DrBloodmoney Posted September 18, 2021 Author Share Posted September 18, 2021 (edited) 41 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Bit harsh don't you think .... If not a little too accurate haha. Sometimes they leave the window open for us so we don't overheat - and occasionally they even leave a nice trough for us to drink out of and mix our rusks in! FOLEY ARTISTS FOR JUSTICE haha! They totally don't play this to us on a loop either Haha - I didn't mean to use a broad brush like that - but those DVDs - for whatever reason - really did make those guys seem like the mole-people living under the film-set ? Quote Congratulations on that hitman trilogy review. That was fantastic, as these quite often are. As a fellow Hitman enthusiast from all the way back to Silent Assassin myself, I think you did a wonderful job of getting across how much the series has mechanically evolved. It's almost staggering to think about. It's good to see someone that likes Haven Island, I'm not the biggest lover myself, but I can respect why you like it, I also like what it adds to the narrative for what it's worth. I just wish it was less flat.......Well flat and the fact that you have to see that gross man naked, that's something I don't look forward to seeing with PS5 graphics. I actually totally know what you mean about Haven - there is a slight reduction in viability of some play styles with that one - in the same way there was with Colorado and Santa Fortuna - it really has to be treated as 3 distinct maps, and there isn't much use for long range tactics like snipers and such, but I really dug the level after a while. It's got the touristy-public thing that Sapienza had, (and actually, Bangkok could have had, if they hadn't made that one more about playing in the inner-workings and 'back-stage' areas of the hotel), but it also has three quite distinct targets, and unlike Colorado, there are quite a few different methods of getting different combinations to interact - with the kicker being the underground meet-up, which is a little like the Mumbai mission thing. Quote Great - now I've got to fight the urge even harder not to pick up a PS5 if I can, that's the only thing holding me back from playing Hitman 3 is the fact I know there's a superior version I should be playing instead. Nice to see Hitman 3 on the top of the mountain though - it seems doubtful that will get dethroned any time soon, but who knows. I'll tell you - I ended up playing all of Hitman 3 on PS4 (as I didn't have a PS5 yet,) and after upgrading to the PS5 one, I have to say, aside from load times, I really didn't see much difference. It ran very well on PS4 (actually PS4 Pro - so the big set-up - the HDR - I had already.) In all honesty, having played both versions now, I really don't think it's a game that requires the upgrade. Sure, the PS5 is better,but it is very marginal - that's not casting shade on the PS5 version - it's just complimenting the PS4 one! Quote Very enjoyable read on God of War as well - that version of Kratos is such a fanny, well in actual fact he's the other word for that, the one that gets censored on here. Yep - he's a massive one of those...... A big bald stupid expletive. Yet as you pointed out, it doesn't stop those games being incredibly fun to play. I've personally yet to touch the latest one, but I'm curious to see what nuance they add to Kratos as a character, from what some of my friends have told me, people have more or less overblown that aspect of the new one anyway. But I guess I'll have to find that out for myself. It's interesting what they do in the new God of War - they really do address the tonal difference - and the lack of Kratos' dimensionailty in the early games - by having him be basically ashamed of how singular he was in his own quest for vengeance. The character himself sees his past self as a 'one-dimensional character,' so it basically allows the writers to address the tonal shift within the fiction. It's a smart idea, and one they do remarkably well. Quote I'm pretty gutted to read that about Jedi Fallen Order. Looks like I'll stick to having Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy installed on my console if I want a satisfying Star Wars experience. Ugh. You know - going in, I was worried that if it was great, it might end up costing me money - in that I thought it might end up making me want to see all those recent movies... ...in the end, I think it somehow made me even less interested ? Quote I very much enjoyed your take on Life is Strange as well. I don;t want to say anything too much in case I tread too much into spoiler territory, but I very much enjoyed reading that. Out of curiosity, what about that game reminded you of Fish Tank? Assuming we aren't both thinking of a different Fish Tank. I'm thinking of the Michael Fassbender/ Katie Jarvis one. Yeah - that's the one! Man, it's been a while since I saw that movie, so take it with a grain of salt, I guess, but I saw some part of Katie Jarvis' character in both Max (her feeling outsider in her own life) and in Chloe's facade - and (setting aside the actual culmination of the two stories) there is a bit of the same slightly queasy, not-quite-right-ness of her early relationship with Fassbender that reminded me of the dynamic with the photography teacher (though obviously, that goes to a wild place in the final episode of LiS, that is very different!) Edited September 18, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted September 18, 2021 Share Posted September 18, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Haha - I didn't mean to use a broad brush like that - but those DVDs - for whatever reason - really did make those guys seem like the mole-people living under the film-set ? Mole people is so accurate ?....My theory is people can't look you in the eye once they've seen you punching piles of meat, or squelching your hands in mixtures of cold cuts, milk and other disgusting things. So they send you to go live underground until you're needed again. Once they need you to go record noises of foxes in the woods in the middle of the night - then and only then might you get a sideways glance haha. 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I actually totally know what you mean about Haven - there is a slight reduction in viability of some play styles with that one - in the same way there was with Colorado and Santa Fortuna - it really has to be treated as 3 distinct maps, and there isn't much use for long range tactics like snipers and such, but I really dug the level after a while. It's got the touristy-public thing that Sapienza had, (and actually, Bangkok could have had, if they hadn't made that one more about playing in the inner-workings and 'back-stage' areas of the hotel), but it also has three quite distinct targets, and unlike Colorado, there are quite a few different methods of getting different combinations to interact - with the kicker being the underground meet-up, which is a little like the Mumbai mission thing. That's a great point about Haven. That's ironic about Haven not being that useful for Sniper tactics either, because there is a huge tower in the middle of the map, that would play into it quite nicely. The problem is the targets don't really line up with a quick kill that way. They all come into vantage point at some point, but none of them really in a satisfying way. I'm sure you can see like the smallest part of Ljudmila, it's a small gripe I know - but if you're sniping you usually want to tag them in the head right? I got a real kick out of the underground bit in Haven island actually - made me think of Sapienza, which is still my favourite level across the two games I've played in the world of tomorrow trilogy. So much more of Hitman (2016) I remember more vividly. I guess as a result of playing it through multiple times. I've got an odd relationship with Colorado.It reminds me of one of the levels from Absolution - the one where you have to take out all the nuns, and I much preferred the brief taste of freedom that you were afforded in Absolution. I think the few levels that are a bit more sandboxy are for the most part quite good. I just wish Colorado gave you as much freedom, it has it sure, but I wish it had more. I always seemed to kill the Michael Myers looking guy in the shed and nowhere else, because it always seemed the most viable place to do it. It's a funny one that's for sure. I haven't got a PS4 Pro - so I'd be stuck with regular old Potato Mode 47. Which is fine I guess. I'll definitely consider picking it up on PS4 though in that case, if it's not all that much of a graphical leap. 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: t's interesting what they do in the new God of War - they really do address the tonal difference - and the lack of Kratos' dimensionailty in the early games - by having him be basically ashamed of how singular he was in his own quest for vengeance. The character himself sees his past self as a 'one-dimensional character,' so it basically allows the writers to address the tonal shift within the fiction. It's a smart idea, and one they do remarkably well. That's not what I expected at all - if only some of my friends had sold it like that. That's a very clever way of doing it. All I'd been told was that people overrate how much more depth Kratos has in that game. But in reality, any addition is pretty much like the progression from swimming a length in a swimming pool to swimming from Dover to Calais. Thanks for spelling it out like that though, I'm a little more inclined to bump that up the list of things to get around to. I was getting my war paint ready when you started comparing God of War to Tomb Raider: Legend - but it's okay, it quickly went back in the box ? 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Ugh. You know - going in, I was worried that if it was great, it might end up costing me money - in that I thought it might end up making me want to see all those recent movies... ...in the end, I think it somehow made me even less interested ? The problem is, I feel like I'm going to have a similar time with it when I eventually get around to playing it. More often than not it seems you and I tend to have fairly similar opinions in some areas, and some of the things you brought up regarding Fallen Order I know I'd find equally infuriating. There's no way I could be an apologist for it either. I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan, but I tend to fall on the side of if something is very obviously bad, or wastes it's potential that tends to annoy me more than it does make me inclined to make excuses for it. So that really is a shame to hear that about Fallen Order. 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Yeah - that's the one! Man, it's been a while since I saw that movie, so take it with a grain of salt, I guess, but I saw some part of Katie Jarvis' character in both Max (her feeling outsider in her own life) and in Chloe's facade - and (setting aside the actual culmination of the two stories) there is a bit of the same slightly queasy, not-quite-right-ness of her early relationship with Fassbender that reminded me of the dynamic with the photography teacher (though obviously, that goes to a wild place in the final episode of LiS, that is very different!) That makes sense..... There was me sitting there thinking I don't recall Max or Chloe almost using a child like a Frisbee. I definitely see what you mean about the relationship with the photography teacher, being similar to the Fassbender one in Fish Tank. My LiS knowledge is probably a little patchy at this point to be honest, I don't think I've played the first one since the last episode released. So it's been a good while now. I could understand almost all of the other indie references you made, that one puzzled me a bit ?. I haven't seen that film for a hot minute myself either, it was on Amazon Prime a while ago, I don't know if it still is. Although be prepared for Bobby Womack's version of California Dreaming to absolutely get stuck in your head. Edited September 18, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted September 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 22, 2021 (edited) !!SCIENCE UPDATE!! The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Ether OneGod of War II Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of MysteryPersona 4: Dancing All Night Subject(s) in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT [Care of @Eagle , @Shrooba & @GonzoWARgasm Can newly crowned 'Current Most Awesome' game, Hitman 3, maintain the title? Is sewage-outflow Space Overlords going to be 'Least Awesome Game' forever and ever? Let's find out, Science Chums! Edited September 22, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 (edited) 14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Doc............ I'm glad to see this one on here...... I was actually going to request that from you at some point - just because I wanted to hear your opinion on those two - even though I already know you're fond of them, I wanted to hear it in more detail. Not that I need convincing to play a Lara Croft game with you know who (no not Voldemort, I've written about that guy far too much lately) as Lara. So I'm very much looking forward to reading that. Also pretty pumped to read about the Adventures of Ashen Faced Angry Fanny in a Loin Cloth II - Electric Boogaloo... Edited September 22, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted September 23, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 23, 2021 UPDATE - due to some work commitments, family life, and my apparently suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism, it is likely to take a little longer for this batch. apologies 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 43 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: UPDATE - due to some work commitments, family life, and my apparently suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism, it is likely to take a little longer for this batch. We've all been there goddamn lack of inspiration! As long as you don't end up like George R.R. Martin, take all the creative time you need (and work lol) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 58 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism I don't believe you are even remotely capable of this man! We're all our own worst critics though right? You've been putting out such incredibly high quality content consistently for a while now. I mean - I struggle to get even three MUCH less high quality pieces out a week, so the fact that you manage five plus on a pretty much weekly basis, is so impressive. Still - take care of yourself mate.... You're doing the absolutely smart thing and not losing sight of what's important. We'll all be here when you get the next batch out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said: suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism Ahhhh - I've suffered from this myself. For about 27 years. Jokes aside, just take your time brother. Quality content is something everyone is happy to wait for, and something you ALWAYS deliver. Look after yourself dude! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 I can't believe I'm just now reading this thread. I love how you've set up the OP so I can pop around and find games I'm interested in! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 15 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: I can't believe I'm just now reading this thread. I love how you've set up the OP so I can pop around and find games I'm interested in! Thank you mate - appreciate that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 On 9/23/2021 at 0:38 AM, DrBloodmoney said: UPDATE - due to some work commitments, family life, and my apparently suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism, it is likely to take a little longer for this batch. Writinglikeshitism? That's my disorder!! I'd like to throw my own assurances onto the pile - you've got a lot of hard-earned respect around here, and it's not just your top-tier writing, you're also a generally pleasant and deservedly well-liked person. I must admit to agreeing with rjkclarke that the idea of you having difficulty writing is a baffling one, you make it seem so effortless, but I suppose we are all human at the end of the day. Real life, particularly family, always comes first. Maybe once things don't feel so much like they're piling on you, the writing will come more naturally again. But first things first! As everybody else said, look after yourself, and take care of what you've got to take care of. Ain't nobody goin anywhere! