Baker’s Final March

[Joe Dubz]

In no particular order, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Breath of Fire are my all-time fave JRPGs... What I would give for proper remakes and plats to claim for that trio ??

 

Also props to @DrBloodmoney for mentioning Illusions of Gaia... I forgot that gem even existed!!

Edited July 25, 2021 by Joe Dubz

[ShadyWARcotix]

On 11.7.2021 at 10:19 PM, Arcesius said:

Yeah I checked out Exist Archive, and it looks... unique? I can't say that I didn't like it, but you are right, it doesn't seem to be a game made for me, either. I will keep it in mind together with Shin Megami Tensei III though and see which one goes on sale first. I probably wouldn't get to play either before I get my 100th plat, and both games are pretty expensive for being quite old 

 

As for Yakuza... I dunno man, can't really say it's a series that interests me... Is it wrong to say it's "Japanese GTA"? Cause while I enjoyed playing through some GTAs in the past, those games have never been the ones to truly appeal to me... 

 

I platted all Yakuza games on PS4 (except Like a Dragon, I'm on it) and some Spin Offs and I was like you. Before I bought Yakuza 0 and started the series I always heard that people say "Yakuza is like GTA only in Japan" or some shit like that and I'm honest. Yakuza 0 is one of the greatest games I have ever played. It's my favorite game in the series which doesn't mean that the rest is bad.

 

If I were you I would just buy it and If you love it you can go with the series. Every Yakuza games builds on the prequel (Except Like a Dragon, you have a new protagonist here) that means you have to play it in the order. 0, 1, 2 and so on.

 

Yakuza 0 or the Yakuza series in general is a crazy story driven game. It's very emotional, it's brutal but funny and sad in the same time. Behind that story you have many sidequest to do. Playing minigames like Dart, Billiard etc. You can even visit Sega Arcade and play oldschool games like Outrun or Virtua Fighter.  I would say this game is more like Streets of Rage in 3D not like GTA. People always say that "Every open world" is a GTA clone. You have only two cities and those aren't big. Those are very small but full with stuff. Like next to the story you have substories which are short stories which have mostly a "real life" lesson or are just funny and stupid in general. You have a colloseum where you fight enemies. It has really a lot of content I don't want to spoil to much but If you can get this game on sale. Just buy it and try it. You can't go wrong believe me.

Edited July 25, 2021 by ShadyWARcotix

[AJ_Radio]

There is literally a ton of differences between Yakuza and Grand Theft Auto.

 

GTA is basically a parody on American pop culture. Yakuza focuses on the Japanese gangs, and the series largely takes place in the 1980s and 1990s, when Japan was going thru an economic boom.

 

On 7/24/2021 at 11:14 PM, ShadyWARcotix said:

 

I platted all Yakuza games on PS4 (except Like a Dragon, I'm on it) and some Spin Offs and I was like you. Before I bought Yakuza 0 and started the series I always heard that people say "Yakuza is like GTA only in Japan" or some shit like that and I'm honest. Yakuza 0 is one of the greatest games I have ever played. It's my favorite game in the series which doesn't mean that the rest is bad.

 

If I were you I would just buy it and If you love it you can go with the series. Every Yakuza games builds on the prequel (Except Like a Dragon, you have a new protagonist here) that means you have to play it in the order. 0, 1, 2 and so on.

 

Yakuza 0 or the Yakuza series in general is a crazy story driven game. It's very emotional, it's brutal but funny and sad in the same time. Behind that story you have many sidequest to do. Playing minigames like Dart, Billiard etc. You can even visit Sega Arcade and play oldschool games like Outrun or Virtua Fighter.  I would say this game is more like Streets of Rage in 3D not like GTA. People always say that "Every open world" is a GTA clone. You have only two cities and those aren't big. Those are very small but full with stuff. Like next to the story you have substories which are short stories which have mostly a "real life" lesson or are just funny and stupid in general. You have a colloseum where you fight enemies. It has really a lot of content I don't want to spoil to much but If you can get this game on sale. Just buy it and try it. You can't go wrong believe me.

 

That alone makes Yakuza 0 worth having.

[Wild-Arms-R]

42 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

There is literally a ton of differences between Yakuza and Grand Theft Auto.

 

GTA is basically a parody on American pop culture. Yakuza focuses on the Japanese gangs, and the series largely takes place in the 1980s and 1990s, when Japan was going thru an economic boom.

 

 

That alone makes Yakuza 0 worth having.

