Your 2020 Gaming Diary

[Aperson]

Did something on Pokemon Sword after trying this 

 

 

 

Galarian Star Tournament was fun, my one complaint being you can't be teammates with Ball Guy

[Hero-of-Time]

Knights and Bikes

I finished this today. Brilliant game and easily the best indie game I have played this month.

The game is set on a small island named Penfurzy Island and it's here you take control of Demelza and her new found friend Nessa. It's up to you to guide them on their adventure to uncover the history of the island and ultimately find the treasure that is apparently hiding on it. What makes the game so good is the relationship that develops between the two characters and how their imaginations, especially Demelza's, shapes the world you play in. It's a reminder of your childhood and how you would create your own adventures/stories whilst playing outside with your friends. I can't imagine many kids doing that these days.

The game reminds me a lot of Tearaway but mixed with Costume Quest. I suppose this makes sense given that some of the staff that worked on Tearaway made this game and it was Double Fine who made Costume Quest and now they are publishing this. It's not only the look of the game that makes me feel this way but also the childlike charm that radiates from it. Costume Quest had this in spades and it's the same for Knights and Bikes.

In terms of gameplay, the game has very little combat in it and what is there isn't going to trouble you much. You have a few sets of moves at your disposal but you will mostly be using the same ones over and over again, mainly because the standard attacks work so well. The main gameplay element is traversing the island, exploring every nook and cranny and solving the puzzles that present themselves. Most of the time these puzzles will be blocking your progress and, like most games, they start off easy but eventually you will have to put every move that you've learnt to good use. There were a couple that were real head scratches but nothing too frustrating. The lessons learnt by these would ultimately come in handy later on down the road.

Traversing the island is a lot of fun. Initially you are left to just walk around the play but not too far into the game you will be able to use a bike. This bike can be upgraded so that you can take shortcuts through mud or use speed boosts to get around quicker. It can also be customised so that it looks exactly how you want it, with many trinkets being able to be attached that will certainly take you back to your childhood. The facial expressions of pure joy that the characters express when they are riding fast or going down a hill perfectly capture what you feel like as a kid when speeding around on your own bike. Man, I miss those days.

There is a heartbreaking story in the game with a lot about loss and regret being the main focus. By the end the of game the characters, and indeed yourself, are encouraged to accept change and try to move forward in life. There are times you have to let go of certain things in order to do that and you will see this change happen with Demelza by the time the credits have rolled on the game. It's very bittersweet and it can get quite emotional.

Oh, one last thing. This game easily has the best goose in an indie game. None of that Untitled Goose Game rubbish here. In this game you have Captain Honkers by your side.

The little guy is a true MVP in the game and is full of character, unlike that annoying prick that was in UGG. I hate that goose. 

That's 5 indie games done and dusted in the space of a week. I was hoping to get through at least 4 of them this month so i'm well ahead of what I wanted to do. I may try and finish a couple more before November is through. I have to say, i'm really enjoying playing my games this way. Maybe pick a theme, line up a selection of what I want to get through for the month and then try to finish 4 of them. I'm usually pretty focused anyway when it comes to my gaming habits and i'm not sure how long i'll keep doing this but it has been quite fun to do. 

[Londragon]

[Together] NintendoLand: Pikmin Adventure (Part 2)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son send Pikmin to do our bidding and possibly to their deaths in the second 8 levels (levels 9-16).

[Londragon]

[Together] NintendoLand: Pikmin Adventure (Part 3)

Old Nintendo Gamer & Son send Pikmin to do our bidding and possibly to their deaths in the start of the advanced levels (levels 1-3).

[LazyBoy]

Just played through Bloodborne again. I came back to it cause a friend was supposedly going to play it for the first time, so I was like 'great, a co-op partner'. And then waiting for him I'm like 'I'll just do the character creation', 'I'll just beat Gasgoine', 'I'll just get to lv20', and before I know it I've beaten the game. I just love how rich the world is and how its presented to you, and so every time I play through these games I'm watching all the Lore videos, reading all the theories. Miyazaki has claimed the difficulty of the Souls games is not a feature for its own sake, but because it makes you respect the world and its characters more. Well he ain't wrong. Cannot wait for Elden Ring.

Just started on Outer Wilds and loving it too.

[drahkon]

Finished Burnout Paradise Remastered and got the Platinum (my 80th ).

One of the best arcade racers. Enjoyed almost every bit of my playthrough. Only the "Drive a total of 750 miles"-trophy was a little annoying as I had to grind the last 150 miles for a while.
Had a great time, nonetheless

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

Finished Burnout Paradise Remastered and got the Platinum (my 80th ).

One of the best arcade racers. Enjoyed almost every bit of my playthrough. Only the "Drive a total of 750 miles"-trophy was a little annoying as I had to grind the last 150 miles for a while.
Had a great time, nonetheless

I still need to pick this up at some point. I only dabbled with it for a short time on the 360 and didn't give it the time it deserves. I don't think I've ever heard a bad word said against the game.

