Your 2020 Gaming Diary

[Londragon]

[Let’s Play: Together] Hypercharge: Unboxed (GARDEN OF EVIL)

 

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son play through the regular mode and protect the 4 Hypercores of Garden of Evil (aka The One with the T-Rex).

The Last level, is the largest in scope and waves, and features the all destroying T-Rex.

[Aperson]

One of the things I wanted to do in this Prime 3 LP is to talk about Metroid Dread. So today, it's finally time. Part 28 of Let's Play Metroid Prime 3 Corruption sees us talk about Metroid Dread. There's also a major upgrade and a boss battle in there too:

 

 

[Scratch]

Just bought Horizon Zero Dawn for PC/Steam. Took cdkeys.com's £30 price lol (£10 off Steam's). It has a Zelda: Breath of the Wild vibe, and the gameplay looks fun from the trailer (although I hope it doesn't throw too much at you at once the menu/stats system looks a tad confusing xD). So I'm looking forward to playing that tomorrow (gotta wait for the download to finish now xD).

[Londragon]

I've been working through a Let's Play of The Messenger as we play through it for the N-E Cafe Podcast PodPals episode coming up in the beginning of September, and decided to do a preview trailer of what's in store (tongue in cheek).

[Let’s Play: Lee] The Messenger (Trailer)

A quick glipse at what the future holds for Old Nintendo Gamer & Son's next big project. Coming to our YouTube Channel soon!

[bob]

Just bought Horizon Zero Dawn for PC/Steam. Took cdkeys.com's £30 price lol (£10 off Steam's). It has a Zelda: Breath of the Wild vibe, and the gameplay looks fun from the trailer (although I hope it doesn't throw too much at you at once the menu/stats system looks a tad confusing xD). So I'm looking forward to playing that tomorrow (gotta wait for the download to finish now xD).

The menu and stats systems are not confusing at all imo. There's a very basic RPG system in place with the weapons and clothing, but it's not too difficult to get the hang of.

[Scratch]

Okay so I'm really enjoying HZD. It's a wonderful game and extremely addictive. However that's in spite of a couple of things.

For one, the port it TERRIBLE. I'm not claiming to have the best PC in the world, but it's certainly not a potato. I've turned everything down to minimum and performance is still choppy. Also had some initial crashes which thankfully went away with a reboot. Hopefully the performance will be improved with patches.

Gameplay-wise, it's simply not as refined and does not have that Nintendo magic that Breath of the Wild has. I hate saying this because I like to give specific reasons for stuff, but it's been some time since I last played BoTW. This game is brilliant, but BoTW simply hit it better, in terms of movement, crafting, combat, generally interacting with the map and most other stuff.

THAT SAID, those are the criticisms. I am genuinely, thoroughly enjoying this game. The story is far superior to BoTW, and the game overall is definitely fun and addictive. I'll definitely be playing this for some time. xD 

[drahkon]

5 hours ago, Sckewi said:

The story is far superior to BoTW

To be fair...BotW doesn't have a story

[Glen-i]

30 minutes ago, drahkon said:

To be fair...BotW doesn't have a story

[Aperson]

Breath of the Wild did have a story... you just had to look for it

 

Speaking of games where you have to look for some of the plot, here's the latest part of Let's Play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where we take the train on our way to infiltrating the seed. Just note that the important thing was that we took a train OK? That's why there is added music and sound effects in that section in this LP after all...

 

 

I don't expect anyone to know where the extra music and sound effects come from but huge kudos to you if you do know.

[drahkon]

Been playing Valkyria Chronicles Remastered on PS4 for a few hours.

I enjoy it. The actual gameplay is great. Strategy is definitely key, RNG can fuck you up really bad, though.

The rest of the game is kinda weird, though. You spend 80% of your time in menus but most of it is just choosing the next cut scene. Speaking of which: Chapters are split into episodes and you have to actually select every single one in order to view their respective cut scene. Why not have all cut scenes show in one go? Would've been a much smoother experience.

Then there's the RPG elements. They seem very bare bones and I struggle to see why they're even there. Maybe (hopefully) it'll become more complex, but I don't think it will.

Anyways, currently at chapter 7 and the story just kicked into next gear so I think I'm almost at the half way point.

