rjkclarke's Carnival of Diamonds and Rust

[Copanele]

3 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

SAD FACE MAN, SAD FACE.

 

B-but...... where else are people supposed to have contrived "Final Shirtless Showdowns" where they rip their clothes off in one full movement and shot transition like a Kurosawa Samurai movie?

 

I do kind of think it gets more and more contrived as the series goes on though, how many times you actually end up on top of the Millenium Tower though.

 

OK OK HEAR ME OUT!

Here you are completely right  because in my mind, there's 2 Millenium Towers.

The one that I dislike - is the one that I see from outside, looking ugly, making me do the damn detour.

And then it's the office building/rooftop fights. I swear I always think I am in a separate dimension  in terms of MILLENIUM ROOFTOP, it's nr 1 best rooftop to go shirtless.

3 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I don't think that exploit had been discovered yet when I played Kiwami. Otherwise I think I might have used it too.

 

I couldn't stand OTOMETAL MY LIFE either - but failing at it probably close to - wow, I don't know, easily fifty plus times, gave me real Stockholm syndrome for that song.... Did I mention I suck at rhythm games? Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is going to melt my brain with the Karaoke thing in that game I swear It's going to make me tear my hair out so much I'll look like one of those bald cats.

 

I hate to break it to you Copa! ....... But OTOMETAL MY LIFE actually makes its first appearance in Yakuza 4, which you're planning to play soon. Just the non metal version of it - that one's called Maiden Coloured Life from what I remember.

After all these rhythm games (I suck at them too), yes I have to still say that Fist of the North Star has THE WORST RHYTHM MINIGAME. Nothing comes even close. No wonder Kenshiro unlocked the mysteries of Hokuto Shinken with that level of surgical precision.

If you are curious, I will link my video with the final song here. It completely broke me ? and you need to hit ALL the notes for the trophy, 0 misses.

 

Well Yakuza 4 already promises to be a great game it seems  too bad I had to postpone it, with Shadowman being released. 

3 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I don't think you need to polish up your Mahjong skills too much - I think the completion metric can be gotten around with a lucky tile in that game. You might have to perform a sexual favour or too on Falkor  the luck dragon from Neverending Story though for trophies though! ,,,, Because you have to go out on a seven pairs set in Mahjong, so that could take quite a while to actually get that one, and they all have to be a pair from EVERY tile set in the same hand. So it's just praying RNG is nice to you on that one!

 

Damn I need to find my lucky rabbit foot  luckily I enjoy mahjong so it won't be as tedious.

 

35 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A Little Yakuza 3 Update

 

I'm actually quite close to the platinum now - at least on paper I am, I've literally broken the back of the platinum now too - I've gotten all of the mini-games done that tend to give people any real bother, which are essentially, Pool and Baseball. Thanks @Copanele for the smart idea of hanging some headphones in front of my TV to use as a makeshift aiming reticule, wish I'd thought about that for Yakuza 4 and 5 - that was so much less frustrating thanks to that. Still frustrating though, because some of those pitches are brutal, and having to basically hit 18 of twenty perfectly can get a little intense.

 

Yeah I borrowed that idea from the Internet, it was quite a lifesaver, since Baseball is the minigame that I can't stand in Yakuza ? I enjoyed Golf more truth be told.

35 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

I'd totally forgotten how weird the massage parlour "mini-game" is. Every Yakuza game seems to have at least one mini-game in it that you absolutely dread someone walking in whilst you're playing and just exclaiming "WHAT THE FUUUUUUU"...... Lets face it, they'd be quite within their rights to do that, when your character essentially - how shall I put this, has a happy accident in his pants? During the massage, and then a picture of a crying baby comes up on the screen. Yes it's weird, lets not think about it anymore, lets just move on, I played it so you don't have to, I guess? For..... erm, completion? Haha

 

Ok THAT minigame...was abit too much even for me. Sometimes the Land of the Rising Sun forgets when to stop with the honor  

35 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

My favourite thing of all? Well my favourite thing APART from the Bowlhead kid that lives at Kiryu's orphanage, looking at that stupid haircut makes me laugh out loud even thinking about it.  Something I may or may not have sent several screenshots of to various people over the last few days (sorry about that  I couldn't resist) Kiryu just looks so disappointed every time he looks at him. But I digress. My OTHER favourite thing? Today I unlocked the Komaki Parry and Tiger Drop, my two favourite combat moves across the entirety of the Yakuza series, so now I feel like I'm really BACK. I'd forgotten how satisfying it was  sending a fat enemy flying into a rack of bicycles arse first as the screen transitions away in slow-motion back to regular gameplay.

 

Goddamn kids are a treasure

But enough about the brats, THE TIGER DROP AND KOMAKI PARRY ARE GODLIKE! Actually, given the crazy defensive the goons have, I ended up using Komaki Parry more than Tiger Drop in this game. It has better frames and I can combo the enemy into oblivion.

They weren't joking btw, the enemies DO BLOCK LIKE CRAZY.

35 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

So trophy progress is likely to slow down, as I work on a few of the 100% requirements, but I'll still be enjoying my time with the game I suspect. Looking forward to getting whatever gameplay I can in over the weekend. 

Best of luck with 100% ing this beast  Can't wait to see the full review of this bad boy once you're done with it!

[Platinum_Vice]

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

Seeing visible gates where vehicles pass through them and disappear out of existence is one of those immersion breaking elements that you’ll either be bothered by, or you won’t, I think that’s wholly dependent on the player.

 

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

You’ll essentially be driving around with just ambient silence – not dead air though, thankfully (those two things are noticeably different, believe me). Fortunately, you don’t spend all that much time driving in this title, so you don’t have to dwell on it too much.

 

...Slightly concerning... but, I do love me some Burnout... 

 

How does this game compare to Onrush?

[Slava]

?Highway to the danger zone?

 

Ok, I had to read this review right as I saw it posted. Big Burnout fan here, you probably already know because you have recommended these games from Three Fields to me before. 

 

I liked the ultra fast intense races full of risk in Burnout. But the Crash mode was one of my favourite things, it's a very unique gameplay concept. A non-racing mode in a racing game focused on causing as much destruction as possible and creating long lines of car crashes as if there was a sudden snow storm in a state that always has hot climate. But in Burnout, it was just that, a mode. So I was a little curious how it would stand on it's own. BTW, I like to label the driving games where you don't race simply "car games". 

 

One of my cherished gaming memories (and one of the happiest memories in general actually) is playing Burnout 3 and Burnout: Revenge at my friend's place usually in a group of 3 people. We used to race against each other in split-screen and try to beat some crash mode courses in turns. One of us fails - other takes the controller. I've had loads of fun, like I rarely had as much fun playing a game since then lol. 

 

I've played this mode in both Takedown and Revenge, and I think I liked the Revenge version more. It didn't have the "tokens" or whatever they were called. Some of them would double your score,  some of them would do the opposite. So there were some puzzle elements there already. Revenge got rid of them, but the levels themselves were better designed, more intricate, and more polished, if I remember correctly. It's been a long time since I played these games. But the more puzzle focused approach to crash mode level design is still appreciated by me. I'm willing to try out this variation. Actually, I wouldn't mind any kind of variation to this mode nowadays.

 

As for music, I believe it wasn't playing during crash mode in the Burnout games either. Although, the mode was still only a part of the game. The soundtracks were a big part of the other types of game modes. They were cool and memorable. A full game, even a small one, must feel weird without the music. Not even in the menu? 

 

I think I'll get the bundle at some point. Burnout: Paradise remastered might be a higher priority for me, though.

 

A bonus question: has anyone here played Burnout: Crash? The cartoony game based around the same mode. Was it any good?

Edited January 15, 2022 by Slava

[Shrooba]

7 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Danger Zone (PS4)

Don't mind me, but seeing that title is begging me to post this:
 

Oh shit, @Slava beat me to it! I posted this before I even saw this page of the thread, guess I wasn't fast enough! ?
 

7 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Danger Zone has a scoring metric much like Burnout’s Crash Mode did – yet it also has cash icons littered throughout the various crash zones, which add to your overall score, it works like this. If you get every single icon; you get a $5,000,000 Grand Slam score bonus. So in the pursuit of high scores – and by virtue of that, trophies, this ends up adding an extra element of depth to the experience.

Each course is on a global timer, so, in essence, with the score threshold of each course becoming higher and higher, each course ends up becoming almost its own bespoke little puzzle challenge. The challenge then becomes how you go about figuring out the best method of hitting each cash icon (usually scattered in very obscure or hidden places,) and how to use the various Smashbreakers available to you to get bigger vehicles to push you in a specific direction. This is an element of the game that I personally really loved – it made me think, far more than I ever expected I would, going into a game like this.  

In all seriousness though, this does remind me a lot of a fusion of Fast and Furious and Need for Speed! Smashing with action? Check. Driving at insane speeds? Check.
Sounds like quite the hectic game where stuff is always going on! ?

It's good to have a nice high octane racer now and then! That's what I love about the racing genre, it's so varied. Sure, there's arcade and sim racers as the overall main distinguishing factor, but then even those can branch off into sub-categories, and lo and behold we have Danger Zone!

 

7 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I'm actually quite close to the platinum now - at least on paper I am, I've literally broken the back of the platinum now too - I've gotten all of the mini-games done that tend to give people any real bother, which are essentially, Pool and Baseball. Thanks @Copanele for the smart idea of hanging some headphones in front of my TV to use as a makeshift aiming reticule, wish I'd thought about that for Yakuza 4 and 5 - that was so much less frustrating thanks to that. Still frustrating though, because some of those pitches are brutal, and having to basically hit eighteen of twenty perfectly can get a little intense.

 

All that I have left as far as the mini-games are some of the gambling ones - which I'm leaving until later so I can gamble higher amounts, as I'm limited by where I am right now by how much I can bet.

I take it there's gonna be a handful of RNG with this one? The bane of my existence too! ? In any case, I respect the effort to go above and beyond! That's definitely a testament to how committed you are with the game, and if you stick to it then you'll get it done, regardless of how long it takes!

I actually decided to check out some of the Yakuza trailers while I was perusing the PS Store... reminds me of a fusion of GTA and Persona, walking through the streets... and then causally kicking ass with style!!! But with that, I can see why the minigames would be set to the side, especially with how that massage one was described! Oh boy, It'd be awkward for someone to walk in on a part like that! ?

Edited January 15, 2022 by Shrooba

[The_Kopite]

13 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Firstly, I'm almost certain that I have Covid - test says negative, I'm not too convinced though. I've had plenty of the symptoms and really outrageous fatigue, even if I've slept a decent amount (by my standards at least). I haven't been really ill or anything, so, no need to worry, I've just felt incredibly lethargic and low on energy, or really nauseous  for the last five days.

Firstly wanted to say that sucks, and hopefully it'll all pass soon. Covid is a bitch sadly.

 

13 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

To be honest, yeah I'm surprised too. Achievements have been around for what will be seventeen years this year - which is crazy to think about actually. Maybe Nintendo just don't think they need them. A lot of their big hitting franchises which make them the most money anyway, sort of have almost in-built metrics for tracking that kind of thing anyway, so I suppose they've just never felt the need maybe.

Wow, 17 years! Doesn't seem that long tbh. Crazy indeed. Yeah indeed there has to be some kind of gaming metric that suggests to Nintendo that it's not needed. Still a curiousity.

 

13 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

That seems like an obscenely long time to platinum Skyrim..... Granted I haven't touched it for what will be ten years this year, but I don't remember it taking that long. That game absolutely consumed my life when I first played it though, so who knows how long I actually sunk into it. 

 

Don't rule out a game that length though, from what one of my friends said you'd almost certainly enjoy Dragon Quest XI he's a big turn based fan himself. 

 

I remember Smevz and I had a little discussion a while back about how you'd end up playing that same amount of time you'd spend on a big game, by playing smaller games you've played as a result of avoiding a bigger one. So putting 100+ hours into one awesome game doesn't seem so daunting when you think about it like that. I think we were talking about that in relation to Red Dead Redemption 2.

Haha well that's all the info I've got to go off sadly, unless someone else wants to chip in and say it'd feasible in half the time.

 

Oh I'm sure I'd enjoy Dragon Quest XI too, if it ends up going for a dirt cheap then I'll probably grab it depending on what size my backlog would be at that time. I'm sure loads of people including your friend would highly recommend it to me lol

 

That is a very fair point, and sometimes it has felt that I have done that. A lot of the times though those smaller games are needed to break up the bigger game sessions and also sometimes you can get a nice amount of variety and experience different things. It's a balancing act. Right now I've been trying to play some of the smaller (I say that but one of them has a platinum time on the guide of 35 hours) games like Horizon Chase Turbo, Puyo Puyo Champions and Music Racer amongst others. 

 

I'm quite bad as well at leaving a game I really want to play for far too long after I've got it (trying to remedy this) so been working on finishing Sonic Mania as an example. Fab game though the special stages for the medals, man I wish they hadn't chosen that style. Give me Sonic 1 or Sonic 2's special stages style over Sonic 3's any day of the week. 

 

Anyways, went off on a tangent there lol

 

14 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

That was at least two thirds my fault - yes it does sound confusing, and it is. Yet it does make sense, I just can't explain it with just one sentence. When I end up reviewing the series for fun (as there aren't any trophies, and I do want to talk about those games in depth) later in the year I'll try and go into a bit more detail, so I guess read those if you want a less garbled idea.

Haha fair enough, I'll await your reviews!

 

14 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Well I didn't remember much about the soundtrack to be fair - until I re-listened it for the review of it I wrote last year (gotta do some research after all haha). It's a little bit of a mixed bag - like the game itself I guess, some bits of it don't fit at all, and then some others absolutely do feel like they fit in amongst the real big hitter Final Fantasy pieces.

Sounds about right, that whole game was a mixed bag. The CE looked pretty sweet though.

 

14 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I do want to, and I'm not really sure why I haven't either........ Is Quina in it - I'll totally get to it sooner if they are? I need an excuse to write Quina into the 2022 End of Year Awards

 

Funny you say that about me getting annoyed by some of the characters - because you aren't the first person to say that to me - another one of my friends told me I'd get really irritated by one of them, that's got a really annoying way of speaking. They also said they'd remind me of Mog from Final Fantasy XII-2 and for as much as I like a lot about that game, Mog is the thing I like the least haha

No sadly not. Vivi and Eiko are the representatives from FFIX in the game. lol I think you could come up with an excuse to get Quina in those End of Year Awards anyways. 

 

Yes I think it would be a drawback for you sadly. Hopefully you'd be able to look past it but I don't know. Great game though inmho. My wife really liked Mog from XIII-2 and I liked Mog too but I can get how the voice could be irritating. World of FF has the same style character setup as XIII-2 actually - two human characters and a third creature characters and sadly might be the same in that one character's voice annoys you. We will only find out if you decide to play it.

 

14 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

You're so welcome man!

 

Shame we only get one vote for overall guide of the year - but I'd have felt like a bit of an arse if I hadn't actually voted for you on that one. And it absolutely is a great guide, so it isn't like every single vote you've had isn't deserved either.

Thanks again, honestly I really appreciate it! I'm doing well I think so hopefully it'll continue.

 

 

[DrBloodmoney]

22 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Firstly, I'm almost certain that I have Covid - test says negative, I'm not too convinced though. I've had plenty of the symptoms and really outrageous fatigue, even if I've slept a decent amount (by my standards at least). I haven't been really ill or anything, so, no need to worry, I've just felt incredibly lethargic and low on energy, or really nauseous  for the last five days.

Dude - just to chime in, I’ve been feeling ropey for 5 days, and my wife and wee man have tested postive since Monday, but I only got a positive hit for the first time yesterday….

 

I thought I was dodging a bullet, but despite being triple jabbed, I can’t speak today (I sound like a cross between Chrissey Hinde and a pneumatic drill!)

 

 

[rjkclarke]

19 hours ago, Copanele said:

OK OK HEAR ME OUT!

Here you are completely right  because in my mind, there's 2 Millenium Towers.

The one that I dislike - is the one that I see from outside, looking ugly, making me do the damn detour.

And then it's the office building/rooftop fights. I swear I always think I am in a separate dimension  in terms of MILLENIUM ROOFTOP, it's nr 1 best rooftop to go shirtless.

 

That is a fair point - I hadn't ever paid too much attention to what it looks like from the outside, to be perfectly honest, you're right though architecturally it isn't perfect. I think the inside of it looks way better. Especially in the latter games where you're able to explore it in much greater detail. Well more Dead Souls actually, you actually see far more of it in Yakuza: Dead Souls Ironically than you'd think that you would.

 

19 hours ago, Copanele said:

After all these rhythm games (I suck at them too), yes I have to still say that Fist of the North Star has THE WORST RHYTHM MINIGAME. Nothing comes even close. No wonder Kenshiro unlocked the mysteries of Hokuto Shinken with that level of surgical precision.

If you are curious, I will link my video with the final song here. It completely broke me ? and you need to hit ALL the notes for the trophy, 0 misses.

 

Well Yakuza 4 already promises to be a great game it seems  too bad I had to postpone it, with Shadowman being released. 

 

Oh shit dude - I just watched your video - I love the fact the video description is just "F**K this minigame" 

 

That looks terrifying - so erm...... yeah when I get around to playing that version of  Fist of the North Star, I expect my hair to start disappearing pretty quickly.

 

Oh well - Long Haired Rob 2006-20222...... We had a good run didn't we? ?

 

Yakuza 4, is a great game - it might be the one I like the least (I've never thought about it too much,) but it isn't actually the one I think is the worst game.I'll let that be a surprise though for the eventual day that one gets reviewed haha! 

 

I didn't realise Shadowman was actually out now - which is cool, I'm going to have to get that at some point - it's one of those games I always wanted to play when I was younger but never had the chance to.

 

19 hours ago, Copanele said:

Damn I need to find my lucky rabbit foot  luckily I enjoy mahjong so it won't be as tedious.

