Popular Post rjkclarke Posted August 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 15, 2021 (edited) The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker Review I thought it was probably about time I posted this one. I've had it in the can for a while - so to speak. I wrote it all the way back in March. Although I am going to tweak a few things here and there. I meant to post this when I was writing several reviews where the games related to mental health, back in Mental Health Awareness Week/Month - but ultimately I didn't end up adding this one. Which I'll elaborate on further down below. Seems apt to post this now anyway, as the last review I put in here was ICO which was the platinum I'd gotten just before this one. I'm Going to try out that "stats for nerds" thing too, that I was thinking about doing, lets see if I end up liking it. Better get to it then. Platinum #310 The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker (PS4) Platinum Trophy Acquire all trophies. Originally Written - March 11 2021 A few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 11 March 2021: 4:48:39AM Time taken to Platinum - 2 days, 9 hours, 49 minutes Platinum Rarity - 30.48% Trophy Number - #15,035 This will probably end up being a fairly short post. (Upon editing this, I turned out to be so wrong and ended up being longer than I thought, I guess I ended up having a lot to say about it haha!) Due to the fact I don't often like to really talk about story, just in case people get spoiled when they might not like to. This being a game that is 100% story driven, I'll just have to skim around things I suppose. I think I was initially drawn to this just because of the title. One of my favourite horror anthology films is Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, it isn't the greatest horror film or anything, but it is very interesting and quirky, which in a way is quite similar to this game, so that turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise. I have pretty limited experiences with FMV games, I had only played Erica up to this point, which is a bit of a mixed bag. I'm all for experimenting with new gaming experiences though and this certainly was interesting, I'll probably try a few more in future. Erica I think is quite a good experience but I started to see more and more flaws the more I delved into Erica, like a lot of people did I think. Plus there are only so many times you can hear the words "I think, that you are magic too" before you start to get a bit sick of it. (Anybody that has played Erica will probably get what I mean haha.) The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker though, does take the concept of an interactive experience and really runs with it. One of the unique things about this is that practically everybody will have a slightly different experience, as not everything plays out the same each time through. For example one persons play-through will probably have a different killer to another and certain subplots and minute details might be different, which I suppose would give it some replay value if you particularly enjoyed it. The cast of characters are all very interesting and there was only really one or two characters that I was a little less interested in than others. Sounds like I'm contradicting myself, yet this isn't the fault of the actors, more a problem with the fact that one or two of the characters you only meet once or twice - so formulating any sort of meaningful opinion of them is quite difficult. That's where some of the irony comes in, because some of the stories those characters tell are actually often quite interesting so it made me wonder why you didn't see more of them. For the most part, I think they give fairly equal prominence to each character's story, which was definitely a positive. A game/experience like this does always have to be interesting to keep you engaged, the various twists and turns the story takes always left me wanting to know more, even though some of those things ended up being quite unsettling. Which to be honest is an understatement. Some of it almost makes your skin crawl. The gameplay basically consists of you in session with various patients of Dr Dekker, who has been murdered, interviewing them to try and find out both the cause of his death and their ailments. It ends up being a mix of pre-set questions that the game gives you to ask, along with your own questions that you have to manually type in using the PS4 keypad, which I thought was a really interesting idea for a gameplay feature. You aren't going to find any Academy Award nominee's among the cast of actors this game, but that isn't to say they are bad because they aren't. There are a few moments in this where some of the actors really shine, you just have to look at it in the context that it is a fairly low budget game, so just like a lower budget film or television show you can't always find the greatest actors, which I feel bad saying actually. because I genuinely don't think any of them are bad. I think they did well with the material they were given. Although, I must say, I did find this a bit puzzling - why the developers decided that several of the female cast didn't need to wear shoes is certainly a bit of a head scratcher though - seemed a bit unnecessary. It makes even less sense, when you see a character like Jaya (who is a colleague of yours) end up sitting there wiggling her toes in your eyeline. Perhaps Quentin Tarantino popped in to direct a scene or two? As far as the trophies and the platinum goes, if you are looking for a quick and easy platinum this isn't it, easy yes, quick? Not really. It probably takes between 10-12 hours if you are typing the questions with the Dual Shock Controller. At the minimum you would need 8 hours anyway for the Late Shift trophy. The upside is that you can get all of the trophies in one playthrough if you make a point of regularly backing up your save, there are guides available as well, just be prepared to improvise a bit, because your play-through almost certainly wouldn't match up with the guides because each persons playthrough will differ slightly, but it will only be small deviations so no need to worry too much. On a little side note, I think the platinum tile for this game looks pretty cool, but every other tile looks like that too, which is a bit of a shame. I honestly would recommend this, for a few reasons, if you like psychological horror/thrillers you will probably like this, or at least appreciate some of the more interesting idea's regarding psychology they are trying to present. Alternatively you might like it purely if you are a fan of FMV games, which seem to be making a little bit of a mini resurgence within the last few years, you would probably enjoy this too. As an extra bonus it does go on sale quite often I think, so you would probably be able to pick it up for a decent price! Why I didn't post this during Mental Health Awareness Month I was very tempted to post this during that time period - the problem is, I don't really think the game deals with mental health in any sort of beneficial way. I'm not for one second suggesting that this game is mocking people with mental illness, because it very clearly isn't - yet I don't think it does anything particularly positive to highlight peoples ongoing struggles with it. The game almost treats the characters in a bubble of their own, outside of society. So when i was making those reviews during that month I thought better of posting it - because whilst the theme is certainly based around mental health, it doesn't really explore that to any meaningful degree, at least in my opinion anyway. Unfortunately it ends up taking a bit of a backseat in favour of the murder plot. It didn't feel right to put it in the mix amongst the games I highlighted that do explore a few issues surrounding mental health in a meaningful way - well those games and Broken Sword 5, which was a little more specific to my own struggles I was having when I played it. You get what I mean, I'm sure. Another Final Fantasy IX Update I'm sure it's starting to get tiresome now - having to read about how much I'm enjoying Final Fantasy IX for anyone that's been following along - nothings changing this post though. I still love it - although, I think Amarant is a little pointless. Unless he gets some sort of incredibly revelatory, character development, between now and the end of the game (which I think I'm nearing, I don't know though obviously, as I've never played this before), I think he got added a little bit too late. A little side note - I can't help but keep comparing Zidane to Han Solo, there are certain qualities that both characters share, that I can't help but make the comparison, and no, it's not just the whole "Princess" thing either. I'll elaborate on it further when I actually get to review it I think, there's one or two scenes relating to VIvi that I specifically want to highlight. and here isn't really the best place to do that. The fact it's tangibly written down here though, means I'm more likely to remember to make reference to it ? As far as actual progress goes, for anyone that's played it before I've just cracked open the seal and am on my way to the Shimmering Island to go to Terra. That's where I am in the story. I think I'll probably have the majority of the story done by tomorrow - that's the plan anyway. I've gotten a head start on most of the side quests. I think I've caught something like 84 or 85 frogs of 99, so another sweep of the marshes and I'll probably have that finished. I've gotten about 90% of the Chocobo treasures I can, so it's only a matter of time before I get that finished too. In a way I'm a little sad, that I think my time with the game is starting to wrap up. I never quite expected to end up loving Final Fantasy IX the way I do - but I'm so glad that I have. I'm pretty unsure how I'm going to tackle the 10,000 kills trophy. Whatever I do, it's going to take a while, so I'm undecided on whether to try and do it in 2 or 3 really long play sessions - or to space it out over a week or so and play some other games and just dip in and out. I think I'm going to jump in my time machine and do some more classic reviews next week too - actually those might be the perfect thing to break up the 10,000 kills trophy. Whichever, way it goes. I'll do some more next week. I think after my very very deep dive into Tomb Raider the other week I feel like I can - get back on the horse, so to speak. I don't think I'll do games in a series next week though. I'll pick out some stand-alone games and talk about those. I think one of them will be Dex, if I keep to 3 in a week, like I suggested, then I'm not too certain on what the other two will be. I'll figure something out though - they've all got to get reviewed eventually. Edited August 28, 2022 by rjkclarke 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Dude I am so looking forward to your FFIX review, just your updates alone have got me going all mom on myself like "see how much fun he's having? Now why haven't YOU started playing it??" I wanted to join the Mental Health Awareness event but ended up not, and I regret it. Seemed like a really good thing to be a part of, and in retrospect I really wasn't as busy as I thought I was at the time. You've got me most intrigued with Dr. Dekker! Completing Erica definitely left me with a sour taste on the genre in general but now that I see that Erica isn't exactly seen as the cream of the FMV crop, I might give it another shot, and this seems right up my alley. As usual, great post? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grotz99 Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 I played the Infectious Madness of Dr Dekker blind (without a guide)...mostly. It was tricky trying to find every key word to put in so I'd search for specific parts if I was really stuck. Was a great game and talking to some of the patients really gave me the willies. I also recommend it, but you need to have some patience using a controller, playing on PC would probably be much faster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 (edited) 14 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Dude I am so looking forward to your FFIX review, just your updates alone have got me going all mom on myself like "see how much fun he's having? Now why haven't YOU started playing it??" Thanks man!! I'm really looking forward to writing it myself actually - I'm taking mental notes as I'm playing it, of particularly noteworthy things.That's why I brought up the VIvi thing in that update so I absolutely don't forget to. It's going to end up being a very long review I think. It deserves it though, there is so much quality to unpack in that game, and I think a lot of it deserves to be highlighted. That's great to hear you're planning to play it later in the year by the way. I hope you have a great time. I'd never played it before, but always wanted to - and I took particular care to avoid spoilers over the years, so I think that's part of why I'm loving it so much, because it is all so fresh and exciting for me. I think a large amount of my enjoyment has actually come from being able to share the experience with everyone here - that's honestly been so much fun, reading other people say things like "oh yeah!! I love that bit" or things like that, has made it seem like almost a shared experience, which I'm sure probably sounds a bit odd. But it's a nice feeling to have nonetheless. 