Id say its more like a morden take River City Ransom(Core gameplay)

[Baker]

 #298

 

 

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

 

Enjoyment: 10/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 60 hours

 

I ❤️ Ys!

 

A new adventure set in the world of Ys where once again you play as series protagonist Adol Christin. The game starts when Adol gets to the city of Balduq, and immediately gets thrown into prison for committed ‘crimes’, your adventures in previous games. As you break out a woman named Aprilis shoots you with a magical bullet giving you special powers. You have now been cursed and can travel to the world of Grimwald Nox, a shadow world, to fight monsters to protect the city. The curse also prevents you from ever leaving the city again. A short while into the game a cutscene comes and you see another young man being locked up in prison and it’s.. Adol. Wait.. Two Adols? From here the story picks up and you meet your party members along the way. The story was good, but nothing memorable, and has a couple of references to previous Ys games. But Ys is not really a game I play for the story..

 

..it’s for the battle system. Ys has the best battle system in any JRPG I know that’s not turn based. It’s so fast paced and with an amazing soundtrack that really complements it I can play this 24/7. Let me explain real quick how it works. Your basic attacks build your skill meter. Skills do more damage as basic attacks. Using skills builds your special meter. If you use this you can use your special attack, which is the most powerful, and it builds back your skill meter again. Very simple, but very good at the same time.
 

You also have flash move and flash guard, dodge and block. Flash move slows down time for a short while, and flash guard grants critical hits. If you’re planning on playing this game on higher difficulties from the start, this is really a mechanic you need to master. Otherwise you get destroyed.

 

And it has some really good Boss battles. There were a few returns of some Ys Origin bosses in this game. Even though every Ys game has a standalone story it does play in the same world every time. Sigh.. Nygtilger, one of the bosses I hated in Ys Origin. No surprise in this game it was the worst boss too.
 

I quickly looked at a guide before starting because most of the time these games have many missables. But it stated it was the easiest Ys game to get 100% in game so I decided to play without any guide for once. The guide turned out to be correct as nothing is missable as long as you complete all side quests. And that’s were I screwed up. I missed the very first side quest in the game ?. Not that it mattered much because I was going for two playthroughs anyway. One on Normal, and one on Nightmare where I carried over all my gear, skills and levels making it just as easy as a Normal playthrough.
 

I don’t play Ys for difficulty but for fun, and Nightmare is normally the highest difficulty in an Ys game. It’s pretty challenging. This game also had Inferno and Lunatic. Now that would be tough!

 

This game has everything I look for in a action JRPG. 10/10! 

Now that I’m close to 300 platinums I really have my mind set on doing Ys Origin as my milestone platinum. As it will be my last platinum milestone, let’s get my White Whale in there!

 

If I manage to do it, I’ll jump straight into Wolfenstein II, as I’m also pretty hyped about attempting Mein Leben after watching many streams from Koro und Husky. Now that I’ve seen most ML strategies, it would be wise to start this soon. I’m only going for it if I can finish Ys Origin though.

 

Now to find a game for #299. I want to get it quick, but I have no idea what to play. My entire backlog are either long or difficult games that would take a few weeks to complete. I’m looking for something short, under 20 hours, and easy, so I can start working on Ys Origin. I went through the current Summer Sale a few times now but I can’t see anything at first glance.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Baker
Improvements

[Joe Dubz]

Congrats on the plat! Hmm, the more I hear you describe these Ys games, the more I want to play them! Where should a noob start in this series?

 

As for your quick easy plat... MY NAME IS MAYO for the win!! ?

[Baker]

8 hours ago, Joe Dubz said:

Congrats on the plat! Hmm, the more I hear you describe these Ys games, the more I want to play them! Where should a noob start in this series?

 

As for your quick easy plat... MY NAME IS MAYO for the win!! 

I would start with the same entry I did. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Conveniently it’s on sale right now. Just as good as Monstrum Nox, maybe even better. 

 

As for the easy game. I’ve narrowed it down to two options.
 

1: Bite the bullet and finish DMC5, even though I really don’t want to at the moment. But I can do this in a week.

 

2: Buy Ghostrunner. Seems like a fun game. Not too easy, not too hard and it’s under 20 hours. I can finish this over the weekend.

 

Leaning more towards 2 at the moment.

 

Edit: Screw Devil May Cry 5. I bought Ghostrunner.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Baker

[Joe Dubz]

3 hours ago, Baker said:

I would start with the same entry I did. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Conveniently it’s on sale right now. Just as good as Monstrum Nox, maybe even better. 

