Popular Post rjkclarke Posted May 28, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 28, 2022 (edited) I Journeyed To Helheim For My Latest Platinum! Platinum #353 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) Done Collect all of the other trophies A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 26 May 2022 : 7:28:02 PM Time Taken to Platinum : 1 day, 18 hours, 56 minutes Platinum Rarity - 41.35% Trophy Number - #16,914 To call Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice an experience is quite frankly an understatement. Let’s get this out of the way first; this game really isn’t for everyone. Even taking its shorter length and limited gameplay out of the equation entirely – it really does ask a whole lot from you as a player on an emotional level. The line “I learnt the hard way.... a life without loss, is one without love” resonated with me so much more than I wanted it to. That REALLY hurt! That being said – I think Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice, is so worth peoples time, as both a game, and as an experience overall. You notice, I keep using the word experience? Mainly because there’s a little part of me that doesn’t quite feel comfortable saying “I had a wonderful time with this” or words to that effect. There’s an almost guilty feeling, that goes part and parcel with why I feel a little anxious about saying I enjoyed it. As if you’re enjoying someone’s suffering. So I’ll just make it very clear, I have very little negative to say about the game, but before I get ahead of myself too much, let’s get into this review. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is an Action Adventure game, developed and published by Ninja Theory, with its PS4 release coming all the way back in 2017. You take the role of Senua, a young female Warrior, battling your way through Helheim, in a quest to save the soul of your beloved. Yes, admittedly, that is an incredibly brief and vague description of the story. I’ll discuss some elements of the story, sure, but this will still be spoiler free. If you’ve played it, you’ll almost certainly know what I’m talking about though. I think anyone who is able to experience (that word again) this beautifully bleak, yet, so very powerful story unfold, whilst knowing as few spoilers as possible, they absolutely should! Senua herself – suffers from psychosis, or in her own words, a curse, or “The Darkness.” When you see a job title in the credits like “Mental Health Supervisor” or words to that effect, it was reassuring to know that the game was as well researched as it was. That did not go unnoticed or unappreciated on my part. I have a little bit of a personal stake in my experience of this game, as mental health issues (I hate that descriptor) run fairly deep in my family, it plagues a fair few of us in various ways (myself included). My Grandfather suffered from Psychosis too, although from what I’m led to believe, not quite in the same way Senua does, yet still quite crippling and haunted him for many years of his life. A selfish part of me, really hopes that mental health struggles don’t manifest themselves within me, any worse than it already has done in some areas. I had read in a few places about how limited the gameplay is in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, before playing it. To be perfectly honest – I think this is a wholly unfair criticism. Whilst on a surface level, there is very little in Hellblade that quite reinvents the wheel gameplay wise, I’m not quite sure it should either. Yes, you could argue the combat is a little basic, but it is functional, smooth and quite satisfying once you get a sense for parry timing. There were parts of the game where I found myself genuinely questioning whether there was any real point to the combat. However, I’m going to fall back to the Douglas Adams quote I love so much of “I’d rather be happy, than right, any day.” Take it from me, there is a point to the combat – from a narrative and thematic perspective, this game would absolutely suffer without it, and part of its core message would be so much less impactful. The more you think about it, the more it works. Even down to the visual elements to it. Each defeated enemy doesn’t visibly die, they just dissipate. It seems like a small thing at first, but this game directly deals with the impact of failing mental health upon a person. Those demons you battle momentarily disappearing, only to reappear further on, stronger and more powerful, is by its very nature, an incredibly potent metaphor. Unfortunately, it’s a crushingly sad one too. No matter how hard you fight against The Darkness, unfortunately sometimes it always finds a way to come back. It’s painful, it’s so thought provoking, but it is brilliant. I’ve even heard the words redundant used when describing Hellblade’s puzzles – redundant is a word I don’t think I’d ever dream of using when it comes to Hellblade’s puzzles. Did they even play the same game? Sure, I could probably concede that they aren’t particularly challenging, but redundant is quite frankly ludicrous. For those that might not be aware, I am very much a puzzle game fan, and, yes, as I alluded to, they aren’t particularly challenging, but they are good. Instead of dwelling on one type, they tend to mix it up, with many different types of puzzle, or at the very least add a new variation to one you might have already seen. They’re versatile, varied and they’re almost always integrated in a way which marries incredibly well with the narrative. One puzzle in particular I’ll be discussing in greater detail soon. Personally, I think, had the puzzles been slightly more challenging, or obtuse, the experience as a whole would suffer substantially as a result, instead of streamlining it. There’s a section of gameplay which is not strictly a puzzle, but it is a fascinating one to play nevertheless. The Blindness Shard Trial – I must say it was my personal favourite. You’re tasked with navigating almost complete darkness, with only a voice as your guide. It is one of the most perfect examples of how the visual (or lack thereof) and audio elements combine to form such a memorable part of the experience. It makes you as a player; hypersensitive to every individual noise and every tiny sliver of vision you’re afforded. It’s one of the finest examples in the game of how synchronised you sometimes feel with Senua’s actions. That slight nagging doubt of “do you trust the voice?” It works incredibly well. I also thought the section of the game involving Valravyn (God of Illusion) were very well designed, the use of environmental manipulation puzzles were rather satisfying to unravel This leads me onto something. Instead of discussing Hellblade’s audio and visual elements separately, in this games case it feels best to discuss them in tandem, as they complement each other to a startlingly powerful extent. There are so many instances during your journey (yes I’m calling it that) through Hellblade, where the audio and visual elements simply, would not work without the other there to synergise with it in a near perfect way. As a by-product of Senua’s psychosis, she is constantly plagued by voices inside her head. She refers to them as furies, but those are not the only voices. Some of those voices are warm, comforting or encouraging. It’s very bittersweet the way the game explores this aspect. I’ll inject a little of myself here, this bit really got under my skin a little. I have never heard voices in my head (lucky me), but I can very much empathise with that constant doubt in your mind, that you can’t do something, or you simply shouldn’t do something, or you aren’t good enough to do something. Poor Senua has that, yet amplified by an unfortunately great amount. It’s uncomfortable, and it’s relentless, but it’s also, absolutely brilliant. There is something very specific in Hellblade that I am eternally grateful for – and to some it might not seem like a worthy talking point, but I think it is. That is, that I’m so very glad that Senua is not conventionally attractive – I’m not suggesting she’s ugly either, she isn’t, not at all. I have a feeling that the developers probably were aware that if she was incredibly attractive, or indeed overly sexualised, then people might feel sympathy for – what they might deem, the wrong reasons. Instead they choose to tell her story in a way that paints her as incredibly strong and endearing despite, her obvious struggles, what she looks like is ultimately not that relevant, but in a good way. An interesting facet of Hellblade, is its ability to never quite let the player feel at ease. It’s realised extraordinarily well in places. The developers really ran with the notion of making you as a player confront something you might not personally be comfortable with. This is something that I wholeheartedly can respect. It unashamedly presents mental health struggles in the cold light of day, and the horrific way it can manifest itself in some people, yet gives you as a player enough space to process what’s going on. It might not seem like much initially, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that Hellblade is paced tremendously. It’s a clever touch, the way in which you learn a story revelation, and then usually have a section where you’re purely moving from place to place. This allows you the time to be able to reflect on everything that has just transpired. When that’s coupled with the excellent sound design, it leads to something very impressive. I’d be hesitant to say that Hellblade is a cinematic game – I feel like that would be misleading, it has an explicit focus on storytelling, and cutscenes, sure, but it very much is a game, it leans very hard into the player interactivity that uniquely affords. They want you to think, and they want you to feel. It’s very clever, as the writing and direction team use this to great effect. What they do incredibly well is use cinematic techniques to enhance the game, and the story as a whole. The use of the camera itself is done particularly well. Sometimes you have control, and sometimes you don’t. Having the camera directly behind Senua, yet at a slight distance was a deliberate element that I thought was fantastic. For me, there were times during my time with Hellblade, where I thought my mere presence as a player was an intrusion upon something. I can only surmise that this was deliberate intent from Ninja Theory. It’s an incredibly subtle and brilliantly unconventional use of film-making techniques. On occasion, Senua will look directly at the camera, not slightly to the side of it, not slightly past it, straight into it. As if she’s staring straight at you, as if she’s addressing you directly. It gave me such an odd feeling, as if I was intruding on a very personal moment, yet it gave me a pang of guilt. The frightened and uncertain look in her face, just compounds that feeling. It’s exactly what I meant earlier, about how the audio and visual elements of Hellblade synergise so fantastically well together. Visually, Hellblade is a real treat. The graphical fidelity is absolutely spectacular, even on a basic launch PS4, which mine is. It’s a game that very much deserves to have some powerhouse graphical capabilities to back up the absolutely genius (yes I said it) artistic design that was painstakingly crafted for this game. When I say painstakingly, I mean it too. Every little thing has a point, and a purpose. Littered throughout the game are so many reoccurring and horrific sights that really do make you double take on occasion. I thought it was rather inspired, the way that the game forces you to directly confront a lot of the imagery. You don’t see it once then look away, you’re forced to see it multiple times, and you, as a player are presented with no choice but to consider why you might be seeing exactly what you’re seeing. I am genuinely not using hyperbole here, I honestly believe Hellblade has some of the very best sound design that I have ever encountered in a video game. I would love to be able to see the timeline, of all the soundscapes that were created for this game. They must have looked breathtaking, even the smallest soundscapes can look like a city skyline of waveforms. The amount of effort that must have gone into this aspect of the game alone is incredible. My mole people (sound designers) brethren and sisteren (is that a word? It is now) absolutely did themselves proud with the sheer scale of the sound design found within this game, and this is saying nothing of the incredibly crisp quality of it. Not only is the foley work spectacular, the ways the voices in Senua’s head are handled are terrific. It’s the relentlessness of them, that do such a tremendous job of making you question how Senua is even able to move forward at times, especially when coupled with how subtly lucid and peaceful the moments where she hears a friendlier voices tend to be. I am going to play this game in the future with a good set of headphones. I owe it to myself, as I really feel as if it would enhance an already fantastic game even further. I suspect it could be twice as harrowing for the voices to sound like they were in my own head. I can do nothing but appreciate the incredible ambition for a relatively small development team to put as much focus as they did on just sound. Take it from me though; it’s still incredibly impactful even through surround sound. Recording binaural audio (replicating as close as possible to what the human ear would hear) is tricky, even with really good equipment. I’ve tried making pseudo- binaural audio myself, using two microphones, and it’s a process that requires a lot of patience, yet it’s very intriguing. I’ll leave a link to an interesting article about it, if anyone wants to read further about the process (I don’t blame you, if you don’t, it’s bad enough probably having to hear me gush about it). As a massive sound geek myself, I was pretty blown away by how breathtakingly good this game’s sound is on an auditory level. All those fantastic individual elements are brilliantly complimented by a real powerhouse soundtrack, provided by David Garcia and Andy La Plegua. Using the term emotional rollercoaster feels a little inappropriate given the subject matter, but the way in which the soundtrack can fluctuate between almost euphorically purposeful and powerful, to mournful sadness, does a wonderful job of encapsulating the constant inner battle that is unfortunately experienced by Senua and so many others like her. The song that plays over the credits, Illusion by VNV Nation, absolutely got to me. It has a really dull beat to it, but what that dull beat does, is make you really pay attention to the lyrics, which then make you think about everything you’ve just experienced. It’s something that Transistor also did in such an effective way. It would be wrong of me not to mention how spectacularly the game handles motion capture and voice acting, another near perfect marriage of the audio and visual. To me the thing that makes it so very impressive, is that Melina Juergens (Senua) hadn’t voice acted or performed motion capture before taking the role. Take a second or two to get your head around that if you’ve played the game. She is clearly an abundantly talented lady. She manages to voice act incredibly well, giving a layered performance where she does such a nuanced job of displaying the anguish, pain and suffering that has permeated Senua’s entire being for years and years. It has a real pay off too, when so much of that long-caged emotion is just set free almost instantaneously. Juergens also motion captures Senua’s facial expressions brilliantly. Whether she’s scared, devastated, pained or occasionally quite lucid and euphoric, she absolutely excels at getting you, the player, to fully understand where Senua is at mentally. Do I recommend Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice? Yes I do, I really do! The thing is, I’m very aware this game wouldn’t be for everyone, or something everyone could universally enjoy. I strongly feel like this isn’t a game where trophies should be the motivator. Yes, they’re simple and pretty easy, but if that’s all you’re interested in, I don’t think you’re likely to experience the game the way the developers would like you to. I think it’s very much something people should play just as a means to further understand peoples struggles with mental health, perhaps even your own. However, it can be brutal, and it probably won’t be a joyous experience. Just like counselling, you have to go into the process with your mind fairly open. I absolutely love the fact that video games have evolved to the point where they can tell a story like this. