Lodbizarro Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 I got a little behind schedule so this is going to be 2 reviews on this post Game #2 God of War (ps4) Like my first game I also played the first game on a previous KYC (15 I believe). On there I mentioned how me and Kratos go way back to the PS2 days and since then I’ve played a few of the other games though I’ve also missed a few still this was interesting to see are little Kratos settle down and have a family. This was my first time playing this chapter of Kratos life he’s a father now and way less angry so this was already different side of him though he still does not like people or “Gods” lol and clearly all those years of vengeance has made my mans very socially Akward even to his kids as he’s constantly struggling on how to interact with his son Atreus. Anyway one thing that hasn’t changed is Kratos ability to piss off Gods even in a new realm somehow he’s left the drama of Greece and some how ended up in the Nordic realm of Midgard, I don’t know how he transcended a different region,era, and mythology but if anyone can it’s Kratos. The Visuals are stunning they must have taken the ps4 to the max graphically the forest, mountains, and animals really made it easy to immerse myself in the environment. Even with undead drugr and trolls roaming around it felt oddly believable. As much as I love angry shouting Kratos it was nice to see more laid back fatherly Kratos every now in then he lost his patience but it was good and frustrating to see him try to teach and train up his son (even though it was times I was like just give him a hug Kratos damn lol) The gameplay was fresh for GOW they did away with the constant QTE’s and the new skill tree and purchasing upgrades was a welcome change so that was a nice change of pace. The combat was ok nothing really special though I did like how Atreus will assist during the fights that was clever still aside from the boss fights which required some strategy most enemies was dealt with the regular light attack. I didn’t get to far into the story I think I’m around Chapter 5 still what I’ve played I’m loving and can’t wait to see how Kratos and Atrius adventure continues to unfold. Rating 8/10 Trophies 7/37 Playtime 12 hours Completion 18.95% Game #3 Horizon Zero Dawn Ok I admit I was sleeping heavily on this game don’t get me wrong it looked great and I was interested I bought it a few years back around 2018 or so still I just had it collecting dust and now after 3+ years of ignoring it I finally picked it up for this event and I was horibbly mistaken I’m ashamed I waited this long this game is amazing. I have been just having the best time with this game I mean seriously this game has constantly been on my mind since I started it. First I think Aloy is such a fresh and amazing character I mean from her introduction as a precocious child that was a outcast looking for answers I was hooked. Seeing the women she grew up to be strong, smart, capable, and still looking for answers has made me truly love this character. I really wish and hope there’s more strong compelling women protagonist in games(really all media) because right now only Samus and Aloy come to mind. ( I’m sure there’s more but I can’t think of any right now) Now I’m a talk about the World I’m so invested into the lore of this world what happened to make the world post-apcolyptic and machines roam the world (I haven’t finished the game) with the last remnents of mankind go back to tribalism or maybe they were already in tribes still this is clearly in a future where technology became so advanced that AI or something else turned on humanity and destroyed the cities and tried to destroy everything else and somehow was stopped but now semi-sentient machines roam around with animal characteristics, (But why?) I don’t know why they behave like animals maybe they’ll explain more as the game goes on. I haven’t finished the story I have no idea how far in the story I am if I had to guess something like the beginning of the middle act but not sure. The gameplay to me is enjoyable I enjoy the skill tree and the multiple uses of the focus for scanning apparently some people don’t like the climbing mechanics I don’t understand why personally I like how the game streamlines the climbing that you don’t have to do much especially how much climbing is involved in this game I don’t know how they can improve it but if it’s not for you I’m not going to fault you. The Combat has been enjoyable though I mainly tend to stealth but It’s not to difficult if I get spotted (to be fair I play on normal) but I haven’t been to overwhelmed well after I discovered how to dodge if you don’t know how then I could see you having a bad time still with the multiple gadgets (many I haven’t used) you should be able to manage. Overall this has been a gem and my most unexpected and enjoyable game this event maybe because I already had high expectations or at least knew what to expect with Spider-Man and God of War but Horizon Zero Dawn is my unexpected favorite so far. I still have two more games on my list the next one is not as well known it’s also a original IP like HZD their are no previous games to form an opinion and it’s a different genre of game so I’m looking forward to see how this stacks up with HZD but honestly this is has been an amazing lineup so far this is going