Kevvik

I can’t remember for sure where I saw it, I think it was in a steam guide but it has been a long time and it didn’t work when I did it (and that wasn’t easy either but the victory was pretty satisfying). I’ll go back and try it this way and maybe try to work toward the plat again. If anyone has advice on strategies or paths to get some of the more complicated constellations it would be appreciated.

Sorted out, popped first time after patching.

Happy for the plat here but I don’t see a trophy list for Harvest Moon: Back to Nature yet.

Hey there, I’ve tried it the way that the videos show and I’m pretty sure that I’ve made 5 seconds (counted 6 sec once) but the trophy won’t pop. I’ve tried outside the tunnel as well but still no luck. I’m playing unpatched. Does this make a difference? Any advice?

To you and yours as well!

So, it’s been a busy year. The 2020/2021 were tough years for me (even not counting COVID) and at one point I didn’t game for almost year as I just couldn’t focus on it. Towards the end of 2021, I was doing a bit better but didn’t play much asides from LEGO and POWGI puzzle games. So I gave myself a few challenges for 2022. Most were straightforward, reduce unearned trophies, reduce incomplete games, bring up my completion rate and lower my trophy rarity. Less common was specifically to reduce the unearned trophies and incomplete games from those that I had played as part of the Kill Your Completion events over the years. The most difficult for me would to complete an A-Z + # game list for both games with a platinum and for games without a platinum. The only qualifier I gave to myself was that I wouldn’t count the word “the” at the start of a game title (ie. The Spectrum Retreat would be an S game and not a T game). My list, my rules, I really wasn’t expecting to get close on these lists anyway. I was also only going to play games that I was interested in. I figured I had enough in my backlog to fill it out. I wasn’t going to just play easy plats even though I could probably do most of the list with hidden object games, VNs because I do enjoy these games but I had many others that I wanted to play or finish from my list of incomplete games. Not having played much in over a year, games that I had previously obtained trophies from would be started from scratch so I was still playing the full game. So, how did my year go? Amazingly enough, I met all my goals. I’m posting this as I have a pretty busy last week (been a very busy month) so I don’t expect to game much. Here were my starting stats… Started 10190 trophies 290/366 games completed, 76 not completed 2018 unearned trophies Trophy completion - 83.62% Trophy rarity 43.21% KYC incompletions - 1139 unearned trophies, 40 incomplete games Final stats… Ended 11977 trophies Decreased games not completed - 366/431 - 65 remaining Decreased # of unearned trophies - 1713 remaining Increased trophy completion - 87.62% Decreased trophy rarity - 43.03% Reduced KYC incompletions - 957 unearned trophies, 35 incomplete games (even with playing a new event this year) Games breakdown What games did I finish and when? So, the ‘the’ factor only ended up affecting one item as the only 100% ‘U’ game I completed was The Unfinished Swan. Every other ‘the’ was covered off by a game with a straight up list, so that was pretty cool. While I did play some games that I bought this year, I only bought 1 game specifically for this event and that was Zenith. I will say that I had a few games which were very pleasant surprises, meaning I didn’t really have any expectations going into playing them. I played many other games which were very good but those I had higher expectations going in. My pleasant surprises were… Spiritfarer - a cozy management game about death that just blew me away with the quality and depth of its storyline. I think it may actually be my favourite game I played during 2022 Zenith - yep, the one I bought specifically because I needed a non-plat Z. A little action RPG of sorts with again, a story that totally subverted many traditional RPG tropes. Laughed out loud a lot and I really don’t do that often anymore. The Artful Escape - just a beautiful game both in appearance and spirit. Not horribly challenging but I was totally drawn into it Observation - not your traditional puzzle game but doing a point and click where you had to use cameras and the images they showed to follow out a great story (this looks like a trend, eh) Observer: System Redux - a great 1st person adventure/action/stealth game with a crazy story, an awesome SF noir look and Rutger Hauer voicing your protagonist. Sounds great and was. So, a busy year but it was nice to game a lot again. Just being able to keep my attention on things for both long and short periods again was a plus. Still thinking about some new goals for this year. I hope everyone had a great 2022. It’s been tough all around for a lot of people and it’s nice to remember that our hobby will still be around for once the important stuff in life has time to move to the backseat. Everyone keep well and never forget that you are not alone out there, even when it feels like it, and that there’s help out there if you need it. Take care everyone!

Great movie, glad to see it get the full treatment. Don’t think I mentioned it before but totally envious of the price you found the Before trilogy for. Great films.

The full length version is what played in theatres on release here in Canada (also still have it on VHS) and the song was so crucial to the character arc. Wife and I lost it when we watched it on DVD and the song was gone, the scene and character transition felt so abrupt without it.

I got incredibly lucky last year and stumbled onto a Blu-ray copy of the Criterion edition of Night of the Hunter for $2 in a pawnshop. Snatched it up immediately even though the week before I had finally picked up a mass-market DVD edition for a buck in the same shop. I’ve seen a handful of other Criterion DVDs in second hand shops but I’ve found subscribing to the Criterion Channel ($100/yr and I watch it more than my wife watches Netflix) allows me to be picky about what I pick up physical. Some of the shops try to charge virtually new prices for them but I’ve grabbed a few for $10.