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrooba Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 On 23/09/2021 at 5:08 PM, DrBloodmoney said: UPDATE - due to some work commitments, family life, and my apparently suffering a tremendous bout of writinglikeshitism, it is likely to take a little longer for this batch. apologies All good man! I've been a bit busy as well so I can relate! ? Take the time you need; if you end up writing out of obligation rather than passion, you'll be burned out and we cannot let scientific progress be marred! As @YaManSmevz summarized pretty much perfectly; real life and family come first. That's the ol' adage to live by! And as he also said, we ain't running anywhere! Take care man, and we'll see your future writings whenever you're ready for 'em! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoesusHCrust Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Man, I pity you having to play through 'Jedi: Fallen Order' as a Star Wars agnostic. I absolutely love Star Wars so can tolerate pretty much any shite if it has a Star Wars veneer but this game was exceptionally bland. I don't usually spend more than a fiver on a game but I decided to splash out for this game as a special treat as it was going to be my 100th platinum. Bad call! I've already used the word 'bland' above so typed 'bland synonym' into Google. Google suggested: Uninteresting, dull, boring, monotonous, tedious, unimaginative, uninspiring, insipid, stale, flat, vapid, mediocre and nondescript. You could have saved yourself a few hour's work and got Google to write the review for you Doc! Would you agree the above almost perfectly describes the game? I actually found the post- game collectathon to be amongst the most enjoyable aspects of the game. I found a fantastic series of collectible guides on Youtube produced by a fellow Taff so found the brainless job of going methodically through each planet collecting all the collectibles whilst listening to the wenglish accent of my compatriot relaxing, if not outright enjoyable. I've played many far worse games but at least 'Albedo: Eyes from outer space' or 'Little Adventure on the Prairie' are so bad that they elicit some sort of emotional response from the player. This game couldn't even do bad well. If anyone's thinking of getting this game, play it, or don't play it. You'll have forgotten it existed 10 minutes after popping the platinum and deleting it from your system. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 28, 2021 Author Share Posted September 28, 2021 13 hours ago, JoesusHCrust said: I actually found the post- game collectathon to be amongst the most enjoyable aspects of the game. I found a fantastic series of collectible guides on Youtube produced by a fellow Taff so found the brainless job of going methodically through each planet collecting all the collectibles whilst listening to the wenglish accent of my compatriot relaxing, if not outright enjoyable. [...] If anyone's thinking of getting this game, play it, or don't play it. You'll have forgotten it existed 10 minutes after popping the platinum and deleting it from your system. ? Trust me - my not using a guide for those collectibles until the very, very end, and trying to rely on the in game counters and percentages meant Jedi will not be one I forget 10 minutes after popping the platinum - that game is going to live in infamy in my mind for a long ass time ?l? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoesusHCrust Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said: not using a guide for those collectibles until the very, very end, and trying to rely on the in game counters and percentages Oof! Man! There are hundreds of collectibles in all sorts of weird nooks and crannies and the in-game percentage counters are not really tied to the collectibles you need for the 100%. That must have been awful. No wonder you're still traumatised!! Do you generally try to avoid using collectible guides or was that just a one off for this game? Edited September 28, 2021 by JoesusHCrust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted September 28, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 28, 2021 (edited) 12 minutes ago, JoesusHCrust said: Do you generally try to avoid using collectible guides or was that just a one off for this game? Eh... I'm not totalitarian about it - I tend to play it by ear, but will try to stick to only using them as a last resort - it's just a personal thing, I really find following a guide to be more mentally taxing than just hunting myself. I take no issue with people using them, and I'll happily use a collectible guide if the game has no in-game tracking at all, or if it feels virtually impossible without (or, my pet hate, if there is no chapter select and they are missable!) but I do try and stick to only using one a second time through, as I actually do quite enjoy the process of finding them, and I really dislike going through a game for the first time with a collectibles guide - that is a surefire way to turn a fun game into a chore! I'm a big fan of games putting collectible tracking in their maps, or in their chapter select menus (like TLOU does) - and an even bigger fan of the way Far Cry does it - letting you miss some, and having the collectible trophies be for less than 100% of the total, as that takes away any need for guides. Of course Jedi commits the cardinal sin though - it has tracking, but it is not competent, and leaves off some required collectibles - that is unforgivable, as shitty collectible tracking it is worse than no tracking at all, since it lulls you into a false sense of security! I do much prefer using a text guide than sitting and just following a video (though those seem to be a dying art form!) No shade at all on folks using them though, and when I get to the tail end, and just cannot find the last ones, I will happily seek the aid of Mr G. Oogle! Edited September 28, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoesusHCrust Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 29 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: ...... I much prefer text guides too. Half watching a video and half playing a game does tend to spoil the experience. I agree that half a collectible tracker is worse than none, and J:FO does a memorably bad job of tracking collectibles. In fact, it's very telling indeed that I found the whole game totally forgettable except for the collectible tracking which even I noticed was ridiculously bad- and I really don't notice these sorts of details usually! I often enjoy collectibles (it's a low skill, high patience way of getting UR trophies for someone like me at least!) but if the collectibles were the highlight of a game, and even they were done badly it's not a great sign!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted September 29, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ?? Hello Science-Darlings and Science-Delinquents, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour! Ether One Summary: The debut game from White Paper Games, Ether One is a game that mashes up concepts. Narratively the game straddles a smart line between sci-fi and historical, and mechanics-wise it straddles the sizeable gulf between Gone Home-style Walking Sim and Myst-style Adventure Puzzler. The player takes the role of a 'Restorer' - and employee of a near-futuristic company using bleeding-edge sci-fi technology to project the restorer into the consciousness of elderly sufferers of dementia, tasked with trying to discover and unravel the mysteries of their tangled memories. With the guidance of the sometimes pleasantly affirmation, sometimes sinisterly disciplinarian Dr. Phyllis, the player enters the mind of Jean - a 69 year old inpatient of an elder care home, and is transported to a curious, slightly off-kilter version of her childhood home - the sleepy, coal-mining town of Pinwheel. Starting with the visuals, Ether One is pretty strong. It is first-person, and as a port from PC, bringing with it a particularly clean and crisp 'Half-Life-esque' visual style. The sections of the game that take place in the 'real-world', within the Ether corporation labs, have a heavy Portal-meets-Bioshock vibe - Portal in the sense of the technological art-style (aided significantly by the GladOS-like ever-present voice-over accompaniment of Dr Phyllis,) and Bioshock in the art-deco inspired signage and building design. It looks perfectly adequate, if never outstanding. Once inside Jean's mind, however, and in the town of Pinwheel, the game really comes into its own, artistically. While comparisons to walking sims such as Gone Home or Everyone's Gone to the Rapture do leave Ether One looking a little lacking in terms of graphical fidelity and fine design detail, that is understandable, given that Ether One has a significantly larger playing area, and far more interactivity to contend with. Despite this though, the eerie sense of place and specificity of the town is very well done. Pinwheel has a distinct atmosphere and character, and has enough verisimilitude for the more peculiar aspects that are askew or dissonant to stand out, and set the player on edge or ill-at-ease in the way it aims to do. Audio is well done - folly and music are fine, if never stand out - however, voice work is particularly good here, from virtually every performer. Dr. Phyllis' character does have to straddle the line between pleasant and sinister, and that can occasionally give rise to some clunky 'hard-swings' when the player interaction with the game happens to align in such a way that two lines with wildly varying tones butt up against one another, however, that is purely a mechanical issue. The actual delivery of those lines, whether amiable or disciplinarian, are top notch. Significant props have to also be given to the voice of Jean herself (by Elspeth Evens.) Playing Jean's voice as that of her younger self, but with the mature, world-weary edge befitting her true age, it strikes a heartbreakingly evocative, wistful and nostalgic tone - and is a significant pillar in the overall melancholic tone of the game. From a gameplay point of view, Ether One does a fairly smart thing, in the sense that what it asks of the player is very much dependent on the individual players preference, and their own willingness to delve deep. The game essentially offers players two potential extremes of gameplay type, and they are free to complete the game at any point of the spectrum between those. The only 'mandatory' aspect of the the game, and genuine blocker to progress, is the collection of red ribbons throughout the game's environments. Each of these ribbons represents a specific memory, and it is entirely possible to complete the game - all the way through to the (extremely well done and genuinely surprising narrative conclusion,) by collecting only these. As such, this allows the game to be played essentially as a narrative focussed walking sim, in which the player simply moves through the game's eerie, empty, evocative environments, drinking in the copious atmosphere, allowing the fractured narrative to unfold and jigsaw together, as they move towards the well executed narrative curtain-draw and reveal. As a walking sim, Ether One works well, and this is, in fact, a perfectly satisfactory way to experience the game. There is more than enough good aspects in the visuals, audio, narrative and tone of the game to sustain that. However, in addition to the ribbons, there are also a variety of additional, optional collectibles, in the form of projectors. These projectors offer considerably more insight into the lives of Jean, her childhood friend and eventual love Thomas, and the fate of the town of Pinwheel, as well as offering far more hints and details leading to the game's final twist reveal - that of the true nature of the protagonists relationship to Jean. However, each of these requires an entirely different type of gameplay. It is here that the Adventure Game puzzle elements come to the forefront, as unlocking each projector requires the solving of some environmental puzzle. These puzzles are - to put things mildly - no joke. For a game released in 2012, Ether One is clearly harking back to a genre and style of puzzle game that has long since been marginalised. The puzzles are esoteric and sometimes confusing, and require a lot of trial and error. There is very little in the way of direct, (or even indirect,) hints or guidance. In playing the game as a puzzler, it becomes much more reminiscent of older adventure games - thing Broken Sword / Gabriel Knight or, as previously mentioned (and most appropriately) - Myst / Riven. Now - as most readers of this thread know - I am very much a puzzle-game fan, and it will surprise few people familiar with me to learn that I was a big fan of Myst and Riven. Those kind of 'trial-and-error', not-quite-sure-what-the-outcome-will-be type puzzles are appealing to me, however, it is worth noting that Ether One, in modernising that type of game, does add extra layers of difficulty that I'm not confident were necessarily intentional. A game like Myst, while the esoteric puzzles are obscure and deliberately ill-defined, benefits from the limited input mechanics. There is a lack of potential interactions. When a game have only 30-odd fixed screens, and limited and obvious points of interaction, it is feasible to include those kind of very esoteric puzzles, as there is a finite limit of potential things the player can actually do. Stumbling around will, most likely, eventually solve the puzzle within a reasonable timeframe. However, because Ether One has the full dynamic control of a first-person, fully-3D game, and because the world of Ether One is filled with interactable objects, the majority of which are not puzzle critical, the length of time the player would need to stumble around, unsure of what to do, and still get nowhere is logarithmically increased. In something like Myst, finding an object - any object - means progress. The player knows they will eventually need that item for some puzzle or other. In Ether One, not so. Full disclosure - I became stuck in the game on more than one occasion, and had to resort to a guide for a clue. Speaking if items, there is another issue with the puzzle solving in the game that hurts it a little - the inventory system. Or, to be more specific, the lack of an inventory system. In Ether One, the player does not have the ability to carry more than one item at a time, and they do not have the ability to call out previously read notes or clues from a menu. Instead, all game critical information gleaned from Jean's mind, as well as all items collected, are stored in a hub-style 'collection' room in the Ether corporation, which can be teleported to at any time. This hub has a bunch of empty shelves for items, and stores all collected information from notes etc, and so, in order to try using various items on an in-world object, the player must manually try an item, teleport to the hub, remove that item, pick up another, teleport back, then rinse-repeat. Now, I can imagine this design decision was made in good faith. Firstly, it removes any 'immersion-breaking' UI elements, and I can see the argument for that as a positive... but I don't agree with it. I question the validity of that line of thinking. The protagonist (at least, as the player initially understands them) is entering someone's mind via scientific projection, so the question of 'mechanical realism' is already pretty tenuous. I doubt the addition of a UI would be detrimental to that narrative. Secondly, based on the eventual plot reveal (which, yes, I am staunchly refusing to spoil here, as I thought it was very good,) the cumbersome item management does actually make narrative sense. It does pay off somewhat. However, that doesn't change the fact that, moment-to-moment, it is an irritating and tiresome burden when trying to solve puzzles that can already be obscure and confusing. These issues bring us to one final thing that cannot be ignored