[nekunando]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I still need to pick this up at some point. I only dabbled with it for a short time on the 360 and didn't give it the time it deserves. I don't think I've ever heard a bad word said against the game.

I played it for a little bit and didn't like it! #ItHadToBeMe

Me and 'open world' racing don't really get on, though

[Glen-i]

Credits have rolled on Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

I'm on my phone, so no big write up until lockdown ends, but I wanna give some immediate thoughts.

Spoiler

I always heard that the story in this one was kinda boring compared to earlier Final Fantasies, but I found it quite engaging. It's far more political in comparison, which makes for a refreshing change. Voice acting is good too, no drunk summoners in this game. (Looking at you, Yuna)

Vaan still contributes almost nothing to the story and wouldn't make any difference if he wasn't there in the first place. I still maintain he's a waste of party space and would better served by a different species that this game has, Bangaa, Seeq, those dudes from that snowy mountain whose name I forget. Anyone would be more interesting than this shirtless nothing.

You see, FF 6, 7 and 9 do well here because it goes in on the fantasy aspect and lets you have some stranger characters to mess with. Red XIII in 7, Mog in VI and Freya in IX are some good examples of non-human characters, so it's a pity this game decided to go with 6 people. No, Fran doesn't count, she's just as human as a Playboy Bunny.

The gambit system is a really clever way of avoiding AI stupidity problems. Because if your AI partners do something dumb, it's totally your fault. The problem is that this means the most efficient way of battling is to do nothing.

I've still got the Rank VII hunts to do as well as 2 more espers to find. But one of them is in that giant crystal and I don't want to go through that mapless nightmare again, so I'll leave the rest for the future.

But while I was watching the credits I noticed that Gilgamesh had a voice credit. That random boss from FF V is in this, and he's voiced by the guy who did Bender in Futurama!? How did I miss that? Is it well hidden or something?

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

9 hours ago, nekunando said:

I played it for a little bit and didn't like it! #ItHadToBeMe

Me and 'open world' racing don't really get on, though

I hate open world games with a passion, but I do actually like Burnout Paradise.  It’s not my favourite in the series, but it’s a really neat take on the series’ concept and it actually does make genuinely good use of the open world level design (helps that the open world isn’t ridiculously large).

I do like the way that it encourages you to really learn the routes and find shortcuts off the beaten track.  One of only four open world games I’ve ever genuinely enjoyed (the other three being Crazy Taxi 1&2 and The Wind Waker).

[Cube]

12 hours ago, drahkon said:

Finished Burnout Paradise Remastered and got the Platinum (my 80th ).

One of the best arcade racers. Enjoyed almost every bit of my playthrough. Only the "Drive a total of 750 miles"-trophy was a little annoying as I had to grind the last 150 miles for a while.
Had a great time, nonetheless

Burnout Paradise is one of my favourite games. While the singleplayer is good, it's only a small part of the game. The online multiplayer is an absolute joy and I'm amazed that nobody has copied from it. 

[nekunando]

 

[drahkon]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

I always heard that the story in this one was kinda boring compared to earlier Final Fantasies, but I found it quite engaging. It's far more political in comparison, which makes for a refreshing change.

WOAH WOAH WOAH. Excuse me? There is someone else out there who doesn't shit on FFXII's story?
You, Sir, are a good man.

I also didn't expect to get so many responses to my Burnout Paradise Remastered post

13 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I don't think I've ever heard a bad word said against the game.

Somehow I remember reading a lot about how the open world doesn't really work with the game. Doesn't matter because anybody saying that is wrong. WRONG, I say!

11 hours ago, nekunando said:

I played it for a little bit and didn't like it! #ItHadToBeMe

2 hours ago, Cube said:

While the singleplayer is good, it's only a small part of the game. The online multiplayer is an absolute joy and I'm amazed that nobody has copied from it. 

I played the multiplayer only for the trophies. It's a great mode but only if the host actually initiates some races/events/challenges.

[Cube]

1 minute ago, drahkon said:

I played the multiplayer only for the trophies. It's a great mode but only if the host actually initiates some races/events/challenges.

Yeah, when it originally came out, it was before Xbox Party chat. I mange to find a bunch of people through the game to become friends and the community spirit in it was great. The challenges are the main thing I loved about it.

 

Some games I've tried recently

Dead Cells, I enjoy the gameplay, but I just can't get into the "random levels, start from beginning with some extra stuff unlocked each time you die" type of style (or roguelike for short I believe). 

Greedfall was interesting. It feels like it should have been out at the time of Dragon Age Inquisition. A somewhat interesting story. The factions are completely unlikable to start with but aren't as bad once you get to know them more (although the epilogue of "they're all perfectly good now due to events in one small city on an island" is a bit too far). Companions are interesting but just don't talk enough (especially to each other). They get you really excited at the start of the final mission as they all join you, only to all leave before the final boss. 

