drahkon Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Spyro the Dragon done. Lovely game. I was wondering why it took me almost a week to get the Platinum even though my playtime only amounts to 5 1/2 hours. Here's the reason: It was too bloody easy. It just didn't grab my attention for more than 30-45 minutes per session. The low difficulty is not an objective criticism, it's just that I'm not really into easy games. Give me tough challenges and I can play for hours without a break Well, this was the only issue I had with the game. Enjoyed my time with it. I will, however, take a hiatus from the trilogy. Not in the mood for another easy game right away. So...what to play next? Good question. Supposedly the Apex Legend battle pass will arrive tomorrow, so that'll take up some of my time. And anytime in March Path of Exile will be released on PS4. Still no definite release date, but I reckon I have at least until the final week of March to play and finish one game. I might just go with Undertale on my Vita. Spoiler Currently Playing (Apex Legends (PS4) - multiplayer game) Finished/Completed NieR: Automata (PS4) - January Super Mario Land 3 - Wario Land (GB) - January Steamworld Dig 2 (PSVita) - February Far Cry New Dawn (PS4) - February VA-11 HALL-A (PSVITA) - February Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PSVita) - March Devious Dungeon (PSVita) - March Spyro the Dragon (PS4) - March Platinum trophies I might get/games on hiatus Crypt of the Necrodancer (PSVita/PS4 - long-term playthrough) Sky Force Reloaded (PS4) Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4 - two games left) Abandoned Chasm (PSVita) - tedious and boring Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - overall a bland and unnecessarily tedious game
Kav Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 I hardly game these days. Just the occasional night each week on Apex Legends for catching up with mates. This family lark takes away from gaming so much! I’ll never get through my backlog!
drahkon Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Undertale finished, Platinum get. Didn't really enjoy it. Battle mechanics were ok...pretty much bullet hell. The rest was meh. Not my thing. Spoiler Currently Playing (Apex Legends (PS4) - multiplayer game) Finished/Completed NieR: Automata (PS4) - January Super Mario Land 3 - Wario Land (GB) - January Steamworld Dig 2 (PSVita) - February Far Cry New Dawn (PS4) - February VA-11 HALL-A (PSVITA) - February Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PSVita) - March Devious Dungeon (PSVita) - March Spyro the Dragon (PS4) - March Undertale (PSVita) - March Platinum trophies I might get/games on hiatus Crypt of the Necrodancer (PSVita/PS4 - long-term playthrough) Sky Force Reloaded (PS4) Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4 - two games left) Abandoned Chasm (PSVita) - tedious and boring Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - overall a bland and unnecessarily tedious game
Hero-of-Time Posted March 12, 2019 Posted March 12, 2019 8 hours ago, drahkon said: Undertale finished, Platinum get. Didn't really enjoy it. Battle mechanics were ok...pretty much bullet hell. The rest was meh. Not my thing. I've never seen the appeal of this game. It looks like it's weird for the sake of being weird. Also, it's supposed to be heavily influenced by Earthbound, which I despise, so it's probably best that I stay well away from it. You're on quite a roll for this month. 1
drahkon Posted March 12, 2019 Posted March 12, 2019 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: It looks like it's weird for the sake of being weird. Yeah, that's what I take away from it after playing. I mean, there were some funny bits, some songs are brilliant and the fights are quite fun, though. It's not a bad game per se, just not for me 41 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: You're on quite a roll for this month. Thankfully. I was worried that I wouldn't get out of my slump for quite some time. It helped that I stopped trying to find a JRPG I want to play. Putting my focus on "smaller" titles got me back into it. Now that I've finished Undertale I'm actually in the mood again for Spyro. I never played the second and third installment of the original series so I'm looking forward to the remakes. Maybe they are more difficult than the first one? Edited March 12, 2019 by drahkon
Hero-of-Time Posted March 12, 2019 Posted March 12, 2019 6 minutes ago, drahkon said: Maybe they are more difficult than the first one? Not really. They are longer though. 1
drahkon Posted March 12, 2019 Posted March 12, 2019 7 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Not really. They are longer though. Seems that way. Just reached the first boss and so far the second game is even easier than the first Still, it's quite a relaxing experience.