to be stiff competition. Ranking 9/10 Trophies 9/79 Playtime 12+ hours Completion 18.82% Next Game: 13 Sentinels I have not heard much about this game honestly I discovered it by accident it was on sale either last year or very early this year and I looked at the trailers and I loved the art style and premise so I said if it goes on sale again before this KYC I would buy it and play it for the event. (This game and the release of R&C Rift apart helped me choose the theme for this event ) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post voodoo_eyes Posted July 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) Game #5 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Preview Developer : ArtPlay Publisher: 505 Games Genre: Metroidvania Price: 39,99 € From what I understand, this game was made to be the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series. I have only played Super Castlevania IV briefly on the SNES when it came out, so it's been a hot minute ?. EDIT: I actually remembered the other day, that I did play Castlevania Mirror of Fate a few years ago, which was pretty good. So there is that. I have played a decent amount of games in this genre though. Shantae Half-Genie Hero and the most recent Dead or School were the ones that I enjoyed the most so far, followed by Apotheon and trying out the Guacamelee games which I didn't like all that much. Anyway, I heard very good things about this game. Very excited to try it out tonight. Edited July 22, 2021 by voodoo_eyes 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuroraHistoire Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 Party Hard 2: Party Harder I picked up Party Hard 2 some time after playing the first game since I loved the first game so much. The second game is the same Party Hard I loved while being improved in many new ways. The camera no longer looks over the whole level and now is a lot closer to the player. There are now new items and you can carry around and there is a simple inventory system too. The levels also feel bigger but that could just be the camera masking their true size. For those unfamiliar with Party Hard, every level is a party and your objective is to kill everyone without dying or getting arrested. It feels like a slow methodical game of stealthy murder while the average level only takes 20 minutes to complete, if you win. One mistake can lead to failure and you will need to start the whole level over. There are traps set around the level that will crush, electric, and explode to kill multiple party guests and can not usually be linked back to you. Party Hard 2 adds more complexity to the game with new objectives to every level, both primary and optional. Can now pass every level in 2 ways, complete a series of objectives and one of them is usually to kill a specific set of targets. The other way is to complete levels is the classic solution of murder everyone. Optional objectives are, well optional and sometimes hidden; it is worth it to do them for points and if you want all the trophies. Every objective you complete while also clearing the level will earn you points in 1 or 4 categories. The points don't do much but will unlock new items to use in levels and unlock a couple of unlockable characters. The best new edition to Party Hard 2 is the items. Items are scattered around the level for the player to pick up. You have 4 item slots that can be switched between via the D-pad. Your default weapon/s also counts as an item, so you effectively have 3 or less depending on your character. Items range from from throwable weapons to condoms. You can also combine some items together to make a new item. The most complex item is the jerrycan; it can be filled with gasoline, water or acid to be poured all over the party. I mostly played the game as the original Party Hard killer and only played two of the other characters for a brief amount of time. The story doesn't change if you play as someone else so play who you like. Well, their is a easy mode character that will disable trophies and stuff if you play as them, so play anyone but them. Party Hard 2 takes place 10 years after the first game. Our protagonist from the last game when quite for 10 years and only started killing again because the boss of the pharmaceutical company he works got him hooked on a experimental highly addictive drug that can get you higher than the heavens with horrible withdrawal symptoms called Rhino; basically Rabi-Ribi in pill form. The second set of Party Hard killing are not just a drug fueled rampage, it is actually our protagonist getting revenge and stopping Rhino from hitting the streets and ruining the lives of everyone who takes it. I spent a good amount of time going over the trophy list and I noticed only 2 on PSNP people have all the trophies. Party Hard 2 is not a easy game but I don't think it difficult enough for only 2 to get all the trophies. The trophy stopping most people is the complete all hidden objectives trophy. There are a few guides to the hidden objectives online. Most levels have a no 911 calls hidden objective I think that is what holding people back. 911 calls are pretty frequent when I play normally and I have seen cases where 911 was called when people died randomly without my help. Party Hard 2 is a very fun game. I have spent a lot more time playing it than I thought it would. I found the story a little more engaging this time around. Every change made from Party Hard to Party 2 was for the better and made the game even better. I will play more Party Hard 2 soon. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryToxteth Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 KYC 16 Game No. 3 Playing Time: 2 hours Trophies Earned: 10/25 (37%) Final Thoughts: Well, this one was just too damn intriguing and it ended up in my cart in a recent sale. Unbeknownst to me until I fired it up, it is made by Ratalaika Games (), the developer that has found a niche with trophy hunters for making short games with long stacks. Too late to turn back now, and feeling a bit of regret fits perfectly with this game’s motif. The story starts off by you waking up as a Dude. The scene is fuzzy and as you explore the landscape of a strange bedroom, you realize you are missing your clothes. Then, there is someone lying next to you! And without spoilers, that’s how the story begins… Sorry, there are no gender options to choose from in this game. You HAVE to be the Dude. The other character HAS to be the young woman. The game ends up playing like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. You explore the surroundings of the bedroom and examine items, to try to piece together the missing details of your wild night, as well as who this person is that you shared carnal knowledge with. After gaining some information, a conversation will ensue and depending on your questions and answers, you will continue on for more conversations, or get shown the door. In my first play through, I tried being a gentleman and our female friend was having none of it, and I unlocked the Rejection trophy (Nice guys always finish last!). In my next couple play throughs, I went the total douche route and was able to unlock trophies for getting kicked out of the apartment without my clothes, trying to escape and getting caught, and being asked to leave for wearing her underwear. Turns out, these are the easier trophies to get. What’s harder is to answer correctly to get into more conversations and find out more about your bed buddy. Of course, this is a Ratalaika game so nothing is that hard with some internet sleuthing. I didn’t bother going that route bc I didn’t have much time with it. But I definitely will on the platinum run bc even in my brief time with this game, I have got the same ending a couple of times. You can save at any point, which will lessen the burden. Looks like the trophy whores have platinumed this in less than two hours. Overall, the game is not that bad. The story is still unraveling, but for a short game there appears to be a bit more story depth than Ratalaika gets credit for. And the concept is unique and hilarious. I will give it a . Next Up: Infinite Minigolf - I also switched in the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 game for slot No. 5. The timing couldn’t be any better to start it this week! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post willythom88 Posted July 23, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2021 A delightful romp with familiar flaws Of all the games I've reviewed this month, this is easily the one I spent the least time with. It's not important why, but I only played a little under four hours. That being said, this is not a definitive look. I have to drive out of town the next two days, so this is the final review as far as I'm concerned. Additionally, this game isn't very liberal with handing out trophies in the first few hours, so I earned none in the process of reviewing this. For those familiar with the game, I made it to the town right after fighting a fake boulder, if that helps give you an idea where I was when I stopped playing this morning. With all that out of the way, I will definitely be finishing this game. Tales of Xillia tells the story of Jude and Millia, who are brought together by Jude's stubborn nature and Millia's cryptic quest. Jude is your stereotypical optimistic, nice guy protagonist, but he's just varied enough from that mold that he's genuinely got my attention. So far in the series I've dealt with him, Kor and Luke. For obvious reasons, I can see Jude being my favorite, at least from a "do you like the protagonist from the get go" perspective. He's willing to protect people, even from Alvin (sort of the hip bachelor type character), who's a member of his own party. Alvin isn't a physical threat, but his somewhat needlessly aloof nature seems to irritate Jude at times, and it's refreshing to see the hero of my path stand up to him when he needs checked a little. I am not on Millia's direct path so perhaps it's a bit different, but I really like her. A spirit being, she is cold and calculated, but open minded and understanding. She is very matter of fact about things but also curious, making her extremely likable overall. The aforementioned Alvin is somewhat annoying, but he's also extremely kind and willing to accept criticism, even if he doesn't seem to immediately understand why he's being criticized. These are all the main characters I've met so far, but I know there's several more. The story starts off and seems to maintain a very cliche plotline. While trying to notify his teacher of something, Jude is pulled into a path involving nations that do not get along, and because of several events, he cannot