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Your Gaming Diary 2023

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4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Then where's the comma, Bob. Where's the comma!?

Where's the question mark, Glen? Where's the question mark?! 

Spoiler

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1 minute ago, Julius said:

Where's the question mark, Glen? Where's the question mark?! 

  Reveal hidden contents

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Did you just reverse bold my post?

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Just now, Glen-i said:

Did you just reverse bold my post?

Of course, seeing as

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Spoiler

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Right, so I haven't been posting in this thread this year. In fact, I've been posting very little. This is because real life has been very busy, and is likely to remain so. I've had little time to play videogames, and even less so to come here.

I still like to write reviews on the games I play, so I think I'll pivot my priorities towards writing really short reviews. Like, just a paragraph or two. And a 5 star rating

With that in mind, here are the games that Jonnas has finished (one way or the other) in 2023:

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Played it a long time ago, replayed it on 3DS.

Not as good as I remembered. Robot Master weapons aren't that hot (and overshadowed by the upgrade system), the Mega Fist is kinda clunky, the level design is a tad simplistic as there aren't that many alternate routes... Music is cool, though. I'd say the biggest hook is the plot/setting/premise, really, the Stardroids feel like a refreshing change of pace compared to the usual Robot-Men.

4 stars. Upon retrospect, I think I like Mega Man IV more

Mystical_Ninja_Starring_Goemon_(Game_Boy

Briefly played it a long time ago. Tried to play it in earnest on 3DS.

Very disappointing. It's a top-down action shooter where you can move wherever. It's pretty dull, there's the same kind of enemy over and over, you can explore, but what you can find is profoundly uninteresting, the hitboxes are kind of janky, the playable characters are all the same, the music is forgettable, and the live system is unforgiving. Oh, and having to play a mashing mini-game to confirm you killed a boss? Terrible idea.

1 star. At least the dialogue is still goofy.

H2x1_NSwitch_SuperBombermanR_image1600w.

(the font is super loud and obnoxious, so FYI, this game is called Super Bomberman R)

Bought it on Switch for multiplayer. Decided to give the story a go.

It's fine Bomberman for multiplayer. Single-player leaves a lot to be desired, not that the concept is bad, but the execution... It's hard for the wrong reasons. The camera angle is poor for visibility, icy floor tiles are really hard to tell apart from regular tiles, there's a lives system that turns every World into a gauntlet, and the bosses are obnoxious, being arbitrarily invincible 90% of the time. One of the bosses has this banger of a boss tune, but I otherwise don't recommend the Story Mode.

3 stars. Soundtrack is mostly obnoxious, but you can play as Goemon, Metal Gear, and Castlevania characters, so it balances out.

H2x1_NSwitch_SamuraiShowdownNeogeoCollec

Bought it recently for the Switch at a very cool price. Always wanted to properly get into this series. For those who don't know, it's a weapon-based fighting game that focuses on replicating the drama from Samurai films.

This collection is amazing, containing development history, developer interviews, hundreds of artworks, design documents, and even recordings of competitive matches! Digital Eclipse is doing divine work, here.

Samurai Shodown 1

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Promising start to the series. Hits the slow-moving, intense-slashing style it's aiming for, but it feels very stiff and choppy. Best to think of it as the prototype for the excellent Samurai Shodown II.

Samurai Shodown 2

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I played this one before! It's the quintessential SamSho game, and the one that really nails the "Samurai Film Drama" the series is going for. You can tell that SamSho 2019 modelled itself a lot on this game's rhythm and pacing.

Samurai Shodown 3

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"We can't improve upon the perfection that is SS2! Let's try something different". Samurai Shodown III aims for a faster pace, with rolls, spot-dodges, high jumps... I don't like it. It's too busy, visually, and detracts from the point of the series. Plus, the hitboxes feel very unintuitive, and the animation is choppier than it needs to be.

Also, it introduces the "Slash" or "Bust" system, that is, the concept that each character has two different movesets: classic (Slash) or "evil" (Bust). Same normal moves, different special moves and mannerisms. Not a fan, it's just a way to introduce Echo Fighters for the entire roster. I will admit that Bust Nakoruru (who fights with a wolf instead of a hawk) is a pretty distinct character, and makes the best use of the concept.

Samurai Shodown 4

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"Well, we can at least improve upon SS3". This is a game with the concepts introduced in Samurai Shodown 3, but refined to the point that they're actually fun and enjoyable. Reuses the same sprites, but it's much more fun to play. There's also a consistent dark tone to the game, as the story says that an evil castle has appeared out of nowhere, and sure enough, you can see it in the background of every stage (it matches the map you see in Arcade Mode). Plus, when a character gets low health during the final round, the villain's face will appaear in the background, cackling, like he's pulling the strings.

There's also this cool concept in Arcade mode where you can only fight the bosses if you reach them within the time limit. More engaging than usual.

Samurai Shodown 5

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The series lay dormant for 7 years before some bloke decided to revive it while SNK was bankrupt. Samurai Shodown V really feels like they were throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall and trying to see what sticks. Like, they did away with the Slash/Bust system, but split some Bust versions into their own characters. They also introduced some bizarre concepts for characters, like Elvis Tokugawa, Mina the Archer, and a big hulking monster that has no place being in this game. They're also reusing the same sprites from SamSho 3.

I will give it credit, it's fairly easier to pick up and play than its predecessors. I also like its minibosses (sadly not playable). But it definitely feels like an oddball experiment.

Samurai Shodown 5 Special

Same thing, but more refined gameplay (new mechanics, smoother movement, etc.), and lacking the minibosses. The tasteful fatalities are back. Oh, I also played this one previously.

Samurai Shodown 5 Perfect

A never before seen Neo Geo ROM! Digital Eclipse somehow found a surviving copy and put it into this collection! It is now officially the last game to ever be released on the Neo Geo! Holy smokes!

It's almost exactly like Special, but with some adjustments here and there ::shrug: Not even a new character. There's a new story mode that encourages you to try out its mechanics, so that's cool. Very sweet piece of history, but it's underwhelming that it's mostly what it is.

Samurai Shodown 6

Sir-not-appearing-in-this-collection-for-some-reason :mad:

Verdict

SamSho I gets 2 stars
Samsho II gets 4 stars
SamSho III gets 2 stars
Samsho IV gets 4 stars
All versions of Samsho V get 3 stars

The collection itself is 5 stars. Simply fantastic.

(All sprites taken from FightersGeneration.com)

  My 2021 log (Hide contents)

-Mega Man V (1994) Beat

-Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon [Game Boy] (1997) Dropped

-Super Bomberman R (2017) Beat

-Samurai Shodown Neogeo Collection (2020) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown (1993) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown II (1994) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown III (1995) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown IV (1996) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown V (2003) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown V Special (2004) No Goal

-Samurai Shodown V Perfect (2020) No Goal

 

Edited by Jonnas
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Oxenfree (Switch)

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I bought this on Switch before I realised it's included as a free mobile game with my Netflix subscription...

It took me a while to really figure out what I was doing, as your character, Alex, walks around an island with her friends, and you listen to a lot of dialogue between them.  Often, up to three thought bubbles appear above her head and you have a few seconds to either ignore them, or select one in order to respond to the conversation.  It's not quite clear for a while how much this affects the story, although it turns out it does affect your relationships and contribute to the eventual outcome.

The story turns out to be a creepy horror-esque tale, which I won't spoil.  It was clever, but it didn't grip me as much as I'd have hoped.

The dialogue is fun, and voice acting really good.  There is a LOT of walking between locations though, and this quickly got tiresome for me.  The conversations as you trek across the island on your way to you next goal help alleviate some of the time, but as there's no platforming as such, it does become a bit of a slog.

I can see why people enjoy it, and I wanted to like it more, but it was a really mixed experience for me.

