash being his descendant (dun-dun-duuunn). However, Saiki's power corrupts Ash's psyche and turns him into an evil (and cheap) final boss. After fighting Elizabeth, Ash regains control and closes the gate forever. In doing so, a time paradox is created (??) and he's erased from existence (because killing his ancestor means he was never born (???)). This erasure isn't complete, however, as the only major changes are that the last few tournaments were uneventful, Iori and Chizuru have their powers back, Those From the Past are scattered and powerless, and Ash's genuine friends (like Elizabeth) have forgotten him. (????)

It's very confusing, as I needed to look up what the hell happened with the villain in the climax (in fact, I'm not sure if I understand it yet), but it's a decent concept. The story mode itself is short and sweet (like, 15-20 minutes for a single run), but it allows you to follow the perspective of multiple characters/factions like a flowchart. Neat idea, with the only issue being that the story deals with concepts too complicated for this type of game.

Sadly, the Engrish of yore is gone, replaced with genuine wit and good writing and endearing characterisation and shit. All bells and whistles to cover up the fact that none of the translators were ballsy enough to use daring words like Intensetaneous!

In all seriousness, the interactions between characters are the real highlight of the story here. It makes the entire cast look friendly with one another, which is surprisingly rare when we consider that fighting game stories tend to involve a bunch of assholes who hate each other enough to engage in battle every 5 seconds. Here, we get friendly/flirty/provocative conversations before sanctioned matches, and we definitely grow more attached to these characters and their relationships as a result.

Of note, there is unique dialogue for every character pair in the game, plus unique dialogue for the bosses, and even unique victory quotes (so, 666 unique character conversations, plus 72 unique boss convos, and 1368 victory quotes). It's nothing earth-shattering, but considering the Engrish mess SNK used to be, the fact that they managed to go from barely having coherent sentences to a consistently competent level of writing is truly astounding.

Spoiler

So, the Engrish is mostly gone, are they good at trash talking, now?

...Apparently not. But at least they're not making up words, now.

Okay, fine, but that's a punk who calls himself "Duck King", what did you expect? Silly references? That's Joe's thing.

Just like silly is Yuri's thing

So yeah, most of the humour derives from context and writing now. There aren't many unintentionally funny examples this time

...There are some, though

(Kyo, what the hell are you even talking about? Good fish takes time.)

And we do still have our good ol' sexual innuendo.

Hmm-Hmm... Pretty sure that last one was unintended. I wouldn't expect KOF to be that progressi-

Huh, that's woke. But it's just a throwaway line, not like sexism runs rampant in this setting... Wait.

Uuuhh...

Aw jeez, this is getting heated up in here. Yuri, you're funny, tell us a joke!

YURI! That's so racist! What about... Billy? You're British. Show us some of that witty. intelligent humour!

...I'll take it.

And if that wasn't enough, the story mode gives us even more dialogue, with fully fleshed out conversations between teams (for example, when the Art of Fighting and Women's team meet, we get a gigantic family fight). And of course, the hilariously silly endings (Psycho Rangers!).

Still, I need to address the elephant in the room: the gameplay

...Can I have my Intensetaneous Smash back, please?

So far, the KOF series has done a good job at being accessible enough that a few basic moves are enough to have fun, even if advanced players can come up with insane strategies and lengthy combos with perfect timing. However, this game seems to cater exclusively to the seasoned players.

You have two different meters (one for Supers, one for cancels), multiple ways of cancelling moves into each other, EX moves, all alongside the "advanced" moves the previous games already offered... But this time, the game expects you to know that all off the bat. In Arcade mode, you get extra meter if you fulfill small tasks, such as jumping 3 times, hitting 3 normal moves... or cancelling a move into a super move (which requires precise timing and quick execution). And the movelists have few normal moves, because it expects EX moves to be part of the moveset.