Edit: And the Chapter 7 mission ruins my enjoyment. Just with the Fire Emblem games...reinforcements arrive and you couldn't predict where on the battlefield they appear.
It gets worse: That reinforcement (or rather one single unit) was able to kill 6 (!) of my units in one turn. And no, it wasn't because my units were positioned badly. It was because that single enemy unit was able to run around the entire map and deal a shit ton of damage.
Took me about 20 minutes to reach that point and now the mission is unwinnable.

The thing is...now that I know what to do, it'll most likely be very easy. But throwing a curve ball in the middle of a mission is always something that'll annoy me to no end in games.
It's like giving me a puzzle and some time to solve it, but half way through you take what I've done, throw it against the wall, cut off one of my arms, add another puzzle piece and spit in my face.

Edit²: And I'm out. The game just stops being fun after a while. Too much RNG (it rivals the XCOM games...).

Edited August 25, 2020 by drahkon

[MindFreak]

I'm playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on Switch at the moment. A little over halfway in and well, I'm sorry to say that the game is rather boring to play, isn't it? The combat is repetitive - dodge/slam X or Y, dodge/parry, slam X or Y - and the puzzles are purely environmental, meaning that you only have to look for stuff in the surroundings to open a door, and the game even tells you when your near (at least the runes). Then they tried to make this more stressing by adding a monster that chases you but the thin is - you can't really look around much faster? So I just ended up circling the area again and again until I finally found the runes. Yeah, not fun. I'm debating with myself whether to finish this or not. It's a short game but I can only handle playing it in small bursts of 30-60 minutes and I keep thinking about wanting it to end. It's a shame, the game is visually really good looking and the audio is excellent but I'm just not really feeling it.

I have Metro 2033: Redux sitting there, waiting for me, and I feel that it pulls harder than Hellblade at the moment.

[Londragon]

As our 41st N-E Cafe Podcast is now up, and I talked about Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja as my Recent Games Topic this week, here's a complete Let's Play, with my son, of that very game.  This holds a lot of nostalgia for me, and my son found it engaging, too.

[Let’s Play: Together] Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja (Complete)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son punch, kick and laugh their way through this classic coin-op action arcade game.

[Aperson]

On 8/22/2020 at 9:24 PM, GenericAperson said:

Breath of the Wild did have a story... you just had to look for it

 

Speaking of games where you have to look for some of the plot, here's the latest part of Let's Play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where we take the train on our way to infiltrating the seed. Just note that the important thing was that we took a train OK? That's why there is added music and sound effects in that section in this LP after all...

 

 

I don't expect anyone to know where the extra music and sound effects come from but huge kudos to you if you do know.

Or there would be except for the fact that I posted the video at 9 in the evening, posted it on the thread and then nobody posted on this thread until today and in the end nobody actually watched it. Whoops!

 

Well, that's a lesson learned, if you can't get the video on time then don't put it in a dead zone. At least this time I have a new episode for you at the correct point so here is Part 30 where the penultimate upgrade is acquired. Part 29 kind of provides contet for Part 30 in a way...

 

 

Can officially confirm this will be a 40 Part LP. The next two episodes are going to be rather more exciting as we do some big things on the Pirate Homeworld...

[Cube]

Played through Hitman 2 (the second Hitman 2). Probably the weakest Hitman game. Very few levels, and only one that I'd consider replaying.

Most of the levels are just needlessly big. The joy of Hitman was going though levels a lot, but these just take too long for that. 

They don't even take advantage of the size either. The kills in it all feel disconnected and don't work off each other at all, and in most missions are in completely different locations.

I would much prefer it if these missions were split up, or even just an option to play them as individual areas after completing it once.

The previous new Hitman had a few bonus missions which took place in alternate, smaller versions of the maps and I loved those... unfortunately they're all hidden behind DLC this time.

Its annoying as the gameplay itself is great, it's just the levels that let it down.

[Nicktendo]

I finished Super Crush K.O. last night, the second Switch game from Canadian studio Vertex Pop and a sort of semi-sequel to Graceful Explosion Machine.