Spoiler

 

 

 

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I can't believe I spaced on this write-up!

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Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed is an RPG developed by Monolith Soft. It is a direct prequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 that was released as part of that game's DLC. It came out on the 26th of April.

The game follows Matthew and... someone else. Honestly, it's hard to give a synopsis of this game. Because literally anything I say is risking spoiling stuff for not just Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but the other games in the series as well.

All I can really say is that the plot goes places, is well paced, and concludes in such a satisfying way. But I'm serious, it will spoil everything in the series. So it's probably a good thing that unlike the similar prequel seen in Xenoblade 2, you can't buy this seperate from the base game. It makes posting screenshots such a massive minefield, that I'm not gonna even bother. Unless you just want to see pictures of the sky. It's the only thing that's safe.

The game plays a lot like the base game, unsurprisingly, a mixture between explorative gameplay, and MMORPG-style turn based battles. It's not an open world game, but there's loads of avenue for stepping off of the plot-mandated path. The game does an amazing job of rewarding people who explore, as finding landmarks, cataloguing the various enemies, and completing sidequests accrue points, which can be spent on the 6 characters you see above for stat boosts, passive benefits, and abilities to use in fights. It's an amazing tweak to the system that's a great incentive for me to aim for 100%.

The game is much shorter then the base game, obviously, it takes around 20 to 30 hours to see the credits. While I'm not normally bothered by long RPG's, it is nice to play a more bite-sized one now and again. I mean, just look at the likes of Chrono Trigger.

I mentioned this back when I talked about Xenoblade 3, but the game looks a hell of a lot better then Xenoblade 2. Like, it's not the most amazing looking game, but it's serviceable. Music is just as solid as the base game as well.

But yeah, it's great. But you can't really play this unless you've played the other entries in Xenoblade. I mean you can, but that's just dumb.

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed

 

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MV5BMTUyZmE3YWYtNjNjOC00NjlhLWI1NjEtNTc2ZWVkM2ZiMjRhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzQzOTQxMDc@._V1_.jpg

You can't actually catch half of the Pokémon in this picture

Pokémon Colosseum is a turn-based RPG for the Gamecube that released in 2004 in Europe, it's developed by Genius Sonority. Building off of the base of the N64 Pokémon Stadium titles to make the first ever 3D Pokémon RPG.

The game takes place in the Orre Region, a desolate place that is inhospitable to wild Pokémon. You play as Wes, a member of the criminal gang, Team Snagem. Well, former member. He just quit, and he delivers his P45 in the form of blowing the headquarters up, yoinking a gadget, and driving away on his ridiculous motorbike, alongside 2 of his closest companions, the decent Espeon, and the absolutely useless Umbreon.

Along the way, he saves a young woman getting kidnapped, her name is Rui. She was getting kidnapped because she has the ability to see certain shadowy auras on Pokémon. These Pokémon, dubbed "Shadow Pokémon" are Pokémon who have artifically had the door to their hearts closed, making them dangerous fighting machines. Well, Rui's in luck, the gadget Wes swiped is the Snag Machine, a device that allows the user to catch other trainer's Pokémon. The two team up to steal these Shadow Pokémon, open the doors to their heart, and stop whoever is behind all this.

Yeah, this isn't your standard Pokémon game. And it's not just the setting that's weird. Wes isn't a newbie trainer, his 2 Pokémon are over level 25. The entire game is done in Doubles format, and the Shadow Pokémon plot is the sole driving force of the game, no Pokédex or Gym Badges here.

While you can steal Pokémon, you can't just steal any Pokémon. Only Shadow Pokémon can be jacked, and this severely limits the Pokémon that you can choose from. It's worth remembering that this game came out during the third generation of Pokémon, and that certain generation was during the jump to the GBA games. This resulted in a group of Pokémon from the Game Boy games not being available in the GBA games. Colosseum was the start of filling in that gap. The majority of the 52 Pokémon you can get are Pokémon from the second generation games that weren't in Ruby/Sapphire. The side effect of this is that about 80% of Pokémon here are kinda, well... rubbish.

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This seems like a decent team on paper. But this is Gen 3, and Colosseum is restrictive in team building. So here's why my team is mostly awful.

Spoiler

I'm listing these from worst to best. Suck it up, Eevee fans. They've never been good!

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Espeon seems really good at first glance. 130 Special Attack and 110 Speed is pretty damn good. Espeon's problem is that outside of Psychic, it has no good attacks. One Pokémon that resists it, and you're switching out. And Arceus help you if that Pokémon is a Dark type. It's so much dead weight, that I immediately replaced it with actual good Pokémon, Metagross, once the credits rolled.

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Flygon has respectable stats all around and can learn a decent amount of TM's. But well... The only good Ground move it can learn is Earthquake... which in a game that's all Doubles, is not something you want to be using. It's not much good doing great damage if I'm gonna knock out whatever poor sap I've sent out with it. This leaves it with Dragon Breath as it's only STAB move. A 60 base power move running off of Flygon's mediocre Sp. Atk. In fact, except for Return and Steel Wing, it can't learn any physical attacks in Colosseum. Still, at least Gen 4 would give it some better options, you know, as long as there wasn't a new Ground/Dragon Pokémon that is so OP, that it pushes Flygon into irrelevance...

...Oh...

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Suicune is a very good tanky Pokémon. But Colosseum is all about Doubles, which means that it just becomes a Pokémon that can't clinch KO's, while it's partner gets battered. Surf and Ice Beam is a reliable coverage combo, but that's all Suicune has in Colosseum, which can result in Water opponents walling it. You don't have the time to spread Toxic around and stall them out in this game.

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Entei fares a bit better here, but it can't utilise it's 110 attack, because Fire is classified as Special, leaving Stomp as it's best physical attack, unless you spend the game's only Return TM on it. That's a bit of a tall order, honestly...

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Feraligatr (Nicknamed "Dalbert" after the Feraligatr from my Explorers of Sky duo) is one of my favourite starter Pokémon. Absolute top-tier design! Then again, all the crocodilian Pokémon are awesome. But it only became decent in the DS games. Feraligatr has a respectable 105 attack, and can learn Surf, Ice Beam, and Brick Break in Colosseum! Good coverage, but Surf and Ice Beam are Special attacks. Still, that coverage is solid, and Physical Brick Break makes it more useful then Suicune.
Realistically, Typhlosion's the only decent Johto starter in Gen 3. But I like the Gatr that much.

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Raikou stands alongside Metagross as the best of the best in Colosseum. Unlike Metagross though, you can catch Raikou before the credits. 115 Sp.Atk and 115 Speed, and Thunderbolt and Crunch to back those stats up. Have Gatr or Suicune around to handle problematic Ground or Grass, and Raikou will take you far!

Anyway, this results in an interesting dynamic where the lack of good choices means you have to really capitilise on the strengths of whatever you use.

A while back, I compared the sequel to Colosseum, Pokémon XD, to Pokémon X/Y. Long story short, I concluded that while X/Y is the technically better game, it's blandness in comparison to most other Pokémon games meant that XD was more interesting to play. The same applies here. Doubles is a better format, and I wish mainline Pokémon would utilise it more outside of the competitive scene. XD is better then Colosseum, mind.

Colosseum builds off of the base that the N64 Stadium games set, warts and all. Pokémon animations are long and elaborate, which is a joy to watch, as, at the time, this was the most personality Pokémon had outside of the anime. On the other hand, Pokémon animations are long and elaborate, which means the game progresses at a glacial pace. I see a few complaints that modern Pokémon animations are worse then these ones. This is a rubbish viewpoint, because trust me, you don't want animations that can last up to 10 seconds each time you attack! It's better these days, believe me.

