madbuk

#389 - Pic-a-Pix Classic This was much harder than I was originally anticipating it to be. I play picross on mobile quite a bit, but I've never gotten as consistently stuck as I was in this one. Honestly I don't think these puzzles were very fun - so many of them were just filled with 1 block long lines, so you had entire rows of 1s and 2s (but not enough to be certain where they're placed.) Usually in picross you at least get some kind of large starting point, like a 10 row, or a 7 8 row, etc. Not in this one though. And even once you've found the start, you eventually just get swamped by 1s again and have to spend forever finding a next move. It's just tedious. None of the puzzles were as lengthy as the ones in Block-a-Pix, the larger ones ranged from about 30-50 minutes here instead of 1h+, but in Block-a-Pix at least I felt like I was making some progress. I still have Classic 2, Colors 2 and Pieces 2 to do, and this has kind of put me off Classic 2... I trust Color/Pieces to be fun though, because the puzzles in those are generally pretty enjoyable.

Progress Update: #389 - Pic-a-Pix Classic This was much harder than I was originally anticipating it to be. I play picross on mobile quite a bit, but I've never gotten as consistently stuck as I was in this one. Honestly I don't think these puzzles were very fun - so many of them were just filled with 1 block long lines, so you had entire rows of 1s and 2s (but not enough to be certain where they're placed.) Usually in picross you at least get some kind of large starting point, like a 10 row, or a 7 8 row, etc. Not in this one though. And even once you've found the start, you eventually just get swamped by 1s again and have to spend forever finding a next move. It's just tedious. None of the puzzles were as lengthy as the ones in Block-a-Pix, the larger ones ranged from about 30-50 minutes here instead of 1h+, but in Block-a-Pix at least I felt like I was making some progress. I still have Classic 2, Colors 2 and Pieces 2 to do, and this has kind of put me off Classic 2... I trust Color/Pieces to be fun though, because the puzzles in those are generally pretty enjoyable.

#388 - LEGO Movie 2: The Videogame I intended to skip this game entirely when it was first revealed, as the changes to the standard LEGO formula didn't look like something I'd enjoy, and I thought it'd be a one-off experiment before returning to the traditional level-based games that came before it. Unfortunately, LEGO Star Wars seems to be copying this template, based on what little we've been told about the gameplay of it, so I figured I should at least give it a try and see whether I'm done with this franchise for good or whether it's something I will actually enjoy. I'm pleased to say that I did enjoy this, way more than I expected. It's extremely basic, there are no puzzles for collectibles (or even progression) like there used to be in previous games, you simply fulfill quests for people in each hub world, and collect the rest bricks within them by flying around and looking at your map. There's no challenge to it but it was strangely engaging anyway. The bosses were pretty good (although again, extremely easy), but perhaps a little longer than they needed to be. As someone who hasn't seen the movie, this seemed very light on actual plot so maybe they just expect you to know what's going on. Overall I prefer the traditional formula used in almost every other game, but... I can accept this if this is what the franchise is going to become from now on. It's still decent enough.

Progress Update: #388 - LEGO Movie 2: The Videogame I intended to skip this game entirely when it was first revealed, as the changes to the standard LEGO formula didn't look like something I'd enjoy, and I thought it'd be a one-off experiment before returning to the traditional level-based games that came before it. Unfortunately, LEGO Star Wars seems to be copying this template, based on what little we've been told about the gameplay of it, so I figured I should at least give it a try and see whether I'm done with this franchise for good or whether it's something I will actually enjoy. I'm pleased to say that I did enjoy this, way more than I expected. It's extremely basic, there are no puzzles for collectibles (or even progression) like there used to be in previous games, you simply fulfill quests for people in each hub world, and collect the rest bricks within them by flying around and looking at your map. There's no challenge to it but it was strangely engaging anyway. The bosses were pretty good (although again, extremely easy), but perhaps a little longer than they needed to be. As someone who hasn't seen the movie, this seemed very light on actual plot so maybe they just expect you to know what's going on. Overall I prefer the traditional formula used in almost every other game, but... I can accept this if this is what the franchise is going to become from now on. It's still decent enough.