14 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I wanted to join the Mental Health Awareness event but ended up not, and I regret it. Seemed like a really good thing to be a part of, and in retrospect I really wasn't as busy as I thought I was at the time So did I actually, but I wasn't sure if there was a sign up period, and I didn't find out - I just assumed I had missed it, so decided to dedicate a week of reviews to it in here. In the UK it was Mental Health Awareness Week instead of month I believe. I did read a lot of the things being posted in that event though, and there were some very inspirational stories shared by plenty of people, which does make me regret not taking part myself. I don't think I'd quite gotten the self confidence yet to start posting much outside of my own thread and the Most Recent Platinum at the time too, it took quite a bit for me to even start my own thread, because I thought " why the hell would anyone want to read what I have to say?" I just thought I'd do it, so that I had somewhere concrete to put all my reviews, then if people liked them that'd just be a nice bonus. I've just realised that's a bit of irony isn't it, not joining an event pertaining to mental health, because you lack self confidence. I'm starting to feel more comfortable now, which is why I've been doing what I should have done from the start and commenting on some threads I've been reading for a year plus in some cases and just saying hello and how much I appreciate what they've been doing. I still need to get to some more of those. I wouldn't mind joining one of those type of events in the future though, because they seem really interesting - and it looks as if you end up meeting plenty of awesome people along the way. 14 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: You've got me most intrigued with Dr. Dekker! Completing Erica definitely left me with a sour taste on the genre in general but now that I see that Erica isn't exactly seen as the cream of the FMV crop, I might give it another shot, and this seems right up my alley. That's great to hear!! I bloody loved the game, it's not perfect, but it's not really trying to be. It's pretty much never boring either. When something has an interesting concept like that does, it's nice when the interesting part of it is actually utilised properly, which it definitely is. I know what you mean about Erica leaving a sour taste, but I thought there was enough potential in that genre that in someone else's hands you could probably do something very interesting with the FMV thing. I'm going to have to check out some of Wales Interactive's other games in the future. They seem like quite a good Publisher/ Developer. 10 hours ago, Grotz99 said: I played the Infectious Madness of Dr Dekker blind (without a guide)...mostly. It was tricky trying to find every key word to put in so I'd search for specific parts if I was really stuck. Was a great game and talking to some of the patients really gave me the willies. I also recommend it, but you need to have some patience using a controller, playing on PC would probably be much faster. That's impressive Grotz! Honestly, I salute your patience and perseverance on that one. I did try and play it without a guide initially, I was taking far too long with some of the questions you have to ask, without the pre-sets - so I ended up consulting a guide fairly often, thankfully the guide doesn't really spoil anything about the nature of the answer, just what you should be asking. I agree about patience being required too, if using a controller. Manageable though, some of the patients creep me out at times too, particularly Bryce. Edited August 16, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: I have considered doing rankings at some point... It wouldn't be of everything I've ever played (what sort of lunatic would do that ... You're nailing it though Doc) I think I'd be more likely to rank games within a specific series. Like if I ended up reviewing all of or most of them - I wouldn't mind doing like a little retrospective post about them and why I like specific ones more than others. I was thinking of splitting into a list of what I think are objectively the best and ones I personally like the most. I don't know if that's really got any legs as an idea though. I think that idea has legs. All you can do is try if you want and see what others think. If you're happy to do it though, then that's the most important thing I'd have thought. On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: Tetra Master I guess it was always going to suffer the comparison to Triple Triad, but I just don't find it that fun. I think the RNG element to it, that you might not actually win the card battles even though you should, ends up making it a little bit more tiresome - because more often than not I find it feels quite unfair. Can't agree more. It's a real shame. On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: I can't really define why I like it so much either to be honest. It's not anything remotely like my music taste (I'm listening to Babymetal as I write this haha) - as eclectic as that is. It's probably a slight hold-over from how much I've studied that entire soundtrack. To the point where I think the soundtrack for that game is in my head, more than the actual story itself. It was great seeing that in Lightning Returns I agree. There are a lot of very small yet subtle things like that in Lightning Returns that really add to it in a positive way I think - there exists such an attention to detail in how that game presents "the world is ending" trope, yet manages to do it in a way that I think feels quite organic and fresh to that particular trilogy. Especially some of the more sombre aspects. Sometimes certain songs or moments can stick with you, even if you don't know why or it's not what you're normally into etc. XIII:LR is not one of my favourite FF games by far, but there are some nice moments in it. On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: That's true... I always forget how many of those concerts you see pop up all over YouTube.. You're probably at one of them. Fingers crossed that a NieR one comes to London at some point in the future. I'd love to go to that if I could - I have at least two friends that would go to that one as well. Donna Burke lives in Japan I think - so I'd have to go all the way there to see her perform some of her Metal Gear Solid music, but I think she's an excellent musician her own right. So I still think that would end up as a worthwhile experience. I expect the Kingdom Hearts ones get a lot of attendees, that's quite the rabid fanbase, more so than Final Fantasy maybe - I like Kingdom Hearts quite a bit. More accurately, I should probably say I love the first Kingdom Hearts and I enjoy the gameplay of the others. The story is quite frankly a little bit of a mess - they seemed to make the silly assumption that every single person owns every handheld console and also by that token will play every single - even the mobile titles which seem like, completely inconsequential entries, until it turns out they are actually a lot more relevant than you'd think. Bet I hacked off a lot of KH fans with that statement, but it's a little tough to ignore. I think the fact you got to experience those with your wife, is probably one of the things that will make it eternally memorable for you. Which is awesome, that's really special that you got to experience that together. Especially considering how much the series clearly means to you. Wow I didn't know that. Would love to go to Japan one day lol Kingdom Hearts, well I played the first one for a bit but just couldn't get into it. Which is remarkable considering it's FF and Disney, but there you go. Found it really confusing and the battle system wasn't my thing tbh. You're bang on about all the spinoffs on handheld and you needing to play every one basically for the whole story, it's crazy. Yeah it was really wonderful, both times and more special sharing those experiences with my wife. On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: If I had to guess I'd say it was probably James Arnold Taylor and John DiMaggio Haha bang on! John DiMaggio was a must as well - love Futurama so got 2 autographs from him. I found out at that moment of him signing my FFX item that he did the voice for Kimahri too! lol was a nice surprise. James Arnold Taylor said a little quote for me in Tidus' voice, so awesome! Both of them were amazing (James Arnold Taylor especially) and it was a fantastic experience. Wish I could meet Tara Strong and any of the others who voiced main characters in FFX, especially Hedy Burgess. Yuna is my favourite character from that game. Her performance was pretty much exquisite, giving her humility, sincerity but gradual strength and resolve. On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: Don't feel like you are name dropping, it's nice to read about things like that - I think anyway. I know for sure, when I eventually write my review for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, that I'm going to end up mentioning the story about the day I met Paul McGann - and ended up later in the day having a photo taken with a Spiderman cosplayer that we later noticed had a *ahem..... massive package* - We suspect a little bit of spidey sock stuffing might have gone on there.. My wife really likes Doctor Who so that'd be an interesting read. Clearly the Spiderman story has to be expanded upon lol Maybe that wasn't the right way to say that lol On 8/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, rjkclarke said: I'd be tempted to mention if I was reviewing a Star Wars game, the time I did some sound design work for a short film with a guy who was an extra in one of the Star Wars films. We suspect the first one, as he was an older gent. I never met the guy, I was working in post production in the edit. My friend was the director though and the guy didn't seem to know which part of Star Wars he'd been in, he told him " I was the man, standing not straight behind, but a bit further back, behind a man that was behind the main character" - he's probably done absolutely loads of extra work over the years so you can't expect him to remember every single detail. Still I've always thought that was a funny story. So there's two of mine haha. Haha classic! Looking forward to more funny stories man! Gonna watch that James Arnold Taylor vid too. Cheers and keep up the good work on this thread ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 5 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's great to hear you're planning to play it later in the year by the way. I hope you have a great time. I'd never played it before, but always wanted to - and I took particular care to avoid spoilers over the years, so I think that's part of why I'm loving it so much, because it is all so fresh and exciting for me. I think a large amount of my enjoyment has actually come from being able to share the experience with everyone here - that's honestly been so much fun, reading other people say things like "oh yeah!! I love that bit" or things like that, has made it seem like almost a shared experience, which I'm sure probably sounds a bit odd. But it's a nice feeling to have nonetheless. That doesn't sound odd at all, I couldn't agree more! While I played FFIX when it came out, I didn't actually beat it. I made it to what I think was before the final battle, there's a few things I remember about that but I don't want to say anything else because I'm not sure of where you're at! Agreed about Amarant, from what I recall he was just kind of there, and acted like he didn't want to be. My memory of him joining the party is as follows: "Yeah, I'm a bad ass loner, you don't wanna mess with me." "Um.. that's cool dude, we're actually in the middle of something anywa-" "Yup, no way I'm gonna join a party right now. I'm too cool and cynical for that." "Yeah, we've already been through a lot together and gonna see this journey to its conclusion pretty soon, you don't have to worry about us trying to-" "Alright, I'll join you. I GUESS." "Right...." I'm actually glad that there's so much I don't remember, it'll make the first playthrough all the more, I dunno, new. I have the same thing with FFX so that'll also be fun, whenever I get around to it! 5 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't think I'd quite gotten the self confidence yet to start posting much outside of my own thread and the Most Recent Platinum at the time too, it took quite a bit for me to even start my own thread, because I thought " why the hell would anyone want to read what I have to say?" I just thought I'd do it, so that I had somewhere concrete to put all my reviews, then if people liked them that'd just be a nice bonus. I've just realised that's a bit of irony isn't it, not joining an event pertaining to mental health, because you lack self confidence. I'm starting to feel more comfortable now, which is why I've been doing what I should have done from the start and commenting on some threads I've been reading for a year plus in some cases and just saying hello and how much I appreciate what they've been doing. I still need to get to some more of those. I wouldn't mind joining one of those type of events in the future though, because they seem really interesting - and it looks as if you end up meeting plenty of awesome people along the way. Same. When I joined a challenge this past spring it was kinda huge for me, I was more content with just hanging in the background and quietly giving away all of my likes, as if I were some sort of friendly, non-threatening stalker. I'm currently more active here than I ever thought I'd be, and you hit the nail on the head - feels like what I should have been doing from the start, but that comfort level needed to develop at its own pace. It's been so nice meeting people and geeking out and talkin shop! There's just so much you can talk about here that isn't readily available in the real world (for me at least, I don't have any gamer friends who are completionists and it makes me feel like a dork). 6 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's great to hear!! I bloody loved the game, it's not perfect, but it's not really trying to be. It's pretty much never boring either. When something has an interesting concept like that does, it's nice when the interesting part of it is actually utilised properly, which it definitely is. I know what you mean about Erica leaving a sour taste, but I thought there was enough potential in that genre that in someone else's hands you could probably do something very interesting with the FMV thing. I'm going to have to check out some of Wales Interactive's other games in the future. They seem like quite a good Publisher/ Developer. I'm definitely interested, especially since I don't wanna be that person who just hates a certain type of game, there's not much fun to be had with that! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I think that idea has legs. All you can do is try if you want and see what others think. If you're happy to do it though, then that's the most important thing I'd have thought. I hope so... I'll give it a trial run when I've got Tomb Raider finished - got to review the recent trilogy and I'll try and do one after that and see what I think of it. Although, they are different series, so I could just do one on the Keeley Hawes trilogy as a little trial post - That seems easier. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Sometimes certain songs or moments can stick with you, even if you don't know why or it's not what you're normally into etc. XIII:LR is not one of my favourite FF games by far, but there are some nice moments in it. I'm not especially fond of Lightning Returns myself - even in that trilogy it's far and away my least favourite one. And in a hypothetical ranking of all the FF games I've played, I'm fairly sure it wouldn't get that high in there either. I feel pretty much the same way you do, that it has some nice moments to it, but that's about where my fondness for it ends, it's not really bad. It's just very messy. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Wow I didn't know that. Would love to go to Japan one day lol Kingdom Hearts, well I played the first one for a bit but just couldn't get into it. Which is remarkable considering it's FF and Disney, but there you go. Found it really confusing and the battle system wasn't my thing tbh. You're bang on about all the spinoffs on handheld and you needing to play every one basically for the whole story, it's crazy. Yeah it was really wonderful, both times and more special sharing those experiences with my wife. I'd love to go to Japan too, amongst many other places I'd love to visit - I've definitely not travelled enough outside of the UK that's for sure. I know for sure I'm going to ruffle some feathers when I review Kingdom Hearts - that's fine (I've got plenty of unpopular opinions ?) funny you mention it's FF and Disney, that's what I like about the original game particularly, it is the perfect blend of both of those things, and then eventually, later in the series it isn't. The Disney elements become a bit of an afterthought and instead of weaving it into the plot, it just feels like it's there because it's contractually obligated to be, maybe I'm reading a little bit too much into that. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Haha bang on! John DiMaggio was a must as well - love Futurama so got 2 autographs from him. I found out at that moment of him signing my FFX item that he did the voice for Kimahri too! lol was a nice surprise. James Arnold Taylor said a little quote for me in Tidus' voice, so awesome! Both of them were amazing (James Arnold Taylor especially) and it was a fantastic experience. Wish I could meet Tara Strong and any of the others who voiced main characters in FFX, especially Hedy Burgess. Yuna is my favourite character from that game. Her performance was pretty much exquisite, giving her humility, sincerity but gradual strength and resolve. No way - I didn't know he voiced Kimahri as well, that's very cool.. You learn something new every day. Did you get him to bend something for you? ? Hedy Burgess would be great to meet I agree.. I'm quite surprised to hear you say Yuna is your favourite character, mainly because most peoples favourite tends to be Auron, I would have said Rikku if I'd never played X-2 but they take her character in a bit of a backwards step in that game. I'm very fond of Yuna too, that whole cast of characters is excellent though. I'd argue Hedy Burgess is probably the glue that keeps all of X-2 stuck together, she's very good in that. Yuna's character growth in that game is one of the things I think they did really well. I'll leave it at that if Smevz is planning to play FFX in the future, I'd hate for him to get spoiled on anything significant. 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: My wife really likes Doctor Who so that'd be an interesting read. Clearly the Spiderman story has to be expanded upon lol Maybe that wasn't the right way to say that lol Tempted to save that for a really nerdy date - Like Doctor Who's anniversary. So November 23. I grew up watching all the old VHS tapes of Doctor Who - which got me nice and bullied at school.... Bet they felt like real asshats when the show got revived in the mid 2000's and it was widely popular. HAHA! - That Spiderman thing is hilarious.... It's too funny not to tell the whole story, which I think I will when I do that Dr Who review ? 6 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Haha classic! Looking forward to more funny stories man! Gonna watch that James Arnold Taylor vid too. Cheers and keep up the good work on this thread I'd laugh if he wasn't in Star Wars at all and he was actually in Star Trek. I'm sure my Nan used to confuse the two things when I was little, bless her. Thank you!! I'll try. Enjoy that James Arnold Taylor vid, it's awesome. I've watched it quite a few times - and he really is a talented individual. Got a hell of a lot of range to his voice, which that video is a huge showcase of. 5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: That doesn't sound odd at all, I couldn't agree more! While I played FFIX when it came out, I didn't actually beat it. I made it to what I think was before the final battle, there's a few things I remember about that but I don't want to say anything else because I'm not sure of where you're at! Agreed about Amarant, from what I recall he was just kind of there, and acted like he didn't want to be. My memory of him joining the party is as follows: "Yeah, I'm a bad ass loner, you don't wanna mess with me." "Um.. that's cool dude, we're actually in the middle of something anywa-" "Yup, no way I'm gonna join a party right now. I'm too cool and cynical for that." "Yeah, we've already been through a lot together and gonna see this journey to its conclusion pretty soon, you don't have to worry about us trying to-" "Alright, I'll join you. I GUESS." "Right...." I'm actually glad that there's so much I don't remember, it'll make the first playthrough all the more, I dunno, new. I have the same thing with FFX so that'll also be fun, whenever I get around to it! I think I'm near the final battle now - they keep talking about final preparations and the game wants me to go to the giant tree again, but I can't because.... Erm.... Trophies..? Haha!! Oh man - for someone who doesn't remember too much about the game, they sure remember a lot about one specific character... That is absolutely spot on.. That made me laugh quite a bit when I read that, because it was not long after he'd said something almost exactly like that, then fell into a hole in a castle, and needed to be rescued. You know I said I'd been doing voices for the characters as I was playing it (yeah that's normal right? A full grown 30 year old man sat in his bedroom giving voices out loud to twenty year old voiceless game characters! ?)? Well for Amarant I've given him Brad Garrett's voice, not his normal speaking voice either (his normal speaking voice is actually quite soft) - his Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond voice. I just thought it fit, his "pretending really hard to be a loner" thing. Oooooooh you've never played Final Fantasy X? You're in for an absolute treat dude. Well I think anyway, that's my personal favourite in the series. If I've dropped any spoilers in this thread about it that you've inadvertently read, then I'm so sorry. I'd feel so bad for doing that, because it's a wonderful game. One that I hope you have a hell of a lot of fun with. You can be sure I'll be there to follow along for the ride. 5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Same. When I joined a challenge this past spring it was kinda huge for me, I was more content with just hanging in the background and quietly giving away all of my likes, as if I were some sort of friendly, non-threatening stalker. I'm currently more active here than I ever thought I'd be, and you hit the nail on the head - feels like what I should have been doing from the start, but that comfort level needed to develop at its own pace. It's been so nice meeting people and geeking out and talkin shop! There's just so much you can talk about here that isn't readily available in the real world (for me at least, I don't have any gamer friends who are completionists and it makes me feel like a dork). "sort of friendly, non-threatening stalker" - (Smevz, 2021) - that's brilliant! Instead of posting photos of your genitals through peoples letterboxes, you push slices of pizza through, with a smiley face arranged with the toppings. Instead of rummaging through peoples bins, you take their bins out for them and dispose of them with a smile ? I do know exactly what you mean though... I'm pretty much the same, far more active than I ever expected to be but I'm really enjoying it. I'm really glad you've started to post more actively too, it's nice to have another person with a great sense of humour kicking around. I think we are privileged to probably be in the friendliest area of the forums, where pretty much everyone is positive and well wishing (even if I did post a video of Jack Baker curb stomping someone on your thread the first day - just felt fitting because of the "welcome to the family" thing haha, that was the true message) ... Plenty of people here I think I'd quite happily hang out with in the real world, yourself included. So I think that really helps. I have got a few friends in the real world that are semi into trophies, one or two more than others (I think I'm slowly converting another friend haha) - but some people do just look at you like you've just shape-shifted into an alien when you mention trophies. 5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I'm definitely interested, especially since I don't wanna be that person who just hates a certain type of game, there's not much fun to be had with that! I like the idea of FMV games conceptually, so I didn't quite want to let myself write it off. I'm glad I didn't because I've got a little bit of faith restored in them since Erica, so I'll probably try a few more out in future. They could have improved Erica so easily by giving you an option to skip scenes that you'd already seen, or skip to the next choice if you'd already played through it. Or y'know a chapter select. Even taking trophies out of the equation that would have been nice, just so you didn't have to see the same things so often just to see something that's got about five minutes of slightly different footage in it. Edited August 16, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 1 hour ago, rjkclarke said: Haha!! Oh man - for someone who doesn't remember too much about the game, they sure remember a lot about one specific character... That is absolutely spot on.. That made me laugh quite a bit when I read that, because it was not long after he'd said something almost exactly like that, then fell into a hole in a castle, and needed to be rescued. You know I said I'd been doing voices for the characters as I was playing it (yeah that's normal right? A full grown 30 year old man sat in his bedroom giving voices out loud to twenty year old voiceless game characters! )? Well for Amarant I've given him Brad Garrett's voice, not his normal speaking voice either (his normal speaking voice is actually quite soft) - his Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond voice. I just thought it fit, his "pretending really hard to be a loner" thing. Brad Garrett as Amarant... this is not something I really say, but *chef's kiss.* That is fantastic? Bro I grew up without voice actors in my games, I know exactly what you mean! I remember Squall and Zell in particular were a lot of fun with that? Even now that I'm grown, I still do it (and I got damn near a decade on you)! ...but not when my wife is home. I think she was only amused the first time... also I forgot that he needed to be saved! Oh Amarant, you dipshit? I remember the last three characters kinda feeling tacked on for me. Mr. Independent, the little girl, and Quin...oa? Felt like they were thrown in because of abilities rather than character traits, but again this is my 20+ year old memory of playing this talkin! 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Oooooooh you've never played Final Fantasy X? You're in for an absolute treat dude. Well I think anyway, that's my personal favourite in the series. If I've dropped any spoilers in this thread about it that you've inadvertently read, then I'm so sorry. I'd feel so bad for doing that, because it's a wonderful game. One that I hope you have a hell of a lot of fun with. You can be sure I'll be there to follow along for the ride. I have, but it's like my experience with IX, only much murkier. I just remember the Wonder Years-esque "I didn't know it at the time" narration, and for whatever reason it wasn't quite clicking with me. I was starting long lasting love affairs with GTA, the Smackdown games, Metal Gear Solid 2... I guess the same thing happened as with Tomb Raider a few years earlier. But I'm very much down to fix that! I have literally encountered nothing but love for that game, so I know it's kind of on me to revisit and just let it do its thing. 4 hours ago, rjkclarke said: "sort of friendly, non-threatening stalker" - (Smevz, 2021) - that's brilliant! Instead of posting photos of your genitals through peoples letterboxes, you push slices of pizza through, with a smiley face arranged with the toppings. Instead of rummaging through peoples bins, you take their bins out for them and dispose of them with a smile I do know exactly what you mean though... I'm pretty much the same, far more active than I ever expected to be but I'm really enjoying it. I'm really glad you've started to post more actively too, it's nice to have another person with a great sense of humour kicking around. I think we are privileged to probably be in the friendliest area of the forums, where pretty much everyone is positive and well wishing (even if I did post a video of Jack Baker curb stomping someone on your thread the first day - just felt fitting because of the "welcome to the family" thing haha, that was the true message) ... Plenty of people here I think I'd quite happily hang out with in the real world, yourself included. So I think that really helps. I have got a few friends in the real world that are semi into trophies, one or two more than others (I think I'm slowly converting another friend haha) - but some people do just look at you like you've just shape-shifted into an alien when you mention trophies. HOW DID YOU KNOW WHAT I DO IN MY SPARE TIME??!! The feeling is mutual, homie? I'm still so impressed at how welcoming and pleasant this end of the forums are! Gamers can be famously toxic, so it's nice to find communities where people are chill and supportive, but still fun! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 @rjkclarke I hope so... I'll give it a trial run when I've got Tomb Raider finished - got to review the recent trilogy and I'll try and do one after that and see what I think of it. Although, they are different series, so I could just do one on the Keeley Hawes trilogy as a little trial post - That seems easier. Sounds like a plan to me I'm not especially fond of Lightning Returns myself - even in that trilogy it's far and away my least favourite one. And in a hypothetical ranking of all the FF games I've played, I'm fairly sure it wouldn't get that high in there either. I feel pretty much the same way you do, that it has some nice moments to it, but that's about where my fondness for it ends, it's not really bad. It's just very messy. Couldn't agree more tbh. I'd love to go to Japan too, amongst many other places I'd love to visit - I've definitely not travelled enough outside of the UK that's for sure. I know for sure I'm going to ruffle some feathers when I review Kingdom Hearts - that's fine (I've got plenty of unpopular opinions ) funny you mention it's FF and Disney, that's what I like about the original game particularly, it is the perfect blend of both of those things, and then eventually, later in the series it isn't. The Disney elements become a bit of an afterthought and instead of weaving it into the plot, it just feels like it's there because it's contractually obligated to be, maybe I'm reading a little bit too much into that. Same here lol life gets in the way eh? Oh ok, I have no idea tbh. Didn't play any after the 1st one so looking at the game series from the outside, I thought it was still just a mix of FF and Disney. Certainly would be interested to hear your thoughts on this series. No way - I didn't know he voiced Kimahri as well, that's very cool.. You learn something new every day. Did you get him to bend something for you? Hedy Burgess would be great to meet I agree.. I'm quite surprised to hear you say Yuna is your favourite character, mainly because most peoples favourite tends to be Auron, I would have said Rikku if I'd never played X-2 but they take her character in a bit of a backwards step in that game. I'm very fond of Yuna too, that whole cast of characters is excellent though. I'd argue Hedy Burgess is probably the glue that keeps all of X-2 stuck together, she's very good in that. Yuna's character growth in that game is one of the things I think they did really well. I'll leave it at that if Smevz is planning to play FFX in the future, I'd hate for him to get spoiled on anything significant. Yeah, was such a fun thing to find out and he signed it from both characters ? Sadly no bending of anything though lol Got him to put the quote he said when he was Gold Bender though haha. Auron of course is an awesome character who oozes cool and intrigue. His presence is something I majorly missed in FFX-2, but for me Yuna just stands on a slightly higher pedistal than the rest of the characters in FFX. Think her journey and connection to everyone is extremely well done along with her growth and the different characteristics of her personality being explored. Every character as you say in that game are excellent, the story is top notch partly due to those characters. Of course I wouldn't want to spoil anything for anyone, but obviously meeting Hedy Burgess would be wonderful. Tempted to save that for a really nerdy date - Like Doctor Who's anniversary. So November 23. I grew up watching all the old VHS tapes of Doctor Who - which got me nice and bullied at school.... Bet they felt like real asshats when the show got revived in the mid 2000's and it was widely popular. HAHA! - That Spiderman thing is hilarious.... It's too funny not to tell the whole story, which I think I will when I do that Dr Who review Looking forward to it! I'd laugh if he wasn't in Star Wars at all and he was actually in Star Trek. I'm sure my Nan used to confuse the two things when I was little, bless her. Thank you!! I'll try. Enjoy that James Arnold Taylor vid, it's awesome. I've watched it quite a few times - and he really is a talented individual. Got a hell of a lot of range to his voice, which that video is a huge showcase of. Everyone knows someone who has confused Star Wars and Star Trek surely? lol it's like a tradition or something. Thanks for linking the James Arnold Taylor vid, it was really good to watch and he's so clever. Was fab to meet him and see a small part of his talent in person. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 (edited) 15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Brad Garrett as Amarant... this is not something I really say, but *chef's kiss.* That is fantastic Bro I grew up without voice actors in my games, I know exactly what you mean! I remember Squall and Zell in particular were a lot of fun with that Even now that I'm grown, I still do it (and I got damn near a decade on you)! ...but not when my wife is home. I think she was only amused the first time... also I forgot that he needed to be saved! Oh Amarant, you dipshit I remember the last three characters kinda feeling tacked on for me. Mr. Independent, the little girl, and Quin...oa? Felt like they were thrown in because of abilities rather than character traits, but again this is my 20+ year old memory of playing this talkin! I had loads of fun with Zell myself... I gave Zell, like the most douche - bag, stereotypical surfer dudebro voice that I could come up with... Ironically, probably wasn't too far from my own voice, I always call people man or dude, anyway. closest famous voice I can think of to how I did Zell's was probably Jason Mewes. How did you characterise him and Squall? I struggled with Squall, because of his I don't give a fig attitude - I couldn't help but do a trench coat wearing, chain smoking foot against a wall looking the other direction kind of voice, then put more into it, as he became more and more sure of himself. I was overthinking all of that of course, it just made it more fun for me.? I don't disagree with those characters feeling a little tacked on, the little girl less so, Amarant definitely is - and Quina, well I love Quina but they pretty much add nothing much to the story, but I laugh like an idiot at almost everything they say, because they react like a fish up a tree, but I agree they don't add a whole lot to the story. 15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I have, but it's like my experience with IX, only much murkier. I just remember the Wonder Years-esque "I didn't know it at the time" narration, and for whatever reason it wasn't quite clicking with me. I was starting long lasting love affairs with GTA, the Smackdown games, Metal Gear Solid 2... I guess the same thing happened as with Tomb Raider a few years earlier. But I'm very much down to fix that! I have literally encountered nothing but love for that game, so I know it's kind of on me to revisit and just let it do its thing. That's quite understandable - Those particular games you mentioned from that time period were pretty much when they were starting to hit their peak as far as quality goes. In my opinion obviously, That PS2 era GTA trilogy are something truly special, as were Smackdown games from that time period, I have so many fond memories of playing Smackdown games in various states of erm..... Inebriation... ? - just made the experience that much more enjoyable, and well Metal Gear Solid 2 was far far ahead of it's time as far as doing a 4th wall breaking video game story, even if it is quite messily put together... So yeah I can absolutely understand why Final Fantasy X might have just passed you by at the time. That Wonder Years analogy is perfect, I'm very fond of that show, they used to put it on at like 5AM here in the UK and as a long time insomniac I used to enjoy watching that as I drifted in and out of consciousness. 15 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: HOW DID YOU KNOW WHAT I DO IN MY SPARE TIME??!! The feeling is mutual, homie I'm still so impressed at how welcoming and pleasant this end of the forums are! Gamers can be famously toxic, so it's nice to find communities where people are chill and supportive, but still fun! Haha - just a suspicion.... Gamers can be fairly toxic that's for sure, you'd think that might rear its head more with trophy hunting too, because obviously there's the case of people having more trophies than others, or thinking they are a superior gamer because they did x game that another player didn't - thankfully I've only seen that rear it's head once or twice in this part of the forums. I don't get people that do that personally. Negativity is not something that comes easily to me these days, so I always try and send as much positivity peoples way as I possibly can. What's easy for some is not easy for others. I'm never, ever going to judge someone based on how many trophies they have or haven't got, or what their average rarity, or amount of ultra rare platinums they have are. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Thankfully this area of the forums seems to be a really relaxed safe space for people to just share their stories and experiences in a friendly way.. Give each other encouragement to try and beat whatever hard thing we're all currently attempting, that kind of thing - so it's great. 2 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Same here lol life gets in the way eh? Oh ok, I have no idea tbh. Didn't play any after the 1st one so looking at the game series from the outside, I thought it was still just a mix of FF and Disney. Certainly would be interested to hear your thoughts on this series. It sure does... Pesky real world ? It is still a mix of Final Fantasy and Disney - you aren't wrong, I just feel like Square felt a little hamstrung by both of those things as the series goes on, so the Disney stuff isn't weaved into the overarching plot as efficiently, and the Final Fantasy cameo's and character appearances become less and less frequent. My thoughts on the series - I think are going to surprise a lot of people, I may have played all of them (except Melody of Memories) but there's just some really head scratching silly decisions that have been made over the course of the series that I just can't ignore. We'll get there when we get there I suppose. 2 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah, was such a fun thing to find out and he signed it from both characters Sadly no bending of anything though lol Got him to put the quote he said when he was Gold Bender though haha. Auron of course is an awesome character who oozes cool and intrigue. His presence is something I majorly missed in FFX-2, but for me Yuna just stands on a slightly higher pedistal than the rest of the characters in FFX. Think her journey and connection to everyone is extremely well done along with her growth and the different characteristics of her personality being explored. Every character as you say in that game are excellent, the story is top notch partly due to those characters. Of course I wouldn't want to spoil anything for anyone, but obviously meeting Hedy Burgess would be wonderful. My first playthrough of Final Fantasy X, I didn't even know what the main character was called - you know the bit where you can change the name of the character and it gives you the option... Well I typed in my own name in capital letters thinking it was the name of my save file.. So Tidus.... Was well my name ? - silly arse! Yuna is great, I couldn't agree more man! Wouldn't have been the worst choice to make her the first female Final Fantasy protagonist to be honest. I know we can all be pedantic and say Terra is the first from VI, but that's a little more complicated. I often think that Ash from Final Fantasy XII should have been the first - not just because Vaan is a fanny, which he is with his stupid painted on abs, but she's a more interesting character too, and she's much more relevant to the story than he is. 2 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Everyone knows someone who has confused Star Wars and Star Trek surely? lol it's like a tradition or something. Thanks for linking the James Arnold Taylor vid, it was really good to watch and he's so clever. Was fab to meet him and see a small part of his talent in person. Surely that's an executable offence for a Star Trek fan like yourself - to confuse Star Wars and Star Trek haha... Unfortunately both series contain two films directed by J.J Abrams - which is an unfortunate thing for any series to have to contend with. I hope you like chaos and lens flare!! Glad you liked that James Arnold Taylor video, it's a great way to spend five minutes!! I'd better get back to writing my Classic Review on Dex that I'm planning to post tonight... Although I'm doing it in a separate document this time and pasting it in, as the forum seems to like deleting all of my draft posts at the moment.. Very annoying!! Edited August 17, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 4 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: I had loads of fun with Zell myself... I gave Zell, like the most douche - bag, stereotypical surfer dudebro voice that I could come up with... Ironically, probably wasn't too far from my own voice, I always call people man or dude, anyway. closest famous voice I can think of to how I did Zell's was probably Jason Mewes. How did you characterise him and Squall? My Zell was exactly the same as yours I'm willing to bet? Squall was like the goth kids from South Park, except with the capacity to yell very emotionally. I always remember that part where they're informed about Seifer and everybody talks about him and Squall has this rather long moment where he's just thinking, obviously we get to read his thoughts but to anybody else he's just standing there silently, then he suddenly bellows out "NO!!!" or "NEVER!!" or whatever it was, with that classic PS1 over-gesticulation, completely out of nowhere where everybody else in the room was concerned. A friend of mine and I reference that to each other every so often? 