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crikey that was a hell of a cathartic one to write up, but more than a little emotionally draining! Much like the game itself I suppose. That's one more game where I got to discuss Mental Health in the month of May, so I suppose that's a plus too. Big thanks to @DrunkenEngineer for being the one to go hard with recommending this to me last year! I'm so glad that you did, this really is one hell of a game! I guess this is another bit of proof that I do listen when people recommend me things, even if it does take me a while to get to them! When I started writing this review it was Friday, and now it's Saturday..... Oops ? Odd day already as one of my best friends actually showed up on this site, and posted a comment in here. How awesome! Yet so incredibly unexpected! Much love though dude! Catch you all in the next one folks! Which will be Steins;Gate 0's Classic Review! Edited May 28, 2022 by rjkclarke 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted May 28, 2022 Share Posted May 28, 2022 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yes, yes it is! Good guess! Well, I had to go look after you said that, and yes you have played Hustle Kings, you've got a whopping 5%.... and I have a gargantuan 6 % ..... I can't imagine that will change anytime soon, I just could not get on with that game. Any game where the pool balls feel like they're made of concrete, did not translate to a particularly fun time. The funny thing is, even though we have such tiny completion percentages for that game, we still have an A rank haha. Sometimes when you know, you just know. You know? Only 1% behind you? I'm impressed with myself haha OMG we have an A rank too?! Geez that's crazy. 9 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Exactly! I'm sure plenty of us will be discussing that in the future too once I actually throw that first list of games together to write that little thing about GREAT GAMES, BAD TROPHY LISTS, and you know the other side of that one too! I really like the game Killer Is Dead, but it is probably one of the least enjoyable grinds to a platinum, as it ends up being one long money grind as you've pretty much done anything that had satisfying gameplay before that point. Absolutely! Think it'll be a really interesting feature and will generate a lot of good discussion! Never played Killer is Dead, but don't like the sound of a long grind. They are never good in a game no matter how good the game is. Long grinding is only good in Skateboarding lol 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't blame her, if anything that original RE game definitely instils the fear in you that every single animal or plant you come across might be potentially lethal Haha absolutely true! It's a remake of my favourite RE game so of course I had to start her with that one, and it gave her at least a glimpse of how old school RE was. Don't get me wrong, she enjoyed RE1R definitely. Of course overall, I think she will have an easier time and potentially more fun in a way with RE2R with how that game was remade. Though Mr.X might be a problem lol 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Don't worry pal! I'm here to correct your mistake..... ..... what I think you meant to say was.... Haha! Quite! 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: So much this! I really feel you on that one... That was the exact situation I found myself in on Professional Difficulty on RE4 recently, I had like 6 full heals and more ammo than I would ever have needed going into the final boss fight. Poor Mr EyeMouth didn't stand a chance..... Bloody merchant made a pretty penny out of me in that playthrough, trust me haha! Haha, well yeah but he would fleece anyone. He knows exactly where to be at exactly the right moment will all the goods you need. I mean, how does he know where to be? How does he carry all that inventory with him? What is he doing with the money? lol 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'm hoping it gets some nice little trophy lists out there for games that pretty much stand no chance of getting the full remake or remaster treatment..... Be a nice way for a new audience to experience some of those obscure yet awesome games. Weird little esoteric games like Silent Bomber for example, that game was very cool, and actually ran so well for a PS1 game, but it's one I couldn't ever see getting a remaster. Syphon Filter has actually held up fairly well. I mean the running animations are a bit awkward, the main guy runs like he's crapped himself, and is desperately trying to stop something falling down his trouser leg, but other than that it does play quite decently. Good chance you might enjoy that one! Likewise, it'd be good to see a game that both @DrBloodmoney and I are pretty fond of, in Shadow of Memories. That game is so odd, but it's one I'd quite like to be able to add to my trophy list. I wouldn't say no to the OG Resident Evil Trilogy either, might give me an excuse to finally play Nemesis. Despite the fact his tinny voice still REALLY UNSETTLES me even now Yeah of course that would be wonderful. Obviously I'm here getting excited about big games like RE, FF etc but yeah games that have no chance of any remakes or continuations of franchises/stories etc would be really cool to get platinums for to give new people a reason to try them out. Could generate interest in a new game if possible. Either way it would be nice to show off that game on your trophy list. I did play a Syphon Filter back in the day, can't remember which (There was more than 1 right?) but yeah would be cool defo. Haven't heard of Shadow of Memories. If that pops up, I'll need more info about it please lol Either way, you have to play RE3: Nemesis. I know it's old school nowadays of course but it's still a classic. A fantastic game which to me still holds up. Nemesis was an awesome enemy. 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: It's one of those series where it kind of has to be all or nothing almost. They have such a rich tapestry of lore in them, and a weirdly confusing continuity that does make perfect sense if you play all the games, that just putting up one would be a bit of a shame! But yes, I hope for one at some point, as they just don't seem likely to get remasters. My fingers and toes are crossed Keep them all crossed for as long as you can! Might get painful if you do it for too long lol Here's hoping it comes to pass for you, even if it is just one game. It'd be better than nothing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 Thanks for the shoutout! Glad you finally got around to playing Hellblade. It was a fantastic little game, too bad the sequel won't be coming to PlayStation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 29, 2022 Author Share Posted May 29, 2022 (edited) On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: Only 1% behind you? I'm impressed with myself haha OMG we have an A rank too?! Geez that's crazy. Yes! Our completion rate for that game truly is epic.... ?I'll settle for the A Rank.... Something is going to have to happen to really want to make me touch that game again, and I'm not even sure a server closure warning would do it ? On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: Never played Killer is Dead, but don't like the sound of a long grind. They are never good in a game no matter how good the game is. Long grinding is only good in Skateboarding lol It's a really good, but really weird game. It's made by the same team and creative mind behind Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes, and others. It's one of the perfect examples of trophies extending the life of a game in an altogether bad way. I don't think any less of the game for it, but it's a shame when you have unfortunate trophy lists like that in games! On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: Haha absolutely true! It's a remake of my favourite RE game so of course I had to start her with that one, and it gave her at least a glimpse of how old school RE was. Don't get me wrong, she enjoyed RE1R definitely. Of course overall, I think she will have an easier time and potentially more fun in a way with RE2R with how that game was remade. Though Mr.X might be a problem lol That's funny actually, I think Resident Evil Remake, is actually my favourite Resident Evil game.... So your favourite is the original, and mine is the remake haha ?..... I'm glad she enjoyed it, there's a good chance she might very much enjoy the Resident Evil 2 Remake also, from what I've seen of the gameplay it looks lovely and fluid, so it'll probably feel a whole lot more modern for her. Like I said, just Shoot Mr X's Hat off so he feels naked and runs away ashamed haha. On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: Haha, well yeah but he would fleece anyone. He knows exactly where to be at exactly the right moment will all the goods you need. I mean, how does he know where to be? How does he carry all that inventory with him? What is he doing with the money? lol Maybe he's Ada dressed up in a big coat and false accent, she just puts it in an item box somewhere, that are conveniently linked together.... That's an explanation haha. Would also explain why there's no item box available in Resident Evil 4..... she's hogging them to herself. On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: Yeah of course that would be wonderful. Obviously I'm here getting excited about big games like RE, FF etc but yeah games that have no chance of any remakes or continuations of franchises/stories etc would be really cool to get platinums for to give new people a reason to try them out. Could generate interest in a new game if possible. Either way it would be nice to show off that game on your trophy list. I think that's more where I'm at.... I'd be pretty excited to see games I already love show up there, of course... I just think it'd be a great opportunity to breathe some new life into some games that have become a little bit forgotten, or lost to time somewhat. Not everyone keeps all their old consoles, or is too young to have played them at the time, so I'm very much excited at the idea of awesome games finding themselves a newer audience and appreciation. On 28/05/2022 at 8:39 AM, The_Kopite said: I did play a Syphon Filter back in the day, can't remember which (There was more than 1 right?) but yeah would be cool defo. Haven't heard of Shadow of Memories. If that pops up, I'll need more info about it please lol Either way, you have to play RE3: Nemesis. I know it's old school nowadays of course but it's still a classic. A fantastic game which to me still holds up. Nemesis was an awesome enemy. There's 3 Syphon Filter's that I can think of, without checking anyway. So I expect you played one of the 3, the second one starts off in a Hospital if that rings any bells? Shadow of Memories is really bizarre, but it's a game that I rather liked. I have always been a sucker for very odd and unusual games that don't even have particularly conventional gameplay, If it did come up on PSPlus Premium, you can be sure Doc and I would probably be trying to encourage as many folks as possible to play it. Well if I don't play that one, I'll definitely play the Remake version of 3.... at least in that one Nemesis isn't as terrifying haha 3 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: Thanks for the shoutout! Glad you finally got around to playing Hellblade. It was a fantastic little game, too bad the sequel won't be coming to PlayStation. My pleasure man! Thanks for the recommendation! I'm glad I finally played it even if it took me a while, it was definitely worthwhile, even if I did feel more than a little emotionally drained afterwards. I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure how exactly I feel about the sequel not coming to PlayStation..... I'm sure if it's available on PC you can let me know how awesome it is! I'll either watch a playthrough of it, or just play it if I ever buy another Xbox console. The thing is, I'm not even entirely sure it needed a sequel, or a prequel, wherever it ends up being in Senua's personal timeline. I know there's enough wiggle room for them to do one, but I don't think I would have been surprised if there hadn't been one. Either way I'll be interested to see how it turns out. Edited May 29, 2022 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: My pleasure man! Thanks for the recommendation! I'm glad I finally played it even if it took me a while, it was definitely worthwhile, even if I did feel more than a little emotionally drained afterwards. I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure how exactly I feel about the sequel not coming to PlayStation..... I'm sure if it's available on PC you can let me know how awesome it is! I'll either watch a playthrough of it, or just play it if I ever buy another Xbox console. The thing is, I'm not even entirely sure it needed a sequel, or a prequel, wherever it ends up being in Senua's personal timeline. I know there's enough wiggle room for them to do one, but I don't think I would have been surprised if there hadn't been one. Either way I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I agree, I’m not sure this is a game that really needed any more content. It will come to PC given that Microsoft treats both Xbox and PC as one ecosystem, so there’s that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 8 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said: I agree, I’m not sure this is a game that really needed any more content. It will come to PC given that Microsoft treats both Xbox and PC as one ecosystem, so there’s that. I do worry if they set it after the first game, or even before then they run the risk of just turning Senua into a misery sponge, which I don't really like to see happen to any character. Poor old Bentley from the Sly Cooper games kind of got that unfortunate fate. I think that might be a case where I'll default to your take on it when you inevitably get to playing Hellblade II I think! So don't be surprised if I send you (probably) annoying messages when you're playing it. I'm off to post up a review in a minute as it happens. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted May 30, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 30, 2022 (edited) Classic Review Platinum #176 Steins;Gate 0 (PS4) To the Promised Place 100% Completed Steins;Gate 0. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 8 July 2018 : 2:21:07 AM Time Taken to Platinum : 1 week, 20 hours, 7 minutes Platinum Rarity - 59.81% Trophy Number - #9,345 Picking up where we left off on the previous page of the thread, with the original Steins;Gate, it’s time to have a little dive into Steins;Gate 0 (which for ease I’ll just call Steins Gate 0 from here on). I wanted to discuss Steins Gate 0 this month of May, as it is still Mental Health Awareness month. Whilst my opinion of Steins Gate 0 as a whole is a little all over the place (more on that the further we get into it,) I think its depiction of the trials and tribulations that come part and parcel with mental health struggles are handled with an incredible amount of thought in this game. So I thought what better time than now, to discuss them. So without further ado – it is time to discuss Japanese Shaman Girls, dystopian potential futures, and a sadness that not all of us can truly understand, but one many of us can probably empathise with on some level. Steins Gate 0 was released in 2015, once more taking the form of a Visual Novel, and once again being developed by 5pb. Neither truly a sequel, prequel or really midquel, it fits in in a fairly unique way, but fit in it does. It is also fairly interesting in its overall positioning in the Steins Gate timeline chronologically. After an incredibly catastrophic experience, we find protagonist Okabe a little further on (but not too much) in his life, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, heavily medicated and in the process of therapy. It’s an incredibly interesting direction for them to take with the character, and one that has a monumentally feel-good payoff at the games conclusion. In hopefully the least convoluted way possible, Steins Gate 0 takes place during one of the alternative world lines created within the original Steins Gate game. If you’ve played the original, and can remember it, it leads on directly from the penultimate ending of the original Steins Gate. If that’s the simplified version of events – just imagine how complicated it would be, for me to try and explain all the different strands of context I’d need to give you, about how each world line was created. We’d be here all day. Ultimately, each version of an ending can be considered canon to some degree. Due to Okabe’s unique ability of “Reading Steiner” his ability to retain the events of the less open ended branches, so even if some of your choices “felt wrong” you can still be safe in the knowledge that they did indeed happen. In a sense it’s an interesting way for the game to reassure the player that they aren’t wasting their time. As we’re dealing with a Visual Novel here – gameplay is, as to be expected pretty much at a bare minimum again. You’ll spend more time reading than you ever will, pushing buttons. There’s a slight element of player input though, in that you can indulge in conversations with other characters through a text messenger feature named RINE. They don’t wholly affect the outcome of the narrative, but they do a wonderful job of capturing both the characters themselves, through the use of emoticons, or purely the way they specifically choose to abbreviate text. It feels wholly authentic. I’ve got to hand it to the writers for going the extra mile in making the interactions feel as authentic as possible. As always, these reviews are spoiler free, so I’ll have to be pretty careful about what I say regarding the story. In the case of a visual novel, this is doubly important, as you have no other real gameplay element to fall back on. I still think I can skirt around spoilers without ruining anyone’s potential future enjoyment, so let’s get into it a bit. For what it’s worth, my feelings towards the story of Steins Gate 0 are not overwhelmingly positive ones. There are things I genuinely love in this game, and those that – despite it being a rather strong word, to say I hate them, unfortunately