The visuals are... rough. It's hard to hold it against Genius Sonority, because this game was clearly done on a budget. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that all the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Pokémon reuse the N64 Stadium models. And some of the Gen 3 Pokémon look... weird these days...

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Eurgh...

Soundtrack is great, mind. A very strange departure from what you'd expect from a Pokémon game, but it's solid!

And that's Pokémon Colosseum, a weird take on Pokémon games. But that helps it to stand out. I would recommend XD instead though, but Colosseum is still a fun time.

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Pokémon Colosseum

 

Edited by Glen-i
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The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC)

the-murder-of-sonic-the-hedgehog-visual-

Short but sweet.  This Phoenix Wright-lite game starring an ensemble of Sonic characters, like others have said, was the best kind of surprise!  More amusing than the animated Sonic series’, with witty writing clearing produced by those with an appreciation of the characters in the franchise and comfortable at poking fun of themselves.

Great stuff!

 

Spoiler

 

 

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oracle-covers.png

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages are two action adventure games developed by Flagship (Part of Capcom at the time) for the Game Boy Color. Both originally released in 2001, but they just got added to the Game Boy NSO app last week, and those are the versions I played.

The games follow Link. Specifically, the incarnation of Link from A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening. These two Oracles games take place in between those games, BTW. It doesn't really matter which order you play these games, in terms of plot, but finishing one provides you the option of using a password (or a Link Cable) to enhance whatever game you play second for a more complete experience.
Of course, the smart thing to do is play Ages first. It's easier in the long run. And that's what I did.

Ages's villain is Veran, a sorceress who posesses Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, and uses her timey-wimey abilities to travel 400 years in the past and mess around back there, with disastrous consequences. Seasons, meanwhile, has big walking suit of armour, Onox, abduct Din, the Oracle of Seasons, and send the seasons completely haywire.

Despite it looking like a typical two-version thing that Pokémon made popular at the time, each of these games are distinct Zelda titles. Each game has 8 unique dungeons, completely different overworlds, and even it's own take on the multi-world gimmick Zelda titles like to utilise. The only real thing they share is that they use the same engine of Link's Awakening, and some items appear in both games, more on that in a bit.

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Weird way of saying I got a Switch OLED...

Oracle of Ages has more of a focus on the puzzle aspect of Zelda, and is generally the harder game of the two. I also happen to think that it's the less good of the two. After the 5th dungeon, the game really likes to send you running all over the place in a very roundabout way that's more then a little annoying. Some of the items are neat. The Switch Hook being a stand out twist on the traditional hookshot.

But then we have the Mermaid Suit, an "Upgrade" to the Zora's Flippers that serves to be less controllable and goes out of it's way to kill your thumbs. Good thing I wasn't using the D-Pad on the Game Boy Color, I guess.
Oracle of Seasons has more of a focus on combat and is a lot more snappy as a result. You can see this in my play times of each game. I know each of them really well, but Seasons took me 3 hours less then Ages, even though Seasons had the second game extra content.

Here are some of the reasons I prefer Seasons.

  • Season changing is far, far quicker then traveling through time. I'm talking up to 5 times quicker depending on how many seasons you have to cycle through. And that's assuming you don't accidentally time travel into a wall and get sent straight back. Which will happen.
  • Seasons has wayyyyy better items. The Hyper Slingshot, Roc's Cape, Magic Boomerang, and Magnetic Gloves are amazing Zelda items that remain useful and interesting even after the dungeon they debut in. Ages' last items consist of the aforementioned Mermaid Suit, a longer Switch Hook, and a Power Bracelet upgrade that adds literally nothing to the game.
  • Seasons defaults players to getting Ricky the Kangaroo as their animal buddy. Apart from easily being the coolest one, his ability to jump up cliffs and punch with literal whirlwinds remains useful, even in the endgame. Ages players can easily get stuck with Moosh, who quickly gets made redundant.

Some people might not know this, but you can actually get Ricky as your animal buddy in Ages. It's a bit obscure, mind.

Spoiler

Immediately after completing the 3rd dungeon, go to the Shooting Gallery in the past and get a high enough score to get the Strange Flute. You have to do this before you go to the next area, or it'll be too late.

Anyway, all this to say that Ricky wasn't in Hyrule Warriors, and that's an utter travesty.

Anyway, I do like both games. They may be elaborate Link's Awkening rom hacks, but they are rock solid Zelda games that introduce some very cool ideas to the series.
But remember the most important thing of all...

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Well, unless you get insanely lucky and randomly get the Blue Ring, like I did.

Anyway, next game!

H2x1_NSwitch_Persona5Strikers.jpg

Persona 5 Strikers is an Action RPG developed by Omega Force. It's the sequel to Persona 5, but instead of turn based battles, the game is structured more like Dynasty Warriors. Weird to say the least. It released on the Switch in 2021, despite the fact that the original game wasn't available on the platform at the time.

Seriously, Atlus are weird when it comes to the Switch.

The game follows a Japanese secondary school student (No idea what his name is). He's the leader of the "Phantom Thieves", where he is known as "Joker". Some crap went down last year which Joker, his friends, and his cat helped sort out. No idea what, I never played Persona 5, and I have no plans on doing so any time soon.
Anyway, more crap is starting to flare up, people are behaving very weird and some kind of metaphysical world has started forming. So the Phantom Thieves band together again, and utilise their "Personas" to find out what's going on.

Going into this game with purely the knowledge I accrued from Joker's Smash Ultimate appearance, I was a little lost at first. The game just assumes you know these 8 characters well. Luckily, this game's plot soon seperates itself from the original game, and eventually stands on it's own well enough.
That's not to say the plot is amazing, but it's servicable.

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Totally reasonable reaction

Spoiler

Zenkichi quickly became my favourite character here. He's a police officer who tries to work together with the Phantom Thieves to figure out what's going on, not realising just what he's letting himself in for. It's fun watching him quickly get out of his depth when the metaphysical side of things is revealed to him.

Being a character introduced in this game, he has a more distinct character arc compared to the whippersnappers. It all ends in a satisfying conclusion where he confronts his perceived failings as a father and gets promoted to a playable character when he gets his own Persona.

Which means, and I might be wrong here, but I think that makes him the first playable Persona character who is an actual adult!?
That shouldn't be that groundbreaking, but it kinda feels like it for this series.

Anyway, the game is structured very simlarly to Persona 5, with two, very distinct differences. Turn-based battles are replaced with Dynasty Warriors mixed with dungeon crawling style gameplay, and the social aspects Persona is known for are signifcantly toned down. This worked out great for me, because A) I really like games like Hyrule Warriors and B) I really don't like the social aspects of Persona.

That's why I jumped straight into this, and I don't regret it. If there's one real criticism I have for Strikers, is that the game quickly throws 8 playable characters at you all at once, each with distinct movesets. It's overwhelming and can discourage experimentation, which is problematic when the game follows the same kind of weakness exploiting shenanigans that Persona (And better series, Shin Megami Tensei) is known for. Bringing the wrong character to a fight can quickly make them a liability, as they become effectively dead weight. The game really punishes those who stick with one setup.

Anyway, this is a sequel to Persona 5, so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the absolutely insane UI this game has.

Absolutely ridiculous in how stylish it is! There's a damn good reason the Persona 5 stage in Smash Ultimate is based on the Menu UI of that game, and the sequel is no different.

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Pokémon Colosseum
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Persona 5 Strikers

 

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AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

f83bee576aea3221df62287cadcc2f7b.jpg

I’m a big fan of the Zero Escape series, as well as Danganronpa, so the promise of a murder mystery visual novel from Spike Chunsoft was particularly appealing!

It was… ok. Not as good as the aforementioned series unfortunately, but the whole premise has potential.