 

Find two if you can ?.... Yakuza 4 has a couple of fairly finicky luck based trophies. Thankfully they aren't as bad if you're only aiming for the platinum, that game is the first time they brought in Slots and Pachinko and I hate those, even with cheat items they can be a real pain in the behind. But if you just want the trophies, just get two of the cheat items, and you'll be good to go.

 

You can pick up one in your initial playthrough (it's in one of the lockers) and then grab a second in your Extra Hard mode playthrough, as all the lockers reset between playthroughs. So you should be able to instantly get the amount of Pachinko balls you need to get the little prize for the trophy.

 

20 hours ago, Copanele said:

Yeah I borrowed that idea from the Internet, it was quite a lifesaver, since Baseball is the minigame that I can't stand in Yakuza ? I enjoyed Golf more truth be told.

 

I really liked Golf too actually - this isn't my favourite version of Golf. I think the best version of that mini-game is in Kiwami 2. I thought that one was really awesome.

 

You know - I might actually agree with you about Baseball being my least favourite one too, I'm not sure, I think Yakuza 6 has some pretty terrible ones though, but again unless you're going for full completion, you can skip them mainly in that game.

 

20 hours ago, Copanele said:

But enough about the brats, THE TIGER DROP AND KOMAKI PARRY ARE GODLIKE! Actually, given the crazy defensive the goons have, I ended up using Komaki Parry more than Tiger Drop in this game. It has better frames and I can combo the enemy into oblivion.

They weren't joking btw, the enemies DO BLOCK LIKE CRAZY.

 

Yep - you're so right about Komaki Parry being the better alternative in this game - Tiger Drop is still powerful, but the thing I noticed was that even when you hit the Tiger Drop you still take damage some of the time, so their attack still connects. Whereas with a nice Komaki Parry they get stunned, the window seems a little more forgiving, so you can just quickstep behind them and then get a full combo in. Much better. 

 

THEY REALLY BLOCK LIKE CRAZY...... I always thought that was people just going overboard - but alas, no....... Those enemies really like blocking. In fact they block more than they attack, which is pretty annoying actually, as you have to basically bait them into attacking most of the time.

 

20 hours ago, Copanele said:

Best of luck with 100% ing this beast  Can't wait to see the full review of this bad boy once you're done with it!

 

Thanks man! I'm going to need the luck too! Especially as I've got a few RNG things to look forward to, like getting all of the colosseum opponents beaten. It's going to be one of those long reviews I expect, so might be one to grab some of those "Dreaming Wide Awake Glasses" from the end of year awards

 

19 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

...Slightly concerning... but, I do love me some Burnout... 

 

How does this game compare to Onrush?

 

Danger Zone definitely doesn't compare to Onrush in many areas - as it's basically got no real racing component, just the crashing element.

 

Dangerous Driving though, the game I'm covering Danger Zone 1 and 2 in prep for, that has a little bit more in common with Onrush in a few areas. That does remind me actually, that I need to get a review done for Onrush as well at some point as well. I had a lot of fun with that one for what it was.

 

Btw Gonzo - I haven't read your Last of Us odyssey yet.... I desperately wanted to, but just like Smevz I saw the SPOILERS warning and ran a mile..... As you know I'm a bit careful when it comes to those. I've bookmarked the review like I did with Shrooba's Miles Morales review so I can read it when I am all clued up though.

 

I'm planning to do The Last of Us Remastered as part of my Tier 2 (fingers crossed I get that far) in the Ultra Rare Cleanup, as I've never played it to completion, and I really want to see if I agree with all of the praise that gets heaped on it. I couldn't get on with it initially, I had the same issues with it, that I do with Uncharted in that the characters never seem to shut up for five seconds.  But I also played it at a similar time to when I played GTAV so I was kind of trying to rush through the story, instead of take it all in. So hopefully later in the year I'll be able to give it my full attention, as these days I tend to stick to one game at a time.

 

19 hours ago, Slava said:

?Highway to the danger zone?

13 hours ago, Shrooba said:

Don't mind me, but seeing that title is begging me to post this:

 

You guys just did exactly what I think 90% of us were thinking when they saw the title - I don't know how I managed to miss the opportunity to slot it in the review somewhere but I did, so that was a bit of on my part..... ?

 

19 hours ago, Slava said:

Ok, I had to read this review right as I saw it posted. Big Burnout fan here, you probably already know because you have recommended these games from Three Fields to me before. 

 

I liked the ultra fast intense races full of risk in Burnout. But the Crash mode was one of my favourite things, it's a very unique gameplay concept. A non-racing mode in a racing game focused on causing as much destruction as possible and creating long lines of car crashes as if there was a sudden snow storm in a state that always has hot climate. But in Burnout, it was just that, a mode. So I was a little curious how it would stand on it's own. BTW, I like to label the driving games where you don't race simply "car games". 

 

I have - and I still do think you'd like them as a Burnout fan, so it'll definitely be something I think you'd have fun with in the future.

 

Yep I was exactly like you going into it - I thought.... Okay but in Burnout, it was just a side mode. I do think that this deliberately small enough that it doesn't outstay it's welcome, so at least they didn't overdose it with content, to try and make it artificially seem bigger than it is.

 

But from my perspective having played both this and Danger Zone 2 (which I'll probably have the review done by tomorrow,) I do think the concept is enough to stand on its own.

 

That's probably a better way to describe this as a "Car game," as it isn't a racer, or vehicular combat, it's simply a game with cars in, that you crash, so I really struggled to define it and probably did a pretty bad job there too.

 

 

19 hours ago, Slava said:

One of my cherished gaming memories (and one of the happiest memories in general actually) is playing Burnout 3 and Burnout: Revenge at my friend's place usually in a group of 3 people. We used to race against each other in split-screen and try to beat some crash mode courses in turns. One of us fails - other takes the controller. I've had loads of fun, like I rarely had as much fun playing a game since then lol. 

 

That's awesome man! I'm happy to hear that you've got those kinds of happy memories from specifically Burnout 3 and Revenge..... Those two games in particular I think really play into that controller passing social gathering gaming that can be so fun. Revenge particularly almost had a kind of perfect Career mode that complimented that controller passing gameplay too.

 

You aren't alone in having done that kind of thing - I remember once starting a fresh Single player in Revenge, think it was called Revenge Tour? But I can't remember for certain, but we used to take Turns in getting like the max amount of Stars in each of the courses, whether it was Crash, Hot Laps or races, we used to have a load of fun going back and forth doing that. I was always terrible at Hot Laps so I always used to dread getting one of those on my turn.

 

It's memories like that, that we have. That are the reasons you  have people really clamouring for another Burnout game, I'd practically take one in any form. I have got Burnout Paradise remastered to play at some point - so I think that'll be one of my next go-to's when I want a racing fix next.

 

19 hours ago, Slava said:

I've played this mode in both Takedown and Revenge, and I think I liked the Revenge version more. It didn't have the "tokens" or whatever they were called. Some of them would double your score,  some of them would do the opposite. So there were some puzzle elements there already. Revenge got rid of them, but the levels themselves were better designed, more intricate, and more polished, if I remember correctly. It's been a long time since I played these games. But the more puzzle focused approach to crash mode level design is still appreciated by me. I'm willing to try out this variation. Actually, I wouldn't mind any kind of variation to this mode nowadays.

 

That's interesting you say that! I'm actually the opposite in that I preferred what Takedown did with Crash Mode. I always preferred how it felt like the carnage was so much larger in Takedown for some reason -  I always felt Revenge's Crash mode felt a little smaller scale, but in reality it wasn't, it was just a lot tighter and more precise, and that's pretty admirable, because.....

 

....I do agree that Revenge actually had the better designed Crash mode. Like way better designed - it was smaller scale, but it was almost set up in a really satisfying way, that you could almost always discover through exploring the course in detail, the absolute perfect spots to just launch yourself into the traffic. I also really like how Revenge stuck you in some really unusual vehicles at times that make you think a little more about what you could do, as you had less speed but more density in some cases. I remember one where you're going downhill in a really dense van over a little jump you can do towards two way traffic, that one was really cool.

 

Danger Zone 2 is a little more of a mix between the two - but I'll kind of save going into detail for the review.

 

I definitely think you'd get on with all three of these games though, for what it's worth.

 

19 hours ago, Slava said:

As for music, I believe it wasn't playing during crash mode in the Burnout games either. Although, the mode was still only a part of the game. The soundtracks were a big part of the other types of game modes. They were cool and memorable. A full game, even a small one, must feel weird without the music. Not even in the menu? 

 

I think I'll get the bundle at some point. Burnout: Paradise remastered might be a higher priority for me, though.

 

A bonus question: has anyone here played Burnout: Crash? The cartoony game based around the same mode. Was it any good?

 

I think you're right about the fact they don't play music during Crash Mode, I think I'd just neglected to remember that ...... I'm pretty sure it does have a very basic bit of menu music, but it's the furthest thing from being memorable.

 

I agree that the soundtracks were a huge part of Burnout games other game modes, heck I'd put Burnout 3's Soundtrack up there pretty high on a list of great video game soundtracks. I like that in Revenge you could customise it too, so even if you didn't like a particular song, you can just take it out of the playlist. I think as well if I remember right, the version I had the original Xbox version let you play music that you had saved to your Hard-drive, so it kind of allowed for an early version of a custom soundtrack, but there's a good chance I'm misremembering that though.

 

Again Dangerous Driving, did a fairly clever thing with how it approached soundtracks, but, again I don't quite want to elaborate too much until the review of that game early next week, but I thought what they did with that was a very clever idea.

 

 

I'm looking forward to Burnout Paraidise Remastered myself... I never actually finished it when I had it on 360, so I'm looking forward to diving in and seeing all that there is to see.

 

I'd also love to hear anything that anyone has to say about Burnout: Crash, because I never played it either, but was always semi interested in it, so I'd welcome any kind of viewpoint on that one too.

 

14 hours ago, Shrooba said:

In all seriousness though, this does remind me a lot of a fusion of Fast and Furious and Need for Speed! Smashing with action? Check. Driving at insane speeds? Check.
Sounds like quite the hectic game where stuff is always going on! ?

It's good to have a nice high octane racer now and then! That's what I love about the racing genre, it's so varied. Sure, there's arcade and sim racers as the overall main distinguishing factor, but then even those can branch off into sub-categories, and lo and behold we have Danger Zone!

 

That's actually pretty on the money as far as descriptions goes. ? Apart from the racing, as this game doesn't have any real racing in it to speak of - that didn't get implemented until they released Dangerous Driving. Danger Zone 2 does move a little closer in the racing direction as it has Hot Laps and Time Trials, so you can tell the developers were slowly inching closer and closer to the game they truly wanted to make, which is kind of cool I suppose.

 

That's so true, what you mention about the racing genre though - there really are so many variations on it that there's pretty much something out their for everyone when you really think about it.

 

Even without a real racing component though Danger Zone is still very much hectic and high octane, and everything moves at such a fast pace that you'll never really be bored whilst playing it.

 

14 hours ago, Shrooba said:

I take it there's gonna be a handful of RNG with this one? The bane of my existence too! ? In any case, I respect the effort to go above and beyond! That's definitely a testament to how committed you are with the game, and if you stick to it then you'll get it done, regardless of how long it takes!

I actually decided to check out some of the Yakuza trailers while I was perusing the PS Store... reminds me of a fusion of GTA and Persona, walking through the streets... and then causally kicking ass with style!!! But with that, I can see why the minigames would be set to the side, especially with how that massage one was described! Oh boy, It'd be awkward for someone to walk in on a part like that! ?

 

Yep - lot's of RNG ahead of me - so, wish me luck ?

 

Some of it I can get around with the in-game cheat items which can kind of set the luck a little bit more in your favour in the gambling, but there's also some item drops of weapon crafting materials I might need to desperately hope I get lucky with. Then there's also the colosseum opponents that I mentioned a bit earlier in this post, that are from a random pool of possibilities and you have to fight every single one of them for full completion. But I'll get there eventually. Thanks though, I'm definitely committed to the 100% no point backing out now.

 

We can always rely on you Shrooba for an absolutely fascinating take on something, I absolutely mean that as a compliment too - even if it's a game you've not experienced for yourself. That's a really interesting comparison you made actually, about it being like a fusion of GTA and Persona, I guess I'd never really thought about it like that.

 

Yeah that Massage mini-game is weird for sure. That's an understatement to be honest - at the end of it you have to repeatedly spin the thumbsticks to erm, give the massage a "happy ending" I guess,  ? which again is even weirder almost than the crying baby picture that appears when you fail.  There are weirder ones you wouldn't want someone walking in on too, in some of the later games.

 

Judgment has one or two pretty strange ones and I think Yakuza 6 if I remember right literally has one where you're talking to scantily clad cam models in a chat room - which I must admit I didn't exactly feel comfortable with, and even less comfortable at the idea of someone walking in on that one

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Firstly wanted to say that sucks, and hopefully it'll all pass soon. Covid is a bitch sadly.

 

I hope so - I'm still not feeling 100%, but I could be much worse, so really I can't complain at all, but thanks for the concern and support man I really appreciate that.

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Wow, 17 years! Doesn't seem that long tbh. Crazy indeed. Yeah indeed there has to be some kind of gaming metric that suggests to Nintendo that it's not needed. Still a curiousity.

 

It must be, right? I think the Xbox 360 came out in 2005, and I think that had achievements built in from the start - so it must be seventeen years this year, that is absolutely mad to think about. The idea that achievements started the year that my eldest nephew was born, is spooky. Better not tell my sister that though - it'd probably make her feel older than she already does.

 

You're right though with what you said before, that adding them to Nintendo games might make some of those games sell even better if some of the hardcore Nintendo fans could say they had every "accomplishment" or whatever it got called in Mario,Zelda or Metroid series for example, so maybe one day they might consider it, who knows.

 

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Haha well that's all the info I've got to go off sadly, unless someone else wants to chip in and say it'd feasible in half the time.

 

I am planning to finish off Skyrim's DLC's this year, so when I boot up the game if there's a way to find out I'll tell you how long it took me - I think I could take maybe 25-30 hours off the time where I did loads of non trophy related things. Like the Stones of Barnenziah sidequest and getting all of the Unique Dragon Masks, the former was my favourite quest in that game, which gives you a really cool hidden perk, where you find precious gems in every single "lootable chest" and it just so happens that dessicated corpses in dungeons count for that, so I'm basically like Scrooge McDuck in that game with the amount of gems that I have sitting around. 

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

That is a very fair point, and sometimes it has felt that I have done that. A lot of the times though those smaller games are needed to break up the bigger game sessions and also sometimes you can get a nice amount of variety and experience different things. It's a balancing act. Right now I've been trying to play some of the smaller (I say that but one of them has a platinum time on the guide of 35 hours) games like Horizon Chase Turbo, Puyo Puyo Champions and Music Racer amongst others. 

 

I definitely can agree with that to be fair, sometimes it is nice to have some short things around to break up the really big games, especially if you just play one game solidly at a time like I tend to do.

 

Man, you've gotta let me know what those three games are like, I've had periods of interest in all three of them. I actually really like Puyo-Puyo from extensively playing a lot of in the Yakuza games. I'm also pretty interested in what Horizon Chase Turbo and Music Racer are like, Horizon seems like a modern take on Outrun but with a little more depth to it, which I can totally get onboard with.

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

I'm quite bad as well at leaving a game I really want to play for far too long after I've got it (trying to remedy this) so been working on finishing Sonic Mania as an example. Fab game though the special stages for the medals, man I wish they hadn't chosen that style. Give me Sonic 1 or Sonic 2's special stages style over Sonic 3's any day of the week. 

 

Yes....... Well I'm in no position to lecture anyone about doing that - I've literally had Yakuza 3 Remastered in it's shrink wrapper either since it came out, or very close to that point. As you know it took me twenty-one years to get around to Final Fantasy IX, so it's something I'm incredibly guilty of too.

 

You know what though? I think sometimes we should just say screw it I want to play this, so that's exactly what we should do, so I'm glad you are doing that, instead of forcing yourself into playing something you'd really rather not, something I'm also very bang-to-rights guilty of myself ?

 

I'm glad you're having fun with Sonic Mania though, even if you'd rather the special stages were perhaps a little different - we can't win them all I guess.

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

No sadly not. Vivi and Eiko are the representatives from FFIX in the game. lol I think you could come up with an excuse to get Quina in those End of Year Awards anyways. 

 

Eiko really? That's, well, different I guess. I can see it though, what she, and Vivi too actually look-wise does directly play quite well into the sort of chibified aesthetic that that game seems to have. I'm not going to lie, I am a little bummed out that Quina isn't in the game, but then I like Quina more than most people would so I can't exactly hold it against the devs on that one.

 

I think I might have to play it though, one of my friends is always offering to lend it to me, so perhaps I ought to give it a go.

 

I'll just have Quina take over part of the awards show again - perhaps they can eat someone or something like they did last year, they'll make an appearance somehow though

 

10 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Yes I think it would be a drawback for you sadly. Hopefully you'd be able to look past it but I don't know. Great game though inmho. My wife really liked Mog from XIII-2 and I liked Mog too but I can get how the voice could be irritating. World of FF has the same style character setup as XIII-2 actually - two human characters and a third creature characters and sadly might be the same in that one character's voice annoys you. We will only find out if you decide to play it.

 

I think I'd like the gameplay from World of Final Fantasy - so I'm pretty much sold on that...... I did just have a look at some of the characters that appear in it, sad to see nobody from XII makes an appearance, BUT, I did see Quistis, and well, i do love me some Quistis, so now I'm even more intrigued! Better get me Trepie Club badge sewn onto one of my Jackets for when I play the game! ?

 

I'm glad at least some people were able to enjoy Mog! I can't say I was overjoyed to see them show up on Lightning Returns.

 

11 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Thanks again, honestly I really appreciate it! I'm doing well I think so hopefully it'll continue.