I've got to say, these guys really know how to design a mechanically sound experience. This is some of the most fun I've ever had with a side-scrolling brawler. The combat is superb. You have basic attacks assigned to X, special attacks to Y and a gun to ZR. The latter two are limited to avoid being spammed with a fairly lengthy cool down if you over-use them. You also have a dodge on L, which can be used to absorb projectile damage or quickly get out of trouble, but this has an extremely lengthy cool down and needs to be used sparingly. Gameplay wise, it's essentially an expansion on the shmup mechanics found in GEM, but adapted for the Beat 'em up genre. You have to manage your attacks, maintain your combo and avoid damage, which sounds straightforward on paper but when there are 15+ enemies on screen it can get a bit hectic.

The game controls like an absolute dream and feels extremely fluid and responsive. Chaining together attacks is a joy. Throw in some light platforming elements and you have a fast-paced game that makes your dart across the screen left and right to keep your combo going. Like GEM, this game is fairly simple to beat, but tough to master. Going for an "S" ranking in each of the 20 levels gets gradually harder, achieving a "perfect combo" in each stage's numerous sections is extremely tough and requires learning enemy placement and patterns. I managed to beat all of the levels on the first attempt as you're generously given 5 lives in each stage and plenty of checkpoints, but you're punished heavily by the scoring system for taking too long to finish or dying. I basically need to go back through the latter half of the game and improve some of those B rankings to an S. That would probably double the 3-4 hours it took me to beat the game in the first place.
 

Each world is broken into 5 levels, 4 stages and a boss. The stages take around 5-10 minutes to finish, with a boss battle lasting about 3 minutes. Perfectly suited to the Switch's pick-up-and-play nature, but can easily be finished in a couple of sittings should you desire. Unfortunately, while the art style is nice, there isn't a lot of variety. The worlds all basically look the same, and while I appreciate the aesthetic, it gets very repetitive by the third world. New enemies are thrown into the mix as you progress, and the difficulty ramps up, but this is not true of the boss stages. You fight the same boss with slightly altered attack patterns, which makes for a pretty disappointing final showdown. 

The "story" is a bit stupid. Alien girl kidnaps your cat, chase the alien and rescue. That's about it. Didn't feel it was really necessary and ignored it almost immediately  However, the gameplay is super satisfying and based on that alone, I think it's a game anyone who likes a good brawler should play. While the game is short, there is plenty of challenge in the high-score chasing and it's not exactly expensive. Want to say £7.99, which is a bargain. More so if it ever goes on sale. Recommended. Looking forward to seeing what these guys come up with next. 

[Londragon]

Another game I spoke highly of in the last podcast was Armello, so without further ado, here's a complete play through one whole game (9 days, 18 turns) of that board game.  It is a long video I know, but I don't care.  It was great to record and play, and it'd be a shame to split it up into parts.

[Let’s Play: Together] Armello (Game 1)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son settle their differences in the complex board game, Armello. Watch as they try to explain what’s going on.

[Londragon]

A little more Realm Royale, as my son and I join a squad in 2 matches.  Disaster in the first, saved our reputation in the following match.

[Let’s Play: Together] Realm Royale - Squads (Part 1)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son play their first two games of Realm Royale together. A drubbing and a face-saving performance follows.

[Aperson]

I guess no one's really interested in watching this LP anymore. Well... I'm getting towards the end so I might as well finish it all. Here it is, Part 31 where the first steps of the Pirate Homeworld Invasion begin. Things are getting exciting now...

 

 

In other gaming news I picked up and started Timesplitters: Future Perfect. Fun game so far, a lot more story driven in terms of campaign than Timesplitters 2 was but the Halo influence with the vehicle section in the Scotland level is rather noticeable. I am usually terrible at games wit dual analogue controls but enjoyed Timesplitters anyway no matter how bad I am at the game and with the interest of only really playing single player. Aiming assist helps as well I guess..