You play as Detective Date, who is missing an eye, but with a computerised eyeball in its place, which is sophisticated and advanced enough to communicate direct with Date, and the ability to take on a small bear-like appearance when out of his eye socket. If this sounds weird, it really is! But makes sense over the course of the game and enables lots of banter between Aiba (the AI within the eye) and Date.

The majority of the game plays out like your typical visual novel. Use your cursor to click around the screen on items of interest, and read/listen to lots of dialogue, with your dialogue or question choices not affecting the story.

While there’s the odd QTE during cutscenes, the other gameplay element is where you enter a dream world to solve a particular problem within 6 in-game minutes. Viewed from a 3rd person perspective, moving around causes the clock to tick down. There are a limited number of objects you can interactive with. Each object gives you a few choices for how to interact with it, each choice will use up a set amount of your time (for example, you find a gun next to a locked door, and can choose whether to try and shoot your way out or use the gun to try and unlock the door).

These dream worlds vary in quality, with often only a few objects to interact, and a little on the easy side until later on. There may be a couple of solutions to these worlds, and each cause the story to play out on a different path. I liked being able to select any part of the storyline at any time, to work your way to the true ending.

The story is twisting, confusing, and clever, as you’d expect. Date is not the most likeable main character, running the gannet of acting a jerk much of the time, to some tender moments later on.

The humour wasn’t necessarily my favourite, with an over-abundance of crude jokes, and too often referencing Date’s particular fondness for adult magazines.

It does give a very enjoyable staff credits sequences though!

Ultimately, a very mixed bag. I enjoyed the premise of the puzzle sequences, even if the idea was better than the execution at times. It seems odd to say I was disappointed but I’m glad they made a sequel, which I’d like to try this at some point. Especially as there’s no hint of further Danganronpa or Zero Escape games at this time.



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Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is an action RPG developed by Level-5, it originally released on the PS4 in 2018, and then for the Switch in 2021, which is the version I played.

The game opens with Roland Crane, the president of America, who is en route to some place in a limousine. That plan immediately goes awry when a nuclear bomb hits nearby, obliterating him. Instead of being super dead, Roland finds himself in another world, about 40 years younger, and in a castle, where he encounters Evan, the prince of Ding Dong Dell. His day goes from bad to worse when a coup takes place, and the king of Ding Dong Dell is killed. Evan and Roland do a runner, and decide to establish a new kingdom.

Roland ended up being the rarest thing in RPG history, the competent protaganist. It's a very small group, but at least Radiant Historia's Stocke has company now. In the first 5 minutes, he responds to a knight bearing down on him with a sword by shooting him in the face. You know, because he's from the real world, and American, so of course he has a gun. And amazingly, the game explains why he doesn't just shoot every threat (Bullets don't exist here, so he has to ration them).

You probably recognise Ni No Kuni as that RPG that Studio Ghibli worked on. Well, they didn't work on the sequel, despite the game retaining the style of those movies. It still looks absolutely gorgeous, even if it doesn't have any hand drawn animated cutscenes. It also isn't a turn-based RPG anymore. Yeah, Level-5 decided to pull a "Final Fantasy" and make this sequel an action game.

F3K9RzTaQAA2vFG?format=jpg&name=large

Eh, it's only level 24, not worth wasting a bullet on.

As far as Action RPG's go, it's pretty straight forward. combos, dodge rolls, spells tied to a rechargable MP bar. It functions well enough, if it's not particularly groundbreaking. Luckily, fights run silky smooth on the Switch (Not the world map, mind, that can chug at times), so it remains fun to play throughout. The AI handles other characters you're not playing as well, so they don't feel like a liability. The boss fights are a particular standout, with little gimmicks that add cool little twists to the gamplay.

I said this before, but the game looks gorgeous. Lovely cel-shaded graphics with very impressive animation, there's dedicated animation for a character walking up stairs, for crying out loud. The music's top notch too. So yeah, great production values all around.

Anyway, I also finished another sequel.

61R6YB9NQ9L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Grandia II is a turn-based RPG developed by Game Arts that originally released for the Dreamcast in 2001, it also got a PS2 port a year later. I didn't play any of those, mind. I played the Switch version in the HD remaster collection. I played the original Grandia in that collection last year.

The game follows Ryudo, a cynical mercenary who's been hired to serve as bodyguard to Elena, a songstress who works for the Church of Granas. She's taking part in a ritual to reinforce a seal on Valmar, an evil god who once fought against Granas way back. It goes proper wrong and Elena gets posessed by the wings of Valmar, which manifests itself as a woman called Millenia, whose special skills seem to be spell nukes and chewing the scenery. Ryudo then gets hired to bring Elena to St. Heim to ask the Pope there to make Elena not posessed anymore. And maybe stop Valmar from coming back. Maybe...

The plot has it's moments, but I don't think it's quite as good as the first game. It's a tad by-the-numbers, thankfully the characters are fun. Ryudo and Millenia are an absolute joy whenever the voice acting (Which is quite good for a 2001 game) kicked in.

It's got a cool twist, mind. Didn't expect that.

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You can bust this out in any old battle. It's amazing that planet gets out in one piece!

Much like the original game (And Child of Light), battles revolve around the IP bar on the bottom right. It works exactly the same way as the first Grandia game, just with a few refinements to make it better. It's a very dynamic system that's always rewarding improvisation, and it's bloody unique!
Well, until I found out a setup that made a character an invincible tank. Seriously, it was ridiculous! Because of that, the game felt easier then the original game, it's also about 20 hours shorter, but the length of a game isn't a huge deal.

One of the main issues I had with the HD remaster of the first game was the ugly job they did with updating the visuals. There was an ugly filter that made the sprites look awful. Luckily, Grandia II uses 3D models throughout, so it looks a lot better then the first game. The soundtrack isn't as hot, though. Still good, but the series has had better.

I honestly can't figure out which Grandia I prefer. So I'll just cop out and say that we still need a Child of Light sequel, please!

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Pokémon Colosseum
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Persona 5 Strikers
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Grandia II HD

 

Edited by Glen-i
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Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan (Switch)

capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1681496554

A game that’s unapologetically friendly and wholesome. 

If you told me this game has been made by a unicorn I would probably have believed it! The world has had its colour removed and it’s up to Billy to travel the world and restore colour by recruiting various creatures using words of positivity and encouragement.

You move between islands on your boat, only being able to travel a set distance before your fuel runs out (to stop you travelling to the end island immediately), and yes, before you ask, your boat is indeed called the “Friend Ship”!

It’s essentially a turn-based RPG where each creature you’ve recruited has up to three colours/shapes associated with them.  Each turn you select which creature from your group (a random selection from those you’ve recruited are available to use each turn) and which colour/shape you want to use.  Each creature you confront is susceptible to certain colours.  You can guess or you can reveal some each turn by selecting one of three things to say, with the most encouraging response being the right one every time.

In a kind-of similar way to the Paper Mario / Mario & Luigi series. You play a mini-game each for each creature you use.  Unlike those series, failing the mini-games mean you deal no damage at all.  There’s a slight risk-reward system as you can choose multiple creatures to play in order to ‘attack’ with more colours, with the difficulty of the mini-games increasing as you do.

There are a few different mini-games (match the symbols, press the right button combo, an Arkanoid-style game & a few others) although they do get quite repetitive, especially where you HAVE  to do it for each attack.

Sometimes the encounters force you to follow set rules, such as not being allowed to use certain creatures.  These are more fun and creative, but sadly they’re few & far between.

While the encounters are a little basic, the most puzzling parts are finding all the various creatures, some involve platforming, there’s switch puzzles, maze puzzles and a few others.  Quite a few of these are quite creative and challenging in places.  These were the parts I had the most fun with.

I played the Switch version, and the game does chug at times, surprising considering the simplistic cartoony graphics, and it is a little rough around the edges.

