Baker’s Final March

[Baker]

19 minutes ago, Joe Dubz said:

I'm 20ish hours into SoS myself, and I can kinda see what you mean about the combat getting a little stale 😅 Love the game other than that!

 

I was kinda surprised to hear you didn't like the music! There were 1 or 2 tunes I've heard so far that I really enjoyed.

 

Not sure how old you are (I'm 39 myself), but I grew up gaming on the chiptunish styled stuff from back in the day... so it's always held a special place in my heart!

 

With that being said, it's understandable you feel that way because it's def not something for everyone and prob more of an acquired taste.

 

As for Tiny Tina, bummer to hear you didn't enjoy it that much, but glad you at least got it all discounted to stave off some of the disappointment!!

 

Anyway, cheers bud and enjoy that holiday 😎

Ehm.. I think you misunderstood me? I like the music in Sea Of Stars! I hate the music in The Messenger. Which is a sequel or prequel to SOS. I thought it was so terrible I deleted the game after 5 minutes. 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Baker

[Joe Dubz]

1 hour ago, Baker said:

Ehm.. I think you misunderstood me? I like the music in Sea Of Stars! I hate the music in The Messenger. Which is a sequel or prequel to SOS. I thought it was so terrible I deleted the game after 5 minutes. 

Ahhh indeed I did misinterpret! My apologies there 😅 I did play Messenger but it was a number of years ago, so I don't remember it at all! I did hear SoS dlc is supposed to be tied to it, so I'll need to find a story synopsis on YT or something.

[Baker]

Update:

It has been a while..

 

I was a little hesitant to share this because it’s not really trophy related but let’s go..

 

For almost a year now I’ve been suffering from a burn out. Not a gaming burn out, but a real life burn out. And I’ve never felt this terrible before.

 

At least 2 or 3 times a week for the past year it really feels like I’m dying. Extreme heart rate, can’t breath, muscle twitches, the list goes on and on. It has been a nightmare. And I couldn’t really play games because of it. Actually playing games only made it worse because then I can’t control my breathing. Especially in games that require focus.

 

But it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like I’ve finally recovered. For the past 3 weeks I’ve been symptoms free. I feel like I’m back! I’m so relieved! (Knock on wood)

 

Next time will be a big update with loads of games with a pink thumbnail because of the Trophies to fight Cancer event.

 

Expected games to be done in a month:

 

Paradise Killer

Chrono Cross

Crash Bandicoot 4

Final Fantasy II

The Metronomicon 

Super Rude Bear Resurrection 

 

Reviews in a month. Until then.

[Wild-Arms-R]

1 hour ago, Baker said:

Update:

It has been a while..

 

I was a little hesitant to share this because it’s not really trophy related but let’s go..

 

For almost a year now I’ve been suffering from a burn out. Not a gaming burn out, but a real life burn out. And I’ve never felt this terrible before.

 

At least 2 or 3 times a week for the past year it really feels like I’m dying. Extreme heart rate, can’t breath, muscle twitches, the list goes on and on. It has been a nightmare. And I couldn’t really play games because of it. Actually playing games only made it worse because then I can’t control my breathing. Especially in games that require focus.

 

But it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like I’ve finally recovered. For the past 3 weeks I’ve been symptoms free. I feel like I’m back! I’m so relieved! (Knock on wood)

 

Next time will be a big update with loads of games with a pink thumbnail because of the Trophies to fight Cancer event.

 

Expected games to be done in a month:

 

Paradise Killer

Chrono Cross

Crash Bandicoot 4

Final Fantasy II

The Metronomicon 

Super Rude Bear Resurrection 

 

Reviews in a month. Until then.

You actually had Covid, mu gf was having similar problems for close to a month but thankfully she has started to get better and it seems you have too so all good I say. Game on dude.

[Baker]

15 hours ago, Wild-Arms-R said:

You actually had Covid, mu gf was having similar problems for close to a month but thankfully she has started to get better and it seems you have too so all good I say. Game on dude.