 

Also playing a lot more Magic Arena lately. Rotation is coming so I'm kind of in the final stages of wanting to get everything I can from this Standard season, including the M21 Mastery Pass. Once I've got that I should be flooded with packs and will be able to complete all the Shock Lands before rotation happens. Also experimenting with potential post-rotation decks like this one:

4x Fervent Champion

4x Tin Street Cadet

4x Chandra's Pyreling

4x Forbidden Friendship

4x Robber of the Rich

2x Anax, Hardened by the Forge

4x Bonecrusher Giant

4x Raid Bombardment

2x Subira, Tulzani Caravaneer

3x Torbran, Thane of Redfell

3x Embercleave

4x Castle Embereth

18x Mountain

 

Going to miss Light Up the Stage when it rotates

[Ganepark32]

Don't remember the last time I updated my gaming diary and I've been meaning to post it so I'll post what I've completed and what I'm playing currently and have sitting waiting to play/buy.

Spoiler

January
A Hat in Time (Switch)
Stories Untold (Switch)
A Short Hike (PC)

February
Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4)
Dreams (PS4, Art's Dream)
Inside (Xbox One)
Concrete Genie (PS4)

March
Guacamelee (Xbox One)
Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One)
Monument Valley 2 (Android)

April
Alan Wake (Xbox One BC)
What Remains of Edith Finch (Xbox One)
Etherborn (Xbox One)
Halo Reach (MCC, Xbox One)
Gato Roboto (Xbox One)
PikuNiku (Xbox One)
Bomb Chicken (Switch)
Super Smash Bros Ultimate - World of Light + all characters unlocked (Switch)
Gris (Switch)
She Remembered Caterpillars (Switch)
Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One)
Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One)

May
Deliver Us The Moon (Xbox One)
Transistor (Switch)
Old Man's Journey (Xbox One)
The Turing Test (Xbox One)
Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Xbox One)
Alan Wake's American Nightmare (Xbox One BC)
Lost Ember (Xbox One)
Minecraft Dungeons (Xbox One)

June
The Last of Us Remastered (PS4)

July
The Last of Us Part 2 (PS4)
The Crew 2 (Xbox One)
Carrion (Xbox One)
The Touryst (Xbox One)

August
Night Call (Xbox One)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Trailmakers - Stranded in Space Campaign (Xbox One)
Creaks (Switch)
Battletoads (Xbox One)
A Short Hike (Switch)

Not done bad in terms of getting things completed so far this year. July was a very slow month as I was dealing with some mental health issues but I've picked it up again and tracking ahead of what I'd hope to finish for the year (which was only 30 titles so well over that now).

Now, as for what I'm playing, I've currently got the following on my various platforms either started or needing started (though only 2 haven't been started):

Control + expansions (PS4) - bought the digital deluxe version a few months back because of the timed expansion for the PS4 (played it fully last year on Xbox One) but I'm not yet finished the main game let alone touched the expansions

Deus Ex Mankind Divided (XBO) - I've had a hankering for replaying this as I love the world and we'll likely not get the final part of the trilogy any time soon so I'm making my start in Prague and enjoying it immensely

Forza Horizon 3 + DLC (XBO) - already played the base game but its getting delisted and I've never played the expansions so thought I might as well pick it up before its too late

Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) - not sure when I'll go back to this as I was getting burned out on it as a result of doing more of the optional content. Great game though

The Last Campfire (XBO) - not started but looking to this weekend

Lost Words - Beyond The Page (Stadia) - I had a £10 voucher for Stadia and used it for this. Haven't tried it but will settle down with it at some point. Going to pick up a Razer Kishi for playing on my phone and see how I get on

Manifold Garden (XBO) - played through a good portion and really enjoying the gravity bending puzzles

No Straight Roads (XBO) - done the introduction but haven't jumped back in as I've so much else to play

PGA TOUR 2K21 (XBO) - playing through the career on easy so whipping through it easily but enjoying it so far

Remnant From The Ashes Complete Edition (XBO) - tried the base game on Gamepass but wasn't massively fussed but ended up with a code for the comppete edition so might go to it at some point

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (XBO) - haven't started this yet. Got a code for this alongsode Remnant and PGA Tour 2K21 as I won Major Nelson's Friday code giveaway the other week. Never watched the show but will probably try it at some point

Spiritfarer (XBO) - played an hour so far and love it. Looks gorgeous and has a lot of personality. Can't wait to sink more time into it

Superhot: Mind, Control, Delete (PS4) - got free because I bought the original and what I've played has been great as it's more Superhot, so what's not to love