11 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: I don't disagree with those characters feeling a little tacked on, the little girl less so, Amarant definitely is - and Quina, well I love Quina but they pretty much add nothing much to the story, but I laugh like an idiot at almost everything they say, because they react like a fish up a tree, but I agree they don't add a whole lot to the story. Quina! They were funny, and charming in their own way, but it felt like they thought "ooh let's get a blue magic character in on this!" and thus a new character was born. Which was a good call, they were the closest FF ever got to having another Gau! 15 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: That's quite understandable - Those particular games you mentioned from that time period were pretty much when they were starting to hit their peak as far as quality goes. In my opinion obviously, That PS2 era GTA trilogy are something truly special, as were Smackdown games from that time period, I have so many fond memories of playing Smackdown games in various states of erm..... Inebriation... - just made the experience that much more enjoyable, and well Metal Gear Solid 2 was far far ahead of it's time as far as doing a 4th wall breaking video game story, even if it is quite messily put together... So yeah I can absolutely understand why Final Fantasy X might have just passed you by at the time. That Wonder Years analogy is perfect, I'm very fond of that show, they used to put it on at like 5AM here in the UK and as a long time insomniac I used to enjoy watching that as I drifted in and out of consciousness. Those Smackdown games were so fun! I tried playing 2k19 last year, I couldn't get into it though. It's just not the same? Metal Gear Solid 2 honestly deserves every bit of criticism it gets, but when that came out, it blew my mind. It was overwhelming at first all the new things you could do, but the controls were so (at the time) masterfully implemented that it all felt really natural. As for those GTA games, that was an absolute obsession that is still very much a part of me. After I finish San Andreas (again) I'll probably tackle all three consecutively. It's a shame that FFX got buried in the mix, though. It's funny because I'll make references to television and then remember that it's quite possible that it wasn't a thing elsewhere - a dead giveaway that I'm an American? I'm glad that made it out there, it's an endearingly show! I can also attest that it's great for background noise when your body doesn't feel like sticking with sleeping or waking states for too long! 27 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Haha - just a suspicion.... Gamers can be fairly toxic that's for sure, you'd think that might rear its head more with trophy hunting too, because obviously there's the case of people having more trophies than others, or thinking they are a superior gamer because they did x game that another player didn't - thankfully I've only seen that rear it's head once or twice in this part of the forums. I don't get people that do that personally. Negativity is not something that comes easily to me these days, so I always try and send as much positivity peoples way as I possibly can. What's easy for some is not easy for others. I'm never, ever going to judge someone based on how many trophies they have or haven't got, or what their average rarity, or amount of ultra rare platinums they have are. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Thankfully this area of the forums seems to be a really relaxed safe space for people to just share their stories and experiences in a friendly way.. Give each other encouragement to try and beat whatever hard thing we're all currently attempting, that kind of thing - so it's great. I don't really get that either. The only person whose trophies, or lack thereof, that I judge is naturally you. Kidding! I only judge myself. I obviously get a great deal of enjoyment out of reading other people's stories, checking out their lists and trophies and so on, but it's absolutely not a competition. Just fun to see where we're all at! And it's a great system to be a part of, passing around encouragement and applauding achievements. It's the way it should be, I tells ya! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) Classic Review Platinum #178 Dex (PS4) Dex Complete the game A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 22 July 2018: 1:50:07 AM Time taken to Platinum - 2 days, 12 hours, 21 minutes Platinum Rarity - 23.81% Trophy Number - #9,394 Full disclosure, this is not the most original story or setting you will ever see in a video game - if you’re a fan of cyberpunk or just sci-fi in general, then you aren’t likely to encounter a lot of things you haven’t seen before. Yet somehow, it still remains a charming and memorable experience. Sometimes that’s alright though, knowing what to expect going in, sometimes is half the fun. One of the things I’ll always appreciate is when a video game or a film is so clearly trying – I love it when the ambition and the desire to present the best product they possibly can is there, this is an element that I think really effectively shines like the brightest of beacons in Dex. So what is Dex? It’s a little hard to really tangibly describe Dex – in a way that’s a credit to it, because the game comprises a very interesting mix of gameplay elements, which mean that you could theoretically play this game many different ways. The main character is actually called Dex, a young woman flung head first into a world she doesn’t quite understand you could say “she never asked for this” When trying to convince friends to play this, I’ve often described it as a side scrolling Deus Ex. Which in a way, it sort of is, Dex also contains varied ways to progress and solve problems much like Deus Ex does – whilst also containing expansive dialogue choices and vast amounts of possible quest outcomes. I remember when I originally played Dex that the game strongly reminded me of Strange Days, the two featured locations in both pieces of media, feel quite similar in a few ways, which I won’t delve too deep into for spoiler reasons. Strange Days is a really interesting sci-fi film from the mid 90’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow – which I’d recommend to anyone who hasn’t seen it. The Blade Runner comparisons - sort of go without saying, there is a character in this called Decker too, I know that’s not quite the same, but so many pieces of science fiction media have been influenced by both the book and the film. I’ll elaborate further on the gameplay later on, but just for a little context – Dex takes place in the corporate filled city of Harbor Prime. I’m sure you’re right now thinking, “ why do we need another cyberpunk game featuring oppressive corporations ” believe me, I had my own reservations about that myself, but Harbor Prime is so well realised in this game as an expansive environment, that in the end it’s hard not to notice how well the game utilises this particular science fiction trope. Especially when you explore all of the areas and see how far reaching it all is, even when it doesn’t quite appear to be on the surface. It almost feels contradictory to bring this up, but for a game that has very little movement, the game world just feels so alive. This was something I never expected from a low budget title like this. As I often say though, I love it when games like this surprise me and this one really did. If I’m being completely honest though, the visuals found within Dex are probably the weakest component of the game. Although, I purely mean that from a graphical perspective, more often than not the game looks grimy and a little washed out (I believe deliberately). In some areas that is to the games benefit, in others, less so. One of the larger areas of focus during the game, are the nightclub areas and similar socially busy districts – theoretically, these should be incredibly bright and vibrant, with brilliant neon lighting illuminating the griminess of the streets. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite end up that way, as the neon colours, blend in with the background perhaps a little more than they should. I think the character designs themselves are excellent though, and often quite memorable. Dex herself, particularly so. I believe there was a level of intent to the griminess of some of the areas (unfortunately it makes the game look a little ugly at times), as is evidenced by a few skirmishes into corporation areas where there ultra clean, bright and sterile locations juxtapose nicely - with the more oppressive and altogether more dishevelled areas filled with Harbor Primes citizens. One thing of particular note are the varied locations, you’ll explore a lot of Harbor Prime in this game, and none of it really feels the same, which again, might seem a very basic observation – but it’s a personal pet peeve of mine in video games, where despite being in an allegedly different area, they all still feel the same. Dragon Age II is a particularly naughty sinner, in this regard. Yet, a smaller budget title like Dex manages to craft very memorable areas as an effective sandbox for the player. I might not specifically remember every name of every location, but visually I can picture most of them. The soundtrack found within Dex is fantastic – it really is. Perhaps more filmic than a video game soundtrack, in a way it really helps punctuate some of the more meaningful story revelations, in a way the visuals couldn’t do, due to the lower budget. I re-listened to some of it earlier, and it really is very good, quite a few things I’d forgotten came flooding back. It’s such a good utilisation of ambient electronic music, it really resonates with that familiar science fiction sound – yet it does it in its own very unique way. I’d recommend giving the music for Fixers Hope a listen; I’ll leave a link here. It’s one of the areas you spend a lot of time in, and it’s really effective for building the atmosphere for that specific area. I remember being quite impressed with the voice acting in Dex – not every character is well voiced, but the majority of them are – particularly some of the characters you meet through sidequests, which you might not have encountered if you hadn’t ventured slightly off the beaten track. Most importantly, Dex herself is very well voiced. She manages to tread a fine line between playing her - as, at times, vulnerable and uncertain - but as she starts to grow as a character, her newly found inner strength is reflected in the way she interacts with people. For the most part, the voice acting adds a lot to an already very interesting atmosphere in this game. It all feels as if it belongs, if that makes sense. One of Dex’s strongest elements comes in the form of its gameplay. The game is so much more than a sidescrolling beat – em – up, which I’d argue initially the game might falsely advertise itself as in the first few sections. It’s more in line with a side scrolling open world RPG. It’s one of those games that can seem incredibly frustrating at first, because you have very little skills to start with, so you end up getting killed more often than you think you should. But have no fear, dear reader, plough on through and unlock some skills, and the entire game itself will start to reveal itself. Seriously, it really does – there are so many possible ways to play this game, stealth, hacking, combat and speech craft or a mixture of all of those, there’s usually going to be some solution to your problems through one of those avenues. Hacking allows you to do some really interesting things in this game, which can open up some of the more unique endings to some of the sidequests as you often read information that you weren’t supposed to, which gives you a better understanding of the situation. Anyone that has played NieR: Automata will know what to expect from the hacking, because it’s the same principal as in that game, except Dex actually did it long before NieR did, NieR just arguably refined it, and made it a bit more enjoyable – because admittedly some of the hacking sections can go on much longer than perhaps they need to. Unfortunately, if we’re exploring every part of Dex, then we can’t ignore its trophies (they aren’t bad or anything, there’s a lot of finicky things involved), which are for the most part fairly simple, and nothing itself is actually overly difficult – it’s just absolutely littered with missables, so if you were to play it I’d absolutely recommend consulting a guide. There are plenty of spoiler free ones. I remember using a particularly good one that laid out quite a good road map to tackle quite a few of the quests so that you have all the right skills necessary to find the collectibles in some of the completely missable areas. If I remember what it is, I’ll link it to this review and make a note of it further down the line. It’s got one of those trophy lists I personally really enjoy, where you are pretty much tasked with seeing almost everything the game has to offer, so by the end of it you do feel like you’ve gotten an almost complete experience. Some of the trophies are quite funny too, there are two that span an entire playthrough, which require you to never sleep with a prostitute and another for sleeping with every prostitute you can in the game. This is also one of those rare games, where you actually get the platinum before completing the game – so please, if you do ever play this, play it to the end, it’s worth it, plus it’s only another five to ten minutes from where the platinum pops. I’d absolutely recommend Dex – yes in a few senses it’s unoriginal. Sometimes games don’t have to be littered with deep subtext (although this has some) and allegories to be a worthwhile experience. A game like this has so much charm and atmosphere, which you’ll probably end up really enjoying, along with the world building that went into crafting this game. If you’re a gamer of a certain vintage as I am, the very SNES like aesthetic might appeal to you purely on that level. I was originally drawn to this game, based on what the aesthetic was. I see this go on sale quite often, so that’s another thing in its favour, and the game itself is not much more than fifteen hours long, so you can play it in a few days if you have enough free time. Under appreciated is almost too much of an understatement when it comes to a game as enjoyable as I thought this was. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think it was @DrunkenEngineer - re-sparking my interest in Deus Ex that made me want to talk about this game in particular.. So thanks for that! It's been a nice one to revisit. @YaManSmevz - I know what you mean about WWE2K19 - I think I'm playing those games out of habit at this point, sometimes I enjoy them I just have to be in the right mood, but I very strongly feel the fun factor of those games is starting to evaporate.. I much prefer the days when they had a lot of silly nonsense in them like snowball fights and climbing on helicopters to do moves like in Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth. The sports simulation thing, feels a bit joyless sometimes, when you just want to have a bit of fun. That Squall thing, is pretty weird isn't it.. Great that it's become a running joke with you and your friend though. I love stuff like that. I have loads of David Cage related ones with one of my friends - I think I once knocked on his door going ".... Please let meeee eeeeen Meeeeesttaaaaa Shelbeeeeeee" his nighbours probably thought I was a right fruit loop - even more so when later that day we loudly partook in a bit of JAAAAAASSSSSON...... SEEEEEEEEAAAAN... Like the weirdest game of Marco Polo ever!! ? Man If you go for the trophies in those old GTA titles I feel like that's going to be a super fun to read your thoughts on playing through them again. I'll take another Blue Mage even if it is a weird one like Quina, some of those blue magic attacks really break that game too, so even if I didn't like Quina I'd still use them.. Although I wouldn't if the Blue Mage was Cait Sith. I have a ridiculous completely irrational hatred of that character, that I still can't quite figure out haha ? Edited October 21, 2021 by rjkclarke 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: It sure does... Pesky real world It is still a mix of Final Fantasy and Disney - you aren't wrong, I just feel like Square felt a little hamstrung by both of those things as the series goes on, so the Disney stuff isn't weaved into the overarching plot as efficiently, and the Final Fantasy cameo's and character appearances become less and less frequent. My thoughts on the series - I think are going to surprise a lot of people, I may have played all of them (except Melody of Memories) but there's just some really head scratching silly decisions that have been made over the course of the series that I just can't ignore. We'll get there when we get there I suppose. Looking forward to it man! I watch some youtube channels where the love for Kingdom Hearts is stronger than Final Fantasy (Square Enix/JRPG channels) and again, from the outisde looking in, I don't quite get it. Apart from the confusion, that stands out like a sore thumb lol not like I wouldn't buy a Mickey Kingdom Hearts funko pop one day though lol 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: My first playthrough of Final Fantasy X, I didn't even know what the main character was called - you know the bit where you can change the name of the character and it gives you the option... Well I typed in my own name in capital letters thinking it was the name of my save file.. So Tidus.... Was well my name - silly arse! Yuna is great, I couldn't agree more man! Wouldn't have been the worst choice to make her the first female Final Fantasy protagonist to be honest. I know we can all be pedantic and say Terra is the first from VI, but that's a little more complicated. I often think that Ash from Final Fantasy XII should have been the first - not just because Vaan is a fanny, which he is with his stupid painted on abs, but she's a more interesting character too, and she's much more relevant to the story than he is. Haha! I used to do that with FF games, changing the characters names when I was younger. Then I was like "Why am I doing this?" and just left it from there. That's true about Terra, but VI has such a vast range of main characters and their plots are so intrinsically woven together and many of their arcs are very satisfying and important to the crux of the story that......well there almost isn't one absolute clear 'main' character. If that makes sense....lol Ashe is good in XII, though I think XII suffers in the character strength department a bit compared to other FF's. Sadly the whole Vaan thing is because they decided to throw him and Penelo in at a later stage of development, and Basch I believe was supposed to be the main character of the game. Balthier is a standout character in that game in my opinion. 15 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Surely that's an executable offence for a Star Trek fan like yourself - to confuse Star Wars and Star Trek haha... Unfortunately both series contain two films directed by J.J Abrams - which is an unfortunate thing for any series to have to contend with. I hope you like chaos and lens flare!! Glad you liked that James Arnold Taylor video, it's a great way to spend five minutes!! No I meant that everyone knows someone else (like a friend or family member etc) who has confused the two, I never would! lol How could you even think that I would lol Chaos and lens flare....................yeah............. Yeah it was really cool, definitely. Thanks again for it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, The_Kopite said: Looking forward to it man! I watch some youtube channels where the love for Kingdom Hearts is stronger than Final Fantasy (Square Enix/JRPG channels) and again, from the outisde looking in, I don't quite get it. Apart from the confusion, that stands out like a sore thumb lol not like I wouldn't buy a Mickey Kingdom Hearts funko pop one day though lol When you go to buy the funko - make sure you also buy a foam Keyblade - sew lots of zips onto all of your clothes and put an incredibly unnatural amount of hair gel in and you might even be mistaken for one of the characters. Then say something vague and convoluted about "DARKNESSS" You'll probably get a discount. ? 1 hour ago, The_Kopite said: Haha! I used to do that with FF games, changing the characters names when I was younger. Then I was like "Why am I doing this?" and just left it from there. That's true about Terra, but VI has such a vast range of main characters and their plots are so intrinsically woven together and many of their arcs are very satisfying and important to the crux of the story that......well there almost isn't one absolute clear 'main' character. If that makes sense....lol Ashe is good in XII, though I think XII suffers in the character strength department a bit compared to other FF's. Sadly the whole Vaan thing is because they decided to throw him and Penelo in at a later stage of development, and Basch I believe was supposed to be the main character of the game. Balthier is a standout character in that game in my opinion. I think I was too old to be doing that at the time - it was an honest mistake.. Haha! One of my friends still ribs me about that on the regular - I guess I deserve it though haha. Hasn't Square or someone who worked on VI made a statement that all the characters in VI serve as the main character, that's why the Terra thing seems a bit up in the air for some people.. Why isn't that the case for IX then I could say Quina was the main character.. " Why am no tasties here. I eat Terra" in fact I just want Quina Fantasy - they'd have dealt with the problem of Sin so much faster " I am eat Sin.. Not tasty, go Macalania eat butterflies"... Sorry that was a silly tangent but I find Quina way funnier than I think I probably should. Oops! I forgot she's called Ashe - instead of Ash the perpetual 10 year old Pokemon trainer, who's been that age almost as long as Bart Simpson has ? XII does suffer in that department I agree. Basch would probably have made a better lead character, he certainly fits that strong protagonist mould a bit better than Vaan does, and Penelo is just kind of there. I never knew they were both added late in the development cycle. Seems an odd decision. I do like Fran and Batlhier, very much actually, they're very memorable characters. Good shout. 1 hour ago, The_Kopite said: No I meant that everyone knows someone else (like a friend or family member etc) who has confused the two, I never would! lol How could you even think that I would lol Holy crossed wires Batman!!! Sorry I meant that as a Star Trek fan you'd think confusing it for Star Wars is an executable offence, you would likely do neither, haha!. I just think it's funny when people get really angered by things like that. If I got annoyed anytime a family member said my brother or nephews name instead of mine, I'd be a very very unbalanced and unhinged individual. ? Edited August 18, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 14 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I think it was @DrunkenEngineer - re-sparking my interest in Deus Ex that made me want to talk about this game in particular.. So thanks for that! It's been a nice one to revisit. Well hot damn, on to the wishlist this game goes! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: When you go to buy the funko - make sure you also buy a foam Keyblade - sew lots of zips onto all of your clothes and put an incredibly unnatural amount of hair gel in and you might even be mistaken for one of the characters. Then say something vague and convoluted about "DARKNESSS" You'll probably get a discount. YES! Great idea! I'll get right on it haha 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I think I was too old to be doing that at the time - it was an honest mistake.. Haha! One of my friends still ribs me about that on the regular - I guess I deserve it though haha. Hasn't Square or someone who worked on VI made a statement that all the characters in VI serve as the main character, that's why the Terra thing seems a bit up in the air for some people.. Why isn't that the case for IX then I could say Quina was the main character.. " Why am no tasties here. I eat Terra" in fact I just want Quina Fantasy - they'd have dealt with the problem of Sin so much faster " I am eat Sin.. Not tasty, go Macalania eat butterflies"... Sorry that was a silly tangent but I find Quina way funnier than I think I probably should. Oops! I forgot she's called Ashe - instead of Ash the perpetual 10 year old Pokemon trainer, who's been that age almost as long as Bart Simpson has XII does suffer in that department I agree. Basch would probably have made a better lead character, he certainly fits that strong protagonist mould a bit better than Vaan does, and Penelo is just kind of there. I never knew they were both added late in the development cycle. Seems an odd decision. I do like Fran and Batlhier, very much actually, they're very memorable characters. Good shout. Haha hey they are a friend, so ribbing is expected. I think I might have heard that one about VI somewhere yeah, certainly would explain the whole Terra main protagonist situation. I can understand that, and can not all at the same time lol VI is definitely worth a discussion on many levels. Quina in IX, honestly I can't remember if I found them funny or annoying the first time I played the game. What I do remember is like Amarant, I didn't really explore their skills and what not in a battle sense. Yeah I remember seeing it in a video, I think by Final Fantasy Union. Think they were looking to have a main character that the player could relate to like Tidus (someone who didn't understand the world properly like didn't fit in and therefore were the players eyes in the world) rather than someone strong like Basch. I could have worded that better no doubt, but hopefully you get the jist. Bringing a pokemon into battle against one of the judges would have certainly been a plot twist hahaha 3 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Holy crossed wires Batman!!! Sorry I meant that as a Star Trek fan you'd think confusing it for Star Wars is an executable offence, you would likely do neither, haha!. I just think it's funny when people get really angered by things like that. If I got annoyed anytime a family member said my brother or nephews name instead of mine, I'd be a very very unbalanced and unhinged individual. lol yes indeed. Some people go way too overboard on those types of things. There are people out there who make an honest mistake as they aren't bothered about either franchise. Let it slide. lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 2 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: Well hot damn, on to the wishlist this game goes! Glad to hear it man!! I hope you enjoy it if you ever play it. It flies under the radar so criminally, but I thought Dex was a really fun experience for what it was. I really enjoyed revisiting that. For that write up. As you're a big Deus Ex fan I have a feeling you'll like it. I certainly hope so anyway. 