The_Kopite Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I thankfully have quite a few like that - that people seem to rampantly love, but I haven't played yet..... I'm still sitting on God of War(2018) which I absolutely need to remedy this year.... I expect you've probably got quite a few yourself what with having fairly limited time to play games? Oh yeah absolutely. God of War series as a whole is one I've not played at all. Considered playing the 2018 one especially with having it through PS Plus (unless I'm making that one up lol) but yeah, you know the backlog story lol 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I think the way they saw the free DLC - was that they really wanted to make Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine feel like worthy expansions instead of just a few dribs and drabs of content here and there. So they gave away those ten free ones as a way of being like "Hey, we don't feel comfortable charging you for this, have these until the REAL DLC is ready" Some of the free quests were actually very good too. Well that's good of them and how things such be done. Sadly with Cyberpunk, all I hear after their screwup is a roadmap for a roadmap and everything gets delayed and the game is still unplayable on a PS4? That's just lame 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yes the definitive edition - the one that's a remaster of a mobile port - and not even the PS2 game..... Yep good show on that one Rockstar, way to not only screw the pooch, but also screw years of good will from your fanbase... I guess a fair few people were a bit jaded by turning GTA:Online into the cashcow it is already though. Then there's the whole constantly releasing GTAV infinitely thing, which of all the GTA games to constantly release why that one? Show GTAIV some love please! I love that one. Oh yeah of course lol I forget about the mobile port part of it. GTA Online is definitely a cashcow that's for sure. GTAV from a guy who has never played it, I just find it hilarious like Skyrim, constantly releasing. Maybe I'll play it on the PS6 hahaha I've heard GTAIV is the dark horse of the GTA franchise. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Clearly not playing resistance Now I feel like I've missed out - they sound quite interesting actually.... Perhaps it's one of those things that might get a little remastered trilogy at some point in the near future like the Crysis trilogy got. My backlog on PS3 is actually so low now that I really don't want to start adding more to it. So I'll cross all my available things to cross and hope for a remastered trilogy/quadrilogy as the Vita game sounds good too from what you've said. Hahah well rectify that! I'm suggesting it for your backlog lol Yeha they are definitely good and worth playing through, a remastered trilogy at least of the PS3 games would be good. Actually there was one released for the PSP as well which I forgot about. Never played it. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: You never know..... It could be given away free at some point - they haven't done an AC game as a PS+ offering for a while, so it could happen. Heck I haven't bought Darksiders: Genesis yet because I'm about 90% sure it'll be free at some point, the others pretty much all have been - watch me have to eat my words on that one though haha Sadly I doubt that will happen with Ubisoft having that Ubisoft Plus service. Its going to Xbox soon and then probably PS like EA Play did. Would be very cool though. Yeah I remember the Darksiders ones coming free on PS Plus, was going to start playing those but again backlog. Put me off though they looked interesting. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's definitely a plus when it comes to the rare few games that never seem actually go on offer digitally- something that is doubly frustrating when it comes to games that don't have a physical edition. Looking at you Styx: Master of Shadows...... Not redeeming a PS+ title has never quite bitten me on the arse the same way as forgetting to do that did, now that I actually want to play it, and don't want to pay full price for it so that me and a friend can co-op the second one......... because.....erm......erm? I'm a....... *cough* cheapskate *cough* .. Yeah definitely It's always annoying when there is no physical edition of a game you really want and the digital price is just terrible. Ah man thats a real shame. Yeah I was relatively speaking late to the PS+ party, only starting on PS4 so I missed out on a lot of vita and ps3 games that would have been quality to have. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't think I've ever seen that version of the Gameboy before - I don't know, that's odd. I don't know why. It just seems alien to me. I've only ever seen the big brick ones in grey so that's completely new to me. Whereas I've only ever seen the mini one in that colour. It looks better than the Grey one to be perfectly honest - as much as I liked my big grey brick it wasn't the nicest thing to look at. Well there you go, something new for you lol not quite as epic as FFIX but yeah lol For me, that's the one I had and grew up with so it's normal and that's why I had to rebuy that one for the collection. I had friends who had the normal grey one, but for me it has to be the yellow one. Partly due to that better aesthetic. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Already one step ahead of you regarding Symphonia - I own that game probably too many times.... Gamecube, PS2,PS3 (Digital and Physical) yet somehow the Gamecube version is still the best version as it runs smoother than even the PS3 version.... Weird, right? Colosseum was the Gamecube one, I think there was an even more expensive one called Gale of Darkness or something that I haven't seen out in the wild since it released I don't think - I think Stadium was the N64 one.... I think those are quite rare now too.... But then everything Pokemon has a high old price to it doesn't it these days. That sounds weird at first, but then the PS3 had the cell processor and a lot of developers really struggled to get to grips with that properly and the structure of the PS3 as I'm sure you know, but I can imagine a different console having the better version. Glad you own it already. O yes Stadium was the N64 one. Can you tell I've hardly ever owned any Nintendo consoles? lol Pokemon as a franchise is so expensive, for me I've got the original lineup in Pop form, and I want Pokemon Blue and that's it. Rather put my money into getting FF, RE and Sonic stuff for one. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I will absolutely be voting on that - I just need to actually get around to doing it. I'll just have to show up. wear my Vote Kopite badge - make my post, pretend that I'm totally unbiased and impartial and then leave .... Nobody will suspect a thing, unless they look at our respective profiles and notice we've been consistently interacting since about July or earlier haha. Off to write that Wolf Among Us review, before I put it off for one more day. Yes well that's why I'm not asking you to vote for me, or to even vote at all lol I just thought you would like to see the thread and have interest considering we have discussed the guide and how you might use that as a 'guide' for if you ever decide to write a guide for yourself (How many times can I say guide in the same sentence lol) so yeah. Seeing the quality of all the guides is quite something honestly. The Wolf Among Us, now that was a good game. Up there with The Walking Dead Telltale games for me. 8 hours ago, Shrooba said: Just popped into the votes, your guide was fantastic and is awesome for those new to the Sonic series since Colours is a good entry game! ? Not sure if I've already said, but I like how you went the extra mile and went into good detail explaining even the different items and whatnot, with a plethora of images to guide the player. Well done! Yeah you did, but thanks anyways! Really appreciate your positive feedback like I've said before. All those guides are such great quality aren't they? Fantastic what this community can achieve. BTW, just noticed your completion percentate, that's insane! Kudos! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: You know I think the Pool mini-game from San Andreas actually functions slightly better than this one does, and that's pretty messy, and like one of the least important components of an absolutely huge game. But it still isn't offensively bad like Yakuza's Pool is. It's funny, the San Andreas pool game is such a textbook example of acceptable at best that I never really bothered to rate it! Now I wanna see what other games have pool mini-games and see how they rate! 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: He's not meant to be drunk in the story ..... I just rocked up having pounded a load of expensive whiskey at the local bar - so the icon on the screen was telling me I was hammered.... Oooooops. Ehhh if I was responsible for the welfare of a bunch of orphans, I'd probably indulge in as much expensive whiskey as I possibly could, so definitely no judgement there? 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: So if writing The Wolf Among Us review after this post can get my writing arm going a bit, then if all goes to plan I'm hoping to get the Yakuza Kiwami review out on Sunday,no promises though, but that's when I'd like to get it done. About it? 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I was struggling with Vampyr when I wrote mine too - because there's so many glaring unavoidable technical issues going on that can completely destroy the fun with that game. It's a weird one - one of those where I really desperately want to like it more than I actually do - then when it comes to writing a review of it you end up feeling like you've been overly negative. I'm sure you know what I mean. I totally get it. I liked Vampyr, but I can't help feeling that it had everything it needed to be a great game, yet still came out as just good. And the crashes certainly didn't help! I don't remember getting them as often as a lot of other people who talk about that with the game, but it most definitely was a thing! 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's my thing too yeah - I did single out the two I think I'm going to swap out - I just don't know what I'm going to swap them with yet. I'm thinking one should Medievil because that's at least short-ish and I've never played that first game, yet I've wanted to for the longest time. I'm not sure about the other thing though - maybe something point-and-clicky been at least a month since I last played one with trophies. Yes, play Medievil! We can put our reviews out at around the same time! Medievil twinsies yo!! Seriously though, I had the benefit of nostalgia having played it during its first go around, but I've always found it a very charming game. It's not perfect of course, but the vibe is cool, the music is solid, and it's fairly short. 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Well....... Take my advice and don't purchase the Gamecube just to play that game....... You'll soon end up realising that there are an absolute mountainous amount of awesome games on that console and The Twin Snakes is not one of them I donated my game cube to the "give my mother something fun to do" fund. Sidenote: she's one of my favorite things about the Resident Evil franchise, my mother loved watching me play the those games way back when, and it actually turned her into a bit of a gamer herself - she even beat Res 4 before I did? Yeah, nuts to that. I'm perfectly happy with my PS1 MGS experience, thankyouverymuch! 19 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'm hoping at the end of this year that I'll have to get creative and won't have quite such a list to pull from for crap games,so I'll have to create new categories - I didn't exactly play loads of bad ones last year, but the bad ones were REALLY bad.... There wasn't much middle ground there haha Yo after doing that, I'm in the same boat, I'm looking forward to the end of the year so that I can try and get creative with categories and stuff like that... I'm already like "will Manny Calavera end up a nominee for best protagonist??" We do have our fun? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 20 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said: It's funny, the San Andreas pool game is such a textbook example of acceptable at best that I never really bothered to rate it! Now I wanna see what other games have pool mini-games and see how they rate! @rjkclarke I second this… you should do a whole project, reviewing every pool and snooker minigame in the medium and cataloguing them… like this guy did for videogame soda machines, but for cue-sports!? https://vgsmproject.com/ 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) On 08/01/2022 at 0:19 AM, Shrooba said: This is what gaming should be all about! Gaming first, trophy hunting second, as KindaSabbath told me once. If you feel that you want to do more beyond the platinum, then go for it! From what I can tell, the Yakuza games are like that of Persona, in that they take a loooong time to finish. So with that, I can already tell there's a ton of content that the platinum doesn't ask for. Good luck on your journey Absolutely! I will always be a gamer first before being a trophy hunter - and a platinum shouldn't be the thing that stops me playing a game if I'm still having fun with it. I mean the extra time for 100% literally turns Yakuza 6 from being a pretty snappy (by Yakuza's standards) 40 hour platinum.... Into one that ends up taking about sixty plus hours, so pretty significant difference. You would be right! if I had to guess there's at least 15 hours worth of extra content to be done in Yakuza 3, we'll see it's hard to tell really. The hostess dating mini-game always feels longer than it actually is though, so perhaps that just feels longer. 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oh yeah absolutely. God of War series as a whole is one I've not played at all. Considered playing the 2018 one especially with having it through PS Plus (unless I'm making that one up lol) but yeah, you know the backlog story lol I don't think it's been given away via plus..... If it has then I'm really bummed out that I missed it because I actually bought God of War (2018) about six months ago - you never know though. I have a feeling it's part of the line up for the PS5 plus collection though - so you could always hold off until you have that available to you. 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Well that's good of them and how things such be done. Sadly with Cyberpunk, all I hear after their screwup is a roadmap for a roadmap and everything gets delayed and the game is still unplayable on a PS4? That's just lame I'm not really sure on that one to be honest... I was never onboard the Cyberpunk hype train anyway. I just wasn't that fussed. I actually quite like Cyberpunk as a setting and a story basis too. CDPR's Cyberpunk just never really grabbed me, so I wasn't sitting there weeping that it was a broken mess. Some of my friends were pretty gutted and I feel bad for them, but thankfully that was some hype I managed to avoid buying into. 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oh yeah of course lol I forget about the mobile port part of it. GTA Online is definitely a cashcow that's for sure. GTAV from a guy who has never played it, I just find it hilarious like Skyrim, constantly releasing. Maybe I'll play it on the PS6 hahaha I've heard GTAIV is the dark horse of the GTA franchise. Haha! Yeah, well you can be pretty sure that there will be a PS6 release of GTAV. So I'm sure you'll still have a chance to play it ? That is one of the few times that I just played the games story, and then pretty much never went back to it. If it was a choice between re-playing GTAIV or GTAV then IV would win every single time. I really just don't understand why everyone loves that game as much as they do. But then I also like Oblivion more than I like Skyrim so it's very much a personal preference thing I suppose, I'd never say Skyrim or GTAV were bad, I'm just not in love with them the same way a lot of folks are. 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Sadly I doubt that will happen with Ubisoft having that Ubisoft Plus service. Its going to Xbox soon and then probably PS like EA Play did. Would be very cool though. Yeah I remember the Darksiders ones coming free on PS Plus, was going to start playing those but again backlog. Put me off though they looked interesting. Oh yeah - you know I'd completely forgotten that that was a thing until you mentioned it. There's still time to give The Darksiders Series a go - I think that series is great for what it is. They aren't really too long either, there are definitely far worse things you could put on your list, so don't rule them out. 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Ah man thats a real shame. Yeah I was relatively speaking late to the PS+ party, only starting on PS4 so I missed out on a lot of vita and ps3 games that would have been quality to have. Oh Dear..... Silly us, you and me both on that one! I didn't sign up to it until I had a PS4 either..... That was only because you couldn't play online without it. Back before that I used to just think well so what if they gave that game away free, I can just buy it physically anyway....... ...... What a naive fool I was haha! ? 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Well there you go, something new for you lol not quite as epic as FFIX but yeah lol For me, that's the one I had and grew up with so it's normal and that's why I had to rebuy that one for the collection. I had friends who had the normal grey one, but for me it has to be the yellow one. Partly due to that better aesthetic. Well - that's going to take some beating to be honest - but hey if something new to me comes along that can, I'm all for it. That's a fair point yeah - I think if I was going to rebuy a Gameboy Colour it'd have to be one of those see through ones that they did, where you could see all the internals. I never had one of those, but I always thought they looked really cool These ones haha! 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: O yes Stadium was the N64 one. Can you tell I've hardly ever owned any Nintendo consoles? lol Pokemon as a franchise is so expensive, for me I've got the original lineup in Pop form, and I want Pokemon Blue and that's it. Rather put my money into getting FF, RE and Sonic stuff for one. I haven't owned that many Nintendo consoles to be fair - I checked out after the Gamecube haha. What you have all 151 in Pop form? That must have cost an absolute fortune ? Nevermind buying rare FF, RE and Sonic stuff you probably could have purchased Square Enix for the amount it cost to buy all those Pop figures! 15 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yes well that's why I'm not asking you to vote for me, or to even vote at all lol I just thought you would like to see the thread and have interest considering we have discussed the guide and how you might use that as a 'guide' for if you ever decide to write a guide for yourself (How many times can I say guide in the same sentence lol) so yeah. Seeing the quality of all the guides is quite something honestly. The Wolf Among Us, now that was a good game. Up there with The Walking Dead Telltale games for me. That is a lot of guides ? I will definitely try and make a point to do it, I just haven't yet. I'm glad Shrooba has though - so I need to get my backside in gear and do it. Yes! Wolf Among Us was awesome. Probably my second favourite Telltale game, only second to Tales from the Borderlands for me. I've never played The Walking Dead ones, actually might have played a bit of one on the 360 years ago. I haven't read the graphic novels, or seen a single episode of the TV show, so I've never really had the interest - but I've heard good things about those ones. I'll post the review for it once I've written this post - I actually meant to post it last night, but I kind of forgot and fell asleep watching something on YouTube instead, because I'm 61 instead of 31 apparently 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: It's funny, the San Andreas pool game is such a textbook example of acceptable at best that I never really bothered to rate it! Now I wanna see what other games have pool mini-games and see how they rate! 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: @rjkclarke I second this… you should do a whole project, reviewing every pool and snooker minigame in the medium and cataloguing them… like this guy did for videogame soda machines, but for cue-sports!? https://vgsmproject.com/ Haha! You two might be on to something there, that could be a silly and fun little side series actually - or it'd give me an excuse to actually open up the Bobert's Billiards Bonanza checklist I joked about a while ago where I talk about Cue sports games and nothing else haha ? I know what would be ranking the lowest right now - and that'd probably be Yakuza 3. Although the Pool is better in other games, so I'd have to be fair and rank each instance obviously. Also that thing cataloguing all the soda machines is awesome - but also wtf at there being a point-and-click adventure game based on the Beverley Hillbilly's that is absolutely bizarre. 