There was one quest which seemed like being evil was the only way. You have to influence an election for a new king in the hopes of them helping you. Even if all three options say they'll help you if they become king (due to everything you've done for them), there's no option to go "messing about with this election is wrong", you still have to do it. Other quests are a lot more black and white in terms of options as well. The quests start out very promising with how you can approach them, with lots of possible ways, but then these same ways just crop up and boil down to: kill everyone, sneak (which is a pain), wear that faction armour and walk in or buy sleeping potions and knock everyone out. Final option is the worst. It boils down to:

- Save the world by killing a completely unlikable character who most people probably wanted to die from the moment they met them.

- Destroy the world by joining him

It was quite laughable. 

Gameplay is fine, combat is enjoyable if nothing special. Subtitles are a complete and utter mess, full of wrong words and loads of spelling errors.

Replayed InFamous Second Son. Still a great game although it's shorter than I remember it being. 

[Hero-of-Time]

@Glen-i

Good to see you enjoyed FFXII. I'm in the camp of those who didn't care for the story. I care not for politics in real life never mind in a video game.  I much prefer JRPG stories to be character driven rather than be about the world.

That dungeon you mentioned is a nightmare to navigate but the boss fight (if it's the one I'm thinking of) at the end of it is great. Very challenging but very satisfying. 

I loved the Gambit system. It felt a bit like FFVIII in that you can easily exploit the mechanics of it and become super OP early on.

[Dcubed]

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@Glen-i

Good to see you enjoyed FFXII. I'm in the camp of those who didn't care for the story. I care not for politics in real life never mind in a video game.  I much prefer JRPG stories to be character driven rather than be about the world.

That dungeon you mentioned is a nightmare to navigate but the boss fight (if it's the one I'm thinking of) at the end of it is great. Very challenging but very satisfying. 

I loved the Gambit system. It felt a bit like FFVIII in that you can easily exploit the mechanics of it and become super OP early on.

I really like the story in FF12, but ultimately, the Gambit system is just too exploitable for the game to be fun for me.

When the winning strategy is to just let the game play itself? Well, might as well not be playing the game at all really  

The story, character and setting are all great in FF12; I love the political overtones surrounding the game.  I just wish that the gameplay was more engaging (literally!).

I feel that FF12's gameplay concept is a sound one, but the execution just doesn't hit the mark... A lot of people like to look at Xenoblade's battle system and call that "FF12 done right"; and ultimately I would agree with them  

Edited November 12, 2020 by Dcubed

[nekunando]

5 hours ago, Dcubed said:

I hate open world games with a passion, but I do actually like Burnout Paradise.  It’s not my favourite in the series, but it’s a really neat take on the series’ concept and it actually does make genuinely good use of the open world level design (helps that the open world isn’t ridiculously large).

I do like the way that it encourages you to really learn the routes and find shortcuts off the beaten track.  One of only four open world games I’ve ever genuinely enjoyed (the other three being Crazy Taxi 1&2 and The Wind Waker).

I don't think we're too far apart in our lack of appreciation for 'open world' games so for you to like Burnout Paradise means it must have something going for it, at least

I didn't give it much of a chance. I bought it for £7, installed it on PS4 and within 15 minutes it was off and ready to be traded in.

I'm sure it's probably decent enough but it's not the type of experience I want from my racing games. I like more carefully constructed and distinct tracks whereas I find with games like Burnout Paradise and some Need for Speed games that things can feel a bit samey very quickly and it can feel like there's almost too much going on along that it can be difficult to see where you need to go, particularly at such high speed!

[Glen-i]

20 hours ago, drahkon said:

WOAH WOAH WOAH. Excuse me? There is someone else out there who doesn't shit on FFXII's story?
You, Sir, are a good man.

Awww... I tolerate you too!

It's a lot more down to earth as far as Final Fantasies go, which is probably why a lot of the fanbase wouldn't care much for it. But after ten of the epic saving the world games (and the fever dream of X-2), it's a nice change of pace. I never really felt that any of the characters did something so dumb even I had to point it out. Felt very believable.

I complain about Vaan, but really, it's not like he makes the story worse. He just adds nothing and Fran needs to put some bloody clothes on! Can't take her seriously when most of her butt is visible at all times. The credit sequence shows some nice artwork and one of them was her in a more modest outfit and I wish she wore that instead.

Minor nitpicks really, Fran needs a better designer and Vaan's party spot should be given to a Bangaa character instead to help make the roster more diverse.

18 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@Glen-i

That dungeon you mentioned is a nightmare to navigate but the boss fight (if it's the one I'm thinking of) at the end of it is great. Very challenging but very satisfying.

It's possible you might be thinking of the esper I didn't get? Because they were the best fights in the game.

Having them lock out one of your commands really forces you to change in strategy and adapt. (That said, I did have a panic-inducing moment at the one that locked out the Magic command, I actually had to use items! I never use items in Final Fantasy!)

18 hours ago, Dcubed said:

A lot of people like to look at Xenoblade's battle system and call that "FF12 done right"; and ultimately I would agree with them  

After playing it, totally agree. But that only means FF12 is ahead of it's time and I owe it the existence of Xenoblade and that's no bad thing.