here. Aside from some questionable design choices, there are some less deliberate problems Ether One has, that hurt it: Bugs. Unfortunately, Ether One has some relatively major problems on the PS4. The game crashed to desktop quite a few times throughout my playthrough. Also, on a few occasions, particularly after crashing, the game can hit some kind of loading error, which causes loading back into the game to take an abhorrently long time. Multiple times, I actually force-closed the app during what I believed to be a frozen loading screen, such was the length of time it was taking. As it turned out, the solution to the issue was simply to let it sit... It would eventually open, but the time taken was genuinely ridiculous - the game could take upwards of 15 minutes to appear! There is also - apparently - an issue with items disappearing, making some puzzles impossible. I must admit, despite hearing this multiple times, I personally did not encounter this issue, however, knowing about it ahead of time, did make the convoluted puzzle-solving a little more problematic. Had I had full confidence in the technical aspects of the game, I would likely have continued to puzzle them out, without the use of any guides, however, knowing there was potentially issues with glitches made that a harder sell. As a player, if I can never be sure that I am failing to solve the puzzle due to my own incompetence, or if the game itself has simply glitched it into impossibility, makes the process of solving it less of a fun distraction, and more of a burden. I've said it before, and I will repeat it here - puzzle games, more than any other genre - MUST run well. They cannot have mechanical or technical problems. If you are going to ask the player to solve a difficult mental problem, they need to have faith in the game holding up its end of the bargain. They need to know that when they do find the solution, the game will tell them so, and let them implement it: cleanly, simply and 100% of the time. Overall, Ether One is an interesting game. Narrative, writing and audio are all very strong, the concept is very sound and interesting, and the sense of atmosphere within the mind of Jean is particularly good. Played as a Walking Sim, it is a great game. However, the lack of hints or direction in the sometimes convoluted projector puzzles do hurt it a little, and when combined with some of the bugs present, it begins to drag down what should be a great experience, into one requiring caveats to recommend. The Ranking: There are two genres here - Walking Sim and 3D Narrative Puzzler - however, given that The S-Rank for Ether One requires engagement with the game as a puzzler, and those elements tend to drag it down a little, I feel it needs to be treated as one for ranking. As such, the comparison points are games in the 3D Puzzle genre. One that comes to mind quickly is The Spectrum Retreat, for its combination of a clever narrative and 3D puzzle elements. While Ether One certainly outdoes The Spectrum Retreat narratively, and does a better job of combining its puzzle elements with the narrative (The Spectrum Retreat essentially treats both elements are almost wholly separate games, squashed together,) the fact is, The Spectrum Retreat has much better, much more defined and satisfying puzzles to actually solve.The Spectrum Retreat also does not suffer from any technical issues or glitches, and so it remain significantly higher ranked. Much further down the list, however, is The Bradwell Conspiracy. That game also combines in-environment puzzle solving with a narrative aspect, (and also features a voice-over guide,) however, Ether One really does outdo it on almost all fronts. The narrative of Ether One is much more interesting, the visuals are significantly better, and the audio and particularly the voice work is streaks ahead of The Bradwell Conspiracy, even despite having to contend with the technical issues. In between the two games then, is White Night. While White Night is in 3rd person, and is primarily a survival horror style game, it does have significant puzzle-solving elements in its narrative journey. While I do think the very distinct and original look of White Night put it ahead of Ether One on the artistic front, the actual narrative, audio and puzzles - and even the broad tone and atmosphere of Ether One is better - and on atmosphere, that is telling, given that White Night is playing, to some extent, entirely on atmosphere. The match-up is closer than it should be, due to some of Ether One's technical issues and design flaws, but Ether One still takes a marginal victory there. Just above White Night, there is Rainswept - a game with a reasonably good atmosphere and tone, but whose strengths lie really in its writing and unusually poignant and astute rendering of loss and broken relationships, but Rainswept is also a game that has some pretty big design flaws. It doesn't have the technical issues Ether One has, but Ether One's other strengths are still enough to outclass it. However, Ether One cannot move any higher, due to the presence of Proteus. While Proteus is a very different experience, and has no direct answer to a lot of Ether One's strengths - there is no direct narrative, no puzzles, and no voice work or writing - it is steeped in atmosphere, has a great, unique visual style, and has an impact that I think Ether One lacks, owing specifically to it's simplicity of player engagement. As such, Ether One find's its spot on the ranking. God of War II Summary: So Kratos is the God of War now, right? We dealt with that in the first game. Got that all buttoned up when he killed Ares, and our dour, bald accomplice took his place as the new God of War. Revenge taken, point made, everything is hunky-dory, right? Yeah... not so much... So, the problem with being anger and vengeance personified, (and with being a moody man-child with no sense of responsibility for your own actions,) is that getting what you wished for doesn't suddenly give you a dickhead-ectomy. Our grumpy anti-hero is still convinced the nightmares of his dead family that haunt his dreams are a curse from the Gods, and not simply a reminder of his own malfeasance. Those nightmares and his unquenchable rage drive him, very early in the game, to go against the sound advice of his surrogate matriarch Athena, and lend his aid to his old Spartan army as they attack Rhodes. Sure as sunrise, hubris once again wins, (Kratos should have asked Odysseus how that worked out.) Kratos' Godly powers are drained by Zeus (this time in a fancy Eagle outfit) leaving him mortal once more. Zeus uses his power to animate the Colossus of Rhodes, repelling the Spartan attack, Kratos does his thing, fighting the Colossus back, but is fatally wounded, and when given the opportunity to survive in exchange for renewed fealty to the Gods, he extends his well-worn metaphorical middle finger, and is unceremoniously executed at hands of Zeus. Kratos, not being one to allow pesky trivialities like his own death get in the way of a good revenge party, is dropped into Hades, with a renewed attitude and sense of self-importance. He resolves to find the fates, rewrite history and rip Olympus and the Gods to shreds, as that is an easier concept for him to grasp than simply changing his soiled nappy, accepting his part in his own downfall, and quietly passing into the night. So begins Bald Justice 2: Titanic Boogaloo... erm, God of War II. God of War II is, the sequel to God of War in more than just name. It is a sequel in every conceivable way. We have looked at a lot of sequels in this thread, and the approach taken can vary wildly. Some, like Jak II or Assassin's Creed II, tear up the original design doc and rewrite it entirely. Others, like Ratchet and Clank 2 or Dishonoured 2, stick with a formula, but up the ante, layering additional mechanics and gameplay loops and styles into the mix. Others still, like Little Nightmares, simply opt for finesse - taking a working formula, and devoting all attention to iterative improvement. That is the option God of War II takes. That third option can seem safe, but it has its own risks associated with it - in particular with regards to reception. It's difficult to wow players, when you are essentially doing the same dance again, just with a little more work on the choreography. Doubly so, if you are releasing on an 'old-gen' console, as God of War II did. Triply so, in fact, given that not every model of the PS3 had backwards-compatibility as a feature. If you are going to release an iterative sequel on an already out-of-date console - one which a significant portion of the user-base had traded in or sold to fund their purchases of the (at the time) wildly expensive next-gen console - it had damned well better improve on every single aspect, if it wants to have any hope at all. Luckily, God of War II did. Santa Monica Studios, making the stalwart decision to remain on the PS2 tech even in the wake of the PS3 release, and electing to simply take what had been successful in Kratos' debut and spend all their efforts improving it was, looking back, an astute move. If a significant amount of their work needed to be devoted to learning new tech, (in particular the apparently difficult and unusual cell-architecture of the PS3 cell,) it could, in the wrong circumstances, have spelled the end of God of War as a franchise. For IP in their 3rd or 4th outing, a middling entry on new tech can be dismissed as a mere bump in the road, but sophomore efforts after a blistering debut are the most fraught with danger. Fail to improve enough, and you look to be fizzling, or floundering. Make a serious misstep, and your initial outing looks like a fluke. Instead of risking that, and by simply ignoring the new tech, Santa Monica managed to wring every little last bit out of the PS2 technology, and rather than becoming an also-ran in the launch cycle of the PS3, God of War II grasped a moniker it still holds to this day - one of the last great swan-songs of the PS2 generation. God of War II, while doing nothing particularly different from the first game mechanically, ups the ante on virtually every existing front. Graphically, it is vastly superior to the first game - a jump big enough, in fact, that it is noticeable even in the PS3 re-releases of both games. In terms of art design, the game benefits for a clear increase in both variety and scale. The mere fact that very little was required to be improved on on the control or mechanical side, means there is a very noticeable 'pulling forward' of interesting or unique art design to the forefront of the game design. There is significant amplification of some of the more celebrated parts of the original game. Where the original had moments of epic scale, God of War II outdoes them. Where cut-scenes were well executed before, now, they are lavishly rendered and more cinematic - with significantly more attention paid to the more artistic elements - direction, framing, cinematic camera pans and movements, as well as more detailed facial animations and voice work. Where the original had giant, cinematic boss fights, God of War II keeps the tradition, but adds double the number. Where God of War did interesting, if slightly tame puzzles, God of War II ups the ante. There are a similar number, but where the first game made them feel perfunctory to some extent, this time, they are more interesting. The one area that is something of a question mark as to how it improves (or doesn't) on the first game, is the narrative. God of War II does have something of a problem that it created for itself in the sense that the original game is such a strong, contained and self-contained story. It is clear, even to the player who is excited for more, and who roundly considered God of War II to be the superior game (as is probably clear by now, I am one of them,) that God of War II's narrative feels, certainly in the beginning, an unnecessary sequel. There are significant convolutions required to get Kratos swiftly back to being underpowered and angry, to set the stage for this game, and future entries. While the plot that is weaved to justify this game's existence works well, pulls in a good number of new character of Greek Mythology and, notably, does not make the same mistake again - this game ends with a cliffhanger so sequel-friendly, it might as well have had a "Pre-order God of War III" advertisement sellotaped to Kratos' napper - it is impossible to ignore that the game simply does not have that singular, pure, clear story that the first one did. God of War II is where time travel, changing fates and history manipulation comes into the fiction. That is an area I do not dislike, however, it does muddy the purity of the fiction somewhat - and to some extent, dilute the stakes. There is no getting around the idea that once you open the Pandora's Box (yes, I heard it!) of "time manipulation", all bets are off. It becomes difficult to truly invest in any part of the fiction to the same extent as before, as there is in-game justification for anything. All narrative elements are fair game for retcon or rework at that point. Aside from that minor quibble though, the fact remains, in all significant areas of gameplay, art, design, audio, scale, grandeur, combat and puzzles, God of War II is both a direct lineage from its prequel, and the superior version of it. While I fully entertain the idea that there is cogent debate and genuine discussions to be had around the superiority of God of War II vs. God of War III, I do not believe there is any reasonable argument to be made that God of War II is not superior to the original game. I can envision no scenario - aside from simple exhaustion over relative lack of additional mechanics or lack of originality - in which a player who enjoyed God of War would not enjoy God of War II... and the argument that it does nothing new hold little water as a genuine detrimental factor, when the level of iterative improvement is so all-encompassing, and reaches virtually every pillar of the original game. The Ranking: Gee, I wonder what the first comparison point should be?... So, as clearly stated, I think God of War II takes a clear, comprehensive and decisive victory over God of War. There are negatives to the game - mostly named Kratos - but those negatives were present in the original game too, and so those are a wash. On all the positives, God of War II outshines its progenitor. There is a potential repeat going on here, that would be largely uninteresting, given that God of War II is so iterative in its design. The points of comparison are mostly the same as God of War, which was ranked in the previous batch, and so rather than re-litigate all those debates word for word, I'm simply going to cut to the chase. God of War II retains all the faults of God of War, and the positives, but the positives are so much more positive, that they can, this time round, beat out some of the games that won the day last round. Both Prince of Persia games, and even Tomb Raider: Legend - a game I really do admire and enjoy - simply get a little outmatched by the pure spectacle and grinding good fun of God of War II. The visuals and art design have a lot more to do with that than the gameplay, but I say that not to denigrate. Those visuals I think really do represent the best examples of the PS2 tech being used effectively, and cannot be sniffed at. God of War II is actually part of the reason I didn't feel particularly comfortable using the original God of War's visuals as a positive in the ranking of that game - I was aware what a leap they would take, even on the same console architecture, with this game. In the end, the excellent use of that older tech is enough to elevate God of War II up above a few heavy hitters - including even Kratos' no.1 hairdo aficionado and emulator - Agent 47 in Hitman: Blood Money. It even elevates it up past a few real bangers from the earlier PS3 era - notably The Saboteur and Darksiders... ...But I am not able to elevate Kratos up past Beyond Good and Evil. Even in this, one of his best entries. Graphics aside, there is too much good going in in BG&E's narrative, politics, music and gameplay to justify that. Just below BG&E, also, is newly ranked Superhot. Superhot is a game I find too wildly original, too satisfying and just... too cool to be beaten by God of War II. That may feel unscientific, but in the end, the science comes down to how awesome the games are, and Superhot is just a little more awesome than God of War II. As such, God of War II finds its spot. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Summary: Crystal Dynamics picking up development of the Tomb Raider IP from original developer Core Design after they had floundered, running what was once a novel and forward-thinking formula on fumes for too long, culminating in the dismal Angel of Darkness (still the franchise nadir, even 18 years later,) has proven, at this point, to be one of the most beneficial changings of the guard in videogame history. When they did so, what the IP needed more than anything, was a shot in the arm, new blood, and some fresh ideas. As it turned out, Crystal Dynamics not only had enough good ones to revive the ailing original formula, in the form of their more traditional "trilogy" (Legend, Anniversary and Underworld,) they had enough stored in the tank, to also take Lara in two additional, parallel directions: ...a combination of narrative-heavy survival/ platformer shooters in the form of the most recent trilogy (Tomb Raider, Rise and Shadow)... ...and in a more esoteric direction, as a combination twin-stick shooter/ aesthetically Diabolo-esque isometric puzzle game in the form of the "Lara Croft" games. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is the first of these more esoteric takes on the franchise. Released in 2010, in between the conclusion to Crystal Dynamic's original trilogy, and the start of their subsequent rebooted one, it is a smaller, shorter, more tightly packed game than the franchise has seen to that date, but size, as this game proves beyond a doubt, is not everything. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light could easily have been viewed - rather cynically - as simply Crystal Dynamics answer to the burgeoning rise of smaller, downloadable indie titles gaining popularity and acclaim on the PSN / Xbox Live Arcade platforms, and them wanting a slice of that indie-darling pie. Certainly, without doubt the game both benefitted from that era, and likely would not exist without it - however, to simply dismiss Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in that way does the game a massive disservice. The game retains most of the core building blocks of a Tomb Raider game - a mystical, Indiana Jones-flavoured mcguffin-heavy storyline, platforming, puzzle solving, collectibles, and, of course, Lara Croft and her signature hotpants-and-duel-pistols attitude, but eschews almost everything else. Gone is the behind-the-back camera, gone is the world-travelling location hopping, gone is the lengthier cutscenes and more nuanced character development (along with the franchise name "Tomb Raider",) and what replaces them is a much faster paced, smoother-moving, puzzle heavy and - crucially - co-op action game. The narrative is more straightforward here than in other Tomb Raider outings - After finding an ancient mirrored relic in a South American ruin, a band of mercenaries that followed her accidentally release it's curse, awakening the long dead demon Xolotl, which in turn awakens his nemesis Totec (the eponymous Guardian of Light.) He and Lara must team up to defeat Xolotl. It is a simple set-up, and one fairly swiftly dealt with in the less cinematic cutscenes than the traditional Tomb Raider fan may be used to, but that is clearly by design. The name of the game here is not following a narrative primarily. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a 'gameplay-forward' experience, and that is where it really comes into its own. The movement and shooting in the game feels absolutely fantastic. Lara and Totec move with a swift, smooth motions, and jump, climb, swing with a physics and motion model that is nigh on perfect. Every action feels acrobatic and smooth, and the animations, while simple, are incredibly effective. (I cannot help but feel there is a little of Crystal Dynamics' sadly long-forgotten 2.5D platformer franchise Pandemonium's DNA spliced into Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.) Everything simply feels good to do, and has bene designed with a smart 'snap to' model, meaning whatever the action - from rolling giant spherical boulders around, to jumping on Totec's spears, to shooting Lara's zip-wire - work as intended, and feel just right. The game is designed, much more than any Tomb Raider game, around repetition of levels. (That is, clearly, part and parcel of the marginalisation of the narrative.) Each level is filled with additional, optional puzzle challenges, score-attack challenges, collectibles and secrets, and while simple completion of the levels is enough to see the narrative through to its conclusion, the game more than supports the amount of repetition that an isometric, puzzle based game should have. The game does a very smart thing with regards to co-op, in the sense that it changes the levels slightly in line with the number of players. When playing in co-op, with one player in control of Totec, the majority of puzzles will require combination play. Totec, for example, can throw spears to stick in walls which Lara can jump on, while Lara can fire her zip-wire for Totec to walk like a tightrope. In some games, the solution to solo play for such games is to give the single player an AI controlled accomplice which can work if done right, however, that is not the solution here. Instead, the narrative changes slightly, and Totec and Lara decide to split up in their quest to stop Xolotl, and Lara is instead, given some of Totec's spears. The actual mechanics of some puzzles are changed subtly, to allow solo solving of them, but the net effect, is that the game actually doubles in repeatability - while co-op is the ideal way to play, there is merit in seeing the levels from a solo perspective too, as there are new puzzles to solve. Or, to be more accurate, there are old puzzles to solve in new ways. These puzzles are, it should also be stated, ver clever, and immensely well worked out too. They are never fiendish, but more often than not require a little thought, and the solutions when worked out are uniformly smart and well executed. Combat in the game is extremely fast paces, and for the most part about crowd control. The twin-stick controls work well, and in the most frenetic fights, it can feel - for a moment - like Dead Nation or other good mob-heavy twin-stick shooters. Visually, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light looks gorgeous. Given that this game is playing on a much smaller scale than traditional Tomb Raider games, one might be forgiven for imagining that the aesthetics of the game would be scaled back accordingly, however, within the first few minutes of gameplay, it becomes immediately apparent that Crystal Dynamics is neither scrimping on graphical prowess, nor artistic design. The isometric view the game employs may mean there is less fine detail required to wow players, but that does not change the fact that in terms of environmental design, lighting and even enemy design, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is more impressive than any of Crystal Dynamics' previous, bigger Tomb Raider games - including Underworld (their first PS3 entry.) No small feat, when one considers that Underworld was a full-priced, boxed product, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was a low-priced downloadable. There is a huge amount of verticality and scale to the levels, and the isometric view means that large portions of the level can be seen. It is not uncommon to be able to see early portions of a level hundreds of feet below, when puzzling out (or blasting through) a later portion of a level, in a way that really helps to ground the physics of the locations as is done in games like Ico. Audio is crisp and satisfying - gunshots and explosions sound good, and what voice work there is is done very well. Keeley Hawes returns as Lara (her penultimate outing as the plummy-voiced killing machine) and she is as good as ever, and the rest of the voice cast hold up their ends of the bargain too. The narrative, being a little simpler, and a little more deliberately 'B-Movie' is to the game's benefit overall, however, the voice cast don't give that away, and play it straight. Overall, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a truly fantastic game. While it can be hard to categorise it as a Tomb Raider game exactly, given the sharp differences in genre, that does not change the fact that I think both this game, and it's sequel Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, represent both some of the best games ever to feature Lara Croft, and some of the best genre-defying side projects undertaken with any major franchise. The game is extremely repeatable, works perfectly as both a Solo and a Co-op experience, and just feels so damned satisfying to control and to play that even after the dozens of hours needed to S-Rank it, I still found myself booting it up years after the fact for some co-op fun. The Ranking: Two types of comparison are obvious here - the first being, of course, the only Tomb Raider game currently on the ranking. While I am a big fan of Tomb Raider: Legend, it has to be noted that, of the three 'strains' of Crystal Dynamics Lara-Croft-featuring games, I think the lesser is their original trilogy. That is not a denigration - Legend is, after all, still pretty highly ranked - however, I think it represents the best version of the least interesting form of Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider game. I have not yet ranked any of the reboot trilogy, but I can confidently state that the best of those is destined to land higher than Legend - the best of the original pack. When it comes to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, its originality, co-op elements, heavier focus on puzzles, and incredible, almost uncanny 'feel of movement' elevate it far beyond the level of Legend, which represents a fresh coat of paint on mostly well worn ideas. Outside of other Lara-featuring games though, the comparison points for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light switch to other twin-stick games, and the first one it hits moving upwards is Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Now, I do not believe that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has what it would take to compete with the original Hotline Miami - that game is too visually stunning, has too good a soundtrack, and it just too original for that, however, Hotline Miami 2 is a different story. Originality is not a factor there, and as stated in that review, there are a host of reasons why that game falls well shy of its progenitor. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light certainly deserves a higher place than it does. Further up the list though, we get to two games that deal in twin-stick shooting - RAD, and Nex Machina, and this makes the placement of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light much easier. RAD, despite being a game I have a lot of fondness for, simply doesn't feel as good in motion as Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. It is more variable (as a rogue-like,) however, its visuals are not as strong, it has no co-op option, and even across a much monger playtime, it is less varied in it's gameplay than Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is. Nex Machina, however, is a game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light cannot win against. Nex also feels amazing to control, has a huge amount of variety of enemies etc, and what it lacks in gameplay variety, it more than makes up for in visual flair and level and enemy pattern design. It also has the co-op option that RAD lacks, and it's near infinite replayability based on its encyclopaedic list of optional challenges leaves Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light's looking pale by comparison. As such, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light falls in between. There is only one game currently there - the excellent Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando. While I dithered back and forth on whether Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light should go above or below it, in the end, I feel like as much as Going Commando added to the original R&C, it is still iterative. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a risk taken, and one paying off, which means a lot. I also feel Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is closer to the underside of Nex Machina than it is to the top side of RAD. As such, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light finds its spot! Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery Summary: A pretty short entry in the Artifex Mundi stable of Picture hunt / Puzzle adventure games, Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery isn't a bad one necessarily, but it does little to stand out from the pack. The narrative is fairly simple this time round, continuing in the fairytale style of the first Lost Grimoires game. The art is nice, though not terribly original by Artifex Mundi standards, and the fact that the Lost Grimoires series plays, essentially, in the same approximate art-style as its Grim Legends and its Eventide games, means they tend to be overshadowed. The Eventide games have at least the slavic slant to the fairytale kindom element to stand out (despite the first games lack of good puzzles), and the Grim Legends games are a little more narratively interesting across the board. In terms of picture hunt, the bright art style means they are nice to look at, though those elements are unusually easy here. Puzzle wise, Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery is on the shorter side, and so has fewer puzzles overall, however, there are a few more unique puzzle types in addition to the usual canon, which is a plus. There is no boss fights in this one, with key moments instead relying on more interesting puzzles, which is also good, however, the game is both shorter than most, and lacks a bonus chapter as has become the standard now, so the short length feels even shorter. Overall, not a terrible entry, but on the weaker side of Artifex Mundi titles. The Ranking: Falls above funhouse spook-fest Dark Arcana: The Carnival, but still below steampunk one-off Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink. In the end, between those two, there are only 2 games: Pic-a-Pix Colour and Gem Smashers, and while I'd much rather replay Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery than play any more Gem Smashers, I think some good old fashioned Picross can still offer more than a replay of this game can, and so Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery finds its spot. Persona 4: Dancing All Night Summary: There are precious few games I can think of where a dancing-themed rhythm game would feel like a natural side project for its characters, but it's telling that when I first heard about Persona 4: Dancing All Night, I didn't skip a beat. Even in the curiously flamboyant world of JRPs (one where, for example, even the self-serious tempo of Final Fantasy X gave itself naturally over to the pop-idol-princess aesthetic of Final Fantasy X-2 without too many steps down the avenue of tonal dissonance,) the flamingo-flavoured flamboyance of Persona's more outrageous dungeons, and its ultra-stylised UI aesthetic feels tailor made, not just for a rhythm game per-se, but for the kind of out-and-out harlequin-glitter-bomb, jet-set-fandango of a rhythm game that Persona 4: Dancing All Night turned out to be. Music has been an integral part of the Persona series since it became a series, and by the time it got to its fourth outing, the soundtrack was as much a pillars of the game's success as the high-school setting, the social simulation, Pokemon-style Persona gathering, day-glow, bejazzled UI, and before-the-watershed horniness. There have been 3 of these game now - Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight - and each one has taken the characters from their respective game, weaved a narrative that is both a ludicrously convoluted justification for the existence of the side-project, and curiously well drawn within their own respective fiction, setting the stage for