|
Post by acathala on Mar 4, 2020 19:17:33 GMT -5
So finally got round to playing the Witcher 3. I'm enjoying it so far. Combat is challenging without being a chore.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 4, 2020 21:58:40 GMT -5
Never really liked the Witcher games. The combat in 3 feels so clunky and awkward.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 5, 2020 4:20:09 GMT -5
INDIVISIBLE: A fully hand drawn RPG from the creators of Skull Girls, and a soundtrack from the woman behind Secret of Mana, it leans heavily towards its Valkyrie Profile inspired roots. The thing is it seems to depend far more on the platforming and combo combat side of things rather than the RPG aspects, and I find the level design and dialogue to be fairly generic. One of the characters is also a blatant rip of Sophie from Little Witch Academia which is kind of disheartening. Still early, though. Maybe it will get deeper.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 12, 2020 23:01:23 GMT -5
ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS: The same beautiful world, and so far much of the same Metroidvania styled action, although now you buy and find your secondary abilities instead of using a talent tree. The one major change is bosses, now there ARE bosses when before there were just escapes, and melee combat. The melee is actually quite stylish and Ori is capable of dashing rapidly between enemies in a kind of aerial ballet of swords and magical bombs. It's pretty cool, and handles way better than the previous game, although it's a bit disconcerting to watch cute little Ori go from running around with a little glowing orb to guide to hacking and slashing things up with a sword like some little white devil.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 17, 2020 15:44:52 GMT -5
Finished off Ori. Definitely one of the best games of the year. Improved on the original in many ways, although it weirdly falters in others such as having a final boss fight against a black coloured boss, with black coloured tells, shooting black coloured projectiles, on a black coloured background. I had to turn off all my lights and shut my windows just to see anything. There is another escape that's very, very long, but every time you die, you have to restart it. This is weird because all of the game's other escapes are rather short or they have checkpoints.
Anyway, aside from some minor hair pulling at the end, still this year's best game so far. Well, until Nioh 2 came out, anyway.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 21, 2020 12:45:28 GMT -5
REMNANT FROM THE ASHES: The people who made Darksiders asked themselves a question: what would you get if you crossed Resident Evil Revelations with Borderlands and Dark Souls? The result: a third person Borderlands with a decidedly Bloodborne-esque tone and some of its mechanics. Overall the game comes off a lot like Destiny: the overall package is a little awkward, but the core gameplay is GREAT. And, unlike Destiny, there are no stupid multiplayer design decisions, so it's better overall. Shame there is no local co-op though.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 26, 2020 3:40:40 GMT -5
I'm starting to think Remnant was originally conceived to be a third person Fallout-like game, but then they switched over to Souls-like while the Darksiders 3 team was working on that game.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 27, 2020 18:22:39 GMT -5
Just read an article on GameSpot about Borderlands 3's new DLC. The author spent the entire article trashing the DLC because, get this, HP Lovecraft was racist; therefore, the DLC is bad.
I actually don't tend to read these articles. I've heard of them around the internet, but never actually encountered any. This is the first time I've clicked the article only to discover how little it has to do with the game. Needless to say, I sounded off on it.
|
|
|
Post by acathala on Mar 27, 2020 18:37:18 GMT -5
It's fake outrage. They all conveniently forget he lived in different times where such views were commonplace. Are such views valid now? Of course not. Context is important. I remember a YouTube video long ago about a pen and paper RPG company slamming Lovecraft, yet seeking to profit from the Cthulu mythos.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 28, 2020 1:22:26 GMT -5
Even more fun: the same author of said article has created an alt and is telling everyone it's "just satire". So he's basically saying "just joking".