 

Okay sweet, thanks for the input my man! I will look into this pronto. 

 

As for Ghostrunner, never heard of that but I watched a quick video and it looks very interesting! I like the fast pace and it seems kind of unique to me anyway. Good luck with it!

[Baker]

 #299

 

 

Ghostrunner

 

Enjoyment: 6/10

Difficulty: 6/10

Playtime: 15 hours

 

I had some high hopes for this game. And it could have been a very good game too..
 

Let’s skip the story because it’s mediocre at best and not something to play this game for.

 

The playstyle of the game reminded me a lot of Mirror’s Edge, but instead you’re playing as a robot with a samurai sword. The game comes down to three things: Platforming, combat and puzzles.

 

Let’s also skip the puzzles because they were way too easy.

 

Combat:

It’s a one hit death game, so everything from environmental to enemy damage kills you in one hit. You need to be on the move all the time during enemy encounters and I felt it played more like a puzzle. You enter a room with a set amount of enemies, and you then need to find the best route to kill them while platforming around the room while you keep moving.

Sounds fun. But this is the first point where I sometimes didn’t like the game. These rooms can be so big you have no idea where all enemies are. And once you’re in their line of sight, they will try to damage you, and they will hit you. You can’t bypass these enemies. You need to clear the room to be able to continue. So for every encounter it’s trial and error, which gets a bit boring at one point. 
 

The enemy variety was good, from a basic one bullet, to machine guns, to samurai’s, and plenty of others. For each you need a different strategy to kill them. You also get 4 abilities along the way, but I stuck with the first one, Blink, the entire game. It’s the same as in Dishonored but it cuts through enemies and their shields, making it very useful. You also have access to a slow down time mechanic, which you really need for all battles and some platforming.

Platforming:

 

This was actually really good. It’s fast and it’s fluid. You can wallrun, slide, dash, and have a grapple hook. That’s it. There are a few more mechanics like rails to hook on, powerups to grab to jump higher or run faster, shurikens to throw to solve a switch puzzle, and more. Every time the game comes up with a new mechanic to keep it fresh. I did get lost a few times because sometimes it’s hard to see where you need to start your platforming. But I can’t really complain here. Unless..

 

This game is a technical mess, and I’ve encountered a couple of level breaking glitches that made me rage multiple times. Can’t press a button to continue, platforms disappearing so I can’t continue, my R3 froze so I couldn’t use the camera, and plenty of other annoying shit.
 

Now the game has a very forgiving checkpoint system, and I think this is the main reason the trophy rarity is quite high. You finished a battle, CP. You finished a platforming section, CP. Even two out of three boss battles had a few CP’s in them. But whenever you quit to main menu and then want to continue, you start the level from the beginning. And these levels are pretty long, especially on your first playthrough. Trial and error, remember? So if you encounter these level breaking glitches the only thing you can do is restart the level. Which I had to do a couple of times.

 

In the end this could have been a really good game, but I had to punch my pillow many times to keep me from rage quitting. And therefore I can’t really recommend it. 6/10.

I also gave it a 6/10 for difficulty because in my 15 hours of playing I died over a 1000 times. Many due to not knowing where enemies are, not knowing where to go, and the glitches. It’s not a hard game, it’s a frustrating game.
 

Replaying this game once the technical issues are solved could be a great experience.

 

It’s not too positive @PooPooBlast

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Baker
Improvements

[PooPooBlast]

57 minutes ago, Baker said:

It’s not too positive @PooPooBlast

Thanks for the tag! And yea after reading this... Thanks but no thanks. I had the exact same thoughts as you. Game was appealing because of its similarity to mirror's edge but then after seeing some of the issues being frequently brought up like some of the ones you mentioned, my interest died out quickly.

 

Let's not forget also that this game came out ages ago! What the heck, why is it still so glitchy?! Anyway , hard pass from me

[Baker]

 #300

 

 

Ys Origin

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: 7/10

Playtime: 100+ hours

 

I ❤️ Ys!

 

Well, most of the time..

 

I started this game in December 2019. It was my second Ys game and I really liked it. Unfortunately because it was a long time ago I can’t remember much of the story. Only that the entire game plays in a tower which you need to climb. In chronological order this is the first Ys game, hence the title. In all other Ys games the protagonist is Adol Christin, but he’s not in this game.

 

At the start you can pick between two characters: Hugo and Yunica. Once you beat the game as both a third playable character is unlocked: Toal. Once you complete the game as Toal you finished the complete story, as only as him you can fight the true final boss.