Undermine (XBO) - its a rogue like dungeon crawler and while I'm not fussed for rogue likes normally, I'm really enjoying this. Played just under 10 hours and got through about half of the floors so far but plenty left to go. It's coming to Switch soon so anyone who likes rogue likes/dungeon crawlers should give it a look

So that's what I'm playing currently. Yet I've got my eye on a few more things I'll likely jump into in the coming weeks and months:

Tell Me Why, Wasteland 3, Hypnospace Outlaw, Drake Hollow (these 4 are all on Gamepass which helps massively), Windbound (not decided on if I'll pick this up or not, hasn't reviewed well), Lair of the Clockwork God, Hotshot Racing, Destiny 2 expansions (they're coming to Gamepass and I thought I'd run through them before they head to the vault in November), Mo:Astray, Inmost, Huntdown and Superliminal.

There'll likely be more added so even with the current pandemic, there's still a tonne of stuff to play. Thankful  to all the devs for keeping my backlog this big even with everything going on. But yeah, plenty played and plenty to play for the foreseeable future.

[Ronnie]

Played and adored Paper Mario: The Origami King, absolutely loved my time with it.

Gave up on Rayman Legends, and I don't often give up on games. I just wasn't feeling it at all strangely enough, felt like a chore to go through the various levels.

Played some Neon Abyss, it's a lot of fun though I struggle to finish rogue-lites. FINALLY got to the end boss of Gungeon, died and never played the game again. Suspect this'll be the same.

Currently playing the AWE expansion of Control, I never played Alan Wake so I think this DLC will be completely lost on me. From reports it seems it's a bit disappointing compared to the previous one. Also seems spookier and I'm not really a fan of spooky games.

 

 

[Glen-i]

Did I seriously just get the EXP X100 multiplier twice in less than half an hour on Octopath Traveler!?

Therion is on Level 73 now and I haven't even finished chapter 3 yet!

I love how much you can break this game! You can definitely tell the people who made Bravely Default worked on this.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Glen-i

[Aperson]

IT'S TIME!

 

The Federation has landed and now Samus is assisted by a Federation Force... no, not THAT Federation Force... as the invasion of the Pirate Homeworld gets serious. We have to fight a ton of Space Pirates en route to the seed as we eventually find out entrance to blow open in order to get inside.

 

Part 32 is out now!

 

 

[Londragon]

[Let’s Play: Together] Borderlands (Part 14)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son plough on through the Borderlands. Talking to Taylor Kobb, and then removing his brutish brother, Jaynis, from power the only way possible, violently. Finishing off by meeting Erik Franks, who has more jobs for us.

Our Borderlands LP continues, and will do for some time.

[drahkon]

On 8/25/2020 at 9:23 AM, drahkon said:

And I'm out. The game just stops being fun after a while. Too much RNG (it rivals the XCOM games...).

I actually pushed through for a while and it gets better. As expected: That one mission was piss easy knowing that reinforcements arrive
Anyways, I still put Valkyria Chronicles Remastered on hold.

In other news: I borrowed Final Fantasy VII Remake from my sister's boyfriend. Played it for 4 hours and it's so fucking good.
First of all: It's drop-dead gorgeous. And the music...OHHHHH THE MUSIC. Wonderful.

Then there's the battle system: It's very action-y but still kind of plays like a traditional JRPG, i.e. you can't dodge everything so you still take damage and have to pay attention to HP and heal accordingly. It's brilliant.

 

Also bought Cadence of Hyrule (and the season pass) so I can finally play one of my most wanted games Only played it for an hour but I've reached the first temple. So far so good.

[drahkon]

Been spending more time with Final Fantasy VII Remake and it's the gift that keeps on giving

The game's linearity makes sense and I kind of like how it plays with the nostalgia. Seeing the vistas you've experienced back in the day (or for me only a few years ago) for the first time in new light (and very pretty graphics) is a joy.
I do wonder how Square Enix will handle the "world" (i.e. free roaming) in future "episodes" (or whatever they called it). I think it's necessary that they include it because several games with pure linearity would be a little tedious, I reckon. Really hope they don't go with the "here's a map and you can fast travel to locations"-approach. I NEED TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE WORLD MYSELF.

Anyways, first I should finish the Midgar episode