feels accurate. As a whole I enjoyed it – don’t get me wrong, but I think the narrative is more than a little all over the place. I have been reliably informed that the anime version of Steins Gate 0’s plot is significantly better than the game though. It’s a trap a lot of pieces of fiction that are based on the notion of time travel can fall into. I feel as if sometimes that freedom that comes with it – gives the writers a false sense of entitlement that any and every twist will work, and be accepted – because we can just explain it away with time travel. I just can’t escape saying it, some of the twists in Steins Gate 0 are utterly ludicrous. It undoubtedly excels when it comes to humour, which might surprise some of you, when you take into account what I’m about to discuss regarding Okabe’s character. Returning characters from the original game are written with the same level of detail they were before, and newer ones like Maho and Leskenin (the Japanese Shaman girl, scene with him made me laugh so much,) fit in so astoundingly well as if they’d been there the whole time. One of my favourite moments from the two Steins Gate games I’ve played so far, comes in the form of the Sergeant Clean section, where the characters are all being forced to clean up the lab, and it’s so utterly farcical and hilarious, that you can’t help but experience that section with a huge smile plastered across your face the whole time. Fun fact, I even named one of my pets in Warframe, Sergeant Clean! An aspect of the story I really do like, a lot, is the allegory between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, in relation to the friendly rivalry between Maho and Kurisu. If you’re well versed in the history between the two historical figures or have just seen the film Amadeus, then you’ll almost certainly be able to appreciate how true the in-game relationship feels to that of Mozart and Salieri. It’s fantastically compelling, especially the further the game explores Maho’s character. The game even uses pieces of classical music in sections too, which feel tonally appropriate where they’re heard. Steins Gate 0 made a very bold move by characterising Okabe the way that they chose to do in this game. He is such a far cry from the Okabe you become familiar with in the previous game. They also utilise dramatic irony to a particularly clever degree. We, as an audience, wholly understand why Okabe feels the way that he does – yet, as he is the only one who truly retains his memories of the alternate timelines, none of the characters quite understand how much Okabe truly sacrificed for all of them, and why he feels as broken and lost as he does. It’s incredibly effective, bittersweet and brutal, as it makes you empathise with him all the more, as he’s being chastised for being a little miserable, or not quite himself. That being said – it was a wonderful touch from the writers to allow Faris the chance to appear to be a more supportive friend – as we as an audience know from the first game, that internally she’s suffering with some of the same feelings Okabe is. I strongly feel as if the way Okabe’s depression was written in Steins Gate 0 was genuinely fantastic. There was so much time dedicated to how it affects not just him, but those around him. This is something that is often overlooked in many forms of media. Even if you personally haven’t felt exactly the way Okabe has (because, let’s be real, nobody has). The team or writers wrote his internal struggles with depression in a way that many of us can both understand and probably empathise with, to some degree. They present them as real and tangible, something I thought was truly important. Nothing about it felt like an afterthought. Whether it’s the debilitating sadness that comes from the awareness that someone is missing from your life, one you know shouldn’t be, or the crippling feeling that “whatever you do, nothing will change.” This last one is something that is only amplified in Okabe’s case, and judging by the nature of the story it does a particularly good job of manifesting itself within his character. It’s such a stark contrast from his almost eternally optimistic, effervescent and more humorous nature of the character in the previous game. Even small subtle details, like peoples hesitance to be sociable, when they feel like this (something I personally struggle with on occasion) are represented here. Because he is the main character you’re presented with an internal monologue of Okabe’s thoughts, it’s quite crushing at times, listening to his internal struggle of not wanting to be around people he loves, and equally love him. One of the things I genuinely appreciated the most, is that Okabe’s mental health struggles are not washed away in an instant, like they unfortunately are in some forms of media. The game takes place over a longer period of time than the original Steins Gate visual novel does – affording the writers the chance to explore “the process” of recovery, including all the bumps in the road, the twists and turns of this story bring along with it. The moment that the final ending affords you is one that truly feels earned, for both the character, and for yourself. Cathartic really is the most appropriate word here. Visually Steins Gate 0 is just as good as the original is – if not perhaps a little better. It retains the same style visually too. So if you enjoyed that, then you’ll almost certainly enjoy this. There’s a lot more variety on show this time around, the setting being the latter part of the year, means that certain characters appearances and clothing change to represent that. Faris for example, wearing a Santa-ified version of her Cat Maid costume was something I thought was particularly interesting. Steins Gate 0 has a broader scope as a narrative, so it contains a lot more location changes, and I’m glad the art-style represents that. A few of the branches the game takes lead to a dystopian future. These are some of my favourite areas of art-design in the game. Not only is it fascinating from a curiosity stand point, seeing the way certain characters were envisioned when older, years on, in a war torn and ravaged world was an excellent touch. Some of these are harrowing, and others are reassuring to know that no matter what happens, some core aspects of these characters will remain, in the most trying of times. Steins Gate 0 has a fairly interesting soundtrack, a little less memorable than the original perhaps – personally I think it could do with a few more ambient pieces, to compliment some of the longer sections of reading. Some of the quieter more reflective pieces are excellent, tracks like Isolation are terrific at giving you a sense of Okabe’s current mental state. I could never say that overall it was bad though; some of the more bombastic pieces are very good. For the most part they compliment the narrative rather well, and that is all you can ask for really. The majority of the voice cast from the original game return, and give some wonderful performances here once again. Miyano Mamoru returns as Okabe, giving an absolute powerhouse performance once again. He plays every facet of Okabe incredibly well in this game, I felt the way he portrayed a heavily medicated, dull and listless Okabe, was so incredibly well done. It’d be an easy thing to get very wrong, but he handled it incredibly well. Overall, it’s layered, incredibly subtle when it has to be, and the return of “Hououin Kyouma” is such a fantastic and important moment, which if you’re really invested in the story will put both a smile and probably some tears on your face. Do I recommend Steins Gate 0? I think so – just be aware that you’re going to have a few very unusual twists and turns in the story. I feel like your enjoyment of this is more up to the person rather than making a blanket statement that someone would, or indeed wouldn’t like it. It feels a little lousy to say it, but I think I said it best when I was discussing it with one of my best friends earlier that it goes a little too heavy into “stock anime trope” territory in a few places, so whether that bothers you or not is ultimately up to you. As it’s a visual novel, the trophies aren’t much of a talking point, but with liberal use of saving you’re never likely to miss anything. I’m looking forward to what they change about Steins Gate 0 Elite, when that releases, as I hope that cuts out some of the more prominently outlandish plot points that this game has, like the anime version apparently does. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another classic review down, and another one I could tie-in nicely with Mental Health awareness month! I'd call both of those things a win! I'll throw out a tag for @insaneloki... because to be perfectly real, I never would have actually played this game or the previous one if it weren't for him. So it's your own fault you get bombarded with messages of SGT CLEAN, even four years later! Also,those banner images for both of the Steins Gate games really do look great don't they, those are definitely some of the most visually appealing ones that I have up in the thread now I think. I really do love those. So I'll let you in on what the next classic review is, and that's going to be Alice: Madness Returns. It's one of the few requests that I have left, I think I have maybe less than five left now, so although I took a while, I am getting to them even though I'm taking the odd detour. Half the problem (which isn't a problem, just for me it is ?) is that those of you that made requests, made requests of games that I really love, so they take an age and a bit to actually write about, but I'm trying to make them as good as I possibly can, so I am making the effort even if it might not seem like it. I might have something in-between Alice:Madness Returns though, but we'll see whether that actually materialises or not. Either way, catch you all in the next one folks! Edited May 30, 2022 by rjkclarke 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Yes! Our completion rate for that game truly is epic.... I'll settle for the A Rank.... Something is going to have to happen to really want to make me touch that game again, and I'm not even sure a server closure warning would do it lol from the sounds of it, I doubt a server closure would tbh, though overall your completion percentage for all trophies is so high, maybe one day you will be tempted haha 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: It's a really good, but really weird game. It's made by the same team and creative mind behind Lollipop Chainsaw and No More Heroes, and others. It's one of the perfect examples of trophies extending the life of a game in an altogether bad way. I don't think any less of the game for it, but it's a shame when you have unfortunate trophy lists like that in games! O ok, interesting. Never played Lollipop Chainsaw or No More Heroes either but I know of those games and their unique styles. Ah yes that is a definite shame, and sounds like a good game to talk about for that particular subject area! 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's funny actually, I think Resident Evil Remake, is actually my favourite Resident Evil game.... So your favourite is the original, and mine is the remake haha ..... I'm glad she enjoyed it, there's a good chance she might very much enjoy the Resident Evil 2 Remake also, from what I've seen of the gameplay it looks lovely and fluid, so it'll probably feel a whole lot more modern for her. Like I said, just Shoot Mr X's Hat off so he feels naked and runs away ashamed haha. Haha well the Remake gets extremely close to the original for me, but the nostalgia plays a big part for the reminder and the awesomely cheesy live action intro and the wonderful Shakespearean dialogue and voice acting haha. The Remake of RE1 is a wonderful game in it's own right. Love how the backgrounds looks, how detailed they are and how impressive the atmosphere is in that game. It's my 2nd favourite RE game. There is a trophy if I remember correctly for shooting Mr X's hat off haha Yeah she will enjoy it I'll bet. All the autosaves will help lots too. At the moment, helping her get through the end of Cat Quest to platinum that. She is excited by the prospect of us playing CQ2 together and earning trophies together. 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Maybe he's Ada dressed up in a big coat and false accent, she just puts it in an item box somewhere, that are conveniently linked together.... That's an explanation haha. Would also explain why there's no item box available in Resident Evil 4..... she's hogging them to herself. Damn, you know I reckon you've cracked it! Bet Leon did as well and he was enjoying just standing around, doing some purchasing from his love interest lol 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I think that's more where I'm at.... I'd be pretty excited to see games I already love show up there, of course... I just think it'd be a great opportunity to breathe some new life into some games that have become a little bit forgotten, or lost to time somewhat. Not everyone keeps all their old consoles, or is too young to have played them at the time, so I'm very much excited at the idea of awesome games finding themselves a newer audience and appreciation. Yes absolutely. I'll bet a lot of people share your opinion. Just hopefuly Sony get it right, in terms of pricing individually for people who do not want to sign up for the highest tier. Also in terms of the quality of the games they put up, as there are issues with them using PAL 50Hz versions and whatnot, and also hopefully pursuading as many other companies as possible to implement trophies on these games. Sadly Sony have a split history of getting things right and ballsing up other things. We will see how this plays out. 18 hours ago, rjkclarke said: There's 3 Syphon Filter's that I can think of, without checking anyway. So I expect you played one of the 3, the second one starts off in a Hospital if that rings any bells? Shadow of Memories is really bizarre, but it's a game that I rather liked. I have always been a sucker for very odd and unusual games that don't even have particularly conventional gameplay, If it did come up on PSPlus Premium, you can be sure Doc and I would probably be trying to encourage as many folks as possible to play it. Well if I don't play that one, I'll definitely play the Remake version of 3.... at least in that one Nemesis isn't as terrifying haha It doesn't to be honest but who knows which one I played. I remember enjoying it for what that's worth lol don't think I finished it however. I can imagine that you and Doc would, so I look forward to your combined selling pitch to others for the game haha Got RE3R sat on the shelf, haven't been able to start it yet. Absolutely from what I've heard Nemesis isn't as terrifying though no. Seems to have been quite scripted which is sad for me but we will see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 On 5/15/2022 at 3:00 PM, rjkclarke said: If you want to read the almost opposites day version of my review, from someone who isn't as much of a fan of point-and-click adventures and doesn't like claymation, then I'll leave a link to @realm722's review of it. If you wanted to see where both of us sit on it. I'll leave it here. There are a lot of very valid points in that review, which is why I mentioned in mine how whether or not you enjoy this or not will more than likely come from how inclined you are towards claymation and point-and-click adventures. I have been so swamped with sports for the last month that I didn't get much of a chance to check out many threads other than my own but good read! I think your enjoyment of the game will come down to visual preference. After reading your glowing review I went back and read my own and thought I was a jerk lmao. I honestly had no idea that Napoleon frigging Dynamite voiced the villain. I was gonna fault myself for forgetting so many details but then I realized it's nearly been a year since I've played it(Aug 2021) which.. holy crap time evaporates man. On 5/28/2022 at 0:05 AM, rjkclarke said: My mole people (sound designers) brethren and sisteren (is that a word? It is now) absolutely did themselves proud with the sheer scale of the sound design found within this game, and this is saying nothing of the incredibly crisp quality of it. Not only is the foley work spectacular, the ways the voices in Senua’s head are handled are terrific. It’s the relentlessness of them, that do such a tremendous job of making you question how Senua is even able to move forward at times, especially when coupled with how subtly lucid and peaceful the moments where she hears a friendlier voices tend to be. You actually made me curious to look up if it was a word and it is lmao, though it's spelled "sistren" which makes sense given its inverse is "brethren". Your review affirms everything I've ever heard about Hellblade. Gameplay is serviceable while the story and experience are sensational. I've avoided it for the longest time as the gore elements with graphics of that fidelity tend to not really be in my wheelhouse but I should give it a brief watch on YouTube to see if it's my speed. 