Anyway, I now declare FF XII better than VIII, V, III and X. Maybe better than II, hard to decide at the moment. It's solid.

Anyway, I've now started Ni No Kuni. The Studio Ghibli vibes are proper strong in this game, even when the 3D models are present. It's really impressive in that regard. Gorgeous game, gorgeous soundtrack, amazing world building. There's an over 400 page encyclopedia explaining how magic in this world works as well as all the other things in the game, even has some folk tales to go with it. Might have wasted an hour just flipping through it. A lot of the more useful pages are missing though, which is totes suspish.

I'm getting some Golden Sun vibes from the magic system here, they're not just used for battles, some of them can be used for puzzle solving, which is promising.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Glen-i

[drahkon]

6 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Can't take her seriously when most of her butt is visible at all times.

Story of my life.

6 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Awww... I tolerate you too!

7 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Felt very believable.

Agree.

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I owe it the existence of Xenoblade

Urgh...then I have to say: FFXII is the worst game ever made

[Aperson]

On 11/12/2020 at 7:32 AM, Glen-i said:

Credits have rolled on Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

I'm on my phone, so no big write up until lockdown ends, but I wanna give some immediate thoughts.

  Some end game spoilers (Hide contents)

I always heard that the story in this one was kinda boring compared to earlier Final Fantasies, but I found it quite engaging. It's far more political in comparison, which makes for a refreshing change. Voice acting is good too, no drunk summoners in this game. (Looking at you, Yuna)

Vaan still contributes almost nothing to the story and wouldn't make any difference if he wasn't there in the first place. I still maintain he's a waste of party space and would better served by a different species that this game has, Bangaa, Seeq, those dudes from that snowy mountain whose name I forget. Anyone would be more interesting than this shirtless nothing.

You see, FF 6, 7 and 9 do well here because it goes in on the fantasy aspect and lets you have some stranger characters to mess with. Red XIII in 7, Mog in VI and Freya in IX are some good examples of non-human characters, so it's a pity this game decided to go with 6 people. No, Fran doesn't count, she's just as human as a Playboy Bunny.

The gambit system is a really clever way of avoiding AI stupidity problems. Because if your AI partners do something dumb, it's totally your fault. The problem is that this means the most efficient way of battling is to do nothing.

I've still got the Rank VII hunts to do as well as 2 more espers to find. But one of them is in that giant crystal and I don't want to go through that mapless nightmare again, so I'll leave the rest for the future.

But while I was watching the credits I noticed that Gilgamesh had a voice credit. That random boss from FF V is in this, and he's voiced by the guy who did Bender in Futurama!? How did I miss that? Is it well hidden or something?

 

You need to go back to Lhusu Mines. That place is WAY bigger than you might have initially thought, If you travel along that route you can fight Gilgamesh. Be warned though... the second encounter against him is brutally difficult if you're underlevelled. I would heavily advise taking him on when you're at least Level 70.

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Aperson said:

 

  Random voice credit (Reveal hidden contents)

You need to go back to Lhusu Mines. That place is WAY bigger than you might have initially thought, If you travel along that route you can fight Gilgamesh. Be warned though... the second encounter against him is brutally difficult if you're underlevelled. I would heavily advise taking him on when you're at least Level 70.

 

Oh, right. I wandered in there unexpectedly, noticed the enemies were LV. 60-ish and noped right out of there. Guess I forgot about it afterwards.

[Hero-of-Time]

I finished another indie game (Guacamelee 2) yesterday evening and have just wrapped up the DLC.

Firstly, I absolutely loved the many references of other games that are scattered throughout the game. I know a lot of people had issues with this kind of stuff in the first game but I really got a laugh out of them and didn't mind them at all. Speaking of the first game, there's actually a hidden area in this game that mocks the internet folk who bitched and moaned on about all the memes in the original. That whole area got a chuckle out of me. I wonder how many people on Gaf/Era were quoted in the game.  

I took a bunch of pics of a few of the references I seen on my adventure.

Spoiler

 

I'm a big fan of Drinkbox Studios. I really enjoyed the first Guacamelee game and Mutant Blobs Attack but my love for the studio was cemented with Severed, a game that doesn't get enough praise and is easily one of my games of the generation. I had high hopes for Guacamelee 2 as the studio just seems to be going from strength to strength and thankfully that trend has continued with this game. Sorry, Knights and Bikes but you've just been dethroned as the best indie game I have played this month.

The game is pretty much more of the same. The first game was great and this expands upon that and refines it. If you've played the original game then you will feel right at home with this. It's something I appreciate when developers do this. When you have such a good starting point then a lot of the time it's not necessary to reinvent the wheel and instead just build on what you have. The Ratchet and Clank series has done this for years and i'm happy that Drinkbox took this approach here.