Aperson Posted March 12, 2019 Author Posted March 12, 2019 I finished Kingdom Hearts III in a week. However, NieR Automata (PS4) has taken me over a month and I'm still not finished. Granted I'm not playing it full on like I was with Kingdom Hearts III but even so I think that's a sign that this game is actually pretty lengthy and has a fair amount of challenge in the game without being Dark Souls level hard. It's actually very much like a better version of Xenoblade Chronicles X in some ways, although I've never played a game where you have to play through it multiple times just to see the enitre storyline. I'm still in my third playthrough and... Wow, I've never seen a game or any piece of media actively kill off i'ts main character and then let them STAY dead. Normally if the writers do that they have to find some way of Deus Ex Machina to get the character back but it looks like 2B straight up dies and A2, who they introduced earlier in the game, takes over as a playable character. Now I'm alternating between playing as A2 and 9S on their own seperate missions as 9S climbs the towers (I love how they have a customer service style machine voice for something that is actively trying to kill you) and A2 wonders around kliling machines... until meeting Pascal and doing errands for the village. Then just when you develop the village... the villagers start eating each other? What the hell? You are actively forced to kill villagers. Villagers who only ever wanted a peaceful life away from war but because of how hostile they've become you have to kill everyone while Pascal and the children flee including machines you helped just a moment ago. Then you go to the factory and have to face an armada of machines to protect Pascal and the children from meeting the same fate. You face one epic battle against the machines and it looks like your efforts are going to help everyone and this would be the turning point... then the kids commit suicide. Like, what? In terms of plot twists they are going all in right now... But no, the game doesn't even think that's enough. Pascal is so depressed at what's happened that he can no longer bare himself and he has lost his reason for living, so he wants you to put him out of his misery by erasing his memories or killing him. And they REALLY make you feel guilty for erasing his memories during the hacking procedure. This guy did nothing wrong yet you have no other choice BUT to kill him. All the big battle and Pascal manning an Engels Goliath and fighting against another? All for nothing in the end... and now A2 is joining in with the activation of the towers quest and it looks like the two androids are going to have to cross paths. 9S wants to kill A2 so... I guess they will have to fight each other? I think I must be getting towards the end of the game now or at least the end of this playthrough, I don't know how much further I have yet to go but things are getting pretty insane. 1
drahkon Posted March 13, 2019 Posted March 13, 2019 Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! is even easier than the first one Which means it's only two levels max per session for me. Looks like I'll play this for at least another week. It's fun, though, just like the first. It could've done without the abilities you have to buy. Having to unlock them serves absolutely no purpose. It only forces you to revisit previous levels if you go for 100% Just have them unlocked right from the start...anyway, it's only a minor inconvenience.
drahkon Posted March 15, 2019 Posted March 15, 2019 Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! update: 50% of the trophies are mine and the ingame completion percentage shows that I'm about 2/3 done. So far I like it more than the first installment. Level design is better and the objectives are even more fun than in Spyro the Dragon. Can't wait to get back to playing it. Been playing Apex Legends for pretty much every evening in the last two weeks. It got me back to playing with a mate I've known for 16 years now. We haven't played an online video game together in years. We occasionally meet up for some good old Mario Kart, Smash Bros. and Crash Bash action but that doesn't happen too often as we live quite far apart.