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I totally get it. I liked Vampyr, but I can't help feeling that it had everything it needed to be a great game, yet still came out as just good. And the crashes certainly didn't help! I don't remember getting them as often as a lot of other people who talk about that with the game, but it most definitely was a thing! I know. That was kind of how I felt about it..... It could have been so much more, and it almost was. Sounds like you got off lightly with avoiding those crashes, because I sure didn't - I was getting them so frequently it was starting to really test my patience towards the end. Gimme a Vampyr 2 where Lady Ashbury is the protagonist, that runs nice and smooth and I'll be a happy person - I guess if it has to have Jonathan in it. I guess I'll play as him too. 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Yes, play Medievil! We can put our reviews out at around the same time! Medievil twinsies yo!! Seriously though, I had the benefit of nostalgia having played it during its first go around, but I've always found it a very charming game. It's not perfect of course, but the vibe is cool, the music is solid, and it's fairly short. Yes! We might even get them out the exact same minute, like when Doc and I somehow managed to get our reviews of Afterparty out at the exact same minute. I still think that's hilarious how that ended up happening. I mean - even if I don't enjoy it as much as I expect to, I'm still going to be getting to hear one of my favourite Actors give what I've heard is a very good performance, that I've never heard before.... I think I'll definitely enjoy it on some level just because of Paul Darrows involvement in it. So yes! That settles it, one of the swaps will be Medievil. I'm sold! 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I donated my game cube to the "give my mother something fun to do" fund. Sidenote: she's one of my favorite things about the Resident Evil franchise, my mother loved watching me play the those games way back when, and it actually turned her into a bit of a gamer herself - she even beat Res 4 before I did? Yeah, nuts to that. I'm perfectly happy with my PS1 MGS experience, thankyouverymuch! That's awesome! My Mum is very much not the gaming type, I think even watching me play them when I was younger was a chore for her..... I love the fact you managed to turn your Mother into a bit of a gamer though. Did she also hate Ashley as much as everyone else seems to? ? The Twin Snakes is basically just MGS1 if it had the first person camera gun aiming switch from MGS2. Which is fine, but it makes the game too easy, because it wasn't designed with that in mind, so all of those tight corridors can be negated by just staying out of a genome soldiers vision cone and tranquillising them. It ends up being just a bit joyless because of that. So yes stick with the PS1 on this one I think! Smart choice ? 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Yo after doing that, I'm in the same boat, I'm looking forward to the end of the year so that I can try and get creative with categories and stuff like that... I'm already like "will Manny Calavera end up a nominee for best protagonist??" We do have our fun? I hope he does! I think you'll really dig Grim Fandango - that's a real powerhouse point-and-clicker that one!. Whatever year it was that I replayed Grim Fandango for trophies he would probably have made my list of protagonists, and I might have had to either do another Whatever the hell you are award, or just invent one for I don't know "Best Side-kick" or something because I'd have to give one to Glottis because he cracks me up so much! I've got a ready made excuse for Kiryu to appear there now that I'm playing Yakuza 3.... So I'll be surprised if he doesn't show up. I guess I'd better stick that Wolf Among Us review up before I forget to put it in here. Edited January 9, 2022 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted January 8, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) The Newest Platinum Among Us Platinum #342 The Wolf Among Us (PS4) Full Moon Earned every Trophy in every episode of The Wolf Among Us. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 31 December 2021 : 4:51:48 PM Time Taken to Platinum : 3 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes Platinum Rarity - 56.34% Trophy Number - #16,349 The Wolf Among Us – this will be on the shorter side compared to some of my more recent reviews. Don’t all celebrate at once haha. So without further ado, time to delve into the world of Fables, with The Wolf Among Us. Did you say short? Yes, I did. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy my time with this game – I very much did. A whole lot actually. The thing is Telltale games lives and dies by their story content – and as I’m not really in the business of spoilers, I’m pretty limited by what I can actually discuss. Let us be real here, at least eighty percent of most people’s enjoyment from Telltale games comes from the narrative content. So I’ll leave the – to be fair, admittedly enjoyable task of seeing that, to the dwindling number of people who this game would be new to in 2022. For what it’s worth I think the narrative itself is excellent. So if you do, you’re in for a treat from a story and atmosphere perspective. I feel like I should probably clarify before we get into this, that I have a fairly complicated relationship with Telltale Games. I suppose the upside to this, is that I don’t have any real indifference towards their games. I tend to either really like them – or find them a pretty miserable experience. I genuinely don’t understand how people can do multiple stacks of these games. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a criticism, it’s just not something I could do, sometimes I can barely make my way through one. I have to really be in the right mood for them. Looking at you Telltale’s Game of Thrones, you take revelling in misery to an entirely new stratosphere. I digress though – time to move this back towards The Wolf Among Us, the thing that we’re all here for. I think more than anything Telltale really thrives when they have strong source material to work from. This is something that more often than not compliments the very specific art-style and animation type that they use. Say what you like about Borderlands as an intellectual property, but you can’t deny how seamlessly Tales from the Borderlands both fits in with the Telltale stable as a whole and also compliments Borderlands own very specific art-style. The same can often be said of the Telltale games that take the form of comic book adaptations. Which leads me nicely onto Fables – the graphic novel series that The Wolf Among Us is an adaptation of. I was aware the game was an adaptation, but not something I was remotely familiar with. To that end I went in with essentially no expectations. Coming out the other side of it, I really feel like I need to see everything that universe has to offer, well done game. In the future I suspect I might be seeing Bigby, Snow White, Beauty and Beast on some pages in front of me in the not so distant future. Chotto matte? (sorry I’ve been playing too much Yakuza lately, just substitute that with “Wait a moment”) did you just say Beauty and Beast? Yes, you heard right, that Beauty and Beast. You know, the Tale as Old as Time, Be My Guest kind. I’m sure you get it now – The Wolf Among Us is littered with familiar fairytale characters. It’s also the game that made me desperately long for a friend I never knew I wanted – Bufkin, come on, you’re seriously telling me you wouldn’t want to have a flying turquoise heavily drinking monkey for a pal? That sounds awesome to me. To paraphrase the words of the late great John Wetton of Prog-Rock band Asia, if you don’t think that about Bufkin then “You’re lying to yourself.” One of the strongest areas of The Wolf Among Us and honestly something I expect is implemented much better in Fables itself is the way in which The Wolf Among Us completely subverts many of the preconceived ideas about the fairytale characters you already have going in, about the characters with which you interact. It’s one of the things I found most compelling about the entire experience, was the anticipation of who you’d see next, and how the inevitable interesting unexpected take on the new character would end up playing out. One of my personal favourites was how The Woodsman or Woody to his friends (or long time rivals,) was explored. I thought the way in which they handled some of the back-story for the character, like the real story behind Little Red Riding Hood and why he was actually there at the house, was both pretty hilarious and very interesting in almost equal parts. I think of all the Telltale games that I’ve played up to this point; The Wolf Among Us probably contains the art-style that feels the most at home as both a comic adaptation and as a video game. It is absolutely gorgeous. A little personal bias might be creeping in as I love cel shading, perhaps, but there really is something to be said about how good it can look. The Wolf Among Us is one of the most fitting examples of cel shading done both well, and feeling right for the source material. From looking at a few panels of Fables panels, it’s also clear to see how much effort went into making the characters look quite close to their comic book counterparts. None more so than protagonist Bigby I’d say. This game really does look and feel like an interactive motion comic, which is an area of the game that I think really shines. Say what you will about the way in which Telltale choose to tell their stories – for my money, I always think it’s a case of “Free will is an illusion,” I usually don’t expect to be able to affect the narrative myself in any real way. So in Telltales case I usually just make my decisions, make my peace with the fact that they might not matter as much as I want them to and just enjoy the ride. Could it have less QTE’s? Yes, but then I’m really not their biggest fan anyway, and to be fair to The Wolf Among Us by Telltales usual standards at least, is actually very light on action scenes, so even if they aren’t quite your thing, you don’t encounter them too often. Not every single thing hits the mark visually – I don’t know what Toad Junior looks like in the graphic novel. However, the version in The Wolf Among Us made me want to turn my eyes into a paddling pool, to be filled with bleach. Okay, okay, maybe not that extreme, but he did creep me out quite a lot, and that definitely wasn’t the intention. Poor guy – he shouldn’t take it personally, I used to be am terrified of E.T so it’s a me thing. On an auditory level The Wolf Among Us is exceptional – on a multitude of levels too. It’s a small thing, but I think the way in which the opening theme of every episode feels exactly like the opening of a television show is such an excellent touch. I love synthesisers anyway – so the use of that in the episode openers was always a treat. The Wolf Among Us balances the use of ambient and incidental music especially well too. It’s an element that is often done wrong, more often than right in narrative focused gameplay, sometimes the composers don’t know when to tone it down and let the events you’re seeing speak for themselves. In the case of The Wolf Among Us this isn’t a problem that you have to deal with. Then there is the voice acting – to be perfectly honest I could probably dedicate as much of the length of what I’ve already written to just this element. But I won’t, tempting as it is. It’s excellent for the most part though, there are so many strong voice performances it will take an age to go in depth with all of them – exactly what you need, when the narrative itself is the thing keeping you playing the game. To be perfectly honest the only real criticism I have in this area is that a lot of the British characters are very much the “CORR BLIMEY MARY POPPINS” type of accent that almost none of us actually sound like. Is this the shortest trophy section ever? Maybe, it is at least a little more involved than almost every other Telltale game, with a few exceptions, in that you actually have to do a few alternative paths, and interact with the environment a little bit more. Other than that it is simply a case of playing it and enjoying it as cleanup doesn’t take more than about an hour even if you miss a few things like I did. If you enjoy a good narrative experience in a video game and you haven’t experienced this one yet then I can absolutely recommend this one. Just take it for what it is and see how you find it. Although I can be on occasion fairly critical of Telltale on the whole, I think this is right up there amongst the best things they have ever put out, so I definitely think it is worthy of peoples time Edited February 2, 2022 by rjkclarke 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted January 8, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 8, 2022 Don’t know what’s been in the water of late - some fairydust or something - but a lot of Wolf Among Us being played and reviewed among the ol’ Checklist Posse ? Great review here - read it back to back with @YaManSmevz’s (also great!) one… …then immediately went and read 2 issues of Fables ? (I’m currently re-reading the whole thing for like the fifth time… …It’s my life and I can waste it how I want! YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MOM!”) Glad you liked - and absolutely check out Fables if the premise appeals - I like TWAU, but it only scratches the surface of how clever the comics get with the fairytale stuff! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't think it's been given away via plus..... If it has then I'm really bummed out that I missed it because I actually bought God of War (2018) about six months ago - you never know though. I have a feeling it's part of the line up for the PS5 plus collection though - so you could always hold off until you have that available to you. I'm probably making that one up then, or confusing it with the free one they gave for PS3 that one time lol Oh yeah it could be actually. I wonder what they are going to do with that PS Plus collection once they (rumours suggest) revamp the whole PS Plus and PS Now situation. Hopefully FFXV will still be there as I wanted access to all that DLC.... 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'm not really sure on that one to be honest... I was never onboard the Cyberpunk hype train anyway. I just wasn't that fussed. I actually quite like Cyberpunk as a setting and a story basis too. CDPR's Cyberpunk just never really grabbed me, so I wasn't sitting there weeping that it was a broken mess. Some of my friends were pretty gutted and I feel bad for them, but thankfully that was some hype I managed to avoid buying into. Cyberpunk's setting etc. looks really interesting to me too. Glad you managed to avoid getting burned by that whole fiasco. 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Haha! Yeah, well you can be pretty sure that there will be a PS6 release of GTAV. So I'm sure you'll still have a chance to play it That is one of the few times that I just played the games story, and then pretty much never went back to it. If it was a choice between re-playing GTAIV or GTAV then IV would win every single time. I really just don't understand why everyone loves that game as much as they do. But then I also like Oblivion more than I like Skyrim so it's very much a personal preference thing I suppose, I'd never say Skyrim or GTAV were bad, I'm just not in love with them the same way a lot of folks are. Haha, that would be hilarious in one way and just plain sad in another. Will we do this with all games from now on lol Well having not played a GTA since the OG PS1 version, I'll just take your opinion as gospel that IV is better than V, although I know that doesn't seem to be the general consensus. Doesn't mean the general consensus is always right of course. Oblivion I put a fair few hours into on the PS3 back in the day, but then I lost my save and well, that was the end of that. Enjoyed it though I gotta say. Skyrim I haven't played. 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Oh yeah - you know I'd completely forgotten that that was a thing until you mentioned it. There's still time to give The Darksiders Series a go - I think that series is great for what it is. They aren't really too long either, there are definitely far worse things you could put on your list, so don't rule them out. Oh I won't rule them out certainly. Especially with number 2 was it (?) being free on PS Plus. 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Oh Dear..... Silly us, you and me both on that one! I didn't sign up to it until I had a PS4 either..... That was only because you couldn't play online without it. Back before that I used to just think well so what if they gave that game away free, I can just buy it physically anyway....... ...... What a naive fool I was haha! Haha well we are naive fools together lol I thought the same way. "Don't need PS Plus as multiplayer is free on PS3, and can get the games physically anyways". Yeah..... 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Well - that's going to take some beating to be honest - but hey if something new to me comes along that can, I'm all for it. That's a fair point yeah - I think if I was going to rebuy a Gameboy Colour it'd have to be one of those see through ones that they did, where you could see all the internals. I never had one of those, but I always thought they looked really cool Those Gameboys always looked really cool. To be honest the only two handheld Nintendo's I've ever owned have been the OG GB and the DS Lite. Thankfully that allowed me to play a good amount of quality GBA games, including quality Advance versions of FF IV, V and VI. 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I haven't owned that many Nintendo consoles to be fair - I checked out after the Gamecube haha. What you have all 151 in Pop form? That must have cost an absolute fortune Nevermind buying rare FF, RE and Sonic stuff you probably could have purchased Square Enix for the amount it cost to buy all those Pop figures! Well the only other Nintendo console I've ever owned other than the 2 handhelds I mentioned above, was the N64 and that was a long time after it came out. Bought it from Gamestation for around 30quid if I recall correctly. Should have hung on to it. Great games on that system. Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Kart 64. 8 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That is a lot of guides I will definitely try and make a point to do it, I just haven't yet. I'm glad Shrooba has though - so I need to get my backside in gear and do it. Yes! Wolf Among Us was awesome. Probably my second favourite Telltale game, only second to Tales from the Borderlands for me. I've never played The Walking Dead ones, actually might have played a bit of one on the 360 years ago. I haven't read the graphic novels, or seen a single episode of the TV show, so I've never really had the interest - but I've heard good things about those ones. I'll post the review for it once I've written this post - I actually meant to post it last night, but I kind of forgot and fell asleep watching something on YouTube instead, because I'm 61 instead of 31 apparently Yes there is a lot of guides there lol all quality. I really appreciated @Shrooba voting for me like I appreciate anyone doing so. Can't believe I've recieved as many votes as I have at the moment tbh. Very grateful. Tales from the Borderlands I liked overall, but because I've never played a Borderlands game otherwise, some of the humour and context was lost to me so it didn't resonate like Batman, TWD, GotG etc and Wolf Among Us I just got into more in comparison. The comics I haven't read, the Telltale games I would highly recommend you play, really good story overall with a pretty satisfying conclusion. The TV show was great at the start and was great for a while, but in the end me and my wife gave up with it halfway through season 7 or 8 I think it was. Became almost like a slog to get through. Shame. Just our opinion. I've seen you've written the review for Wolf Among Us, I'll make sure to read it after this! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 17 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Don’t know what’s been in the water of late - some fairydust or something - but a lot of Wolf Among Us being played and reviewed among the ol’ Checklist Posse Funny that, isn't it - that about three of them all appeared at once.... I think.... yes, maybe go with fairydust..... Definitely not crack ?It exposes how much I've been slacking, what with Copanele getting his review out before me ..... I literally finished it in 2021, so it took me almost nine days to get it written. Filthy slacker! 