what the true appeal of these games is: A chance to watch some well choreographed nonsense, while tapping along to some of the awesome ear-worms the big-brother RPG games had exposed us all to. Speaking of that narrative, Persona 4: Dancing All Night is the outlier in terms of the three dancing games. It was the first - the one setting the tone both subsequent games would follow, but also, clearly, the test bed, establishing what worked and what didn't. The biggest, most obvious difference between it and those subsequent games, is in the narrative - in the sense that it (to an extent) is treated as if it matters. Unlike Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, Persona 4: Dancing All Night's genre is not exclusively rhythm. It is also a Visual Novel. There is a story mode, wherein a long, fairly detailed narrative plays out. The plot, as stated, is pretty ridiculous - taking place a month or so after the ending of Persona 4, and involving Rise Kujikawa back in the Pop-Idol swing of things, bringing some of the old heroes back as dancers, a fellow Idols group disappearance, a mysterious, otherworldly dance stage, an even more mysterious entity ensnaring Shadows, and the group discovering dance is the way to free them. The narrative is certainly Persona-adjacent, but where the main jRPG games play in some facsimile of reality, with the narrative taking frequent flights of fancy, here the tale goes full helium. Tonally, this is Persona on laughing gas - untethered by reality, unashamedly flamboyant, and unabashedly ridiculous. All three Dancing games share this tone, and all three benefit hugely from it. You can't make these games realistic. Trying wouldn't work, and so they don't. They make them fun instead. They make it so you can't help but go along with them, such is the level of ridiculousness. They don't have to sell you on it - you want to buy in. That said, it is very clear to me why the Visual Novel aspect of this game was not continued into the subsequent ones. In some ways, the almost baffling level of detail Persona 4: Dancing All Night pays to justifying its existence with its Visual Novel elements has two distinct drawbacks. Firstly, it forces the writers to try to - somewhat - ground the game back into the 'reality' of the existing Persona 4 universe. It really doesn't need it. The games are better served when they simply cut that cord, and go "full fuck-it." Secondly - and more importantly - it slows the pace of the game down. Dramatically. The simple fact is, when a player buys a Persona RPG, they are doing so to enjoy the rich, bizarre, fantastical and fantastically detailed world, narrative and all. When someone buys a rhythm game, that isn't the case. The purpose of these games - at least as far as I am concerned - is to enjoy the bite-sized gameplay that a rhythm game offers, and the music. Persona 4: Dancing All Night has the music - we knew it did anyways, we spent 150 hours humming along to it, and probably twice that with it banging around our skulls afterwards - so let us get to that! Being forces to spend a good 15-20 minutes reading a Visual Novel in between is really not a benefit to that experience, no matter how well detailed it is. Having said that though, beyond the Visual Novel side of things, there is the rhythm game, and here, the game shines in exactly the ways it should. The music of Persona 4 is great, and there is a good selection of it here. Including some of the remixes and remasters, there are around 30 tracks, and while that may seem small as compared to dlc-rich, less visually-bespoke offerings like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, it is more than enough to sustain the game for the full S-Rank without getting old, and covers all the big hitters that any Persona 4 fan will remember. Because each dance is visually choreographed, not every playable character is available in every song, however, the game does a fairly good job of at least allowing for some variation within each track. Most have the option of playing as one of 2 or 3 characters, and there are a selection of unlockable, customisable outfits and adornments to allow the player to play dress up within the fiction. The actual rhythm mechanics are fairly simple - the game works on a 6-button format, 3 per controller side, with an added 'scratch' mechanic, requiring a quick flick of the analogue stick. In combination with double buttons, holds, a high-points 'fever' mode reward for good play, it is more than enough to allow a broad skill spectrum, and some of the higher difficulty songs on the higher levels are extremely difficult to master. The game works on a flat, concentric design, with notes pushing out from the centre of the screen, to be hit when crossing a wide circle. This is, personally, not my preferred method for a 'note track'. While it is perfect for that small screen of a Vita, where the game debuted and where the players eye can naturally see the entirety of the play field without moving, on a large screen television it can make it more difficult to keep track of the entire screen at once. That might feel like it would make the game prohibitively difficult, however, that leads us into the unlock system. There is a fairly deep and well-implemented system of unlocks in the game, part of which is the unlocking of 'modifiers'. These modifiers can be used, generally without penalty, and can do anything from slowing the notes, to making 'scratch' notes automated and a host of other benefits, meaning enjoyment of the game, in full, does not really require a supreme mastery of the rhythm mechanics. It is generally enough to do just well enough to unlock the next beneficial modifier, to then unlock the nex, and the next etc. Trust me - as a white guy nearing 40, who's sense of rhythm is about as keen as his sense of telepathy, the mere fact that I have the S-Rank in these games, and am able to review them at all, is testament to how much easier these modifiers can make the games. While some purists, (or sadomasochists,) may baulk at the idea of a game being "too easy" - here they wildly miss the point. These games are not trying to be a supreme challenge. They are trying to be a celebration - a fan-service revelling in all the great music of Persona - and that celebration is not - and should not be - available only to those with a head for the niche genre that rhythm games are. As RPGs, the Persona games are not difficult - they are available to all, and the rhythm games they birthed follow that mantra too. These games are frivolous. Happily, unashamedly so, and that works to their enormous benefit. Are any of the Persona Dancing games going to keep a player engaged for weeks? - No, probably not. Most likely, there is a couple of days worth of entertainment in each one. However, it's such ridiculous, glorious, silly fun, that you could find much worse ways to spend that time, and for anyone who loves those characters, and is happy to spend some more time with them, all three - including Persona 4: Dancing All Night - is a must. The Ranking: This is another one that is virtually guaranteed to come down purely to instinct, as, despite some fun, the Dancing Persona games are not in any danger of coming close to their RPG counterparts, and the only currently ranked rhythm game is Invector. While Invector was fine, and actually a little better than expected, All 3 Persona Dancing games will definitely rank above them, due to the better music, better visuals, more variety, more fun, and oodles of personality where Invector had none. It feels weird to mention the other two Dancing games here, as neither is yet ranked, but it is worth noting that, while I enjoy the music of Persona 4 a lot, I do think the music lends itself a little less well to this kind of rhythm game than the music selections of either other game, and I do think the lengthly Visual Novel sections drag a bit. That does virtually guarantee that both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight will eventually rank higher and while that doesn't necessarily help in this placement, it is of value to consider. Looking at the list then, I have to consider the game on merit. The best part is the music, and the fun rhythm elements, and those are booth very good, but the game is limited. There is no real getting around that. While replaying to hear the music is always a possibility, I have to admit, I am morel likely to want to turn to Spotify for that - or for it to tempt me the whole way, and boot up the full Persona 4 Golden for the 'real' experience than to boot up Persona 4: Dancing All Night again, and that counts for something. As such, there is a limit to how far I can allow the great music to carry this one. Okay, I'm going to level - This one became a damned nightmare! In the end, I find myself hovering around two games and finding the decision feels right. Those games are odd, kid-friendly platform brawler Mini Ninjas, and interesting, artistic yet slightly-too-short indie game Rain. If Persona 4: Dancing All Night falls between them, it... feels like it makes sense. Looking above and below, that would put it two spots below PS2 action-platformer hit Jak and Daxter, and two spots above beautiful but barren open-world crime sim Mafia II... and it still feels about right. Sometimes, "it feels about right" is the best I can hope for - especially when it's an underrepresented genre - and so... I have to leave it there! ⚛️⚛️BONUS GAMES⚛️⚛️ 2 Additional eligible S-Ranks earned this round!: Deathloop Summary: Immersive Sims have something of a difficult time on the consumer end, when it comes to selling the tremendous variety of their games, particularly in the age of trophies and in-game achievements. While a game like Prey, or Dishonoured, or Deus Ex has a huge amount of variety built in, and myriad method of play and tools available for use at the players disposal, (that is, after all, the hallmark of a good Immersive Sim - one of the rarest, most difficult to craft, yet best genres out there,) the format of the games, and in particular the achievements / trophies, can often run counter to that very experimentation that the genre affords. While the player has scores of possible ways to approach any given scenario, and a plethora of interesting ways to deal with any given enemy or target, the actual loop of the game has a tendency to discourage experimentation, in favour the player 'locking' themselves into one particular path for entire playthroughs. Trying for a 'clean hands' run in Dishonoured? Then you best only use your stealth tactics. Those fun killing abilities are useless for this entire run. Not specced for hacking in this run of Deus Ex? Then I guess that air duct is your only option. On a 'No-Powers' run in Prey? Then sorry, as fun as it might be to mimic that coffee cup and blast yourself through that hole in the glass - you need to find another way in. It is a problem that is, of course, alleviated over a long enough timescale. While something like Prey may feel like it is limiting itself with these kind of achievements, by the time a player has completed several full runs, and seen the variation of play-style, they can grasp the full spectrum of design, and appreciate the craftsmanship involved in supporting it. However, that is a big ask. Outside of our little circles, it can be east to forget that most players don't play games multiple times - and even for those who so, full 'specific power' playthroughs can still be a burden. In some sense, asking the player to commit to a singular play-style for a full run is jarring - and overtly limiting. There are some immersive sims that have managed to get around that - the recent Hitman trilogy, for example (which for some reason does not seem to be commonly categorised as an Immersive Sim, despite quite clearly being just that) - does side-step the issue by having each level be discrete, and never asking the player to complete entire 'runs' of the game a single way; but, for the most part, the genre is addicted to a strange, counter-intuitive practice: Offer choice via design, then actively discourage it via reward. Deathloop, Arkane's latest creation, seems, in some sense, to be very deliberately crafted to address this problem specifically. Deathloop, is, like all recent Arkane games, an Immersive Sim. It is a narrative Immersive Sim, in fact, and borrows liberally from Arkane's previous output. The powers available are, for the most part, directly lifted from Dishonoured, along with a good portion of its aesthetic and its extremely variable gameplay and play-style. However, unlike any of their other fare, Deathloop's narrative is not linear. Nor is its level structure. Nor, in fact, is its gameplay loop. Were Dishonoured, Dishonoured 2 or Prey's gameplay represented diagrammatically as long, straight lines, Deathloop's would be a small, tight circle. If Dishonoured and Prey are point to point rally races, Deathloop is a cyclical Nascar track. In Deathloop, the player takes the role of Cole - a guy full of attitude, one liners, style, booze, and confusion. Waking up on a beach with a hangover and a happy-go-lucky sociopathic killer named Juliana snapping adversarial death threats in his ears, he becomes quickly aware that he has been on the island for a very, very long time... as has everyone else. The Island is caught in a time loop, with the day resetting every 24 hours. Without getting into to much detail on the plot here (which is wild, interesting, clever and fleshed out enough to support constant discovery and fractured puzzle-solving over the 30-odd hour completion time), let's just cover the basic broad strokes: The time loop is tied to 8 targets, known as "Visionaries". In order to break the loop, Cole needs to kill them all, but theres a catch. Well, two catches. Firstly, he doesn't have time to kill them all in one day, and if he fails, any dead ones will simply revive in the next loop. Secondly, Julianna. She, unlike everyone else besides Cole himself, remembers what has gone on in previous loops, and has a hard on the size of Manhattan for two things - killing Cole, and preserving the loop. Essentially, this is all the setup required to understand the crux of the game. The island has 4 distinct areas - and 4 distinct times of day, equating to 16 different possible 'levels'. Each Visionary has their own set paths ands story throughout the full day, moving them around the island at different times, and the player's job is to poke and prod at the clockwork nature of the world in such a way as to have different combinations of them intersect. Do this in the appropriate ways, and it will allow all eight to be killed in one loop, ending the cycle once and for all. The nature of the game may sound like it lends itself to being something of a rogue-like - and truth be told, I believe there is the germ of rogue-like in here somewhere in the genesis of the design document, however, functionally, it doesn't really operate as one. While the loop does restart each day, with the chessboard and all its pieces reset, a huge part of the game actually revolves around Cole adding to his ever-expanding arsenal of powers and weapons. An in-game currency called 'Residuum' allows him to 'infuse' different weapons and powers, essentially making them 'permanent' and allowing him to start a loop with them. Each visionary is associated with a specific power and each one can be collected by killing that visionary once. Infuse it, and it is Coles in perpetuity and can then be upgraded by collecting additional items from subsequent kills of the same visionary. This means the early game is less about simple discovery, and more about filling out Coles inventory and methods of attack. What the loop mechanic does incredibly well, is alleviate the problem I mentioned before. Because each loop allows for experimentation, and the player knows that it will reset each time, there is no feeling of being 'trapped' in a play-style. Saving within an environment is not possible, and so the tendency to 'save-scum' ones way through a level in order to remain unseen is negated. Conversely though, given that the player knows the loop will reset every 4 levels, they are absolutely free to experiment to their hearts desire, free of consequence. It cures the Immersive Sim of its biggest issue, by removing long-term consequence from the equation. The