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Do I recommend Steins Gate 0? I think so – just be aware that you’re going to have a few very unusual twists and turns in the story. I feel like your enjoyment of this is more up to the person rather than making a blanket statement that someone would, or indeed wouldn’t like it. It feels a little lousy to say it, but I think I said it best when I was discussing it with one of my best friends earlier that it goes a little too heavy into “stock anime trope” territory in a few places, so whether that bothers you or not is ultimately up to you. As it’s a visual novel, the trophies aren’t much of a talking point, but with liberal use of saving you’re never likely to miss anything. I thought it was really interesting you reviewed Steins Gate as I never would have guessed you'd played it! I've gotta congratulate you on your diverse taste. I always try to play push myself to play outside of my comfort zone but a super wacky anime visual novel is where I'll draw the line. My only experience with the franchise is that through one of my fave YouTubers/streamers Joseph Anderson and he QUIT playing the game midway thru cuz.... Spoiler he literally could not stomach the plot line of eating more vegetabels would change the gender of one of the characters lmao Glad I could finally catch up, keep up the great work! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 First and foremost, sorry to hear about your Great Uncle. These things really do like to happen in bunches sometimes? Secondly, sheesh. Two pages later... and two reviews I initially missed! I didn't learn my lesson the first time, it seems.. well, time to catch up! On 5/5/2022 at 9:36 AM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #351 LEGO DC Super-Villains (PS4) Dude I've got a buddy who tried to get me into Lego games back in the PS2 days, crazy they're still thriving like they are! Maybe at long last I'll keep an eye out... On 5/8/2022 at 6:06 PM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #33 WSC Real 2011 (PS3) I've likely said this before, but I love your love of snooker! Mad props for the insane patience you have with these games, man... they terrify the shit out of me. I suck so hopelessly at mere open world pool mini-games? On 5/15/2022 at 0:00 PM, rjkclarke said: Armikrog (PS4) Dang man, for whatever reason I can't crop these for shit today? I'm intrigued! From the soundtrack to Rob Paulsen and Jon Heder to that claymation style. I'd never even heard of this, but this might be another one for me to watch out for in a sale. Unfortunately there isn't a new sale every two weeks or anything, so I'll just hope for the best. On 5/20/2022 at 5:03 PM, rjkclarke said: Resident Evil 4 (PS4) Excellent work! Maybe it is a good thing I put off Res 4, I wasn't gonna be able to compete with this?? I really liked how you talked about RE villains being a high point til 5, it wasn't something I'd really thought about before. Obviously I can't speak for 6 but you know what I mean! Also I do remember marveling at how such a seemingly short amount of time there was between Leon's first day on the job in a small town's police force and him being a special agent doing two story flips out of windows. Fighting Umbrella just does things to a man, I suppose! I'm not sure I 100% agree with your take on the controls, as I don't feel they necessarily added to the atmosphere, but on the other hand if this reissue(master?) of the game came equipped with squeaky clean controls, I do think it might feel overly sanitized. One of my favorite things about Resident Evil's music in general is the typewriter room themes! That brief moment of serenity, especially recognizing that brevity in the moment, is such a brilliant addition! Dang. A lot I wanna talk about but then I fear that when I finally get around to writing about this I'll be out of material?? On 5/25/2022 at 6:06 PM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #173 Steins;Gate (PS3) Ah, where the visual novel love began! In all likelihood this isn't one I'll check out, but I always appreciate having a good idea for a story (that intro does sound like a solid hook) and managing to keep that energy going properly. Also appreciate female characters who are given writing that goes beyond "check out these luscious melon breasts LOOK AT EM!!" I can't remember what writer/director it was, but he was being praised for writing strong female characters and merely responded something along the lines of "yeah, because I write them as people." Hmm... Roman Polanski? Woody Allen? I'm sure it was one of those guys? On 5/27/2022 at 9:05 PM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #353 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) So I read this... On 5/27/2022 at 9:05 PM, rjkclarke said: The line “I learnt the hard way.... a life without loss, is one without love” resonated with me so much more than I wanted it to. That REALLY hurt! ...and I think I was sold there. I do love me some bleak-but-beautiful! And mental supervisor approved to boot?? Come on, now. I really appreciate how deeply this seems to delve into how mental illness actually feels - whatever it may be, there's a common link of not always being in charge of your thoughts and not always knowing how to stop them, and I like how this game seems to go about that. Also: On 5/27/2022 at 9:05 PM, rjkclarke said: There is something very specific in Hellblade that I am eternally grateful for – and to some it might not seem like a worthy talking point, but I think it is. That is, that I’m so very glad that Senua is not conventionally attractive – I’m not suggesting she’s ugly either, she isn’t, not at all. I have a feeling that the developers probably were aware that if she was incredibly attractive, or indeed overly sexualised, then people might feel sympathy for – what they might deem, the wrong reasons. Instead they choose to tell her story in a way that paints her as incredibly strong and endearing despite, her obvious struggles, what she looks like is ultimately not that relevant, but in a good way. I love this. I know sex sells and all that, but for somethin like this it would be reeeaaaaallly out of place, and this was absolutely the right call. This sounds wonderful, and I'm absolutely about it. On 5/29/2022 at 6:23 PM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #176 Steins;Gate 0 (PS4) Not sure I'm as about this one though. However! Anything that can elicit a comparison to Amadeus can't be THAT bad! This is another one that sounds like it tackles mental health really well (what a coincidence! Did you hear that there was a challenge for that??), and I think the fact that it portrays feelings of unsociability and the like so well, and yet is ultimately a bit fumbled, is to say the least a bit disappointing. Whew! As usual, you are killing it! Sorry for typing up a novel again, I'm really gonna try and do a better job of keeping up? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: Platinum #353 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) This game man...this goddamn game. I can't believe how much I loved it really. It's one of a kind, definitely niche, but my god it hits like a truck. Or well like Surtr when you mistime your dodge On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: To call Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice an experience is quite frankly an understatement. Let’s get this out of the way first; this game really isn’t for everyone. Even taking its shorter length and limited gameplay out of the equation entirely – it really does ask a whole lot from you as a player on an emotional level. The line “I learnt the hard way.... a life without loss, is one without love” resonated with me so much more than I wanted it to. That REALLY hurt! That is completely true. This game is not for everyone. But for the target audience...wow it really does ask a lot indeed. On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: That being said – I think Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice, is so worth peoples time, as both a game, and as an experience overall. You notice, I keep using the word experience? Mainly because there’s a little part of me that doesn’t quite feel comfortable saying “I had a wonderful time with this” or words to that effect. Honestly, Hellblade was one of the reasons why I called my trophy checklist "Collection of trophies and experiences" (second one being NieR, go figure ). There's some games that simply transcend the "he he i press buttons and satisfaction comes from beating boss" mode. And yeah...I had a wonderful time having my feelings punched by this game ? On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: I had read in a few places about how limited the gameplay is in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, before playing it. To be perfectly honest – I think this is a wholly unfair criticism. Whilst on a surface level, there is very little in Hellblade that quite reinvents the wheel gameplay wise, I’m not quite sure it should either. Yes, you could argue the combat is a little basic, but it is functional, smooth and quite satisfying once you get a sense for parry timing. There were parts of the game where I found myself genuinely questioning whether there was any real point to the combat. However, I’m going to fall back to the Douglas Adams quote I love so much of “I’d rather be happy, than right, any day.” Take it from me, there is a point to the combat – from a narrative and thematic perspective, this game would absolutely suffer without it, and part of its core message would be so much less impactful. The more you think about it, the more it works. Even down to the visual elements to it. Each defeated enemy doesn’t visibly die, they just dissipate. It seems like a small thing at first, but this game directly deals with the impact of failing mental health upon a person. Those demons you battle momentarily disappearing, only to reappear further on, stronger and more powerful, is by its very nature, an incredibly potent metaphor. Unfortunately, it’s a crushingly sad one too. No matter how hard you fight against The Darkness, unfortunately sometimes it always finds a way to come back. It’s painful, it’s so thought provoking, but it is brilliant. It took me a while to realize that the combat is part of the narrative. To keep it brief, Senua does struggle with the enemies in the beginning, and by the end she starts to pulverize them. But, as pointed out by the final battle, they keep coming no matter what. So my interpretation was...she can never defeat them, ever. She does get stronger though. So yeah, the combat matters. It is simplistic but it gets its job done. On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: There’s a section of gameplay which is not strictly a puzzle, but it is a fascinating one to play nevertheless. The Blindness Shard Trial – I must say it was my personal favourite. You’re tasked with navigating almost complete darkness, with only a voice as your guide. It is one of the most perfect examples of how the visual (or lack thereof) and audio elements combine to form such a memorable part of the experience. It makes you as a player; hypersensitive to every individual noise and every tiny sliver of vision you’re afforded. It’s one of the finest examples in the game of how synchronised you sometimes feel with Senua’s actions. That slight nagging doubt of “do you trust the voice?” It works incredibly well. I also thought the section of the game involving Valravyn (God of Illusion) were very well designed, the use of environmental manipulation puzzles were rather satisfying to unravel Oh god yes that Trial was fantastic! I usually have issues with horror games and horror IN games but that kind of psychological dread kept me on the edge without driving me away I'd say this Trial and the Fenrir section were my favorite in the game. On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: Having the camera directly behind Senua, yet at a slight distance was a deliberate element that I thought was fantastic. For me, there were times during my time with Hellblade, where I thought my mere presence as a player was an intrusion upon something. I can only surmise that this was deliberate intent from Ninja Theory. It’s an incredibly subtle and brilliantly unconventional use of film-making techniques. On occasion, Senua will look directly at the camera, not slightly to the side of it, not slightly past it, straight into it. As if she’s staring straight at you, as if she’s addressing you directly. It gave me such an odd feeling, as if I was intruding on a very personal moment, yet it gave me a pang of guilt. The frightened and uncertain look in her face, just compounds that feeling. It’s exactly what I meant earlier, about how the audio and visual elements of Hellblade synergise so fantastically well together. The devs did it on purpose. I was messing around with the camera, just to notice that Senua was looking DIRECTLY at me. Or, well, at the player. God damn that was a nice touch, made me feel like the main voice in her head. On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: It would be wrong of me not to mention how spectacularly the game handles motion capture and voice acting, another near perfect marriage of the audio and visual. To me the thing that makes it so very impressive, is that Melina Juergens (Senua) hadn’t voice acted or performed motion capture before taking the role. Take a second or two to get your head around that if you’ve played the game. She is clearly an abundantly talented lady. She manages to voice act incredibly well, giving a layered performance where she does such a nuanced job of displaying the anguish, pain and suffering that has permeated Senua’s entire being for years and years. It has a real pay off too, when so much of that long-caged emotion is just set free almost instantaneously. Juergens also motion captures Senua’s facial expressions brilliantly. Whether she’s scared, devastated, pained or occasionally quite lucid and euphoric, she absolutely excels at getting you, the player, to fully understand where Senua is at mentally. That's what shocked me too! She is a developer if I am not wrong, so being able to act and mocap like that...mad respects to her On 5/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, rjkclarke said: Crikey that was a hell of a cathartic one to write up, but more than a little emotionally draining! Much like the game itself I suppose. Yes indeed it was ! So glad you got to play this amazing game. I 100% agree with all you wrote, i could easily quote the entire post and say "Yes that is what I felt as well". If someone asks me why I consider videogames art, I'd push Hellblade as one of the examples. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 I just want to smugly point out that I got @rjkclarke tuned in to playing Hellblade ? Seriously, Hellblade is quite an experience. For me it was one of the first games that I deliberately chose to play on PlayStation over PC, kind of starting my own struggles with choosing platforms and sticking with them. The audio over headphones is simply fantastic, what a memorable experience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Dude - that was an ace Hellblade write-up - I kept meaning to post my congrats beyond just a rep point... but then @Copanele came along and prettym uch ate the lunch of everything I was going to say ? All I can add is... I used to be someone who never thought playing with headphones was any different to playing with room audio... ...then I played Hellblade! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted June 4, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 4, 2022 Looks like I've got a whole lot of replying to do! On 30/05/2022 at 4:25 PM, The_Kopite said: lol from the sounds of it, I doubt a server closure would tbh, though overall your completion percentage for all trophies is so high, maybe one day you will be tempted haha You did a very dangerous thing by posting this comment - well not dangerous, more you coaxed me into looking up what it would actually take to get the hundo in Hustle Kings, and you know what? I might be psyching myself up for it... If I'm particularly good at any type of game, I'd feel pretty comfortable saying it's Pool and Snooker ones, plus I believe it's the only game with Snooker DLC's that I don't have a 147 in, so I wouldn't mind actually doing it. So I guess thank you maybe? Or not depending on whether I actually go back to it or not. On 30/05/2022 at 4:25 PM, The_Kopite said: Haha well the Remake gets extremely close to the original for me, but the nostalgia plays a big part for the reminder and the awesomely cheesy live action intro and the wonderful Shakespearean dialogue and voice acting haha. The Remake of RE1 is a wonderful game in it's own right. Love how the backgrounds looks, how detailed they are and how impressive the atmosphere is in that game. It's my 2nd favourite RE game. Great points you make to be fair - although I think the cheesier than Wallace and Gromit's trip to the moon line delivery is one of the reasons I actually prefer the remake haha! Oh and Lisa Tevor. Yeah, actually it's probably just the inclusion of Lisa Trevor, I've played that game a fair few times and there hasn't been a single time when she hasn't creeped me out a fair bit. On 30/05/2022 at 4:25 PM, The_Kopite said: At the moment, helping her get through the end of Cat Quest to platinum that. She is excited by the prospect of us playing CQ2 together and earning trophies together. That's what I like to hear! You two are going to enjoy Cat Quest II a whole lot I think. I'm hoping that they put Llama's in Cat Quest III. Or just anything, games need more Llama's in them FULL STOP. ? On 30/05/2022 at 4:25 PM, The_Kopite said: Yes absolutely. I'll bet a lot of people share your opinion. Just hopefuly Sony get it right, in terms of pricing individually for people who do not want to sign up for the highest tier. Also in terms of the quality of the games they put up, as there are issues with them using PAL 50Hz versions and whatnot, and also hopefully pursuading as many other companies as possible to implement trophies on these games. We can only hope! They have an annoying habit of doing that Pal 50Hz thing. It's the same reason why for us over here in the UK the PS4 version of Code Veronica is a pain in the backside to platinum, as you practically have to be a Pro Speedrunner because of all the things the PAL version has in it that works against you for saving time. So it's actually the better experience to play the PS3 version, so I'm led to believe. On 30/05/2022 at 4:25 PM, The_Kopite said: I can imagine that you and Doc would, so I look forward to your combined selling pitch to others for the game haha Got RE3R sat on the shelf, haven't been able to start it yet. Absolutely from what I've heard Nemesis isn't as terrifying though no. Seems to have been quite scripted which is sad for me but we will see. You can bet if Shadow of Memories does get added to PS+ Premium, that Doc and I will be all over the forums dressed like this.... Going full Stan from Monkey Island, trying to sell some copies, or I certainly will be.... Doc can dress how he pleases ? It's the tinniness to Nemesis' voice, from the voice modulation they put on the voice actor that probably scared me the most. I know it isn't as prominent in the new version. I'm sure you'll be getting it down from the shelf once you've put RE2 Remake to bed, I assume? On 30/05/2022 at 4:58 PM, realm722 said: I have been so swamped with sports for the last month that I didn't get much of a chance to check out many threads other than my own but good read! I think your enjoyment of the game will come down to visual preference. After reading your glowing review I went back and read my own and thought I was a jerk lmao. I honestly had no idea that Napoleon frigging Dynamite voiced the villain. I was gonna fault myself for forgetting so many details but then I realized it's nearly been a year since I've played it(Aug 2021) which.. holy crap time evaporates man. Don't sweat it! I appreciate the fact you're stopping in at all! I totally get where you're coming from by the way, any time my particular sport of interest (so any cue sport really) is on, I'm usually pretty hard to reach, or I usually find myself getting a bit lost in it all! I don't think you were a jerk at all in that Armikrog review - I linked yours to illustrate exactly what I meant in part of the review, when I mentioned that your own personal enjoyment of it will probably hinge on whether you like the genre and the visual element to it. I mean we were both in agreement with how repetitious some of the puzzles could be, which is a bit of a shame for a game that doesn't really go on much more than about 4 or 5 hours, I completed in 3 and a half, so I expect if you're being realistic it is much smaller. On 30/05/2022 at 4:58 PM, realm722 said: You actually made me curious to look up if it was a word and it is lmao, though it's spelled "sistren" which makes sense given its inverse is "brethren". Your review affirms everything I've ever heard about Hellblade. Gameplay is serviceable while the story and experience are sensational. I've avoided it for the longest time as the gore elements with graphics of that fidelity tend to not really be in my wheelhouse but I should give it a brief watch on YouTube to see if it's my speed. Haha! Awesome, thank you for doing some research for me on that one - I'll try and store that away in my memory somewhere so I can bust out sistren in any future reviews where it might come up ? Please do check out some clips at least of Hellblade if you feel inclined. It might potentially be something you'd really enjoy. But it's one you do sort of have to psyche yourself up for, the visual side of the game isn't actually all that gruesome by some games standards. It's one of those more psychologically harrowing type things, where it's the atmosphere and what it's presenting you with are what unsettles you (I know I'm not really selling it very well). It really is an incredibly experience if you let it be! On 30/05/2022 at 4:58 PM, realm722 said: I thought it was really interesting you reviewed Steins Gate as I never would have guessed you'd played it! I've gotta congratulate you on your diverse taste. I always try to play push myself to play outside of my comfort zone but a super wacky anime visual novel is where I'll draw the line. My only experience with the franchise is that through one of my fave YouTubers/streamers Joseph Anderson and he QUIT playing the game midway thru cuz.... Hide contents he literally could not stomach the plot line of eating more vegetabels would change the gender of one of the characters lmao Glad I could finally catch up, keep up the great work! Oh man I totally forgot about that vegetables thing - to be fair to Steins Gate, it's not really as clear cut as "EAT VEGETABLES, CHANGE GENDER".... It's more of a "I wonder if this would happen, if I sent a text to my Mum in the past to eat vegetables during Pregnancy that I might be born a different gender" Actually my description alone sounds as crazy, and it is, the game is super odd, but it's so incredibly charming too! I like to think I've got pretty diverse taste, so thank you! I could, and will extend that exact same compliment back to you though! We've all got our limits though, if yours are wacky visual novels that's totally fair! Mine is usually rhythm games, I just take an obnoxiously long time to actually get any good at them. Usually when they're added to a game as a mini-game they usually become the bane of my existence. Speaking of diverse tastes.... When I finally get my Evoland review written (the game I most recently played) I'll be throwing a big old tag your way just in case you miss the review, because I think you'd really appreciate that one. That game is almost variety personified, and I think you'd probably really enjoy it for what it is. It scratches that very niche, under appreciated indie thing that you like as well. Thanks for the kind words - oh and if you were wondering why I haven't popped in to comment on your thread lately, it's that it just so happens lots of the games you've been playing recently are ones I'm planning to play myself at some point soon. After playing Bastion quite recently and then seeing your Hades review... I was like "GOTTA GET TO PYRE AND HADES SOON" 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: First and foremost, sorry to hear about your Great Uncle. These things really do like to happen in bunches sometimes Secondly, sheesh. Two pages later... and two reviews I initially missed! I didn't learn my lesson the first time, it seems.. well, time to catch up! Thanks man - it's sad, but kind of nice in a way that he went out the way that he did. He'd been stuck in hospital for ages, so my Mum did everything she could to get him back to his home, he one he'd lived in for pretty much the whole 86 years of his life, because that's where he wanted to be. Her and I spent the day before, or even the day before that I can't remember exactly - still, we got to painting the room he was going to be sleeping in, and sprucing it up a bit for him, he came back the next day and then died peacefully in his sleep. You're not kidding, you sure did catch up! Fair play man, I appreciate it. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dude I've got a buddy who tried to get me into Lego games back in the PS2 days, crazy they're still thriving like they are! Maybe at long last I'll keep an eye out... Yeah they're pretty big Behemoth's these days the Lego games. I can't exactly say I don't enjoy them, as I think I have something like 17 or 18 of them on my list now ?.... I think if you were going to give one a go, I'd suggest trying one from like a film series or comic book property that you like, as they usually do pretty lovingly crafted versions of those. The older ones used to basically do silent comedy too in their cutscenes which was always real charming! 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I've likely said this before, but I love your love of snooker! Mad props for the insane patience you have with these games, man... they terrify the shit out of me. I suck so hopelessly at mere open world pool mini-games Cheers dude! You know what I've been itching to play another one lately as well - I hope someone joins the boosting session I have up on the site at some point for Pool Nation on PS3, as I really want the chance to review that, and I can't if I don't have all the trophies (BECAUSE SELF IMPOSED RULES ) unfortunately the online is deader than the deadest dead thing you can think of these days, so it's doubtful I'd get it done unaided, but that is unfortunately my fault for not doing it sooner! 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dang man, for whatever reason I can't crop these for shit today I'm intrigued! From the soundtrack to Rob Paulsen and Jon Heder to that claymation style. I'd never even heard of this, but this might be another one for me to watch out for in a sale. Unfortunately there isn't a new sale every two weeks or anything, so I'll just hope for the best. Haha - I don't make it easier for cropping by putting images all over the place " BECAUSE I LIKE TO MAKE THE REVIEWS LOOK PRETTY" haha I reckon you could have a good time with Armikrog, especially if you had a good time with Grim Fandango, they aren't THAT comparable, bu they are both point-and-clickers, and they're both fairly quirky with some very decent humour thrown in! It was in a sale recently, it's either the one that's just gone, or it's still in one, but I think you get ever so slightly different sales on the US store so it might not be there. It was dirt cheap though, so I'd definitely recommend anyone that has the interest to pick it up if they see it. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Excellent work! Maybe it is a good thing I put off Res 4, I wasn't gonna be able to compete with this? I really liked how you talked about RE villains being a high point til 5, it wasn't something I'd really thought about before. Obviously I can't speak for 6 but you know what I mean! Also I do remember marveling at how such a seemingly short amount of time there was between Leon's first day on the job in a small town's police force and him being a special agent doing two story flips out of windows. Fighting Umbrella just does things to a man, I suppose! You're too kind! And..... also wrong, because you totally could, you absolutely nailed that Resident Evil 5 review you did, that was awesome! I hadn't really ever considered the villains thing much myself - I guess it's a unique position you and I both find ourselves in of playing the other ones before going back to RE4. I even played Resident Evil 6 not too long ago, and outside of one villain who you can't really forget, I couldn't tell you what their names were. But I've always been able to pretty much remember all the ones from RE4. Quite the jump in experience for Leon isn't it. Umbrella just does things to a man! Haha, yep, you said it man! ? Turns you into a cocksure Curtainheaded nimrod spewing cheesy action hero lines. He's a pretty weird animal in Resident Evil 4 is Leon. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I'm not sure I 100% agree with your take on the controls, as I don't feel they necessarily added to the atmosphere, but on the other hand if this reissue(master?) of the game came equipped with squeaky clean controls, I do think it might feel overly sanitized. You're probably right actually - I think a little part of me was trying to justify to myself why I didn't actually mind the controls in the end..... because I remember you and I talking about it not too long before I started it, and just after you had I think about how the controls are a bit bleghhh. They sort of add a fear factor, on professional difficulty. that you could basically die incredibly quickly because of the controls being a bit stiff. But I guess that's more of an annoyance for some people more than actual atmosphere .... See look at me talking myself out of my own point hah, 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: One of my favorite things about Resident Evil's music in general is the typewriter room themes! That brief moment of serenity, especially recognizing that brevity in the moment, is such a brilliant addition! Same dude! It's also something I'm really glad they kept going into even Resident Evil 7 which changed so much about the Resi formula, but those safe spots feel just as safe and serene as they ever did. In fact it's probably the thing that feels most Resident Evil-ish in RE7, come to think of it. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dang. A lot I wanna talk about but then I fear that when I finally get around to writing about this I'll be out of material Then make sure it's still locked away in your brain somewhere, and we will discuss it when you've reviewed Resident Evil 4? Sound like a plan? 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Ah, where the visual novel love began! In all likelihood this isn't one I'll check out, but I always appreciate having a good idea for a story (that intro does sound like a solid hook) and managing to keep that energy going properly. Also appreciate female characters who are given writing that goes beyond "check out these luscious melon breasts LOOK AT EM!!" I can't remember what writer/director it was, but he was being praised for writing strong female characters and merely responded something along the lines of "yeah, because I write them as people." Hmm... Roman Polanski? Woody Allen? I'm sure it was one of those guys It could well be! It's definitely one of those games was quite illuminating as far as VN's go. Unfortunately it's unavoidable that sometimes you just get an idea in your head about what a certain type of game or genre would be, and unfortunately, I had that with VN's for a while, so I was real glad that this one changed that. It's a really good one though - it's absolutely crazy, like properly all over the place, but in a good way. I also really liked the fact they didn't just overly sexualise all of the female characters, it usually makes me feel really uncomfortable when that happens in any game just to y'know get more eyes on the product. Let the characters speak for themselves. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: So I read this... Quote The line “I learnt the hard way.... a life without loss, is one without love” resonated with me so much more than I wanted it to. That REALLY hurt! ...and I think I was sold there. I do love me some bleak-but-beautiful! And mental supervisor approved to boot?? Come on, now. I really appreciate how deeply this seems to delve into how mental illness actually feels - whatever it may be, there's a common link of not always being in charge of your thoughts and not always knowing how to stop them, and I like how this game seems to go about that. I did think about cutting that bit out, because it's a bit spoilery, that line. Until I realised if I don't give context for who says it, and where it's set, I should be all good. It's such a great line, so I couldn't resist it. That's a really good point, about how sometimes with mental illness you have absolutely no real agency over it, or indeed your own thoughts and feelings... and yes, they do that to an incredibly rich level in Hellblade! 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I love this. I know sex sells and all that, but for somethin like this it would be reeeaaaaallly out of place, and this was absolutely the right call. This sounds wonderful, and I'm absolutely about it. It absolutely would! So I was really grateful that they went the direction they went with it, I had to mention it really. It's one that I really hope that you end up playing at some point, because as tough as you might find bits and pieces emotionally (like many of us did) I think you'd definitely have a pretty illuminating time with it. And it really is a game I'd encourage as many people as possible to play through and experience if they can. 13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Not sure I'm as about this one though. However! Anything that can elicit a comparison to Amadeus can't be THAT bad! This is another one that sounds like it tackles mental health really well (what a coincidence! Did you hear that there was a challenge for that??), and I think the fact that it portrays feelings of unsociability and the like so well, and yet is ultimately a bit fumbled, is to say the least a bit disappointing. Whew! As usual, you are killing it! Sorry for typing up a novel again, I'm really gonna try and do a better job of keeping up Steins Gate 0 is not really bad or anything per se, I just have a really really poor response usually, when I think a story is going way too far into the realms of just being "stock tropes" and not a whole lot else, and unfortunately that game fell into that a few times. As I said in the review, I both really love parts of it, and really hate other bits. It's such an odd one. As I try not to dwell TOO much on the negatives, none of you had to really read about that. Only insaneloki did, ?in person too, so that's even worse for the poor dude. The mental health side of it though was handled incredibly well though, which is why I thought now might be a good time to highlight that side of it a little bit. I thought that was a brilliant touch about the unsociability side of it too. That's something that I get plagued with myself very often, and when you hear Okabe's internal monologue saying he wants to go, he knows he should but he doesn't feel like he can be around people.... I was like..... Ouch, I feel ya buddy! I did actually write another review that month, of Alice: Madness Returns, but I kind of thought in the end it might be a bit inappropriate to put it up whilst it's still Mental Health Awareness Month. It handles that side of it pretty well - but, there's a few bits and pieces in the review that spell out exactly why I left it out, and I'll write a little addendum or something about it at the end of the review when I post it. Which will be after the Evoland review is up I suppose. I did hear there was a challenge for that..... and I actually wasn't too chicken to get involved this time either. .... Yes! So you should apologise for writing a novel...... ONLY I MAY WRITE NOVEL LENGTH POSTS Only joking dude, write all the novel long posts you like here, sure makes a change from me doing it! And as usual thank you! I really do appreciate you going the extra mile,that really is awesome! ? 