17 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Great review here - read it back to back with @YaManSmevz’s (also great!) one… …then immediately went and read 2 issues of Fables (I’m currently re-reading the whole thing for like the fifth time… …It’s my life and I can waste it how I want! YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MOM!”) Glad you liked - and absolutely check out Fables if the premise appeals - I like TWAU, but it only scratches the surface of how clever the comics get with the fairytale stuff! Thanks Doc! Talking of wasting lives ..... The Masters starts this week - so if you want to relive any of those cosy childhood Snooker memories, it's on from today until next Sunday if you get a moment free to give it a look. I'm sure I'll find myself dragged away from various bits and pieces to see some Snooker! I'm glad I liked it too - especially as I'm always a little apprehensive when it comes to Telltale games. So I wasn't certain that I would. I'm very much in the camp that I preferred Telltale when their output was a little more gamified. If Tales of Monkey Island was like the latter fare from Telltale, I think I would of hated it. I want to choose when I use my rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, not when a button prompt comes up nudging me in that direction. I can get onboard with the whole interactive experience thing, but sometimes Telltale games are just a little too on rails for me sometimes if that makes sense. I will be checking out Fables at some point too - especially if TWAU only really scratches the surface. I want to see the version of Beast that isn't the only word that this site censors.... Because boy was he one in this game! 9 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I'm probably making that one up then, or confusing it with the free one they gave for PS3 that one time lol Oh yeah it could be actually. I wonder what they are going to do with that PS Plus collection once they (rumours suggest) revamp the whole PS Plus and PS Now situation. Hopefully FFXV will still be there as I wanted access to all that DLC.... They did give away God of War III Remastered - so there is a good chance you're thinking of that one. If you've never played them though you could always pick up some copies of the two PS3 HD Collections - you can still get them for half decent prices. The games are short too, so you can't fall back on the "I have no time to play it" thing with those ones ? I guess if for some reason they changed that PS Plus collection you could still just buy the DLC for FFXV - it's usually always on offer for a decent price. I still need to buy the Royal Edition Upgrade myself, but I don't actually really want to play it, so I keep just not bothering. I wouldn't mind if they merged PSNow and PSPlus - the only thing I really want from PSNow is the ability to download the PS3 titles, but I totally understand why you can't, but having to have stable internet is a real problem for me, as mine sucks. Guess that'll teach me for going with TalkTalk 9 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Haha, that would be hilarious in one way and just plain sad in another. Will we do this with all games from now on lol It might be heading that way yeah - just a cycle of remasters and re-releases - I guess a lot of the bigger game developers/publishers are falling into the same trap as modern Hollywood where original ideas are becoming an increasingly alien concept. Thank goodness for the absolute plethora of awesome indie developers that are still producing amazing original stories and experiences. 9 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Well having not played a GTA since the OG PS1 version, I'll just take your opinion as gospel that IV is better than V, although I know that doesn't seem to be the general consensus. Doesn't mean the general consensus is always right of course. I don't know that I'd say GTAIV is better - I just prefer it...... Something about GTAV really rubbed me the wrong way - there's a very specific torture scene which I thought was really unnecessary, and it just felt like Rockstar being controversial just for the sake of being controversial. That and all the other little nagging things I have with it kind of just hampered the whole experience for me a little bit. Did you ever buy the PS2 versions before they got delisted? Because if your only exposure to GTA was in the PS1 games then there are three really awesome games that you absolutely should get around to playing. Screw the Definitive Demastered Edition, but if you have access to those originals you should really give them a go at some point even if it's just experiencing the story that they have to offer. Moreso in Vice City and San Andreas as GTAIII's plot is thinner than Hulk Hogans hair. 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oblivion I put a fair few hours into on the PS3 back in the day, but then I lost my save and well, that was the end of that. Enjoyed it though I gotta say. Skyrim I haven't played. Skyrim is really good too - I just ever so slightly prefer the atmosphere in Oblivion..... Makes me really sad that it doesn't have any trophies in it. We can't have everything haha - we can have a million versions of Skyrim but not a single instance of Oblivion with trophies. 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oh I won't rule them out certainly. Especially with number 2 was it (?) being free on PS Plus. Definitely Darksiders II and III were given away free. The first one might have been too - I mean you could probably just start with II as the three numbered games all take place concurrently anyway, so it isn't like they directly lead into each other or anything, so it might be worth giving them a look at some point if you have a less busy backlog. 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: "Don't need PS Plus as multiplayer is free on PS3, and can get the games physically anyways". Yeah..... Yep, yep!...... Nowadays I'll just add it to my library regardless even if I never plan to actually play it - I figure something might change my mind about it in the future. That's how I ended up playing Stranded Deep after all. In a way I should always have done that with PS+ because I know for a fact I missed out on quite a few really awesome games as a result, especially in the PS3 days - like some really good indie titles that I think have been delisted now, and things like that. You live and learn and all that 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Those Gameboys always looked really cool. To be honest the only two handheld Nintendo's I've ever owned have been the OG GB and the DS Lite. Thankfully that allowed me to play a good amount of quality GBA games, including quality Advance versions of FF IV, V and VI. That's quite a leap going from the original Gameboy to the DS - I think I had all of the Nintendo handhelds up until the DS and then I was fixated on other things by that point, I didn't know there was advance games of IV,V and VI..... I might have to track down that of FFIV because I've never played that one, but always wanted to. Thanks for the inadvertent heads up. 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Well the only other Nintendo console I've ever owned other than the 2 handhelds I mentioned above, was the N64 and that was a long time after it came out. Bought it from Gamestation for around 30quid if I recall correctly. Should have hung on to it. Great games on that system. Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Kart 64. There was a brief period about 2010-ish where you seemed to be able to get a lot of Nintendo consoles/accessories for offensively low amounts of money. I literally bought my Gamecube for £12 from Ebay - it came with 2 Controllers, 2 Memory Cards and 2 games...... Crazy. I still own most of those N64 games - but not the boxes or manuals, so if I wanted to sell them I'd be a bit screwed by the price I'd get. How come you got rid of your N64 was it just to make more space or something, thought you would have held on to that being a bit of a collector and all. 10 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Tales from the Borderlands I liked overall, but because I've never played a Borderlands game otherwise, some of the humour and context was lost to me so it didn't resonate like Batman, TWD, GotG etc and Wolf Among Us I just got into more in comparison. The comics I haven't read, the Telltale games I would highly recommend you play, really good story overall with a pretty satisfying conclusion. The TV show was great at the start and was great for a while, but in the end me and my wife gave up with it halfway through season 7 or 8 I think it was. Became almost like a slog to get through. Shame. Just our opinion. I'll try and make a point of voting for your guide later on! I really liked the Telltale Batman games. I think they did some really interesting and very different things with a few of the more established DC characters. I thought what they did with The Riddler in particular was such an interesting subversion of what you'd expect from that character. I had heard some pretty similar things regarding The Walking Dead TV series. I'm kind of on the fence about the game version - there's so many of them, and as I tend to have to be really in the mood to play Telltale games, it would probably take me the next ten years to just get through the ones that exist ? Tales from the Borderlands almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the games..... It feels like a worthy and necessary part of the series, and I believe it does play into Borderlands 3 a little bit too - but I guess I'll find that out when I eventually get it when I get my paws on a PS5. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 23 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Funny that, isn't it - that about three of them all appeared at once.... I think.... yes, maybe go with fairydust..... Definitely not crack It exposes how much I've been slacking, what with Copanele getting his review out before me ..... I literally finished it in 2021, so it took me almost nine days to get it written. Filthy slacker! Hah you snooze you lose But honestly I had to rush with MY review because I wanted to have everything fresh in my mind just in case. But really, this has been some magic fairdust lately. So...gents...what are we gonna play next? ? 23 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: I will be checking out Fables at some point too - especially if TWAU only really scratches the surface. I want to see the version of Beast that isn't the only word that this site censors.... Because boy was he one in this game! You will have quite the experience should you go for Fables although, I don't think Telltale games would be able to fully adapt the series, given how some characters are in the comics. Unless they want another bankrupcy speedrun on their hand 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 1 hour ago, Copanele said: Hah you snooze you lose But honestly I had to rush with MY review because I wanted to have everything fresh in my mind just in case. But really, this has been some magic fairdust lately. So...gents...what are we gonna play next? I get that - especially with The Wolf Among Us being basically just story and nothing else. Funnily enough you mention that, a combination of us could all be playing Yakuza at a possible crossover - I know Smevz has Yakuza 0 on the backburner, you have Dead Souls and 4 to play at some point, whilst I have 3 to get through - so it's possible we all get Yakuza reviews out at a similar time. Although we'll see on that one - I don't think Yakuza 3 will keep me busy for much more than about a week longer, so long as I can get nab some of that precious gaming time. Or I end up being really bad at Baseball, but we'll see. 1 hour ago, Copanele said: You will have quite the experience should you go for Fables although, I don't think Telltale games would be able to fully adapt the series, given how some characters are in the comics. Unless they want another bankrupcy speedrun on their hand I look forward to it! I guess they'll just cut out the things they think they can't quite adapt, or do what The original game did and turn another character like Beast into a nutbag in the second one - whatever happens they have the impossible task of not being able to please every single person. Telltale and money worries go together almost as fittingly as Kiryu and Tiger Drops, Gothic and Diego that kind of thing. To be honest if they do manage to get The Wolf Among Us 2 out it will be guaranteed money for them. When I was listening to some of the OST whilst writing my review there were so many YouTube comments I saw, that said that The Wolf Among Us was one of the few things better than its source material. I haven't even read the source material and that is already an opinion I don't share, just from you and Doc's enjoyment of Fables. So Telltales version has its fans by the looks of it, so maybe all those folks will buy it a couple of times. Who knows 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: They did give away God of War III Remastered - so there is a good chance you're thinking of that one. If you've never played them though you could always pick up some copies of the two PS3 HD Collections - you can still get them for half decent prices. The games are short too, so you can't fall back on the "I have no time to play it" thing with those ones I guess if for some reason they changed that PS Plus collection you could still just buy the DLC for FFXV - it's usually always on offer for a decent price. I still need to buy the Royal Edition Upgrade myself, but I don't actually really want to play it, so I keep just not bothering. I wouldn't mind if they merged PSNow and PSPlus - the only thing I really want from PSNow is the ability to download the PS3 titles, but I totally understand why you can't, but having to have stable internet is a real problem for me, as mine sucks. Guess that'll teach me for going with TalkTalk O true they did. I was thinking about Ascension on the PS3. Bad memory lol Haha I should really give those a go at some point. Yeah that's also true, and I probably would eventually at the right price, but to be able to get most of it for free right now (if only I had a PS5) would be very cool. Ah yes not having stable internet is a right pain in the....well you know lol Yeah they'll never let you download the PS3 games, but Sony could definitely revamp the whole thing and offer a better service overall. 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: It might be heading that way yeah - just a cycle of remasters and re-releases - I guess a lot of the bigger game developers/publishers are falling into the same trap as modern Hollywood where original ideas are becoming an increasingly alien concept. Thank goodness for the absolute plethora of awesome indie developers that are still producing amazing original stories and experiences. Sadly it is definitely a possibility. HD Remasters etc since the PS3/Vita days have become a lot more common. Developers want that guaranteed easier money to fund other stuff. Full credit to all the indie developers out there definitely. 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't know that I'd say GTAIV is better - I just prefer it...... Something about GTAV really rubbed me the wrong way - there's a very specific torture scene which I thought was really unnecessary, and it just felt like Rockstar being controversial just for the sake of being controversial. That and all the other little nagging things I have with it kind of just hampered the whole experience for me a little bit. Did you ever buy the PS2 versions before they got delisted? Because if your only exposure to GTA was in the PS1 games then there are three really awesome games that you absolutely should get around to playing. Screw the Definitive Demastered Edition, but if you have access to those originals you should really give them a go at some point even if it's just experiencing the story that they have to offer. Moreso in Vice City and San Andreas as GTAIII's plot is thinner than Hulk Hogans hair. O ok. A tortune scene? Bit extreme even for a GTA game I'd have thought. No I haven't bought them and wouldn't buy the 'Definitive' editions. Not giving Rockstar money for that. Yeah I read an article in the Play magazine recently about GTAIII and how much it set up for Vice City and San Andreas in structure, the worlds and what they could do but even they said the story was not the best. Nice Hulk Hogan reference haha 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Skyrim is really good too - I just ever so slightly prefer the atmosphere in Oblivion..... Makes me really sad that it doesn't have any trophies in it. We can't have everything haha - we can have a million versions of Skyrim but not a single instance of Oblivion with trophies. Yeah I know. It's a pity I put all that time into Oblivion and have no trophies to show for it. Some others would say that me saying that is sad though lol 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Definitely Darksiders II and III were given away free. The first one might have been too - I mean you could probably just start with II as the three numbered games all take place concurrently anyway, so it isn't like they directly lead into each other or anything, so it might be worth giving them a look at some point if you have a less busy backlog. O they do? I didn't realise that. Thanks for the info! 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yep, yep!...... Nowadays I'll just add it to my library regardless even if I never plan to actually play it - I figure something might change my mind about it in the future. That's how I ended up playing Stranded Deep after all. In a way I should always have done that with PS+ because I know for a fact I missed out on quite a few really awesome games as a result, especially in the PS3 days - like some really good indie titles that I think have been delisted now, and things like that. You live and learn and all that Yes I do the exact same thing. Most games I know I'll never get around to playing, but still they always get added to the library. No point in not doing it lol Yep definitely, live and learn lol 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's quite a leap going from the original Gameboy to the DS - I think I had all of the Nintendo handhelds up until the DS and then I was fixated on other things by that point, I didn't know there was advance games of IV,V and VI..... I might have to track down that of FFIV because I've never played that one, but always wanted to. Thanks for the inadvertent heads up. Yeah it was but I've never been much of a Nintendo person personally even though I've enjoyed Pokemon, Mario, Donkey Kong etc in the past. You've never played FFIV?! OMG we gotta start a new crusade like with FFIX where you have to play FFIV. A quality title with some fantastic music. The world theme is one I can listen to for ages lol The Advance version is a great one too. 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: There was a brief period about 2010-ish where you seemed to be able to get a lot of Nintendo consoles/accessories for offensively low amounts of money. I literally bought my Gamecube for £12 from Ebay - it came with 2 Controllers, 2 Memory Cards and 2 games...... Crazy. I still own most of those N64 games - but not the boxes or manuals, so if I wanted to sell them I'd be a bit screwed by the price I'd get. How come you got rid of your N64 was it just to make more space or something, thought you would have held on to that being a bit of a collector and all. £12 for all of that? What a bargain. Of course, you don't realise it then and the companies don't either, how collectable certain things will go and how much prices can change. I had that N64 a long time ago before I started collected and once I was done with the few games I wanted to play on it, I got rid of it and put it towards something else (can't remember what), so yeha dumb move but didn't realise it at the time lol 13 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'll try and make a point of voting for your guide later on! I really liked the Telltale Batman games. I think they did some really interesting and very different things with a few of the more established DC characters. I thought what they did with The Riddler in particular was such an interesting subversion of what you'd expect from that character. I had heard some pretty similar things regarding The Walking Dead TV series. I'm kind of on the fence about the game version - there's so many of them, and as I tend to have to be really in the mood to play Telltale games, it would probably take me the next ten years to just get through the ones that exist Tales from the Borderlands almost perfectly captures the atmosphere of the games..... It feels like a worthy and necessary part of the series, and I believe it does play into Borderlands 3 a little bit too - but I guess I'll find that out when I eventually get it when I get my paws on a PS5. As I've said before, that's entirely your choice whether you want to vote for my guide or not ok. ? Yeah I liked the Telltale Batman games quite a lot too, and I'm not the biggest fan of Batman personally. Enjoyed them for what they were. Yeah, for me TWD TV series went on too long. There are 4 TWD Telltale games. Think a couple where free on PS Plus? Well the whole thing is definitely worth playing. The first one was probably the best of the lot, but still. Yes although there was the whole voice actor problem with Borderlands 3 I think, but yeah that game reviewed well and I heard Tales was integrated into the franchise well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: O true they did. I was thinking about Ascension on the PS3. Bad memory lol Haha I should really give those a go at some point. Yeah that's also true, and I probably would eventually at the right price, but to be able to get most of it for free right now (if only I had a PS5) would be very cool. Ah yes not having stable internet is a right pain in the....well you know lol Yeah they'll never let you download the PS3 games, but Sony could definitely revamp the whole thing and offer a better service overall. They might have given Ascension away for free as well - but that game is one of the ones you could definitely skip - the other spin-offs I think are very good for what they are, but Ascension just felt like a prequel too far. I think they'd let us download the PS3 games if technology would allow it, but so far the PS4 or the PS5 won't do it, so we're stuck streaming them. It's better than not being able to play some of those games at all though I suppose. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: O ok. A tortune scene? Bit extreme even for a GTA game I'd have thought. No I haven't bought them and wouldn't buy the 'Definitive' editions. Not giving Rockstar money for that. Yeah I read an article in the Play magazine recently about GTAIII and how much it set up for Vice City and San Andreas in structure, the worlds and what they could do but even they said the story was not the best. Yeah it is extreme - I've never felt more like a parent without actually being one, with that scene! When one of my fairly young nephews played that scene and thought it was really funny, and cool how you could smash someone's knee caps in, pour petrol on someone and electrocute them......... I was just like..... ? I'm fine with a bit of ultra violence in the right context - but in GTAV it just felt senseless. That sounds pretty astute that Play magazine article actually. As a foundation for the other two games, yes GTAIII is actually pretty excellent - as a blueprint it's really good, but it's the one that time definitely hasn't been kindest to. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah I know. It's a pity I put all that time into Oblivion and have no trophies to show for it. Some others would say that me saying that is sad though lol You could always fire up an Xbox 360 and get all the achievements if you specifically need something to show for your time commitment to Oblivion ..... Having done it myself back in the day I can safely say that going after all of the achievements is a fun time. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: O they do? I didn't realise that. Thanks for the info! My pleasure! So don't feel too bad about starting them in a fairly random order if you did - the most you'll miss out on is a few references here and there, and the introductions to a few characters. I think you could play them in any order really and still have a good time. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah it was but I've never been much of a Nintendo person personally even though I've enjoyed Pokemon, Mario, Donkey Kong etc in the past. You've never played FFIV?! OMG we gotta start a new crusade like with FFIX where you have to play FFIV. A quality title with some fantastic music. The world theme is one I can listen to for ages lol The Advance version is a great one too. I was very much a Nintendo head when I was young - and then I kind of lost interest a little bit. I like the idea of getting a Switch though at some point, but realistically I doubt I will - sacrifices must be made Nope, never played FFIV - I've always wanted to, I just never have. I suppose I could probably play the steam version. I think one of my friends who's also a big Final Fantasy fan was never too keen on it, so I think that put me off a bit. But I ought to give it a shot. Fantastic music doesn't surprise me though - it's probably harder to find an FF game with a bad soundtrack than it is to find one with a good one..... Those are everywhere haha ? 7 hours ago, The_Kopite said: £12 for all of that? What a bargain. Of course, you don't realise it then and the companies don't either, how collectable certain things will go and how much prices can change. I had that N64 a long time ago before I started collected and once I was done with the few games I wanted to play on it, I got rid of it and put it towards something else (can't remember what), so yeha dumb move but didn't realise it at the time lol Yep, yep I got really lucky with that Ebay bundle - nowadays I seem to be a little less fortunate when it comes to Ebay..... Aside from getting a brand new copy of the LEGO Movie 2: Videogame for like £6 but now I've played it I can see why someone would let it go dirt cheap . You must have had a fair few decent lots go your way from scouring Ebay I would have thought? I've always kept my N64 fairly close by - even twenty years later I still find myself coming back to WWF No Mercy on occasion - somehow, even now, that game is still one of the best wrestling games of all time, so it's still fun to just have a little blast on that every once in a while. The problem is I need to get a decent CRT TV to play some of those older consoles on, because playing them on a big TV makes my eyes scream even more than Toad Junior from The Wolf Among Us did. Freaky little peanuthead! 7 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah, for me TWD TV series went on too long. There are 4 TWD Telltale games. Think a couple where free on PS Plus? Well the whole thing is definitely worth playing. The first one was probably the best of the lot, but still. Yes although there was the whole voice actor problem with Borderlands 3 I think, but yeah that game reviewed well and I heard Tales was integrated into the franchise well. I guess I could always pick up that bundle of all of the Walking Dead games if I see it for a price I like - then I can just kind of play them at my own pace. I do think I have one or two via PS+ but that bundle still comes up as buyable for me, so I might have to give it a go. Oh right yeah - there was all that madness with the voice actor for Claptrap, I totally forgot about all of that stuff with Borderlands 3...... The series creator Randy Pitchford seems like a teeny tiny bit of a cock perhaps - a bit like David Cage - at least if you read into a lot of the information that's floating around on the web he seems that way anyway. It looks like Snooker might be ending earlyish today - so it looks like I'll have the time to bust out the rest of that Yakuza Kiwami review! Woooo! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: They might have given Ascension away for free as well - but that game is one of the ones you could definitely skip - the other spin-offs I think are very good for what they are, but Ascension just felt like a prequel too far. I think they'd let us download the PS3 games if technology would allow it, but so far the PS4 or the PS5 won't do it, so we're stuck streaming them. It's better than not being able to play some of those games at all though I suppose. Fair enough, I won't bother with that one then. Yeah indeed they would. 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yeah it is extreme - I've never felt more like a parent without actually being one, with that scene! When one of my fairly young nephews played that scene and thought it was really funny, and cool how you could smash someone's knee caps in, pour petrol on someone and electrocute them......... I was just like..... I'm fine with a bit of ultra violence in the right context - but in GTAV it just felt senseless. That sounds pretty astute that Play magazine article actually. As a foundation for the other two games, yes GTAIII is actually pretty excellent - as a blueprint it's really good, but it's the one that time definitely hasn't been kindest to. Eeeesssh, yes well there is a reason there is age ratings on games to be fair but yeah. Yes of course, films, games etc can have ultra violence and it fit with the story and context of that. A tortune scene in a GTA game sounds really out of place. Yes that is basically what the people they interviewed who worked on the game said. It was needed for the rest of the PS2 GTA's to exist essentially. 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: You could always fire up an Xbox 360 and get all the achievements if you specifically need something to show for your time commitment to Oblivion ..... Having done it myself back in the day I can safely say that going after all of the achievements is a fun time. Haha very true. The implementation of trophies was so far behind achievements it was crazy considering how much of a given they are nowadays. Glaf you got all the achievements yourself and yes I had fun too with my playtime. Think Skyrim put me off due to the platinum length and my backlog haha 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: My pleasure! So don't feel too bad about starting them in a fairly random order if you did - the most you'll miss out on is a few references here and there, and the introductions to a few characters. I think you could play them in any order really and still have a good time. The Darksiders games do look interesting, so maybe I'll give hte 2nd one a go at some point. It's in the library as I made sure to add it when it was available lol I wonder if any other game series are like that, it's pretty rare surely? 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I was very much a Nintendo head when I was young - and then I kind of lost interest a little bit. I like the idea of getting a Switch though at some point, but realistically I doubt I will - sacrifices must be made Nope, never played FFIV - I've always wanted to, I just never have. I suppose I could probably play the steam version. I think one of my friends who's also a big Final Fantasy fan was never too keen on it, so I think that put me off a bit. But I ought to give it a shot. Fantastic music doesn't surprise me though - it's probably harder to find an FF game with a bad soundtrack than it is to find one with a good one..... Those are everywhere haha Yes I think a Switch would be a great way to get my 2 daughters into gaming properly in a few years, and the wife would play it too I'm sure. I end up buying Switch games and keeping them sealed as I have not intention of playing them, they are just for the collection lol Also why being a Sega and Sony guy, FFVII was my first FF. There are multiple different versions of FFIV technically, but mainly there's the one that is the original or close to it such as FFIV Advance or the Pixel Remaster or the 3D version that released on the Nintendo DS (and also Steam possibly?) Both are great, with obvious differences. You'd enjoy either I'll bet. I absolutely agree lol Think the spin-offs are where you'd start your search for poorer FF soundtracks. 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yep, yep I got really lucky with that Ebay bundle - nowadays I seem to be a little less fortunate when it comes to Ebay..... Aside from getting a brand new copy of the LEGO Movie 2: Videogame for like £6 but now I've played it I can see why someone would let it go dirt cheap . You must have had a fair few decent lots go your way from scouring Ebay I would have thought? I've always kept my N64 fairly close by - even twenty years later I still find myself coming back to WWF No Mercy on occasion - somehow, even now, that game is still one of the best wrestling games of all time, so it's still fun to just have a little blast on that every once in a while. The problem is I need to get a decent CRT TV to play some of those older consoles on, because playing them on a big TV makes my eyes scream even more than Toad Junior from The Wolf Among Us did. Freaky little peanuthead! Yes I remember you telling me about the Lego game, still such a cheap price lol Yeah I've done pretty well over the years. One deal that sticks out right now is a near mint copy of Resident Evil Outbreak for the PS2. It was an auction, bid the minimum of 99p with a £1 delivery fee and noone else bid! lol £1.99! Bargain! Yes I really enjoyed the Smackdown games on PS2 but I hear a lot of great things about the N64 wrestling games, that they were so much fun. lol ah Toad, funky character! Yes will need a proper setup myself for the gaming consoles in the future, when stuff isn't just in boxes. 4 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I guess I could always pick up that bundle of all of the Walking Dead games if I see it for a price I like - then I can just kind of play them at my own pace. I do think I have one or two via PS+ but that bundle still comes up as buyable for me, so I might have to give it a go. Oh right yeah - there was all that madness with the voice actor for Claptrap, I totally forgot about all of that stuff with Borderlands 3...... The series creator Randy Pitchford seems like a teeny tiny bit of a cock perhaps - a bit like David Cage - at least if you read into a lot of the information that's floating around on the web he seems that way anyway. It looks like Snooker might be ending earlyish today - so it looks like I'll have the time to bust out the rest of that Yakuza Kiwami review! Woooo! Oh yeah if that bundle is great then get that, but I'm sure 2 and 3 were on Plus. Randy Pitchford, yeah doesn't exactly endear him to people does he? lol Missed the snooker tbh, try to watch the semis or the final if I can. Looking forward to the next review! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 1/8/2022 at 3:09 PM, rjkclarke said: The Newest Platinum Among Us Platinum #342 The Wolf Among Us (PS4) Awesome!! There's quite a few things you mentioned that I wish I'd thought of, like the music or how they really ran with the episodic structure, I very much enjoyed both as well. Dang.. I'm no good at that. I'll just leave those to Gonzo! Were you one of the people who refused to pass along Toad Junior's gift for Snow White? "I just wanted her to have thi-" "GET AWAY FROM ME PEANUT HEAD!!" It's okay, you can tell me! Excellent work as always, my dude? On 1/9/2022 at 9:48 AM, rjkclarke said: Funny that, isn't it - that about three of them all appeared at once.... I think.... yes, maybe go with fairydust..... Definitely not crack It exposes how much I've been slacking, what with Copanele getting his review out before me ..... I literally finished it in 2021, so it took me almost nine days to get it written. Filthy slacker! You can never discount crack. Initially I wasn't even going to write one! I found myself a bit intimidated and opted not to, until I thought "what would I even say" and started writing... then before I knew it I'd pretty much set myself on course and thought "here goes nothin I guess.." On 1/9/2022 at 9:48 AM, rjkclarke said: I don't know that I'd say GTAIV is better - I just prefer it...... Something about GTAV really rubbed me the wrong way - there's a very specific torture scene which I thought was really unnecessary, and it just felt like Rockstar being controversial just for the sake of being controversial. That and all the other little nagging things I have with it kind of just hampered the whole experience for me a little bit. I feel you on that. Trevor and a lot of his shenanigans felt like them just trying to be a cool step-dad or something for a certain subset of GTA players... "oh, you don't like the story? You just enjoy killing people? Hey, I get it buddy! We could put the two together, how about that? Pretty cool, right?" Also IV's story was such an emotional powerhouse, and the characters were largely a real treat to get to know, whereas V pales in comparison with both categories. On 1/9/2022 at 9:48 AM, rjkclarke said: Did you ever buy the PS2 versions before they got delisted? Because if your only exposure to GTA was in the PS1 games then there are three really awesome games that you absolutely should get around to playing. Screw the Definitive Demastered Edition, but if you have access to those originals you should really give them a go at some point even if it's just experiencing the story that they have to offer. Moreso in Vice City and San Andreas as GTAIII's plot is thinner than Hulk Hogans hair. ???????? On 1/9/2022 at 9:48 AM, rjkclarke said: I really liked the Telltale Batman games. I think they did some really interesting and very different things with a few of the more established DC characters. I thought what they did with The Riddler in particular was such an interesting subversion of what you'd expect from that character. I totally forgot they did a Batman series! Between that and Walking Dead, they may make a fan of me yet. On 1/9/2022 at 11:51 AM, rjkclarke said: Funnily enough you mention that, a combination of us could all be playing Yakuza at a possible crossover - I know Smevz has Yakuza 0 on the backburner, you have Dead Souls and 4 to play at some point, whilst I have 3 to get through - so it's possible we all get Yakuza reviews out at a similar time. Although we'll see on that one - I don't think Yakuza 3 will keep me busy for much more than about a week longer, so long as I can get nab some of that precious gaming time. Or I end up being really bad at Baseball, but we'll see. I plan on putting some more work into Yakuza 0, but I finally started seriously playing Res 5, again, which will be my 46th plat.. and I'm sure you can guess what I'm planning for Platinum #47? Dude you're gonna plow through Y3 no problem! Excited for your Yakuza reviews bro, 0 was such a good read (well they all are, but you know what I mean) and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the kiwamis! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Vice Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: Dang.. I'm no good at that. I'll just leave those to Gonzo! You're good at them, I laughed! 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: Trevor and a lot of his shenanigans felt like them just trying to be a cool step-dad or something for a certain subset of GTA players I think most GTA players enjoyed the shenanigans and that you guys/the critiquing monority that lives here in the checklist sphere are the subset that want meaningful stories. That game prints money, and it's not all because of the online component. 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: I totally forgot they did a Batman series! Between that and Walking Dead, they may make a fan of me yet. Yes they did. As someone who has played at least a handful of Telltale games in their early trophy hunting days (TWAU, Back to the Future, Game of Thrones, Batman and Tales from the Borderlands), I can guarantee a pretty negative review of most of them in the next month or so. I'd just stick to TWAU, really. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Eeeesssh, yes well there is a reason there is age ratings on games to be fair but yeah. Yes of course, films, games etc can have ultra violence and it fit with the story and context of that. A tortune scene in a GTA game sounds really out of place. I suppose that's true - but then an 18 rated game perhaps when you or I were a little younger is not the same as it is now (in most cases anyway). The ability to have higher fidelity graphics nowadays does kind of make some of those 18 ratings just a little more valid in some cases. I'm the last person to throw out the whole "GTA IS JUST A MURDER SIMULATOR" thing, but that torture scene is definitely playing up to that specific image that the media has of the GTA games. As Eric Bischoff always used to say Controversy Creates Cash. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yes that is basically what the people they interviewed who worked on the game said. It was needed for the rest of the PS2 GTA's to exist essentially. Now people can use the Definitive Editions as a blueprint of how to fail miserably - and use it as a teaching tool to avoid failure in the future. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Haha very true. The implementation of trophies was so far behind achievements it was crazy considering how much of a given they are nowadays. Glaf you got all the achievements yourself and yes I had fun too with my playtime. Think Skyrim put me off due to the platinum length and my backlog haha Yet somehow Nintendo still haven't jumped aboard the whole "Digital icons as a pat on the back/reward" kind of thing yet. I don't think Skyrim is actually as time intensive a platinum as you might think it is. I actually think that's on the shorter side as far as big RPG's go. There are a boat load of things you could do in that game that don't relate to trophies in any way - I always found that was one of the best games to just play without trophies being at the front of your mind for the duration. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I wonder if any other game series are like that, it's pretty rare surely? I can only think of one off the top of my head - and that's the Legacy of Kain series, and only really in the sense that from what I remember all of the events of Blood Omen 2 are happening concurrently with Soul Reaver 2's - but it's a more complex kind of thing to do with alternate timelines and dimensions that's never really made explicitly clear what's going on. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yes I think a Switch would be a great way to get my 2 daughters into gaming properly in a few years, and the wife would play it too I'm sure. I end up buying Switch games and keeping them sealed as I have not intention of playing them, they are just for the collection lol Good idea - then they can play black and white Pokemon on your giant yellow Gameboy. Seems like you need to make an urgent purchase of a switch to me! 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: There are multiple different versions of FFIV technically, but mainly there's the one that is the original or close to it such as FFIV Advance or the Pixel Remaster or the 3D version that released on the Nintendo DS (and also Steam possibly?) Both are great, with obvious differences. You'd enjoy either I'll bet. I absolutely agree lol Think the spin-offs are where you'd start your search for poorer FF soundtracks. Those are actually one of the reasons I've never really dabbled with IV - knowing exactly which version to play. I'm fairly sure that it was the 3D one that one of my friends couldn't quite get along with. So perhaps that would be the one to avoid. You'd think that about the spinoffs - and then Final Fantasy Type - 0 would go and prove that wrong - because that has got some very good musical pieces in it - some iffy ones too. Ones that don't feel like they belong in Final Fantasy, but there's some good there too. I ought to get World of Final Fantasy really find out if that has a bumflap of a soundtrack. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yes I remember you telling me about the Lego game, still such a cheap price lol Yeah I've done pretty well over the years. One deal that sticks out right now is a near mint copy of Resident Evil Outbreak for the PS2. It was an auction, bid the minimum of 99p with a £1 delivery fee and noone else bid! lol £1.99! Bargain! That is pretty much a steal yeah - I love it when that occasionally happens - although those kind of purchases can kind of build up. That's how I ended up getting the platinum in Assassin's Creed II last year - I saw it going for like 99P thought, well I don't have it on PS3, won it and was like guess I'm getting the platinum in ACII then haha I thought Outbreak was popular so I'm quite surprised that nobody bothered with that one. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yes I really enjoyed the Smackdown games on PS2 but I hear a lot of great things about the N64 wrestling games, that they were so much fun. Fun - and had a really great customisation system - where because it was pretty rudimentary it was quite easy to make other promotions wrestlers and stuff. You could also take Kanes mask off before he officially did in the old real life wrestling too. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Missed the snooker tbh, try to watch the semis or the final if I can. Looking forward to the next review! SNOOOKER MUST BE WATCHED AT ALL COSTS! Well Semis and final - are Saturday and Sunday..... I'm posting the new review after this. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Awesome!! There's quite a few things you mentioned that I wish I'd thought of, like the music or how they really ran with the episodic structure, I very much enjoyed both as well. Cheers Dude! I don't think you're alone in that, when it comes to things you wish you'd thought of - if I find someone writes a review of a game not long after I play it or around the same time, I almost always find myself going - "Ahh damn, wished I'd mentioned that." Almost but not quite. Like when I somehow forgot to mention Wormhorn in any real detail my Afterparty review. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dang.. I'm no good at that. I'll just leave those to Gonzo! I also found it funny - so you're all good man! Although you AND Gonzo have me beat on those, so I'll leave those to you guys. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Were you one of the people who refused to pass along Toad Junior's gift for Snow White? "I just wanted her to have thi-" "GET AWAY FROM ME PEANUT HEAD!!" It's okay, you can tell me! Excellent work as always, my dude Actually no I let the little freak guy give his box of toenail clippings to Snow White - actually wasn't it a little insect or something. Either way, I allowed it, I liked him I just didn't like looking at him directly. if they had a "GET AWAY FROM ME PEANUT HEAD!" dialogue option ?, then I totally I would have gone with it - but alas they didn't programme it that deeply. Thanks man...... I found I was in a similar mindset to you it turns out. Especially when you wrote this.... 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Initially I wasn't even going to write one! I found myself a bit intimidated and opted not to, until I thought "what would I even say" and started writing... then before I knew it I'd pretty much set myself on course and thought "here goes nothin I guess.." I was always going to write one - but I was just struggling with where exactly to actually start with it myself - especially as I've got my little no spoilers policy. I didn't really want to go in depth with anything, because really the only sell for the game is the story, so I did feel a bit hamstrung there. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I feel you on that. Trevor and a lot of his shenanigans felt like them just trying to be a cool step-dad or something for a certain subset of GTA players... "oh, you don't like the story? You just enjoy killing people? Hey, I get it buddy! We could put the two together, how about that? Pretty cool, right?" That is unfortunately very accurate I think - it's a real shame too. I'm perfectly at peace with it - if other people get a kick out of that game, that's great - I didn't - I'll just fire up a different game and have my fun with that instead. I;m not asking for a deep or meaningful story from a GTA game - but I don't know that even GTAV truly knows what it's trying to say with how it approaches certain things 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Also IV's story was such an emotional powerhouse, and the characters were largely a real treat to get to know, whereas V pales in comparison with both categories. That wasn't what I expected from GTAIV at all, like I mentioned just above I'm not asking for that going into a GTA game but we kind of did get that with GTAIV I know Nico gets a bit of stick for being a bit dour, but I thought he was really interesting. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I totally forgot they did a Batman series! Between that and Walking Dead, they may make a fan of me yet. I liked the two Telltale Batman games - the second a little more than the first. So definitely consider checking those out if you think you might like those ones.... I can't say either way with Walking Dead, though. 1 hour ago, GonzoWARgasm said: I can guarantee a pretty negative review of most of them in the next month or so. I'd just stick to TWAU, really. I can guarantee an absolutely negative one for Game of Thrones from my end. - I know that much, I might put that one out fairly soon myself. 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I plan on putting some more work into Yakuza 0, but I finally started seriously playing Res 5, again, which will be my 46th plat.. and I'm sure you can guess what I'm planning for Platinum #47 Hitman Absolution ?...... It's Hitman Absolution right? Right? I mean it has 47 trophies too - so 47 Trophies Platinum #47 makes sense to me..... Nah I think I can guess the real answer 2 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dude you're gonna plow through Y3 no problem! Excited for your Yakuza reviews bro, 0 was such a good read (well they all are, but you know what I mean) and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the kiwamis! I'm chipping away at Yakuza 3 - I wouldn't mind playing a little bit more tonight if I can. Any progress is good progress. Big Edit: Also Thanks man! That's real nice of you to say, I really appreciate that - fingers crossed this one won't be a bit of a meandering boring time to read. I'm going to go and post that Yakuza Kiwami review up now. Edited January 11, 2022 by rjkclarke 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted January 11, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) Classc Review Platinum #191 Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) KIWAMI Obtained all trophies. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 27 November 2018 : 1:14:07 PM Time Taken to Platinum : 1 week, 4 days, 9 hours Platinum Rarity - 3.10% Trophy Number - #10,000 It’s about that time again – time to hop back in the old time machine, and take a trip to Kamurocho in 2005 with Yakuza Kiwami. In essence Kiwami is the remake of the PS2 game that started this series off with a cacophonous bang. That being said – I feel like I have to delve into something briefly first. Those who are playing this series chronologically (probably the best way to experience the series,) and starting Yakuza Kiwami after Yakuza 0 are more than likely going to level quite a few criticisms at Kiwami about how flat it feels compared to Yakuza 0. I understand those criticisms, but I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. Let me try and explain why. Every time a video game is remade, the developers always face somewhat of a problem, in that you really can’t please everyone. Some people want it to be exactly as it was, but with enhanced graphics. Others wish it to be something dynamically different, improve upon what came before, but keep the core principals and ideals the same. However you decide to approach remaking a video game, the prevailing issue – is that you’ll never truly be able to please everybody. That being said – boy did Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios try, they really did. As I mentioned in my review of Yakuza 0 which I’ll leave a link for here, if you really feel as if you need to get yourself up to speed (I’ll warn you though, it is long ). My first exposure to the Yakuza series came in the form of the original PS2 game. Due to that, I knew what to expect going into this – I’m not saying my enjoyment was heightened as a result, merely that I knew what I was in for going into it. Thematically this is very different to Yakuza 0, it’s tonally very different. What I alluded to with video game remakes, Kiwami tends to fall into the latter camp, of something that positively builds upon the original, yet keeps the core principals the same. However – without contradicting oneself too much, this also feels like exactly what it was on the PS2, but with exponentially better graphics. It also somehow feels like a natural sequel to Yakuza 0, which goes to show how well Yakuza 0 fits into the continuity now. How can it be both of those things though? I think a huge amount of that has to do with the fact that – from what I’m lead to believe at least (we can’t all believe everything we read on the internet after all,) that Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were developed pretty much concurrently. I believe that’s true as well – Kiwami does contain a few new elements that were never present in the original, expanded substories, more diverse mini-games and some links to Yakuza 0 that were never present before. So they absolutely feel like they were probably conceptualised at the same time. What this presents you with as a player – is a real uniformity between games – at least in some respects it does. Characters seen in Yakuza 0 are found here in substories and certain plot threads with those characters will reappear even as far into Kiryu’s timeline as Yakuza 6. So I really have to respect the dedication to making everything in this universe feel as interconnected as it does. This game even contains a sneaky little cameo from fan favourite Akiyama from Yakuza 4 if you know where to look for him. Certain sequences involving Nishikiyama for example are either newly added or expanded enormously compared to the original – if you’ve also played Yakuza 0 going into this game Nishikiyama’s transformation will feel that much more personal for you. The way in which Kiwami’s extra scenes enhance his character do absolute wonders for him compared to his original portrayal. In fact I’d say this is one of the strongest areas of Kiwami for someone who’s played the original too (well outside of the absence of the dreadful English dub). Nishiki NEVER was a compelling character in the original, his motivations weren’t particularly clear and you aren’t privy to any of the back-story that Yakuza 0 and Kiwami expand upon, so I really cannot fault this area of the game at all. As I mentioned previously, I don’t necessarily fully agree with some of the criticisms this game gets, but some of them are impossible to ignore too. This game isn’t as bombastic, as wild, or even on a similarly grandiose scale to how Yakuza 0’s story was presented. Kiwami is – it has to be said, a lot less dynamic than Yakuza 0 too, that’s undeniable. Part of that is the more contemporary setting, it just doesn’t feel quite as exciting exploring dilapidated mid 2000’s Kamurocho compared to its neon soaked 1980’s counterpart. It never was going to be – the original Yakuza is very much a smaller scale personal story, a tale of lost love, renewed purpose, burgeoning hope and a bond that runs deeper than familial connections. Whilst it’s fairly low key I think the story presented in Kiwami is a universally relatable one –and one I think that is told to great effect here. On paper, that all sounds great, right? It is, and Kiwami captures that brilliantly, it is a wholly faithful remake of Yakuza in that regard. The game I believe Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios always wanted it to be – but wasn’t, due to severe technical limitations of the PS2. I’m not here to tell anyone how to enjoy something, but I think it’s better to temper your expectations going into Yakuza Kiwami straight from Yakuza 0 – one of my best friends ended up with a really negative opinion of Yakuza Kiwami in no small part because of how unlike Yakuza 0 it felt for him. It’d be easy to go around and around in circles, on the whole remake topic, but I don’t feel like dwelling on that any longer – I have mixed feelings about it, of course, but I really like this game for what it is, to me it felt like playing a better version of the original and that was all I was hoping for. In that same vein – it looks better, that’s a understatement as big as Kamurocho’s Millenium Tower too. Whilst I’m not overly fond of using the term “cinematic” to describe a video game, as the Yakuza series has progressed they have strayed further into being progressively more filmic. The original was littered with cutscenes, yes – but there wasn’t quite the same artistic flare applied to them that have been implemented here. Tempting as it is to write in depth about the Kurosawa inspired shots and cinematography; I’ll save that for a game where it’s a little relevant. The original PS2 version is comparatively static, and dare I say it, is, a little flat direction wise. Even slightly different use of camera shots and cuts goes a long way in making something feel a little more artistic and dynamic compared to the original game. Kiwami’s character models and area design are also a vast improvement in most areas, colours are vibrant and vivacious when that is the desired effect, whilst also feeling grimy, unsettling and disgusting in some of the seedier areas of Kamurocho like the Champion District. I said most, right? Haruka is a real head scratcher in this game – she never looked like that before – her clothes are right, but in this game in particular there’s something that just seems a little “off” about what she looks like, she almost looks right, but as she’s a character you see often, it’s hard not to notice. Kiwami 2 has that problem too, but for an entirely different reason that we’ll get to when I review that game. Haruka aside though, all of the character models either look uniformly familiar with how they do in other games (Majima, Kage the Florist or Date for example) if they haven’t, then they’ve been tweaked to do so. Kiryu probably being the biggest and best example of this – he finally looks like the version most people associate with the character, based on the motion capture actor and voice actor Takaya Kuroda. Although, I do love the fact that the younger version of Kiryu from Yakuza 0 looks like a really accurate merge of the PS2 era Kiryu and modern day Kiryu. That’s always been a really neat touch in that game that I’ve always loved. Time to get a little critical – I’d say Kiwami is one of the first times in the series that the soundtrack feels like one of the weakest components of the game. This isn’t to say it is bad, because it isn’t at all. It ends up being just a slightly weaker element. The problem is there are not all that many memorable pieces of music amongst its roster. For the most part it all sounds fairly similar. It’s very industrial sounding, it does at least feel appropriately mid two-thousands-esque as that was pretty rife amongst video game and film soundtracks of the time, but I’m not sure that it quite works here all the time. The remixes of the original soundtrack are very good for what they are though. It’s got some real good pieces of music in there, but I think more often than not, this is one of the least memorable areas of Yakuza Kiwami. You know what is memorable though? The Karaoke music – they are all pretty much top notch here. Song most memed, Bakamitai (not a meme I like either,) appears here, but with a slightly newer take, this version has a slower mournful edge to it – fun fact, I actually ended up listening to this song very often in the lead up to playing Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, the final part of Kiryu’s playable saga. It really got me in the mood for it, with the almost palpable feeling of sadness I had going into that game. The inescapable feeling that this was the end of Kiryu’s run and I don’t think there’ll be a time when I don’t associate the song with that feeling of sadness as I marched solemnly towards the end. In all honesty pretty much all of the Karaoke songs here are actually fairly decent pieces of music in their own right. The thing I loved the most though, is the way they resurrected my personal favourite Karaoke song from Yakuza 0 (x3 Shine) by giving it a European Dance Remix version called Euro de x3 Shine. It’s another perfect example of something I mentioned earlier – which is both, series progression and interconnectivity and uniformity across the series, there’s so many examples of older songs getting remixed in the real world, so I absolutely love the fact that that same thing happens in the Yakuza universe too. Whilst we’re on the subject of audio – I can’t really ignore how good some of the voice acting is in this game – particularly from Takaya Kuroda as Kiryu and Kazuhiro Nakaya as Nishikiyama. His strong performances here are – I think at least, one of the strongest indicators as to why he was chosen to take over the series lead when they transitioned to Ichiban in Like a Dragon. It must be said, that for as much as I bash the English dub of the original game – it does have a few bright spots Nishiki being voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (a great actor, and great podcaster too,) is absolutely one of them, but Nakaya just does a slightly better job. Especially in Kiwami where he get’s significantly more detailed and nuanced material to work with. The same can be said for Kuroda – an actor who I think really shines in some of Kiryu’s quieter more low key moments, but due to the nature of his character isn’t quite able get to showcase that too often. In a game like Yakuza Kiwami – I think I’m going to have to break with tradition a little bit and combine the trophy part of the review with the gameplay portion. This will read more like a collection of my experiences more than strictly a review I suspect, but it feels like the way to go here. Those go hand in hand far more than in most games, so it just feels appropriate, so I’ll be flitting back and forth between talking about gameplay and trophies. Purely because in Yakuza Kiwami’s case the platinum means seeing practically every area of the gameplay anyway. Anyone eagle eyed enough, or has looked at the “A few trophy stats” section in this review, that I put at the top of every review – you’d have noticed that Yakuza Kiwami’s platinum trophy was for the first – and I suspect will be the last time I ever tried to manipulate trophies into a specific trophy number being a milestone. If you like doing that, I’m happy for you, I’m not criticising that with what I’m about to say – merely that it just wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me. This isn’t Yakuza Kiwami’s fault either it was purely mine. I fully accept that. I basically decided I’d make this trophy number ten thousand. My plan was to play games naturally and then stop exactly fifty-five trophies before the platinum. Sounds fine in practice, yes? That would be the case if I hadn’t started playing Hitman (2016) right before starting Kiwami, so all the while I was playing Kiwami I kept wanting to dive into Hitman, but knew if I was going to keep to my plan I couldn’t. This was silly of me – it would turn out to be a big mistake, I really hamstrung myself with that one. It’s a long old road the trip towards the platinum trophy in Yakuza Kiwami, so what exactly does that entail? It’s essentially one hundred percent completion, and then some. You’ll still have to reach maximum trust level with Haruka for another trophy too, and in some aspects that can be trickier than some of the completion requirements in the main game. But whilst aiming for full completion you’ll practically get everything along the way. We’ll get there, all in good time. An area of Yakuza Kiwami’s gameplay that I particularly love is the Majima everywhere aspect. Who doesn’t love more Majima? Okay, so to avoid spoilers, something transpires in the story where Kiryu essentially loses some of his fighting prowess. Majima has decided to take it upon himself to sharpen Kiryu’s fighting skills up and return him to some of his former glory. I don’t love every single aspect of this addition, but most of them I really thought enhanced the experience. I think it severely hampers repeat playthroughs though, as you can’t really skip Majima interactions easily – but it is very well implemented first time through, nevertheless. Whilst you level up through experience points in the same way you do other games – much like in Yakuza 0 you have access to the three core fighting styles, Brawler, Rush and Beast – as well as the bonus Dragon Style, which is essentially your “reward” and Kiryu’s ultimate fighting style, that absolutely feels earned when you finally are able to unleash its full power. I won’t go too in depth with those they aren’t any different to how they are in Yakuza 0 so refer back to my review of that if you want the specifics of those. I go into very specific detail with the fighting styles in that review. However, this is where Majima comes into play a little more, as you need to actively seek out and do battle with specific Majima variants that range from hilarious, to interesting Easter Eggs (there’s even a Yakuza Dead Souls one,) to unlock the various skills and abilities in the Dragon Style skill tree. With regard to everything else though – you do have a reasonable amount of choice when it comes to levelling up your abilities – I’d argue perhaps too much even, as experience points are one of the most common commodities in this game – you’ll more often than not, find you have more of them than you need. Especially