I had a look at the trophies before starting and I seen that you had to finish the game on hard difficulty and 100% for the platinum. I didn't want to do two plays of the game so decided to just use the Konami code to unlock hard difficulty from the start and to try and get 100% that way. It turns out the main game wasn't that difficult. Sure, there were a couple of challenge rooms that took a few attempts to complete but the rest of the game was pretty standard. Given how moderate the difficulty was, I do wonder just how easy normal difficultly is. Another trophy I thought may cause some issues was the one where I needed to get a 150 hit combo. Yeah, I shouldn't have been worried...

I just love how fast and fluid the combat is in the game, especially once you unlock all of your moves. This can get a little frantic at times as the screen fills up with countless enemies but stringing together high combos can quickly dispatch anyone in your path. It's even better once you unlock certain upgrades. One of them allows you to use an unlimited amount of special moves, provided that you can keep your combo over 100. Another special allows you to heal yourself and this can come in handy if faced with a tight situation. Simply get some distance between you and your enemies and press down to gradually restore your health.

The DLC was pretty fun to play through. There are a series of 15 stages that involving either beating a certain amount of enemies, making your way through a stage or survival for as long as you can. These are usually timed missions and you need to get gold rankings in order to unlock the PS4 trophies. I left these until I had fully finished the game and by that point I had enough practice to make short work of them. Although there was one that did can me a few issues. You have to throw an enemy all the way through the stage and make him land on various switches. The time for the gold reward was pretty tight and it took some doing but I did manage it.

A big challenge in the game is presented in the special rooms/areas that require you to play as a chicken. These take absolute precise timing and precision platforming skills. There is a lot of practice needed and it's another one of those times where you will fail numerous times but if you keep at it you will eventually see victory. There was a good sense of satisfaction from completing these rooms and they are required to be finished if you want to see the good/real ending to the game.

Drinkbox have yet again crafted a fantastic Metroidvania style game. One that offers challenge for those who seek it, fun for those players who want to just go from point A to point B and an easy to navigate world with a helpful map for anyone who wants to find the collectables. It ticks a lot of the boxes of what I want from a Metroidvania game and Drinkbox have once again proved that they are one of the best indie developers in the business. I'm honestly surprised they've not been snapped up yet by a big publisher. They had a good relationship with Sony and they enjoyed working on their platforms, especially the Vita. Snap'em up, Sony.

 

[nekunando]

 

[Aperson]

Still working on that Pokedex in Sword and Shield, focusing on the main Pokedex at the moment and got around to evolving my Riolu. Also managed to finally catch a Turtonator. Yes, I know you can change the date of the Switch to get it to skip days but I kind of have this old school mentality that if there's an in-game clock, it's more immersive to play the game at that time and so I was happy to wait a day until Turtontator was available in the Wild Area. Even if it was only a 2% random encounter...

 

In other news, seeing as I've been playing a lot of Magic The Gathering Arena and Pokemon Trading Card Game Online... I thought I'd take it to the next level. Check this out...

 

 

[Julius]

On 10/05/2020 at 4:33 PM, Julius said:

Having seen credits roll for three games since the start of the month, and with me unlikely to return to my office for work anytime soon, I'm going to try to make entries into my Gaming Diary a bit more frequently than I have been so far this year, mainly to keep on top of it. 

This is the first line of my last post in this thread, and well...it's safe to say this didn't go to plan  it's been a crazy year for pretty much everyone, and as the months went on, I felt increasingly overwhelmed by both the pandemic and what's been going on in my work and personal life. I would sit down, start typing an update, and then quickly lose steam, which would only frustrate me further, because I love talking about games. Almost as much as I do playing them. Catching up on this thread has been on my to-do list for the last few months, and not bringing it up-to-date has pretty actively dissuaded me from playing games and, in some cases, wanting to talk about those games. It's been weird. 

But, all being well, I will have started my next-gen journey by this time next weekend, and I know that once that happens, there will be absolutely no way I'll bring this up-to-date. In a lot of cases I've been pretty active in the threads for the games I'm going to talk about, and seeing as there's a whole lot to get through, I'm probably not going to get into them as much as I might have normally liked to, but that's okay. I'm going to go through probably a month at a time, though that depends on how much I have to say. Either way, I want to be finished by Wednesday evening, for obvious reasons!

Let's get started with what I played in the remainder of May. 

MAY

VALKYRIA CHRONICLES | 2008

Valkyria Chronicles tells the story of Squad 7 as they fight in defence of their home nation of Gallia, a neutral country in the Second Europan War (basically this alternate world's version of World War II) which is abundant in stores of precious Ragnite ore (basically this world's main energy source and healing method), against The Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance. Along the way, it portrays the budding and innocent romance between Alicia Melchiott and Welkin Gunther in the midst of a war which sees the game deal with heavy topics such as racism, perspective, and death, as well as shedding light on scheming politicians, the casualties of innocents, and even the history of an ancient near-genocide. It all sounds very heavy, but what grounds this game is a gorgeous, watercolour-like visual style, a solid soundtrack, and the diversely opinionated - and oftentimes amusing - cast of Squad 7. 