 

After the staggering amount of effort that went into the guide you wrote you absolutely deserve it!

 

3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude - just to chime in, I’ve been feeling ropey for 5 days, and my wife and wee man have tested postive since Monday, but I only got a positive hit for the first time yesterday….

 

I thought I was dodging a bullet, but despite being triple jabbed, I can’t speak today (I sound like a cross between Chrissey Hinde and a pneumatic drill!)

 

I'm really sorry to hear this man! That absolutely sucks. That does kind of go to show that the tests aren't exactly 100% reliable, because judging by that it sounds like I very much could have had it too in that case, it just didn't show up on the test.

 

It goes without saying I think - but I'll say it anyway. I wish you and your family the speediest of recoveries possible! That sounds brutal! So hopefully you can fight that off nice and quick as you're triple jabbed and get back to feeling better, as soon as possible!

[The_Kopite]

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Yep - lot's of RNG ahead of me - so, wish me luck

RNG! RNG! Who doesn't love a bit of RNG?! lol

Why has noone released 'RNG - The Game' yet?! Would be a massive hit!

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I hope so - I'm still not feeling 100%, but I could be much worse, so really I can't complain at all, but thanks for the concern and support man I really appreciate that.

Anytime man ?

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

It must be, right? I think the Xbox 360 came out in 2005, and I think that had achievements built in from the start - so it must be seventeen years this year, that is absolutely mad to think about. The idea that achievements started the year that my eldest nephew was born, is spooky. Better not tell my sister that though - it'd probably make her feel older than she already does.

 

You're right though with what you said before, that adding them to Nintendo games might make some of those games sell even better if some of the hardcore Nintendo fans could say they had every "accomplishment" or whatever it got called in Mario,Zelda or Metroid series for example, so maybe one day they might consider it, who knows.

Haha well I think we all feel older than we already do when those kind of things pop up. I remember playing Sonic on my Mega Drive so that being 30 years old is bad enough haha

 

I believe it would do so. Think if they do decide to do it, they might do it to help push the next major console.

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I am planning to finish off Skyrim's DLC's this year, so when I boot up the game if there's a way to find out I'll tell you how long it took me - I think I could take maybe 25-30 hours off the time where I did loads of non trophy related things. Like the Stones of Barnenziah sidequest and getting all of the Unique Dragon Masks, the former was my favourite quest in that game, which gives you a really cool hidden perk, where you find precious gems in every single "lootable chest" and it just so happens that dessicated corpses in dungeons count for that, so I'm basically like Scrooge McDuck in that game with the amount of gems that I have sitting around. 

Now that's an image. Ducktales! oooooo lol

 

Sweet, yeah when you get around to doing that, let me know please ?

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I definitely can agree with that to be fair, sometimes it is nice to have some short things around to break up the really big games, especially if you just play one game solidly at a time like I tend to do.

 

Man, you've gotta let me know what those three games are like, I've had periods of interest in all three of them. I actually really like Puyo-Puyo from extensively playing a lot of in the Yakuza games. I'm also pretty interested in what Horizon Chase Turbo and Music Racer are like, Horizon seems like a modern take on Outrun but with a little more depth to it, which I can totally get onboard with.

Yeah I try my best to do that strategy too. I used to be able to play 2 big games at the same time, but now I find that it's just better to do one at a time and be fully focused on that. 

 

My quick thoughts on the 3 games - 

Horizon Chase Turbo - This was free on PS Plus and yeah I liked Outrun back in the day (didn't get to play it much) but yeah it's a classic arcade racer with added depth as you said. Big World Tour mode, where you can unlock upgrades. A tournament mode and also endurance mode which thankfully you can save scum otherwise the 109 races trophy would be way worse lol Can be easy once you get into the grove, but if you like arcade racers then I'd recommend this whether it was on PS Plus or not. Very enjoyable.

Music Racer - A pretty decent game overall which can be very relaxing on the right settings. Too relaxing in a way. If you look at the trophy guide, it's very easy and can also just be left to play by itself to get the required points to buy everything which gets you the majority of the trophies. I'd say get it but only at a cheap price.

Puyo Puyo Champions - I didn't realise that was in the Yakuza games. For me, it reminds me of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine hence why I gave it a go. It's not got a story mode like the Puyo Tetris games do, so it's straight to the point of playing and going for the trophies. It's fun if you enjoy that style of game but the trophies can be pretty difficult. Certainly a forum post from someone that I found recently is helping me try to get some of them. 

 

Multiplayer modes are present for HCT and PPC too.

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Yes....... Well I'm in no position to lecture anyone about doing that - I've literally had Yakuza 3 Remastered in it's shrink wrapper either since it came out, or very close to that point. As you know it took me twenty-one years to get around to Final Fantasy IX, so it's something I'm incredibly guilty of too.

 

You know what though? I think sometimes we should just say screw it I want to play this, so that's exactly what we should do, so I'm glad you are doing that, instead of forcing yourself into playing something you'd really rather not, something I'm also very bang-to-rights guilty of myself

 

I'm glad you're having fun with Sonic Mania though, even if you'd rather the special stages were perhaps a little different - we can't win them all I guess.

Haha yes, I'll bet it's a common thing for most of us here sadly lol 

 

Yeah for me, it was worse a few years ago as I would build up a pile of other games I was interested in playing but just not as much as from my favourite franchises, but I'd prioritise the first ones because I would finish them then sell them so the price of playing the game was lower if I was quicker at going through them. So the FF's, RE's etc would just sit on the shelf. Tried my best recently to trim those 'selling' games right down and the digital ones too so my priorities would change.

 

Yeah Sonic Mania overall is a great Sonic game. I'd recommend it to anyone but then I'm a bit biased haha

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Eiko really? That's, well, different I guess. I can see it though, what she, and Vivi too actually look-wise does directly play quite well into the sort of chibified aesthetic that that game seems to have. I'm not going to lie, I am a little bummed out that Quina isn't in the game, but then I like Quina more than most people would so I can't exactly hold it against the devs on that one.

 

I think I might have to play it though, one of my friends is always offering to lend it to me, so perhaps I ought to give it a go.

 

I'll just have Quina take over part of the awards show again - perhaps they can eat someone or something like they did last year, they'll make an appearance somehow though

Yeah everyone apart from the main characters are Chibi-fied as you say, and even then you can switch the main characters between being Chibi-fied and not and that plays into the strategy of the battles as well so it's not just an aesthetic choice. Yes you did lol but hey you're allowed to be bummed.

 

I think you should give it a go, if you're up for another turn based JRPG after FFIX, then give it a crack! Especially for free, why not? I highly doubt you'll enjoy it as much as IX, but I think you'll enjoy enough of it to appreciate it's qualities, or at least I hope you will.

 

Obviously Quina will make an appearance, it'll happen every year! lol

 

15 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I think I'd like the gameplay from World of Final Fantasy - so I'm pretty much sold on that...... I did just have a look at some of the characters that appear in it, sad to see nobody from XII makes an appearance, BUT, I did see Quistis, and well, i do love me some Quistis, so now I'm even more intrigued! Better get me Trepie Club badge sewn onto one of my Jackets for when I play the game!

 

I'm glad at least some people were able to enjoy Mog! I can't say I was overjoyed to see them show up on Lightning Returns.

I think Fran is an addition in the Maxima DLC upgrade, but I never had that. Haha yes Quistis is a cool character, always liked her. 

 

I wasn't overjoyed with Lightning Returns in general tbh, and that reminds me I STILL have to watch the ending of that game. My god lol

 

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

After the staggering amount of effort that went into the guide you wrote you absolutely deserve it!

?

 

 

[YaManSmevz]

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

Firstly, I'm almost certain that I have Covid - test says negative, I'm not too convinced though. I've had plenty of the symptoms and really outrageous fatigue, even if I've slept a decent amount (by my standards at least). I haven't been really ill or anything, so, no need to worry, I've just felt incredibly lethargic and low on energy, or really nauseous  for the last five days.

 

Sorry! I am quite late to the party. I hope you start to feel better, that doesn't sound like any kind of fun.

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

Yo! I hadn't actually thought about the voice being part of what creeped me out about him, but I think you're right - they do not mesh at all. Also, no I don't think a more appropriate word exists to describe his voice than pathetic.

 

Yeah I couldn't decide if I wanted to pat him on the shoulder like "there, there" or smack him upside the head and tell him to quit sniveling!

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

It was like in your awesome  Dex review, you got across what you thought really worked for you about the story, but didn't really mention the specifics, so you're better at that, than I think you're giving yourself credit for. But we're all our own worst critic after all. 

 

Thanks man, I appreciate that!

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

I want to like GTAV, I just don't. I must say though - I think a huge part of that is down to me, and not necessarily the game. I actually agree with everything you've said about it being a huge technological achievement buthaving a bit of a missing heart too.

 

The problem is when I played it - I didn't dedicate any of the time I should of to actually taking in all of the really good aspects of GTAV. I'd just started University when the game came out, so I barely had any time to really play it as such, so I basically just got through the story as quick as possible, and then haven't really ever gone back to it, and that's approaching close to eight or nine years now.

 

Funny how that works! Er... maybe not funny exactly, more like unfortunate. Yes, that's the word! If you ever go back to it, it may grow on you - it did with me at least, although it never did assuage my criticisms.

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

I liked GTAIV on release as well - quite a lot too. I still like it now - it's the one I've really always wanted a PS4 remaster of, but it hasn't happened yet. So I guess perhaps I ought to pick up the PS3 version, since Microsoft deleted my gamertag and so now there's no way for anyone to see I had actually extensively played GTAIV

 

Same. I bought the PS3 version, but I'm paranoid about it updating - when I went on my PS3 purchasing rampage, it was the first game I played to test the system, and it still has the original radio stations, and I don't want to lose them! Lousy cheap Rockstar...

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

I remember a lot of people my age complained about how different it was compared to San Andreas, there was a lot of people complaining about the fact that it was trying to be a little more gritty and realistic. That was never something I minded. If you wanted the goofiness and "out there" stuff that was in San Andreas, I'd always say to people, you could always play Saints Row 2 or something if you wanted something a little closer to that.

 

I remember being a bit apprehensive about that at first, but actually playing the game pretty much took that away. It was still fun, and still funny (picture Bernie running and don't smile - you can't do it). Also V seemed to go back into that more cartoonish direction, maybe that's part of why it's more popular?

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

I don't know man - we'll see. You're making pretty steady progress with RE5 now. I still have admittedly not a whole lot left in Yakuza 3 platinum wise. If I was just going for the platinum, I think I could be done Sunday. I'm aiming for 100% In-game completion though, and I'm a fair bit further away from that. So I reckon you'll be lapping me soon, I'll make sure I've got RE5 installed too so we can knock out the versus mode trophies when you need to.

 

Yes! That might be soon, I've got a few more playthroughs and the second DLC left. I'm looking forward to boosting with you, man! It'll be a good time?

 

I love that you're going full-on completionist with Yakuza 3! Just goes to show your love for the series. I support this✊️

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

I don't think that dancing game will stump you for as long as it did for me in that game. You're a little more musically inclined than I am, I struggle quite a lot with rhythm based games, and doing all of those dance mini-games in 0 really tested my patience.

 

Dude I felt like I was breezing through it a little too easily until homeboy came along! I felt like I was getting close, but that was around the time I stopped playing it. Ay. So many games, so little time...

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

That Dance guy from the substories actually ends up becoming a fairly important character in Yakuza 5 - so I thought the fact they included him in that cameo all the way back twenty odd years earlier in the story was really cool. One of those nice little "Oh I get that" references that are in that game. You'll also meet one of the main characters from Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2 in that game, but I'll not say who it is, that's for you to discover and have a "wait, what?" Moment for yourself, like I'm sure a lot of people did who played the series in chronological order.

 

That's so fuckin neat. I love the effort they've put into their universe!

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

Saw you added Murdered Soul Suspect to your challenge list - was it me that recommended that to you? I feel like I would have done, I really like that game for what it is, I think it gets a fairly unfair rap for having a little bit of a smelly trophy list as far as collectibles go. Outside of that though, I thought it was a pretty interesting yet admittedly short experience.

 

It was indeed! I've decided to keep track of who recommended what to me this year, and you're already in the lead?

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

That's exactly how I try and explain it to people. the difference between 9.5/9 type thing (because nothing is ever a 10, not even my beloved facepants wearing NieR) - that it's still really great, nothing about it is bad - it's just a slight step down from the two games that are either side of it.

 

Interesting! I do think that there are 10s, but I think people should be extremely stingy with such a rating. But denying that to your favorite facepants wearer?? YOU WATCH YOUR TONGUE, YOUNG MAN?

 

On 1/14/2022 at 0:16 PM, rjkclarke said:

B-but...... where else are people supposed to have contrived "Final Shirtless Showdowns" where they rip their clothes off in one full movement and shot transition like a Kurosawa Samurai movie?

 

I drew a comic about the loss of interest in compelling reasons in media for characters to take off their tops. It started with "Oh my goodness, you're soaked! You should get out of those clothes" to "Oh no, somebody's car broke down! You'd better take off your shirt and help him!"

 

On 1/14/2022 at 3:05 PM, rjkclarke said:

I'd totally forgotten how weird the massage parlour "mini-game" is. Every Yakuza game seems to have at least one mini-game in it that you absolutely dread someone walking in whilst you're playing and just exclaiming "WHAT THE FUUUUUUU"...... Let's face it, they'd be quite within their rights to do that, when your character essentially - how shall I put this, has a happy accident in his pants? During the massage, and then a picture of a crying baby comes up on the screen. Yes it's weird, let's not think about it anymore, let's just move on, I played it so you don't have to, I guess? For..... erm, completion? Haha

 

???? my introduction to that was watching the movies, and then the party hotline or whatever when you have to woo the women. I felt like a ten year old watching a sex scene with my mom in the next room all over again!

 

On 1/14/2022 at 3:05 PM, rjkclarke said:

My favourite thing of all? Well my favourite thing APART from the Bowlhead kid that lives at Kiryu's orphanage, looking at that stupid haircut makes me laugh out loud even thinking about it.  Something I may or may not have sent several screenshots of to various people over the last few days (sorry about that ? I couldn't resist) Kiryu just looks so disappointed every time he looks at him.

 

Oh nooooo?????

 

On 1/15/2022 at 10:32 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude - just to chime in, I’ve been feeling ropey for 5 days, and my wife and wee man have tested postive since Monday, but I only got a positive hit for the first time yesterday….

 

I thought I was dodging a bullet, but despite being triple jabbed, I can’t speak today (I sound like a cross between Chrissey Hinde and a pneumatic drill!)

 

Dang, I'm sorry Doc! Hope you're feeling better soon. Feels like everybody's getting it right now?

 

6 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

RNG! RNG! Who doesn't love a bit of RNG?! lol

Why has noone released 'RNG - The Game' yet?! Would be a massive hit!

 

I think you won the internet today, homie?

[Platinum_Vice]

On 16/01/2022 at 5:45 AM, rjkclarke said:

Danger Zone definitely doesn't compare to Onrush in many areas - as it's basically got no real racing component, just the crashing element.

 

Oh shoot, I misunderstood. In that case I will be channeling Goose and ejecting out of the Danger Zone. 

 

I'll look forward to Dangerous Driving to see if that's more my speed... because... because... I feel the need.

 

 

 

On 16/01/2022 at 5:45 AM, rjkclarke said:

That does remind me actually, that I need to get a review done for Onrush as well at some point as well. I had a lot of fun with that one for what it was.

 

+1

 

On 16/01/2022 at 5:45 AM, rjkclarke said:

Btw Gonzo - I haven't read your Last of Us odyssey yet.... I desperately wanted to, but just like Smevz I saw the SPOILERS warning and ran a mile..... As you know I'm a bit careful when it comes to those. I've bookmarked the review like I did with Shrooba's Miles Morales review so I can read it when I am all clued up though.

 

I forgive you guys. It has made me realise though, as someone who is very new to this review business, that I should declare whether I am spoiling anything upfront like I did this time.

 

On 16/01/2022 at 5:45 AM, rjkclarke said:

I'm planning to do The Last of Us Remastered as part of my Tier 2 (fingers crossed I get that far) in the Ultra Rare Cleanup, as I've never played it to completion, and I really want to see if I agree with all of the praise that gets heaped on it. I couldn't get on with it initially, I had the same issues with it, that I do with Uncharted in that the characters never seem to shut up for five seconds.  But I also played it at a similar time to when I played GTAV so I was kind of trying to rush through the story, instead of take it all in. So hopefully later in the year I'll be able to give it my full attention, as these days I tend to stick to one game at a time.

 

Dude tell me about it. I've had about... 5 hours of gaming time so far in 2022. 5 hours. WTF. My life is pretty full-on at the moment. 

 

Tier 1 is a big enough goal for me for 2022, but I do hope you get as far as TLOU so you can experience it fully. Make sure you don't overhype it. The industry really does heap on the praise for Naughty Dog's efforts, and you shouldn't be expecting Citizen Kane despite the aircraft hangers full of commendations that TLOU has accumulated.

 

Regarding playing GTA V and TLOU together, it's funny you mention that. I remember buying them both on the same day for the PS3. They were the first games I bought for a few years at the time due to long-winded circumstances. I found this old and blurry photo of me bringing them home... safety first!

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I drew a comic about the loss of interest in compelling reasons in media for characters to take off their tops. It started with "Oh my goodness, you're soaked! You should get out of those clothes" to "Oh no, somebody's car broke down! You'd better take off your shirt and help him!"

 

You drew a comic?

 

 

Loving the new profile picture btw mate.

[rjkclarke]

Oh what a pick-me-up this entire weekend of Snooker has been! Any of you cuesports fans that read this and you haven't gotten a chance to see it yet, get and watch at least some highlights of both Semi-Finals (especially Robertson Vs Williams final frame, that is absolutely edge of your seat nail-biting stuff) and The Final itself.

 

Don't worry I'll talk about games in a minute ??