It was a better game than I was expecting, and while I got bored of the encounters, I quite enjoyed the challenge of tracking down all the creatures to 100% the game, although it’s not a difficult game to complete the story without finding everything.

It’s not subtle with thrusting its positivity down your throat (I can’t imagine it’ll be top of @EEVILMURRAY’s wanted list!) but I can appreciate the developers putting something a little different out there, and my young daughter enjoyed watching me play and selecting the best responses.  It won’t appeal to everyone, and I won’t be going back to it, but I don’t regret playing it.

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My face is twitching incessantly with mixed emotion here... I think I have now been considered negativity personified, and I'm not sure whether to be proud or not!

 

(It does sound like fun though)

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Compared to last year, 2023 has been a slow gaming year for me. I played/finished 61 games until the end of August in 2022. This year I'm only at 37.
It started off great with 9 games in January but then the numbers dropped...

But, August is a return to form. Currently at 8 (not sure if I'll be able to finish F.I.S.T. by the end of the month) which is more than May, June and July combined :o

  • Fifa 23 (Pr Clubs only)
  • Shatter
  • Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition
  • Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition
  • Sniper Elite 5
  • Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Aside from ACVI a pretty good month :peace:
Got the Platinum for Shatter, which was a lot of fun. Do yourself a favor and get the remaster. It's worth it.

I can see the number dropping again for September for a very obvious reason: Baldur's Gate 3, which will be a pretty big commitment. But I don't mind :D

Edited by drahkon
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Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (3DS)

H2x1_3DS_ProfessorLaytonAndTheAzranLegac

 

I've played the previous games in the series sporadically since Curious Village first came out, and having finally gotten around to playing the 6th(!) installment of the series, I was sadly disappointed with this one.  If you haven't already, then read @Dcubed's write-up earlier on in this thread.  It's very accurate to my own opinion on the game, but with more scorn, and I appreciated the research into the other Layton games to get a more accurate comparison of the puzzles on offer.

There were still good puzzles in there, but such a high volume of ones that relied on moving objects via the touchscreen, as opposed to the logic puzzles of previous games.  There is certainly a place for these, but I wasn't expecting such an over-abundance of them.

There are additional dlc puzzles, or at least were.  Thankfully i downloaded the 365(?) additional puzzles before the eShop was shut down, although these are split into 20 different puzzles, just with varying difficulties, and to be honest I didn't get into these. 

The story was also weaker than the other games.

Spoiler

While previous games were maybe a little convoluted and extravagant when they finally revealed with the mystery was, at least they tried to put some form of logic into the explanation.  Here, ultimately, it was just "it's magic"!  The little mysteries were good in the way they broke up the locations, but they were too short to be of real interest, and they caused the main storyline to come to a halt, and by the time it resumed I'd almost forgotten what Layton and co were actually trying to do.

Hopefully the break before the Switch game will enable Level-5 to freshen up the series a bit, and hopefully research some more puzzles.

Spoiler

 

 

   

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Been a loooong time since I posted in one of the gaming diary threads on here, so long in fact that I doubt I'll even be able to remember everything I've played! :hehe:
But yeah, time for a catch-up post where I'll just mention whatever I can remember, in no particular order. :heh:

Exoprimal:

Not something I probably would've played normally, but seeing as it also launched on Game Pass I decided to check it out. Wasn't too sure about it at first, but it did grow on me quite a bit. It's just a fun (and very silly) arcadey game that's easy to pick up and play without having to think too much. You team up with/compete against other players and go around shooting a ridiculous amount of different types of dinosaurs for some reason. :D It's stupid, but also pretty damn entertaining. Think Capcom missed a trick by not releasing it as a F2P title though, especially as there's already a battle pass and other purchasable content in it, but at least including it on Game Pass was a smart move.

 

Sea of Thieves - Monkey Island update:

I always love an excuse to return to Sea of Thieves so this was a nice surprise, and even though I'm not super familiar with Monkey Island I really liked this crossover. :) It's a lot shorter than the Pirates of the Caribbean stuff they added previously (for now at least) but I still enjoyed this update a lot more and am looking forward to the next instalment.

I just hope that one day Rare will do a SoT crossover with something that I'm familiar with but also a fan of... Mysterious Cities of Gold would be particularly awesome! :cool:

 

Trombone Champ:

No other video game has ever made me laugh as much as this has. I think I've been close to passing out at some points from laughing so much. :laughing: It is an absolutely hilarious game. Also, this simply would not exist if it weren't for Wii Music. The devs were obviously very influenced by that, and it's glorious.
The game is still being updated frequently with new features and tracks and then there's the mod scene, which I haven't experimented with yet, but it looks bonkers!:

Spoiler

 

 

Noita:

This game is amazing. But it's brutally difficult!! :shakehead I still haven't managed to complete a single run after months of play, and you know what? I don't think I ever will. That doesn't change my opinion of Noita though, I love it. And I'll keep coming back to it, more than anything for the spectacle of its particle system, which is simply incredible! :o
I never tire of watching how the various elements interact, it's all so unpredictable and dynamic.
I also can't help but think back to my early gaming days (on the NES and C64 etc.) while playing this game and just being completely blown away by what I'm now seeing. It's like playing something from an alternate timeline where technology and processing power improved but the transition to 3D graphics never happened. :cool:

 

Hi-Fi Rush:

An action packed brawler/platformer that's also a rhythm game? Sounds good to me! :bouncy:
Yep, I jumped into this one the second it launched back in January. Really interesting mash up of genres, but they managed to work in the rhythm component without really impacting traditional gameplay, so it can mostly be played just as a standard action game, but everything is synced up to the soundtrack and you get rewarded for keeping the beat so it's generally much more satisfying to play it with the rhythm in mind.

Presentation is amazing too, easily the best use of cel shading I have ever seen in a video game, combined with stellar animation work this thing is basically a playable cartoon! Funny characters and voice acting as well. Only thing I didn't particularly care for with this one was some of the pacing, there were times when stages seemed to go on forever, would've been better to break some of them up into smaller chunks I reckon.

An enjoyable experience overall though, and it's very nice to see a dev team taking a risk with something so unexpected and unique. :bowdown:

 

Ghostwire Tokyo:

Another Tango Gameworks title now, had been wanting to play this for ages so was glad to see it pop up on Game Pass. I wasn't all that sure about it initially, but eventually it picked up and I ended up digging it. The game's setting is awesome, but it's not scary at all though, which I was quite surprised by and disappointed about, given the way it comes across in its advertising, and of course Shinji Mikami's involvement. :hmm:

Also, they added way too much in the way of side missions/collectables, there were times when I couldn't even see the map properly due to the thousands of icons all over it! :grin: But yeah, once I saw the absurd amount of superfluous content that was in this I just stuck mainly to the story stuff, which was actually really good. And it was certainly interesting to play what is essentially an FPS where you don't actually use any guns.

 

Jet Dragon:

Decided to see what was going on with Apple Arcade recently as well. Mainly planning to revisit Pocket Card Jockey, which I did play for a bit, but having already played it so much on 3DS it wasn't long before I was checking out new stuff. That was when Jet Dragon caught my eye, actually, it was more the developer, Grezzo. That's right, the same devs that have done various projects for Nintendo, including the 3DS version of OoT, StreetPass Garden, Link's Awakening remake on Switch, etc.
As far as I can see, this is their very first original and self-published title. :o

Anyway, the game is pretty weird. You get the impression that it's just a racing game, but it's kind of more like a management sim. You do race (a lot) but it's always an on rails type of setup where all you're in direct control of is boosting and (if you choose to) attacking/defending. Outside of races you have to train riders, recruit and allocate staff to oversee various areas of your base, breed and level up dragons, and set the price of products to sell in order to finance all of the previous activities. Then it's simply a case of progressing through multiple seasons of races while keeping an eye on dragon/rider stamina and condition with the goal of rising a dragon up to master rank.