 

These characters all play very differently and my favorite was definitely Toal. He is the fastest character and I like fast combat.

 

Getting the platinum requires quite a few things.
 

First you need to beat the story as all three characters on Normal. Then you need to do it all again on Nightmare. You also need to get to max level 60 with one character. Now because playing on Very Easy gives you much more exp. it’s faster to start a new playthrough on that difficulty. So a total of 7 playthroughs are required. If you skip all cutscenes this game is really short though, you can get to the end in three hours. My Nightmare playthroughs and my Normal playthroughs where I enjoyed the story all took around 10 hours. This is also how long it took me to get to level 60. Give or take.

 

Second you need to finish Arena mode on Nightmare too. It’s a mode where you have to beat a few waves of enemies. This way you unlock credits which you need to buy everything in the in game store. You can buy Adol Christin here as a playable character for Boss Rush. Don’t really remember much of this besides what I’ve mentioned, but it wasn’t hard. It’s more of a grind, as you need a lot of credits to unlock everything. That’s why it’s the most rare trophy in the game.

 

At the end of December 2019 I had one trophy left: Complete Boss Rush on Nightmare difficulty.

 

First let me explain real quick how leveling works in the main game. As an example the final boss is level 50. If you get there at level 48 you just get destroyed. At 49 it’s very hard. At 50 it’s tough but doable. At 51 it’s getting easier. At 52 you destroy the boss. This is all with maxed out gear. So if you are stuck on a boss, all you have to do is gain a few levels to steamroll him. Even on Nightmare difficulty.

 

Now I have the feeling Boss Rush is set at equal levels, only you don’t have maxed out gear. These bosses do a massive amount of damage while you do very little. Some can just kill you with one hit, because you get stunlocked. You have to dodge, dodge and dodge some more while trying to get some hits in.

 

So at the end of 2019 I started my first attempts at this but I noticed this game just kept on crashing for me. I’ve read in the trophy guide it was prone to crashing but I didn’t expect this. This game crashed every single time! Almost always when you’re in the continue screen after dying. After 20+ crashes I had enough and deleted the game.

 

About half a year later I gave it another go. Same result. At that point I was already at over 50 crashes. I tried to find an explanation for this. Is it my PS4? Am I extremely unlucky? Others don’t have these amount of crashes, why does this keep happening? But I just couldn’t find an answer..

 

Fastforward to a week ago. I really wanted to make this my 300th platinum so it was time for another go. And then I read a post by @Jens in @Cassylvania’s Miserable Little Pile of Platinums checklist. Where he stated the game crashed only at boss 2 and 4 for him. It never even occurred to me this game crashes more often at specific boss fights. So I immediately tested this out by running through the first four bosses many times and purposely dying many times in a row. And sure enough, it had about a 50% crash rate at boss 2 and 4 for me, while at 1 and 3 it never crashed at all. Which made sense because I hate the 4th boss and always died there at my previous attempts. 
 

So I practiced 2 and 4 a lot and then I started my new attempts. First run the game crashed at boss 7. Second time the game crashed at 11 and my third attempt crashed at 9. But at my fourth run I finally got it. There are 12 bosses btw..

 

Now my final time for boss rush was 10.5 hours! Which is a very poor time. A no death run is about 50-60 minutes. Bosses 7,8 and 12 are just brutal. I’ve spend 4 hours trying to beat Pictimos, boss 8, and every time this game went in the continue screen I got very nervous. Will it crash? I feel like I’ve aged a few years in the past week. And maybe that’s why it took me 10.5 hours, I couldn’t really focus on beating these bosses and play at my best, because of constant stress.

I gave this a 7/10 difficulty just because the three bosses I mentioned, 7,8 and 12: Khonsglard, Pictimos and Dalles kicked my ass. 

 

I think everyone that goes for the Boss Rush trophy plays as Hugo. Every character has three types of magic attacks: Wind, Fire and Thunder, and a Burst attack. Hugo’s Wind magic is a shield, and his basic attack is a long distance shooting attack, making it the safest character to play as. His Burst attack is the big blue orb you can see around him, and gives him total invulnerability. The Burst meter charges on its own, but it’s starting to charge faster the lower your HP is. In some fights it’s beneficial to play on low HP, to have quick access to this Burst attack. It saved me in the final fight.
 

