Glen-i Posted November 16 Posted November 16 (edited) Shantae and the Seven Sirens is the latest game in the Shantae series. It's a Metroid style platformer developed by WayForward and released on all modern platforms in 2019. Shantae (Half-human, half-genie), her uncle, and two of her best friends have been invited to Paradise Island for an all expenses paid vacation. Shantae soon discovers that five other half-genies have also been invited. The small print turns out to be that Shantae and the 5 other half-genies take part in Paradise Island's brand new "Half-genie festival". They agree, but during the festival, every half-genie except Shantae mysteriously disappears. Suspecting foul play, Shantae explores the ruins underneath the island to try and find them using her powers... Yeah, that. Thank you. Like most of the Shantae games, this one consists of a big interconnected area where most of it is inaccessible until you unlock more abilities for Shantae to use. I'm sure all of you have played a Metroid game, you get how it works. Shantae distinguishes itself by also having Zelda style dungeons. Granted, it's closer to Zelda 2 because of the side scrolling nature of the game. Seven Sirens specifically takes notes from Castlevania with the monster card system. Whenever you kill an enemy, there's a chance they'll drop a card of themselves. There's 50 of these cards, and you can activate three of them at a time to give Shantae some kind of passive ability. None of them are required to finish the game, but they add an extra layer of customisation. Even if a certain one that replenishes magic over time is way too good. One thing to note about this is that in 2021, a pretty sizable update was added to this game that included 4 extra difficulty modes. Alongside the 2019 Legacy Mode, there's Beginner Mode, which makes Shantae invincible and crazy strong. Definitive Mode rebalances enemies to be harder, makes boss patterns faster, but adds extra dialogue, and quality of life features to make 100% completion far more reasonable. Full Deck Mode gives you all 50 monster cards from the start, and Rule Breaker Mode removes the three card activation limit, and lets you have every one you find active all at once. Rule Breaker Mode sounds like a lot of fun, but this was my first time playing this game, so I went with Definitive Mode. I'm glad I did, the extra map features were very much appreciated, especially the one that hints at what dance you might need in each room. Considering that there's a lot of invisible goodies with not much in the way of hints to help signpost them, I can't imagine trying to find everything in this game with the original release (Legacy Mode). Hmmm. The Screen Clearing Blast is my favourite character. Honestly, I don't know why it took me 5 years to play this. I like all the Shantae games, and this one is no different. I'd put it right in the middle of the 5 games in terms of quality. It's great. But Risky's Revenge and especially Pirate's Curse outdo it. Sea of Stars Chained Echoes Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game Star Ocean: The Second Story R Hi-Fi Rush Sonic Superstars Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: Premium Digital Deluxe Edition (100%) 1000xRESIST Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) (100%) Miitopia (100 flipping per ceeeeent!) Metroid Zero Mission (100%, Under 2 hours, Normal) Chico and the Magic Orchards DX Super Metroid Redux Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Densetsu No Stafy Densetsu No Stafy 2 Densetsu No Stafy 3 Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Gravity Circuit Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster The Plucky Squire Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Banjo-Tooie (100%) Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack Shantae and the Seven Sirens Edited November 16 by Glen-i 3 1
Hero-of-Time Posted November 18 Posted November 18 Yeah, this took a crazy amount of effort. It's easily the most difficult and longest platinum I have went for in a very long time. With me playing through Final Fantasy 1-6, as well as INTERmission, it was now the turn of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to be added to the platinum list. I played it earlier in the year when it was released but I just played through the main story and called it a day. After taking a 8-9 month break, it was time to tackle the platinum. This journey meant I had to complete every side quest, tackle every super boss, beat every mini game on their hardest settings, play through all the Golden Saucer games on their hardest difficulty, replay the game again on hard difficulty, pretty much level up every materia to it's max level and take on all of Chadley's battle simulator challenges. A lot of this stuff is very time consuming but relatively simple. It's the battle simulator challenges that are the stuff of nightmares. The battle simulator consists is very similar to what was in part 1 but everything has been dialled up to 11. A lot of them have you needing to go through a series of 10 fights against insanely difficult enemies, some of which are summon beasts or actual super bosses. Fail one of the fights and it's all the way to the start again. You pretty much have to play perfectly for 10 fights/half an hour for each of these