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Mar 28, 2020 4:02:18 GMT -5
PREDATOR-HUNTING GROUNDS: One group of players play the marines. One player plays the Predator. The Predator tries to take out the marines while they're going about completing their missions. Sounds cool in theory. Alas, the graphics are muddy, the framerate struggles to stay about 20 FPS, and the AI is dumb as dog shit. The Predator is ridiculously overpowered. Even in the movies, when shot, the Predator is forced to retreat so that he can apply first aid. In this game, a predator ran into my line of sight where I proceeded to empty clip after clip into him. Barely chipped at his health. Unsurprisingly, players have figured out the best strategy when playing the predator is to buy (literally; real money) the game's best melee weapon and then just charge into the marines and slash them all down. The predator two hits them, easily wiping out an entire unit in seconds, all while the marines unload everything they've got into the predator. In the first hour, the predator played subtly. In the second, everyone figured him out and the marines get wiped in minutes. And to add insult to injury, when I FINALLY got to play the predator...everyone timed out.
Great idea. Terrible execution.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Apr 10, 2020 14:48:48 GMT -5
Well, Remnant has turned out to be a lot like Fallen Order: starts out at a slow, plodding pace where every shot needs to count and all of the big fights can be frustrating...and then you gain a bunch of levels and suddenly the game plays like Mass Effect where you're rapidly charging up magical explosive gravity wells and summoning spirits to swarm bosses while cutting through scores of enemies with a big fiery sword and melting targets with a laser beam that can also create acid bombs.
It's quite something. Pretty darn grindy, but really fun once you get to that point; however, I consider Fallen Order the better game.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Apr 29, 2020 15:51:32 GMT -5
RESIDENT EVIL REVELATIONS: Yeah, okay, I've played and beaten this game years ago, but I just got the PS4 version because I didn't actually own a physical copy of the game, so I'll focus on the actual remastering job. So far, it does look better, but the increased framerate smooths the animations and textures so considerably that the game gains a shiny quality and makes everything feel a bit like a cartoon. Overall though it's still a great game.
DOOM ETERNAL: Just got this in the mail. Getting to it soon.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 2, 2020 4:09:33 GMT -5
Back to Doom...
So...they've changed the tone of the game. It's now more metal, with a kind of cheesy Heavy Metal fantasy vibe to it and rocking death metal for much of the soundtrack. The story has also completely changed and seems to have abandoned everything from the first game. It's also gotten pretty silly with obvious plot blunders, so obvious they must be deliberate, comic book level villains, and a PR announcer constantly saying silly things. None of this is inherently bad, but it is a bit jarring coming from the previous game. Much of the action is the same except there is even more emphasis than ever on scouring the stages looking for goodies and unlockables. It's a little staggering how much stuff there is to find and unlock. Of course, the action is so blazing fast it's a little difficult to appreciate all the cool stuff you get to play with. Damn meaty game, though. Puzzles are surprisingly tough at times, though, and bring the action to a crashing halt.
It's really a terrific all around package, but something about it just doesn't grab me. I guess I just don't like constantly searching every nook and cranny for every little thing.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 3, 2020 4:15:03 GMT -5
STREETS OF RAGE 4: It's got some woke crap going on, but overall the game is a terrific revival of the franchise and feels like a proper entry that is arguably better than the rest. It doesn't add and innovate quite so much as that fan remake did, and it's a little safe in some ways, but it makes up for it by being a very meaty package and offering many incentives to replay the game.
That said, I was able to beat the entire game in a few hours, so if you don't really love the game, it probably won't grab you for very long.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 4, 2020 1:59:43 GMT -5
ALVASTIA CHRONICLES: Some RPG Maker swill. Even if you can forgive the medium, it's clearly amateurish.
MISTOVER: Japanese Darkest Dungeon rip-off, except all of the characters look like cute little chibi girls which clashes horribly with the dark, moody atmosphere. And, unlike DD, the writing lacks any of the prose or wit that makes DD so dark and dreary.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 8, 2020 3:14:54 GMT -5
ALIEN: ISOLATION-Last time I played this, the typical busted stealth mechanics shut me off. Normally I give games a little more of a chance, but I had much better games waiting for me at the time. Now that this is a Game Pass title, I feel like I can give this game another chance since it doesn't cost me anything. People swear this is an amazing horror title. It only seems right to give it another chance. But I tell ya, if enemies spot me through walls or something...