I already mentioned I preferred playing as Toal, as he is much faster and does more damage, but it’s all close combat and without any kind of defensive magic it’s very hard. There is also no way to heal yourself in these battles. Not to mention as Toal you have a 13th boss to do in Boss Rush: The true final boss which is very hard to beat. Screw that. 

 

A video of me beating Dalles as Hugo in Boss Rush. This is the final boss of the game so *SPOILERS*. As you can see I barely made it..

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Never again will I play a game where the trophy guide says it’s prone to crashing. ?

 

Maybe this will help you make a decision.@pot1414

 

Now I feel I’m finally close again to my goal. A 100% profile. I still have Wolfenstein II to do, (and Devil May Cry 5 but that will come later) and I said I will start this if I ever finished Ys Origin. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do. It’s nazi killing time! (In about a week, I need to play something relaxing first)

Edited August 17, 2021 by Baker
Improvements

[Jens]

I just had to fast forward to the end to see if you survived with a sliver of health just like me. I think I shat a diamond at that point

 

But great stuff dude, that's some dedication right there!

[realm722]

4 hours ago, Baker said:

Never again will I play a game where the trophy guide says it’s prone to crashing.

 

Good lord man... Ys Origin has become a well-known game for me for the simple fact that it's the game that has kinda broken Cassy's willpower. I had no idea the game was THAT bad with constant crashing. I've played a few boss rush games (Furi, Jotun) which while challenging, were quite fair. I could not imagine how much more infuriating they would be if I had to not only deal with the threat of the opposing enemy but also of the game itself crashing. With trophies that difficult, I would 100% fold and just move on. You have all my respect for persevering in that endeavor. 

[Arcesius]

Man, @Baker, having recently had a similar experience with my own white whale, I can only imagine how well you must have slept this night... I am really glad that the game was good to you at least this one time! You only needed one run where the game decided not to crash, and you finally got it... 

 

It's one thing to not be able to beat something due to lack of skill, or lack of patience, or just getting bored with the game or whatever... But when it's out of your control... When it's due to technical issues... I cannot even begin to imagine how frustrating this must have felt. Especially when you keep seeing new achievers on the board that do not seem to have any issues with completing that Boss Rush... 

 

But you kept at it and here we are... Perfect milestone, well deserved!  

 

Now.... Let's see that 100% pop up on your profile once again! 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Arcesius

[Miles]

Congrats on getting it done. Not gonna lie, the game looks quite fun, from that vid you posted at least. Might pick it up if it hits the sale again. Also sucks to hear about the constant crashes, you'd expect devs to fix it at this point

[Baker]

4 hours ago, realm722 said:

 

Good lord man... Ys Origin has become a well-known game for me for the simple fact that it's the game that has kinda broken Cassy's willpower. I had no idea the game was THAT bad with constant crashing. I've played a few boss rush games (Furi, Jotun) which while challenging, were quite fair. I could not imagine how much more infuriating they would be if I had to not only deal with the threat of the opposing enemy but also of the game itself crashing. With trophies that difficult, I would 100% fold and just move on. You have all my respect for persevering in that endeavor. 

Well, having thought about it some more. The game isn’t as difficult as I said. I’m going to change it to a 7/10. It’s harder than Furi though. 
 

It’s just those three bosses in Boss Rush on Nightmare that stand out. I mean platinums of the AS versions aren’t even UR. It was just the constant stress of fear for these crashes that I really couldn’t play my best. 

 

1 hour ago, Arcesius said:

Man, @Baker, having recently had a similar experience with my own white whale, I can only imagine how well you must have slept this night... I am really glad that the game was good to you at least this one time! You only needed one run where the game decided not to crash, and you finally got it... 

 

It's one thing to not be able to beat something due to lack of skill, or lack of patience, or just getting bored with the game or whatever... But when it's out of your control... When it's due to technical issues... I cannot even begin to imagine how frustrating this must have felt. Especially when you keep seeing new achievers on the board that do not seem to have any issues with completing that Boss Rush... 

 

But you kept at it and here we are... Perfect milestone, well deserved!  

 

Now.... Let's see that 100% pop up on your profile once again! 

I slept like a baby. ?