It's nothing remarkably interesting and the gameplay loop is super repetitive, but I somehow found it compelling enough to play through to the credits (reaching master rank). I think the foundations are definitely there for something pretty cool, but it probably needs a few more ideas and some extra polish. ::shrug:

 

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:

The only new Switch game I've played this year, but what a game! It's basically BotW on steroids, but that's absolutely fine by me. :grin:
How they managed to get something as ambitious as this running so well on Switch is a complete mystery, but the tech wizards at Nintendo really outdid themselves this time. The way you could solve puzzles and tackle combat in such unexpected and creative ways was always one of my favourite things about BotW, and TotK takes that aspect to an entirely new level with the addition of Ultrahand. Being able to combine objects so intuitively in order to make all sorts of creations is pretty much a game all by itself! :cool:

There were just so many surprising moments while playing this game, countless occasions when I'd think to myself "surely that won't work" but most of the time, it did! It's a game that massively rewards experimentation, creativity and exploration. An exemplary showcase of adventure game design, which I'm sure will continue being a blueprint for many years to come.

That's not to say it was all roses in the garden of Hyrule though... :heh: Yeah, I really wasn't a fan of the underground area. Not being able to see where you're going half the time, while simultaneously getting attacked by enemies and the terrain itself was not so fun. :blank:

Also, there were a couple of occasions where I kind of struggled to make progress and consequently even lost the motivation to return to the game for a while. It's weird, but with there being so much going on in such a massive world, it makes it difficult to decide what to do/where to go next. The sheer amount of content and freedom you're presented with can become a hindrance. A strange thing to criticise a game for, I guess, but from what I can gather I was not alone in being overwhelmed by TotK at times. Don't recall that being an issue for me with BotW either, I think they just may have packed a little bit too much into TotK.

 

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen:

Brilliant action RPG! It feels like a 6th gen Elden Ring mixed with Monster Hunter. It's also got a really cool asynchronous multiplayer mechanic whereby you create an additional character at the start of the game (a pawn) to accompany you on your adventure, which other players can also hire to aid them in their own playthrough, further leveling up your pawn and earning you rewards based on their performance.
Despite Dark Arisen being a slightly revamped version of Dragon's Dogma (which originally released in 2012) it continues to have an old-school vibe in both its presentation and gameplay, but as is the case with other stuff I've played (the older Yakuza and Monster Hunter titles spring to mind) that simply adds to the charm for me. :geek:

If there's anyone reading this that has never played it I highly recommend checking it out! It's also frequently available at a very reduced price (got my copy for around 3 quid! :eek:) but there is a lot of content in it, so yeah, that was definitely bargain of the year (perhaps even decade) for me.

One thing is for sure, while the original may have slipped under my radar for a long time, I sure as hell won't be sleeping on the sequel.

 

Resident Evil Village:

The most recent game I've played through, and in doing so I'm all caught up with my Resident Evil marathon on PC. :yay: Well, apart from RE4 remake, but I'm not in any hurry to start that having played the original version so many times on multiple platforms!
Anyway, Village was yet another fantastic RE experience. I like how they managed to keep the style of RE7 but made the gameplay much more engaging, it's pretty much a perfect balance between the slower paced horror/puzzle aspects of old and the newer action based stuff.

Yep, you definitely get the best of both worlds with this Resi, OTT action and some super creepy horror. Actually, I'd go as far as to say that this game might just have the best horror segment of any other entry in the entire series! Won't mention the specifics here in case anyone is yet to experience it, but those that already have will know exactly what I'm talking about. ;)

The only real issue I have with Village is there being quite a lot of unskippable walking/dialogue parts (especially at the beginning of the game) which have hampered my enjoyment on subsequent playthroughs. I wish developers would stop adding sections like that, or at the very least make them optional after the first instance. It really messes with replayability and speed running. :hmm:

But aside from that, a truly excellent game. Capcom are still very much delivering the goods with the Resident Evil series, and it's now only a couple of games away from entering into my top 3 most played games by franchise! Which currently looks like this:

1. The Legend of Zelda
2. Super Mario
3. Pokémon

Game Freak, get your shit together if you want to hang on to the 3rd spot! :p

OK, that's all for now.

:peace:

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Glad you played HiFi Rush @RedShell; knew it’d be up your alley.  Game is super solid :hehe:

Blimey! I need to do an update of my own, it’s been like forever, innit…

Edited by Dcubed
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H2x1_NSwitchDS_FinalFantasyXVPocketEditi

Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HD is an abridged version of, well, Final Fantasy XV. Of course, this itself is a console port of the mobile title Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition.
Anyway, it's an Action RPG developed by XPEC Entertainment, SummerTimeStudio, and Square Enix that was released for the Switch in 2018.

A bit of context first. I've been playing every mainline Final Fantasy game that isn't an online MMO. Well, that was the plan at least. I failed when I got to Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, a game so horribly unfun, that it just wasn't worth playing it. (Real talk, @nekunando. Maybe you should stop playing TotK if it's making you that unhappy)

Still, I want to soldier on, I've only got 2 more Final Fantasy games left, but there was a problem with FF XV. You see, the original game is mainly an open-world game. I was dreading getting to it. I've given up on any open-world game that takes more then 5 hours to complete to ever be any good. So yes, I would literally rather play a cut up, mobile version of a Final Fantasy title then deal with an open-world. Thankfully, this version of the game isn't the standard mobile game I've come to expect. There's no microtransactions! Then again, it's 5 years old, a different time.

The game follows Prince Noctis, he's the prince of Lucis, don't you know? He's betrothed to the Princess of Tenebrae, Lunafreya, partly because of political benefits. The King of Lucis sends Noctis off to Tenebrae, escorted by his three friends/bodyguards, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto. Oh, and they do so in a car?

FFXV_PE__3_.0.png

I can't be the only one who thinks it's really strange to see a very normal car in Final Fantasy, right?

Yeah, I know Final Fantasy has had load of vehicles in the past, but this one just bugs me. It's a car. Not a magic car with cannons or stuff, just a bog-standard car. Apparently, it gets the ability to fly, but that doesn't happen in Pocket Edition, I only know it can fly because said flying car shows up in Theatrhythm.

Anyway, things inevitably goes wrong when Niflheim invades Lucis, kills Noctis' dad, and make off with the Crystal Lucis had. This prompts Noctis to change tack, and gather the Royal Arms, magical weapons owned by previous kings of Lucis, to help reclaim his throne and the crystal.

Pocket Edition cuts out pretty much all side content of the original game, electing to focus only on the main plot. Split into 10 chapters, the game ferries you between all the major plot points at a very brisk pace. Despite this, I followed the plot quite well, and it's pretty good actually. I got quite invested in Noctis' road trip, mainly thanks to the main cast being quite excellent. A far cry from Final Fantasy XIII's "Literally only one decent character" cast. There are some developments throughout that actually fundamentally change the dynamic of basic gameplay. It's quite impressive.

Spoiler

The biggest one of these dynamic shifts is when resident healer, Ignis, gets blinded. And I don't mean the standard Final Fantasy Blind status effect, I mean, proper blinded. It becomes quickly apparent that bringing a recently blinded person along to death defying fights is not as smooth as most anime style blind characters would have you believe. He walks at a sluggish pace, misses attacks all the time, and gets himself in trouble a lot.

He goes from being the most useful party member in the game, to a liability.

This starts fracturing the group up, causing more arguments, and changing the dynamic of the game from a lighthearted fantasy romp to...

F5jKhPhbQAAU-Cm?format=jpg&name=large

It's quite a powerful moment, and it's nice that Pocket Edition retains that. I guess it hits me harder, because one of my cousins became partially sighted recently. It's rough and the game depicts it quite competently, through cut scenes and gameplay.