challenges. There are a few that pit you against either Sephiroth or Odin as the final battle. Both of these have the ability to completely wipe out you and your party with a single attack. Honestly, my heart was racing and hands shaking after getting through these battles. What a rush. Like when I played replayed INTERmission on hard, it gave me a new appreciation of the battle system. I didn't really faff on with it back when the game was first released but going through all those challenges required me to really learn the ins and outs of the materia system and learn how to best link up certain ones with each other. The effects of some of these combos are devastating and I imagine pretty much required usage for when getting through the Brutal and Legendary challenges. After finishing those challenges, going through the game again but on hard difficulty wasn't that bad. Even the final boss battles were pretty tame in comparison. Going through it again but skipping cutscenes and only engaging enemies when I needed to really did highlight just how much fluff is in the game. Honestly, there was probably only 10-15 "random" enemy battles that you actually need to do in the whole game. The rest of the battles are boss fights. Playing this way means the game is only around 10 hours long. It's nuts just how much filler has been put in this entry. To give some perspective how long this all took, back on release I finished the game sitting on 42 hours played but by the time I had unlocked the platinum, my time played finished at 152 hours. Worth it. With it finally done, it meant I had my landmark platinum 800 in the bag. For those who aren't part of the PlayStation ecosystem, once you earn a platinum the game is locked on your profile in that position, unless some DLC is released and you earn another trophy. This means my road to 800 list will always be a reminder of the time I played Final Fantasy I-VI, INTERmission and Rebirth games all off the belt. Year of the JRPG indeed. 1 1
Hero-of-Time Posted November 24 Posted November 24 Finished a few games over the past few days. I played and completed the first game a month or two back and enjoyed it so much that I bought the sequel. This is a massive step up from the original on every level. Graphics are no longer in the style of the NES era but rather the SNES, the amount of moves that you have at your disposal has increased, and navigation around the map is much better. Cracking Metroidvania. I've been waiting for this to go on sale and I'm glad I did. The game does a great job of recapturing the feeling of the classic show but it's ridiculously short. I got it at just over half price (11.99) and I still feel robbed. It was only an hour and half long! The game plays like Super Mario Bros 2. Each of the kids represents one of the characters from that game. Tommy plays like Mario, Chuckie plays like Luigi, Phil plays like Toad and Lil plays like Peach. The difference here is that you can switch the kids at any point in the level. I always hated Chuckie in the show and I'm sad to say he's the most useful here. This is another one that I've been waiting to drop in price. I'm a big fan of the original, both arcade and SNES versions, and was keen to see how this remake fared. The graphics are a bit weird but the gameplay is spot on. The game even has some free DLC, complete with extended stages and Trophies, which was much appreciated. I'm always on the hunt for new Indie games and I came across this earlier in the year. The game is a very cozy JRPG that has a fantastic battle system, cooking system that help levels you up and a town building system to help the inhabitants of the world. I also like that it's a very breezy experience. Most RPGS last for hours on end but this can be clocked in around 12 hours. The fact that you can also fast forward the fights is a welcome addition and makes grinding levels super fast. Game is absolutely gorgeous as well. Nothing much more to say about this series that I haven't said before. I discovered these games this year and have been snapping them up whenever I had a spare slot in my gaming calender and if they were on sale. Think I only need to play two more now. I picked this up during my BF gaming binge. It's a bit of a mixed bag. The combat is decent, with encounters being fast and fluid, and there's a weird/fun Persona style system in place that encourages players to talk with NPCs to increase their stats. The problems the game has are that it gets very repeatative, with levels repeating constantly, and the loading times are pretty bad and numerous. There's a decent game in there somewhere but it needed more care and attention before release. Story is decent though. It takes places a few months after the most recent movie, which I loved. I played through Donkey Kong Land on the NSO. Really enjoyed it. It's another cracking example of a Gameboy game being much better than it had any right being. The music from the SNES DKC game that is used here sounds amazing for the hardware it's running on and the game doesn't look all that bad now that you can actually see what's going on! I did get a laugh at King K. Rool during the boss battle. He's tiny in this version! Diddy Kong is bigger than him!! 2 2