 

41 minutes ago, Miles said:

Congrats on getting it done. Not gonna lie, the game looks quite fun, from that vid you posted at least. Might pick it up if it hits the sale again. Also sucks to hear about the constant crashes, you'd expect devs to fix it at this point

The game is a lot of fun! It’s an old game from 2006, so the graphics aren’t the best, but as in all Ys games the battle system is awesome. And the soundtrack is great too. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Baker

[rjkclarke]

That YS Origins write up was a fascinating read Baker... I really enjoyed that. Great stuff.  I've been so on the fence about starting the YS series. I feel like I'd definitely like it. I just haven't ever gotten around to playing one of them. One of my friends has offered to lend me YS VIII a bunch of times so perhaps I should take him up on it? Looks like Origins might not be the place to start as it throws you in at the deep end, despite being the first game chronologically. Although I'm probably very wrong on that one.

 

The sheer amount of determination you had to finally nail that platinum is impressive. I'm glad that you finally caught that giant fish beast. I loved your write up of Star Ocean 4 by the way, that's a task I've set for myself at some point in the future, so it's nice to see another human that can manage it. Gives me hope, that I can too.

 

You and I have something in common, in that we both chased down our 300th platinum's as games that we probably both, at different tines - thought we'd never quite manage to get. So it's nice to see that actually. It's so satisfying isn't it, or at least it was for me. Where you just think, yes it's done... I guess the fact it's a milestone too ends up making it that little bit more memorable too.

Edited August 10, 2021 by rjkclarke

[Baker]

18 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

That YS Origins write up was a fascinating read Baker... I really enjoyed that. Great stuff.  I've been so on the fence about starting the YS series. I feel like I'd definitely like it. I just haven't ever gotten around to playing one of them. One of my friends has offered to lend me YS VIII a bunch of times so perhaps I should take him up on it? Looks like Origins might not be the place to start as it throws you in at the deep end, despite being the first game chronologically. Although I'm probably very wrong on that one.

 

The sheer amount of determination you had to finally nail that platinum is impressive. I'm glad that you finally caught that giant fish beast. I loved your write up of Star Ocean 4 by the way, that's a task I've set for myself at some point in the future, so it's nice to see another human that can manage it. Gives me hope, that I can too.

 

You and I have something in common, in that we both chased down our 300th platinum's as games that we probably both. at different tines - thought we'd never quite manage to get. So it's nice to see that actually. It's so satisfying isn't it, or at least it was for me. Where you just think, yes it's done... I guess the fact it's a milestone too ends up making it that little bit more memorable too.

Thanks man. I’ve been lurking in your checklist for a while and I love the way how you write about games. That’s much better than I can ever do. 
 

Definitely take the offer of your friend about Ys VIII. It’s the best Ys game imo, and also the best starting point. Every Ys game is a standalone story so don’t worry about which game you play first. I played my first Ys game two years ago, which was also Ys VIII, and these games have rapidly rised to the top of my favorite JRPG franchises.

 

I haven’t made this comparison before but you can compare them to a Legend of Zelda game. Only it has a much faster combat system and in a JRPG style instead of an Action Adventure style.

 

Ys Origin is now one of my proudest platinums for sure. @Arcesius said it well: It’s very frustrating when you can’t complete a game when it’s out of your hands. I’m fine with it if there will ever be a game I can’t complete because it’s too difficult. I didn’t want it to be because of technical issues so I refused to give up. (I never give up in any game) It was very satisfying indeed.

Edited August 11, 2021 by Baker

[rjkclarke]

23 minutes ago, Baker said:

Thanks man. I’ve been lurking in your checklist for a while and I love the way how you write about games. That’s much better than I can ever do. 
 

Definitely take the offer of your friend about Ys VIII. It’s the best Ys game imo, and also the best starting point. Every Ys game is a standalone story so don’t worry about which game you play first. I played my first Ys game two years ago, which was also Ys VIII, and these games have rapidly rised to the top of my favorite JRPG franchises.

 

I haven’t made this comparison before but you can compare them to a Legend of Zelda game. Only it has a much faster combat system and in a JRPG style instead of an Action Adventure style.

 

Ys Origin is now one of my proudest platinums for sure. Arcesius said it well: It’s very frustrating when you can’t complete a game when it’s out of your hands. I’m fine with it if there will ever be a game I can’t complete because it’s too difficult. I didn’t want it to be because of technical issues in a game so I refused to give up. It was very satisfying indeed.

 

Awesome, much appreciated, that's nice to hear. Thanks for that, it's  great to read someone else is enjoying them. That's making me less self conscious about the length of them now, as others don't seem to mind it too much. I was so worried for ages about just boring people into a slumber, which I'm sure happens too.

Please, don't put yourself down either. What you are writing is awesome. It made me want to finally take the plunge with YSVIII, I'm sure plenty of the others will have had similar urges with other games you've written about.