12 hours ago, Copanele said: This game man...this goddamn game. I can't believe how much I loved it really. It's one of a kind, definitely niche, but my god it hits like a truck. Or well like Surtr when you mistime your dodge Absolutely! I loved it too - even if it does still feel a little off saying that given the nature of the game! I might have failed a dodge or two from Surtr ..... That was a toasty couple of minutes for poor Senua when I was trying to get those timings down ? 12 hours ago, Copanele said: Honestly, Hellblade was one of the reasons why I called my trophy checklist "Collection of trophies and experiences" (second one being NieR, go figure ). There's some games that simply transcend the "he he i press buttons and satisfaction comes from beating boss" mode. And yeah...I had a wonderful time having my feelings punched by this game That is a very good shout actually! I could totally see why Hellblade would be the reason you'd call it "...and experiences" It did remind me of NieR too actually, in that regard in that ultimately you're totally fine with how much the game just repeatedly punches you in the feelings. Yet, you don't quite mind as such, as it's hard not to just get completely absorbed by everything that's going on. 12 hours ago, Copanele said: It took me a while to realize that the combat is part of the narrative. To keep it brief, Senua does struggle with the enemies in the beginning, and by the end she starts to pulverize them. But, as pointed out by the final battle, they keep coming no matter what. So my interpretation was...she can never defeat them, ever. She does get stronger though. So yeah, the combat matters. It is simplistic but it gets its job done. It's a great metaphor isn't it, once you see it for what it is! As I said in my status update about the game, at first I just thought it was completely pointless, until I thought about it a little until it finally clicked. Might be a little simplistic, but as you it gets the job done, and it does exactly what it needs to. 12 hours ago, Copanele said: Oh god yes that Trial was fantastic! I usually have issues with horror games and horror IN games but that kind of psychological dread kept me on the edge without driving me away I'd say this Trial and the Fenrir section were my favorite in the game. It's funny you say that, because I'd usually say I'm not too big on horror in movies or games, but I sure have played a fair few games in the last year or so that have horror elements in them haha ? Weird huh. Absolutely man! We're in total agreement on that one too. Although maybe I'd swap out the Fenrir bit for the Valravyn part. But it's really hard to say, as I thought that Fenrir part was so damn clever as well. Especially the way it utilised the voice modulation in those bits. Plus the actual boss fight with Fenrir was really awesome too, like how it went practically pitch black in places, and you had to remember everything from the Blindness trial! Just AHHH YEAH, so good! 12 hours ago, Copanele said: The devs did it on purpose. I was messing around with the camera, just to notice that Senua was looking DIRECTLY at me. Or, well, at the player. God damn that was a nice touch, made me feel like the main voice in her head. That is Interesting! That really is. Same man! It's that really sort of fearful and confused look she has, as she looks right at you, that gets you when that happens. I was like "Oh no, I'm part of the problem aren't I? I'M SO SORRRY" Just Imagine some long hair and that's probably what my face looked like every time she looked at the player/me ? This game would be an absolute nightmare in VR I reckon. An amazing experience, but probably doubly harrowing. 12 hours ago, Copanele said: That's what shocked me too! She is a developer if I am not wrong, so being able to act and mocap like that...mad respects to her No way! That's awesome, what a multi talented lady. She absolutely took to that incredibly well though. It takes a real open-minded actor to be able to perform well under mocap equipment. Having to get it out of your mind that your face is quite literally covered in sensors can't be easy! So she absolutely did nail that so well! Of all the bad things I think I might have to say about Beyond Two Souls when I review that one, Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe absolutely nailed that side of it. Unfortunately they had to act out the used toilet roll of a script that David Cage wrote for them. "I WANT YOU TO FEEEEL THE EMOOOOSHUNS..... NOW" 12 hours ago, Copanele said: Yes indeed it was ! So glad you got to play this amazing game. I 100% agree with all you wrote, i could easily quote the entire post and say "Yes that is what I felt as well". If someone asks me why I consider videogames art, I'd push Hellblade as one of the examples. It's another one of those games I'm a little mad at myself for not playing sooner - but hey, I'm getting to them eventually so that's what matters, rright! I'm glad we're in agreement on this though! I think I'd probably throw in Hellblade as an example of why you can consider video games art too. 7 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: I just want to smugly point out that I got @rjkclarke tuned in to playing Hellblade Seriously, Hellblade is quite an experience. For me it was one of the first games that I deliberately chose to play on PlayStation over PC, kind of starting my own struggles with choosing platforms and sticking with them. The audio over headphones is simply fantastic, what a memorable experience. Haha! Point away man! It's not a lie. You might be smugly pointing something out again in the near future anyway??.... As I quite literally reinstalled Dishonoured before sitting down to write this reply. So with any luck (and I'll need some for By My Hand Alone) I'll be throwing your name in a tag at the bottom of that review too. After all we've been talking about us both going back to the game for probably close to a year at this point, and you beat me to it! Now you've got me pumped to actually revisit those smelly Dunwall Trials, so erm.... thanks I guess I've definitely got to find a pair of headphones that are both good and compatible with my PS4 controller, I might have to dig through some of my older sound equipment and see what I can find, because I'd love to play that with the audio through headphones like it's recommended. Even though it was very immersive even through surround sound. Great description though - memorable experience, because that really is so true, with Hellblade, we seem to all be in agreement on that one. 3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Dude - that was an ace Hellblade write-up - I kept meaning to post my congrats beyond just a rep point... but then @Copanele came along and prettym uch ate the lunch of everything I was going to say All I can add is... I used to be someone who never thought playing with headphones was any different to playing with room audio... ...then I played Hellblade! Thanks Doc! It's much appreciated as always! I know that feeling all too well dude, as I've been turning up to other awesome folks threads obnoxiously late recently, where all the salient points have already been made and I've got to just watch through the window as everyone's partying, and toasting awesome games, whilst I'm clapping my hands thinking "well done, you said exactly what I would have said!" ? Oh that is a massive game changer! I'm glad you mentioned that specifically. That you think playing with headphones in Hellblade makes that much of a difference. I can totally see why it would though, because that Binaural audio they created was amazing anyway, an even without the headphones and as I mentioned in the review that's tough to really get right for even small portions of audio, and Hellblade was packed with hours of it. But with headphones they'd definitely be so much more immersive I think. Looks like I've got some cobwebs to dust off, and then y'know psyche myself to play Hellblade AGAIN! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 54 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Haha! Point away man! It's not a lie. You might be smugly pointing something out again in the near future anyway.... As I quite literally reinstalled Dishonoured before sitting down to write this reply. So with any luck (and I'll need some for By My Hand Alone) I'll be throwing your name in a tag at the bottom of that review too. After all we've been talking about us both going back to the game for probably close to a year at this point, and you beat me to it! Now you've got me pumped to actually revisit those smelly Dunwall Trials, so erm.... thanks I guess I've definitely got to find a pair of headphones that are both good and compatible with my PS4 controller, I might have to dig through some of my older sound equipment and see what I can find, because I'd love to play that with the audio through headphones like it's recommended. Even though it was very immersive even through surround sound. Great description though - memorable experience, because that really is so true, with Hellblade, we seem to all be in agreement on that one. You've totally got "By My Hand Alone". And I expect you to dominate my positions on the leaderboards! Speaking of headphones, when I got my PS5 I went out and bought a pair of the PlayStation branded wireless headphones and found them painful to wear and of low quality. I remembered that I had a pair of those nice Bose wireless bluetooth headphones that you see everyone wear on airplanes, and they worked great wired through my controller. I haven't felt a huge urge to upgrade from those when I need them. So hopefully you'll be surprised by what you have lying around. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: You did a very dangerous thing by posting this comment - well not dangerous, more you coaxed me into looking up what it would actually take to get the hundo in Hustle Kings, and you know what? I might be psyching myself up for it... If I'm particularly good at any type of game, I'd feel pretty comfortable saying it's Pool and Snooker ones, plus I believe it's the only game with Snooker DLC's that I don't have a 147 in, so I wouldn't mind actually doing it. So I guess thank you maybe? Or not depending on whether I actually go back to it or not. Haha o no. Wait I'm going to see a review or rant in the future about this game and my name is going to be right at the top of it lol Oh yeah, forgot about the Snooker DLC's. That'll 'cushion' the blow of having to play the game again if you do lol You're welcome, maybe? 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Great points you make to be fair - although I think the cheesier than Wallace and Gromit's trip to the moon line delivery is one of the reasons I actually prefer the remake haha! Oh and Lisa Tevor. Yeah, actually it's probably just the inclusion of Lisa Trevor, I've played that game a fair few times and there hasn't been a single time when she hasn't creeped me out a fair bit. Oh it's got some fantastic cheesyness in it too! Yeah, the inclusion of Lisa Trevor was an extra plus point for the remake, absolutely. Though they killed me on one of my no save runs so yeah theres that......... 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's what I like to hear! You two are going to enjoy Cat Quest II a whole lot I think. I'm hoping that they put Llama's in Cat Quest III. Or just anything, games need more Llama's in them FULL STOP. Llama's are in Cat Quest II? (Damn I can't think of a witty pun right now.....) I didn't realise! Well she has platinumed the first one now so we will definitely be looking to play the 2nd one soon. Definitely think we will enjoy it a lot. 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: We can only hope! They have an annoying habit of doing that Pal 50Hz thing. It's the same reason why for us over here in the UK the PS4 version of Code Veronica is a pain in the backside to platinum, as you practically have to be a Pro Speedrunner because of all the things the PAL version has in it that works against you for saving time. So it's actually the better experience to play the PS3 version, so I'm led to believe. Yeah seemingly in Japan it's now the 60Hz ones or some kind of better version of 50Hz. It's confusing. Sony make things needlessly difficult and confusing all the time sadly. Yes I've read all about the RE:CV platinum difficulties. It's why I haven't bought the game on PSN Store even when it's gone down to less than a fiver. It's offputting sadly which is a shame but I'll likely get it eventually. Yes I believe you are correct, the PS3 version works better but no platinum. 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: You can bet if Shadow of Memories does get added to PS+ Premium, that Doc and I will be all over the forums dressed like this.... Pics or it didn't happen (when Shadow of Memories gets added) 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: It's the tinniness to Nemesis' voice, from the voice modulation they put on the voice actor that probably scared me the most. I know it isn't as prominent in the new version. I'm sure you'll be getting it down from the shelf once you've put RE2 Remake to bed, I assume? I would have thought most people would be most scared of Nemesis (like Mr. X) because of him appearing out of nowhere and constantly chasing after you, so it's interesting that you said that. That's a good guess and you'd think that'd be the case, but no I would rather leave 3 for a few games later at least and have got Dissidia FF and Lost Sphear lined up. Lost Sphear hopefully will be a platinum in the future but a lot of tracking of stuff to do so got lists ready. (Am I the only one who does this I wonder?) Dissidia FF I don't know if it will be a platinum, we will see. I know there is an MTU trick that makes the platinum a bit easier and quicker in some regards so hopefully that will still be working when I get to it. Fingers crossed. Once RE2R is knocked off for 250, I'll have a lot of platinums I can pop on PS4, PS5 and Vita too! lol What's your next game that you have lined up? (If you have said in a previous post, then apologies if I have missed it) Also did you get to watch the State of Play? RE4R looks really great, though I wish they'd have done Code Veronica to be honest. VR2 modes for that and RE Village are cool too. Check out The Callisto Protocol again, I reckon you'll really like the look of that one! Also FFXVI looks really great but as always, I have my concerns (for myself, my own enjoyment) regarding the potential battle system but we will see! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora9427 Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 Just writing here to Congrats with you for the Amazing list and profile! And the Incredible Thread so many Reviews and discussion, i won't have the patience to write down so much everytime, really impressive personally O.o 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billie__227 Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Just writing here to Congrats with you for the Amazing list and profile! And the Incredible Thread so many Reviews and discussion, i won't have the patience to write down so much everytime, really impressive personally O.o I second this! I can only hope one day I'll be this good at writing about the games I enjoy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 18 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: You've totally got "By My Hand Alone". And I expect you to dominate my positions on the leaderboards! Speaking of headphones, when I got my PS5 I went out and bought a pair of the PlayStation branded wireless headphones and found them painful to wear and of low quality. I remembered that I had a pair of those nice Bose wireless bluetooth headphones that you see everyone wear on airplanes, and they worked great wired through my controller. I haven't felt a huge urge to upgrade from those when I need them. So hopefully you'll be surprised by what you have lying around. Thanks for the faith, although I don't think I'll be dominating anything ? - because I don't have a whole lot in myself right now ?...... That was unwise of me to come back to the game after like 6 years and think... Hmm, what shall I do first? Bonfires, nah EXTREME Bonfires, yeah that sounds like a wonderful ideas. I'll say this much, I blinked into a lot of walls, and mistimed a whole load of jumps, but I'll play some more later, I've just gotta get that muscle memory with Blinking and Blink distances back. I shall have a dig around tomorrow for some headphones that might work. One of my friends said and did almost the same thing you did about those PS5 headphones and he was a lot happier as a result, so that's good to hear another +1 for just ignoring the PS Branded ones. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Haha o no. Wait I'm going to see a review or rant in the future about this game and my name is going to be right at the top of it lol Oh yeah, forgot about the Snooker DLC's. That'll 'cushion' the blow of having to play the game again if you do lol You're welcome, maybe? I see what you did there haha! ? Your name might well be ?, I genuinely hadn't thought about the game for quite a while, then I looked into it, and saw that it doesn't take anywhere close to as long as I thought it did, and you can do the majority of the trophies offline, it did pique my interest a little I must say. Especially as all the DLC only comes to £7.99 how bad can it really be. I guess we'll have to find out haha! 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oh it's got some fantastic cheesyness in it too! Yeah, the inclusion of Lisa Trevor was an extra plus point for the remake, absolutely. Though they killed me on one of my no save runs so yeah theres that......... This is also true. She may have killed me in one of my no save runs as well, It's quite a risk vs reward fight the one with her. It's easy to just get completely launched off the map like Team Rocket. It was actually Hunters that probably killed most of those runs for me. Just when you think you're safe one jumps up and turns your throat into a waterfall of blood ?.... Think that's why I dreaded running into them in Resident Evil Revelations 1. 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Llama's are in Cat Quest II? (Damn I can't think of a witty pun right now.....) I didn't realise! Well she has platinumed the first one now so we will definitely be looking to play the 2nd one soon. Definitely think we will enjoy it a lot. Unfortunately not, sorry to get you excited.... I just really like Llamas. So it was purely wishful thinking that there'd be Llama based involvement. You'll still have a great time with the game though - even if it is an unfortunately Llama free one. Now I've said Llama too many times it's literally lost all meaning 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah seemingly in Japan it's now the 60Hz ones or some kind of better version of 50Hz. It's confusing. Sony make things needlessly difficult and confusing all the time sadly. Yes I've read all about the RE:CV platinum difficulties. It's why I haven't bought the game on PSN Store even when it's gone down to less than a fiver. It's offputting sadly which is a shame but I'll likely get it eventually. Yes I believe you are correct, the PS3 version works better but no platinum. That's progress at least I suppose haha! It's a funny one with Code Veronica. The PS3 version just is the better version it's also a true HD remaster, instead of just an upscaled port, so I think I'd be more inclined to play that one anyway. I'm not too fussed if it doesn't have a platinum. So long as Steve isn't on a trophy icon we're all good! ? 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I would have thought most people would be most scared of Nemesis (like Mr. X) because of him appearing out of nowhere and constantly chasing after you, so it's interesting that you said that. No that part didn't bother me too much when I saw my friend playing some of it (might have if I'd been playing it myself) - it was just the STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS - and that horribly metallic tinniness that really freaked me out, I think because it's so inhuman. It is actually very good though. 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: (Am I the only one who does this I wonder?) Dissidia FF I don't know if it will be a platinum, we will see. I know there is an MTU trick that makes the platinum a bit easier and quicker in some regards so hopefully that will still be working when I get to it. Fingers crossed. Once RE2R is knocked off for 250, I'll have a lot of platinums I can pop on PS4, PS5 and Vita too! lol No, I don't think you're the only one. I've done it occasionally with RPG's, depends how organised I'm feeling and how good the in-game tracking is for those things. I had a spreadsheet in use for NieR: Replicant recently, and that was super helpful. I also have some saved somewhere for Star Ocean: The Last Hope, but I'm a little too chicken to go near that offensively long and grindy game right now. I am planning to just end up chipping away at it eventually until I'm done, but I haven't gone back to do my New Game Plus playthrough yet! You'll probably be at about 275 the week after you hit 250 at this rate, or more even. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: What's your next game that you have lined up? (If you have said in a previous post, then apologies if I have missed it) I didn't mention it so no need to worry. At the moment I'm kind of flitting about between things. In a sort of cleanup mode. I went back to the Dunwall City Trials from Dishonoured last night, for the first time in 6 years, and I'm also planning to mop up my last trophy on Limbo, and throw some smaller shorter indie games into the mix whilst I'm doing a bit of cleanup on older things. So that's where I'm at gaming wise. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Also did you get to watch the State of Play? RE4R looks really great, though I wish they'd have done Code Veronica to be honest. VR2 modes for that and RE Village are cool too. Check out The Callisto Protocol again, I reckon you'll really like the look of that one! Also FFXVI looks really great but as always, I have my concerns (for myself, my own enjoyment) regarding the potential battle system but we will see! I've caught bits and pieces of State of Play, I didn't watch the whole thing, more just looked at trailers here and there. I do think it's a little bit of an oversight skipping over Code Veronica, it isn't like its non-canon or anything. Callisto Protocal does look very good, it'll be weird if it ends up releasing at a similar time to the Dead Space remake. I didn't look at the Final Fantasy one, I got myself really excited in the build-up to FFXV and I'm not going to do that to myself again, for the game to release feeling unfinished, and unpolished. I'm not saying it will, but NFTENIX.... SORRY Square Enix, are a company I really struggle to have much faith in anymore. I do hope the RE remakes stop with Resident Evil 4 though - that's about the last one they can get away with remaking. I am quite interested in the remake of 4 though I must say. It looks Leon is a bit more thoughtful and reflective judging by that tiny little snippet. I'm not the biggest fan of his character in 4, so anything that isn't "Generic Action Hero" I'm kind of onboard for. 3 hours ago, Sora9427 said: Just writing here to Congrats with you for the Amazing list and profile! And the Incredible Thread so many Reviews and discussion, i won't have the patience to write down so much everytime, really impressive personally O.o Hey! Thank you so much! That is incredibly nice of you to say - you've also got an awesome profile yourself by the way! The thread definitely has been a really awesome and fun thing to have going on. There's certainly a fair few of both reviews and discussion that's for sure! Here's to many more. I actually have almost finished writing my latest review. You hit upon a funny point actually, about having the patience to write down so much. I do worry I've written TOO MUCH sometimes, but I usually just write until it feels like a natural place to stop, and I've said all I want to say about a particular game. Thanks again for stopping by though - you managed to put a big old smile on my face! 3 hours ago, Billie__227 said: I second this! I can only hope one day I'll be this good at writing about the games I enjoy. And so did you Billie! Seriously, you're too kind! I've gotta say though - you are already very good at writing about the games you enjoy! Very, very good in fact. You've got an uncanny ability to be able to get across all of the things that really stood out for you about a game, and why those specific things spoke to you so much, or didn't speak to you at all. It's going to sound cheesy as hell, but for me writing is a pretty good way of expressing myself, or at least feeling like I have the freedom to. And whenever you have an update in your own awesome thread, you always find a way to make it read in such a genuine way, as if you're just freely expressing yourself, and that's awesome to see, That really isn't something that seems to come naturally to too many people either, so that is an awesome thing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora9427 Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Hey! Thank you so much! That is incredibly nice of you to say - you've also got an awesome profile yourself by the way! The thread definitely has been a really awesome and fun thing to have going on. There's certainly a fair few of both reviews and discussion that's for sure! Here's to many more. I actually have almost finished writing my latest review. You hit upon a funny point actually, about having the patience to write down so much. I do worry I've written TOO MUCH sometimes, but I usually just write until it feels like a natural place to stop, and I've said all I want to say about a particular game. Thanks again for stopping by though - you managed to put a big old smile on my face! Oh Thanks even if mine it's not as impressive it's a pretty normal one after 6-7 years Damn, i'll check it out i guess when you put it out, i always kinda lurked here checking out what you play since it's such a nice list, really weel done especially sinc ei see like 50% of the recent one being an Image, the name of the game done, that's it; what is even the point in checking thsoe out iu wanna read the opinion of the player on the game not chekcing an image list! So yours is really a great job in this regard! Well if it's natural to you than it's great personally i write too much down when i sit and it's not that the problem ti's that the discussions become text of wall and i don't feel like replying most of the times It's incredible you can and repaly to ALL posts too aside the reviews! Oh Glad i did and after writing here i kinda want to Make a thread myself, i have one but kinda to be "Redone" i want to make more of a Tracking Backlog/Progress done list + Reviews (i plat like 3-4 games per year anyway in the last years) and your sure is inspiring! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Oh Thanks even if mine it's not as impressive it's a pretty normal one after 6-7 years You've got some really awesome games on there, you really do! Plenty that I should have played by now but haven't yet, like Gravity Rush, for example - and the variety of different types of games is awesome too, I always love seeing that. Lots of Tomb Raiders too! Some of the things I enjoyed writing about most last year was going through all six of my Tomb Raider Platinum's, those were real fun ones to write about! You've also got quite the sea of Kingdom Hearts games! Although your username is a bit of a giveaway maybe that you like the series ?.... .....Those Kingdom Hearts games are some of the ones I'm struggling to get a start on when reviewing my older platinum's. I can't decide whether to do it in the order I played them or to go in the order they go in the Kingdom Hearts timeline. Oh well, at some point I'll have to do one, it's been a year of this thread already and there's so many game series I love that I've not even really scratched the surface of in the here yet. 45 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Damn, i'll check it out i guess when you put it out, i always kinda lurked here checking out what you play since it's such a nice list, really weel done especially sinc ei see like 50% of the recent one being an Image, the name of the game done, that's it; what is even the point in checking thsoe out iu wanna read the opinion of the player on the game not chekcing an image list! So yours is really a great job in this regard! I keep going back and forth on that review to be honest, I think it's a really great game, and I'd like as many people to play it as possible, so I'm trying my hardest to make sure the review doesn't read too boring or gushing from me either. Evoland is such a great time, but I'll erm, get to that soon I suppose when I put it up! I think that's half the fun of these threads, is that you can write however much you do or don't want to, and it's entirely up to you. I always wanted mine to be filled with as many reviews as I can, I just seem to take longer to actually write them these days . After a while it does give you that sense of freedom that you can just basically write whatever length you're comfortable with because it's your space to do it in. So I'm really glad to read you've been enjoying some of my mammoth walls of texts. 45 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Well if it's natural to you than it's great personally i write too much down when i sit and it's not that the problem ti's that the discussions become text of wall and i don't feel like replying most of the times It's incredible you can and repaly to ALL posts too aside the reviews! The discussions can certainly start snowballing that's for sure! But I love that, the amount of odd discussions we've all had in here over the last year is pretty funny really. I think I'd feel a little bad if I didn't at least reply to practically every post in here if I can, but that's just me. I'm sure there's been one or two I've accidentally missed, but I always try to if it's possible. It does take a while to reply sometimes, but it's nice to be able to, as I've gotten to know plenty of really awesome people as a result of it, I think. That can only be a good thing. 45 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Oh Glad i did and after writing here i kinda want to Make a thread myself, i have one but kinda to be "Redone" i want to make more of a Tracking Backlog/Progress done list + Reviews (i plat like 3-4 games per year anyway in the last years) and your sure is inspiring! Thank you! If it's something you want to do then you absolutely should. After reading this bit again, I actually went and checked out your thread in its current state, and I'm going to have to have a look and read back through that in some more detail, later on. We actually have pretty similar layouts to how we've put our older Platinum's onto the first page of our threads funnily enough. If you decide to make a new one though, or even breathe some life into the old one, you can be sure I'll be popping into check it out whenever I get a chance. Edited June 4, 2022 by rjkclarke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora9427 Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 5 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: You've got some really awesome games on there, you really do! Plenty that I should have played by now but haven't yet, like Gravity Rush, for example - and the variety of different types of games is awesome too, I always love seeing that. Lots of Tomb Raiders too! Some of the things I enjoyed writing about most last year was going through all six of my Tomb Raider Platinum's, those were real fun ones to write about! You've also got quite the sea of Kingdom Hearts games! Although your username is a bit of a giveaway maybe that you like the series .... .....Those Kingdom Hearts games are some of the ones I'm struggling to get a start on when reviewing my older platinum's. I can't decide whether to do it in the order I played them or to go in the order they go in the Kingdom Hearts timeline. Oh well, at some point I'll have to do one, it's been a year of this thread already and there's so many game series I love that I've not even really scratched the surface of in the here yet. I keep going back and forth on that review to be honest, I think it's a really great game, and I'd like as many people to play it as possible, so I'm trying my hardest to make sure the review doesn't read too boring or gushing from me either. Evoland is such a great time, but I'll erm, get to that soon I suppose when I put it up! I think that's half the fun of these threads, is that you can write however much you do or don't want to, and it's entirely up to you. I always wanted mine to be filled with as many reviews as I can, I just seem to take longer to actually write them these days . After a while it does give you that sense of freedom that you can just basically write whatever length you're comfortable with because it's your space to do it in. So I'm really glad to read you've been enjoying some of my mammoth walls of texts. The discussions can certainly start snowballing that's for sure! But I love that, the amount of odd discussions we've all had in here over the last year is pretty funny really. I think I'd feel a little bad if I didn't reply to practically every post in here if I can, I'm sure there's been one or two I've accidentally missed, but