What makes this game unique is that, while like most strategy games it is turn-based, it makes use of a system dubbed BLiTZ: Battle of Live Tactical Zones. During your turn you start in Command Mode, and have an overhead map of the battlefield from which you can select a unit. Once selected, the battle zooms in on the selected unit, giving you control of them from the perspective of a third-person shooter in Action Mode, from which you can control their movement and take actions such as healing your allies and attacking the enemy, and you can control a number of classes and even a number of vehicles throughout the journey. This is all balanced by the Action Points available to units, which determines how far they can move before needing to take a rest, and you can't just freely use the same character over and over again during your turn, as their available energy greatly diminishes the more they are used in a single turn, forcing you to approach things with other units in mind, and having to be careful about where your units end up - because, at the end of your turn, if they're in a spot with poor cover, the enemy stand a good chance of taking them out. A number of objectives make up the story, from routing out the enemy, to securing camps over the map, to protecting certain characters as they make their way from A to B, and objectives can often change halfway through a mission (though, in my opinion, the first few times this happens leads to a pretty big spike in difficulty).

The better you perform in missions - entirely determined, unfortunately, by the fewer turns you take - the more money and experience you take home and can use to upgrade your weapons, vehicles, or even your classes through training regimens. Once back at base you can even buy newspapers, which can unlock new missions which provide more backstory to certain characters, and you can also visit the graves of your fallen comrades, or even be awarded in medal ceremonies. There are pages upon pages of character details to read through, as well as about the history of the world and the war, and these can also provide some insights into which characters might provide boosts to one another, or what their weaknesses might be (for example, you don't want to send someone into a battlefield knowing full well that they're you're putting them up against their allergies!). All of this is presented in a wonderful book, which neatly ties together the visual style of the game. 

Valkyria Chronicles is a game which is solid in almost every department, has heaps of charm, and is bound to bring a tear to even the most steely-eyed of players (those who have played the game no doubt know what I'm talking about, one of the most heart-wrenching moments in video games). It's well worth the price of admission, and I look forward to one day giving Valkyria Chronicles 4 a shot. 

A WAY OUT | 2018

Developed by Hazelight Studios and directed by Josef Fares (AKA the 'F**k the Oscars!' guy), A Way Out is a rare example of a meticulously crafted, split-screen cooperative multiplayer game: it must be played by two players, whether they're next to you on the sofa or on the other side of the world kicking it up on Bondi (and only one of you need to own the game to do so!).

You play as Leo and Vincent, two prisoners who must first escape their new jumpsuits and then elude the authorities as they make their way back to their families, with set pieces gradually ramping up throughout the game to a climactic finish which would make Kojima proud. No, seriously. It takes a lot of what you'd expect to see in a Naughty Dog game - basic third-person shooter mechanics, ducking for cover, light puzzles and a hole lot of button mashing in order to lift things up - except, you know, it's co-op. And not developed by Naughty Dog. But still, it's very good. The split-screen aspect is especially interesting, as while at one moment you can both be playing at the same time and have one player distracting guards while the other sneaks around the corner, there are also many instances where a cutscene might be playing out for one character while it's not for the other. It makes for a very interesting balance in its storytelling. 

I sat down with my younger brother one Saturday morning and we blasted through this game, finishing about five or six hours later the same day. There isn't much else to say, to be honest: I don't think Naughty Dog-lite is a disservice to the game, and actually gives you a pretty good idea of what you're in for. But I had a blast, and so did my brother. I wish there were more games like this, and while I am absolutely up for more from Fares and Hazelight, I really think he overshadowed the game with his little display at The Game Awards a few years back, which is a real shame.

This game had plenty of twists and turns from beginning to end, and while it doesn't do much new, what it does it does brilliantly. And again: that ending. A hearty recommendation for anyone who wants a game designed for two players, because this is a real gem. 

THE LAST OF US | 2013

It's really hard for me to take horror films seriously. Ever since I was young, having a vested interest in the filmmaking process has kept me mostly on top of it: "hey, that blood is a bit too dark, I wonder if their fake blood was drying out?", "okay, but why would you go up the stairs? Someone is clearly about to jump out [someone jumps out]", "everyone's scared of this thing? The CGI looks terrible!" Jump scares can catch me out, sure, but even when I would try my hardest to invest myself in the film's world and story, it just wouldn't click for me. 

But there's something about the interactivity of video games which flips that on its head, completely. I remember booting up the Resident Evil 2 Demo a year or two ago, walking around for about thirty seconds, and giving up. Leon, pal, want my advice? If there's a zombie breakout you turn around and walk away. And I'm sure seeing snippets of Resident Evil 4 at a friend's house, and my early childhood trauma of Dino Crisis when in pre-school/reception, had something to do with that, too. I haven't played much of anything that I'd call a horror game before. As you might know from seeing me post here and elsewhere on these forums, though, there's one thing I'm a sucker for, and that's a good story. 