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 10, 2020 5:44:03 GMT -5
So played more of Alien Isolation. Shockingly, this is one of the more realistic stealth games I've ever played, meaning if an enemy can see you...well, they will actually see you. None of this "hey, you're in my line of sight, but I can't see you just because" crap. Of course, that makes the game crazy tough until you get your first gadgets. Seriously, I damn near quit at the very first stealth challenge. It's really unfair how they throw by far and away the hardest type of enemy to sneak past at you right from the get-go.
So, yeah, definitely an atmospheric horror game that will make your heart pound with every thud or squeal you hear in the environment, and watching the alien just stand next to you while you sit quietly hoping it doesn't spot you is one hell of a rush...but in the end, this game is also definitely a stealth game. It's always stealth. After a while I just got bored of it.
|
|
|
Post by acathala on May 17, 2020 20:20:02 GMT -5
Went back to Arkham Knight. I had never gotten around to finishing it. Finally captured Deathstroke after realising his tank was just a beefed up drone tank. After that I remembered why I ditched the game. There is far, far too much Riddler stuff to do. Games shouldn't feel like work, but the Riddler stuff makes it feel that way. Persevering this time though, as I want that golden ending. Thankfully the AR challenges aren't required.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 28, 2020 0:34:26 GMT -5
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2: Unplayable due to bugs caused by the MS Store. And knowing MS, these bugs likely won't be fixed for awhile and usually not without some kind of massive windows update.
MINECRAFT DUNGEONS: Won't allow you to start the game unless you activate various MS related accounts which I've never seen before with any game I've played on Game Pass so far.
GEARS OF WAR TACTICS: Plays like an XCOM rip-off with a Gears skin...which is about all I was able to glean from the little time I got with the game before Windows Nanny shut the game off, claimed my PC couldn't run it (despite my playing it just fine for about an hour with reduced graphical settings; pretty much any computer can run any game at 720p/30fps these days) and then blocked me from starting it again. Fuck that shit.
CITIES-SKYLINES: I don't know if my mouse wasn't working or what was going on, but it didn't seem like the game was responding to my mouse's button presses. It also seemed like the game's camera doesn't respond to the mouse at all. It seems to be controlled entirely via the keyboard. I dunno what was going on. All I know is Sim City isn't nearly this unintuitive and is so easy to pick up and play that I've seen people who have never played a video game before get addicted to it. This game? Triggered my carpal tunnel after 10 minutes.
Wow. Bad night for gaming.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 28, 2020 3:20:32 GMT -5
STRANGE BRIGADE: Now we're talking! Although the janky movements and poorly ported aiming controls make the game hard to stomach, the game is loaded with an irresistible charm. It's a third person shooter with a hammy radio serial vibe and lots of "The Mummy" style action and treasure finding. The levels are gorgeous and deceptively complicated and filled with all sorts of secrets. Finding the secrets is key to unlocking new guns and powers. Quite the nice little find during the current sale.
|
|
|
Post by acathala on May 28, 2020 5:13:26 GMT -5
So on Arkham Knight I thought I glitched my game due to how I collected a trophy. The map had shown that I had collected everything on Founders Island, but the collection tab itself saud I still had a trophy to collect. So I consulted a guide. Turns out that the trophy isn't marked on the map, but it should have been. Fortunately I have checked the few remaining trophies, and it looks like they're where they should be.q
|
|
|
Post by acathala on May 31, 2020 12:49:19 GMT -5
So I finished Arkham Knight. Decent ending. I think only a couple things let it down. Far, far, far too much Riddler stuff to do, for a payoff that didn't really hit the spot for me. I don't think we really needed as much batmobile missions but it was mostly ok. I get why some people hated it though. As much as I like Mark Hamil's joker, I really think Arkham City should have been his last game.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on May 31, 2020 22:55:34 GMT -5
This has really become less about my backlog and more about what I'm currently playing.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Jun 7, 2020 5:34:06 GMT -5
RESIDENT EVIL RESISTANCE: Playing the Mastermind is a cool touch, but there are too many things working against you. The camera placements, the movement, obstructions...all this stuff before you even get to the players. And some are just so much better than others. The one that can knock out your cameras outright castrates a mastermind. And all of the buffs and builds stuff is...cool, normally, sure, but...this is a game where there really shouldn't be any of that stuff. Lickers should always be powerful, not only powerful when using the right buffs, builds, and items. Really, the game seems to be balanced more around punishing shitty teams rather than giving both sides an equal shot if they're skilled enough. And to top it off, it's peer-to-peer.