It all feels so overwhelming, and while part of it is the popularity of Street Fighter IV (which normalized EX moves, multiple meters, and so on), SNK has always been bad at teaching their audience how to play their games. I had a really hard time understanding how to properly interact with these systems, and I didn't feel like I "got it" until after I had already unlocked most endings. Hence why it took me so long to beat this, it was hard to get into, and I'm fresh off from playing other games in the series!

Afterwards, I tried to play online and got my derriére handed to me by people who actually knew combos The game's definitely fun, and I'm not too shabby at reading my opponents, but they can punish me far better than I can punish them.

I believe you mean "scrubs"

All things considered, I still had great fun with the game, and I can always respect a highly-polished product. Too bad the game wasn't made for my skill level... but from what I understand, King of Fighters XIV is much better in this regard. One day, I'll give that one a whirl.

And as for the series itself, I'm really glad I gave it a chance. It was a fascinating journey, to delve into SNK's history throughout its flagship series. Just wish I was better at it

(Sprites taken from Fightersgeneration.com)

Spoiler

Played/Beat/Completed:

-The King of Fighters XIII (2010) Beaten (February 17th)

 

Currently Playing:

-Rhythm Paradise

 

Dropped/Hiatus

-Edge It sucks

-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Fire Emblem revival postponed this

 

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by Jonnas

[Dcubed]

23 hours ago, Jonnas said:

 

...Can I have my Intensetaneous Smash back, please?

My head hurts just from reading that! I don't blame you for wanting something simpler!  

 

The above is pretty much everything I don't like about traditional fighting games.  Gimme something like SoulCalibur or Pokken over that any day!

 

Shame, because the sprite work is just amazing!

[Jonnas]

4 hours ago, Dcubed said:

My head hurts just from reading that! I don't blame you for wanting something simpler!

I legitimately laughed out loud when I first saw that textbox. It's hard to put into words the many layers of absurdity present in that screenshot alone.

• Firstly, that's part of the one-time tutorial. She teaches you the concept of basic hits, jumping and rolling, and then suddenly she starts asking you to cancel moves into other moves until it culminates on that. All of this lasts 20 minutes, and it was the first mode I chose when starting the game;
• Funniest thing is, she's not even explaining something that complex: she's just naming his moves! For some reason I cannot possibly fathom, they left Kyo's moves untranslated, leading to the mess you see there. All she's saying is "Do a Lv.2 Fireball Super, and perform your Lv.3 Super while that one's hitting". But I guess that would be too clear and concise;
• Can I just say that the move she's asking me to do is crazy hard to pull off? Kyo launches that fireball faster than a bullet, and you have to input your Lv.3 Super (a double Hadouken) exactly when it hits the enemy. I thought I was doing something wrong, but no, my timing was just off every time. A quick google search told me a lot of players were stumped here;
• The icing on top of the cake? The mechanic she's teaching me about is 1000x easier to do with most other characters. Kyo's version just so happens to demand nigh-impossible execution. But I can't use anybody else, the tutorial has to be with the one character that requires perfect timing (and whose moves are untranslated);
• The cherry on top of the cake is that the mechanic is useless in casual play. It requires you to have 5 bars, which is highly unlikely (considering the bajillion ways you can spend meter in this game) unless you're intentionally filling it up, and since it takes 5 bars, you only get one shot at it;
• I reiterate: this section was made for beginners.

At this point, I ain't even mad. I'm legitimately impressed that such an otherwise competent and polished game could be this bad at showing new players how to play it.

[drahkon]

Trying to get out of my video game rut.

Currently playing Hand of Fate again on PS4. It's fun but there's quite a lot of randomness involved. So far it's nothing that'll stop me from winning "levels", though.
I read that you need several types of equipment to beat the final stage (or it's almost impossible to win) but it's entirely random when you unlock them...not sure if I'm up for the grind these days...I might just play until the final stage and see if I can be arsed to continue.
Pretty sure I'm not going for the Platinum.