Of course I'd heard of this game before playing it. A lot. Though, incredibly, I hadn't seen much gameplay of it, and hadn't had anything spoiled for me. Look up any list of Top 10 games and this probably appears in half of them. And of course I've heard of Naughty Dog, especially their modern efforts and transition to third-person action-adventure games. I mean, really: at this point, who hasn't heard of them? They're an awards darling of a studio putting out cutting edge games which are incredibly popular and critically acclaimed. A couple of years ago, wanting to get to grips with Naughty Dog's offerings, I played through Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, and while those games have their highlights (with 2 being my favourite by quite some margin), I really didn't understand what the fuss was all about. These games were solid, but they were far from blowing me away. But I was always curious about their next game, and with the sequel just over a month away, it was time to make a decision. 

And so I decided that it was time to finally give The Last of Us a chance. 

This game starts with a bang, and within those opening fifteen minutes, you'll know whether this game is for you. The tone is set for this brutally harsh reality where only the hardened survive. It's hard watching the early hours of a world crumbling under the pressure of a pandemic (especially this year, for reasons that go without saying) which sees those infected become, for all intents and purposes, human-slaying zombies, and harder to watch is how the world reacts. 

Early on, Joel meets Ellie, and finds himself with the task of smuggling her across the post-apocalyptic that the United States has become some twenty years or so after the initial outbreak. The Infected have taken on all shapes and sizes, and so has the malice of the remnants of man. You'll find yourself stealthily trying to sneaking around, and sometimes through, rooms filled with Infected, the tension of which is further heightened by some great survival mechanics, such as how long it takes to heal yourself, reload your gun, or craft some make-shift bomb. I often found myself promptly checking, and then double-checking, my equipment after adrenaline-pumping confrontations, or when things had been quite for just a little too long that it made me uncomfortable. But there's also this puzzling, melancholic beauty to this world, the calm of which can often lull you into forgetting about the dangers which might be surrounding you. The world is so diverse, with interiors being this flat kind of drab - mostly made up of muted greys, spoiled browns, and murky greens - which only serves to amplify the bright colours of nature which have pierced through - and in many cases, overwhelmed - the manmade landscapes of these crumbling cities. 

The writing, as well as the gameplay, world, and level design, all weave together to produce this amazing pacing which is consistent throughout the course of the game. Joel and Ellie start out indifferent to each other, but gradually become accustomed to and then more trusting in the other, and it's a wonderful sight to behold, which all unfolds so naturally. Their conversation and banter throughout the game does such an excellent job of fleshing them out, and Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson did such an amazing job of carrying the brunt of it all. This runs parallel to an enticing upgrade system which sees Joel's capabilities grow throughout the course of the game, and I found myself heavily investing in Weapon Sway, Shiv Master, and Maximum Health, which had me increasingly confident in my abilities the deeper I got into the game, but it never felt easy, just easier to handle. The world itself, as I mentioned before, can almost lull you into a false sense of security, and there are some areas in particular where the tension certainly ratchets way up, such as in a certain hotel basement. Screw that hotel basement. I got out pretty much unscathed and was fully prepared and I still found myself petrified. Seriously, screw that hotel basement. Though, while there are times where it certainly offers a false sense of security, there are other times where just a returning feature of the world immediately gets you grabbing your shotgun and slowly treading through a room, such as when entering a dark hallway and wondering about how it would suck to run into some Stalkers at that very moment. 

Areas are never too large to fully explore, and so exploring every single area's nooks and crannies doesn't feel like I'm going out of the way and losing track of the main objective. Not only that, but because this is a survival horror game, by design it knows that you're going to be checking everything out, and so finding notes, recorders, etc., feels like a totally natural way to explore the world's history. It really reminds me of items and Mini Medals in Dragon Quest in this way: practically everything you find feels useful. I read and listened to everything I found, which I very rarely do outside of JRPGs that I'm adoring, and although I didn't find everything - there's one particular door which comes to mind which I didn't have the materials to make a shiv to break into back near Bill's place, and I remember early on feeling the game was pushing back hard enough to discourage this somewhat at the very beginning - I still felt completely satisfied with my discoveries. Piecing together the history of some of these places is heartbreaking. 

And then there's the change of pace exhibited at Silver Lake, where things are turned on their head, and suddenly what was manageable before isn't again. It's perfectly timed, flawlessly executed, and might just be one of my favourite "levels" in any video game. It convinced me to pre-order Part II without even having finished the game, that's how much faith I had in Naughty Dog by that point. And the game triumphantly charges towards the end from there, with all its card laid bare. That ending is what video game stories should aspire to be, putting us in the position where a choice is made and overwhelmingly fighting for and relishing in the choice the character makes. It's about empathy, and putting you in the shoes of Joel in that moment, and it is all so, so well done. As my first survival horror game, while very intense at times - almost too intense in that hotel basement - I absolutely fell in love with this game.

The DLC, Left Behind, is of course excellent too. It does nothing to take away from the main game's ending, but does such a good job in the two hours or so it takes to complete of fleshing out Ellie and her past, giving us a little bit more context for the main game, and also some insight into the origins of her love for puns. The past moments which play out mirror the point in the present in that it portrays the two moments where Ellie is about to be left alone - it could not be better named. But there's basically Hotel Basement 2.0 here, so screw that. 