as you constantly seek out Majima for those extra skills as beating him always rewards you with a hefty amount of experience. I enjoyed my time with Yakuza Kiwami – don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t escape that feeling I had when a few of the harder completion metrics were starting to get a little troublesome. I didn’t allow myself the option to just play something else for a bit to take the edge off. As I’ve said, a problem I created for myself, so not the fault of the game per se. Speaking of troublesome completion metrics – where the original Yakuza was fairly light on mini-games, Yakuza Kiwami decided to double down on them. Many of them are series staples at this point, eastern and western gambling games, Pool and more esoteric yet enjoyable things like Pocket Circuit (which is basically Scalextric in video game form). Many of these have got some fairly obtuse requirements in Yakuza Kiwami. One of those comes in the form of Mahjong – what it asks of you is not strictly that difficult. Judgment asking you to get a Three Colour Straight is actually a little more troublesome. Still – here you have to go out on a Full Straight; this essentially translates as you’d expect it to, a hand of tiles of the same suit, one through nine, a separate meld and then a pair. That sounds easy enough – but you have the unfortunate task of the ever losing battle against Mr Reginald Nigel Gizmaluke (Mr R.N.G to us plebs,) the person we all have to battle whenever we have to fight the uphill struggle of random chance. You could get this first time – or you could take an absolute age to get it. There’s no real way to make it happen faster other than playing a lot of Mahjong and hoping you get lucky. Would you like to know what I struggled with the most? I’m going to tell you anyway even if you didn’t. The first thing was the completion points for acquiring one hundred different weapons and seventy different gear items – it’s one of the few areas of the game where I really felt like this doesn’t add anything positive to the experience. It isn’t difficult, it’s just uninteresting, and you’ll spend so much more time than you should just grinding money to buy more materials to make more weapons or gear with. Honestly – it’s one of the aspects that make this a slightly less fun platinum than some of the others in the series. This isn’t difficult – it just really tested my patience, I brought this one on myself though, I just desperately wanted to get back to Hitman at this point – so it isn’t entirely the fault of the game. Then there was the thing I probably had to reattempt the most in this game – A KARAOKE SONG. I thought I’d shout just in case that wasn’t clear. You read that right folks, a Karaoke song, happened to be one of the hardest parts of the game for me. To be more specific – it’s one of the trust requirements with Haruka where you have to score 950 points on Otometal MY LIFE. I feel like my relationship with this song is like two fighters who have been going at it for years – and then eventually they just decide they like one another (because I love this song now) and we fought so much, and so often. Half the problem was not failing, because I usually started laughing whenever Kiryu would just shout "OI,OI,OI" at the top of his lungs. That happened a lot! Some of you will possibly notice from other reviews that some pretty odd triggers can usually set me laughing my head off at the stupidest of things. Ahem, back to my fight with the song. There were battles of 890’s, 910’s 920’s (usually you only need 900 for the completion point) edging closer and closer until finally I managed it. I beat them. The process of getting 950 score leaves very little room for error too. The song is a fairly wild song, so the rhythm felt pretty tough to keep up with at times I’ll embed a link where I’ve written the song title, to someone successfully doing it if any of you want an idea of what it’s like. To be perfectly honest one of the areas I think I enjoyed the most was the Legend difficulty playthrough – one of the restrictions of Legend difficulty is the inability to use continues between saves, so that really offers some tense gameplay. It is pretty tough too in a few spots, as bosses can definitely make short work of you on that difficulty if you don’t fight smart. Or I guess if you insist on killing every boss with a Tiger Drop, like I do. I don’t think anything was as tense as in Chapter nine – which can get really severe, really fast. Somehow I found it really exhilarating, even after failing it multiple times. You essentially have to fight through a facility full of an army of weapon wielding enemies, fight a pretty tough boss and then survive a car chase (the area I failed the most,) with no place to save in between. So it’s a great way to make you sharpen yourself up and focus. Due to the fact that each failure ends up losing you a fair amount of time. Would I recommend you play Kiwami? Of course, I love this series, so I think that part goes without saying. I’d always recommend them. There’s a really great game here, perhaps a little less dynamic than some of the other entries – but still great in its own right – and also as a faithful and expanded remake. It deserves a lot of credit for being as good as it is. In a way it’s unfortunate that chronologically it follows Yakuza 0 which I think is the absolute peak of quality in the series so far, and also precedes Kiwami 2 which I think is the second best game in the series (for what it’s worth neither Yakuza 0 or Kiwami 2 are actually my favourite, that’s Yakuza 5). This is why I feel people are a little colder towards Kiwami than I think perhaps it deserves. It’s still a very special game, it’s just sandwiched between two absolute behemoths. One of which we’ll be revisiting soon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, the first Classic Review of 2022 and it was a Yakuza game - that was an unexpectedly pleasant trip down memory lane..... I have got an idea for the next Classic Review outside of Kiwami 2 and some requests, so I might just go ahead and get that done in the next day or so whilst I have it on my brainbox, and then I'll hop back in with Kiwami 2, which should be a joy to discuss as I really love that game - it isn't the most faithful remake ever - but that's actually in its favour more than is a negative thing. I'll probably drop another Yakuza 3 mini-update at the end of my next Classic Review as well, hopefully I'll have a little more solid progress by then to actually discuss a few things here and there. Catch you all in the next one folks! Edited February 2, 2022 by rjkclarke 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 16 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said: Yes they did. As someone who has played at least a handful of Telltale games in their early trophy hunting days (TWAU, Back to the Future, Game of Thrones, Batman and Tales from the Borderlands), I can guarantee a pretty negative review of most of them in the next month or so. I'd just stick to TWAU, really. That's a shame. I quite enjoyed them all to be fair. Maybe it was because I had no vested interest in those franchises personally. Each to their own. 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I suppose that's true - but then an 18 rated game perhaps when you or I were a little younger is not the same as it is now (in most cases anyway). The ability to have higher fidelity graphics nowadays does kind of make some of those 18 ratings just a little more valid in some cases. I'm the last person to throw out the whole "GTA IS JUST A MURDER SIMULATOR" thing, but that torture scene is definitely playing up to that specific image that the media has of the GTA games. As Eric Bischoff always used to say Controversy Creates Cash. That is very true. Comparing GTA 1 with GTA 5 given they are both 18's clearly isn't going to match up on a lot of things. Very true that controversy creates cash. Bischoff was one of the masters of that for a time. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Now people can use the Definitive Editions as a blueprint of how to fail miserably - and use it as a teaching tool to avoid failure in the future. Haha love it! Hope someone tweeted something similar at their account when it released haha 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yet somehow Nintendo still haven't jumped aboard the whole "Digital icons as a pat on the back/reward" kind of thing yet. I don't think Skyrim is actually as time intensive a platinum as you might think it is. I actually think that's on the shorter side as far as big RPG's go. There are a boat load of things you could do in that game that don't relate to trophies in any way - I always found that was one of the best games to just play without trophies being at the front of your mind for the duration. It is surprising to me that Nintendo hasn't implemented their own version of trophies. Can you imagine everyone who would play through and buy Mario, Zelda games etc just to have a shiny Nintendo version of a platinum trophy? The guide on this site has the platinum length at 125 hours. That's way too much for me. Can only reserve that kind of time on one game for a Final Fantasy. That same kind of length has so far prevented me from buying Dragon Quest XI even though I hear only great things about it. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I can only think of one off the top of my head - and that's the Legacy of Kain series, and only really in the sense that from what I remember all of the events of Blood Omen 2 are happening concurrently with Soul Reaver 2's - but it's a more complex kind of thing to do with alternate timelines and dimensions that's never really made explicitly clear what's going on. That whole sentence just makes that franchises plot seem very confusing. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Good idea - then they can play black and white Pokemon on your giant yellow Gameboy. Seems like you need to make an urgent purchase of a switch to me! If I had the money then maybe a Switch would get bought lol They are still pretty expensive though relatively speaking. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Those are actually one of the reasons I've never really dabbled with IV - knowing exactly which version to play. I'm fairly sure that it was the 3D one that one of my friends couldn't quite get along with. So perhaps that would be the one to avoid. You'd think that about the spinoffs - and then Final Fantasy Type - 0 would go and prove that wrong - because that has got some very good musical pieces in it - some iffy ones too. Ones that don't feel like they belong in Final Fantasy, but there's some good there too. I ought to get World of Final Fantasy really find out if that has a bumflap of a soundtrack. It depends really. I had no problem with the 3D remakes of 3 or 4. There are some nice additions to the 3D remake of 4 but honestly either type of version, you'll have a quality game to play! I platinumed Type-0 HD yet can't remember the soundtrack very well tbh, will need to go back and listen to some tracks again and reacquaint myself. World of FF is another FF I'd highly recommend. It's a celebration of FF as a whole with lots of characters from previous FF's appearing and it having turn based combat (Woooo!). It's the closest you'll get to a FF and Pokemon crossover. Nice soundtrack too. I do wonder if you'd get annoyed with some of the main characters though lol 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That is pretty much a steal yeah - I love it when that occasionally happens - although those kind of purchases can kind of build up. That's how I ended up getting the platinum in Assassin's Creed II last year - I saw it going for like 99P thought, well I don't have it on PS3, won it and was like guess I'm getting the platinum in ACII then haha I thought Outbreak was popular so I'm quite surprised that nobody bothered with that one. I love it too. Awesome to get a game so cheap! Haha nice! Now that's a cheap platinum! Outbreak has a cult following in the RE fandom definitely. Loads would love Capcom to scrap Re:Verse and just do an Outbreak 3 instead. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Fun - and had a really great customisation system - where because it was pretty rudimentary it was quite easy to make other promotions wrestlers and stuff. You could also take Kanes mask off before he officially did in the old real life wrestling too. Wow, what a moment that must have been. Probably better than the real life moment of his mask coming off tbh. Not exactly any scars from the supposed fire was there lol Always nice to have a game with great customisation options. Reminds me of downloading option files for PES back in the day. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: SNOOOKER MUST BE WATCHED AT ALL COSTS! Well Semis and final - are Saturday and Sunday..... I'm posting the new review after this. I'll try to catch some this weekend then! Got to read the new review too! 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Also IV's story was such an emotional powerhouse, and the characters were largely a real treat to get to know, whereas V pales in comparison with both categories. For a split second, reading the first part of your sentence I thought you were talking about FFIV as I had just been writing about it, then released it's about GTA haha my bad. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) @YaManSmevz Wow, utterly speechless that you voted for me in the Original Content category and for Guide of the Year!. Thank you loads for your kind words and support. Really means a hell of a lot and really appreciate it, honestly. ? Same to you too @rjkclarke good sir! Thank you also to @DrBloodmoney for your vote, much appreciated. ? Edited January 11, 2022 by The_Kopite Updated information 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: @YaManSmevz Wow, utterly speechless that you voted for me in the Original Content category and for Guide of the Year!. Thank you loads for your kind words and support. Really means a hell of a lot and really appreciate it, honestly. No man, thank you! I may not have even peeped that out had I not overheard (over...read?) you talking about having been nominated. I'm glad I did and got to show some support for the monumental work y'all do! On 1/10/2022 at 2:49 PM, GonzoWARgasm said: I think most GTA players enjoyed the shenanigans and that you guys/the critiquing monority that lives here in the checklist sphere are the subset that want meaningful stories. That game prints money, and it's not all because of the online component. Oh, I enjoyed the shenanigans too! But without any narrative I just can't see how it wouldn't get boring eventually. Too true though, a pretty significant majority of players seem to be fine with shelling out money just to blow shit up and shoot strangers - although back in III's day, it made a bit more sense, and the threadbare story kinda required some imagination to keep it engaging? On 1/10/2022 at 2:49 PM, GonzoWARgasm said: Yes they did. As someone who has played at least a handful of Telltale games in their early trophy hunting days (TWAU, Back to the Future, Game of Thrones, Batman and Tales from the Borderlands), I can guarantee a pretty negative review of most of them in the next month or so. I'd just stick to TWAU, really. OooooOOOOoooo... okay! I shall wait for the new edition of Gonzo Journalism before I make any hasty decisions? On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: Actually no I let the little freak guy give his box of toenail clippings to Snow White - actually wasn't it a little insect or something. Either way, I allowed it, I liked him I just didn't like looking at him directly. if they had a "GET AWAY FROM ME PEANUT HEAD!" dialogue option , then I totally I would have gone with it - but alas they didn't programme it that deeply. That made me think of Moe going off on Ralph like "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YA LITTLE FREAK??!!" I'm sure I've told you, I have a Simpsons problem. I can definitely see being weirded out by both of them. That overly sad little kid voice (seriously pathetic - and I don't mean that as an insult at all, it's a highly accurate descriptor) doesn't mesh with a toad face at all, and his father sounding like a Disney villain from the 60s (which I guess he kinda sorta is?) makes it all the more jarring! On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: I was always going to write one - but I was just struggling with where exactly to actually start with it myself - especially as I've got my little no spoilers policy. I didn't really want to go in depth with anything, because really the only sell for the game is the story, so I did feel a bit hamstrung there. I feel you walked the line very well! I always try to just mention what I liked about the story and as little about the story itself as much as possible, but it's still something I'm working on - sometimes I feel like I could've mentioned a lot more and it makes me feel a review ends up lacking. It is a riddle you're always able to solve though, you should be proud of that! On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: I'm perfectly at peace with it - if other people get a kick out of that game, that's great - I didn't - I'll just fire up a different game and have my fun with that instead. I;m not asking for a deep or meaningful story from a GTA game - but I don't know that even GTAV truly knows what it's trying to say with how it approaches certain things I genuinely like GTAV, I just kind of felt like as much of a technological achievement it was (truly astonishing, ain't nobody can take that away), the heart was very much missing. The first time I played it, I was amazed at how well it controlled and how good it looked, but I couldn't help wishing it was San Andreas instead. On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: That wasn't what I expected from GTAIV at all, like I mentioned just above I'm not asking for that going into a GTA game but we kind of did get that with GTAIV I know Nico gets a bit of stick for being a bit dour, but I thought he was really interesting. The funny think about IV is that when it came out, everybody loved it... and then when V was in the works and gettin hyped, I just remember that suddenly everybody was kinda shitting on it and i never really got that. Yo I've always been Team Niko✊️ On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: I can guarantee an absolutely negative one for Game of Thrones from my end. - I know that much, I might put that one out fairly soon myself. Yaaaaas! On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: I'm chipping away at Yakuza 3 - I wouldn't mind playing a little bit more tonight if I can. Any progress is good progress. That it is! Res 5 is already feelin like a lot again... in all likelihood you'll have Y3 in the books well before I wrap up RE5! On 1/10/2022 at 4:02 PM, rjkclarke said: Big Edit: Also Thanks man! That's real nice of you to say, I really appreciate that - fingers crossed this one won't be a bit of a meandering boring time to read. I'm going to go and post that Yakuza Kiwami review up now. It absolutely is not boring at all. Speaking of which... On 1/10/2022 at 4:38 PM, rjkclarke said: Classc Review Platinum #191 Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) For some time I wished it would've been plausible for me to play 0 and Kiwami at the same time without getting stories and mechanics and stuff like that mixed up - I felt like I'd always wonder which experience would've suited me better... classic grass is greener case I suppose! But once you started talking about how Kiwami builds up on the original, particularly with characters like Nishikiyama (who I immediately liked in 0), it made me feel much more at ease with the Yakuza path I'm on. So thanks for that! Also your talk of Karaoke reminded me of that dancing mini-game I got stuck on that last dude with... you really gotta master all those extra steps and that bonus point mini-mini-game, which as you may have guessed I am yet to do! Also Reginald Nigel Gizmaluke is very likely RNG's name! I picture a large, slovenly man repetitively hitting a button on a slot machine-like device and stuffing his face with a microwaved burrito while watching us tear out our hair on large monitors. Next time I'm in that situation on a game (or maybe at a dream machine in Y0) I'ma be like "Come on Reggie, be nice to me bro... be nice.... aw, fuck you man!" I really liked your observation that Yakuza was simply too much for the PS2, and that Sony wouldn't be ready for its truly intended form until another few generations passed! Ugh... I need to get to work on these games, man! You once again proved yourself incapable of writing a bad review. For shame!