I dunno. Maybe it's better once you really know it and level up and stuff, but...just seems like there is so much working against you that has nothing to do with the other team. As for the survivors? Meh. Just stick together and use your heals and stun abilities and you'll be fine...unless you get some godly mastermind who is somehow capable of endlessly spawning lickers that can't be killed for some reason. In my mind, the best multiplayers games, even the complicated ones, make it pretty clear when you're doing things right.
As for the actual campaign...disc is borked, so can't play it. Don't understand why it has no trouble reading Resistance though.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Jun 10, 2020 17:19:28 GMT -5
FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE: Took awhile to actually get a working copy for some bizarre reason, but I finally did. Anyway, trying to play the game with the classic controls is...kinda rough. It's okay, and it works, but it feels...off. So, I stuck to playing with the ARPG controls. Game plays so much better that way.
As much as I prefer FF as a turn-based game, and the story changes are just bonkers and don't capture any of the original game's charm, the actual gameplay is very good. Western style fetch quests are lame, but there is some effort to make them more relevant to the setting, so they aren't completely worthless. And the game does add a bunch of new gameplay mechanics like weapon leveling (every weapon gets their own Crystarium-like leveling board). There is also more variation in gameplay like Barret getting melee weapons and Cloud being able to learn more tactically centric abilities, and the breadth of materia options goes way beyond spells and summons with things like bonus attacks, special abilities, and passive bonuses.
So, ultimately, as an ARPG, it's definitely one of the best games of the year. Story wise...if you're a fan of the original, you might want to skip the cutscenes. And if you're not...eh, it's okay, but it's obvious the game is lacking a lot of charm of the original. Turns out the censors didn't like a lot of things the devs originally wanted to do with the game.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Jun 17, 2020 23:22:08 GMT -5
Boy, someone on FF7R's dev team REALLY likes cats. There are so many cat moments in the game. Cait Sith even has a cameo.
|
|
|
Post by acathala on Jun 18, 2020 4:20:28 GMT -5
Liking cats isn't a bad thing. I like cats.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Jun 20, 2020 23:51:47 GMT -5
The ending of FF7R is wonky and weird and full of "WTF?" moments. Wish they had not mucked with the story, or just went full alternative instead of whatever bizarre thing they're pulling now.
|
|
|
Post by TG Barighm on Jun 24, 2020 6:16:57 GMT -5
RESIDENT EVIL 3 REMAKE: It took me 6 hours to beat the game. Although a bit short for an RE game, that's still well within franchise standards, so the complaints about the game missing content and such are exaggerated. That said, the game does seem lighter on content in general in terms of things like having fewer enemy types, much less awesome gore, and smaller sections of the city than what was initially implied. The actual city portion, for example, really does just consist of what one can play in the demo. There is a little more, yes, but not much. Doesn't REALLY detract from the gameplay, though, and the way unlockables work is WAY better than RE2make where practically everything was locked behind a speed run.
What does is the mainstreaming. A goodly number of encounters with Nemesis are just QTE fests or CoD style bombastic cutscenes that resolve everything without much involvement from the player. Cool, sure, but I wanna be the one doing all that stuff. You do get to fight Nemesis a bunch of times, so it's not really that big a deal, but the actual "cat and mouse" portion of the gameplay is a tiny fraction of the game. You only really have to deal with him for about 10 minutes. Oh, and the dodge mechanic is hard to use. The timing windows on it are pretty weird.
|
|