Something that has to be mentioned when talking about The Last of Us is Gustavo Santaolalla's magnificent score. It's so restrained and refined, yet emotionally charged and visceral, so naturally tuned to the world and the interactions playing out on screen. There's the main theme, The Last of Us, which is so memorable for playing over the opening credits. with this steady rhythm of these powerful plucks of guitar strings; Vanishing Grace, which relies on the same melody as the main theme, but is slowed and much more melancholic in how it is subdued; All Gone (No Escape), with the swell of the straining strings of violins after this deep and steady cello really does a stellar job of setting the scene up to be as emotionally resonant as it is. From Left Behind, All Gone (Reunion) and its main theme, Left Behind, are the standouts. The latter in particular I feel is perfectly suited for what the DLC entails, this quiet strumming on the guitar before slowly builds and explodes into life with this Western-like part, I love it. 

I'm a sucker for hard cuts when it comes to endings, though, so The Path (A New Beginning) was always going to be a very difficult one for me to not find my favourite! 

The Last of Us is a testament to excellent moment-to-moment gameplay, coupled with an emotionally resonant story, a stellar voice cast, unforgettable story beats, which screams the importance of empathy. This is what storytelling in games is about, and still remains the standard by which other stories in this medium are told to this day. 

This game is a masterpiece, and very quickly became one of my favourites. 

YAKUZA 3 | 2009

During this pandemic I have found that there is no better escape than the Yakuza series, and specifically none greater than Yakuza 3, which I will lovingly refer to as the beach/summer special episode of the series. 

Continuing on not too longer after the events of 2/Kiwami 2, Yakuza 3 sees Kiryu hanging out at an orphanage he's set up on Okinawa called Morning Glory, becoming the legal guardian of a number of children there. Everything is peaceful, and it is incredibly cosy, with a beach just across the street. His biggest worries are arguments between the kids, and it's hilarious seeing how he disciplines them, choosing to sit everyone down for debates when things get heated. He even plays hide-and-seek with them. Haruka is a big sister to everyone there, often working to find peace, and going to do daily chores. Kiryu is living a good, well-earned life of early retirement. Not too long after, though, he butts heads with a smaller local Yakuza family, and from there on finds himself embroiled in a plot to save the orphanage from being built on by a massive seaside resort, which is mysteriously somehow tied to the Yakuza and plans for a military base expansion.

Yakuza 3 remains similar to other Yakuza stories in that it is host to endearing characters, you'll find yourself back on the streets of Kamurocho and familiarising yourself once again with the area and getting used to its changes, but Okinawa provides a welcome change in that it just feels so much more relaxed. Problems are generally on a smaller scale around Morning Glory, and is a great change of pace from what we've become so typically accustomed to in these games. Substories remain these tiny nuggets which can be hilarious, charming, or full of emotional depth, and helping strangers in these games with their problems continues to be great fun. 

That all being said, I do think this game has some issues which I have to mention, though it's worth remembering that I'm playing a remaster of a game which is over a decade old. I think the main thing would be that quality of life improvements from newer entries, such as pausing in cutscenes, aren't present here, which is a shame because it seems like that would have been something relatively easy to add in here (and would've been a wise decision due to the length of some cutscenes). There's also the weird pacing of some cutscenes, which I imagine at the time of release were down to budget constraints? Sometimes a cutscene would begin with a short cinematic, before cutting away to the more typical in-engine cutscene, with text boxes and no voice acting to boot, which would then end by returning to yet another cinematic. Again, it seems like something they might have been better off updating for this remaster. To be honest, I also think that the main villain was rather forgettable, and that the Yakuza stuff going down in Kamurocho oftentimes felt more like a distraction which returned to the tropes of the series rather than the fun and refreshing time we had on Okinawa. It might have been a bit better paced if we didn't find ourselves going back and forth, or rather, just dealt with smaller issues throughout, because a large part of why the main villain seems so forgettable is because it feels like we're treading over things we've already covered in previous games. The biggest flaw of the game by far, though, is just how clunky it feels: the horizontal axis on the camera is quite sensitive and takes a bit of getting used to (with no option to adjust in the settings), and fights feel incredibly sluggish. To make matters worse, though, enemies block in this game far more than they do in any other - and yes, this is even the case for bosses, who were already notorious for having fights which went on maybe a bit too long in other games already - which narrows your options in battles considerably, and I often found myself waiting for the enemy to swing before sidestepping, unleashing a single chain of attacks, before they're blocking again and you must wait for them to hit you so that you can sidestep them - again. 

I think it's held back by it's age, with dated, slower, and somewhat clunky controls, and doesn't have the most interesting Yakuza storyline, but it still has a great cast, a fun world, and plenty of hilarious substories to experience, all of which still manage to make this game a great time. The best escape from this pandemic by a long shot. 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Julius