26 minutes ago, The_Kopite said: think I might have heard that one about VI somewhere yeah, certainly would explain the whole Terra main protagonist situation. I can understand that, and can not all at the same time lol VI is definitely worth a discussion on many levels. Quina in IX, honestly I can't remember if I found them funny or annoying the first time I played the game. What I do remember is like Amarant, I didn't really explore their skills and what not in a battle sense. I don't really like or dislike Amarant - he just seems like a bit of wasted potential. Like everything, IX isn't perfect (except Quina lol) some of the way they handle character development in that game - is one of my little nagging issues, I think the party gets split up a little too often, so you have characters that should get focused on more, that don't, like Steiner and Freya, you don't really see all that much from them in the latter portions of the game. Unless that drastically changes in the last few remaining areas I have left. Now I want to write a story about Quina getting bounced through famous scenes in Final Fantasy games like in Forrest Gump and just trying to eat things. I might have some fun with that down the road actually. "Ride zeeeeeeee Shoopuff! - What Shoopuff? Shoopuff am tasty? I eat" 29 minutes ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah I remember seeing it in a video, I think by Final Fantasy Union. Think they were looking to have a main character that the player could relate to like Tidus (someone who didn't understand the world properly like didn't fit in and therefore were the players eyes in the world) rather than someone strong like Basch. I could have worded that better no doubt, but hopefully you get the jist. Oooooh dear.. Ooooh dear oh dear - well that royally backfired didn't it. I can't think of many Final Fantasy protagonists that are less popular than Vaan is. If I felt like I related in anyway to Vaan - I think I'd have asked for a a nice big refund from the fairground of life, because he's just such a wet fish. If anyone else does, fair play. I don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of anything, I just really struggle with him as a character. I do understand the logic behind why they did that. It just doesn't quite work. You worded it fine... It's just such a surprising thought process. 36 minutes ago, The_Kopite said: Bringing a pokemon into battle against one of the judges would have certainly been a plot twist hahaha I'm not going to lie, the first thing I thought of when I read this and I legit laughed out loud too, was that scene very early in the Pokemon series when and this is going to sound way too UK - but when Ash got murked by all the bird Pokemon when he was riding a bike... I'm sure that happened, I've never seen much of the show, but I have a strong memory of him just getting battered by a load of bird Pokey - mans, and then Pikachu goes mental and electrocutes them. I'm hoping that was a real memory, and not just some weird fever dream I had. 42 minutes ago, The_Kopite said: lol yes indeed. Some people go way too overboard on those types of things. There are people out there who make an honest mistake as they aren't bothered about either franchise. Let it slide. lol I know right - I love that bit in Star Wars, when Captain Riker, got both his legs and an arm cut off by Picard and then fell into a pit of flaming lava... All those silly holodeck shenanigans! That was my favourite part of Battlewars Galctitrek.. You'll never find a better example of nuanced story telling across all forms of media ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I remember when I originally played Dex that the game strongly reminded me of Strange Days I LOVED STRANGE DAYS. I'm not the biggest sci-fi person in general, but the exception are a lot of those 90s movies... the electronica/industrial soundtracks, the "Blade Runner, but edgy" atmospheres, the creativity with what technology could be like in the future, I ate that shit up. Strange Days I saw as a kid when my mom rented it because of her crush on Ralph Feinnes (who, to be fair, was quite handsome in his prime). Anyway, the TLDR here is that you just sold me Dex with two words. Well done! 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I know what you mean about WWE2K19 - I think I'm playing those games out of habit at this point, sometimes I enjoy them I just have to be in the right mood, but I very strongly feel the fun factor of those games is starting to evaporate.. I much prefer the days when they had a lot of silly nonsense in them like snowball fights and climbing on helicopters to do moves like in Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth. The sports simulation thing, feels a bit joyless sometimes, when you just want to have a bit of fun. That Squall thing, is pretty weird isn't it.. Great that it's become a running joke with you and your friend though. I love stuff like that. I have loads of David Cage related ones with one of my friends - I think I once knocked on his door going ".... Please let meeee eeeeen Meeeeesttaaaaa Shelbeeeeeee" his nighbours probably thought I was a right fruit loop - even more so when later that day we loudly partook in a bit of JAAAAAASSSSSON...... SEEEEEEEEAAAAN... Like the weirdest game of Marco Polo ever!! Man If you go for the trophies in those old GTA titles I feel like that's going to be a super fun to read your thoughts on playing through them again. I'll take another Blue Mage even if it is a weird one like Quina, some of those blue magic attacks really break that game too, so even if I didn't like Quina I'd still use them.. Although I wouldn't if the Blue Mage was Cait Sith. I have a ridiculous completely irrational hatred of that character, that I still can't quite figure out haha I feel like my time with WWE games may simply be over. I might go for the Fire Pro Wrestling plat one of these days, but like you said, the 2k games can be a bit joyless at times, like the idea of them is better than actually playing them, which is a damn shame. I love the fact that y'all have David Cage gags! I don't even get the references but my time with Detroit taught me all I need to know? I don't care for Cait Sith either, but I kinda projected someone onto him who ended up an ex-friend. Cait Sith was his favorite character, and I couldn't understand why. He explained "because you can manipulate! It's great!" As it turned out, this was a favorite personal past time of his, and subsequently Cait Sith just became kinda icky to me. Not to mention that the actual character's behavior in the game is hardly beyond reproach! Oh, and he ruined the famous FFVII twist for me before I got there!! Damn... I haven't thought about that guy in years... yeah, I hate Cait Sith too!!! Edited August 18, 2021 by YaManSmevz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: I LOVED STRANGE DAYS. I'm not the biggest sci-fi person in general, but the exception are a lot of those 90s movies... the electronica/industrial soundtracks, the "Blade Runner, but edgy" atmospheres, the creativity with what technology could be like in the future, I ate that shit up. Strange Days I saw as a kid when my mom rented it because of her crush on Ralph Feinnes (who, to be fair, was quite handsome in his prime). Anyway, the TLDR here is that you just sold me Dex with two words. Well done! Weird to see him with hair isn't it... He looks quite a bit like Bradley Cooper circa the original Hangover film in Strange Days! I don't think I actually saw Strange Days until about 2015 - I'm glad I finally did though, it's a really good film, bucket loads of charm and got some really memorable acting and characters in it. Thanks man! Awesome to hear you like Strange Days too, Dex definitely does have some of the very "off" vibes that some of Strange Days has, it felt like the best comparison I could think of at the time. Glad to hear you are interested to play it though, I hope you have a good time with it. 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: I feel like my time with WWE games may simply be over. I might go for the Fire Pro Wrestling plat one of these days, but like you said, the 2k games can be a bit joyless at times, like the idea of them is better than actually playing them, which is a damn shame. I do get that one - I wouldn't dip your toes back in with 2K Battlegrounds either, you're more than likely going to want to instantly dip them in a lovely pool full of sharks piranha's and anything else that might eat your limbs to stop you pushing another button on that game... Erm.... Spoilers I guess..... I, erm didn't really like it ? I'm going to have check out Fire Pro Wrestling because I'd played the PS2 one a while ago and just never really thought about picking up the PS4 version, so I might have to dabble with it in the future. Perhaps wait for a review from you first haha. 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: I don't care for Cait Sith either, but I kinda projected someone onto him who ended up an ex-friend. Cait Sith was his favorite character, and I couldn't understand why. He explained "because you can manipulate! It's great!" As it turned out, this was a favorite personal past time of his, and subsequently Cait Sith just became kinda icky to me. Not to mention that the actual character's behavior in the game is hardly beyond reproach! Oh, and he ruined the famous FFVII twist for me before I got there!! Damn... I haven't thought about that guy in years... yeah, I hate Cait Sith too!!! Sounds like you are well rid!! People like that, make me despair a little bit, that they seem to actually draw some sort of sick pleasure from manipulation or meddling. I just don't quite understand the desire, nor do I really want to. Cait Sith put simply can get in the sea!! Which incidentally was me and one of my friends "you're fired" when we would thin out our respective troops in Metal Gear Solid V haha! That's tough though isn't it, when you're associating one thing so strongly with one person or event, that it ends up clouding your opinion of that thing somewhat. I've had that with a few things that aren't game related and it seems a little bit tough to let go of that feeling sometimes. The Fact he ruined the famous FFVII twist is even more evil. I swear everyone has one friend like that as a teenager, or around that age. Someone I knew used to seemingly get a sick thrill out of spoiling books or films for people if he'd read or seen them first, like that somehow made him better than everyone else. Super strange stuff... This turned into a therapy post.... Oops! Edited August 18, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 12 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Weird to see him with hair isn't it... He looks quite a bit like Bradley Cooper circa the original Hangover film in Strange Days! I don't think I actually saw Strange Days until about 2015 - I'm glad I finally did though, it's a really good film, bucket loads of charm and got some really memorable acting and characters in it. Thanks man! Awesome to hear you like Strange Days too, Dex definitely does have some of the very "off" vibes that some of Strange Days has, it felt like the best comparison I could think of at the time. Glad to hear you are interested to play it though, I hope you have a good time with it. Wouldn't you know it, Dex was a part of the sale that ends today. Looks like I managed to get a bit of a squeaker myself! 13 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: I do get that one - I wouldn't dip your toes back in with 2K Battlegrounds either, you're more than likely going to want to instantly dip them in a lovely pool full of sharks piranha's and anything else that might eat your limbs to stop you pushing another button on that game... Erm.... Spoilers I guess..... I, erm didn't really like it I'm going to have check out Fire Pro Wrestling because I'd played the PS2 one a while ago and just never really thought about picking up the PS4 version, so I might have to dabble with it in the future. Perhaps wait for a review from you first haha. I have heard literally nothing good about that game, and I save the piranhas for special occasions so I'll definitely be passing! Fire Pro is very different, but sadly it doesn't have the same fun factor either, as it kind of feels simulation-eque as well. Its whole thing is making quick finishes and complete domination impossible so as to make matches entertaining, back and forth affairs. It's cool but takes some getting used to. I bought it when I got word of a feature similar to GM mode, which got me super excited but I couldn't figure out how to get it started. Then I went back and started going for trophies, and it was certainly enjoyable enough (the cartoonishness somewhat makes up for forcing the matches to last so long), but there's a trophy for playing in an online match that I couldn't get to pop, and I haven't played it since. 25 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Sounds like you are well rid!! People like that, make me despair a little bit, that they seem to actually draw some sort of sick pleasure from manipulation or meddling. I just don't quite understand the desire, nor do I really want to. Cait Sith put simply can get in the sea!! Which incidentally was me and one of my friends "you're fired" when we would thin out our respective troops in Metal Gear Solid V haha! That's tough though isn't it, when you're associating one thing so strongly with one person or event, that it ends up clouding your opinion of that thing somewhat. I've had that with a few things that aren't game related and it seems a little bit tough to let go of that feeling sometimes. The Fact he ruined the famous FFVII twist is even more evil. I swear everyone has one friend like that as a teenager, or around that age. Someone I knew used to seemingly get a sick thrill out of spoiling books or films for people if he'd read them first, like that somehow made him better than everyone else. Super strange stuff... This turned into a therapy post.... Oops! Go on, tell me more about how this made you feel. Remember, this is a safe space! Eh, people will be shitty sometimes, sadly it can't be helped, but stuff like that is just baffling. Like how are you really getting something out of this? "Oh, this is how this book ends." "Wha... dude, I was reading that!" "Well I finished it first, and I just thought you should know that. Guess I'm pretty great, huh?" "...no, no! Why would you think tha-" "BEHOLD MY SUPERIORITY!!" Ugh. Well you can't say we didn't learn anything from them - stay the hell away from peeps like that, and lesson learned! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Wouldn't you know it, Dex was a part of the sale that ends today. Looks like I managed to get a bit of a squeaker myself! That's awesome man! I really hope you like it.... And if you don't, then - well I apologise for what you might end up considering false advertisement. 