game may sound, also, like it is overly complex. Truth be told, the narrative is convoluted, and at times hard to grasp the overall machinations of - particularly early on - however, for all its eccentricities, the game does not really force the player to work out the final method of attack by themselves. A fairly well implemented - if a little prescriptive /hand-hold-y - mission structure is built in, meaning there is always a variety of different objectives available for whatever time of day Cole finds himself in. The player is not required to really have the long-term goals in mind during the early, loop-to-loop machinations. Whether that is positive or not will lie in the eye of the beholder - personally, I would have liked to see a little less beat-by-beat prescription in the method (Hitman, for example, allows the 'mission stories' to be simply switched off in the main menu,) - however, the final goal of Deathloop is, frankly, fucking complicated. I very much doubt that I would have been able to solve it without any guidance at all, so really, it comes down to personal preference how much the player feels overly 'hand-held' or not. The game adds one more wrinkle into its already pretty original gameplay structure - in the form of Julianna herself. Unlike other visionaries, Julianna can turn up anywhere - at any time - and armed with whatever powers or weapons she pleases. This can be an irritation at times, it must be said - it can be galling during a particularly good 'quiet' run to suddenly have her turn up and start firing a shotgun and fucking the whole thing up - but it does also add a layer of chaos and randomness to the game that can be genuinely tense and exciting. Julianna will sometimes be AI controlled, but often will be controlled by another human player, invading Dark Souls style, to fuck up Cole's day - and those instances can be very fun. Suddenly, a perfectly ordinary run morphs into a sweaty, tense, one-on-one game of cat and mouse, with Cole trapped until he can hack his way back to his tunnels, or take Julianna out. Playing as Julianna is fun also - she has access to a lot of weaponry early on that the player has likely not seen in Cole's playthrough yet -, though, much like in Dark Souls - I did feel rather guilty any time I succeeded as Julianna, knowing full well how annoying it could be for me when the shoe was on the other foot! Visually, the game looks great - this is a PS5 exclusive, and it makes good use of that - though artistically it is something of a mishmash. While there is certainly a huge amount of detail and careful work has gone in to showing the different architectures of the island - it is an old, traditional fort and fishing village, used as a bunker and facility during the war, then added to by early scientists studying the time phenomena, and then added to further by the visionaries (and their "Eternalist" acolytes, and each layer is deliberately distinct and jarringly dissimilar. The overall effect is a deliberately confusing, stylistically dissonant environment that contains everything from ancient stone walls to Plastic 60's neon and everything in-between. While this effect is absolutely deliberate, and certainly makes the game stand out visually, I cannot deny that the aesthetically cohesive environments of Dishonoured's Dunwall and Karnaka, or Prey's Talos 1, did offer more appeal. I had more desire to investigate those than Deathloop's environments, in the long run. Deathloop was more visually striking early on, but lost its lustre quicker. In terms of character design, I do think the game suffers a little by comparison to Dishonoured. Both Cole and Julianna are wonderfully designed and rendered (and given fantastic vocal performances and a huge amount of genuinely funny dialogue back-and-forth.) They are the sharpest points of a hugely stylish game, playing n a late 60's/ early 70's Blacksploitation, B-Movie vibe that is unusual for videogames, and executed really well. However, the rest of the visionaries are less memorable - both than Cole and Julianna, but even than the various targets of Dishonoured or the NPCs of Prey. Despite having more actual dialogue, more variety and richer storylines than most Dishonoured targets, in this case, the loop mechanic of Deathloop becomes a double-edged sword. Because the nature of the world is that it is 'disposable', so too become the characters. Aside from Julianna - who actually remembers your actions - everyone else become much harder to invest in or care about, because they reset each day. The inconsequentiality of the world bleeds into the characters somewhat. The general 'fodder' enemies of Deathloop - the Eternalists - are interesting, and fall somewhere between Bioshock's Splicers - in this case driven psychopathic by a lack of consequence, rather than mad by ingestion of plasmids - and the droogs from A Clockwork Orange. They are relatively thick by the standards of enemy AI, certainly more so than the Splicers or even the guards and NPCs of Dishonoured or Prey were, however, this does seem to be a conscious decision on the part of Arkane. Were the enemies smarter, it would encourage stealth far more than other play-styles, and this is another area where I believe their core design tenant - encourage experimentation above all else - has been a factor in the design. Because dealing with the enemies is, for the most part, pretty easy, Cole feels overpowered, and it means trying out new, fun ways to dispatch enemies or to side-step them feels fun, rather than desperate. Overall, Deathloop is a genuinely interesting take on the genre. It is brimming with ideas - overflowing with them at times, to the extent that the early game can feel pretty confusing, as concept after concept is explained on top of one another - but that doesn't change the fact that these ideas are, for the most part, all well thought out and either cool, clever or both. While I personally do not think it quite matches up to Dishonoured or Prey in terms of design or gameplay, it cannot be ignored how good some of the choices made are in alleviating what are genuine problems with the Immersive Sim genre as a whole. Those 'problems' are not ones I personally take issue with - I love the stress and care required for a full, 'clean hands' playthrough - but I fully accept that where I see a fun challenge, others could see a detrimental burden, and Deathloop alleviates that in a smart, and well thought out way. While I did not find as much to grasp onto in the narrative elements, or in the tertiary characters, I also feel that is inherent to the concept, and that concept is so sound, and so original, that I was willing to overlook that throughout my time with the game. I still had a stonking good time with Deathloop - and frankly, measuring up to previous Arkane fare is the highest of high bars. In my book, saying "Not quite as good as Dishonoured" is hardly a denigration. It still equates to saying "better than a fuck-ton of other games!" The Ranking: As stated above, while I appreciate the ways in which Deathloop solves some inherent issues with games like Dishonoured - even while lifting extensively from them - I cannot ignore the fact that those 'problems' are not problems to me. I don't dislike the things Deathloop is designed to avoid, and fundamentally, I do feel I enjoyed both Prey, and Dishonoured 1 & 2 more than Deathloop overall, and so it has to fall below those. That doesn't of course, narrow things down greatly, however. We are still very high on the current list, even falling below the original Dishonoured, and so, rather than having an appropriate point to work up from, I am working down the list, seeing what games stand out more in terms of gameplay loop, originality of design, style and pure fun to engage with. There are quite a few true bangers that are immediate winners - I do not feel, for all Deathloop's brimming pot of clever ideas, it adds up to a game that could realistically dethrone Dark Souls III, or Cities Skylines, or Burnout Paradise. Even a more straightforward game like the original Mass Effect is going to retain it's place, given how original it was at the time, and while the format and loop of Deathloop is very original, the actual content is borrowing liberally from both Dishonoured and Bioshock. Deathloop will not be dethroning either of the two games below Mass Effect either - the incredibly original and clever Return of the Obra Dinn, or the super-slick, stylish-as-hell Hotline Miami. That game, being as ultra-fun as it is ultra-violent, and its incredible neon-drug-haze 80's aesthetic and soundtrack still outdo Deathloop's 60's Blacksploitation vibes on cohesion, and raw awesomeness... ... however, just below those is The Surge. Now, I really loved The Surge. I think what it did with the Souls-like formula is both awesome to play, and important, in the sense that it is basically the proof that the genre can work in a setting outside of high/low fantasy, however, it is playing in a similar design ethos as Deathloop. It has some new ideas - but is applying them to an existing framework, and in The Surge's case, it does less bending and breaking of the existing rules of the Souls genre than Deathloop does with the Immersive Sim. While The Surge does some new concepts, (and good ones at that,) I still think a player would need to be a fan of Souls-likes already, to appreciate it. It does nothing to solve existing issues that put off non-souls-fans. Deathloop, on the other hand, legitimately adds things that could make it appealing to those who actively dislike Immersive Sims. It potentially pulls in new players to a genre - The Surge just offers variety to those already at the Souls-Party. As such, I believe Deathloop deserves its spot just above The Surge! Through the Darkest of Times Summary: There are two things I can confidently state right at the top of this review. 1. It's most likely the first time you are reading one on this particular site, given that between the two stacks of this game, there are only 4 platinum achievers, and less than 130 total owners. This is not a widely played game. 2. You should wear a seatbelt while reading this one, because the quick snap between praise and condemnation are liable to cause whiplash! Set across 4 chapters, each taking place during a significant point in the rise and fall of the Nazi party and the Third Reich in Germany, Through the Darkest of Times is a game that does not approach history with any flights of fancy. The player is not going to have any opportunity to change or improve the course of history. They guide their small band of randomly generated resistance members through 1933, with the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor and the burning of the Reichstag, then 1936, through the German Olympic games and Hitlers (largely successful) masking of the true state of Germany to the outside world, then 1941, with the war in full effect, then through 1945, during the downfall of the Third Reich and the implementation of the final solution. The purpose of this game - it should be stated clearly - is not to have fun. It is to educate. In that regard, it succeeds, and does it in a way that is fairly stylish in its minimalistic, signature visuals, and deft in its use of overbearing odds and difficulty as both a gameplay and narrative mechanic. The game treats history as set in stone. The nuance of success and failure within the context of the game is, in the grand scheme, small. A wholly successful playthrough of the game is measured by the ability of the group to stay alive, out of prison, and without descending into abject despair and dissolution in the face of overwhelming odds. If they are able to help some people along the way, that is great, but even the most successful playthrough will likely do one of a few key things. Perhaps destroy a few weapons stashes. Maybe help smuggle a few people (10-15 maximum) across the border to some relative safety. Possibly even broadcast some information about the internal atrocities to the outside world - but never more than that. Even those modest successes are tricky to achieve, and fraught with potential disaster for the members of the group. Most likely, the first few playthroughs of the game will not even manage these outcomes. Either the group will simply manage to survive, achieving little else, or will end up disbanded, arrested, in a concentration camp, or dead. Where the game excels, is in these early playthroughs. The story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich is well known to virtually every person on the planet at this point. Indeed, it forms part a major part of high-school history curriculums in most European countries, however, what lends Through the Darkest of Times its potency is not in the retelling of historical fact writ large, but by telling, with extreme specificity and careful nuance, how these events felt to those in Germany at the time. The game's best parts are its narrative elements, and these are intercut throughout the strategic gameplay at a steady rate. Every turn (each chapter consists of 19-20 turns) has some form of minor conversation between the members of the residence group themselves, but every second or third turn is also broken up with motion comic images and textual, choice-based narrative storytelling, wherein friends, neighbours and ordinary Germans are interacted with. These sections do an excellent, often chilling job of showing different aspects of how a great country descended into fascism. The people who support the Nazi's are not presented as monsters - to do so would be to demean history, and to fail to learn from it. Instead, they are polite, nice people. They share cake. They break bread. They wave hello. They discuss politics and religion and socialism, but the creeping way in which a borderline messianic figure like Adolf Hitler has an effect on different people, and the slow justifications of peoples support of his policies, and the way such politics play into existing fears and biases is handled with care and consideration - making the entire narrative claustrophobic and sobering. Because we, as players, have the benefit of historical knowledge, the sometimes, naive, sometimes hopeless, sometimes desperate or misguided indications given by citizens we meet have a gnawing, gut-churning horror to them, and the game knows this. It is a testament to the writers and the game developers that they do not tend towards accenting these instances with overwrought effects or hanging narrative lanterns. That they are unaccented and unassuming is the most horrifying part of all. In terms of mechanics, Through the Darkest of Times states, right in the cover art, what it is - A Historical Residence Strategy Game. That format - a title, and a wordy description - is unusual in the marketing of videogames, but is actually common to another genre - tabletop games. That is, I think, no accident. Through the Darkest of Times feels very, very much like a tabletop game, and if it were not for the deeply problematic element that would come from one player having to assume the role that the CPU takes in this case - that of the Nazi regime - I would imagine the game would completely work as a tabletop venture. The actual game elements, aside from the narrative, choice-based sections, is very much a resource management, dice-roll-based game of percentages. The players little band of resistance members use what little resources they have to complete missions - shown as simple icons on a still map of Berlin - in order to receive other resources in return, with a risk reward structure that works very much on a Dungeons and Dragons +1-style roll system. Each member has various stats (Secrecy / Strength / Empathy / Propaganda etc.) as well an affiliation (Social Democrat / Communist / Catholic Conservative etc,) a job, specific positive and negative traits, and of course, an age and gender - and each of these elements can make them more or less suited to specific tasks. If trying to raise funds from the Christian community, for example, the most efficient method may be to send a fellow Christian, however, a Social Conservative with a higher Propaganda and Empathy skill may be the better option. Those kind of decisions are common, however, there are other factors that are a constant source of issues too. Every task, from the most risky