I always try to if it's possible. It does take a while sometimes, but it's nice to be able to, as I've gotten to know plenty of really awesome people as a result of it, I think. Thank you! If it's something you want to do then you absolutely should. After reading this bit again, I actually went and checked out your thread in its current state, and I'm going to have to have a look and read back through that in some more detail, later on. We actually have pretty similar layouts to how we've put our older Platinum's onto the first page of our threads funnily enough. If you decide to make a new one though, or even breathe some life into the old one, you can be sure I'll be popping into check it out whenever I get a chance. OH WOW what a huge reply, now i feel bad if i don't reply properly Well Thanks, i like basically all genres (I Only "Dislike" Fighting game but mostly because i'm super bad at them and stealth games because i'm for "Brute" approches :p) so i'll play pretty different games. I see it's pretty much the same for you too! The only one i don't really see are racing games (But there are few good ones so...) and Visual novels but maybe you arent' a fan of them much? Ah, yeah i Enjoied my Time on the TR Trilogy on Ps3 and i Played TR since i was a Kid on Ps1 I Have already to play Rise of the TR and Rise of the TR too, if it wasn't for the Annoying Online i would happily re-play TR Reboot Too, i loved it on Ps3 but fuck that level 60 i won't repeat it. Well as you said my name pretty much says i'm a fan of the Series doesn't it Well you have like 300+ Reviews to do it would be incredible you have them all wrote down! I would say to go with how you played so maybe they are more chronological correct in Clicking it on the Main page? Not that it changes much! I Think i have the Reviews down for KH2 and maybe KH for sure i haven't done it for KH3 maybe i will in the Future especially since i loved it too! :3 Evoland, i've heard of it name wise but that's it, maybe i'll check! Well yeah in the end it'0s your personal space and so you should write as much as you like, i enjoy going back at times and reading what i was thinking or what i was doing with some games after all That's why i don't see the point in just mere images. At that point i'll just go to my profile directly. Ah well it's always nice talking with people about your passion, gaming, or something else that's for sure! And if some strange ones come out it's interesting! I Mean you're pretty fast for the amount of replies you give it's impressive, i wouldn't be able too, you've got great patience to sit and reply to everything and glad it leads to good discussion and knowing people that's great Well it's a layout i got from some old people no longer on the site and that i like, back then tehre were some great Lists here. Maybe i'll just revive that thread it's not needed to do another one from scratch. I Enjoied going back and seeing what i was doing 1 year ago in DQ i would like going back to the Weekly stuff properly. And Thanks Oh it will be a pleasure having you checking it out that's for sure! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted June 4, 2022 Author Share Posted June 4, 2022 3 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: OH WOW what a huge reply, now i feel bad if i don't reply properly Well Thanks, i like basically all genres (I Only "Dislike" Fighting game but mostly because i'm super bad at them and stealth games because i'm for "Brute" approches :p) so i'll play pretty different games. I see it's pretty much the same for you too! The only one i don't really see are racing games (But there are few good ones so...) and Visual novels but maybe you arent' a fan of them much? No need to feel bad haha - reply, don't reply, in as much detail as you like, it's all good! I'm sure plenty of people who read this thread would be too polite to tell me, that sometimes I go into too much detail anyway, so perhaps I just don't know when to shut up haha ? - that is almost certainly the case! Fighting games are the games you'll see less often on my profile too (I can only think of 2 out of about 400 games) a bit like you I don't truly dislike them, I'm just not particularly good at them. I respect the hell out of those that are though, makes me look at my gaming claws that just about pass as hands with shame sometimes I do like a stealth game or two though, I can't lie haha. Yeah, I definitely like to flit around from genre to genre pretty much. I like racing games more than my profile would probably suggest, considering I don't have too many on there. Ironically I used to be huge into FPS games too, but you can barely find any true FPS games when scouring my list, but I'm hoping to at least slap Titanfall 2 on there in the near future. Visuals Novels, I'm partial to them every now and then, but I've got to really be in the mood for them. But when I get into them, I usually REALLY get into them. Like when I played VA-11 HaLL-A, and I ended up reading the entire thing in one 36 hour sitting OOPS ? 11 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Ah, yeah i Enjoied my Time on the TR Trilogy on Ps3 and i Played TR since i was a Kid on Ps1 I Have already to play Rise of the TR and Rise of the TR too, if it wasn't for the Annoying Online i would happily re-play TR Reboot Too, i loved it on Ps3 but fuck that level 60 i won't repeat it. Yep! Tomb Raider reboot on the PS3 is a little brutal with that online grind, I hate to say it. It wasn't even particularly bad online either, just long, and definitely made you question why it even needed to be included. 14 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Well as you said my name pretty much says i'm a fan of the Series doesn't it Well you have like 300+ Reviews to do it would be incredible you have them all wrote down! I would say to go with how you played so maybe they are more chronological correct in Clicking it on the Main page? Not that it changes much! I Think i have the Reviews down for KH2 and maybe KH for sure i haven't done it for KH3 maybe i will in the Future especially since i loved it too! :3 Yeah that is one downside to starting a trophy checklist where you plan to also review all of your old games when you already have 299 platinums, or 312 however many it was when I started the thread haha. I reckon I've got it cut down to about 260-ish left to review, but I've not done any actual maths on that one. That's just a guess, could be more could be less Yeah it probably makes more sense to just go chronologically with how I played the Kingdom Hearts games - especially as going Kingdom Hearts timeline order it'd just be overly confusing for anyone who isn't familiar with the series. So good idea on that one, thanks! I'll have to give your KH reviews a look myself. 19 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: Well yeah in the end it'0s your personal space and so you should write as much as you like, i enjoy going back at times and reading what i was thinking or what i was doing with some games after all That's why i don't see the point in just mere images. At that point i'll just go to my profile directly. Absolutely! It's funny actually when you go back to look over some old games, your opinion can sometimes drastically change on them. Or at least soften, or harden I suppose depending on the game. There's been a few times where I ended up having a deeper appreciation for certain games after going back to look at them, and then others where I think, "oh that really wasn't as good as I remember it" Like you said, it is nice to look back and be reminded of what you were thinking at that particular time, when I was looking through the thread for something about a month or so ago, I stumbled across a post where I was really excited about Agents of Mayhem, and then I platinumed it, reviewed it and decided I practically hated it haha. 24 minutes ago, Sora9427 said: I Mean you're pretty fast for the amount of replies you give it's impressive, i wouldn't be able too, you've got great patience to sit and reply to everything and glad it leads to good discussion and knowing people that's great Well it's a layout i got from some old people no longer on the site and that i like, back then tehre were some great Lists here. Maybe i'll just revive that thread it's not needed to do another one from scratch. I Enjoied going back and seeing what i was doing 1 year ago in DQ i would like going back to the Weekly stuff properly. And Thanks Oh it will be a pleasure having you checking it out that's for sure! Cheers, although sometimes I'm not too quick, even if I mean to be, I get distracted quite easily with gaming or religiously binge watching films and TV so sometimes I end up leaving it longer than I'd like to ? It's probably similar to a lot of layouts that I saw myself and liked the look of. and I also thought, yeah I'd like one that looks like that! . There's quite a few formatting things I've been inspired by here and there over the last year in the checklist section, there's a lot of folks who have got some really visually appealing stuff going on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Thanks for the faith, although I don't think I'll be dominating anything - because I don't have a whole lot in myself right now ...... That was unwise of me to come back to the game after like 6 years and think... Hmm, what shall I do first? Bonfires, nah EXTREME Bonfires, yeah that sounds like a wonderful ideas. I'll say this much, I blinked into a lot of walls, and mistimed a whole load of jumps, but I'll play some more later, I've just gotta get that muscle memory with Blinking and Blink distances back. I shall have a dig around tomorrow for some headphones that might work. One of my friends said and did almost the same thing you did about those PS5 headphones and he was a lot happier as a result, so that's good to hear another +1 for just ignoring the PS Branded ones. Oof...you'll get there. On PC I started with Backalley Brawl as I thought it was regarded as the hardest trophy, wanting to attempt to the toughest shit first as I am also full of wonderful ideas. For PS4 I started with Daredevil because I found it the most difficult challenge, especially on a controller. I'd start with the normal Bonfires ? It is tough coming back to it 6 years later, but don't get discouraged. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora9427 Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 11 hours ago, rjkclarke said: No need to feel bad haha - reply, don't reply, in as much detail as you like, it's all good! I'm sure plenty of people who read this thread would be too polite to tell me, that sometimes I go into too much detail anyway, so perhaps I just don't know when to shut up haha - that is almost certainly the case! Fighting games are the games you'll see less often on my profile too (I can only think of 2 out of about 400 games) a bit like you I don't truly dislike them, I'm just not particularly good at them. I respect the hell out of those that are though, makes me look at my gaming claws that just about pass as hands with shame sometimes I do like a stealth game or two though, I can't lie haha. Yeah, I definitely like to flit around from genre to genre pretty much. I like racing games more than my profile would probably suggest, considering I don't have too many on there. Ironically I used to be huge into FPS games too, but you can barely find any true FPS games when scouring my list, but I'm hoping to at least slap Titanfall 2 on there in the near future. Visuals Novels, I'm partial to them every now and then, but I've got to really be in the mood for them. But when I get into them, I usually REALLY get into them. Like when I played VA-11 HaLL-A, and I ended up reading the entire thing in one 36 hour sitting OOPS Yep! Tomb Raider reboot on the PS3 is a little brutal with that online grind, I hate to say it. It wasn't even particularly bad online either, just long, and definitely made you question why it even needed to be included. Yeah that is one downside to starting a trophy checklist where you plan to also review all of your old games when you already have 299 platinums, or 312 however many it was when I started the thread haha. I reckon I've got it cut down to about 260-ish left to review, but I've not done any actual maths on that one. That's just a guess, could be more could be less Yeah it probably makes more sense to just go chronologically with how I played the Kingdom Hearts games - especially as going Kingdom Hearts timeline order it'd just be overly confusing for anyone who isn't familiar with the series. So good idea on that one, thanks! I'll have to give your KH reviews a look myself. Absolutely! It's funny actually when you go back to look over some old games, your opinion can sometimes drastically change on them. Or at least soften, or harden I suppose depending on the game. There's been a few times where I ended up having a deeper appreciation for certain games after going back to look at them, and then others where I think, "oh that really wasn't as good as I remember it" Like you said, it is nice to look back and be reminded of what you were thinking at that particular time, when I was looking through the thread for something about a month or so ago, I stumbled across a post where I was really excited about Agents of Mayhem, and then I platinumed it, reviewed it and decided I practically hated it haha. Cheers, although sometimes I'm not too quick, even if I mean to be, I get distracted quite easily with gaming or religiously binge watching films and TV so sometimes I end up leaving it longer than I'd like to It's probably similar to a lot of layouts that I saw myself and liked the look of. and I also thought, yeah I'd like one that looks like that! . There's quite a few formatting things I've been inspired by here and there over the last year in the checklist section, there's a lot of folks who have got some really visually appealing stuff going on. Oh i'll try to reply proprerly, i feel bad otherwise I'll probably just reply during the Weekends still since i don't have much time in the Week so if you don't see any reply for a while that's the reason I Mean i don't think so, in the end it's a nice reading what you write down and it's up to the people to reply or take it all i personally don't mind Well, Glad to find somebody else like me for fighting games! I Have only P4 Arena and Under night i think, Tekken 7 too, because Tekken and Under Nights are easy even if you aren't good at the genre, Persona i don't care, it's Persona :3 Well you have Patience to write down i'm sure you have patience to stealth around, i like the Direct approach to fight Well i get you, i like racing games too but recently there are good ones? Sadly not really, i only have NFS Hot Pursuit to play and i want GT 7 when it comes down on price but that's it. I get you on the Fps side too, i used to play a good lot of them but nowadays are pretty much either boring or all the same ones. Enjoy Titanfall 2 i have it too to play, i'm not that excited because of the speedrun trophy honestly. Ah I see you have to get into them, understandable after all it's like reading an interactive story, you have to feel the need for it I Absolutely recommend you the 2 Ace Attorney trilogy on the genre! Being investigation games are pretty interactive with searching around to solve the Mistery and Take it to the court to prove the innocence of your client! They just put it there to force the people to play the Online which was in itself forced and not needed but well with Square.... The Stupid thing is thatr they put it back in the PS4 version too, what's the point! Couldn't they do like AC where they removed the Online in the tirlogy Oh well you're mostly done i would say, you miss a good number but compared to overall what you have i'm sure you'll write them all down in the next months! I have like 50+ Revivews to write down too, whenever i'll feel like it i'll write some. Yeah even if who doesn't know the game or doesn't want to understand will sadly say it's a mess, i see so many stupid comments not understanding the 3Rd one why? Because they skipped CoM and BBS which are not at all spin off but really important I'm curious to read you reviews on them then! For Me maybe i'll write down the 3Rd one one, day, i just know i'll write like a 10k+ lines of a review and that's why i still haven't Indeed, opinion can change with time in better or worse so it's nice seeing what was our thinking some years or months ago! I Mean i even "tried" it because i originally started Fallout 3 and got super bored and annoied after 2 hours, then after 2 years i decided to start again and give it another go and now it's one of my favourite open world ever for example Well about that game i think it's normal, many peopel were excited being form the SR people but then it's awful I actually have it to play, probably enver will as you said it's dissapointing i already know that without playing. I Mean respect for you too to dedicate so much into something i can't aside from gaming and even here recently i can get super into for 2-3 hours not much unlike some years ago, i just lose focus, really you have great mind in that regard! And you are really fast to reply don't worry as said i'll write in the weekend anyway so take your full time to reply no need to hurry tomorrow Yeah there were some great layouts to inspire from during the years tht's for sure! I Like yours and mine, i'll try and update it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now