Aperson Posted March 15, 2019 Author Posted March 15, 2019 (edited) Finished NieR: Automata (PS4) last night and I have to agree, this game is one of the best games made this generation and the best game Square Enix have made in years. The only real problems with it are that the game does give you the tools to make things extremely easy without too much effort by yourself and it's a bit too easy to dodge the opponent's attacks as the evade button can just be spammed and you avoid something like 90% of your enemies attacks. I also wasn't too keen on hacking at first but I came around to it, especially after I found out you can lock on to enemies so by the end of the game I was using hacking as my main method of attack when playing as 9S. And it also became apparent that every design decision in this game was deliberate in order for the game to reveal it's true message. If you haven't played this game yet, please play it, it's VERY very good. I wouldn't say it dislodges my top 5 games of all time because of reasons stated below but it's definitely in my top 10. I didn't get endings K or Y but I guess I was quite keen to finish the game. Next I'm thinking of taking a break from RPGs as I've now played at least 5 in a row and the immediate game selection I've got planned includes at least 2 more as I was going to play Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Wii U VC) next but instead I think I'm going to give Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (PC) a good go. I played this game years ago but struggled to keep my attention on it because I was playing it on a study PC. Now that I have my own laptop and my own controller I think I will be able to play through the entire game on my own terms. And I know, playing a disc based PC game in 2019... It's really interesting when you realise that this whole game is meant to be a critique on humanity and the finite nature of it. The idea that humanity cannot really make progress because everyone has to start out from nothing and everyone dies eventually which negates any progress made and so the next generation ends up repeating the same mistakes as the previous one. What makes this even more interesting is how the game uses it's nature as a game to suggest these characters are trapped in a never ending cycle because by constantly replaying the game you are forcing them to repeat the same actions over and over again which is cleverly linked into the storytelling and how, no matter what, 9S and A2 will always be lead into eventually facing each other and both dying in the process. So naturally, since this is a game and games usually have happy endings, the Pods end up not being able to accept the ending and the fourth wall is completely shattered as the player themselves becomes the one to give the game a happy ending against the wishes of the people who made the game. So the final boss and the credits sequence ARE ONE AND THE SAME. This is honestly one of the highlights of the game in spite of how ridiculously difficult it is but I think that was intentional, especially given the messages that you get upon death like "Do you think games are silly little things" or "Is it all pointless". The change in music when everyone around the world comes to help you was extremely impactful... and then they end the game on an extremely ambiguous note by pointing out that in spite of you giving them a life beyond the confines of the game... they may still repeat the same mistakes and the true ending leaves a lot to be desired. Then the game asks you to delete your data to help future people finish the game... but I decided to keep my data. I think by this point it's a two year old game so most people who are going to play this game have already played it. Edited March 15, 2019 by GenericAperson Spoiler tag wasn't working 1
Aperson Posted March 15, 2019 Author Posted March 15, 2019 Well, I tried to get Rayman 3 working but it just refused to boot up properly. I uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times and tried running as an administrator but to no avail and now it's saying that it doesn't like the version of DirectX that is on my computer. I decided that I wasted too much time on getting this to work when I could have done something more productive and changed my mind on the game I wanted to play. So it's back to more RPGs as I play Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Wii U VC). Even then, a lot of time was spent typing the password from my Golden Sun 1 file and I went for the Golden password so that meant I had to record a full 260 character password. Then I got it wrong and had to go over the whole thing to try and find the mistakes that were made... but eventually imported my characters across. Not that it seems to matter originally because this game starts out with an entirely new party, the "villain" group of the first game and the plot looks like a direct continuation seeing as you start in the Venus Lighthouse. I hear these games were supposed to be one game but Camelot were a bit too ambitious for the GBA and had to split them into two. This strikes me as a bit strange considering that Square managed to fit the whole of Final Fantasy VI on one GBA cartridge and Game Freak made the rather expansive Hoenn region in Pokemon Ruby unless those games were built on more expansive cartridges or that Camelot just ran out of time. Anyway, my new party have just drifted onto the eastern continent through the most unexpected of routes... the land breaking off! I did wonder what that cave was for in the first game... 1
Glen-i Posted March 15, 2019 Posted March 15, 2019 53 minutes ago, GenericAperson said: I decided that I wasted too much time on getting this to work when I could have done something more productive and changed my mind on the game I wanted to play. So it's back to more RPGs as I play Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Wii U VC). Even then, a lot of time was spent typing the password from my Golden Sun 1 file and I went for the Golden password so that meant I had to record a full 260 character password. Then I got it wrong and had to go over the whole thing to try and find the mistakes that were made... but eventually imported my characters across. Not that it seems to matter originally because this game starts out with an entirely new party, the "villain" group of the first game and the plot looks like a direct continuation seeing as you start in the Venus Lighthouse. I hear these games were supposed to be one game but Camelot were a bit too ambitious for the GBA and had to split them into two. This strikes me as a bit strange considering that Square managed to fit the whole of Final Fantasy VI on one GBA cartridge and Game Freak made the rather expansive Hoenn region in Pokemon Ruby unless those games were built on more expansive cartridges or that Camelot just ran out of time. Anyway, my new party have just drifted onto the eastern continent through the most unexpected of routes... the land breaking off! I did wonder what that cave was for in the first game... I take it you've not played The Lost Age before then? Don't worry, you'll start seeing the effects of the golden password sooner or later.