to the most benign, comes with the risk of being seen. Amass too much notoriety, and the gestapo may come calling - unless you are able to go into hiding, or make your records disappear. If arrested morale in the group will plummet. Some other members may be able to break you out, but that's taking them away from other things, and risks their own capture - and every day counts. With every new day, more atrocities happen, and the group is suffering a constant drip-drip-drip of declining morale, declining support, and declining funds, which can only be alleviated with constant, careful action. Simply holding things together is a task, in and of itself. This can lead the game to feel oppressively crushing and overwhelmingly bleak. And it is. It's meant to be. Living in Germany at that time was. The game does a fascinatingly good job of making simple survival, even without achieving anything else, difficult. It is incredibly easy for one poor decision, or bad roll to start a domino effect that means the group goes from planning a big mission, to simply fire-fighting and struggling to even make it to the end of a chapter. That may make the game sound less than fun, and... well... I can't help that. It's true. That isn't fun. It's desperate, crushing, difficult and not prone to any kind of fist pumping victory. Even if everything goes perfectly, and a mission is achieved, there is a good chance some members will be arrested or killed for their efforts. Actually managing to pull off one of the 'special' bigger missions without it tipping the group over the edge of ruin requires a huge amount of planning, luck and the right people, but the game does not treat that as some world-changing event. At best, the group survives to struggle the next chapter, back to square one. In some very real ways, the game put me in mind of This War of Mine. That game also was about normal people simply trying to survive abnormal events out of their control, and in its best moments, Through the Darkest of Times can actually outpace This War of Mine on the educational and narrative front. In both cases, there is a crushing sense of impending doom - indeed, in some sense, Through the Darkest of Times actually succeeds more in this regard also, as, unlike This War of Mine, is is much, much more difficult to ever get to a 'comfortable' place. A minor quibble I had with This War of Mine, was that after a certain number of days, it could become easy to survive, lessening the impact of the game's thesis statement. By 'resetting' the playing field each Chapter, Through the Darkest of Times avoids this. However - there is a catch. Actually three of them. Firstly, the actual gameplay of Through the Darkest of Times, as compared to This War of Mine, is lacking. Yes, there is a lot of nuance to it, and yes, it works in this context, but This War of Mine's gameplay was varied and interesting enough that I believe it would work, even without the Wartime setting and statement. I don't necessarily believe the same could be said of Through the Darkest of Times. The platinum required a large number of replays, and the gameplay did begin the drag a little by the end, in a way This War of Mine's didn't. Secondly, the narrative of This War of Mine was entirely born out of the specific playable characters. Because it was set in a less specific, more broad 'wartime' and did not reference specific historical events, it is lent a repeatability and universality that Through the Darkest of Times lacks. Now, that is not an issue from the educational side - indeed, there is real history to be learned here, and real lessons to be learned and parallels to be drawn, which is admirable - however, it means repeatability is an issue. The first time I played, those narrative sections had a genuinely profound, moving or horrifying effect on me. By my 10th playthrough, they had become an irritating distraction. That isn't casting shade on the content, just on the repetition. I had seen them too many times, and they do not change dramatically, so the impact was, unavoidably, lessened. Even Schindler's List would get you numb if you watched it 10 times in 4 days! Finally - and this is a big one, and the most sizeable caveat in a game that I do broadly recommend - the game has technical issues. Quite a few of them. There game is a port from PC, and it hasn't been ported perfectly. There are a few minor issues, such as grammatical inconsistencies or spelling errors in text, which are silly, but ultimately unimportant. There are some technical running issues, such as the game crashing around once for every two or three playthroughs which are less so. There is, notably, a mode called 'Resistance Mode' which is basically Iron Man, with no saves - which I never touched. I might have, but the game crashed consistently enough in Story Mode, that I didn't have any confidence in my ability to make it through a full run without saves. That is a bit of a shame. Then, there is the ones that are not at all acceptable - issues with UI not being corrected for controller. Inputs can be finicky and unresponsive at times. It can occasionally be difficult, when there are a lot of icons on the map, to select the desired one with the D-Pad, as it is designed for a mouse and keyboard. Some menus can have issues, where, for example, if data goes onto a second page, it is not possible to flip to the second page, and so you need to use icons from the first. The worst though, is in item management, and this issue actually cost me a full run. To explain: if you collect more items than you are able to store, an 'overburdened' items slot opens up, and requires you to move some items back and forth from your inventory, to 'trash' before you can continue. This menu simply DOES NOT WORK. There is a tutorial video attached, showing you that you need to drag items from one menu to the other to select which items to keep. However, this has never been modified to allow use of the controller. you cannot drag items back and forth. As such, whatever is the newest item, MUST be trashed. There is no other option. I cannot describe the annoyance of having done a full run, all the way to Chapter 4, doing the not inconsiderable work of setting up one of the big, final missions, sending all my agents to steal 3 pieces of necessary documentation, actually succeeding in all 3, which should be the final preparation needed... then having one of those items overburden me. I was forced to trash that mission critical item, in favour of keeping a bunch of useless coal in my inventory, thus destroying any hope of finishing the mission, and essentially wasting the entirety of a 2 hour run. While I fully accept this is a small game from a small dev, that is a serious oversight, and one the game should not have over a year after console release. Yes, I was likely simply the victim of bad fortune - indeed, it is relatively rare to ever get to the point of overburden - but the fact that it hit at such a critical moment was disastrous, and disheartening. Overall, despite the technical issues, it's hard not to have respect for Through the Darkest of Times. It's a simple game, and one that, given its minimalist graphics and niche-genre mechanics, are not going to appeal broadly, however, its overall aim - to show how insidious fascism gets it's hooks in ordinary people, and draws power from that ensorcelled proletariat - is handled extremely well. It has genuine educational value - I could absolutely envision school children being encouraged to play a few games of Through the Darkest of Times as an educational tool in history class, in the vein of something like Oregon Trail. For the rest of us, education is key too. Education should not stop at graduation, and if one can learn new things while playing in a hobby, all the better. On that front, you could do a lot worse than Through the Darkest of Times. The Ranking: It is a virtual requirement that I compare Through the Darkest of Times to This War of Mine, as the parallels are obvious, and I think Through the Darkest of Times has the potential to be as important a game as I feel that one was on the same merits. However, here in the rankings, we really need to look holistically, and the fact is that Through the Darkest of Times isn't on the same level in terms of gameplay, graphics, or technical merit. Educationally, it excels, but as much as I might want to pretend - and still recommend playing it - there are other aspects that hurt it too much for it to be close to competing at that kind of level on this ranking. This War of Mine does not ask many repetitions of the player in pursuit of the S-Rank, and that increases its impact. Through the Darkest of Times asks far too many, lessening its. Ironically, I have returned to This War of Mine numerous times. I cannot imagine I will do the same for Through the Darkest of Times, and impactful as those first couple of playthroughs were. That actually puts Through the Darkest of Times in what should be a difficult spot, as I don't play a huge number of strategy games, (so there are no comparison points on that front,) and there aren't many historical or educational games on the list either. It is something of a no mans land for the game. One would think that should make it a very difficult game to find the correct spot for, but actually, the fact that it comes down to gut feel here means, for one of the first times, I really managed to very quickly identify where it should go! Around the halfway mark on the current list, lie two game, very dissimilar from each other - Historically interesting, if flawed 3d Action Stealth game Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, and educationally stimulating, if gameplay-light platformer Type:Rider. It feels immediately apparent to me that ACIII:Liberation is a better overall product than Through the Darkest of Times (owing as much to Through the Darkest of Times' technical flaws than anything else,) however, the educational value of Through the Darkest of Times more than overpowers that of Type:Rider, and by enough to carry it above that game. That might feel a little 'unscientific' - but hey, in the same way that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, gut feeling is just science without the proper terms, right? As such Through the Darkest of Times finds its spot! So there we have it folks! Thanks to @GonzoWARgasm , @Eagle & @Shrooba for putting in requests! Hitman 3 remains the 'Current Most Awesome Game'! Space Overlords stays as the worst-of-the-worst, with the title of 'Least Awesome Game' What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the top spot... or the bottom rung? That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU! Remember: SPECIAL NOTE If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank).... and aren't already on the Rankings! Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! ☮️ Edited September 29, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 That was a hell of a good read as ever man! 3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Stumbling around will, most likely, eventually solve the puzzle within a reasonable timeframe. Well that was certainly how I used to find my way through the Myst games (can we have a collection of those for console please). Fiddle with everything until it works ( word to the wise folks, this doesn't work in real life ?). I too was pretty stricken by those bugs in Ether One, in fact I think when I first played it, it was broken to the point where I think the platinum might have been unattainable. But I could be misremembering that I'm sure I played it in 2015 - I did the exact same thing you did man, where you switch the game off thinking it had crashed - when in fact it just wanted you to sit in a loading screen for half a day. I'd never really thought of it like a Walking Sim before - but I can totally see where you're coming from, I always just saw it as a puzzler, with fairly light puzzle elements, compared to what I'd usually come to expect from the genre, but also I guess Ether One was my first Walking Sim without me even knowing about it.... The more you know eh? It's a shame because it is one of those ones where as you alluded to, you have to say "well......The stories great, BUT..... It's also fairly heavy on bugs" that's an understatement too, the narrative really is great - and it's very memorable too. I genuinely laughed out loud a few times during that God of War II write up - you made Kratos sound exactly like what he is - which is the barbarous equivalent of one of those self absorbed people who constantly spout their really offensive or unnecessary view points - then if people get offended, turn it on you by quickly hiding behind the veneer of "hey I can say what I like. it's fine that I THINK THAT, it's just an opinion." Instead of learning from their past a bit, which apparently from what you've said they address a fair bit in the latest one. Unfortunately this Kratos is likely to use your arms and legs as twirling batons if you disagree with those viewpoints. You'll get no disagreement from me about God of War II being better than Tomb Raider: Legend, however I much I might personally like that game. However..... 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: While I am a big fan of Tomb Raider: Legend, it has to be noted that, of the three 'strains' of Crystal Dynamics Lara-Croft-featuring games, I think the lesser is their original trilogy. That is not a denigration - Legend is, after all, still pretty highly ranked - however, I think it represents the best version of the least interesting form of Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider game I really wish I could disagree with this application of science - but I just don't... That trilogy is a bit of a mess in places - which you kind of just can't get around however much I might personally enjoy it. I'm certainly not blind to the problems it has. You need to make me stop getting the urge of reaching for my dusty PS3 controller every time you talk about these Lara Croft titles man! I still can't quite fathom the fact I haven't played them yet - pretty shite Tomb Raider fan huh? You did this one an insane amount of justice though - and I very much look forward to the time that I do tackle them. The co-op element to them sounds incredibly interesting, especially as playing it solo and co-op gives it some extra re-playability that's a fantastic feature. Which reminds me.... I have a little Tomb Raider revisit of my own that I need to finish off! I was also very happy to learn that you don't need to have the level of skill those maniacs that play Dance Dance Revolution on a keyboard at high speeds posses, to have fun with those Persona titles - I've been interested in them for a bit, at least the Persona 3 one at least as it's the only Persona I've played. I SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at Rhythm Games, so to hear that you don't need to be absolutely godlike to get through them is definitely a big bonus. From what you wrote about Deathloop. Which looks like it's been another quality outing from Arkane, if not quite as high quality as some of their other outings - I found the thing with Julianna really interesting to read about, that's a really interesting element that you could have your progress suddenly interrupted and then the entire aspect of that part your playing could change as a result, that's a fascinating inclusion! I could already see you were going to compare Through the Darkest of Times with This War of Mine - from the outset, the way you described it they sounded very tonally similar. It doesn't sound like the gameplay is anything too similar though. It's a shame that from what you'd written the game doesn't seem to stand up too well to multiple playthroughs in quick succession. Due in no small part to repetition. Some games seem to do that far better than others, this one seemingly not so much. This seems like one of those games where the inclusion of trophies doesn't really benefit it all that much, because it required you to go far beyond the games natural runtime.... Or perhaps I'm being unfair to the trophies and it's just not structured in a way that's particularly repeatable? I couldn't say - as I've not personally played it. Incredibly interesting stuff as ever mate. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) 40 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Well that was certainly how I used to find my way through the Myst games (can we have a collection of those for console please). Fiddle with everything until it works ( word to the wise folks, this doesn't work in real life ). man - for a long time, between playing Myst on the Acorn computer my mom would bring home from the school she taught at during summers, and the Discworld point and click game, I thought "Try everything on everything until a thing happens" was basically what videogames were! You've got to hand it to Myst - I haven't touched that game in 20 years, but I can still recall some of the images clear as any game - I remember reading they re-released it in full 3D, for VR on PC, but it never seemed to make it to PSVR. I know that crowd-funded new game Obduction is from the same devs, and I think that's on PS4, so I should really check that out... Quote I too was pretty stricken by those bugs in Ether One, in fact I think when I first played it, it was broken to the point where I think the platinum might have been unattainable. But I could be misremembering that I'm sure I played it in 2015 - I did the exact same thing you did man, where you switch the game off thinking it had crashed - when in fact it just wanted you to sit in a loading screen for half a day. I'd never really thought of it like a Walking Sim before - but I can totally see where you're coming from, I always just saw it as a puzzler, with fairly light puzzle elements, compared to what I'd usually come to expect from the genre, but also I guess Ether One was my first Walking Sim without me even knowing about it.... The more you know eh? It's a shame because it is one of those ones where as you alluded to, you have to say "well......The stories great, BUT..... It's also fairly heavy on bugs" that's an understatement too, the narrative really is great - and it's very memorable too. The problem is, from our point of view on this site, a game like Ether One which excels in one area, but suffers in another really can't be viewed as the good aspect, given that we tend to want that platinum, so we have to view the whole game as a package. I mean, it's not like it should ever be acceptable that one aspect of a game is lacking, but with the advent of achievements and trophies, it really does make 'turning a blind eye' to the less good sides of games less tenable - if there's trophies attached to an aspect of a game, we are always going to judge that game based on those! Quote I really wish I could disagree with this application of science - but I just don't... That trilogy is a bit of a mess in places - which you kind of just can't get around however much I might personally enjoy it. I'm certainly not blind to the problems it has. Yeah, it's not like I didn't enjoy the Keeley Hawes trilogy - and Legend it definitely the best of that lot in my opinion - it's just... there's something not quite as impressive about them. It might just be that those are the ones where Crystal Dynamics are still wearing Core Designs old clothes. They can clean them up, and do some tailoring, but in the end, that retro sports coat is never going to look as fresh and brand new as it did when Core was wearing it in it's prime - back in the Tomb Raider II days. As well as Crystal managed to inject their new ideas into th existing formula, both the Lara Croft games, and the rebooted trilogy proved just how much more they had in the tank, and going back now, it does feel like the original trilogy was them 'paying off Core's outstanding debts' before they could clean the slate and start their own thing. Quote You need to make me stop getting the urge of reaching for my dusty PS3 controller every time you talk about these Lara Croft titles man! I still can't quite fathom the fact I haven't played them yet - pretty shite Tomb Raider fan huh? You did this one an insane amount of justice though - and I very much look forward to the time that I do tackle them. The co-op element to them sounds incredibly interesting, especially as playing it solo and co-op gives it some extra re-playability that's a fantastic feature. Oh - it's worth noting, both are great - but actually (and I didn't do this, so take it with a grain of salt...) I genuinely think the better way to approach those two Lara Croft games may actually be in reverse order... doing Temple of Osiris first. They control very similarly, and are definitely in the same gameplay vein - the big different is that Orisis allows for up to 4player co-op rather than 2-player, but Osiris is oddly easier and more manageable - and in this day and age, when access to a PS4 game is easier, I think that could be a good way to get the flavour for them, without having to blow the dust out of the PS3! Quote I was also very happy to learn that you don't need to have the level of skill those maniacs that play Dance Dance Revolution on a keyboard at high speeds posses, to have fun with those Persona titles - I've been interested in them for a bit, at least the Persona 3 one at least as it's the only Persona I've played. I SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK at Rhythm Games, so to hear that you don't need to be absolutely godlike to get through them is definitely a big bonus. Dude - I have all the rhythm game ability of a geriatric's coronary infarction, so if I can do them, literally anyone can ? Basically, there is one prerequisite to playing Persona Dancing Games - do you feel F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S? ??? Quote From what you wrote about Deathloop. Which looks like it's been another quality outing from Arkane, if not quite as high quality as some of their other outings - I found the thing with Julianna really interesting to read about, that's a really interesting element that you could have your progress suddenly interrupted and then the entire aspect of that part your playing could change as a result, that's a fascinating inclusion! Deathloop has been one of my most odd experiences with a game and popular opinion in a long time! So, you know how I feel about Arkane games generally - Prey, Dishonoured - they tickle my balls in a way very few games can, but the general consensus has always been tepid - "These are good, but niche" and they kind of run under the radar a bit. Then comes Deathloop - and the critical reception has been off the charts. Every podcast and site I look at is head over heels in love with it! I like it a lot, don't get me wrong, and I can totally see why it's got appeal beyond the usual crowd of Immersive Sim weirdos (of which I am happy to be one!) however, a strange thing I've noticed is - most of the things those glowing reviews cite as great about it WERE ALSO GREAT IN THOSE PREVIOUS GAMES! I'm over here being like "What Happened before, guys?!?!" I mean, maybe it's just a time and place thing - folks more willing to see positives in a big exclusive during a relative drought (I suspect some of the same thing that happened with Returnal), but the funny thing with Deathloop is... When I finished Dishonoured, I loved it, and wanted more Dishonoured. When I finished Prey, I loved it, and wanted more Prey. When I finished Deathloop, I loved it... and I wanted more Dishonoured and Prey! Quote I could already see you were going to compare Through the Darkest of Times with This War of Mine - from the outset, the way you described it they sounded very tonally similar. It doesn't sound like the gameplay is anything too similar though. It's a shame that from what you'd written the game doesn't seem to stand up too well to multiple playthroughs in quick succession. Due in no small part to repetition. Some games seem to do that far better than others, this one seemingly not so much. This seems like one of those games where the inclusion of trophies doesn't really benefit it all that much, because it required you to go far beyond the games natural runtime.... Or perhaps I'm being unfair to the trophies and it's just not structured in a way that's particularly repeatable? I couldn't say - as I've not personally played it. Yeah, it's one of those games - I so want to recommend it, as there is huge value in seeing it through for the first few times, but it has to come with those technical caveats - and even more caveats for completionists - it will wear out it's welcome a bit. It's just the price you have to pay! Edited September 29, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayhammmer Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 In honor of Deathloop being similar to a rogue lite, I would like an analysis of one of the first games to use the term 'rogue lite', Rogue Legacy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 30 minutes ago, grayhammmer said: In honor of Deathloop being similar to a rogue lite, I would like an analysis of one of the first games to use the term 'rogue lite', Rogue Legacy. Flagged with your name! ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starcrunch061 Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) Reading your most recent ranking post, I was struck by this comment: It feels weird to mention the other two Dancing games here, as neither is yet ranked, but it is worth noting that, while I enjoy the music of Persona 4 a lot, I do think the music lends itself a little less well to this kind of rhythm game than the music selections of either other game, and I do think the lengthly Visual Novel sections drag a bit. That does virtually guarantee that both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight will eventually rank higher and while that doesn't necessarily help in this placement, it is of value to consider. As someone who thought that the P3 and P5 Dancing games were rather a downgrade from P4D, I eagerly await your scientific analysis. Edited September 29, 2021 by starcrunch061 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said: Reading your most recent ranking post, I was struck by this comment: It feels weird to mention the other two Dancing games here, as neither is yet ranked, but it is worth noting that, while I enjoy the music of Persona 4 a lot, I do think the music lends itself a little less well to this kind of rhythm game than the music selections of either other game, and I do think the lengthly Visual Novel sections drag a bit. That does virtually guarantee that both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight will eventually rank higher and while that doesn't necessarily help in this placement, it is of value to consider. As someone who thought that the P3 and P5 Dancing games were rather a downgrade from P4D, I eagerly await your scientific analysis. The funny thing with those games, is that if I was asked, prior to playing them, which music I preferred from the main games, P4 would have been my answer for sure - I liked the music in Persona 5 a lot, and I still haven't played P3, but P4 had the most memorable tracks to me, and I certainly remembered more music from that one than P5... ...but for some reason, I found that P4, in terms of the actual enjoyment of the soundtrack in that rhythm game setting, to be the weaker of the the three. I can't quite put my finger on whether that is simply overfamiliarity with P4 music, or it just doesn't quite lend itself to being removed from the in-context settings of the JRPG, but it was definitely the case for me Edited September 29, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrooba Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Starting with the visuals, Ether One is pretty strong. It is first-person, and as a port from PC, bringing with it a particularly clean and crisp 'Half-Life-esque' visual style. The sections of the game that take place in the 'real-world', within the Ether corporation labs, have a heavy Portal-meets-Bioshock vibe - Portal in the sense of the technological art-style (aided significantly by the GladOS-like ever-present voice-over accompaniment of Dr Phyllis,) and Bioshock in the art-deco inspired signage and building design. It looks perfectly adequate, if never outstanding. This is giddy to my ears; a visual mix of Half-Life, Portal, and Bioshock you say? I may need to try this one out on this alone! ? However, with the crashing and inventory stuff, do you reckon I should give this a go? I've dealt with glitchy experiences like Cyberpunk 2077 and Sonic Colours: Ultimate, but do you think this detracts from the experience? I might play it back-to-back with The Spectrum Retreat when I get around to playing it. You've opened up quite a lot of games for me to check out, thanks! 7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: God of War II Awesome review on Bald Justice 2: Titanic Boogaloo God of War II! ? When it comes to the game being developed on the PS2, I think it's in part due to developing games for the PS3 being godawful at first, and I believe it's also the reason Persona 4 released on the PS2 as well (I'm still hoping for a PS4/PS5 release, can't believe the Dancing spinoff from the Vita gets a port but not the main game!!! ?). I've been thinking of playing the other GoW games since all I've played are GoW 3 Remastered and GoW 4, but the rest are on PS3, and in Australia we don't have PS Now for some reason, so I gotta dust off ol' Mr. PS3 again... I believe one of the GoW games has an online trophy or something, so if I get to doing them, I'll probably do that first. I think it was Ascension? Going from the PS5 controller back to the PS3 controller is gonna feel awkward! ? As for the sequel, GoW 3, I feel as though the writers attempted to put Kratos in a new direction, with Pandora and everything, but I wish they elaborated on it more; he only really regrets the thought of using her at the very last moment. The whole mentor thing was explored much more in GoW 4 and really fleshed out Kratos as something more than an angry guy. With that said, if it's alright, I'd like to add God of War 3: Remastered to the priority list but only if you're okay with it. I say this because I can tell Kratos' one note character isn't your thing, but I'm so eager to hear your thoughts on his progression as a person in GoW 4 that I'd love to continue hearing your thoughts on the series! 7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: It feels weird to mention the other two Dancing games here, as neither is yet ranked, but it is worth noting that, while I enjoy the music of Persona 4 a lot, I do think the music lends itself a little less well to this kind of rhythm game than the music selections of either other game, and I do think the lengthly Visual Novel sections drag a bit. That does virtually guarantee that both Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight will eventually rank higher and while that doesn't necessarily help in this placement, it is of value to consider. Gonna be cool to see your thoughts on the other dancing games, especially Persona 3: Dancing since you haven't played P3 yet; I wonder what your thoughts on the character interactions are? ? The social links definitely play a large part of P3/P5 Dancing and you spend most of your time doing stuff to unlock all of them, and it definitely serves a replacement for the visual novel aspect P4:D had. Admittedly, the visual novel stuff did go on for quite a long time, didn't it? I wish Specialist was incorporated in the story somehow! One can only wish... ? 7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Deathloop Man, this game's been everywhere, hasn't it? ? I've been hearing so much positive stuff about it. Out of all the games you've played, placing it at 30 is a pretty high ranking, which means it's good stuff! When you mention the day resetting every 24 hours, Groundhog Day instantly popped up in my head. If that's the premise the game takes, that's pretty cool! If only Bill Murray were in the game... If only. When you mention that the enemies feel similar to that of the ones in Bioshock, it makes me curious to see what the devs were thinking when making Deathloop. I've only played Bioshock Infinite, so I don't have much knowledge on 1 and 2, but I can only imagine that Deathloop's enemies as a result are quite zany, and after playing the Borderlands series, I love me some zany! Cool stuff, and I look forward to what's next! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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