I had Covid a few times. That’s really not it. I am a pretty healthy guy and I went to the doctor numerous times this year and have done multiple blood and heart tests and everything says I’m just fine.

 

A burn out just comes with a lot of physical complaints where you really can’t do anything about it except living healthy and hope it goes away. Complaints like, chest pains, breathing troubles, hyperventilating, muscle pains, trouble concentrating.. There are many more but this is what I’ve been experiencing the most. 
 

I just hope it’s over now. It’s a been a year. I’m so tired of it. It felt like having a heart attack a few times a week..

Edited October 30, 2023 by Baker

[HusKy]

Without trying to sound like an "expert from internets", this sounds like an auto immune disease. Very hard to detect, even harder to pinpoint. 😬

[Baker]

11 hours ago, HusKy said:

Without trying to sound like an "expert from internets", this sounds like an auto immune disease. Very hard to detect, even harder to pinpoint. 😬

Well thanks man but I really don’t think that’s it. The doctor also says it’s a burn out.
 

Actually my brother had a burn out too a few years ago and he’s also saying that I have the exact same symptoms he had. It took him 2 years to recover from it but after that all symptoms were just gone. So let’s hope it has taken me 1 year. 😀

[Wild-Arms-R]

On 10/30/2023 at 6:47 AM, Baker said:

Well thanks man but I really don’t think that’s it. The doctor also says it’s a burn out.
 

Actually my brother had a burn out too a few years ago and he’s also saying that I have the exact same symptoms he had. It took him 2 years to recover from it but after that all symptoms were just gone. So let’s hope it has taken me 1 year. 😀

Not to sound like someone who thinks they know what their talking about and using a very basic from of internet sade but what exactly is your burn out? Like stress? I've heard high amounts of stress can trigger conditions like high blood pressure, fatigue and possibly other health complications or symptoms that are very much alike other more serious health issues.

 

I think I kinda understand because I did actually have what could be considered a stroke a couple of years back but it turned out to be me basically having high blood pressure that cause me to have a massive headache and nearly knocked me out and made me go numb for like 10secs.

 

I remember being hella stressed out for months so I'm sure they were both connected in so way.

 

Either way I hope your alright man, and sure it's not that serious because usually if its really bad a doctor(epically if you have multiple visits) will find something off with you.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Wild-Arms-R

[Baker]

5 hours ago, Wild-Arms-R said:

Not to sound like someone who thinks they know what their talking about and using a very basic from of internet sade but what exactly is your burn out? Like stress? I've heard high amounts of stress can trigger conditions like high blood pressure, fatigue and possibly other health complications or symptoms that are very much alike other more serious health issues.

Well yes. This is exactly what happened. So prior to the burn out I had 2 years of anger, frustration and stress thanks to COVID lockdown restrictions. I basically was locked in my appartement for 2 years and that really took it’s toll on me.

 

So when I was finally free again I started playing sports and working out like crazy because I gained quite a few kilo’s in that time period. After I was fit again my body just shut down and I got these weird physical complaints constantly. Initially I thought it was my heart, but that was fine. And now I’ve had these complaints for about a year. So that whole period of stress triggered the burn out.

 

But it’s going better now. I will get over this. 
 

Thanks man.

[Wild-Arms-R]

3 hours ago, Baker said:

Well yes. This is exactly what happened. So prior to the burn out I had 2 years of anger, frustration and stress thanks to COVID lockdown restrictions. I basically was locked in my appartement for 2 years and that really took it’s toll on me.

 

So when I was finally free again I started playing sports and working out like crazy because I gained quite a few kilo’s in that time period. After I was fit again my body just shut down and I got these weird physical complaints constantly. Initially I thought it was my heart, but that was fine. And now I’ve had these complaints for about a year. So that whole period of stress triggered the burn out.

 

But it’s going better now. I will get over this. 
 

Thanks man.

So basically what your saying is don't go back to DMC5, Crash 4 and Wolf 2. : P

[Baker]

28 minutes ago, Wild-Arms-R said:

So basically what your saying is don't go back to DMC5, Crash 4 and Wolf 2. : P

Nah. I want to finish CB4 before the end of this month for the Trophies to fight Cancer event. But I have a little gaming burn out at the moment. 😂

 

Will probably start gaming again next week.