Aperson Posted March 15, 2019 Author Posted March 15, 2019 1 minute ago, Glen-i said: I take it you've not played The Lost Age before then? Don't worry, you'll start seeing the effects of the golden password sooner or later. No, I only started playing the original Golden Sun back in 2016 and finished it two years later. Then I was focused on finishing all the older games I owned that I hadn't finished and then a lot of new games came out that I was interested in so this is my first time playing Lost Age and I'm finally getting around to it.
Dcubed Posted March 16, 2019 Posted March 16, 2019 12 hours ago, GenericAperson said: No, I only started playing the original Golden Sun back in 2016 and finished it two years later. Then I was focused on finishing all the older games I owned that I hadn't finished and then a lot of new games came out that I was interested in so this is my first time playing Lost Age and I'm finally getting around to it. Oh man! You're in for a treat! Part two is even more amazing than part one! Oh and don't worry, the Golden Password is well worth the effort!
drahkon Posted March 17, 2019 Posted March 17, 2019 Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! Platinum get Lovely game. Another one that is too easy for my taste but it was still enjoyable. What I will never understand: Why lock a new ability (or in this case a better version of a starting ability) behind 100% completion? I will never ever use it if I've already completed everything there is in the game. Anyway, not sure if I'll immediately move on to Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon or find a different game to play. Spoiler Currently Playing (Apex Legends (PS4) - multiplayer game) Finished/Completed NieR: Automata (PS4) - January Super Mario Land 3 - Wario Land (GB) - January Steamworld Dig 2 (PSVita) - February Far Cry New Dawn (PS4) - February VA-11 HALL-A (PSVita) - February Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PSVita) - March Devious Dungeon (PSVita) - March Spyro the Dragon (PS4) - March Undertale (PSVita) - March Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS4) - March Platinum trophies I might get/games on hiatus Crypt of the Necrodancer (PSVita/PS4 - long-term playthrough) Sky Force Reloaded (PS4) Spyro Reignited Trilogy (PS4 - one game left) Abandoned Chasm (PSVita) - tedious and boring Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - bland and unnecessarily tedious
Aperson Posted March 18, 2019 Author Posted March 18, 2019 After a rather large marathon session (and the game is still on now, it's been a while since my main game was in the same room as my computer!) I have made substantial progress in Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Wii U VC). In total I have had just one party death so far and, from lessons learned from the previous game I have tried to make sure everyone is optimised in their element by leaving certain Djinn for later until the correct rotation comes around... not that it matters since you can rotate them between party members! Oh well. Everyone is Level 19 apart from Piers who is Level 20. Currently setting out to return to the ship although it seems like I missed the Reveal Psynergy, so going after that. I must admit the story for both these games imo isn't that great, it's more of a gameplay focused RPG imo which isn't so bad because I like how it incorporates Zelda like puzzle gameplay into the overworld and actually gives you a bit more freedom to explore than other RPGs even if the way forward is still ultimately linear. Still, I seem to be rather involved in the second game so far so I'm clearly enjoying it. 1 2