What a baffling choice. I’d like to see the reasoning behind that 100 hour trophy.

#387 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II I was originally intending to play this much later than I did, but after the cliffhanger Cold Steel 1 left me on I went and bought the second game the day after lol. Overall, I enjoyed this game a lot (as expected, considering how much I liked the first one) but overall I do think Cold Steel 1 has a slight edge over it. It's very close though. Part of the problem is that there was very little that was actually new in this game - it's much like Tales of Xillia 2 in that regard. There's one new town (and two field areas connected to it), a new hub area, and... other than some story-related dungeons I think that's the extent of new locations that this had? So for the most part you were just revisiting the exact same areas you had been in the previous game. It's not a huge deal honestly but I would've liked some new locations to explore. Maybe in Cold Steel III - surely they're not just going to recycle the exact same locations for 4 games? (Although, I suppose Yakuza does that and gets away with it.) This had a much better ending than the first game did. It still has some dumb JRPG nonsense that feels shoehorned in, but I've come to expect that from this genre by this point. At least there was an actual ending to this one though - in Cold Steel 1, the ending felt like it was cut short. You're watching a scene and then suddenly the credits roll, and it doesn't feel like the scene even ended. I'm much more content leaving this here and waiting on a price drop for 3, because I actually feel satisfied with it. Once again, thanks to @Leon Hasegawa for the amazing guide, it was just as easy to use and follow as his Cold Steel 1 guide, and I never ran into any problems while using it (I did miss one enemy data but that was entirely my own fault, and was rectified easily enough on NG+). His guides have made both these games a joy to relax and enjoy a story with, without having to go crazy over the sheer amount of missables to keep track of.

Progress Update: #387 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II I was originally intending to play this much later than I did, but after the cliffhanger Cold Steel 1 left me on I went and bought the second game the day after lol. Overall, I enjoyed this game a lot (as expected, considering how much I liked the first one) but overall I do think Cold Steel 1 has a slight edge over it. It's very close though. Part of the problem is that there was very little that was actually new in this game - it's much like Tales of Xillia 2 in that regard. There's one new town (and two field areas connected to it), a new hub area, and... other than some story-related dungeons I think that's the extent of new locations that this had? So for the most part you were just revisiting the exact same areas you had been in the previous game. It's not a huge deal honestly but I would've liked some new locations to explore. Maybe in Cold Steel III - surely they're not just going to recycle the exact same locations for 4 games? (Although, I suppose Yakuza does that and gets away with it.) This had a much better ending than the first game did. It still has some dumb JRPG nonsense that feels shoehorned in, but I've come to expect that from this genre by this point. At least there was an actual ending to this one though - in Cold Steel 1, the ending felt like it was cut short. You're watching a scene and then suddenly the credits roll, and it doesn't feel like the scene even ended. I'm much more content leaving this here and waiting on a price drop for 3, because I actually feel satisfied with it.

I completely agree with Sayonara Wild Hearts. Didn't look particularly amazing when I watched some gameplay, but a friend bought it for me and I ended up loving it. A great experience. Bound and Trails of Cold Steel were also two others I can think of - Bound I wasn't sure what to really expect. I love 3D platformers, and Bound is a 3D platformer, but that's all I had to go on. I loved every minute of it though. Trails I was expecting to enjoy quite a bit, but not to the extent I did. I liked it so much I went out and bought the sequel the day after finishing it because I just couldn't help myself and I wanted to know where the story went next, despite it still being kinda expensive considering it's a 2019(?) game. And I'm enjoying the sequel just as much, it's exciting to think there are two games after this as well.

BioShock. On top of the games already on my profile: I also have these to choose from