Just wanted to update that I have completed the platinums for Spiritfarer and Fear Effect Sedna. Both finished up pretty much as they went during my play. Spiritfarer finished out with the remaining characters as well as giving backstory on Stella and maintains as my biggest pleasant surprise if not my favourite (along with P4G) game that I played this year. Fear Effect Sedna slightly touched on Fear Effect lore down the stretch but still reaffirmed to me that this was still really run of the mill and without the Fear Effect franchise tag, there might have actually been some effort to come up with a story that was actually interesting with original characters though perhaps I’m giving the writers too much credit. If you get this, expect a mediocre game. Don’t buy it just because it has Fear Effect in the title the way I did (though it is usually on sale for $2).

It is completed… Game #6: In Sound Mind So no mid-play review this time as I only had about 2 hrs done at that point. I might have some play time tonight but no guarantees so I’ll wrap up now. In Sound Mind is a first person psychological horror game. You start out waking up in the basement of an apartment building which is surrounded by darkness and slowly rising black waters. Working your way into the apartment block past some obstacles of toxic gases which drain your health, you also discover the odd strange glowing creature who will attack you. You build a pistol from found parts so you can defend yourself and break boards and air vent grates to access other areas. You can also hide behind crates to avoid being seen. You will also come across boxes of pills which increase your speed, health, stealth and endurance (for running). You eventually find your way to the second floor where your office is, also your cat. You are actually a therapist who has had difficulty with certain patients lately. You are also doubting your own sanity a bit. You find apartments in the building which belong to some of your patients even though there don’t live in your building. Phones also ring in the building where you are taunted by a voice questioning your capabilities in treating your patients. Eventually you get glimpses of your tormentor, a rainbow coloured zombie in old film noir detective getup. You don’t physically interact as yet with him as he generally disappears around a corner or dissolves into thin air in front of you. You can also hang up on him, which is strangely satisfying, or not answer the phone at all as I haven’t seen it impact events. The atmosphere in the apartment is suitably creepy, especially playing with the lights out. Some areas don’t have power right away and you will require your flashlight to see your way, finding batteries lying around to restore your declining power charge. Some areas have that Layers of Fear feel where things change when you turn your back, especially the mannequins in the store, though this can be helpful as well as unnerving. The building main role though is more of a hub. You find cassette tapes which open up alternate worlds when played and these are where the bulk of the gameplay takes place. These represent places significant to your patients. Each takes a few hours to complete, especially tracking down all the pills which are the primary collectible. So far I have been in a haunted department store and a strange coastline with a lighthouse and shipyard. I’ll avoid any further description as to why because spoilers but each has different obstacles, foes and environmental hazards to deal with as well as finding the pills, keys and such. The atmosphere is well done in each of these areas as well with recordings present in the nightmare world at the start and finish of these episodes which cast a bit of light on the patient’s history and outcome. In the background as well, there are hints to an overarching story. Is there a connection with these patients? Why did there issues escalate so suddenly and manifest in the ways they did? So far, the story is very intriguing. So, the gameplay…first person, admittedly not my favourite but that’s the way it goes. Combat can feel a bit imprecise at times but it’s still manageable. I’ve only had an occasional game over from that. Jumping, however…I’ve always found that jumping in first person has been a problematic mechanic and it’s no different in this game. Gauging distance for normal jumps (and when to actually jump when moving forward) or running jumps (ditto) doesn’t always feel natural and I had many game overs from falling to my death. Some falls, such as into black water during the start/finish of each tape, quickly restart you just before the fail as if it were part of a dream but in the main body, it’s a game over. This brings me to the checkpoint system, as there is no manual save option. In some cases, it feels fair such as saving every time you use the elevator. In the tapes, though, it can feel arbitrary and I’ve had occasions where I went back about 10 minutes of game time to the start of an area after a jumping fail when I felt like there were obvious changes of objective that should have had a quick save. Along with this, you will need to re-collect any pills or objects that you gathered between the checkpoint and death. Another point of frustration at times as there may be multiple items to re-obtain. Overall, this is again a game that has been a pleasant surprise, even with the complaints. The story has caught my interest, the atmosphere is eerie and the location changes help keep is from becoming overly familiar and reducing the dread factor. It’s not as heavy as a Silent Hill or Resident Evil, though it has its spikes amid the slow burn. I’m definitely interested in seeing where this is going. Time played: 7.5 hrs Trophies earned: 15/33, 34% for D rank Final score: 7.5/10 Completion rate: 87.39% (-0.13% for the game, -0.37% for the event) So let’s wrap this up, from first to worst… Spiritfarer - 9/10 - my most pleasant surprise of this year, a cozy management game about death which combines charming visuals, great characters and relaxed gameplay to create a truly great gaming experience In Sound Mind - 7.5/10 - creepy first person psychological horror with an interesting story, despite minor quibbles Silence - 7/10 - beautiful point and click game with a really good story but one note supporting characters Ghostwire: Tokyo - 7/10 - great looking FPS with ghosts but slim storyline and more collectibles than I’ve ever seen in a game Fear Effect Sedna - 5/10 - generic squad action/stealth game with Fear Effect franchise feeling tacked on. Not bad but pretty run of the mill Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story - 4/10 - pretty but generic city builder with RPG influences, ok combat, minimal story but no real charm. That’s it for another event. Thanks again to our host, @voodoo_eyes and to all the other participants for their great reviews 👍. I hope everyone has enjoyed themselves as I have and lets others know so they might join next time. Here’s hoping for a 20th run in the spring! Maybe if we work on @DamagingRob earlier we really can get the band back together. I’m off to shovel my walk. Take care everyone and best wishes for the upcoming holiday season!