Dcubed Posted March 18, 2019 Posted March 18, 2019 (edited) 26 minutes ago, GenericAperson said: After a rather large marathon session (and the game is still on now, it's been a while since my main game was in the same room as my computer!) I have made substantial progress in Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Wii U VC). In total I have had just one party death so far and, from lessons learned from the previous game I have tried to make sure everyone is optimised in their element by leaving certain Djinn for later until the correct rotation comes around... not that it matters since you can rotate them between party members! Oh well. Everyone is Level 19 apart from Piers who is Level 20. Currently setting out to return to the ship although it seems like I missed the Reveal Psynergy, so going after that. I must admit the story for both these games imo isn't that great, it's more of a gameplay focused RPG imo which isn't so bad because I like how it incorporates Zelda like puzzle gameplay into the overworld and actually gives you a bit more freedom to explore than other RPGs even if the way forward is still ultimately linear. Still, I seem to be rather involved in the second game so far so I'm clearly enjoying it. I do absolutely agree with you that it's a gameplay focused RPG first and foremost. But the story does have some pretty interesting twists and turns in the second game that I reckon are gonna really surprise you! Not gonna spoil anything, but I definitely didn't see the big twist coming! Ultimately though, it's all about the gameplay; and thankfully, the gameplay is absolutely top notch! The environmental puzzle solving is really second only to the Zelda series! It's just so good! It puts every other RPG to absolute shame! And the battle system (despite the overall lack of difficulty outside of the optional stuff) is brill! I absolutely love the Djjin system! And I so wish that we could get another proper entry in the series (one that is a lot better than Dark Dawn as well; which was sadly pretty disappointing all around). I also had mountains of fun playing GS multiplayer with @Glen-i back in the day (even if it basically encourages you to collect and never use every single Water of Life in the entire game throughout your playthrough ) Edited March 18, 2019 by Dcubed
Jonnas Posted March 18, 2019 Posted March 18, 2019 Golden Sun has been pretty linear so far... but let's see if you still think that after getting the ship.
drahkon Posted March 19, 2019 Posted March 19, 2019 Aaaaand the Spyro Reignited Trilogy is completed The Platinum for Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon is mine. Kind of odd that the third game is the only one which you don't have to complete 100% for the trophy Anyway, I think I like Spyro 3 the most. But the whole trilogy is a great piece of entertainment. Way too easy, but a nice choice for some relaxing gaming sessions This was probably the last full game I'll play this month. Today the battle pass for Apex Legends will be released, and next week Path of Exile finally shows up on the PS4. These will take up all my gaming time for a while, I reckon. Pretty good year for me, so far. I got out of the slump mid-February and played some great games...except for Devious Dungeon. And Undertale to a lesser extent. Spoiler Currently Playing (Apex Legends (PS4) - multiplayer game) Finished/Completed NieR: Automata (PS4) - January Super Mario Land 3 - Wario Land (GB) - January Steamworld Dig 2 (PSVita) - February Far Cry New Dawn (PS4) - February VA-11 HALL-A (PSVita) - February Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PSVita) - March Devious Dungeon (PSVita) - March Spyro the Dragon (PS4) - March Undertale (PSVita) - March Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS4) - March Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (PS4) - March Platinum trophies I might get/games on hiatus Crypt of the Necrodancer (PSVita/PS4 - long-term playthrough) Sky Force Reloaded (PS4) Abandoned Chasm (PSVita) - tedious and boring Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - bland and unnecessarily tedious 1
Hero-of-Time Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Great to read your adventures while playing Golden Sun @GenericAperson. I loved the original game but for some reason I never played the sequels. I should really get around to doing that at some point. I am playing one of other Camelot games at the moment in Shining the Holy Ark. There's is certainly a sense of familiarity when comparing the two franchises. @drahkon happy to see you got through all of the trilogy. I actually found them to get worse as the series went on. I much preferred the original game due to it just being about Spyro. As the trilogy went on it seemed that more and more of his friends joined the party and made the game worse for it, at least for me.