Ignis never recovers from this, BTW. No copping out here. He's blind for life, and while he gets somewhat more used to it, he never comes close to regaining his initial combat prowess.

The game is played from an isometric viewpoint, thankfully it supports controllers, so no awkward touch controls here. (Although you can play with touch controls if you hate yourself). You only have control of Noctis, with the other characters being handled automatically, and they're not the smartest, so you find yourself having to revive them a lot, luckily you can do this without Phoenix Downs, so it's not as bad as it could be.

It's a very simplistic take on the combat in the actual game, but it was fun enough for me. At least I could actually move the character around! (Yes, that's a Lightning Returns jab, seriously, that game is woeful) There's not much else to say about it because of this though.

The visuals obviously forego the more realistic look of the original game for a more mobile friendly aesthetic. While mostly fine, it did weird me out that characters faces don't move even when they talk (The game still has full voice acting), they don't even blink. Well, I thought they didn't blink, but right at the end, Noctis closes his eyes, which after 10 hours, was possibly even weirder then not blinking.

Still, if there's one benefit that the downgraded visuals gave us, it's possibly the best punchline in Final Fantasy history.

F5jKhPebcAAEm5L?format=jpg&name=large

In case you're wondering, the main characters are laughing like mad at how weird this "drawing" of them is.

Thankfully, the soundtrack made the jump to Pocket Edition unscathed, it's a good soundtrack too. Biggest violin fan ever, Yoko Shimomura, of Kingdom Hearts fame, makes her Final Fantasy debut here, and she doesn't miss with her soundtracks, so top marks there.

I'm glad I decided to not play the actual Final Fantasy XV. Turns out cutting the open-world out of an open-world game makes me like it more then I ever would have otherwise. Who would have thought?

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Pokémon Colosseum
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Persona 5 Strikers
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Grandia II HD
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD

 

Edited by Glen-i
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On 12/06/2023 at 7:35 PM, Glen-i said:

Yup. Visually, and audibly, it's such a vast improvement, that the in-game feature to seamlessly swap between retro and modern graphics, while very cool, feels unnecessary, because I would never want to stay in the retro style for long.

It's the kind of remake where I feel it's "perfect", not as in, it's suddenly the greatest game ever made, but there is no real reason to play the older version if you own this one.

You should try it, I feel it retains the gameplay feel of the original game, the only real difference is that they added some difficulty options, and the original difficulty is still there, it's just the hardest difficulty now.

Wow, you are absolutely right!

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap (Switch)

It really does feel like this was a labour of love for developers Lizardcube, and the hand-drawn graphical style gives it so much more personality and character.

I have a bit of a mixed history with Wonder Boy 3.  In short, I was conned as a child, by a local company (effectively run by one man) who ran a games swap.  I ended up being persuaded to swap my impeccably conditioned Sega Master System games Sonic 2 and Donald Duck Lucky Dime Caper for poor conditioned copies of Wonder Boy and Wonder Boy 3, both missing instructions.  Oh, AND on top of that I had to pay for the exchange as well.  A few days later I discovered new copies of the games in town, my games unsurprisingly having a much higher value than the ones I’d gotten.

After playing Wonder Boy and feeling exploited, I didn’t get into Dragon’s Trap since I didn’t know how to use items and not really understanding the purpose.

Thankfully a few years later I revisited Dragon’s Trap, discovered how to use items, and ultimately discovered it to be one of the Master System’s best games! (Oh and even more years later I managed to buy used copies of Sonic 2 and Lucky Dime, play & enjoy them again before recouping my losses on eBay!)

The fact that the remake plays the same was fine by me.  I had a blast playing this again. It’s only a short game, only lasting a few hours, and yes ultimately games like Shantae have taken the main character-transforms-into-animals-with-unique-skills and improved upon the whole concept, but thankfully The Dragon’s Trap remake has reminded me of when I finally grasped the game and not my frustrating first impression.

Oh, and yeh guy who originally conned me, he built his business up into a high street store, and then went bust.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…

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54 minutes ago, WackerJr said:

Oh, and yeh guy who originally conned me, he built his business up into a high street store, and then went bust.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…

OK, that made me laugh out loud a bit.

It really is a special little remake. I never played a Wonder Boy game (Except for dabbling in the first one, which is a completely different genre, really) before playing the Lizardcube remake. Yes, I purchased it on a whim because I was floored by the animation, but I stayed because it's a really solid game. You said it yourself, but you can just feel the care and attention that went into it.

I know I said that this remake means there's no real reason to play the original, but don't get me wrong, this remake wouldn't be quite so good if it wasn't for the Master System version. Lizardcube did a fantastic job bringing the game to a modern standard while maintaining what makes the game good to begin with. Yes, there's a bit of a learning curve with how momentum plays a role in platforming, and you're never really told what to do, you just have to find some kind of new skill and then piece together what it does and where it can be used to possibly progress. It's what makes Metroid so good.

It could've been so easy to change too much and fundamentally alter how the game feels, but they threaded the needle just right, and I can't commend that enough. I mean, I liked it so much, it got me playing other Wonder Boy games. Cursed Kingdom, the brand new entry, is heavily inspired by Dragon's Trap, and expands it to be a more sprawling game with it's own take on the "Main-character-into-animals-with-unique-skills" gameplay. I don't think the production values are quite as high, but well, comparing to Dragon's Trap is a bit unfair in the first place. It's a solid Metroid-like, and worth playing.

I've also played Monster World IV because of this remake as well, and now I've bought the collection as well. They've really made me quite the Wonder fan!

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9 hours ago, Glen-i said:

OK, that made me laugh out loud a bit.

It really is a special little remake. I never played a Wonder Boy game (Except for dabbling in the first one, which is a completely different genre, really) before playing the Lizardcube remake. Yes, I purchased it on a whim because I was floored by the animation, but I stayed because it's a really solid game. You said it yourself, but you can just feel the care and attention that went into it.

I know I said that this remake means there's no real reason to play the original, but don't get me wrong, this remake wouldn't be quite so good if it wasn't for the Master System version. Lizardcube did a fantastic job bringing the game to a modern standard while maintaining what makes the game good to begin with. Yes, there's a bit of a learning curve with how momentum plays a role in platforming, and you're never really told what to do, you just have to find some kind of new skill and then piece together what it does and where it can be used to possibly progress. It's what makes Metroid so good.

It could've been so easy to change too much and fundamentally alter how the game feels, but they threaded the needle just right, and I can't commend that enough. I mean, I liked it so much, it got me playing other Wonder Boy games. Cursed Kingdom, the brand new entry, is heavily inspired by Dragon's Trap, and expands it to be a more sprawling game with it's own take on the "Main-character-into-animals-with-unique-skills" gameplay. I don't think the production values are quite as high, but well, comparing to Dragon's Trap is a bit unfair in the first place. It's a solid Metroid-like, and worth playing.

I've also played Monster World IV because of this remake as well, and now I've bought the collection as well. They've really made me quite the Wonder fan!

I think a lot of people got into the series because of Lizardcube's remake, it's great to see.

And the timing was great too! Wonderboy fans have really been eating this past generation :hehe:

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Shin Megami Tensei V is a Turn-based RPG developed by Atlus for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. Best known as that franchise that would eventually get eclipsed by the spin-off series it created, Persona. The SMT games' defining trait is that the majority of your party consists of a constantly revolving set of progressively stronger demons.

The game follows a nameless Japanese student whose path back to his dorm is blocked off by a rather grisly murder investigation. Upon taking a detour through a underground tunnel, an earthquake occurs and knocks him out. When he wakes up, and emerges from underground, he discovers Tokyo has been reduced to ruins, with nothing but destroyed buildings and an exorbitant amount of sand. Well, until a group of demons attacks him. This random student is rescued by a Terminator knock-off and given a choice, stay as he is and inevitably get killed, or fuse together with Terminator dude, and have a hope of survivial. He naturally accepts and becomes a "Nahobino", a human-demon hybrid with demonic powers, laser sword hands, and incredibly fabulous hair!