[Baker]

It has been a while since a last update so let’s do some more short reviews and updates.

 

 #371

 

Paradise Killer

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 12 hours

 

This is a murder mystery game set in an open world. It reminded me a lot of Danganronpa. It was a very relaxing game. Love the graphics style, good music, good story. Just a good, fun, short game.

 

 #372

 

 

Chrono Cross

 

Enjoyment: 6/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 20+ hours?

 

An all time classic JRPG. Unfortunately I thought this game hasn’t really aged well. The graphics are not good, battle system wasn’t good either. Everything about this game wasn’t really good, apart from one thing: The story. 
 

Luckily there were some in game boosters like double speed, invincible in battles and some more stuff. I really had to follow a guide because this game has a lot of missables and is quite confusing.

 

Wasn’t a bad game, but wasn’t good either.

 

 #373

 

 

Final Fantasy II

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 15 hours

 

Three pixel remasters done, three left.

 

I really enjoyed this game. It’s the best FF of the pixel remasters I played so far. Just another FF game, so let’s continue.

 

 #374

 

 

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 25 hours?

 

I tried this game out on my second account quite a while ago. I played through the prologue and I quite enjoyed. Decided against playing it back then because it has a lot of collectibles I didn’t want to do.

 

But a few months later decided to play it anyway. And it was a good game. In the end the collectibles weren’t bad at all and I could play the entire game without a guide. It was actually quite fun trying to find all secrets myself.

 

 #375

 

 

Teslagrad 2

 

Enjoyment: 6/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 10 hours

 

I enjoyed the first game so when this was on sale I bought it. But this game isn’t nearly as good as the first one. I felt the controls were a bit clunky. The game is extremely short. The story will take you 2 hours. After that it’s just collectible searching.

 

One thing more to say. It has one DLC trophy for beating a new final boss. And that was one of the most frustrating things I played in a while. Not because of difficulty, but because of the controls. It was very annoying.

 

Update:

 

I’ve been planning this for a few weeks now but to give myself a good start at the UR Cleanup Event 2024 I’m slowly chipping away at some UR games with the goal to finish all games early January.

 

Let’s start with The Metronomicon. 
 

Man this game is tough as nails for me. I find it extremely difficult when playing on hard mode. It’s a rhythm turn based RPG and the notes go so fast I can’t keep up. This is a game that plays into all my weaknesses as a gamer. Speed, reaction time, concentration.
 

I really enjoy the game though, it has some very good music. 
 

Modern Warfare III.

 

I just need to grind to 50k zombie kills, which will take a lot of hours as there isn’t really a good grinding method. I’ve been playing this game a lot lately but more to play MP with my friends.

 

CB4: Did a few more Platinum relics. I think I need around 20 more. 
 

DMC5: Not continued yet.

 

That’s it. Until January.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Baker

[ShadyWARcotix]

I just checked your checklist and games on your profile again and I read that you are a huge fan of Jrpgs.

 

A friend of mine showed me FF 16 and I love it. I'm still thinking about doing the Plat for FF10 but we will see. I only wanna (or try) plat Games I enjoy or only do the story and move on (or change my mind and do the plat later on)

 

When it comes to Ys
Do you recommend to start with Ys IX: Monstrum or Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana?

 

And what about Star Ocean? Is there a good start with a normal time of difficulty?

 

And you reminded me of putting Octopath Traveller II on my wishlist too lol

 

Thanks 

Edited December 15, 2023 by ShadyWARcotix

[Baker]

4 hours ago, ShadyWARcotix said:

I just checked your checklist and games on your profile again and I read that you are a huge fan of Jrpgs.

 

A friend of mine showed me FF 16 and I love it. I'm still thinking about doing the Plat for FF10 but we will see. I only wanna (or try) plat Games I enjoy or only do the story and move on (or change my mind and do the plat later on)

 

When it comes to Ys
Do you recommend to start with Ys IX: Monstrum or Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana?