drahkon Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 1 minute ago, Hero-of-Time said: happy to see you got through all of the trilogy. I actually found them to get worse as the series went on. I much preferred the original game due to it just being about Spyro. As the trilogy went on it seemed that more and more of his friends joined the party and made the game worse for it, at least for me. It was the opposite for me After the first two game it was quite refreshing to see some variation. Just seen that there is a sale for Styx: Shards of Darkness. I quite enjoyed the first one and the second installment has online co-op. Looks like a great game for my mate and me. So much for not spending anymore money on gaming this month.
Aperson Posted March 20, 2019 Author Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) Got the Reveal Psynergy and gone back to Madra. Encountered Menardi's sister, Karst, who seems pretty upset to learn that her sister died and warns us that we will need to make our own way if we want to light the Jupiter Lighthouse which it sounds like we need the ship for. All my wondering around after the drawbridge was for nothing as it seems like a lot of that stuff is optional but I suppose having Reveal will help with getting all the Djinn so there is that. I broke my pattern of collecting only certain types of Djinn after visiting Garoh but since you can trade Djinn I'm sure that will be alright if I can find others like it. LOL, Jenna's sprite starts glowing red if asked whether she likes Isaac... EDIT: Just got the ship. I see what @Jonnas means. Edited March 21, 2019 by GenericAperson 1 1
Glen-i Posted March 21, 2019 Posted March 21, 2019 18 hours ago, GenericAperson said: All my wondering around after the drawbridge was for nothing as it seems like a lot of that stuff is optional but I suppose having Reveal will help with getting all the Djinn so there is that. I broke my pattern of collecting only certain types of Djinn after visiting Garoh but since you can trade Djinn I'm sure that will be alright if I can find others like it. You need Reveal to finish the game. So it's good that you got it.
Aperson Posted March 22, 2019 Author Posted March 22, 2019 20 hours ago, Glen-i said: You need Reveal to finish the game. So it's good that you got it. Fair enough. I did notice some parts that needed Reveal but when I reached Air's Rock I was a bit confused as to how to enter, only through use of the internet did I find out what I was missing. I've been trying to use the internet and save states minimally though, only when I've really gotten stuck have I looked stuff up and then it's only been for small prompts. Anyway, despite getting the boat it seems I can't actually get to Jupiter Lighthouse yet and I'm only restricted to the ocean area above. So I did some exploring and eventually found myself tackling Gaia Rock and taking on the serpent boss. So far Lost Age has been very easy. I had yet to get a game over and had only ever lost one party member, most enemies and bosses were going down very easily to my basic attacks, Synergies and Djinn. Then this guy shows up and he's tough as nails. I eventually beat him by de-equipping all my Djinn first turn so that I could use Summons and do massive damage to the boss to get around the fact that he can heal 30 HP every turn AND cast Cure Well so his health is constantly going up. He also hits for massive damage so I had to heal a few times and only after I used a party potion to heal everyone's health back to max and then summoning Thor did I manage to beat him. That guy was tough as nails and I died multiple times. Need more Mercury Djinn to be able to revive my party going forward if I'm going to be facing boss battles this hard from this point onwards. I'm quite surprised at how quickly I'm getting through this game but it does feel like I've passed the halfway point or am getting close to it already. The boat has made traversal infinitely better than the original Golden Sun. Trying to go back for the Djinn in that game is a lot of hassle as you have no fast travel or airship to allow you to quickly skip over to where you need. In most Final Fantasy games they give you an airship towards the end of the game that can fly over the entire map and that makes it significantly easier to go back for anything you might of missed or do the game's optional sidequests. In Golden Sun,you missed a Djinn? Tough, you have to walk all the way through the entire map and put up with random encounters to get to the actual place you want to go. Anyway, I beat that monster and got the Sand Psynergy.
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