It's an SMT game, so inevitably things escalate to literal biblical proportions as you discover the responsibilities and decisions a Nahobino will have to take. The game presents you with a number of choices throughout, and the actions you take, as well your responses to questions, determine your alignment and which of the four endings you get.

Spoiler

At least, that's what I thought would happen, but it turns out that the ending you get is solely determined by the final choice you're given. Yeah, I wasn't particularly pleased with that. Shin Megami Tensei appeals to me because every choice matters and my first initial playthrough normally ends up with me dealing with awful consequences to my actions. It kinda takes away from the impact when only the last choice truly matters.

So what's the point of all the other choices? Well, they still determine your alignment, but instead of determining the ending you get, you get punished for not having your alignment match up with the final choice you make. You're locked out of bonuses if these don't match. There's no way to actually know what alignment you are at beforehand, but I was able to utilise some save scumming and use this punishment system to figure out that I was aligned to the Neutral ending, so I went with that.

That ending wasn't exactly all rainbows (Then again, nothing ever is in SMT), it ended up with the protagonist destroying the throne that the next God recreates the universe with and leaving Tokyo in it's ruined state and just casually walks away. Incredibly irresponsible, but I kinda love how brazen it is.

Millions of people are totally dead.

Oopsies?

The gameplay revolves around the various demons you encounter along the way. You can beat them up, but you're going to have to negotiate with them to come to an agreement and help you out instead. There's a staggering amount of dialogue you can see with these demons, and it's easily my favourite part of the series. Demons are prone to asking for bribes and philosophical questions and are fickle to the extreme. But sooner or later, you're going to realise that fusing Demons is a more efficient way. Fusing 2 demons will usually get a stronger one. Thankfully, you can use money to recreate demons you already had in your party in the past, so you eventually get a large roster of demons for fusion fodder. It can get pricey though, making SMT a strange RPG where money is always useful and scarce.

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Oh... Bugger...

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Yeah, I didn't have the buffs, he destroyed me

The game, like other SMT games is brutal! The game has no qualms with ending your game if you're unprepared, which happened a lot. This isn't helped by being one of those RPG's where the game immediately ends if the Nahobino cops it. It's the other negative I have to say about this game, I don't particularly care for that in a game with multiple party members, especially when there are instant death spells. Unlike Shin Megami Tensei III, almost all instant death spells only trigger if it hits a weakness, so as long as you don't leave the main character weak to Light and Dark, then it's fine. Still a BS way of increasing difficulty, and I don't know why they went back to this after SMT IV ditched it.

Also like other SMT games, battles utilise the Press Turn System, where you get extra turns if you hit an enemy's weakness, or land a critical hit. But you can also lose turns if your attacks get nullified or miss their mark. It's a very cool system that rewards good strategic plays, and enemies can use this system against you, so making sure they can't exploit this is the key to survival.

The gimmick of this fifth entry are "Essences" Every demon has one, and if you find one, you can use it to teach the Nahobino and demons skills, or change the Nahobino's strengths and weaknesses, so if you're struggling with a certain boss, you can use this to shift your weaknesses around to give you the upper hand. It's a cool feature that allows for a lot of customisation.

There's also the Magatsuhi meter, lovingly stolen from Tokyo Mirage Sessions and rebranded, which lets you perform incredibly potent abilities without using up a turn. Which ones you can use depend on what race of demons you have with you.

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Not even the most ridiculous demon this game has

SMT IV was a 3DS game that used 2D sprites to depict the demons in battle. SMT V goes back to having fully 3D models for everything, but despite this, and the jump to HD, there's actually more demons in the game then IV had (Not as many as the 3DS sequel, IV: Apocalypse, mind you). It's honestly quite impressive, and the game runs relatively well. Fast loading times with the only slight framerate drops occuring after you fast travel. It's an absolutely solid game and I enjoyed it throughout, even if it does kinda faceplant on the landing. The music is unnerving and unorthodox, which fits the tone of the game very well. And like most other modern Atlus games, the UI is slick and cool. Not as ridiculously stylish as Persona 5, but still good.

Shin Megami Tensei makes for a great alternative to Persona. The turn based battles are great, yet I don't have to deal with the social rubbish Persona forces you through. But as far as western regions go, I'm in the minority here. The credits revealed that Nintendo themselves localised the game to English, which further reinforces the impression that Atlus have no faith in Shin Megami Tensei outside of Japan. It's a real shame, because the 4 games I've played are all very good.

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Wonder what that vague description could be?

The description claims it still powers on. Good ol' Nintendium!

Spoiler

Fire Emblem Engage
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid Fusion
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog
Octopath Traveler II

Kirby's Dream Land
Metroid Prime Remastered
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Pokémon Scarlet
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
Lil Gator Game
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Pokémon Colosseum
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Persona 5 Strikers
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Grandia II HD
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD
Shin Megami Tensei V

 

Edited by Glen-i
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Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? (Switch)
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Wales Interactive made a few FMV games during lockdown. This time they’ve used actors in both the US and UK to replicate one of those virtual quizzes many people did for entertainment during that time.

The twist here is that Abby’s Uncle Marcus has somehow been poisoned by one of their dysfunctional family members at a recent gathering. Rather than call in the police, he’s called upon Abby to use the annual family quiz to speak with members of her eccentric family to try and work how who the culprit is, how they did it & why. While absurd, the set up works in this darkly comic game.

You watch proceedings take place as if you were watching a Zoom call, occasionally you get to choose who to speak to, or which response Abby should make as a part of the conversation, which may or may not result in a clue being revealed.

Clues are stored against relevant family members, and towards the end if you have acquired enough evidence against someone you can accuse them. Thankfully evidence is kept for each subsequent playthrough, of which you’ll need a few in order to have a chance of revealing all the clues.

The writing is ok and witty, and the other family members are all deliberately dislikeable and all seem just as likely to be the culprit. I thought it was a good decision to use recognised actors from the likes of The Office (American version), Once Upon A Time and Coronation Street, as I felt they were convincing as their characters, and not as cheesy as I feared they might end up being (or like the acting in most older FMV games). The editing is good as it really does feel as though they are all conversing and insulting one another in real time.

I expected this to be a bit like Cluedo, where I’d be gaining clues and feeling smart with my Sherlock-like deductions. Sadly, who you reveal clues against feels random. As you’re just guessing what response will end up with anything being revealed.

It’s very much trial-and-error, as the game really just wants you to watch the conversations play out. Thankfully I found most entertaining, with Aunty June’s sheer disdain & uncaring bluntness to everyone a particular highlight. You can skip scenes you’ve seen before, although one issue is that scenes are often repeated regardless of choice (you may get a few new lines before reverting to the scene you’ve seen previously). If you selected a different option you can’t skip the scenes you’ve seen before. You can only skip them if you’ve selected the dialogue choice in a previous playthrough. This would be ok if some scenes weren’t standard and appear in every playthrough regardless of choice, so I ended up spending minutes watching the same scenes maybe 6 or 7 times. Not a big deal, but a little frustrating.

My wife asked why this couldn’t simply one of the multiple choice stories that Netflix have started included. I agreed, as it would have felt right at home there.

It was an entertaining watch, and at just a few hours was probably the right length (possibly even a little too long). I didn’t come away with the feeling of satisfaction and cleverness I was hoping I’d get from solving it, as I didn’t really feel in control of getting to the solution. I did enjoy the family banter and this was certainly more entertaining than my work Zoom/Teams/Skype calls!
 

 

 

Edited by WackerJr
Minor formatting. Phone is struggling to load the page for some reason.
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