My mate and I have finally gotten back to Ghost Recon: Wildlands after a very long time away from it. We're close to finishing it; two areas to complete and then all of the remaining story missions. Once we're done we'll both unlock the Platinum
The game was already fun at release, but with each and every patch it got better and better. Controls improved, bugs were ironed out, difficulty was adjusted and more. Speaking of difficulty: A so called "Tier One" mode was added which lets you "level up" after reaching max level. Activating it sets the difficulty to "expert" by default and it gets more difficult with every Tier. It's quite tough actually But it's so much fun.

After Hand of Fate I'll get back to Jotun and once my mate and I are done with Ghost Recon we'll probably start playing Sniper Elite 3.

 

Oh yeah...also playing The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ on PC...love it

[drahkon]

On 3/13/2018 at 10:53 AM, drahkon said:

Currently playing Hand of Fate again on PS4. It's fun but there's quite a lot of randomness involved. So far it's nothing that'll stop me from winning "levels", though.

Aaaaand it has started. Most of the random events that happen to me now only give you a 1/4 chance to succeed. And since a run takes quite some time you lose lots of health/food/gold if you're not lucky enough and keep failing these events.
I think it's time for me to stop playing the game as it's becoming quite frustrating...

[drahkon]

Decided to take a more "organzied" approach to my gaming to get out of the rut.

I stopped playing everything I had started in the past few weeks. Now I'm utilizing the folders on PS4 for the very first time Created only one folder which I will fill with games I am currently playing.

Aside from Ghost Recon: Wildlands (which my mate and I should finish soon) there's now only CoD: WWII and Shadow of the Beast in the folder.

A game will only be removed when it's finished (with or without Platinum) and only then will a new game be added/started.

 

Reading this again...sounds stupid but organizing things in my life these past few weeks helped me quite a bit so maybe this will help with my biggest hobby, too

Edit: Speaking of Shadow of the Beast...I didn't understand it. The combat, that is...it seems there's some deep mechanics behind it to increase the score and not fuck up but from what I've played yesterday...I didn't get it Maybe later today the mechanics will make more sense.

Edited March 16, 2018 by drahkon

[drahkon]

7 hours ago, drahkon said:

Edit: Speaking of Shadow of the Beast...I didn't understand it. The combat, that is...it seems there's some deep mechanics behind it to increase the score and not fuck up but from what I've played yesterday...I didn't get it Maybe later today the mechanics will make more sense.

I think I'm beginning to understand. I do struggle with the mechanics, though. It's not that they are inherently bad, it's just that I'm not used to them. It's still a fun game.

[Jonnas]

12 hours ago, drahkon said:

Decided to take a more "organzied" approach to my gaming to get out of the rut.

I stopped playing everything I had started in the past few weeks. Now I'm utilizing the folders on PS4 for the very first time Created only one folder which I will fill with games I am currently playing.

I personally divide my Steam folders into "Unplayed", "Unfinished", "Beaten" and "Completed". Helps motivate me to clean out my backlog. I also like to divide them by genre, so it's easier to find a specific game (and the ability to give two genres to a single game is good for this, too). I understand if this isn't as practical on the PS4, though.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Jonnas

[drahkon]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I personally divide my Steam folders into "Unplayed", "Unfinished", "Beaten" and "Completed". Helps motivate me to clean out my backlog. I also like to divide them by genre, so it's easier to find a specific game (and the ability to give two genres to a single game is good for this, too). I understand if this isn't as practical on the PS4, though.

It is. I can't be arsed to create more than one folder, though

I simply just delete a game from my PS4 when I complete it. Looking through the library I can easily remember which game I've finished or not.

[drahkon]

After 12 months with a long hiatus, my mate and I finally finished  Ghost Recon: Wildlands.

What a ride. Many laughs have been had Got the Platinum, too.
I hope there will be a sequel. It would need some improvements (less bugs, better vehicle controls, smaller map, more mission variety), though.

First game that gets deleted from the single folder on my PS4 Ni No Kuni II will be added when I get it.