 

Absolutely stellar displays by those by those Bow-Tie Wearing, Stick Wielding, Warriors of the Green Baize.

 

Even if I do have the energy levels of a ninety-eight year old man with blue hands, that's just run two marathons (thanks.... Covid, if I do have you ?)...... Watching that awesome display over the last two days has given me a really nice little lift in mood.

 

A nice little bonus that my favourite player picked up the win today as well. (I'm sure some UK-ers will find that blasphemous, that my favourite player is an Australian, but you find me an English player that hits the ball as straight, and cues as well as him, even Ronnie O'Sullivan thinks the guy has basically the best cue-action in the sport.) As tired as the cliche of "it's sad there has to be a loser" is. That was so true today.

 

I also managed to get the review for Danger Zone 2 finished - so I'll post that up in a little while. It looks like The Wolf Among Us had the desired effect on me review wise, as it's gotten me a little in the swing of wanting to get through some of the older reviews a bit faster as I was severely slacking on those in the tail end of last year - so now I'm going to aim to do at least 3 Classic Reviews a week if I can, that's the plan anyway, whether or not I'll keep to that, remains to be seen.

 

After this little, I guess mini-update/ just throwing some thoughts around, I better chuck some replies out there too!

 

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

RNG! RNG! Who doesn't love a bit of RNG?! lol

Why has noone released 'RNG - The Game' yet?! Would be a massive hit!

 

Well, that game does already exist, and it is a massive hit!

 

It's called Genshin Impact........  Haha ?

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Haha well I think we all feel older than we already do when those kind of things pop up. I remember playing Sonic on my Mega Drive so that being 30 years old is bad enough haha

 

I guess time is one of the few things we can't escape - The Prince of Persia had to find that out the hard way.

 

I see your 30 year old Megadrive making you feel old  and I raise you my first console - which is even older....  ?

 

 

The Commodore Plus 4 - The games came on cassettes and everything! I still have this somewhere too.

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Yeah I try my best to do that strategy too. I used to be able to play 2 big games at the same time, but now I find that it's just better to do one at a time and be fully focused on that. 

 

That's usually what I find as well, if I have more than one thing on the go, I tend not to focus on either thing properly, so that's kind of why I've switched to just one thing at a time usually. I'm kind of breaking that now, in that I've booted up Lord of the Rings: War in the North recently to try and get that platinum ticked off after nearly ten years, but after getting the one online trophy, I've found I haven't actually wanted to go back, because of - well, Yakuza 3 haha.

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Horizon Chase Turbo - This was free on PS Plus and yeah I liked Outrun back in the day (didn't get to play it much) but yeah it's a classic arcade racer with added depth as you said. Big World Tour mode, where you can unlock upgrades. A tournament mode and also endurance mode which thankfully you can save scum otherwise the 109 races trophy would be way worse lol Can be easy once you get into the grove, but if you like arcade racers then I'd recommend this whether it was on PS Plus or not. Very enjoyable.

 

I have got that via PS+ so I'll have to give that a go at some point, as it does look like something I'd probably have a fair bit of fun with. It's a good thing Endurance Mode can be gotten around with backup saves, that might make my hair fall out faster than Fist of the North Star's rhythm game is likely to if it didn't have that option open

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Music Racer - A pretty decent game overall which can be very relaxing on the right settings. Too relaxing in a way. If you look at the trophy guide, it's very easy and can also just be left to play by itself to get the required points to buy everything which gets you the majority of the trophies. I'd say get it but only at a cheap price.

 

I will bear that in mind then - sounds like you're likely to fall asleep at the controller with that one!

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Puyo Puyo Champions - I didn't realise that was in the Yakuza games. For me, it reminds me of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine hence why I gave it a go. It's not got a story mode like the Puyo Tetris games do, so it's straight to the point of playing and going for the trophies. It's fun if you enjoy that style of game but the trophies can be pretty difficult. Certainly a forum post from someone that I found recently is helping me try to get some of them. 

 

 

Yep it's in Yakuza 6 and Judgment - but you can ignore it in Yakuza 6 as you don't need 100% for the platinum in that one (another one hat I did the 100% in anyway). It's pretty brutal in Judgment and Yakuza 6 though, you've gotta win 25+ games in a row to spawn a specific character for the completion, so it definitely forces you to get pretty good at Puyo-Puyo. I really like the mini-game though, so if Champions is pretty much just that, but purely gameplay, I'd totally be on board for that I reckon.

 

It is like Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, or Dr Mario......  Absolutely! Or Tetris Attack haha - I loved pretty much all of those - although I think Tetris Attack most out of all of them.

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

Yeah for me, it was worse a few years ago as I would build up a pile of other games I was interested in playing but just not as much as from my favourite franchises, but I'd prioritise the first ones because I would finish them then sell them so the price of playing the game was lower if I was quicker at going through them. So the FF's, RE's etc would just sit on the shelf. Tried my best recently to trim those 'selling' games right down and the digital ones too so my priorities would change.

 

I can definitely see the appeal of that - one of my friends I went to school with used to do that - he used to be a pretty hardcore achievement hunter back in the day. I have no idea if he still is, as I haven't seen him for a good few years. He did once buy a Call of Duty at launch, get all of the gamerscore over the weekend, and then take the game back on the Monday, for a full refund because it was still within the period that you could get a full refund. Quite crafty really, so he basically had a free 1K Gamerscore from it.

 

Nice to see you're trimming back the "selling" games though - in a time where getting the time to game is becoming more of a precious commodity I think it's pretty important that we all try and play things that we actually want to be playing more than things we feel obliged too sometimes. I'd have probably been able to do so much more with the fifty hours Agents of Mayhem stole from me, if I'd been a bit more proactive in playing things I actually wanted to play, instead of that, to have another game from a series completed ?... Silly me.

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

I think you should give it a go, if you're up for another turn based JRPG after FFIX, then give it a crack! Especially for free, why not? I highly doubt you'll enjoy it as much as IX, but I think you'll enjoy enough of it to appreciate it's qualities, or at least I hope you will.

 

I am up for another one at some point - but not quite yet I don't think. I'm sure at some point in the coming months I'll get bitten by the turn based bug, that'd probably be the time to jump back in on a JRPG with World of Final Fantasy, I suppose,

 

14 hours ago, The_Kopite said:

I wasn't overjoyed with Lightning Returns in general tbh, and that reminds me I STILL have to watch the ending of that game. My god lol

 

Well have fun - that ending is definitely something. As I've said before, make sure you see the true ending, just to, y'know get the full, strange conclusion. Like that entire Trilogy I guess, it's definitely probably a bit of a head scratcher for most, myself included.

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Sorry! I am quite late to the party. I hope you start to feel better, that doesn't sound like any kind of fun.

 

Thanks man! I appreciate that!

 

I think I'm  starting to feel better, hard to tell, if right now it's lack of sleep or something else, I stayed up stupidly late playing Yakuza last night/this morning, so that's probably compounding things a bit. 

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Yeah I couldn't decide if I wanted to pat him on the shoulder like "there, there" or smack him upside the head and tell him to quit sniveling!

 

I Wish that was an option - Bigby just clouts him one, when he tries to give Snow White his special box - that may, or may not have had something creepy in ?

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Funny how that works! Er... maybe not funny exactly, more like unfortunate. Yes, that's the word! If you ever go back to it, it may grow on you - it did with me at least, although it never did assuage my criticisms.

 

I do plan on going back to it actually - I was planning to at least get the 100% Completion in the single player campaign. I think whilst I'm doing it, I'll play through the story again at my own pace, and see if I enjoy it a little bit more. Hopefully, I will, as  I definitely feel as if I missed something fairly crucial with it as far as my own enjoyment went.

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Same. I bought the PS3 version, but I'm paranoid about it updating - when I went on my PS3 purchasing rampage, it was the first game I played to test the system, and it still has the original radio stations, and I don't want to lose them! Lousy cheap Rockstar...

 

For some reason I just had an image of Sam Houser kicking you right in the nuts just as you finish saying "Lousy cheap Rockstar" and then stuffing money into your mouth whilst you're writhing around on the floor,  then walking away laughing like Ted Dibiase. Modern Rockstar just seem like that's the kind of thing they'd do now, unfortunately.

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

t was still fun, and still funny (picture Bernie running and don't smile - you can't do it)

 

You're right - that is pretty much impossible

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Yes! That might be soon, I've got a few more playthroughs and the second DLC left. I'm looking forward to boosting with you, man! It'll be a good time

 

I love that you're going full-on completionist with Yakuza 3! Just goes to show your love for the series. I support this️

 

I really like that second DLC, so I hope you have an awesome time with that one. Last time I played it was co-op with one of my friends and we had an absolute blast playing that - we died a lot, just because we weren't concentrating properly, but some it gets real intense later on in it.

 

That reminds me, I'll hit download on it later, so it's all ready for when you want to get that Versus mode knocked out! Should be fun!

 

I really don't think RE5 deserves even half as much hate as it gets. It's got some really good single player DLC too. I also wish they'd bring back Sheva in a future game - I really liked her.

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Dude I felt like I was breezing through it a little too easily until homeboy came along! I felt like I was getting close, but that was around the time I stopped playing it. Ay. So many games, so little time...

 

Koi No Disco Queen has actually become a song I listen to fairly regularly as a result of that dancing mini-game though, once you really get into them they can be quite fun. But I remember at one point thinking " how the hell am I supposed to beat all of these on Hard?" I got there in the end though. So you will too.

 

That's the never-ending struggle for all of us right? So many games, so little time..... It's an enjoyable fight though.

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

It was indeed! I've decided to keep track of who recommended what to me this year, and you're already in the lead

 

Wooooo! That's awesome! Until you play something you despise and want to clip me upside the head like Toad Junior, then I'll have to slink away somewhere

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Interesting! I do think that there are 10s, but I think people should be extremely stingy with such a rating. But denying that to your favorite facepants wearer?? YOU WATCH YOUR TONGUE, YOUNG MAN

 

His facepants wearing self would be a 10 in my heart - but my brain would tell me, because of some fairly clunky gameplay that he should only really be getting a 9 or a 9.5

 

I don't know - not something I worry about - as I don't do the whole X out of 10 rating thing, so I've never actually had to encounter wanting to give something a ten but my brain telling me I shouldn't.

 

There are so many things that get so close to a ten that they might as well be one though. If I was doing that

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I drew a comic about the loss of interest in compelling reasons in media for characters to take off their tops. It started with "Oh my goodness, you're soaked! You should get out of those clothes" to "Oh no, somebody's car broke down! You'd better take off your shirt and help him!"

 

That idea honestly could run and run, there are almost limitless amounts of funny situations to mine comedy from that - I expect that was really fun making that.......  "Today I helped an old person across the road, and both our shirts came off"

 

Part me both does, and doesn't want to see that get drawn now that I've thought about it!

 

7 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

???? my introduction to that was watching the movies, and then the party hotline or whatever when you have to woo the women. I felt like a ten year old watching a sex scene with my mom in the next room all over again!

 

Right! That's exactly the feeling - really puts you on edge.

 

3 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

Oh shoot, I misunderstood. In that case I will be channeling Goose and ejecting out of the Danger Zone. 

 

I'll look forward to Dangerous Driving to see if that's more my speed... because... because... I feel the need.

 

I don't think that's on you to be fair - I think I just didn't do a good enough job of explaining exactly what the game was about - I probably wrongly assumed everyone knew what Crash Mode was from the earlier Burnouts and that this was essentially just, a whole game of that.

 

Haha! We'll see what you think of Dangerous Driving, whether it is up your alley once I've written that - I'll make sure I do a better job of explaining it this time too. ?

 

3 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

I forgive you guys. It has made me realise though, as someone who is very new to this review business, that I should declare whether I am spoiling anything upfront like I did this time.

 

I appreciate the fact that you did put the warning though - plenty of people wouldn't.

 

I am really looking forward to reading it though.... I truly am, because you'd have to be Stevie Wonder not to notice the incredibly gargantuan amount of effort that you put into that, so I absolutely want to give it the time it absolutely deserves once I know the full picture of Last of Us I and II.

 

3 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

Dude tell me about it. I've had about... 5 hours of gaming time so far in 2022. 5 hours. WTF. My life is pretty full-on at the moment. 

 

Tier 1 is a big enough goal for me for 2022, but I do hope you get as far as TLOU so you can experience it fully. Make sure you don't overhype it. The industry really does heap on the praise for Naughty Dog's efforts, and you shouldn't be expecting Citizen Kane despite the aircraft hangers full of commendations that TLOU has accumulated.

 

Regarding playing GTA V and TLOU together, it's funny you mention that. I remember buying them both on the same day for the PS3. They were the first games I bought for a few years at the time due to long-winded circumstances. I found this old and blurry photo of me bringing them home... safety first!

 

 

 

Ouch dude - 5 hours is pretty low so far, sorry to hear that.

 

Sounds like you've gotta make that count where you can at the moment! Tier 1 is still ten games though man! So that'll be awesome if we can get those in the bag. I think you'll do it, just gotta find a way to fit it in!

 

The ones I have for Tier 1 are mostly cleanup, of older games, so I think I can get to Tier 2, first thing I'll probably play when I get there will be The Last of Us.

 

Funny you mention the whole Citizen Kane thing - one of my biggest problems with Uncharted and The Last of Us (what little I played of it, I got to the bit where Ellie first gets the rifle, so I don't know where in the story that is) I always got really fed up of the whole "It's so cinematic" thing that people often used to trot out. I'd think about it whilst playing, and think "it really isn't" and then it'd frustrate me, which is not the fault of the games to be fair.  Uncharted 4 does admittedly come close a few times, to being quite cinematic. Thank goodness I don't have to see Sam Drakes wrinkly Scrotum teabag face on a giant screen though, those are the things nightmares are born from! 

 

I'll just have to put that "cinematic" thought to one side when I play it and just try and enjoy it for exactly what it is. I'll try and leave my preconceived ideas at the door. That usually leads to the best times anyway. I'm hoping that by the time I've finished it I'll be saying to myself "Why the hell didn't you play this back in 2013, you burke!"

 

That picture is great - gotta get them home safe and sound after that momentous day, when new games were purchased right? I'm surprised you didn't wrap them in cotton wool or bubble wrap too. Just to be safe! ?

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by rjkclarke

[rjkclarke]

Classic Review

 

Danger Zone 2 (PS4)

 

 

A Few Trophy Stats

 

100% Achieved - 22 May 2020 : 1:12:18 AM

Time taken to 100%: - 4 hours, 43 minutes, 9 seconds

100% Rarity - 12.15%

 

In much the same way that a lot of video game sequels tend to do, Danger Zone 2 builds upon the foundations that the original game built in an incredibly positive way. The original Danger Zone – whilst being a very effective, and honestly quite well realised, proof of concept. It must be said, it was fairly lacking as far as defined features and varied gameplay goes. For as much I enjoyed that game, it didn’t quite grab me in the same way that its sequel did, a game that I remember playing to full completion in one sitting.

 

Don’t all celebrate at once – but as we’ve already established exactly who and what Three Fields Entertainment is, this review will be slightly on the shorter side. Not because this game is bad, but for the simple fact that, well, it’s fairly short, but almost every single moment of this fast paced game was an incredibly enjoyable experience for me from a gameplay perspective, so let’s get into why exactly that was.

 

I can’t ignore how artistically barren I found Danger Zone to be on a visual level – the simulation aesthetic was not something that I was overly fond of, from my perspective it gave the game a little bit of a bland and lifeless sheen to it. Perhaps Three Fields were of that same opinion themselves in hindsight, because that design aspect has been completely abandoned for Danger Zone 2 in favour of a more realistic approach with the various courses available. In truth, these feel much more in keeping with the kind of idea that a long standing Burnout fan would look for in an entry such as this.

 

As before, the vehicles (there aren’t just cars) themselves all look incredibly polished and aesthetically pleasing. As do the various explosions and particle effects that come as a result of many of the mayhem inducing crashes. I do think however, that some of the locations look a little samey at times. That being said, when you’re limited by budgetary constraints like Three Fields clearly were – I can understand, and fully respect the decision to focus more on the gameplay, than making the available tracks look as varied as possible.

I think they could have made a little bit more of an effort to have a more dynamic user interface though on the menu’s. I’m definitely overly critical with saying this – because at the end of the day, it doesn’t  actually impede the game itself in the slightest, but all of the menu’s do look like something from a beta, or even an alpha build of the game, to be brutally honest.

 

Danger Zone 2 – also lacks any sort of soundtrack to speak of – I think this is more of an issue in this games case than it is in the originals purely for the inclusion of “run-ups” a gameplay feature I’ll elaborate on shortly. Due to the inclusion of these, you spend a lot more time driving than you did in the original Danger Zone, so driving with just ambient silence becomes a little bit more of a prevalent  issue. Ultimately, I just put my own music on, and kept the volume up loud enough that I could hear the core sound effects.  

 

The sound effects and sound design elements, this time, are even better in this sequel than they were originally. Cacophonous carnage is exactly the kind of the thing you want to hear, when you’re dealing with a game where causing as much destruction, mayhem and pandemonium is the aim of the game. Driving some of the larger vehicles down the games highways and just seeing all manner of vehicles doing their own impression of Team Rocket and blasting off again, is so satisfying to both see and hear.  

 

So – now that I’ve gotten the very few negatives out of the way, what exactly is it that I found so much more engaging in this game compared to its predecessor?

 

Variety, I think, is the answer. Yes, arguably some of the design aesthetics I mentioned in this game, might look very similar, but just the inclusions of a few added gameplay wrinkles really go a long way in making this an even more enjoyable experience.

 

Any of you familiar with Burnout: Revenge will be familiar with the concept of Traffic checks, for those unaware, these are the ability to send some of the smaller bits of traffic (traffic fodder essentially) colliding into other oncoming traffic, and cause chaos before you’ve even had a chance to reach the main crash site.