 

A Legend of Zelda game with faster combat and a JRPG style huh?.. That's definitely quite interesting... That really sounds like it's worth delving into. Hard to go that wrong, by mixing those two things.

 

I definitely understand that viewpoint, I'd happily tap out to something that's too hard as well. But if it's something that is completely outside of your own control as you both pointed out, that makes it doubly frustrating. When you add a tangible difficulty level on top of that, it's I imagine even worse. It's that knowledge of knowing something is well within your grasp, but a crash screws you every time. Must make it infuriating, but quite rewarding by the end. Ironically I think that's what soured me so much on Vampyr, that game is in no way difficult, so it's not the best example, granted. Yet the fact it crashed so often, more than any other game I've ever played on PS4 spoiled the experience. Even taking trophies out of the equation for just a second, you just can't overlook something like that. Which is a shame, because Vampyr has most of the components of a great game buried in there somewhere.

[Baker]

[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]
 

I wanted to write a quick update about this game. 

 

I was a bit hesitant to buy this game as it’s in my top 3 games of all time. I only played through it twice, once on Normal and once on Hard, 18 years ago. I didn’t want it to disappoint, but it did not! It’s still the same Masterpiece as many years ago. Although you can definitely see this game has aged. It has some very clunky controls for example.
 

*SPOILERS*
 

I’ve finished my first playthrough of the game. I didn’t follow any type of guide except where to make backup saves for all the endings. 
 

Ofcourse I went for the True Demon Ending first. I beat all bosses on Hard, while playing on Normal and sometimes Merciful in between bosses. Merciful is really a mode that should have been left out of this game. It’s easy, and by easy I mean - Bowling: Story One (Pammy Version) Project: Summer Ice - easy.

This might be a good thing for people like me that already played through this game, but for newcomers it takes away all difficulty this game is kind of infamous for. And this is not how this game should be played. Even on Normal you will struggle and die many times. But as you play on, you will understand the battle system more and more, and it will be very satisfying when you finally beat the game. Hard mode is really only for when you already fully understand what to do.

 

Good thing my memory of this game was still very good. I still knew how to beat all puzzles, where bosses are weak to, how to set up my party, etc..
 

In the True Demon Ending you fight Lucifer at the end, and just like 18 years ago, Lucifer ‘kicked my ass’. Well actually I kicked his ass 5 times in a row, but he pulled a miracle combo out of his ass to instakill me 5 times in a row. Even though me and my Demon party are totally maxed out. There was just nothing I could do about it. Screw that. I switched to Merciful. ?

 

Now I have to play through the final 2-3 hours of the game 5 more times to get the different endings before I’m done and can write a long and deserving review. I should be done before the weekend.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Baker

[Arcesius]

9 hours ago, Baker said:

Ofcourse I went for the True Demon Ending first. I beat all bosses on Hard, while playing on Normal and sometimes Merciful in between bosses. Merciful is really a mode that should have been left out of this game. It’s easy, and by easy I mean - Bowling: Story One (Pammy Version) Project: Summer Ice - easy.

 

I mean, of course you say that... you have written the guide for that game, of course it's easy for you.... 

 

???

 

In all seriousness though... I'm glad that you are not disappointed by this game.. would have sucked if one of your favorite games turned out not to be all that great some years later.   

[Baker]

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

 

I mean, of course you say that... you have written the guide for that game, of course it's easy for you.... 

 

I feel the need to correct you here. I wrote the guide for Bowling: Story Two (Pammy Version) Project: Summer Ice. The second story was such an improvement over the first. Might be one of the best gaming stories ever told. I still get teary eyed when I think about it. ?

 

2 hours ago, Arcesius said:

 

In all seriousness though... I'm glad that you are not disappointed by this game.. would have sucked if one of your favorite games turned out not to be all that great some years later.   

I now really think this is the JRPG you should play, if you’re still looking for one. Just don’t download any of the DLC’s and you got yourself a hard game.

 

It’s still on sale btw. But I’ve bought a physical version cheaper already, so it might be better to wait a couple more months until a real price drop.

[Baker]

 #301

 

 

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

 

Enjoyment: 10/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 80 hours

 

This review can start by going back 18 years ago. I’ve frequently mentioned that before trophies I basically only played JRPG’s. And that’s mostly true but there were a couple of other franchises I played: Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank, Splinter Cell, Grand Theft Auto, Jak & Daxter, Syphon Filter, Gran Turismo, and.. Devil May Cry. At this point in time Dante from DMC was my favorite gaming character.