17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I have heard literally nothing good about that game, and I save the piranhas for special occasions so I'll definitely be passing! Haha - yeah well, I don't think good and 2K Battlegrounds probably deserve to be uttered within the same sentence. I think it's a bit steep to call something a soulless cash grab, but in that games case, that might just be the best description unfortunately. 17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Fire Pro is very different, but sadly it doesn't have the same fun factor either, as it kind of feels simulation-eque as well. Its whole thing is making quick finishes and complete domination impossible so as to make matches entertaining, back and forth affairs. It's cool but takes some getting used to. I bought it when I got word of a feature similar to GM mode, which got me super excited but I couldn't figure out how to get it started. Then I went back and started going for trophies, and it was certainly enjoyable enough (the cartoonishness somewhat makes up for forcing the matches to last so long), but there's a trophy for playing in an online match that I couldn't get to pop, and I haven't played it since. I didn't know it had a GM mode like feature - that's kind of interesting. I spent many many late nights playing GM mode as a teenager, it was super addictive. Bit like Football Manager seems to be for some of my friends that are huge football fans. Shame you couldn't figure out how to start the GM thing. Probably means the layout in the game is a bit iffy. That does sound like it has the potential to be fun. Sometimes the matches go too long don't they, when they are a bit simulation-esque - after a while you end up just thinking, "can you please just keep your shoulders down please, I don't remember selecting a 30 minute Iron Man math." 17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Go on, tell me more about how this made you feel. Remember, this is a safe space! Eh, people will be shitty sometimes, sadly it can't be helped, but stuff like that is just baffling. Like how are you really getting something out of this? "Oh, this is how this book ends." "Wha... dude, I was reading that!" "Well I finished it first, and I just thought you should know that. Guess I'm pretty great, huh?" "...no, no! Why would you think tha-" "BEHOLD MY SUPERIORITY!!" Haha!? That cracked me up - yet it's scarily and sadly true. That's why I'm pretty mindful to avoid spoilers if and where I can, because its such a lousy feeling isn't it, when you've invested your time and energy into something and then someone comes along and gives some major detail away. It's super disheartening, so I'd feel so bad if I'd inadvertently done that myself. So I always try not to whenever I can. 17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Ugh. Well you can't say we didn't learn anything from them - stay the hell away from peeps like that, and lesson learned! This is so true!! Wise words to live by man! Can't argue with that. Edited August 19, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 1 hour ago, rjkclarke said: That's awesome man! I really hope you like it.... And if you don't, then - well I apologise for what you might end up considering false advertisement. I picked up Dex during the sale as well, and will hold you personally accountable if I don't like it ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, DrunkenEngineer said: I picked up Dex during the sale as well, and will hold you personally accountable if I don't like it That's awesome to hear - well so long as you like it!! Which I think you probably will. I really hope so anyway... Otherwise I'll have to go back to skulking around underneath my own little rock like I did before I started posting regularly here ? Mercifully the game review I'm writing tonight. Which Is going to be Final Fantasy Type 0- HD by the way, for anyone that happens to read this and wondered what the next classic review is - well now you know. Thankfully, or not, if you end up being interested in it, doesn't go on sale all that often, so there is less of a chance I might have two people chasing me around with pitch forks and flaming torches haha if they ended up not enjoying it! Edited August 19, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I don't really like or dislike Amarant - he just seems like a bit of wasted potential. Like everything, IX isn't perfect (except Quina lol) some of the way they handle character development in that game - is one of my little nagging issues, I think the party gets split up a little too often, so you have characters that should get focused on more, that don't, like Steiner and Freya, you don't really see all that much from them in the latter portions of the game. Unless that drastically changes in the last few remaining areas I have left. Now I want to write a story about Quina getting bounced through famous scenes in Final Fantasy games like in Forrest Gump and just trying to eat things. I might have some fun with that down the road actually. "Ride zeeeeeeee Shoopuff! - What Shoopuff? Shoopuff am tasty? I eat" That's a fair point about the wasted potential of some characters in IX. Think it was very representative of VI in a way in terms of the homage to the older, more classic FF's, but maybe it didn't get the balance as right as it could have done. Haha OMG I can imagine the potential already! lol Quina's Final Fantasy Eatiary (Like the Bestiary) lol it'll be way better than FF X-2.5 that's for sure haha 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Oooooh dear.. Ooooh dear oh dear - well that royally backfired didn't it. I can't think of many Final Fantasy protagonists that are less popular than Vaan is. If I felt like I related in anyway to Vaan - I think I'd have asked for a a nice big refund from the fairground of life, because he's just such a wet fish. If anyone else does, fair play. I don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of anything, I just really struggle with him as a character. I do understand the logic behind why they did that. It just doesn't quite work. You worded it fine... It's just such a surprising thought process. To be fair and it's just my opinion, I never minded Vaan as such. However, in the ranking of best FF protagonists, of course he is nowhere near the top sadly. If I remember correctly, it it was the 7/8/9 most unusual or obscure facts about FFXII video that they did (can't remember the title properly). If it's not there then I must have seen it somewhere else lol but it's definitely true. FFXII's development wasn't the smoothest ride. 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: On 8/18/2021 at 4:43 PM, DrunkenEngineer said: Well hot damn, on to the wishlist this game goes! Glad to hear it man!! I hope you enjoy it if you ever play it. It flies under the radar so criminally, but I thought Dex was a really fun experience for what it was. I really enjoyed revisiting that. For that write up. As you're a big Deus Ex fan I have a feeling you'll like it. I certainly hope so anyway. 23 hours ago, The_Kopite said: think I might have heard that one about VI somewhere yeah, certainly would explain the whole Terra main protagonist situation. I can understand that, and can not all at the same time lol VI is definitely worth a discussion on many levels. Quina in IX, honestly I can't remember if I found them funny or annoying the first time I played the game. What I do remember is like Amarant, I didn't really explore their skills and what not in a battle sense. I don't really like or dislike Amarant - he just seems like a bit of wasted potential. Like everything, IX isn't perfect (except Quina lol) some of the way they handle character development in that game - is one of my little nagging issues, I think the party gets split up a little too often, so you have characters that should get focused on more, that don't, like Steiner and Freya, you don't really see all that much from them in the latter portions of the game. Unless that drastically changes in the last few remaining areas I have left. Now I want to write a story about Quina getting bounced through famous scenes in Final Fantasy games like in Forrest Gump and just trying to eat things. I might have some fun with that down the road actually. "Ride zeeeeeeee Shoopuff! - What Shoopuff? Shoopuff am tasty? I eat" 23 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah I remember seeing it in a video, I think by Final Fantasy Union. Think they were looking to have a main character that the player could relate to like Tidus (someone who didn't understand the world properly like didn't fit in and therefore were the players eyes in the world) rather than someone strong like Basch. I could have worded that better no doubt, but hopefully you get the jist. Oooooh dear.. Ooooh dear oh dear - well that royally backfired didn't it. I can't think of many Final Fantasy protagonists that are less popular than Vaan is. If I felt like I related in anyway to Vaan - I think I'd have asked for a a nice big refund from the fairground of life, because he's just such a wet fish. If anyone else does, fair play. I don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment of anything, I just really struggle with him as a character. I do understand the logic behind why they did that. It just doesn't quite work. You worded it fine... It's just such a surprising thought process. 23 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Bringing a pokemon into battle against one of the judges would have certainly been a plot twist hahaha I'm not going to lie, the first thing I thought of when I read this and I legit laughed out loud too, was that scene very early in the Pokemon series when and this is going to sound way too UK - but when Ash got murked by all the bird Pokemon when he was riding a bike... I'm sure that happened, I've never seen much of the show, but I have a strong memory of him just getting battered by a load of bird Pokey - mans, and then Pikachu goes mental and electrocutes them. I'm hoping that was a real memory, and not just some weird fever dream I had. I can't honestly remember if this is accurate or not, but it certainly sounds like it could be lol The original series of Pokemon was a must watch back in the day. 22 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I know right - I love that bit in Star Wars, when Captain Riker, got both his legs and an arm cut off by Picard and then fell into a pit of flaming lava... All those silly holodeck shenanigans! That was my favourite part of Battlewars Galctitrek.. You'll never find a better example of nuanced story telling across all forms of media lmao, you almost had me there! lol was ready to announce that you'd said Star Wars instead of Star Trek and then you said Battlewars Galctitrek, which to be fair sounds a big dodgy lol 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: That's a fair point about the wasted potential of some characters in IX. Think it was very representative of VI in a way in terms of the homage to the older, more classic FF's, but maybe it didn't get the balance as right as it could have done. Haha OMG I can imagine the potential already! lol Quina's Final Fantasy Eatiary (Like the Bestiary) lol it'll be way better than FF X-2.5 that's for sure haha That's a very good point about it paying homage to the older titles. Good point. That's just a small gripe I have, with how all the characters get split up and then you don't really hear from Steiner or Freya for what would have been in the PS1 days almost an entire disc. The thing is, that really is a small gripe, because I don't actually think it detracts from the story at all, so it's an odd one for sure. I'm going to slap a little update to FFIX on that FF Type 0 review I'm writing later - I'm getting so close to being finished with IX now, it's both equal parts exciting and sad, that it's coming to an end. That's the perfect name for that Quina thing!! I'm going to see if any of my friends that are Animators fancy potentially doing a fun little YouTube video about it. Could be a right laugh. 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: To be fair and it's just my opinion, I never minded Vaan as such. However, in the ranking of best FF protagonists, of course he is nowhere near the top sadly. If I remember correctly, it it was the 7/8/9 most unusual or obscure facts about FFXII video that they did (can't remember the title properly). If it's not there then I must have seen it somewhere else lol but it's definitely true. FFXII's development wasn't the smoothest ride. I don't mind him either to be fair - even if it probably sounds like I can't stand the poor guy. I just don't really identify with him the way the developers clearly intended. That's another me problem haha ?. Him and Penelo really do seem so out of place amongst all the other characters in FFXII and now you've enlightened me about them being added in the very late stages, it actually makes perfect sense. I'll look up that video in the next day or two, it sounds like a really interesting watch. I didn't know Final Fantasy XII had a bit of a rough time through development. It came out of it the other side quite well though, considering. 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I can't honestly remember if this is accurate or not, but it certainly sounds like it could be lol The original series of Pokemon was a must watch back in the day. I sure hope so - because if it isn't that's the most bizarre memory for me to have just conjured out of seemingly nowhere. Otherwise I might be off to spend some time with some people in white coats, and trying to rip sinks off the wall like Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, before you know it. 5 hours ago, The_Kopite said: lmao, you almost had me there! lol was ready to announce that you'd said Star Wars instead of Star Trek and then you said Battlewars Galctitrek, which to be fair sounds a big dodgy lol I guess it doesn't quite sound right ? - almost the sort of thing you'd find in a magazine made solely for people that run around in the woods firing spells at each other with sticks (no judgment here, if that's your thing) - found on top of, and badly disguised, in a pile of naked etchings, inside a very suspicious looking hollowed out tree stump in the woods. Edited August 19, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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