Danger Zone 2 however, adds its own special little wrinkle to traffic checking – now you have the ability to control where exactly you send the traffic fodder. It’s a little imprecise, granted, but, upon hitting the desired piece of traffic, you can either hit square or circle to send the vehicle veering left or right depending on the button used. With the addition of run-up bonuses, these add some much needed variety to the game, just by the amount of options that it opens for you.

 

Up to this point – I’ve mentioned run-ups without actually elaborating on what they are – essentially, they serve as bonus objectives, which give you something to work towards before hitting the initial crash zones. Each individual level has its own unique run-up – so you’ll never quite do the same thing twice, some of them are a little tricky to achieve, forcing you to play unnaturally, and slow yourself down on occasion, which I thought was interesting, when you consider the game usually encourages breakneck speed at almost all times.

Even if you didn’t have to achieve every single run-up bonus (including in tutorial levels) to achieve one hundred percent completion, you’d still likely want to do them for the hefty $250,000 bonus that it adds to your score. Danger Zone 2 does somewhat dial back the lite-puzzle elements that its predecessor had, if I had to guess I’d say that it was because the courses themselves are deliberately larger here, so there’s less of a need to hide the cash icons in less obvious places – the puzzle ultimately comes in the form of figuring out how to achieve the run-ups.

 

I’d say that the trophies in Danger Zone 2 are fairly straight forward to be perfectly honest – I was pretty shocked to discover that I was fairly high up on the list of Fastest Achievers for the 100%. That’s also with me playing all of the bonus courses too.  You’re essentially required to get the platinum medal on every single course EXCEPT, the bonus courses (you don’t even have to play these,) whilst also achieving the run-up bonus in each level. The thing is – in doing that, and hitting all of the cash icons in order, bronze, silver and gold – you’ll hit the platinum score threshold far more often than you probably expected to. After that you’re left with fairly minimal clean-up.

 

Honestly? This isn’t a complaint, but I can’t help but think, I would have liked a trophy or two tied to the bonus courses, as they are a little bit of an indicator of where exactly Three Fields were headed next.  They were heading straight back to their roots, with a more fully fledged racer. The bonus courses brought back the Hot Lap concept from Burnout, and whilst it’s purely just a little bit of a taster here, it does serve as a pretty fine example that even in a game based on crashing and destruction, the vehicular controls themselves were as smooth as ever. The simple act of drifting around some of those courses, felt as if I was playing Burnout again, even for the briefest of moments.

 

As with the previous game – I absolutely recommend this one, it’s short, succinct and really very enjoyable – but probably preferable if you can find it in the bundle alongside Danger Zone and Dangerous Driving, you might as well see Three Fields progression before their return to their racing roots with Dangerous Driving. So in the coming days, it’ll be time to buckle up that seatbelt, and join me for the review of Dangerous Driving.

Edited January 17, 2022 by rjkclarke

[The_Kopite]

17 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I think you won the internet today, homie

Haha why, thank you! ?

 

11 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Well, that game does already exist, and it is a massive hit!

 

It's called Genshin Impact........  Haha

Yikes! Staying well clear of that then! haha ?

 

11 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I guess time is one of the few things we can't escape - The Prince of Persia had to find that out the hard way.

 

I see your 30 year old Megadrive making you feel old  and I raise you my first console - which is even older.... 

 

 

The Commodore Plus 4 - The games came on cassettes and everything! I still have this somewhere too.

Oh no, hang on a moment. The Sega Mega Drive wasn't the first console I ever owned. That honour belongs to the ZX Spectrum, so yeah I know all about games on cassette tapes and having to go out of the room and come back 10mins later for a game to load and to avoid that god awful loading sound lol

 

Impressive you still have the Commodore there somewhere, must be worth a fair bit by now!

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

That's usually what I find as well, if I have more than one thing on the go, I tend not to focus on either thing properly, so that's kind of why I've switched to just one thing at a time usually. I'm kind of breaking that now, in that I've booted up Lord of the Rings: War in the North recently to try and get that platinum ticked off after nearly ten years, but after getting the one online trophy, I've found I haven't actually wanted to go back, because of - well, Yakuza 3 haha.

Haha, well hey it's impressive you have managed to get the online trophy at least and I think that's a PS3 game if I'm not mistaken? Yes Yakuza 3 has certainl got all your gaming attention, and its awesome when you get so into the groove with one game and just enjoy every facet of it and become really engrossed. Awesome. 

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I have got that via PS+ so I'll have to give that a go at some point, as it does look like something I'd probably have a fair bit of fun with. It's a good thing Endurance Mode can be gotten around with backup saves, that might make my hair fall out faster than Fist of the North Star's rhythm game is likely to if it didn't have that option open

Yeah definitely, with having it free there is no reason not to give it a go really. It's a game you can play a lot of in one go if you really get into the groove with it. I backup my saves to the cloud every 5 races on that one, as once I left it too long on a shorter endurance one and due to finishing 6th in a race (you have to finish in the top 5 in that mode) I lost 16 races worth of progress. Learnt from that mistake haha.

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I will bear that in mind then - sounds like you're likely to fall asleep at the controller with that one!

It's more the fact that you can let the game essentially play itself and you'll get the majority of the trophies following the ps plus save backup trick in the trophy guide. It's cool, unique, got a sweet aethestic but it's a lot of style and not so much substance. 

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Yep it's in Yakuza 6 and Judgment - but you can ignore it in Yakuza 6 as you don't need 100% for the platinum in that one (another one hat I did the 100% in anyway). It's pretty brutal in Judgment and Yakuza 6 though, you've gotta win 25+ games in a row to spawn a specific character for the completion, so it definitely forces you to get pretty good at Puyo-Puyo. I really like the mini-game though, so if Champions is pretty much just that, but purely gameplay, I'd totally be on board for that I reckon.

 

It is like Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, or Dr Mario......  Absolutely! Or Tetris Attack haha - I loved pretty much all of those - although I think Tetris Attack most out of all of them.

Yeah it's just pure Puyo Puyo normal gameplay and Fever mode gameplay. Can even have the Puyo's look like Sonic icons so obviously that's what I have haha. Damn though, winning 25+ games in a row sounds pretty tough. Bet you're a top player now though!

 

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was fun to play back in the day. Dr. Mario too on the OG Game Boy. Classic simple games right there. Not played Tetris Attack but the OG Tetris, yes of cours. Classic personified.

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I can definitely see the appeal of that - one of my friends I went to school with used to do that - he used to be a pretty hardcore achievement hunter back in the day. I have no idea if he still is, as I haven't seen him for a good few years. He did once buy a Call of Duty at launch, get all of the gamerscore over the weekend, and then take the game back on the Monday, for a full refund because it was still within the period that you could get a full refund. Quite crafty really, so he basically had a free 1K Gamerscore from it.

 

Nice to see you're trimming back the "selling" games though - in a time where getting the time to game is becoming more of a precious commodity I think it's pretty important that we all try and play things that we actually want to be playing more than things we feel obliged too sometimes. I'd have probably been able to do so much more with the fifty hours Agents of Mayhem stole from me, if I'd been a bit more proactive in playing things I actually wanted to play, instead of that, to have another game from a series completed ... Silly me.

Yeah I've heard lots of people do that. Not my style to go through a game like that in just one weekend but hey, not paying any money at all is defnitely a bonus! 

 

Yeah I couldn't really describe it any better apart from "selling" games pile lol sorry about that. Yes I think we should all prioritise the games we really want to play! 

 

Hey at least you got a good review for this thread out of Agents of Mayhem. (Best I could come up with lol)

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I am up for another one at some point - but not quite yet I don't think. I'm sure at some point in the coming months I'll get bitten by the turn based bug, that'd probably be the time to jump back in on a JRPG with World of Final Fantasy, I suppose,

Sounds like a good plan. Try to rotate the type of big games I play too. Looking forward to a future World of FF review. ?

 

12 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Well have fun - that ending is definitely something. As I've said before, make sure you see the true ending, just to, y'know get the full, strange conclusion. Like that entire Trilogy I guess, it's definitely probably a bit of a head scratcher for most, myself included.

Yes, the True Ending. I will definitely get on to that! Got to remember the story first lol

 

 

[YaManSmevz]

On 1/16/2022 at 4:09 PM, GonzoWARgasm said:

Dude tell me about it. I've had about... 5 hours of gaming time so far in 2022. 5 hours. WTF. My life is pretty full-on at the moment. 

 

Ouch. You need some you time, homie. I hope life gives you a break here and there soon... not necessarily for gaming, but just so you can have some time to yourself.

 

Quote

Regarding playing GTA V and TLOU together, it's funny you mention that. I remember buying them both on the same day for the PS3. They were the first games I bought for a few years at the time due to long-winded circumstances. I found this old and blurry photo of me bringing them home... safety first!

 

 

Adorbz.

 

Quote

You drew a comic?

 

 

 

I would just draw comics on receipt paper at work for mine and my coworkers' amusement. I'm certain i have a bunch stashed away somewhere though, I did that for quite a while and still think about different ones from time to time. Like people getting nude for no reason?

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

It looks like The Wolf Among Us had the desired effect on me review wise, as it's gotten me a little in the swing of wanting to get through some of the older reviews a bit faster as I was severely slacking on those in the tail end of last year - so now I'm going to aim to do at least 3 Classic Reviews a week if I can, that's the plan anyway, whether or not I'll keep to that, remains to be seen.

 

Nice!

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

It is like Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, or Dr Mario......  Absolutely! Or Tetris Attack haha - I loved pretty much all of those - although I think Tetris Attack most out of all of them.

 

Daaaaamn, blast from the past?

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

I think I'm  starting to feel better, hard to tell, if right now it's lack of sleep or something else, I stayed up stupidly late playing Yakuza last night/this morning, so that's probably compounding things a bit. 

 

Hate to get all Dad on you, but you do need your rest! Hard to come by as it may be...

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

I Wish that was an option - Bigby just clouts him one, when he tries to give Snow White his special box - that may, or may not have had something creepy in

 

I love that visual. Then Toad gets indignant and Bigby fakes him out like "WHAT, bitch?? You don't want none, now get your sorry ass to the farm!"

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

I do plan on going back to it actually - I was planning to at least get the 100% Completion in the single player campaign. I think whilst I'm doing it, I'll play through the story again at my own pace, and see if I enjoy it a little bit more. Hopefully, I will, as  I definitely feel as if I missed something fairly crucial with it as far as my own enjoyment went.

 

I'll eventually get back to it myself.. but DrunkenEngineer and I were talking about it, and I acknowledged the possibility of getting the plat but then the online trophies beckoning?

 

I hope you do, and more importantly have fun with it!

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

For some reason I just had an image of Sam Houser kicking you right in the nuts just as you finish saying "Lousy cheap Rockstar" and then stuffing money into your mouth whilst you're writhing around on the floor,  then walking away laughing like Ted Dibiase. Modern Rockstar just seem like that's the kind of thing they'd do now, unfortunately.

 

???

 

Well they definitely share the same theme song...

 

MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEEYYYYY

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

I really like that second DLC, so I hope you have an awesome time with that one. Last time I played it was co-op with one of my friends and we had an absolute blast playing that - we died a lot, just because we weren't concentrating properly, but some it gets real intense later on in it.

 

Oh yeah, I really enjoyed it. To think I was initially worried I'd have trouble getting to 150 kills?

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

That reminds me, I'll hit download on it later, so it's all ready for when you want to get that Versus mode knocked out! Should be fun!

 

I really don't think RE5 deserves even half as much hate as it gets. It's got some really good single player DLC too. I also wish they'd bring back Sheva in a future game - I really liked her.

 

Woohoo!!

 

Yeah, it's definitely grown on me. I don't think to the extent that I'll bother with res 6 though!

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

Koi No Disco Queen has actually become a song I listen to fairly regularly as a result of that dancing mini-game though, once you really get into them they can be quite fun. But I remember at one point thinking " how the hell am I supposed to beat all of these on Hard?" I got there in the end though. So you will too.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement man, I certainly hope so??

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

Wooooo! That's awesome! Until you play something you despise and want to clip me upside the head like Toad Junior, then I'll have to slink away somewhere

 

I wouldn't worry too much about that, your credit's pretty good with me?

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

I don't know - not something I worry about - as I don't do the whole X out of 10 rating thing, so I've never actually had to encounter wanting to give something a ten but my brain telling me I shouldn't.

 

I still wonder if I want to implement that - it always felt more natural to me to just let the review speak for itself and not worry about giving out a rating, but I like that a lot of people do that, and as realm pointed out, it's helpful for readers. Me no know?‍♂️

 

On 1/16/2022 at 5:46 PM, rjkclarke said:

That idea honestly could run and run, there are almost limitless amounts of funny situations to mine comedy from that - I expect that was really fun making that.......  "Today I helped an old person across the road, and both our shirts came off"

 

Part me both does, and doesn't want to see that get drawn now that I've thought about it!

 

[rjkclarke]

One Final Yakuza 3 Update! 100% In-Game Completion Achieved!

 

 

 

In the words of Solidus Snake (That is such a silly name, what were you thinking Kojima).....

 

......" It's been a while....... Hasn't it?"

 

I've been around the forums the last week or so  - I just haven't posted for a while - just been throwing around rep points like a silent friendly stalker! Although, there are some things I think I've missed that I'll have to go and re-read and look at. But I WILL make a point of dropping some comments on plenty of your awesome threads soon!

 

This seems like an appropriate image considering how long this game has had me in a headlock!

 

When I last posted in here..... I looked like Dan Hawkins from The Darkness..... Now on the other side of 100% Completion, I look like Robin Williams when he first appears in Jumanji..... I really - and I mean REALLY, underestimated how long it would take to get the full 100% completion in this game.

 

To give it a little context, I could have easily had the platinum sewn up for this at least a week and a half ago, if not longer. When I post (and write ) the review of Yakuza 3 (I still don't have the platinum, I'll get it once I've gotten the Kiwami 2 review out) I'll throw the screenshot of the 100%  alongside it so you can all see how long it actually took. 

 

Well then - now that I've finished the story, what are a few general impressions - did I like it? Yes, and no...... I didn't love it that's for sure, partly that's my fault for playing them in a weird order and knowing what happens over the course of the game.To tell you the truth though, the story is just a little bit lacking, I'm perfectly fine with low key storytelling, that can be done so well - it doesn't really suit Yakuza though. Imagine you're slow cooking a meal, but instead of leaving it in for most of a day, instead you leave it for a week - THIS, is how I felt about Yakuza 3's story.

 

I'll muse on that a bit more in the actual review, but there's a window of about three chapters in this game - which are of the utmost quality and belong amongst some of the best moments across the entire series culminating in Chapter 11 in the Bull Ring, man did that hit me in the feels hard. Unfortunately - that isn't where the game ends - and it probably should have. Still I'll leave that for the review.

 

So, back to a little 100% talk - what was it that really slowed me down?

 

Let me just say this - people complaining about this games platinum difficulty have no idea what they are complaining about! If this game had a trophy requirement for 100% Completion - then I could somewhat understand it. This isn't me bragging either - pretty much all of you know, I'm not about that. Some of the requirements are absolutely ridiculous.

 

I spent a good two or three days just trying to do the Colosseum completion points - for the platinum, you just have to win all tournaments. For 100%? Fight and beat every single available opponent. That's 70 by the way.  Fighting every enemy, is fine on paper - until you realise there's some weirdly specific ways that certain fighters will only appear - even then, there's only a RNG roll of a chance, of whether you'll actually fight them or not. Then there's actually beating them. I do not say this lightly - Vallery Garrett on Hard mode - is literally the hardest fight in the game - that isn't named Amon, even Amon you can at least have healing items. Yep harder, than anything in Ultimate Match, or even the final boss. 

 

Vallery Garrett can, and probably will, wipe you out in about six Strikes, painfully fast and very difficult to parry strikes - if you get unlucky and he combo's you against a cage wall - it's basically lights out. You have to fight two fights before even the chance to fight him, against already tricky opponents, so often I was fighting him with lower health, because those earlier fights went south pretty quick.

 

The worst part? You have to fight him in a Tag Tournament too - this had me stumped for a mighty long time. The Partner A.I is not terrible, but you aren't really going to be able to rely on them to survive - so the Tag Tournament  was where I spent a whole bunch of time. My eventual strategy was, if on the third round Garret was the opponent, hot tail it over to Garrett set my partner A.I to fight defensive, so he kept the other opponent fairly controlled and himself alive - whilst I tried my utmost to deal with Garrett. what worked for me was baiting him in with attacks, Tiger Dropping (parry strike) him, and then sending him flying into the cage wall and combo juggling him for as long as possible, and repeating. He's so tough to Tiger Drop though, as the window of opportunity is so fleeting, and as I said, a few strikes from him and you're done. I eventually won that fight with a sliver of health and what a tense adrenaline rush that was!

 

I'm going to have to summon @Copanele for this one - just in case you miss this post - but you know we both had a nightmare with the batting? You and I can both universally agree that it's a massive pile of septic severed Donkey genitals..... Right? Actually you don't have to agree with that part, this just pushed me a little too far. 

 

So to create each piece of modded gear and weaponry - it turns out that you actually have to basically get the completion requirement for the EX Hard Batting - FOUR times over, because you need the crafting materials you get as a reward. I can't even put into words how much my heart sank when I realised I had to do that, three more times. It doesn't really get easier - I still choked at the last few pitches from nerves plenty of times, this was an ordeal haha!

 

As I knew I'd be posting a screenshot of the stats in here at some point - I also decided to get Haruka's trust level up to S rank (you can go up to EX Rank) but you literally have to give 30 Million Yen to a homeless dude - for just a sliver of experience bar, and as it took me over one hundred hours to have 15 Million Yen, I didn't fancy whatever grind was involved to get 30 Million, so I thought I'd settle on an S, that looks way better than a D which is where it was.

 

 

There's a few other things here and there - but I'll save those for an actual review - I shan't go into too much of what I've covered here when I actually review it, so, it isn't like any of you will really have to read the same thing twice. 