 

And what about Star Ocean? Is there a good start with a normal time of difficulty?

 

And you reminded me of putting Octopath Traveller II on my wishlist too lol

 

Thanks 

Hell yes I like JRPG’s.

For Ys I would recommend either Ys VIII or Ys IX. For me they were both amazing. Slight favorite will be Ys VIII I guess.

 

For Star Ocean the easiest entry is definitely The Divine Force. Or maybe Second Story R but I haven’t played that one myself yet. It’s high on my wishlist.

 

And if you’re into turn based combat Octopath Traveler II is amazing. GOTY for me.

[Baker]

 #376 

 

 

Mato Anomalies

 

Enjoyment: 9/10

Difficulty: -

Playtime: 25 hours

 

While I’m here let’s do a quick review of.. a JRPG!

 

I had my eye on this game for some time but unfortunately it had some glitched trophies for a while. It recently got fixed and coincidentally the game was on sale for only €10. No brainer..

 

The game is set in a sort of post apocalyptic steampunk world named Mato where you play as a detective named Doe. At the start you will tasked with an assignment and will find yourself within a Lair. Basically a dimension with demons. Here you will meet Gram who will fight the demons in the Lair for you as you can’t damage them. Story picks up from here where Doe investigates in Mato and Gram fights in the Lairs. With more party members joining later ofcourse.

 

The story was amazing. These types of stories are what I enjoy the most. What’s it about? Timeloops, dimensions, time travel.. And it was kind of hard to follow along. I might replay the game again as just doing story missions won’t take too long and see if I understood it correctly.

 

Music and graphics is excellent.

 

The battle system was a bit weak. But I can only put the blame on me as I played on Easy difficulty. And shortly into the game you can auto battle. And that’s what I did. Press R3 to auto battle to victory. If I played on Hard this would be quite a fun challenge.
 

You’re constantly exploring dungeons with different types of puzzles, which were very easy. All enemy encounters are set as they will block your path and you have to fight them. This game definitely drew some inspiration from SMT. It had some very cool boss battles too!

 

Speaking of challenge. There is a card game inside the game called Mind/Hack. It’s where you play a game in order to hack someone’s mind. It’s a tactical minigame where you can have different kind of card builds to beat your opponent. And it was tough! I think I only beat an opponent three times. That’s out of around 20 times you have to do it. Luckily if you fail three times you can skip the minigame. Otherwise this would have been tough!

 

Awesome game! Specifically for the story.

 

Update:

 

A quick update about The Metronomicon. I beat Hard mode! And that was tough! Specifically The Arena on Hard. So I’m happy about it.
 

Now I just need to play 50 songs in a row without pausing and that takes around 2.5 hours. Such an annoying trophy. Luckily I can play on Easy difficulty.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Baker

[Baker]

And another one..

 

 #377

 

 

The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor

 

Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 8/10

Playtime: 50 hours

 

The Metronomicon is a turn based RPG rhythm game. You need to hit the notes in order to do attacks or abilities. There are also a lot of status effects that can inflict you making it quite hard. Spinning notes, dizzy notes, colourblind notes and many more. When you get hit by a few of them at the same time and playing on Hard difficulty I just had no clue what the hell was going on anymore.

 

The platinum journey consists of 4 parts apart from some miscellaneous trophies.

 

Part 1: Story Mode

 

Story mode is a mode where you play through 50 songs and a couple of challenges. Your party levels will raise here and you will get better gear. Additionally you will get some new party members. I played through this on easy difficulty first and that was just easy. Just enjoy the songs, play the story.

 

From the beginning I started to learn this game by playing the left en down notes with  and  buttons and the up and right notes with the  and  buttons. 
 

Later on I played this mode on Hard difficulty too. But since I was max level with the best party it wasn’t really difficult because I was too overpowered and could make a lot of mistakes.

 

This is the only video I recorded and shows a bit how the game is played.

 

Part 2: Arena mode.

