Everything posted by PhyrxianLibrarin
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Platinum #105 - Psychonauts
The worldbuilding and art style and writing are all top-notch and exactly what you expect from Double Fine. The level design is absolutely incredible; Black Velvetopia, The Milkman Conspiracy, Milla's Dance Party, all so good! The Asylum, Waterloo World, Lungfishopolis, less good.
The actual gameplay is... just average. Platforming is rough when it's hard to tell what you can and can't stand on, made worse by PS2-era camera and controls. The collectibles are a nightmare, barely visible neon 2D shapes that sometimes require actual physics glitches to grab.
Verdict: Get it on sale before Psychonauts 2 comes out.
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Platinum #104 - Chasm
I think the pitch meeting must have gone something like this:
"OK, we've put all possible game concepts on cards on the wall. Take these three darts, and throw them at the wall, and that's what we'll make!"
*throws*
"Pixelart... Procedural... Metroidvania. Done!"
It's just OK. The procedural nature is a kind of fun gimmick, but the metroidvania aspect means it can't be entirely procedural, as you still have to get specific items at specific times. So it's mostly the same map every time with only small differences, and at that point it's just bland and short. And like all good fantasy games, magic is super duper broken.
Verdict: Skip it
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Platinum #103 - Vampyr
Ugh, I can't remember the last time I played a game with such wasted potential. Spooky post-WWI London! Doctor/vampire trying to solve an epidemic that looks like the Spanish Flu, but maybe isn't! The best way to level up is to permanently kill NPCs, and they all have relationships to each other! This game could have been so good!
But it isn't; it's actually quite bad. Combat is somehow too chaotic and too slow thanks to the camera. None of your badass vampire powers are as effective as just stun-locking with a big mace, which you can do to literally every enemy in the game except the final boss. The dialogue is stilted and weird and conversations don't flow, and that's a huge problem because the game has so, so, SO much dialogue.
Everything about this game screams cut content and not enough time for tuning & balancing, and what they kept in is just a mess.
Verdict: Do not recommend
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Platinum #102 - Concrete Genie
Short and simple, a good palate cleanser in between harder or darker games. Probably a lot more impressive if you play it in VR though.
Verdict: Just OK
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Platinum #101 - Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered
Somehow, I managed to skip this one while clearing out all the rest of the AC games. I guess the game takes place in between AC4 and AC3, so it's kind of cool to play as a Templar and see how the Brotherhood was wiped out in North America. More focus on stealth than sailing, which some people will appreciate.
Verdict: Pick it up on sale if you're into old-school Assassin's Creed.
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@DaivRulesIt takes place after IV, but during III. The Seven Years War is going on at the beginning of III and Rogue fills holes in that time period since it doesn't show much of it.
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2020 Wrap-up:
50 Games Played
44 Platinums
1799 Trophies
2059 Total Hours (I'm pretty sure this includes time spent with the game on pause)
Top game: A whopping 310 hours in Grand Theft Auto Online! No wonder Rockstar keeps making more stuff!
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Platinum #100 - The Last of Us Part 2
I think this will go down as one of the games that defined the current console generation. And it's not because of the gameplay; it's an improvement over Part 1 but nothing to write home about. It's because of the story, whether you love it or hate it. Naughty Dog took a massive swing, and tried to write an emotionally complex story of two broken people locked in a cycle of violence. It's not the story people wanted, but it's the story that had to be told after Part 1. Sorry folks, if you want games to be taken as seriously as movies, you're going to end up with games that tell stories like movies do.
This is the game version of Requiem for a Dream. It's an incredible piece of work, and I never want to play it again because it's just too depressing.
Verdict: Must play.
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#99 - Infamous First Light
Fetch was the best part of Infamous, so this makes sense. The battle arena challenges actually weren't nearly as difficult as I thought, and her power set is hilariously better than Delsin's. A pretty average ending to the franchise, though.
Verdict: More Infamous, play it if you're into that.
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#98 - Infamous Second Son
Way back in the day, on a different account, this was the first game I ever played on a PS4. It holds up surprisingly well; very player-friendly, a small map with only a small number of collectibles, and it's really easy to traverse. The good vs. evil stories are still laughable; either you're a saint or a literal mass murderer, and in either case the story is basically identical.
Verdict: Play it, it's not like we'll ever get Infamous 3