Glen-i Posted November 25 Posted November 25 22 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: Game is absolutely gorgeous as well. Oh, it certainly is! No prizes for guessing where the inspiration for that visual style came from. *Adds to wishlist*
Hero-of-Time Posted November 25 Posted November 25 4 hours ago, Glen-i said: Oh, it certainly is! No prizes for guessing where the inspiration for that visual style came from. *Adds to wishlist* The main inspiration was Breath of Fire 3, with Dark Cloud inspiring the town building sections. Had a holiday from work today and so cranked out a few more games. My physical copy finally arrived. Absolutely fantastic collection of games. These are some of my all time fav 2D fighting games and to have them in a single collection, and on a modern platform, is a dream come true. It was nice to actually play a version of COTA that doesn't run like garbage. I had it on both the Saturn and PS1 when I was younger and neither of them ran that well. I'll always appreciate Capcom and Marvel using Onslaught as a final boss in MvC. It was a huge event in the comics at the time and having him appear in a game as the big bad was fantastic. Playing it again, I completely forgot they even used his famous quote ("Behold my mighty hand!") in the game. Good stuff. Due to me not doing PC gaming or faffing on with emulators, I've never had the opportunity to play The Punisher. It's a shame it's taken this long to make it widely available but it was worth the wait. It's a classic Capcom scrolling beat-em up with a Marvel skin attached. Loved every second of it. Most of these games were a big part of my teenage years and playing them all again was such a nostalgia trip. What's impressive is that everyone single one of them holds up. Playing them in order of release (had to complete every game for platinum) you can see how each of the games gets tweaked and refined until you are left with the perfection that is MvC2. From one collection to another... I was looking forward to revisiting the SNES and Mega Drive games in this collection. I played both of them when I was a kid and remember enjoying them. I played through the other games in the collection first. I have memories of playing the Gameboy game but have no idea where or when. I don't recall owning it but certainly remember parts of the game. Very weird. The second Mega Drive game was pretty frustrating. For some reason it was the only game in the collection that required me to complete it on hard difficulty for a trophy. The levels themselves are very confusing and with enemies constantly respawning, it made for slow progress. Also, for some reason you aren't allowed to kill a lot of dinosaurs. If you do, you fail the mission. It isn't really explained and I didn't realise what it was all about until halfway through the game. I really enjoyed playing the first Mega Drive JP game. It's a fun action/platformer and it allows to play as both dinosaur and human characters. The raptor takes some getting used to but is fun enough to use once you get the hang of it. It's a game I never owned myself but played the hell out of it when my friend came on holiday with me and he brought his Mega Drive. The SNES game...yeah, this wasn't good at all and certainly didn't live up to my memories. I do remember it being tough and I never did complete it as a kid but I remember having fun with it. Not so much now. The main map is a bit of a confusing mess. You are constantly met with barriers that need lifting by going into the buildings and using the computers. These sections are an FPS but they run like garbage and the controls are very fiddly. At least if you clear these areas out of enemies they never respawn upong revisiting them. Had the game kept to a top down shooter like it is in the overworld, I think it would have been a far better experience. Due to its difficulty, I imagine the game featured heavily in hints and tips sections of gaming magazines at the time. I vaguely remember having a map with all of the dino egg locations on it but I'm not sure if that came with the game or if I got it from something like Gamesmaster/Nintendo magazine. 2 2
Hero-of-Time Posted Friday at 05:06 PM Posted Friday at 05:06 PM Donkey Kong Land 2 is done and dusted. It was decent enough but I probably preferred the first game. This feels like a much like a lesser version of DKC2. Dont get me wrong, it's still amazing what they've pulled off here but the first DKL game pivoted away from DKC1 and carved its own identity. Sure, some of the levels weren't great but it was trying to do something a little different. Bring on the 3rd game! I wonder if they put the Japanese exclusive GBC version of DKL on the service? I've always wanted to play that. 2
Glen-i Posted Friday at 06:54 PM Posted Friday at 06:54 PM (edited) 1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wonder if they put the Japanese exclusive GBC version of DKL on the service? I've always wanted to play that. Probably on the Japanese app, seeing as there is no Game Boy version of DKL 3 in Japan. Edited Friday at 06:54 PM by Glen-i
Hero-of-Time Posted Friday at 07:21 PM Posted Friday at 07:21 PM 26 minutes ago, Glen-i said: Probably on the Japanese app, seeing as there is no Game Boy version of DKL 3 in Japan. Guess I won't be playing it then. I don't faff on with the eShops from different regions.
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