 

Made some progress with Shadow of the Beast, as well. I've reached the second to last level. Still not sure if I'll go for the Platinum. I'd have to complete every level on the hardest difficulty again (among other trophies I'd have to get). Not sure if I want to, though. The game isn't really for me. I might just go for it while I wait for Ni No Kuni II on Friday.

Edited March 19, 2018 by drahkon

[drahkon]

On 3/19/2018 at 9:30 PM, drahkon said:

Made some progress with Shadow of the Beast, as well. I've reached the second to last level. Still not sure if I'll go for the Platinum. I'd have to complete every level on the hardest difficulty again (among other trophies I'd have to get). Not sure if I want to, though.

Well, had the day off so I decided to go through with it. Got the
It wasn't too bad. The game itself wasn't as enjoyable as the Platinum hunt, which sounds contradictory but I don't know how to put it any other way. I'd regret the purchase if I hadn't only paid 3 bucks for it.

Now it's time for a completely different game: Lara Croft GO. Bought it a couple of weeks ago on a sale. I enjoyed Hitman GO so I'm looking forward to it. My goal is to complete it before I can pick up Ni No Kuni II on Friday Oh man, I cannot wait for my first new JRPG in a long time.

[Aperson]

Meant to get around to this for a while, so here goes.

 

I'm currently mainly playing two games. First of all, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition. This is my main game at the moment and after a trepid start I'm starting to really get into it now and learning several new things about how you can play the game. The mechanics sounded a bit intimidating at first but it clicked once I realised that if you accept that your character will die a lot during the game, then it can help things all the more. Which ironically fits so well into the theme of Dark Souls.

 

Anyway, rung the second bell of awakening now after an amazing finish to the battle with Chaos Witch Queelaag in which we both died at the same time. I am now in the Undead Parish and preparing to go to Sen's Fortress which a cutscene pretty much revealed was my next destination. Thanks FromSoft, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do after hunting down and ringing bells.

 

Also some big serpent monster has appeared in Firelink Shrine and told me I'm supposed to succeed Lord Gywn. Hmmm...

 

The other game I'm playing is FIFA 18. I'm playing a career mode with my local team Swindon Town. I'm in my second season after winning promotion as champions of League Two and I've pretty much changed most of the squad with the exception of keeping some of the best players that were available in that starting team. I'm just coming up to the January transfer window but the game's had a rest since I started playing more Dark Souls.

Squad is:

1 GK Lawrence Vigouroux

2 DF Diego Bejarano

3 DF Ryan Sessegnon (on loan from Fulham)

4 DF Matt Preston

5 DF Luis Abram

6 DF Nikolay Bodurov

7 MF Donal McDermott

8 MF James Dunne

9 FW Jasse Tuominen

10 FW Dan Agyei

11 FW Kaiyne Woolery

12 GK Will Henry

14 MF Matt Taylor

15 DF Davy de Fauw

16 MF Daylon Claasen

17 MF Dominic Griffiths

19 MF Louis Thompson

20 MF Sylla Padt

21 GK Reice Charles-Cook

22 MF Craig Penny

23 MF Mickael Cuisance (on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach)

24 DF Tosin Adarabioyo

27 DF Steven Vitoria

28 MF Clayton McCleary

39 MF Wang Yong Po

 

My main starting eleven is usually as follows (ratings have improved since this screenshot was taken)

 

 

This is of course assuming that everyone is fully fit. Unfortunately I've had a lot of injuries so far this season, it got so bad at one point that it clashed with international duty and then this happened against Bradford

 

 

 

Dominic Griffiths is a 16 year old youth academy prospect that came into the team this season. He's got really good potential and is already a 64 rated attacking midfielder so I was always going to keep him, it's a shame he got injured but he's now back. I've had more injuries since though.

 

Last game was a derby match against Oxford United on boxing day. It got off to a bad start...

...but it turned out pretty great.