 

Now this is where the game picks up in difficulty. Even when playing on Easy I already struggled with this. It basically plays as a puzzle mode where you need to beat challenges while playing with a set party with set abilities. In order to beat the songs you need to use the right combination of attacks and abilities and since there are no guides for this it was a lot of trial and error. Even on Easy mode where I never missed a note. 
 

Hard was very difficult for me and it took me a long time before I got it done. 8/10

 

Part 3: Endless mode

 

This is a survival mode where you need to beat 30 songs in a row. Luckily you can play on Easy difficulty.
 

After every song you get hit with a penalty. It can be anything from dead party members, to status effects, gear being destroyed, etc.. Making it harder and harder along the way. After each song in first 10 songs you get one penalty, from 10-20 two penalties and from 20-30 three penalties making it quite hectic at the end. You also need some luck with RNG as the game decided to keep killing my healers and then it’s just unbeatable.

 

After every song though you also have earned some points to give yourself positive effects or undo negative effects. But not nearly enough to outweigh the negative effects. This took me a few attempts due to terrible RNG.

 

Part 4: No Pee Breaks

 

This is a mode where you need to beat all 50 songs in a row without pausing. It lasts around 2.5 hours. Yesterday evening I tested a party out to see if it was strong enough to beat it, as enemy levels are at +1 compared to your party level. So this is not a cake walk by any means. Luckily once again you can play on Easy difficulty here.

 

So after 4 songs testing this party out I already felt I had to go to the bathroom, but I wanted to go to song 10 which is a boss fight. Every 10 songs there is a boss fight and you have to beat it otherwise you will fail. I don’t know why but after song 10 I just decided to continue. Even if it was around 2am already and I needed to go to the bathroom. Two hours of pure will- and bladder power later it was done. Never again. 
 

I have to give a quick shoutout to Arcesius for giving me tips for the game. Although he left PSNP so I doubt he will read this. Thanks as always, much appreciated!

Edited December 16, 2023 by Baker

[MidnightDragon]

How close are you to your final goal?

[Baker]

21 minutes ago, MidnightDragon said:

How close are you to your final goal?

That’s 100% completion. It’s very far away as long as I have Wolfenstein II left to do 😂

Edited December 16, 2023 by Baker

[MidnightDragon]

5 minutes ago, Baker said:

That’s 100% completion. It’s very far away as long as ai have Wolfenstein II left to do😂

Good luck. 

[Baker]

Here are some nice looking thumbnails of games I completed to gaze upon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please. There is no need to thank me for this beautiful sight. Bringing joy to the people of PSNP is what I do.

 

Jokes aside I’ve just been slacking in my checklist and after a while I just forget what I want to write about a game. 
 

Edit: Actually, I’m going to lock this. I might reopen it in the future, but currently I have no enjoyment anymore maintaining this.

 

Edited January 18 by Baker

[Baker]

Time to open this again after no living a ton of games. I got my second highest trophies earned ever this month thanks to it.

 

Completed games:

 

Trials of Mana

 

 

Fun JRPG. Requires multiple playthroughs though.

 

Thanks Ps Plus Extra

 

Final Fantasy III

 

 

The final Pixel Remaster I had to play. It was the weakest one. 

 

Ghostwire Tokyo

 

 

This was a fun game. Apart from the extreme amount of collectibles. Best thing in the game for me was actually the rogue lite mode: Spider’s Thread which was a surprise as I usually don’t like rogue lite games. I guess the genre is starting to grow on me.

 

Thanks Ps Plus Extra

 

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

 

 

I bought this on release and it was a very good game. Although I was still a bit disappointed as I think Yakuza: Like a Dragon is better than this. Still highly recommend.

 

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails

 

 

This a JRPG that’s a mix of Ys, The Legend of Heroes and Valkyrie Profile. It was fun but I wished I had bought Trails from Zero instead. Which will be something I will go for during the summer: complete The Legend of Heroes series.

 

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor

 

 

I borrowed this game from a friend mostly for the Bingo Bonanza event but also because I enjoyed Fallen Order. And this was a step up from that game. Very good.

 

Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn

 

 

One game done from the backlog!
 