 

Now - I'd better make some long overdue replies (Sorry about that).

 

 

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Oh no, hang on a moment. The Sega Mega Drive wasn't the first console I ever owned. That honour belongs to the ZX Spectrum, so yeah I know all about games on cassette tapes and having to go out of the room and come back 10mins later for a game to load and to avoid that god awful loading sound lol

 

Impressive you still have the Commodore there somewhere, must be worth a fair bit by now!

 

Haha! Yes - those old load times are probably half the reason I never complain too much about load times all that much. 10 minutes is still a hell of a lot though - I remember Summoner on the PS2 (a game that's way better on PC, because of quicker loading times) that game had five minute loading screens, inbetween even areas of one big city, that was a little bit of a test of patience I guess.

 

I think I checked not too long ago how much those Commodore's were worth - and they weren't actually anywhere close to what I expected them to be. I think the games were actually, some of more pricey things.

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Haha, well hey it's impressive you have managed to get the online trophy at least and I think that's a PS3 game if I'm not mistaken? Yes Yakuza 3 has certainl got all your gaming attention, and its awesome when you get so into the groove with one game and just enjoy every facet of it and become really engrossed. Awesome. 

 

That's right - War in the North is a PS3 one - I thought I'd better knock that online trophy out whilst it's still available.

 

As you can see - Yakuza 3 ended up engrossing me far more than I expected it to, even if I didn't quite enjoy every single moment of it. It was an experience I won't forget in a hurry, so I think it's a positive thing in that respect.

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Yeah definitely, with having it free there is no reason not to give it a go really. It's a game you can play a lot of in one go if you really get into the groove with it. I backup my saves to the cloud every 5 races on that one, as once I left it too long on a shorter endurance one and due to finishing 6th in a race (you have to finish in the top 5 in that mode) I lost 16 races worth of progress. Learnt from that mistake haha.

 

Oh man - that's gotta be pretty gutting. Losing 16 races of progress...... That's evil!

 

You did get Horizon Chase Turbo put to bed though in the end, so it thankfully it didn't set you back too much! I'll definitely give Horizon a go at some point in the future I expect. Just got to find somewhere to fit it in amongst some fairly heavy hitters I'm planning to play.

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Yeah it's just pure Puyo Puyo normal gameplay and Fever mode gameplay. Can even have the Puyo's look like Sonic icons so obviously that's what I have haha. Damn though, winning 25+ games in a row sounds pretty tough. Bet you're a top player now though!

 

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine was fun to play back in the day. Dr. Mario too on the OG Game Boy. Classic simple games right there. Not played Tetris Attack but the OG Tetris, yes of cours. Classic personified.

 

I only really played Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on that Megadrive/Genesis collection that was released back on the PS3. But I rather enjoyed what I played of that one. I think I had Dr Mario on Gameboy too - I remember playing it on the SNES a lot - but I had one of those adapters that let you play GB games through the TV - which is how I used to like playing Pokemon back then, if I wasn't out and about.

 

I don't think I'd say I'm anywhere close to being a top player - but I reckon anyone that's done Puyo Puyo in Judgment would probably have an advantage going into Puyo Puyo Champions, so I might have to take a look at that one.

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Hey at least you got a good review for this thread out of Agents of Mayhem. (Best I could come up with lol)

 

Every cloud and all that haha!

 

On 17/01/2022 at 2:05 PM, The_Kopite said:

Yes, the True Ending. I will definitely get on to that! Got to remember the story first lol

 

Easy - Lightning Returns story is this - The World is ending - it's split into four areas that are all different. BYEEEEEE.

 

Well it's a bit more to it than that - but until I force myself to review it (or someone else does ,) I don't really want to give too much thought to that game to be perfectly honest haha.

 

On 18/01/2022 at 10:05 AM, YaManSmevz said:

I love that visual. Then Toad gets indignant and Bigby fakes him out like "WHAT, bitch?? You don't want none, now get your sorry ass to the farm!"

 

Why weren't we the ones making TellTale games? Some of them might be a lot less Vanilla if we injected stuff like that into them.... Actually back on The Wolf Among Us thing - you know when Tweedle Dee first appeared? First time I saw him I was sure it was just Toad with a glamour, if you think about it, they actually look pretty similar - that is what Toad would probably look like as a human!

 

On 18/01/2022 at 10:05 AM, YaManSmevz said:

I'll eventually get back to it myself.. but DrunkenEngineer and I were talking about it, and I acknowledged the possibility of getting the plat but then the online trophies beckoning

 

I hope you do, and more importantly have fun with it!

 

I hope I have fun with GTAV eventually when I go back to it too - I don't particularly like having fairly negative feelings about one game in a series that I really love - especially when it doesn't necessarily deserve it.

 

I also hope you enjoy going back to it if you do - you can actually get the platinum too, whereas I can't. So it's probably a little more of a boost, the prospect of having that tasty platinum on your list!

 

 

On 18/01/2022 at 10:05 AM, YaManSmevz said:

I still wonder if I want to implement that - it always felt more natural to me to just let the review speak for itself and not worry about giving out a rating, but I like that a lot of people do that, and as realm pointed out, it's helpful for readers. Me no know?‍♂️

 

That's pretty much where I'm at with it too - I like hat others do it too - but then I kind of have trouble quantifying my experiences with a game down to just being a number. So in the end I tend to think in the same way you mentioned to just "let the review speak for itself" if you can't tell if I did, or didn't like something from the wall of text I probably provided, I've probably done an incredibly bad job - but I guess number ratings it's something I could experiment with in the future if I fancy it. 

 

I guess I'd better go finish that Kiwami 2 review off. I've got a bit of catching up to do review wise - as I said I'd aim for three classic reviews a week as an aiming spot - so I might have to get busy writing next week, to cover some more ground!

Edited January 28, 2022 by rjkclarke

[Copanele]

Damn, I really wondered where did you go lately. Then I saw you replying to some status updates and I was "ok, he's definitely getting murdered by Yakuza 3". Guess I was right lol.

47 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

I'm going to have to summon @Copanele for this one - just in case you miss this post - but you know we both had a nightmare with the batting? You and I can both universally agree that it's a massive pile of septic severed Donkey genitals..... Right? Actually you don't have to agree with that part, this just pushed me a little too far. 

 

So to create each piece of modded gear and weaponry - it turns out that you actually have to basically get the completion requirement for the EX Hard Batting - FOUR times over, because you need the crafting materials you get as a reward. I can't even put into words how much my heart sank when I realised I had to do that, three more times. It doesn't really get easier - I still choked at the last few pitches from nerves plenty of times, this was an ordeal haha!

Reason why I NOPED hard from that 100% list is because I kinda knew what was coming. However I DID NOT even imagine that you had to do EX HARD BATTING FOUR TIMES for some shitty crafting materials. Holy crap that is nightmare x100.

I still firmly believe that batting is the shittiest minigame in the series (so far). I had no issue with cat fights, Mahjong was easy peasy, even the roulette without items was manageable. But batting? For christ sake WHY would you put something THIS ASS in the game.

 

I would say congratulations, but I will convert it into "Thoughts and prayers" because I can only imagine how much of a pain it was.

 

Now I am even more eager to see your reviews  

[DrBloodmoney]

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

......" It's been a while....... Hasn't it?"

Dude - what’s that Yakuza game been doing to ya? ?
 

I gotta admit, that the game left such a notable absence in your presence on these forums the last few weeks somehow says more about it than any text review ever could ?…

 

I’m getting the feeling that the TL;DR equivalent for the game could be summarised with a simple “Yakuza 3: before/after”…

 

[Copanele]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude - what’s that Yakuza game been doing to ya? 
 

I can vouch for it, that's what Yakuza does to anyone ?

[Grotz99]

I just gotta ask WHY? Why put yourself through that torture?

 

I just finished 4, but I thought the story in Yakuza 3 was pretty good, playing it on hard though was annoying more than challenging.

[YaManSmevz]

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

In the words of Solidus Snake (That is such a silly name, what were you thinking Kojima).....

 

......" It's been a while....... Hasn't it?"

 

My dude!!

 

I would start to wonder if all was well on occasion, but then I'd see on the PS4 that you were busy playing Yakuza 3 and then think "Oh, he's fine." You've been quite missed my friend, but rest assured we all understand!

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I really - and I mean REALLY, underestimated how long it would take to get the full 100% completion in this game.

 

Funny that no matter how long you play games, and how good a feel you can get for your own skill as well as the time required for certain games, the possibility of underestimating a game will never be an impossibility.

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Well then - now that I've finished the story, what are a few general impressions - did I like it? Yes, and no...... I didn't love it that's for sure, partly that's my fault for playing them in a weird order and knowing what happens over the course of the game.To tell you the truth though, the story is just a little bit lacking, I'm perfectly fine with low key storytelling, that can be done so well - it doesn't really suit Yakuza though. Imagine you're slow cooking a meal, but instead of leaving it in for most of a day, instead you leave it for a week - THIS, is how I felt about Yakuza 3's story.

 

Interesting! What order did you play them in?

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Then there's actually beating them. I do not say this lightly - Vallery Garrett on Hard mode - is literally the hardest fight in the game

 

I can only imagine the patience required! It's like the developers were brainstorming ways to kill the players' desire to achieve the hundo! Having to make it through RNG, and then two tough battles, to finally get to the real battle where you can't heal and can be quickly killed?? I can't imagine much worse than that.

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

The worst part? You have to fight him in a Tag Tournament too - this had me stumped for a mighty long time. The Partner A.I

 

Aw fuck, it got worse!

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I eventually won that fight with a sliver of health and what a tense adrenaline rush that was!

 

I believe it. Congrats dude, that sounds like a hell of an achievement!!

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

So to create each piece of modded gear and weaponry - it turns out that you actually have to basically get the completion requirement for the EX Hard Batting - FOUR times over, because you need the crafting materials you get as a reward. I can't even put into words how much my heart sank when I realised I had to do that, three more times. It doesn't really get easier - I still choked at the last few pitches from nerves plenty of times, this was an ordeal haha!

 

As I knew I'd be posting a screenshot of the stats in here at some point - I also decided to get Haruka's trust level up to S rank (you can go up to EX Rank) but you literally have to give 30 Million Yen to a homeless dude - for just a sliver of experience bar, and as it took me over one hundred hours to have 15 Million Yen, I didn't fancy whatever grind was involved to get 30 Million, so I thought I'd settle on an S, that looks way better than a D which is where it was.

 

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Why weren't we the ones making TellTale games? Some of them might be a lot less Vanilla if we injected stuff like that into them.... Actually back on The Wolf Among Us thing - you know when Tweedle Dee first appeared? First time I saw him I was sure it was just Toad with a glamour, if you think about it, they actually look pretty similar - that is what Toad would probably look like as a human!

 

See, this is why you should be writing video games. Hell, so should I!

 

....you know any good workshops?

 

Dude you'd think whoever makes the glamors would take one look at Toad and his son and be like "bro here just take them, you seriously need them more than I need the money, dear GOD." I will say, the moment it's revealed that theyre wearing glamors was a pretty dope moment, I did not see that coming.

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I hope I have fun with GTAV eventually when I go back to it too - I don't particularly like having fairly negative feelings about one game in a series that I really love - especially when it doesn't necessarily deserve it.

 

I also hope you enjoy going back to it if you do - you can actually get the platinum too, whereas I can't. So it's probably a little more of a boost, the prospect of having that tasty platinum on your list!

 

Oh you've got it on PS3, huh? Dang, one less potential partner if the online ends up ensnaring me after all.

 

I was going for the in game 100% because I've done that for the trilogy as well as IV (excluding online, of course!) and it seemed a shame to see that streak come to an end... but I got mixed up while doing the unique jumps and didn't keep track of which ones I'd done... that ended up being the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me!

 

8 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I guess I'd better go finish that Kiwami 2 review off. I've got a bit of catching up to do review wise - as I said I'd aim for three classic reviews a week as an aiming spot - so I might have to get busy writing next week, to cover some more ground!

 

Alriiiigghht?

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

Damn, I really wondered where did you go lately. Then I saw you replying to some status updates and I was "ok, he's definitely getting murdered by Yakuza 3". Guess I was right lol.

 

??? I had the same reaction, but you said it much better than me!

 

7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I’m getting the feeling that the TL;DR equivalent for the game could be summarised with a simple “Yakuza 3: before/after”…

 

 

Bro I pictured exactly that! Makes sense though - 'Bloodmoney' is actually Latin for "He who brings thoughts to life in video game forums." Which is interesting, as I'm pretty sure they didn't have video games then...

[rjkclarke]

14 hours ago, Copanele said:

Damn, I really wondered where did you go lately. Then I saw you replying to some status updates and I was "ok, he's definitely getting murdered by Yakuza 3". Guess I was right lol.

 

Murdered by Yakuza 3 was absolutely it yeah!

 

You know - I timed that really badly in hindsight, because I'd posted that thing only days before about probably having Covid - so I didn't really think going silent might have made people think I'd disappeared for an unfortunate reason.

 

14 hours ago, Copanele said:

Reason why I NOPED hard from that 100% list is because I kinda knew what was coming. However I DID NOT even imagine that you had to do EX HARD BATTING FOUR TIMES for some shitty crafting materials. Holy crap that is nightmare x100.

I still firmly believe that batting is the shittiest minigame in the series (so far). I had no issue with cat fights, Mahjong was easy peasy, even the roulette without items was manageable. But batting? For christ sake WHY would you put something THIS ASS in the game.

 

I would say congratulations, but I will convert it into "Thoughts and prayers" because I can only imagine how much of a pain it was.

 

I was so gutted when I found out I had to do the batting again - the worst thing is that it was literally the last thing I had to do for the 100%.

 

If you ever reinstall the game by the way you should go and check out the All Star Tournaments in Premium Adventure. You can actually fight Hamizaki despite the fact you never actually get to in the main game. You can also do a tag tournament where you team with Majima and you can hit some cool little dual heat actions together. Good Source of Yen too. I got 800,000 for winning one of the tournaments. 

 

I agree man!  Batting is the worst mini-game in the series. I don't think I actually like it in any of the games that it appears in. I don't even think 3 is the worst version of it. I firmly believe Yakuza 5 has the worst batting in the entire series. As I've said before Batting + Maths, and ridiculously fast pitches does not make for an enjoyable game mode, that made me almost give up on Yakuza 5, but I was already about 80 hours deep, and you can't really back out by then can you?

 

You did the smart thing and noped out I think! As much as I enjoyed seeing off Kiryu (for me at least) in style with a sweet 100%. It was definitely a test of my patience at times, but it feels worth it.

 

Saying that though. One of the things I really hated in Yakuza 3 was the Hostess dating mini-game. I don't really like that in any of the games, but at least you seem to be able to mash the buttons faster to get through the absolutely awful cringeworthy dialogue faster in the other games. This one just seemed to take forever. Seeing that little tiny Sausage Dog was funny, but that was the only highlight of the Hostess thing.

 

14 hours ago, Copanele said:

Now I am even more eager to see your reviews  

 

You might be in luck with one - after I've written this reply, I'll go and have another look over my Kiwami 2 review again for any mistakes (which I'm sure I'll still miss plenty, I always do ? haha) then I'll post that up. That turned out way long, so hopefully it won't bore you all senseless.

 

14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude - what’s that Yakuza game been doing to ya? 
 

I gotta admit, that the game left such a notable absence in your presence on these forums the last few weeks somehow says more about it than any text review ever could …

 

I don't know that it's an overwhelmingly good thing either that it did that - the reality is, once I actually get down to reviewing it, it's not going to be one of those reviews I'm absolutely waxing lyrical about how much I loved the game, I just know it isn't. There's too many glaring issues that you just can't ignore.

 

I loved what playing this last adventure (for me) with Kiryu meant to me, but the game itself is weirdly not one that I have a really strong feeling towards. That's going to sound weird I know, considering how much I played it and how much I did very much enjoy the experience that came along with it, it's a weird feeling that I haven't quite gotten my head around yet.

 

14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I’m getting the feeling that the TL;DR equivalent for the game could be summarised with a simple “Yakuza 3: before/after”…

 

 

Can I just post that for my Yakuza 3 review and be done with it?

 

It'd certainly save on time and effort that's for sure ?

 

That before and after  is scarily accurate as well.

 

10 hours ago, Grotz99 said:

I just gotta ask WHY? Why put yourself through that torture?

 

I just finished 4, but I thought the story in Yakuza 3 was pretty good, playing it on hard though was annoying more than challenging.

 

It's hard to say exactly why - I really love the series for one, so I wanted to get 100% in it even if I could have done far less and still get the platinum. My PS4 Screenshot of my 100% file will be the thing I expect I'll remember more fondly than the platinum when I think about this game further down the line.

 

Another reason is this was essentially my last adventure with Kiryu. As I'm not one for trophy stacking, I'm never going to go out of my way to re-platinum 4 and 5, so I thought, time to send my time with Kiryu off in style. I really enjoyed that element of approaching the game. To be perfectly honest, having something to focus on that wasn't trophy related was really refreshing too, so it all felt like time well spent. I just wish it was with an entry in the series that I liked more than I do.

 

I don't think Yakuza 3's story is bad per se - I just personally found it quite flat. There's some elements of it that I really, really liked. Then there's others where it slows to a crawl, or becomes so ridiculous in places, you think you've wandered into a place in Yakuza where the tone of the Substories has actually become the main focus.

 

I fully agree with hard mode being more annoying than challenging most of the time. Even on lower difficulties Kiryu does ridiculously low damage in this game and there's no really easy way to buff that, so when he does even less on hard and the enemies always block, but barely attack. It ends up being a weird mixture of making the enemies attack you by attacking them, Komaki Parrying them after, slipping behind them and comboing them to hell from behind.

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

My dude!!

 

I would start to wonder if all was well on occasion, but then I'd see on the PS4 that you were busy playing Yakuza 3 and then think "Oh, he's fine." You've been quite missed my friend, but rest assured we all understand!