Got Portsmouth next and then Chesterfield two days straight afterwards.

[drahkon]

Lara Croft GO get!

Fun little puzzle game. Recommended.

 

Now it's time to wait for Ni No Kuni II

[Ganepark32]

Spent the last couple of days working my way through a slew of indie games and realised that the only games I've finished this year are indie ones, clearly a sign things have changed in terms of my gaming tastes. To add to me finishing up Celeste and Superhot (which is the most innovative shooter I've played in years) the other month, I finished up the following:

Last Day of June - That story, wow. Such an emotional gut punch. It's just a shame that I felt the gameplay was a bit repetitive and it really hurt the early stage of the game as I just didn't click with the game then but it all came full circle towards the end and I'll admit that I shed a tear at the end. Beautifully written and worth experiencing for that alone.

Qube 2 - I enjoyed the original and was looking for a puzzle game as a change of pace and this definitely hit the mark. It was short and sweet and although it didn't put up as much challenge as the original (there wasn't anything that came close to some of the hidden rooms) there were still some really good puzzles and the execution of simple ideas created some great puzzles. Shame the trophies glitched on me at the end meaning I'll have to replay the whole thing to nab that platinum as there's no chapter select.

Crossing Souls - This was a bit of a disappointment for me. I'd been following the game since it was announced and I was so excited to play it yet it just didn't come together as well as it should on the gameplay front. It was frustrating at times especially with an archaic save system (you saved at the start of each section but if you died at any point there after, you'd restart from that save point as there's no checkpoints or autosaves). But the aesthetic and soundtrack were amazing, they nailed that 80s vibe and seeing all the nods to old films and games was brilliant. As a first game for Fourattic it's a good go and hopefully they'll improve from there.

Subsurface Circular - Mike Bithell is one a few indie devs who I'll always support regardless of what the game is (Supergiant Games being another) and while this was a big departure for them, it was a really good and interesting narrative experience that I really enjoyed from start to finish. Loved the way they did it and just enjoyed hearing more about the world outside of the underground and the nods to both Thomas Was Alone and Volume (the nod to the former involving a priest is fantastic and does make it feel as though the games fit in the same world). Can't wait to see what they do next.

A Hat In Time - This was fantastic. Mario Odyssey may have lacked in a strong challenge but this certainly didn't and while there are some niggles with controls and a few performance issues, it was a delight to play. Whimsical, funny and just well rounded was some fantastic platforming sections reminiscent of the special stages in Mario Sunshine. And the different hat abilities were used well throughout with challenges built around them. Definitely recommend this.

Black the Fall - Didn't enjoy this, felt like such a trudge and though I lamented a lot of reviews constantly comparing it to Inside and Limbo, having finished it now I can't stop comparing it either and I can't help but think that a bit more finesse would've helped the game and it's themes come across stronger.

And that's that. Working on writing up some full thoughts for some of these to get back into the swing of writing but thought I'd give my short two cents on them. Not sure what to play next. Still got Fe and Dandara to go through, along with Burnout Paradise Remastered, but I'm currently downloading Transistor as I've got a hankering to replay that.

[Hero-of-Time]

Glad to see you enjoyed the story for Last Day of June. It's a brilliant little game.

Shame about Crossing Souls. I'll still be picking it up at some point because i'm a sucker for games that give nods to the 80s/90s. Saturday Morning RPG got it's hooks into me for the same reason.

[Aperson]

Still playing Dark Souls. I must be getting close to halfway through now or something as I've just reached Anor Londo. Sen's Fortress took forever to finish thanks to many comedic deaths and generally struggling against the serpent guys. At one point I managed to get trapped between two enemies and couldn't escape and they hacked me to death as a result. Annoyingly, every time I died holding a strong amount of souls my next death would ALWAYS come every time I got anywhere near retrieving my souls which was extremely frustrating when trying to build up enough for future level ups. However after many attempts and realising that since I was at the bonfire near the Blacksmith, I had to opportunity to grind for souls and mass purchase arrows. I then used these arrows to avoid combat with enemies on the tight ledges with the swinging axes including the crucial final one where the ledge is incredibly narrow. Then I died to the firebombs... and had to do it again but on my second attempt at getting past them I managed to clear that section.