Almost to the end… Game #5: Fear Effect Sedna Well, my gaming time reverted back to a more normal pace and I got another hour and a bit in, finishing another chapter. The story is heading a little more into Fear Effect territory but is still pretty sparse. Got the stealth trophy for completing a certain level without being seen, Not really difficult but you can still restart at the last checkpoint if you get spotted while you learn the patterns for the guards. I still haven’t seen anything really standout but the game hits the basics. Still a pretty average game though and the franchise still feels tacked on. Disappointing. Time played: 5 hrs Trophies earned: 14/25, 43% for A rank Final score: 5/10 Completion rate: 87.52% (-0.12% for the game, -0.24% for the event) On the plus side, my wife got my Christmas present and while I can’t have it until Christmas, I got to choose it and she got me the box set of Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman from Barnes & Noble’s 50% off sale on the Criterion Collection. I can watch them streaming on the Criterion Channel but I’ve wanted this collection physical for years so I’m jumping around inside a bit. OK, on to the last game for the event…Game #6: In Sound Mind

On our way back… Game #5: Fear Effect Sedna I was a huge fan of Fear Effect, an 3rd person action adventure PS1 game with a great story, well rounded characters, and great gameplay (and 5 different endings). I only vaguely recall playing the sequel so it obviously didn’t impress me as much. Fear Effect Sedna revisits the characters with a top angled isometric strategy game. Our heroes are Hana and Rain, two mercenaries who carry out infiltration missions to obtain artifacts or whatever is required of them. They get dragged into a conspiracy of stolen artifacts and then get hired by a French agent (who Hana has professional history with) when their paths cross and the mission goes to hell. You are joined by other mercs from the past games who add their own skill sets to the mission. The strategy side is fairly straightforward. Each character has a gun, two special skills like grenades, flamethrowers, bouncing bullets (which can hit 3 targets) and the like which can be deployed in combat, each special skill having a cool down period and limited number of uses. You can stealth kill unsuspecting foes, sneak and use cover. Your main guns need reloading but as far as I’ve seen, you have infinite reloads. There are kill count trophies and collectibles. As your heath bar decreases, your fear goes up (a little ECG wave next to that character) which recovers with a health kit. This doesn’t seem to really effect gameplay from what I’ve seen so far. Fallen characters can be revived with minimal health without using a kit if your group doesn’t wipe but this leaves you quite vulnerable. Everything in the gameplay is very straightforward and not particularly difficult. This comes to my gripe. This is yet another game where the way the story plays out, using the franchise really doesn’t add anything. The story so far is quite superficial, though a supernatural element has slowly been inserting itself. The supernatural plays a heavy role in the early Fear Effect games but there really isn’t anything from the franchise that is anything but generic. Hana was a great character in the original game and had her backstory deeply entwined with the main story leading to a number of motivational plot points and twists. Here all she really talks about is money and Rain (also her girlfriend). It makes Hana feel very one note and doesn’t seem to really explain why she is here and not a generic insert female character here. The story is pretty slim, coming in (very) small bite sized pieces with the mission. There is a bit more story here than Valthirian Arc was coughing up but not much more and it feels just as generic. The gameplay is fine, if uninspired and the sound is forgettable. I was really hoping for better but this just feels like a generic game with a franchise tacked into it. I’ve heard the same company is doing Fear Effect Remastered and while the cutscenes look fine, the art style being about the only standout point, it makes me nervous looking toward the remaster. Time played: 4 hrs (including some kill grinding) Trophies earned: 11/25, 29% for B rank Score so far: 5/10

If this is true, then Microsoft’s merger with Activision should be able to go through since Sony is no longer interested in Call of Duty…🙄

Spiritfarer sits with several others on my pleasant surprises list for this year and is probably at the top of that list for me. The others are The Artful Escape, Observation and Observer: System Redux. I found all to be way more enjoyable than expected. I had a number of other games this year that I enjoyed but these ones were unique in that I really had no expectations going in as compared to something like P4G where my expectations going in were fairly high.