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 OH BOY I missed the Kiwami review! Damn that was a good read! Despite finding it the weakest Yakuza game that I've played (so far), it's like saying it doesn't reach the 10/10 area, just a 9.5/10 area still a fantastic game! On 1/11/2022 at 2:38 AM, rjkclarke said: In fact I’d say this is one of the strongest areas of Kiwami for someone who’s played the original too (well outside of the absence of the dreadful English dub). Nishiki NEVER was a compelling character in the original, his motivations weren’t particularly clear and you aren’t privy to any of the back-story that Yakuza 0 and Kiwami expand upon, so I really cannot fault this area of the game at all. As I mentioned previously, I don’t necessarily fully agree with some of the criticisms this game gets, but some of them are impossible to ignore too. This game isn’t as bombastic, as wild, or even on a similarly grandiose scale to how Yakuza 0’s story was presented. Kiwami is – it has to be said, a lot less dynamic than Yakuza 0 too, that’s undeniable. Part of that is the more contemporary setting, it just doesn’t feel quite as exciting exploring dilapidated mid 2000’s Kamurocho compared to its neon soaked 1980’s counterpart. Honestly at first I was...man this game doesn't feel like Yakuza 0. Then I checked the original (never played it), watched a sort of walkthrough and I was "DAMN this is a wonderful remake". Not saying that the original was bad, but what they did with THIS game, well done devs! Also Nishiki without the Y0 backstory does feel like a soggy biscuit not gonna lie On 1/11/2022 at 2:38 AM, rjkclarke said: In that same vein – it looks better, that’s a understatement as big as Kamurocho’s Millenium Tower too. Whilst I’m not overly fond of using the term “cinematic” to describe a video game, as the Yakuza series has progressed they have strayed further into being progressively more filmic. The original was littered with cutscenes, yes – but there wasn’t quite the same artistic flare applied to them that have been implemented here. Tempting as it is to write in depth about the Kurosawa inspired shots and cinematography; I’ll save that for a game where it’s a little relevant. The original PS2 version is comparatively static, and dare I say it, is, a little flat direction wise. Even slightly different use of camera shots and cuts goes a long way in making something feel a little more artistic and dynamic compared to the original game. Can I be honest and say that I can't stand that stupid building? I know that's the main idea behind it but MAN does it stick out like a sore thumb. Even in Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 3 I am "ugh this atrocity again". I don't know, it just irks me ? On 1/11/2022 at 2:38 AM, rjkclarke said: An area of Yakuza Kiwami’s gameplay that I particularly love is the Majima everywhere aspect. Who doesn’t love more Majima? Okay, so to avoid spoilers, something transpires in the story where Kiryu essentially loses some of his fighting prowess. Majima has decided to take it upon himself to sharpen Kiryu’s fighting skills up and return him to some of his former glory. I don’t love every single aspect of this addition, but most of them I really thought enhanced the experience. I think it severely hampers repeat playthroughs though, as you can’t really skip Majima interactions easily – but it is very well implemented first time through, nevertheless. Whilst you level up through experience points in the same way you do other games – much like in Yakuza 0 you have access to the three core fighting styles, Brawler, Rush and Beast – as well as the bonus Dragon Style, which is essentially your “reward” and Kiryu’s ultimate fighting style, that absolutely feels earned when you finally are able to unleash its full power. I won’t go too in depth with those they aren’t any different to how they are in Yakuza 0 so refer back to my review of that if you want the specifics of those. I go into very specific detail with the fighting styles in that review. However, this is where Majima comes into play a little more, as you need to actively seek out and do battle with specific Majima variants that range from hilarious, to interesting Easter Eggs (there’s even a Yakuza Dead Souls one,) to unlock the various skills and abilities in the Dragon Style skill tree. With regard to everything else though – you do have a reasonable amount of choice when it comes to levelling up your abilities – I’d argue perhaps too much even, as experience points are one of the most common commodities in this game – you’ll more often than not, find you have more of them than you need. Especially as you constantly seek out Majima for those extra skills as beating him always rewards you with a hefty amount of experience. Majima Everywhere was an amazing feature in the game, damn he was fun to fight. Still, with that remake, they should have added his style themes according to the instance where you find him On 1/11/2022 at 2:38 AM, rjkclarke said: Then there was the thing I probably had to reattempt the most in this game – A KARAOKE SONG. I thought I’d shout just in case that wasn’t clear. You read that right folks, a Karaoke song, happened to be one of the hardest parts of the game for me. To be more specific – it’s one of the trust requirements with Haruka where you have to score 950 points on Otometal MY LIFE. I feel like my relationship with this song is like two fighters who have been going at it for years – and then eventually they just decide they like one another (because I love this song now) and we fought so much, and so often. Half the problem was not failing, because I usually started laughing whenever Kiryu would just shout "OI,OI,OI" at the top of his lungs. That happened a lot! Some of you will possibly notice from other reviews that some pretty odd triggers can you usually set me laughing my head off at the stupidest of things. Ahem, back to my fight with the song. There were battles of 890’s, 910’s 920’s (usually you only need 900 for the completion point) edging closer and closer until finally I managed it. I beat them. The process of getting 950 score leaves very little room for error too. The song is a fairly wild song, so the rhythm felt pretty tough to keep up with at times I’ll embed a link where I’ve written the song title, to someone successfully doing it if any of you want an idea of what it’s like. I can say without shame that I cheated for this one. I can't stand OTOMETAL to save MY LIFE! There was an exploit that allowed me to bypass this abysmal song and get SSS rank with Haruka. Truly a Yakuza move, so mega props for nailing that score in the game! Well after reading your review...yep, time to load up Yakuza 4 in the future gotta polish my Mahjong skills even further! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 4 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: No man, thank you! I may not have even peeped that out had I not overheard (over...read?) you talking about having been nominated. I'm glad I did and got to show some support for the monumental work y'all do! Much appreciated! All the guides there are of such high quality that simply being nominated is something I'm really proud of. Haha overread, that should become a thing lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted January 12, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 12, 2022 On 11/01/2022 at 0:38 AM, rjkclarke said: That being said – I feel like I have to delve into something briefly first. Those who are playing this series chronologically (probably the best way to experience the series,) and starting Yakuza Kiwami after Yakuza 0 are more than likely going to level quite a few criticisms at Kiwami about how flat it feels compared to Yakuza 0. I understand those criticisms, but I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. You know, it's funny - I've never jumped in on the Yakuza games at all, so I'm not going to feign some level of understanding of the series - but from the outside, simply seeing what folks have to say in reviews like yours, there is something quite remarkable in this aspect, when you see the whole series. While I know Yakuza fans always get a little riled up by the "It's GTA in Japan!" comparison to the Rockstar series - (and even not having played them, I can already understand why!) - but even leaving that at the water's edge, and accepting that there are some loose genre similarities, it really is interesting how fully formed Yakuza seems to have been right from the start, vs. something like GTA. What I mean is, if you look at the GTA games from GTAIII onwards (i.e. PS2 onwards - I think GTA and GTAII are kind of a wholly different thing,) the difference in feel and scope and grandeur between GTAIII and GTAV is so enormous as to make GTAIII feel like a relic - fun still, but only really approachable in 2022, as a timepiece of a bygone era. Yakuza Kiwami - even though it's a remake - still seems to hold up, and have a much more visible and direct lineage to the current Yakuza games... which is pretty unusual for franchises than span all the way back 3/4 generations! What I mean is - when I see GTA discussed, only hardcore game-fetishists would realistically tell someone "Oh, you should start with GTAIII, and work forward" - even GTA fans know that is liable to put a brand new player off in 2022 - even accounting for remakes and remasters. With Yakuza though, I'm always fascinated by how much the original game's remakes seem to still remain the most obvious jumping-on point, and that series fans still hold those remakes of the older games up as completely playable and approachable now - if that makes sense? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted January 14, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) Time to reappear from the woodwork of my thread - and, well, you know actually reply to some of you lovely people. It's been a combination of a mixture of things as to why I haven't - so I guess I can fill you in on those boring details first. I have got another Classic Review written so I'll post that up a bit later too. It's a short-ish one, so I'll slap a Yakuza 3 update on the end of it too I think. Firstly, I'm almost certain that I have Covid - test says negative, I'm not too convinced though. I've had plenty of the symptoms and really outrageous fatigue, even if I've slept a decent amount (by my standards at least). I haven't been really ill or anything, so, no need to worry, I've just felt incredibly lethargic and low on energy, or really nauseous for the last five days. Secondly...... Snooker - yeah, Snooker is back on again, so any time that I'm not playing Yakuza, or doing boring real life stuff that you won't want to hear about (not that you want to hear about Snooker ) I've been catching that pretty often. Thirdly - yeah, fitting I guess. Yakuza 3 that has got me pretty hooked if I'm being honest - so I've jumped headfirst into that, but more on that when I actually dedicate an update section to it, so you can read all about that there if you want to. On 11/01/2022 at 3:18 PM, The_Kopite said: It is surprising to me that Nintendo hasn't implemented their own version of trophies. Can you imagine everyone who would play through and buy Mario, Zelda games etc just to have a shiny Nintendo version of a platinum trophy? To be honest, yeah I'm surprised too. Achievements have been around for what will be seventeen years this year - which is crazy to think about actually. Maybe Nintendo just don't think they need them. A lot of their big hitting franchises which make them the most money anyway, sort of have almost in-built metrics for tracking that kind of thing anyway, so I suppose they've just never felt the need maybe. On 11/01/2022 at 3:18 PM, The_Kopite said: The guide on this site has the platinum length at 125 hours. That's way too much for me. Can only reserve that kind of time on one game for a Final Fantasy. That same kind of length has so far prevented me from buying Dragon Quest XI even though I hear only great things about it. That seems like an obscenely long time to platinum Skyrim..... Granted I haven't touched it for what will be ten years this year, but I don't remember it taking that long. That game absolutely consumed my life when I first played it though, so who knows how long I actually sunk into it. Don't rule out a game that length though, from what one of my friends said you'd almost certainly enjoy Dragon Quest XI he's a big turn based fan himself. I remember Smevz and I had a little discussion a while back about how you'd end up playing that same amount of time you'd spend on a big game, by playing smaller games you've played as a result of avoiding a bigger one. So putting 100+ hours into one awesome game doesn't seem so daunting when you think about it like that. I think we were talking about that in relation to Red Dead Redemption 2. On 11/01/2022 at 3:18 PM, The_Kopite said: That whole sentence just makes that franchises plot seem very confusing. That was at least two thirds my fault - yes it does sound confusing, and it is. Yet it does make sense, I just can't explain it with just one sentence. When I end up reviewing the series for fun (as there aren't any trophies, and I do want to talk about those games in depth) later in the year I'll try and go into a bit more detail, so I guess read those if you want a less garbled idea.? On 11/01/2022 at 3:18 PM, The_Kopite said: I platinumed Type-0 HD yet can't remember the soundtrack very well tbh, will need to go back and listen to some tracks again and reacquaint myself. Well I didn't remember much about the soundtrack to be fair - until I re-listened it for the review of it I wrote last year (gotta do some research after all haha). It's a little bit of a mixed bag - like the game itself I guess, some bits of it don't fit at all, and then some others absolutely do feel like they fit in amongst the real big hitter Final Fantasy pieces. On 11/01/2022 at 3:18 PM, The_Kopite said: World of FF is another FF I'd highly recommend. It's a celebration of FF as a whole with lots of characters from previous FF's appearing and it having turn based combat (Woooo!). It's the closest you'll get to a FF and Pokemon crossover. Nice soundtrack too. I do wonder if you'd get annoyed with some of the main characters though lol I do want to, and I'm not really sure why I haven't either........ Is Quina in it - I'll totally get to it sooner if they are? I need an excuse to write Quina into the 2022 End of Year Awards Funny you say that about me getting annoyed by some of the characters - because you aren't the first person to say that to me - another one of my friends told me I'd get really irritated by one of them, that's got a really annoying way of speaking. They also said they'd remind me of Mog from Final Fantasy XII-2 and for as much as I like a lot about that game, Mog is the thing I like the least haha On 11/01/2022 at 7:04 PM, The_Kopite said: @YaManSmevz Wow, utterly speechless that you voted for me in the Original Content category and for Guide of the Year!. Thank you loads for your kind words and support. Really means a hell of a lot and really appreciate it, honestly. Same to you too @rjkclarke good sir! Thank you also to @DrBloodmoney for your vote, much appreciated. You're so welcome man! Shame we only get one vote for overall guide of the year - but I'd have felt like a bit of an arse if I hadn't actually voted for you on that one. And it absolutely is a great guide, so it isn't like every single vote you've had isn't deserved either. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: That made me think of Moe going off on Ralph like "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YA LITTLE FREAK??!!" I'm sure I've told you, I have a Simpsons problem. I can definitely see being weirded out by both of them. That overly sad little kid voice (seriously pathetic - and I don't mean that as an insult at all, it's a highly accurate descriptor) doesn't mesh with a toad face at all, and his father sounding like a Disney villain from the 60s (which I guess he kinda sorta is?) makes it all the more jarring! I hate to say it - but that Moe comparison is actually incredibly accurate to how I reacted to little Toad Junior... ? Yo! I hadn't actually thought about the voice being part of what creeped me out about him, but I think you're right - they do not mesh at all. Also, no I don't think a more appropriate word exists to describe his voice than pathetic. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: I feel you walked the line very well! I always try to just mention what I liked about the story and as little about the story itself as much as possible, but it's still something I'm working on - sometimes I feel like I could've mentioned a lot more and it makes me feel a review ends up lacking. It is a riddle you're always able to solve though, you should be proud of that! Thanks man! I know where you're coming from, but I think most of us probably feel like we could have mentioned something a bit more, on reflection. I don't think it's something you have to worry about though. It was like in your awesome Dex review, you got across what you thought really worked for you about the story, but didn't really mention the specifics, so you're better at that, than I think you're giving yourself credit for. But we're all our own worst critic after all. There are times when especially in a game where you really like the story, I know in my case, I tend to often think I could have and should have gone into more detail with that. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: I genuinely like GTAV, I just kind of felt like as much of a technological achievement it was (truly astonishing, ain't nobody can take that away), the heart was very much missing. The first time I played it, I was amazed at how well it controlled and how good it looked, but I couldn't help wishing it was San Andreas instead. I want to like GTAV, I just don't. I must say though - I think a huge part of that is down to me, and not necessarily the game. I actually agree with everything you've said about it being a huge technological achievement buthaving a bit of a missing heart too. The problem is when I played it - I didn't dedicate any of the time I should of to actually taking in all of the really good aspects of GTAV. I'd just started University when the game came out, so I barely had any time to really play it as such, so I basically just got through the story as quick as possible, and then haven't really ever gone back to it, and that's approaching close to eight or nine years now. So my impressions of the game are just of a really rushed time through, then I didn't go back and really think about much of my time with it in any detail. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: The funny think about IV is that when it came out, everybody loved it... and then when V was in the works and gettin hyped, I just remember that suddenly everybody was kinda shitting on it and i never really got that. Yo I've always been Team Niko️ I liked GTAIV on release as well - quite a lot too. I still like it now - it's the one I've really always wanted a PS4 remaster of, but it hasn't happened yet. So I guess perhaps I ought to pick up the PS3 version, since Microsoft deleted my gamertag and so now there's no way for anyone to see I had actually extensively played GTAIV I remember a lot of people my age complained about how different it was compared to San Andreas, there was a lot of people complaining about the fact that it was trying to be a little more gritty and realistic. That was never something I minded. If you wanted the goofiness and "out there" stuff that was in San Andreas, I'd always say to people, you could always play Saints Row 2 or something if you wanted something a little closer to that. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: That it is! Res 5 is already feelin like a lot again... in all likelihood you'll have Y3 in the books well before I wrap up RE5! I don't know man - we'll see. You're making pretty steady progress with RE5 now. I still have admittedly not a whole lot left in Yakuza 3 platinum wise. If I was just going for the platinum, I think I could be done Sunday. I'm aiming for 100% In-game completion though, and I'm a fair bit further away from that. So I reckon you'll be lapping me soon, I'll make sure I've got RE5 installed too so we can knock out the versus mode trophies when you need to. On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: For some time I wished it would've been plausible for me to play 0 and Kiwami at the same time without getting stories and mechanics and stuff like that mixed up - I felt like I'd always wonder which experience would've suited me better... classic grass is greener case I suppose! But once you started talking about how Kiwami builds up on the original, particularly with characters like Nishikiyama (who I immediately liked in 0), it made me feel much more at ease with the Yakuza path I'm on. So thanks for that! That's great to hear - it does feel like a really natural transition from 0 to Kiwami as far as the gameplay goes. That's one of the huge upsides of the fact they were all developed simultaneously. Kiwami does a great job with Nishikiyama, he was a really shallow character in the original PS2 version, compared to what he is now. I really think it's one of the very best things that they did. I'm glad you like him in 0 - because you're in for some real treats with what they do with him in that game! On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: Also your talk of Karaoke reminded me of that dancing mini-game I got stuck on that last dude with... you really gotta master all those extra steps and that bonus point mini-mini-game, which as you may have guessed I am yet to do! Also Reginald Nigel Gizmaluke is very likely RNG's name! I picture a large, slovenly man repetitively hitting a button on a slot machine-like device and stuffing his face with a microwaved burrito while watching us tear out our hair on large monitors. Next time I'm in that situation on a game (or maybe at a dream machine in Y0) I'ma be like "Come on Reggie, be nice to me bro... be nice.... aw, fuck you man!" I don't think that dancing game will stump you for as long as it did for me in that game. You're a little more musically inclined than I am, I struggle quite a lot with rhythm based games, and doing all of those dance mini-games in 0 really tested my patience. That Dance guy from the substories actually ends up becoming a fairly important character in Yakuza 5 - so I thought the fact they included him in that cameo all the way back twenty odd years earlier in the story was really cool. One of those nice little "Oh I get that" references that are in that game. You'll also meet one of the main characters from Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2 in that game, but I'll not say who it is, that's for you to discover and have a "wait, what?" Moment for yourself, like I'm sure a lot of people did who played the series in chronological order. I think you're probably spot on with what Reggie probably looks like too! ? On 12/01/2022 at 5:23 AM, YaManSmevz said: I really liked your observation that Yakuza was simply too much for the PS2, and that Sony wouldn't be ready for its truly intended form until another few generations passed! Ugh... I need to get to work on these games, man! You once again proved yourself incapable of writing a bad review. For shame!! They are such good games - that I think really deserve peoples time. So you've got some awesome times ahead if you do decide to delve in a bit further. But yes, as much as the original game on PS2 was pretty revolutionary even at the time, it definitely wasn't all that it could be because of technical limitations. I think the fact that RGG Studio really only made a few noticeable changes to the story, but completely overhauled the gameplay pretty much tells you everything about the amount they always wanted to put in, but couldn't. Saw you added Murdered Soul Suspect to your challenge list - was it me that recommended that to you? I feel like I would have done, I really like that game for what it is, I think it gets a fairly unfair rap for having a little bit of a smelly trophy list as far as collectibles go. Outside of that though, I thought it was a pretty interesting yet admittedly short experience. You're too kind man! On 12/01/2022 at 7:53 AM, Copanele said: OH BOY I missed the Kiwami review! Damn that was a good read! Despite finding it the weakest Yakuza game that I've played (so far), it's like saying it doesn't reach the 10/10 area, just a 9.5/10 area still a fantastic game! I think the Kiwami review got buried a little bit between replies and things. You found it eventually though! Cheers man! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It isn't the weakest Yakuza game I've played, but I do get why you'd think that we'll see if you still do after playing a couple more .... I don't want to say which one I think that is, for fear of being lynched by people who really like it. I've heard a few people say the one I think is the weakest one is the best, or their favourite in the past, so, like everything it does have its fans. That's exactly how I try and explain it to people. the difference between 9.5/9 type thing (because nothing is ever a 10, not even my beloved facepants wearing NieR) - that it's still really great, nothing about it is bad - it's just a slight step down from the two games that are either side of it. On 12/01/2022 at 7:53 AM, Copanele said: Honestly at first I was...man this game doesn't feel like Yakuza 0. Then I checked the original (never played it), watched a sort of walkthrough and I was "DAMN this is a wonderful remake". Not saying that the original was bad, but what they did with THIS game, well done devs! Also Nishiki without the Y0 backstory does feel like a soggy biscuit not gonna lie It is one of the best remakes I think I've played, for sure! Haha yes! Soggy biscuit is exactly what he was. ? The thing is, the original PS2 version doesn't even have the extra scenes with Nishiki that Kiwami does - like all the things with his sister, and all the other Yakuza underbosses undermining his authority and that kind of thing. The weakest area of the original PS2 original for me (well outside of Mark Hamill playing Majima like The Joker in the English dub) was how lacking Nishiki was as a character, and how little you really understand the motivations behind his actions. Thankfully Kiwami completely course corrected and made sure they fixed their mistake. I think it's one of the reasons people people really used to heap a whole lot of praise on Yakuza 2, even before it was Kiwami-ified. Ryuji was always a fantastic character, even in the PS2 version. You're going to love getting to actually play as him in Dead Souls I think. So when at the time all you had to compare to was the incomplete fanny version of Nishiki. I can see why a lot of praise was thrown its way. On 12/01/2022 at 7:53 AM, Copanele said: Can I be honest and say that I can't stand that stupid building? I know that's the main idea behind it but MAN does it stick out like a sore thumb. Even in Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 3 I am "ugh this atrocity again". I don't know, it just irks me SAD FACE MAN, SAD FACE. B-but...... where else are people supposed to have contrived "Final Shirtless Showdowns" where they rip their clothes off in one full movement and shot transition like a Kurosawa Samurai movie? I do kind of think it gets more and more contrived as the series goes on though, how many times you actually end up on top of the Millenium Tower though. On 12/01/2022 at 7:53 AM, Copanele said: Majima Everywhere was an amazing feature in the game, damn he was fun to fight. Still, with that remake, they should have added his style themes according to the instance where you find him I thought the same thing - and I really can't figure out why they weren't included. I guess if they were developed simultaneously then perhaps the music hadn't been finalised for Yakuza 0 yet, so perhaps they didn't have the music available to them to put it in Kiwami. But then I thought Yakuza 0 was released before Kiwami, so they'd have been able to add it fairly quickly in post-production I would have thought, certainly in film that kind of thing doesn't take nearly as long as you'd expect it to. So yeah - I'm totally on board with you on that one, that's a real head scratcher why they didn't add that in, would have been a really awesome callback to Yakuza 0. That's a very small oversight - another tiny thing that makes it slightly "less good" right? ? On 12/01/2022 at 7:53 AM, Copanele said: I can say without shame that I cheated for this one. I can't stand OTOMETAL to save MY LIFE! There was an exploit that allowed me to bypass this abysmal song and get SSS rank with Haruka. Truly a Yakuza move, so mega props for nailing that score in the game! Well after reading your review...yep, time to load up Yakuza 4 in the future gotta polish my Mahjong skills even further! I don't think that exploit had been discovered yet when I played Kiwami. Otherwise I think I might have used it too. I couldn't stand OTOMETAL MY LIFE either - but failing at it probably close to - wow, I don't know, easily fifty plus times, gave me real Stockholm syndrome for that song.... Did I mention I suck at rhythm games? ? Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is going to melt my brain with the Karaoke thing in that game I swear It's going to make me tear my hair out so much I'll look like one of those bald cats. I hate to break it to you Copa! ?....... But OTOMETAL MY LIFE actually makes its first appearance in Yakuza 4, which you're planning to play soon. Just the non metal version of it - that one's called Maiden Coloured Life from what I remember. I don't think you need to polish up your Mahjong skills too much - I think the completion metric can be gotten around with a lucky tile in that game. You might have to perform a sexual favour or too on Falkor the luck dragon from Neverending Story though for trophies though! ?,,,, Because you have to go out on a seven pairs set in Mahjong, so that could take quite a while to actually get that one, and they all have to be a pair from EVERY tile set in the same hand. So it's just praying RNG is nice to you on that one! On 12/01/2022 at 9:52 AM, DrBloodmoney said: You know, it's funny - I've never jumped in on the Yakuza games at all, so I'm not going to feign some level of understanding of the series - but from the outside, simply seeing what folks have to say in reviews like yours, there is something quite remarkable in this aspect, when you see the whole series. While I know Yakuza fans always get a little riled up by the "It's GTA in Japan!" comparison to the Rockstar series - (and even not having played them, I can already understand why!) - but even leaving that at the water's edge, and accepting that there are some loose genre similarities, it really is interesting how fully formed Yakuza seems to have been right from the start, vs. something like GTA. What I mean is, if you look at the GTA games from GTAIII onwards (i.e. PS2 onwards - I think GTA and GTAII are kind of a wholly different thing,) the difference in feel and scope and grandeur between GTAIII and GTAV is so enormous as to make GTAIII feel like a relic - fun still, but only really approachable in 2022, as a timepiece of a bygone era. Yakuza Kiwami - even though it's a remake - still seems to hold up, and have a much more visible and direct lineage to the current Yakuza games... which is pretty unusual for franchises than span all the way back 3/4 generations! What I mean is - when I see GTA discussed, only hardcore game-fetishists would realistically tell someone "Oh, you should start with GTAIII, and work forward" - even GTA fans know that is liable to put a brand new player off in 2022 - even accounting for remakes and remasters. With Yakuza though, I'm always fascinated by how much the original game's remakes seem to still remain the most obvious jumping-on point, and that series fans still hold those remakes of the older games up as completely playable and approachable now - if that makes sense? That makes perfect sense man! It is interesting how fully formed it is, I absolutely agree. That's actually a pretty remarkable observation considering you haven't played one of them yet. I do have my fingers crossed that someday you might, but I won't be putting any pressure on you to do so. I think honestly, a lot of that feeling of direct lineage you mention, is deliberate intent from RGG Studios. This almost grand idea, want - and maybe even need. That Toshihiro Nagoshi had at some point, about wanting every single game, and by virtue, I suppose every element of Kiryu's story playable on one console. It's a wonderful thing actually, and I'm really glad that that idea of his actually became a reality. Shame he didn't feel the need to crowbar the Samurai era Yakuza games onto the PS4, but we can't win them all I guess. I'd desperately love to play those. A series so heavily influenced by Kurosawa as far as direction goes, actually involving Samurai's one of the things Kurosawa did to an almost immeasurably impressive level? Yeah I think it's safe to say I would have liked loved them. But as I've said a few times, if wishes were fishes, then the world would be an ocean So I think more than something like GTA where they're a bit more content to leave "the past in the past" there was a specific intent to make everything feel uniform and run together fairly smoothly. In a way it does too - the last true Yakuza (we'll leave Judgment out of the equation for now) game I played was Yakuza Kiwami 2, and even going from that to Yakuza 3, a game ten years older, and on an entirely different engine, it still feels like a pretty natural follow on in most areas. Where as a lot of games from other franchises don't quite feel like that. Unfortunately I'd say that probably is a detriment to those other series too - as it makes them a little less accessible. Whereas with Yakuza - theoretically at least, so long as you can set aside the time, then you can play the entire saga on fairly modern consoles. I really love that, it's a logistical nightmare sometimes when you get really invested in a game series only to find out you need to own practically every possible console to actually experience it all. Edited January 14, 2022 by rjkclarke 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted January 14, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) Classic Review Danger Zone (PS4) A Few Trophy Stats 100% Achieved - 21 May 2020 : 12:43:13 AM Time taken to 100%: - 20 hours, 4 minutes, 38 seconds 100% Rarity - 8.22% It might seem a little bit out of the blue to be covering this game – but it is going to essentially work as a little bit of preparation for something bigger. I’ve been thinking about Dangerous Driving a lot lately (no idea why, your guess is as good as mine on how my brain works,) so I thought if I’m going to end up reviewing that, then I really ought to review Danger Zone and Danger Zone 2 first. Danger Zone is – I feel at least, is far more of a proof of concept than it is a fully formed video game. It is a video game of course, but it’s deliberately small, has a familiarity that a lot of people can easily understand, and sets the tone for what to expect from developers Three Fields Entertainment. Alright, so who exactly is Three Fields Entertainment? Essentially, they are some of the core and most influential staff that left Criterion to form Three Fields Entertainment. The talented people of which, originally bought you Burnout. Reading that, some of you would probably start to think “So this is a racing game then?”Yes and no. Although creating a spiritual successor to Burnout was always one of their goals, until Dangerous Driving, both Danger Zone and Danger Zone 2 are more a spiritual successor to a very popular Burnout game mode. Crash Mode – and in that respect Danger Zone absolutely excels, as being exactly that, the spiritual sequel to Crash Mode. I can’t exactly lie about this – as far as artistic direction goes this game is pretty barren. Nothing about it is bad, it just has a very artificial feeling to it – the game very much gives the impression that it’s inside of a simulation. I can understand that decision, simulated destruction is still entertaining after all, but it took a little while to get used to. Seeing visible gates where vehicles pass through them and disappear out of existence is one of those immersion breaking elements that you’ll either be bothered by, or you won’t, I think that’s wholly dependent on the player. The vehicles themselves look first-rate though, as do the various explosions and particle effects attributed to them. Certainly – for a game which was very clearly on the lower end of the budget spectrum, I don’t think you’d be able to guess that upon an initial momentary look or two, so it ends up being a fairly mixed experience visually. The same can be said of the games auditory portion – much like its visuals, it excels in one area particularly, and then absolutely struggles (an understatement) in another. I think this area is a little more deserving of forgiveness though, bear with me on this one. I can’t talk about the soundtrack in detail – because, well, for all intents and purposes, there isn’t one. You’ll essentially be driving around with just ambient silence – not dead air though, thankfully (those two things are noticeably different, believe me). Fortunately, you don’t spend all that much time driving in this title, so you don’t have to dwell on it too much. An area where it really shines in this department is in the foley work and sound design. In a game where destruction, chaos and carnage are rife – that’s actually exactly what you want it to sound like, loud, cacophonous, and brutal. I could fill a whole sentence this with an absolute barrage of onomatopoeia – I’ll just say this though, crashes, bangs, wallops and smashes rarely sound as impactful or as satisfying as they do in this game, so this really is an area of the game that excels. I made mention earlier of the fact this is a spiritual sequel to Crash Mode from Burnout – and it really does feel like just that. There are elements of this – that if someone told me they were removed assets from Burnout 3: Takedown, I don’t think that I’d question it. All the things that you remember about Crash Mode from the Burnout games pretty much exists here, even Crashbreakers, conveniently renamed Smashbreakers here, the act of launching and then controlling the trajectory of the husk of your vehicle into even more oncoming traffic to cause even more pandemonium. Danger Zone does however; contain a few slightly newer and interesting wrinkles to keep it fresh and exciting, and not just a tired retread of the past, which it was arguably in danger of becoming. Danger Zone has a scoring metric much like Burnout’s Crash Mode did – yet it also has cash icons littered throughout the various crash zones, which add to your overall score, it works like this. If you get every single icon; you get a $5,000,000 Grand Slam score bonus. So in the pursuit of high scores – and by virtue of that, trophies, this ends up adding an extra element of depth to the experience. Each course is on a global timer, so, in essence, with the score threshold of each course becoming higher and higher, each course ends up becoming almost its own bespoke little puzzle challenge. The challenge then becomes how you go about figuring out the best method of hitting each cash icon (usually scattered in very obscure or hidden places,) and how to use the various Smashbreakers available to you to get bigger vehicles to push you in a specific direction. This is an element of the game that I personally really loved – it made me think, far more than I ever expected I would, going into a game like this. The trophies are fairly straightforward in Danger Zone, I must say – it does require you to get ten Platinum scores, which will be one of the things that you spend the most time doing. To be perfectly honest if you’re fairly diligent in going for the Grand Slam bonuses throughout your playthrough you’ll either get this naturally like I did, or you’ll have to do a very minimal amount of clean up. It’s a fairly straightforward and enjoyable trophy list in that regard. Do I recommend this one? Yes, actually, but I don’t know that I’d recommend just buying this specific game. Honestly? I’d say it’s probably better to purchase the bundle that includes Danger Zone, Danger Zone 2 and Dangerous Driving – it goes on sale pretty often, and you’ll be getting three progressively better games for a decent price. Looks as if it’s time to dive into reviewing Danger Zone 2 soon to see how much it improves upon this game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Little Yakuza 3 Update I'm actually quite close to the platinum now - at least on paper I am, I've literally broken the back of the platinum now too - I've gotten all of the mini-games done that tend to give people any real bother, which are essentially, Pool and Baseball. Thanks @Copanele for the smart idea of hanging some headphones in front of my TV to use as a makeshift aiming reticule, wish I'd thought about that for Yakuza 4 and 5 - that was so much less frustrating thanks to that. Still frustrating though, because some of those pitches are brutal, and having to basically hit eighteen of twenty perfectly can get a little intense. All that I have left as far as the mini-games are some of the gambling ones - which I'm leaving until later so I can gamble higher amounts, as I'm limited by where I am right now by how much I can bet. I'd totally forgotten how weird the massage parlour "mini-game" is. Every Yakuza game seems to have at least one mini-game in it that you absolutely dread someone walking in whilst you're playing and just exclaiming "WHAT THE FUUUUUUU"...... Let's face it, they'd be quite within their rights to do that, when your character essentially - how shall I put this, has a happy accident in his pants? During the massage, and then a picture of a crying baby comes up on the screen. Yes it's weird, let's not think about it anymore, let's just move on, I played it so you don't have to, I guess? For..... erm, completion? Haha I do have a few miscellaneous trophies here and there that I still need to get, so it isn't like it's a straight run to the platinum. Believe it or not I'm actually only in Chapter five of the story, so there's still a lot of that left. I always leave as much of that till last though, so it essentially feels like binge watching a really awesome set of cutscenes with some nice gameplay interspersed. I'm still not quite enamoured with the story - but I think half the problem is already knowing how it plays out - and wanting to get to the bits that I actually know are better paced than where I'm currently at. What about my other goal though? Full 100% completion? That's actually going smoother than I expected. I don't have access to the exact stats because I'm not anywhere near a hideout in the game to check them, Still - looking at the completion list I'm about 49% complete, and that's without having lot's of things available to me like the Colosseum to be able to get more heat actions and weapons ticked off the list of unlockables. So for being in Chapter five of twelve I think that's not bad going so far. My favourite thing of all? Well my favourite thing APART from the Bowlhead kid that lives at Kiryu's orphanage, looking at that stupid haircut makes me laugh out loud even thinking about it. Something I may or may not have sent several screenshots of to various people over the last few days (sorry about that ? I couldn't resist) Kiryu just looks so disappointed every time he looks at him. But I digress. My OTHER favourite thing? Today I unlocked the Komaki Parry and Tiger Drop, my two favourite combat moves across the entirety of the Yakuza series, so now I feel like I'm really BACK. I'd forgotten how satisfying it was sending a fat enemy flying into a rack of bicycles arse first as the screen transitions away in slow-motion back to regular gameplay. So trophy progress is likely to slow down, as I work on a few of the 100% requirements, but I'll still be enjoying my time with the game I suspect. Looking forward to getting whatever gameplay I can in over the weekend. Edited January 15, 2022 by rjkclarke 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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