 

After that the Fortress got significantly easier. The boss at the end that had been forshadowed in a cutscene, Iron Golem, turned out to be incredibly easy, all you have to do is stay behind him and hack away at his legs and he's down. The only reason it took me multiple attempts to beat him was that the arena was incredibly narrow and I was either knocked off the arena or found myself stuck in the scenery and subsequently pushed into a bottomless pit, but I beat him on my third attempt and that's pretty much where I am in the game now.

[nekunando]

 

[Jonnas]

Here's something I haven't done in a while in these Diary threads: reviewing two games at once.

Gunman Clive

Once upon a time, Glen-i posted a review of this game in these here threads, and it sounded cool enough. Once I got a 3DS, I made sure to get this cheap (0,99€ on a sale), and I played through it twice in the span of two days.

It's a neat little platformer that's clearly inspired by Mega Man to a point. All Clive can do is jump&shoot, unlike Mega Man, who can do far more. You can also play as Ms.Johnson (who moves slower, but floats like Rabbit Mario from Super Mario Land 2) or a regular Duck (who flies like Kirby in Smash Bros, but cannot attack at all). I had fun playing as Clive and Duck (and completed the game on Hard mode one time for each), but found Ms.Johnson to be boring, so I didn't bother with her.

The game's short, but very well made, with fun platforming segments, impressive set pieces, and memorable boss fights. I really like the art style, made to look like a "Wanted" poster sketch. It also makes surprisingly good use of 3D. Excellent work from Bertil Hörberg, the Swedish developer who originally made this game for mobile devices, and his brother Arne Hörberg, who did the catchy, wild west inspired soundtrack.

(On a side-note, I imagined the whole time that this was Clive from Fire Emblem Echoes. And that Ms.Johnson was Mathilda, using her previously unseen last name. The duck was clearly Boey. Yes, this is the sort of silliness that goes through my head on a daily basis)

And then I immediately got:

Gunman Clive 2

Which I got for 1,49€ on the recent Spring sale. It's very similar to the first one, but it definitely goes zanier and crazier with its concepts, featuring racing segments, gameplay shifts, and so on. It also expects you to have experience with the first game, because this one is harder, and doesn't reintroduce elements from the first game properly. It also adds a new playable character in Chieftain Tobin Bob, who is more agile, but can only attack with a close-range spear.

The game has also dropped the "old paper" aesthetic from the previous game and went with a more far colourful look. I... don't think it does the game that many favours, to be honest. It helps distinguish it as a sequel, sure, but It's actually harder to see the screen during sunlight, there are stages that get needlessly frustrating due to being dark-coloured, and there are occasions where normal colours are just badly used (in the previous game, enemies being blue made them easier to see, so small enemies were placed with the expectations that the player can see them. In this game, the sky's blue to look nice, and enemies blend in easily, so the small enemies often caught me by surprise. And I don't think they were supposed to). Plus, I just really liked the simple "Wanted Poster" look, and I was sad they didn't keep it.

Anyway, I beat the game on Hard with Clive, Bob and the duck. I ignored Ms.Johnson again. I consider it completed enough.

Despite that mini-rant about the new colours, the game's just as good as the first one, so give these two a whirl. They're well worth their low price.

  My 2018 log (Hide contents)

Played/Beat/Completed:

-The King of Fighters XIII (2010) Beaten (February 17th)

-Gunman Clive (2012) Completed (April 4th)

-Gunman Clive 2 (2015) Completed (April 8th)

 

Currently Playing:

-Rhythm Paradise

-1979 Revolution: Black Friday

 

Dropped/Hiatus

-Edge It sucks

-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Fire Emblem revival postponed this