 

I really appreciate that man!

 

I'll be honest, I didn't really think anyone would notice that I hadn't been posting. Like I mentioned a bit further above I probably picked a bad time to go radio silent considering I'd said that I'd probably had covid about two weeks back now.

 

The Yakuza games can be super absorbing if you let them, and unfortunately it looks like it's a trap that I fell into again this time.

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Funny that no matter how long you play games, and how good a feel you can get for your own skill as well as the time required for certain games, the possibility of underestimating a game will never be an impossibility.

 

That's so true, I thought it'd maybe take ten more hours than the platinum would, not close to fifty more haha! Which reminds me - I either fail the backlog challenge miserably, invent a Carl pill so I can stay awake indefinitely (unfortunately my brains already done that for me, it just can't function like that ?) or I start busting out those swaps pretty sharp-ish.

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Interesting! What order did you play them in?

 

A really bloody weird one..... So...... I don't ever think I've actually gone into the order on here, despite mentioning it plenty. So I'll do it now.

 

The order I played them was this.

 

Y1 (PS2)> Y2 (PS2)> Y5(PS3)> Y4 (PS3)> Y0(PS4)> Kiwami (PS4)> Y6 (PS4) > Kiwami 2 (PS4)> Y:Dead Souls (PS3)> Judgment (PS4) > Y3 (PS4)

 

I darted all over the timeline really - Yakuza 5 was the one that made me really fall in love with the series again, that and the fact it was another white whale platinum for a while - which is why it will probably always be my favourite one.

 

But playing 4 and 5 way before playing 3 was probably a big part of the reason 3 didn't quite resonate with me as much.

 

In a way I'm happy about doing it that way - Yakuza 6 still thankfully feels the same to me, which I worried it wouldn't as this is my final adventure with Kiryu, I was so worried about losing all of those complex emotions and feelings I had going into Yakuza 6, but I'm honestly so happy nothing about that changed.  But nope, faults and all, that still feels like Yakuza 6. That still feels like the end. 

 

To me at least Yakuza 3 was like buying a new version of a book you used to own, where a chapter had previously been completely ripped out, and you never quite understood what was there - and now I've been able to fill that missing chapter and experience the whole story of Kiryu as a playable character.

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

I can only imagine the patience required! It's like the developers were brainstorming ways to kill the players' desire to achieve the hundo! Having to make it through RNG, and then two tough battles, to finally get to the real battle where you can't heal and can be quickly killed?? I can't imagine much worse than that.

 

You know - I'd happily take twice as much of that, just so that I didn't have to do the Extra Hard Batting course almost perfectly an extra four times.

 

It is frustrating for sure - but in a way I found the actual pursuit of that really thrilling - it really sharpens up your fighting knowledge in the game y'know? You know that you're losing a lot of progress if you choke, so it makes it even more important to pay attention and keep focused and I really enjoyed that element of it, funnily enough.

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

See, this is why you should be writing video games. Hell, so should I!

 

....you know any good workshops?

 

Dude you'd think whoever makes the glamors would take one look at Toad and his son and be like "bro here just take them, you seriously need them more than I need the money, dear GOD." I will say, the moment it's revealed that theyre wearing glamors was a pretty dope moment, I did not see that coming.

 

Unfortunately I don't - we'll find a way , just repeatedly send pitch ideas around the way films get made and hope something comes of it.

 

That was a great moment - caught me off guard too - especially what Gren looked like, the dude that looked like a store brand version of John Leguizamo. Then you think about it for a moment, and then it all clicks that it's exactly why they're expected to use glamours. Toad and little TJ might look a bit freaky, but unless you're me they don't look immediately terrifying ?

 

5 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Oh you've got it on PS3, huh? Dang, one less potential partner if the online ends up ensnaring me after all.

 

I was going for the in game 100% because I've done that for the trilogy as well as IV (excluding online, of course!) and it seemed a shame to see that streak come to an end... but I got mixed up while doing the unique jumps and didn't keep track of which ones I'd done... that ended up being the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me!

 

Yep - I've got the PS3 version unfortunately - but I'm sure you and I can find something to buddy up with at some point in the future after we're done with RE5 though - if you and DrunkenEngineer end up going for The Last of Us I might be tempted to join in too. I owe it to myself to at least finish that game at some point I think - just to make sure I've not been horrifically misguided about dropping it completely all those years ago.

 

You're one up on me man! I never got that San Andreas hundo, I think. I guess I still could actually on the PS4 version - I'm pretty certain I did on GTAIV though.

 

Oh that sounds like a real arsepain - from what I remember of GTAV those stunt jumps were really finicky too - like they'd only register as complete if all four of your wheels hit the ground at the same time, and a specific spot. So I imagine having to do those from scratch might be a real pain!

 

I guess I'd better give the Kiwami 2 review a look over and then post it - sorry in advance to anyone for the fact it's pretty long, even for me.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by rjkclarke

[rjkclarke]

Classic Review

Platinum #206

Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4)

 

 

YAKUZA KIWAMI 2
Obtained all trophies.

 

A Few Trophy Stats

 

Platinum Earned - 17 February 2019 : 12:42:03 PM

Time Taken to Platinum :  1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days

Platinum Rarity  - 11.92%

Trophy Number - #10,606

 

It’s Yakuza time again! It’s time for Yakuza Kiwami 2 – a game which is very unlike its predecessor, yet in the best way possible. I’ll probably be referring back to some of the things I mentioned regarding remakes in the original Kiwami review, so if you want to re-read that I’ll leave a link here, but it isn’t a necessity. It just provides a little context for why exactly I think this game particularly excelled in a few areas – and its status as a remake is directly linked to that.

 

I’ll just say this now – I think this game is fantastic – I might consider Yakuza 0 to be the peak in quality of the series, but Kiwami 2 really does give it a run for its money. It also – due to the existence of the Majima Saga campaign – serves as both a brilliant remake and a beautifully fitting Epilogue to some  loosely dangling plot threads left flailing around from Yakuza 0.

 

For me – this was one of those rare games that come around occasionally, where all the time you’re playing it, you know the ending is in sight, yet you almost want to put it off for as long as possible, because it’s just been so much fun. These are the types of game that if you find that feeling, you should absolutely savour it, and never, ever forget how that game made you feel, as those kinds of experiences are the ones that really matter– yet I feel quite lucky in that I’ve  had quite a few of them whilst playing through this series.

 

In essence – for me at least, Yakuza Kiwami 2 felt as if I was playing an entirely new game – Okay, yes, it is technically an entirely new game, but what I mean is, that it felt new, even having played Yakuza 2 on the PS2. I must admit though – I never actually finished Yakuza 2 in its original PS2 incarnation. Yakuza 2 was my first of three – what I like to call, “black infinite loading screens of death.” A friend of mine also had this problem with Yakuza 2 on the PS2, so at least it wasn’t just isolated to my copy. 

I said first of three right? Not to dangle a really uninteresting carrot in front of you all, but those other two instances are a story for Yakuza Dead Souls and Yakuza 5, and they directly affected the whole platinum experience, so I’ll have to mention them.  They’re a mixture of funny and incredibly frustrating, so you’ll get to read them eventually.

 

As I alluded to in my review of Yakuza Kiwami – there is a certain artistic corner game developers are backed into with remakes. They tend to either be wholly faithful to the source material with scant improvements – or to quote Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” Kiwami 2, much like its predecessor does a little of both of those – at its core Yakuza Kiwami 2 is Yakuza 2, but with the plot slightly polished. At least that would be the case if Kiwami 2 didn’t include The Majima Saga. An entirely new strand of the plot – that as I previously mentions ties up some loose ends left hanging (to a lot of people’s dismay) at the end of Yakuza 0.

 

Yakuza’s story elements – for the most part, at least, often work best when they are fairly direct, they can be convoluted on occasion, sure, but I think as a general rule the better ones tend to be the ones with a simple through line. If a plot-twist exists, in any form of media it should never feel like a contrivance, it should feel like it was always an organic part of where the plot was eventually headed. You’ll often find thematic similarities – seriously, how much infighting and traitorous members can there be in the Tojo Clan (The Yakuza group Kiryu was previously affiliated with) across thirty years of game time? This will sound like hypocrisy when we get to Yakuza 5, which is why I opened with “for the most part,” that game's plot is anything but direct, or simple, but I think the way it tells its story is fascinating and I can’t wait to discuss that one in a little bit of spoiler free depth.

 

We’re here for Yakuza Kiwami 2 though, the battle of the dragons! The Dragon of  Dojima VS The Dragon of Kansai. Kiwami 2 sees a whole host of familiar faces return alongside plenty of memorable new ones. As Kiryu is once again embroiled in an astronomical mess that threatens to destroy the peaceful life he’s trying to build for himself and Haruka. Kiryu actually shares a fair few character traits with Michael Corleone across the first three instances of the Yakuza series, which is a nice little touch. He must fight to re-build the Tojo Clan, unravel the nefarious plot of The Jingweon Mafia – and explore Kiryu’s interactions with “The Yakuza Huntress” Kaoru Sayama (one of my favourite characters in the whole series).

 

I’m simplifying the plot of course – but it’s so much more than that, but I’d prefer you discover it for yourself instead of me telling you about it, I’ll cover some characters and leave the rest to you, if you so desire.

 

As is often the case in any good story, a great protagonist – also needs a great villain to oppose that protagonist. Kuze in Yakuza 0 was tremendous, and as with many quality antagonists you can somewhat understand his motivations. You don’t have to like them, nor should you, but that knowledge is part of what makes them compelling. Ryuji Goda (The Dragon of Kansai) is almost the perfect foil for Kiryu. Whilst, yes – you can absolutely argue, that the “Two sides of the same coin” plot device is perhaps a little played out – but when it’s done as well as it’s done  here, you can’t really use it as a criticism.

 

Ryuji is one of the best antagonists across the entire series – there are plenty of moments when you absolutely despise him, but the game does such a tremendous job of making you understand him, perhaps even to like him. He and Kiryu essentially live by their own code, whilst each characters personal moral code differs; they align in far more ways than I think either character would wish to admit. It’s that amazingly complex duality between the two that has always been absolutely fascinating to me.

I know you’ll be sick of hearing how much I love Japanese film-making in these Yakuza reviews – but the way they employed cinematography, to really emphasise that duality between the two is a detail that just saying “I loved” is underselling.  I will always have a slightly softer spot than most for Yakuza Dead Souls, purely because of the amazing wrinkles that game added to Ryuji’s character – it’s one of those where you almost wish it could be canon just so that Yakuza 2 wasn’t all we got from him in an official capacity.

 

For as much as I love Judgment as a spin-off series, and I do, I think it’s fantastic. You know what I’d love even more? A spin-off dedicated to Kaoru Sayama. I understand Haruka is the canon “first female protagonist” in the series. Hear me out for a minute though – a game solely based on Sayama could have been absolutely incredible. She’s a strong, independent female character, one that is instantly likeable – doesn’t stand for any nonsense from anyone, can hold her own in a fight – and already possesses the moniker “The Yakuza Huntress.” That one seems to write itself almost – Judgment has already proven that a story where the Yakuza themselves being on the periphery of the story, yet still important, can absolutely still be successful. I’d play that in a heartbeat. I’ve even got a few ideas where you could feasibly make a game based on her character in a post Yakuza 6 setting. There’s some really interesting potential stories to be explored with her character.

 

Whilst we’re still on the subject of story a little bit – let’s discuss The Majima Saga – probably the biggest addition to Yakuza Kiwami 2. I have to commend Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, for their ability to listen to criticisms and positively build upon them. For all the praise Yakuza 0 deservedly gets, one of the main criticisms thrown its way was several important plot threads that were left unresolved. Although the dangling plot threads relating to Majima in Yakuza 0 were a problem for some – I wasn’t one of them, I don’t always need everything wrapped up with a nice neat little bow.

 

I think personally, it’s one of those times where playing the games in release order might somewhat change your perspective, having played Yakuza 5 before Yakuza 0, I knew where Majima’s story was headed, and I already knew where he’d come from – there’s a bitter sweetness to that, it’s so effortlessly weaved into the plot of the whole series with the addition of Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2 which now adds such an incredible amount of depth to him as a character. I just can’t ignore how cleverly I think that bitter sweet element permeates even throughout this game.

Playing with the knowledge you have of some of the further revelations about his character that you only get from playing Yakuza 4 and 5, understanding the things he’s experienced, the life he’s lead up to the point of The Majima Saga – as well as his inability to never quite escape the clutches of Osaka, and just the Sotenbori area in general, despite how much he probably wants to. It’s one of the few times I think playing in release order doesn’t really positively or negatively affect it, it just ever-so-slightly changes the context.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Majima Saga as far as an additional piece of narrative goes – but unfortunately that’s around the time my enjoyment stopped with it. To be fair, there’s some added content like Street Bossess which I did end up completing to beef up the playtime, but Majima in this game, just isn’t that fun to play as in a combat situation. You’ll hear about this in a little more detail further in the review, but I’m not, and never have particularly been a fan of the Dragon Engine, at least not in any game that Kiryu appears in. Or at the very least I’m not a fan of parts of it. I think what it does for seamless gameplay transitions is brilliant, visual fidelity, and game performance – but combat? No, I think that’s dependent on the character you’re playing as. I think of the games on the Dragon Engine I’ve played, Yagami in Judgment is the only character that really fits how “floaty”, the dragon engine feels during combat.

 

Majima in Yakuza 0 plays exactly how Majima fights in the games – whereas Majima on the Dragon Engine plays like an oddly formed set of canned animations awkwardly grouped together, to look like Majima fights, but it doesn’t feel right, and in a game like this, feel is more important than you might think. You can combo as Majima, but it’s a very slow process, and for a character that is very much reliant on speed to both look and feel satisfying – Majima just felt slow, and I couldn’t get over how much I really didn’t enjoy controlling him. Mercifully though – his portion of story is only three chapters long and those three chapters are all fairly fleeting if the story is all you’re interested in (it’s the best part anyway,) as it’s all that’s required for the platinum anyway.

 

Here’s my dilemma – I love both the visuals and the sound design in Yakuza Kiwami 2. But I feel like every single Yakuza game I write reviews for I’m going to be saying that. The problem is, it’s true, I do love them, and they are exceptionally good in almost all areas. I’ll try and keep this brief, as I’ve mentioned before, you’re probably sick of hearing about how much I love these elements so I’ll try and keep these specific to just Kiwami 2.

 

If we’re talking just visuals alone – graphically Kiwami 2 looks amazing – for all the criticisms I have of the Dragon Engine on combat – character models, facial animations and both Kamurocho and Sotenbori , had never, ever looked this good up to this point. I do think the higher fidelity graphics do Kamurocho a little more harm than good, from a design standpoint. Kamurocho is supposed to look disgusting, seedy and dangerous; it’s literally based on a red-light district in Tokyo. It shouldn’t look as exciting or as inviting as it does. That’s one of those design choices that has always irked me a little in the more recent entries. I personally think Kamurocho looks at its best in Yakuza 4, dirty, grey disgusting, uninviting and a place where any sort of horrible fate could befall you at any moment. It really fits the dark undertones of that game.

 

Sotenbori, should look inviting though, an area that – although also not strictly a real place, in-universe it’s famed for its nightlife, so tonally the brighter colours suit it down to a tee.

A one-time location of Osaka castle is a real standout though – I won’t spoil what’s great about it though – it’d give you a splitting headache (there you go, anyone who’s played it will know what I mean,) You have to love that place though, it’s the only time in the entire series, where you can quite literally Tiger Drop a Tiger... You heard that right folks, you can counter parry punch a Tiger, yes, not a person named Tiger, either, one of those toothy, stripy four legged individuals.

 

I do believe there are a few artistic drawbacks though as far as character models go – Kiryu looks exactly like he does in Yakuza 6 despite being roughly ten years younger. It’s a problem that persists amongst almost every single returning character from Yakuza 6, they pretty much all have the same facial structure as they do in that game. It’s less noticeable on some than others – or isn’t even a problem in a character like Makoto Date’s (Kiryu’s long suffering Detective friend) case. Where it does become a problem though, is Haruka. I believe she’s supposed to be about eleven years old in this game – yet she has pretty much the same face she has in Yakuza 6, so seeing the face of an eighteen year old on an eleven year old girl’s body is really jarring – at least it was for me anyway. 

 

For every bit of criticism that I had about Yakuza Kiwami’s soundtrack – Kiwami 2’s has a much less disjointed feel to it. Stylistically much of it sounds similar, a good thing in this case, something I don’t think Kiwami’s quite managed. It’s a slight mix of industrial and electronic, with hints of ambience. It also has that perfect balance between absolutely thumping combat incidental music, to really rousing pieces that bring out some of the very best moments of the story. This goes for almost any game, you can almost always guarantee that a good OST will have certain tracks that will almost instantly take you back to how you thought and felt at the exact moment of playing it. As I always listen to OST’s of the games I’m reviewing as I’m writing the reviews, there were a few moments where I’d been transported straight back to certain story revelations or important moments.

 

It almost goes without saying that the voice acting is absolutely top quality. One thing that did cross my mind though, that I remember thinking as I played this almost three years ago. Is the constant feeling that I couldn’t quite shake the thought of whether the actors recorded their voice lines together or not, or whether it was done separately. That might not seem important, but Takaya Kuroda (Kiryu) and Aya Hisakawa (Kaoru Sayama) have a terrific amount of natural chemistry with one another. It’s an essential part of the game that the characters themselves would – but it’s hard to replicate that between actors that aren’t that familiar with one another. If they didn’t record the lines in close proximity to one another, then you absolutely can’t tell, and that is an absolute testament to the talent of the two of them.