 

So 18 years ago I walked into my local gaming store looking for a new game to play. And there was this game that caught my eye. It had Dante on the cover and it appeared to be a JRPG. It was SMT: Nocturne. Although in Europe it was called SMT: Lucifer’s Call. Needless to say I bought this game, not knowing what SMT actually was. And as it turned out this was not your typical feel good, anime style, bright colored hair of antagonists & protagonists, let’s save the world JRPG. This game was much darker than that. But I was hooked! This game was amazing! And it got a well deserved spot in my top 3 favorite games of all time.

 

Before we delve into the game let’s look at the remastered version. It really is not the best remaster of this classic. There are only 2 things that I consider are an improvement:

 

1: Voice acting. This was just really good and it definitely made the game even more enjoyable. Just reading through texts isn’t normal anymore in this day and age.

2: Improved graphics. Well slightly improved. And they didn’t even bother to give the cutscenes an update. This could have been done much better.

 

Now let’s look at the negatives.

 

1: The controls. This just felt very clunky to me and they could have made this run smoother and remapped some of the buttons. You control your camera with L1 & R1. Yeah, the game is that old. You get used to it quick though.

2: Dante is not in this game. Instead we have Raidou. The protagonist from the Devil Summoner games. But no worries. For the small fee of just €9.99 you can buy Dante as a DLC. These are optional characters and missable in the game. What a cash grab. ?

3: Merciful DLC. This is very easy mode and doesn’t suit this game at all. This was a very hard JRPG back in the day. There weren’t any guides or walkthroughs, and the game would kick your ass. Which is really how this game should be played. Merciful makes this game a joke.

4: There is another DLC which apparently makes leveling up a joke. Really, they made this game as easy as possible. Terrible choice.

 

Onto the story. It starts out when you visit a hospital with your two friends to look for your teacher. At the same time a cult leader is going to end the world through what is called ‘The Conception’. And this is exactly what happens. Everyone in the world dies, except the people that were in the hospital when it happened. You, your two friends, your teacher, the cult leader and some other dude. After The Conception you wake up and a young boy let’s some kind of insect, called a magatama, loose on you transforming you into the Demi Fiend. This is the intro of the game and from here the story picks up, where you’ll be wandering around a post apocalyptic Tokyo trying to find out what the hell happened. And I don’t want spoil anything more so I’ll leave it at this..

 

Now when I said this game was hard back in the day I wasn’t joking. You will die. A lot. If.. you play this for the first time on Normal or Hard difficulty without any guides. This game doesn’t hold your hand on what to do and where to go. It has difficult dungeon puzzles in long dungeons and every enemy encounter can kill you. And then it’s back to the title screen, continuing from your last save from two hours ago. You need to learn your enemies weaknesses, and build your party of demons for every area in the game.

 

Speaking of demons. You, as the Demi Fiend, can recruit demons to fight with you. You can fuse these demons into more powerful ones, giving them new abilities, better stats, etc.. This is something you need to do throughout the entire game. And this is where I loved the game the most. 
 

I’ve always been interested in religions. And when I played this game 18 years ago it blew my mind. There were so many Angels and Demons I had never heard of before that at first I thought they were made up. But they weren’t. So looked up a ton of information about them and I had a blast doing so. The knowledge this game has brought me..

 

And this brings me to my favorite companion of the game:

 

 
 

Metatron. Another one I had never heard of. Apparently he is the highest ranking arch angel. Too bad I had to kill him. But to make it up with him I invited him into my party.

My end game party was the same as 18 years ago: Baker, Metatron, Shiva & Beelzebub. 

 

To sum up:

 

I would have been happier with this game without that Merciful mode. And the fact you can switch difficulties whenever you want, which I hadn’t mentioned before. I don’t think that was possible back in the day. And I would have loved to see a trophy for Beating Lucifer on Hard without switching difficulties. But.. we can’t have it all..

 

This game. It’s such a classic. And it was a great trip down memory lane. If you never played it and like to play JRPG’s do yourself a favor and pick it up! @Arcesius ?.

 

And bring SMT V to Playstation!

Edited August 19, 2021 by Baker

[KindaSabbath]

Top notch write up mate! Glad you enjoyed your time with an old favourite! I've criminally never played a JRPG before. Maybe I'll give one a go some day! 

[Deluziion90]

You’re going pretty hard and fast again on those platinums, nice!

 

Congrats on 301?