This is the problem when devs release a DLC two years later. I had no idea anymore what the story was about and how the battle system works. I also didn’t want to relearn it so I played on Very Easy with auto battle enabled. Which was boring I guess. Which is a shame because Tales of Arise is such a fun game.

Thanks Ps Plus Extra

 

The Outer Worlds

 

 

AKA the real Fallout 4. It’s so much better than Fallout. I just finished this and had a absolute blast.

 

Thanks Ps Plus Extra

 

I really no lifed most of these games and therefore I’m in most of the fastest achievers list.
 

What’s next?

 

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. What else?

 

I was already hyped for this game but after the trophy guide came out saying it’s a very long and difficult game I’m even more hyped for it. It’s installing now. I can’t wait.

 

I also relaunched Crash Bandicoot 4 last week and it took a while to get used to the controls again but I got another Platinum Relic done. I will stick with it now. Yes. For Real.

 

I’m also going back to Neon White to finish the Hell Rush runs. I couldn’t really focus when I played the game originally so I dropped it. Doing one hour no death runs was a bit too much to ask from me. I’m feeling better now so it’s time to get back into it.

 

The goal for March: Finish FFVII: Rebirth, CB4 and Neon White.

Edited February 29 by Baker

[Shikotei-kun]

Dude just casually completes a whole slew of games that would take me weeks or a month each...

 

Don't over do it, alright? Plenty of us are glad you're at it again, but I think we're equally worried you'll burn out again soon.

- A longtime lurker

[Baker]

56 minutes ago, Shikotei-kun said:

Dude just casually completes a whole slew of games that would take me weeks or a month each...

 

Don't over do it, alright? Plenty of us are glad you're at it again, but I think we're equally worried you'll burn out again soon.

- A longtime lurker

Hey no worries. I get burned out by gaming at least a few times a year. I always get back to it. There are too many fun games still to be played.

[Super_Mep]

12 hours ago, Shikotei-kun said:

Dude just casually completes a whole slew of games that would take me weeks or a month each...

 

Don't over do it, alright? Plenty of us are glad you're at it again, but I think we're equally worried you'll burn out again soon.

- A longtime lurker

I think if he just sticks to chipping away at Crash 4 and stays away from Mein Leben he'll be alright 😂

[Baker]

Now where was I? I should do more frequent updates again..

Ghostrunner 2

 

Yeah this was a fun game. The story continues a year after the last game but I really don’t play these games for the story.

 

Gameplay wise it’s exactly the same and it introduces motorcycle segments. Which was also good.

 

Not much more to say about this game. If you liked Ghostrunner you will like this game.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

 

This will be the last time I ever play an AC game. It was mediocre at best. It goes back to its roots and focuses more on stealth which was a good thing but.. just not good at all. Luckily I borrowed the game.

 

Trinity Trigger

 

This was a fun little JRPG that was on my radar for some time. I quite liked it except for one thing: the boss fights.
 

Every boss has a shield you need to deplete which takes just way too long. You then have a small window of doing damage before the same crappy shield goes up again. Way too boring as it wasn’t hard at all. It takes way longer than it should.

 

Update:

 

So I’m making the same old mistake again off taking a little break from a game but that little break becomes longer and longer to the point I lost all interest in continuing.

 

I’m talking about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth here where I just need to finish the last two VR missions, which I still haven’t even tried yet. I can take a quick break from the game, is what I told myself three weeks ago now.. It will take me a few attempts but I should be done in 2-3 hours. I should do it asap.

 

And finally I started Dirt Rally 2.0. A game that I bought over 3 years ago and was nicely tucked away in my backlog. And I suck at it. It also doesn’t help that I find it quite boring. Some tracks are just way too long.

 

For the last year I’ve been playing Trackmania, at least a few hours a week. Trackmania is a straight up arcade racing game with tight controls. And now I’m playing a rally sim racing game where I bounce all over the place and I just can’t keep control as soon as I go fast. It’s the complete opposite.
 

I need to delve into the mechanics of this game if I want to get better. But I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Edited April 19 by Baker