 

Masami Iwasaki (Ryuji Goda) gives an exceptionally nuanced performance too. On the surface he has an incredibly deep and imposing voice – one that can be terrifying if he wants it to be, yet mournful and quiet in some of Goda’s more character centric moments. I actually think he gives a better performance in Yakuza Dead Souls,  but his performance in Kiwami 2 remains one of the most memorable things about the entire experience for me. I am even more excited to dive into Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise now after learning that he also voices Raoh in that game – that’s a role that he almost seems too perfect to do badly.

 

Time to have a glance at the gameplay I think – and much like I did with the original Kiwami review, I think I’m going to amalgamate the trophy focused portion, with the gameplay discussion. Much like in Kiwami one hundred percent completion is a requirement for attaining the platinum. So the gameplay and the trophies in this case go hand in hand.

 

I’m not going to go into explicit detail with every single Substory or mini-game here, just the ones that I think are particularly important or specific to this game – this review has taken probably far too much of your time already as it is. I’ve written four reviews in the Yakuza universe now, so I’m sure plenty of you have some idea of what to expect.

A small note on the Substories though – I think this game does a tremendous job of incentivising you to actually do them, even if you take trophies out of the equation, as you can get some of the best Hostesses and Employees for the Cabaret Club and Clan Creator mini-games as a result of some specific Substories.  

 

Do you want the good news or the bad news? You don’t get a choice actually, I’m afraid, it’s the bad. I find negativity difficult, so time to deal with that first. I won’t dwell on it too long, but hey let’s get through this so I can get back to sharing how much I love this game.

 

Kiryu, plus, combat, plus, the Dragon Engine is not a recipe for a particularly good time. This is my opinion at least. I’ll be honest here; I think this is a definite issue of preference more than it is a legitimate gameplay hindrance. Ignore for a moment the fact that Kiryu’s move set is completely different on this game engine (nothing wrong with that) it’s more an issue of how the weight distribution feels. Yakuza 3 through Kiwami are essentially on the same engine, I believe there was a slight rebuild between 4 and 5, but essentially they all feel the same. I must stress the word feel – that’s extremely important here, and is my main issue with Kiwami 2’s combat and any game with Kiryu made on the Dragon Engine, something just doesn’t feel right to me about the way he controls.

 

There’s a real weighty power behind his movement in those previous instalments.  Arguably a little rigid perhaps, yes, but for a character that fights with deliberate, heavy targeted strikes and kicks, an emphasis on no wasted motion if you will, that weight and rigidity really fits his character. In my mind at least in the earlier games specifically 5,0 and Kiwami  he feels more satisfying to control. When I reviewed Shadow of the Colossus I likened Wander’s movement to that of one of those animal balloons with feet on them, which mimic walking along the floor. Hackneyed analogy aside (come on, you had to expect at least one from me,) that’s how Kiryu feels on the Dragon Engine. Kiwami 2 is admittedly a vast improvement to how he felt in Yakuza 6. I can’t honestly think of a better adjective than “floaty”, that’s just how it feels. I could never say that the combat is bad in Kiwami 2, because it isn’t I just don’t particularly like it, and the fact I found myself avoiding it far more than diving into a fight just for fun, is a little bit of a shame really. 

 

Some small part of me thinks it’s a little bit of a necessary trade off though, in the pursuit of a slightly more visually appealing experience. Much as I might struggle with it – Heat actions (special finisher moves) are just outrageously more satisfying on the Dragon Engine. I found I had so much more fun with the combat once I unlocked the War God Talisman (Infinite Heat). Once that option is open to you you’re able to approach combat as a brutal finisher fest, so it isn’t all bad – and I think, it’s very much my own personal hang-ups getting in the way here. I want a punch to feel like a punch, not feel like blowing a Dandelion clock in someone’s face.

 

If you’re like me though and you struggle a bit with enjoying the combat – you’d better find a way to do so quickly, because one of the trophies requires beating every bouncer mission. You need twenty for the in-game completion but the trophy wants all of them, on every difficulty, which apparently in total are seventy-eight specific combat missions. You’re limited to one health bar on these, so better learn how the combat works, or learn to abuse the stagger mechanics of certain weapons – these are a nightmare, and are probably one of, if not ,the hardest thing you’ll encounter on your journey towards the platinum.

I just checked what the title of the last Bouncer mission was, and Pandemonium couldn’t have been a more apt title. This mission essentially forces you to fight one hundred enemies, then all three versions of Amon (Yakuza’s Hidden Super Boss fight) all with one bar of health, and no healing items or checkpoints on the hardest difficulty. I don’t think   they could have found a better word to describe that, than Pandemonium.

 

Yakuza Kiwami 2 brings back the Cabaret Club Grand Prix mini-game from Yakuza 0 – a welcome return too for a mini-game that has absolutely no business being as enjoyable as it is, it just is, trust me. I absolutely love how well it organically ties into the events of Yakuza 0 as well – it’s another example of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio doing such a marvellous  job of building such an organic feeling universe that all of these games exist within. It is the same mini-game from 0, so if you don’t know what it is, as much as I don’t want to do the whole “here’s your homework thing,” I cover it in more detail in that review, so for as good as the mini-game is, it’s very much the same thing, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

 

If you’re planning to play the series chronologically – then Kiwami 2 will be your first exposure to the Clan Creator mini-game. Making its first appearance in Yakuza 6, it is essentially Yakuza’s answer to a simplified RTS game. Essentially this is a top down bespoke  strategic battle system, where you send your own amassed forces of Majima Construction into battle defending the Kamurocho Hills construction site against a group of real estate magnates.

Not just any real estate magnates either. If you’re a wrestling fan – then you’ll almost certainly recognise some of the names and faces of the magnates and underlings that they employ, as they are all famous faces from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Having a little side story that features The Great Muta, and Masahiro Chono (His wrestling finisher was literally called the Yakuza Kick too,) is a really nice little wrinkle that the game has. It’s always interesting to see the way Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio implements real world brands and people into its universe, sometimes it works better than others, but I can always appreciate the effort.

 

Now – here’s the thing, I’ll give you a little forewarning – my enjoyment of this specific mini-game might have been enhanced by the fact I’m a wrestling fan, so a little personal bias might be creeping in – for as good as this mini-game is, it is just that, a small condensed game. So by its very nature as a mini-game it’s not all that complex or deep, it isn’t reinventing the wheel as far as Real Time Strategy goes, but it’s also not overly complex, and I think is very accessible to newcomers of that genre.

 

That being said – as a game within a game, it is pretty impressive – my advice to anyone that hasn’t played this game is to space out how much of it you play, because it’s one of those situations where there’s not a whole lot of point to varying your strategy, you’ll find one team of fighters that will practically work for you every time, so once you do that it does lose a little of its lustre.

I implore you to at least one time put Patriarch Gondawara on a team though. Even if you haven’t played a Yakuza game, you’ve probably seen a screenshot of all the big beefy Yakuza chaps all standing around in nappies, he’s the leader of them so it’s at least quite a funny sight.  

 

I understand difficulty is subjective – but I think this has one of, if not the easiest version of Legend Mode (the hardest difficulty). In Kiwami 2 you can essentially save wherever you like, and carry over your stats from the normal playthrough which takes a huge amount of the pressure off. Not only that – but this game doesn’t really have any sticky situations to speak of either, where you’re liable to lose an egregious amount of progress. To put this into a little context – I remember the day I got the platinum in this; I’d been up the entire night playing Resident Evil 6 with one of my friends. We finished it, and then I did the entire playthrough of this game on Legend with no sleep in one sitting. I did die a fair few times, but as you can save wherever you like, unlike the earlier titles, that’s less of a problem. I guess there’s always the Bouncer missions if you want the game to just throw all its difficulty at you at once, so in a way I’m glad I ended this absolutely awesome game in a fairly relaxed way.

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record – yes, of course I recommend this one. That was a given I think. It’s patently obvious by now that I love this series, but this is, even without my own feelings coming into the equation a hell of a good remake, and a spectacular game in its own right. It is, much like Yakuza 0 a pretty genre defying game. Despite the fact I never played all of Yakuza 2 back on the PS2 (through no fault of my own) I’ve seen the cutscenes and it really is a remarkable job. 

 

Much like Yakuza Kiwami is the true version of the original game, Kiwami 2 is now the true version of Yakuza 2. I don’t want to say that the series overall quality goes off a cliff after this point, it doesn’t – however, they do go in some fairly experimental directions that both work and don’t work in almost equal measure.

 

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So, whilst future Yakuza reviews probably won’t be quite so glowing (apart from Yakuza 5,) I think they’ll be interesting to write about, something I'm very much looking forward to and hopefully not too much of a chore to read. After Yakuza 3 though I don't think I'll be touching any Yakuza reviews for a little while. 

 

It’s been a fun one revisiting this one, even if it did go offensively long, apologies for that. I do get carried away sometimes.

Edited January 29, 2022 by rjkclarke

[The_Kopite]

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Haha! Yes - those old load times are probably half the reason I never complain too much about load times all that much. 10 minutes is still a hell of a lot though - I remember Summoner on the PS2 (a game that's way better on PC, because of quicker loading times) that game had five minute loading screens, inbetween even areas of one big city, that was a little bit of a test of patience I guess.

 

I think I checked not too long ago how much those Commodore's were worth - and they weren't actually anywhere close to what I expected them to be. I think the games were actually, some of more pricey things.

Firstly, it's nice to see you back posting here again! 

 

My wife has The Summoner somewhere, she always liked that game but I never got around to trying it but wow didn't realise about those load times!

 

That's surprising news about the Commodore, though yeah sometimes retro games can be as expensive if not more than the console it was made for!

 

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

That's right - War in the North is a PS3 one - I thought I'd better knock that online trophy out whilst it's still available.

 

As you can see - Yakuza 3 ended up engrossing me far more than I expected it to, even if I didn't quite enjoy every single moment of it. It was an experience I won't forget in a hurry, so I think it's a positive thing in that respect.

Yes absolutely. Got to knock off those pesky online trophies before they start closing servers or there's like noone playing anymore.

 

Well from what I've seen and the time between your posts here, yes you were definitely engrossed in it. Glad it was positive overall ? What is the game you'd say you've been the most engrossed in btw?

 

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I only really played Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on that Megadrive/Genesis collection that was released back on the PS3. But I rather enjoyed what I played of that one. I think I had Dr Mario on Gameboy too - I remember playing it on the SNES a lot - but I had one of those adapters that let you play GB games through the TV - which is how I used to like playing Pokemon back then, if I wasn't out and about.

 

I don't think I'd say I'm anywhere close to being a top player - but I reckon anyone that's done Puyo Puyo in Judgment would probably have an advantage going into Puyo Puyo Champions, so I might have to take a look at that one.

 

I never had a SNES so obviously never had a Super Game Boy, but yeah must have been really cool back in the day to be able to play Game Boy games on the TV. That would have taken Pokemon Blue to a whole new level for me! Dr Robotnik's MBM is fun definitely. Dr Mario too.

 

Wel I'm almost done with Puyo Puyo Champions, got a few puyos to pop for 100,000 total trophy and then there's the Prismatic Popper 4 trophy. That is a tough one but I'll get it eventually. Sadly for the 100,000 total puyos popped trophy, I had to implement an AFK method as it is a massive grind. If I was writing a trophy guide for it, the grind tag for that trophy would be the first thing I'd do lol

 

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

Easy - Lightning Returns story is this - The World is ending - it's split into four areas that are all different. BYEEEEEE.

 

Well it's a bit more to it than that - but until I force myself to review it (or someone else does ,) I don't really want to give too much thought to that game to be perfectly honest haha.

Wow, well there you go then. Don't need to watch the ending anymore lol jokes

 

That could be a new thing for you - summarise the ending to a game in one sentence.

 

 

[Shrooba]

Well done on the Yakuza completions man! Going above and beyond the trophies is commendable indeed. There's always so many games to play, and more often then not I usually move on to the next, but there's always a game here and there that you absolutely love, and you're compelled to do everything there is no matter how insurmountable it may seem. I feel like this is what makes the essence of a game; to challenge you, to relax you, to destress you, to stress you... It's a whole mix of different things. There's people who play games for stories, for adventures, to excel and beat a hard goal-- when you set out to do everything however, then you're really getting everything there is to see and absorbing that all in.

With the Yakuza series especially, there's a whole lot of that going on; there's story, there's challenge. It can destress you but also stress you, and you get the feel for all of that, and you really submerge yourself in the intricacies of the series when you get to engage with everything it has in store.
I look to some trophy lists like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart where the plat doesn't require you to achieve full completion, but I wish games would push for that since it lets you experience everything. In your case though, you went beyond trophies. If anything, experiencing everything beyond the trophy list will allow you to get more in-depth with other Yakuza reviews too, which is good! ? Heck, you were even able to pick apart the slight differences of combat with the different game engines!
 

[Copanele]

Dear god that was one hell of a read  I had to actually sit down for this one, you outdid yourself with the Kiwami 2 review  

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

I’ll just say this now – I think this game is fantastic – I might consider Yakuza 0 to be the peak in quality of the series, but Kiwami 2 really does give it a run for its money. It also – due to the existence of the Majima Saga campaign – serves as both a brilliant remake and a beautifully fitting Epilogue to some  loosely dangling plot threads left flailing around from Yakuza 0.

Honestly, Majima Saga is why I regard Kiwami 2 so high. I mean sure, Kiryu and the entire cast is cool but...Majima's Epilogue from Yakuza 0 ?. Majima is the best!

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

We’re here for Yakuza Kiwami 2 though, the battle of the dragons! The Dragon of  Dojima VS The Dragon of Kansai. Kiwami 2 sees a whole host of familiar faces return alongside plenty of memorable new ones. As Kiryu is once again embroiled in an astronomical mess that threatens to destroy the peaceful life he’s trying to build for himself and Haruka. Kiryu actually shares a fair few character traits with Michael Corleone across the first three instances of the Yakuza series, which is a nice little touch. He must fight to re-build the Tojo Clan, unravel the nefarious plot of The Jingweon Mafia – and explore Kiryu’s interactions with “The Yakuza Huntress” Kaoru Sayama (one of my favourite characters in the whole series).

 

Yep I have to agree here. Kaoru Sayama was one of my most favorite characters so far. 

Which makes me wonder - why didn't the devs/producers explore more in-depth their relationship in the next games? (Yakuza 3 beginning especially... ). Not sure what she does in Y4-5-6-7 yet, soooooo... I'll see (to avoid further spoilers  )

 

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

As is often the case in any good story, a great protagonist – also needs a great villain to oppose that protagonist. Kuze in Yakuza 0 was tremendous, and as with many quality antagonists you can somewhat understand his motivations. You don’t have to like them, nor should you, but that knowledge is part of what makes them compelling. Ryuji Goda (The Dragon of Kansai) is almost the perfect foil for Kiryu. Whilst, yes – you can absolutely argue, that the “Two sides of the same coin” plot device is perhaps a little played out – but when it’s done as well as it’s done  here, you can’t really use it as a criticism.

 

Ryuji is one of the best antagonists across the entire series – there are plenty of moments when you absolutely despise him, but the game does such a tremendous job of making you understand him, perhaps even to like him. He and Kiryu essentially live by their own code, whilst each characters personal moral code differs; they align in far more ways than I think either character would wish to admit. It’s that amazingly complex duality between the two that has always been absolutely fascinating to me.

I know you’ll be sick of hearing how much I love Japanese film-making in these Yakuza reviews – but the way they employed cinematography, to really emphasise that duality between the two is a detail that just saying “I loved” is underselling.  I will always have a slightly softer spot than most for Yakuza Dead Souls, purely because of the amazing wrinkles that game added to Ryuji’s character – it’s one of those where you almost wish it could be canon just so that Yakuza 2 wasn’t all we got from him in an official capacity.

 

So here's a thing, which Yakuza fans will disagree mostly. Ryuji Goda is an amazing villain and an antithesis to Kiryu, that much is certain. I absolutely loved duking it out with him, punch after punch (although let's be honest, I Tiger Dropped his ass big time).

BUT he doesn't reach the highs of Yakuza 0.

 

I don't know, I felt that Kuze and Awano had much more of a presence than Ryuji. Somehow  they were more...imposing, more threatening, more Yakuza-ish. Maybe it's me, but I felt the looming threat was bigger from their side.

That and maybe I had the feeling of "omg what will Kiryu do, he's only 20ish". In Kiwami 2 Kiryu is already a murder machine who beat waves after waves of yakuzas  

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

For as much as I love Judgment as a spin-off series, and I do, I think it’s fantastic. You know what I’d love even more? A spin-off dedicated to Kaoru Sayama. I understand Haruka is the canon “first female protagonist” in the series. Hear me out for a minute though – a game solely based on Sayama could have been absolutely incredible. She’s a strong, independent female character, one that is instantly likeable – doesn’t stand for any nonsense from anyone, can hold her own in a fight – and already possesses the moniker “The Yakuza Huntress.” That one seems to write itself almost – Judgment has already proven that a story where the Yakuza themselves being on the periphery of the story, yet still important, can absolutely still be successful. I’d play that in a heartbeat. I’ve even got a few ideas where you could feasibly make a game based on her character in a post Yakuza 6 setting. There’s some really interesting potential stories to be explored with her character.

 

That's what I would like also  she got the skill, sass and the combos. 

16 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 -- the Dragon engine bit --

As fun as the Dragon Engine is, I think I prefer the original combat. Because, as you said, there is some weight behind Kiryu's punches. In Dragon Engine I felt I was poking the enemies (minus Tiger Drops, that is just as impactful). Spinning an enemy and hitting others with that enemy is fun, true, but nothing would replace the "oomph" of that combo where Kiryu just punches 3 times, slams the poor goon into the ground then grabs his neck and smashes his face in. 

 

However I heard that indeed Judgment has a way better Dragon Engine iteration. Can't wait to try that one!

 

There's so much more to mention about Kiwami 2, but I will stop here because I would just re-repeat your review  

Well done, this truly is a wonderful series, can't wait to see you write for Yakuza 3 . And yeah, a break is in order after that one.

 

Also screw Cabaret in Yakuza 3, that thing sucks!