go home right now. The plot is fine and as it unfolds more, it looks like it will open up considerably. However, it's not particularly intriguing yet, and most of what keeps you interested as you plow forward is the characters themselves. I love the art style also, as it feels slightly ethereal. The opening town almost feels like a surrealist painting, I love it. The sound design is pretty nice too, but I wouldn't call the monster or area design particularly memorable. Fortunately the character design for humans is pretty cool. Alvin in particular looks like an old English detective got a makeover in Portland. My favorite villain so far, a very menacing figure from the first dungeon, is also pretty interesting in the design department, if only in a minimalist sort of way. Combat, always a centerpiece in a Tales of title, might be my favorite in the series I've played. While the typical "button mashing" is present, enough gets done with it that I'm definitely hooked. Linking characters in particular is great. By having two characters linked, they will tag team enemies, and when a gauge fills up, they can unleash a powerful attack together. Fill up enough of these bars in a row, and you can do these powerful attacks repeatedly, back to back, for a certain period of time (a few seconds it seems). These moves seem to be random though, as combinations of links have a certain set of moves they can do, and the player can't pick which one they do. A little more control over this would be great, but it's not a huge thing. The Lilium Orb system is basically a skill tree, but thanks to it's progressive opening nature, where the board reveals itself as you progress through it (instead of all being visual from the get go) it's a lot easier to take it all in. Where other skill trees in JRPGs, like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X or the skill trees in Dragon Quest XI, show you the whole board, which can be a bit of an overload of information, Xillia keeps it simple. Not to say that the tree in Dragon Quest XI is complicated, but Xillia makes filling the web feel a bit simplified, and therefore manageable, Xillia's trophy list seems pretty par for the course for the Tales of series, though it's definitely easier than most. Unlike Zesteria or Symphonia (or even Hearts R) there's no difficulty related trophies, and the number of missables is definitely more manageable. I would, however, have liked to have seen more title related trophies in this, even if it meant beating the stories were dropped to silvers and maybe some of the easier titles had been given trophies. Like I said in the beginning, I didn't get any trophies, and perhaps something earlier, even for viewing a handful of skits or getting on the boat with Alvin, might have been nice. Oh well. Characters - 7/10 Story - 6/10 Art/Music - 8/10 Combat - 9/10 Trophies - 6/10 Final Score - 7/10 Up next is my final game, and the biggest outlier in terms of genre for the most month, Gran Turismo 5. When I get back I'll start working on it. Having never played a Gran Turismo, I'm definitely interested in how this will pan out. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purgta Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 Rage Rage is a first person post apocalyptic shooter developed by id Software. The game opens with you awakening in a survival pod 106 years after an asteroid has hit the earth. You are surrounded by other pods where the people inside were not fortunate enough to survive. As you leave the safety of your shelter, it does not take long to realise that the world has gone to shit. What I have played of the game so far has you explore a post apocalyptic wasteland while doing quests for survivors. It feels a bit like a combination of Mad Max and Borderlands. I actually did not play a large amount of this. The game actually gave me motion sickness. I dont know if it was due to the control sensitivity being too high or that the camera bobs up and down slightly when you move. I might power through it to see if it is only a temporary thing but I felt pretty bad after a while. Enemies are a lot more agile than you would expect. They keep dodging or jumping side to side and are quite acrobatic. Gunplay seemed fun, although I don't know if it changes much as you progress. Driving can be pretty janky although it just makes me think about driving in other ps3 games rather than think that it is bad. The first NPC that you encounter is called Dan Hager. I was very surprised when I heard John Goodman's voice coming from him. Visuals are pretty decent so far for a PS3 game. What I played of the game seemed fun but I don't know if I will be coming back to it or not. I don't normally have any issues with motion sickness even when I play VR but I don't really want to risk actually feeling properly sick from playing it. The game did seem to have potential so I may pick it up in the future but for now, I think I will shelve it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Cress Posted July 24, 2021 Share Posted July 24, 2021 Game #3 - Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story Time played: 3 hours Trophies: 10/30 (15% - D) Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story is the 3rd title in the Valthirian Arc series, a series that started out as a web game on sites like Kongregate. Hero School Story is their first title on an actual platform, which was made possible by a Kickstarter and PQube taking over publishing the game. I have never played the other two games and both were made in Flash as well, which is being phased out on PCs. Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story has you take control of an academy as the new principal. Your duties include recruiting students, constructing facilities on the campus, and sending students out on missions requested by various people. On the story side, the country of Valthiria is in slight turmoil - the Queen of the country has died, her daughter is nowhere to be found, and the five leaders of the various factions in Valthiria or all trying to get the academy's approval so they can position themselves to be the new Queen. Oh, and there's also a shadow organization using this turmoil for their own benefit, of course. I've already finished Chapter 3 (of 5) in the first three hours of the game so it's a pretty short one overall - most of the trophies are backloaded so they will come eventually. There are two mission types that are available - errand quests, which take no input and come back within a certain time either passing the quest or failing it, and actual missions where you take control of the students to battle various enemies or collect materials. These missions include all the story quests, as well as quests from the various factions to prop themselves up in the Academy's eyes. The trophy guide here says to ignore all of these affiliated quests for the time being so I am currently doing that. The battle system is very simplistic, it's a basic action RPG where you have a basic attack and one or two skills that depends on the character's class. All students start as Apprentices and can be upgraded to Knights, Magi or Scouts at level 10 (when unlocked in Chapter 2), and then to a further class later on. The game does throw a curveball here as you have to 'graduate' a character every six in-game months, and they must be level 10 or higher to graduate. Graduating also provides a huge amount of gold and fame, more than any other source. Because of this I usually have two parties doing errand quests while the main party goes through the playable missions. Facilities on the academy campus provide worthwhile buffs and increase of EXP/gold/items from these missions, so it's also important to keep those up to date. I do have a few complaints - the game seems a lot like it would be better on PC (or on Vita with a touch screen!) because the cursor used to select places on campus with the PS4 is very annoying to control at times, and clicking on individual students or the traveling merchant is sometimes an exercise in frustration. The missions in-game also have these stairwells that sometimes get the student stuck when moving on them. This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough that it wastes time playing through some of the missions. You also can't move through other students while moving through the missions, so sometimes your helpful AI party members will trap you in a corner - though since you can switch between the students it's not too much of an issue, just another annoyance. Overall though I enjoyed it enough, even if it feels like a mobile game with its UI and simplistic gameplay. I'll probably finish it at some point. Starting completion: 74.24% Current completion: 73.99% Difference: -0.25% Nexomon: Extinction - 12/57 (19% - D) Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition - 10/25 (41% - C) Very small completion drop as I finally got to the end of the Dream Arena in Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth and nothing was going to stop me from going all the way to the platinum in that game, an easy top 10 game of all time. Next will be Streets of Rage 4, and I'll finish the KYC with Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin after that one. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuroraHistoire Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Take a Drink to Unlock a Third Dialogue Option - Afterparty The narrative of Afterparty is about two friends, Milo and Lola, trying to drink their way out of hell. After dying and being set to hell, how and why unbeknownst to me since I never asked when given the option, they decide they want to leave and the only way out is to beat Satan in a drinking contest. The whole game is the journey of Lola and Milo getting into Satan's House Party and actually getting Satan to face them in a drinking contest. The whole story is about 5 hours long and there is a little replay value since some of your choices have consequences and effect the story. Afterparty is is mostly about picking the dialogue option you want to progress the story and you walk left and right sometimes. You will be presented with 2 dialogue options but you can not chose one and answer with silence if you want as well. There are a plethora of acholic beverages to drink along the journey that when drank during conversations, will unlock a third dialogue option. Both Milo and Lola are playable during Afterparty, you will switch characters whenever the game decides to switch your playable character. There are also 3 minigames. There is a dancing game that is just inputting the 3-4 button combination your opponent shows you quickly. There is beer pong; beer pong is alright. Then there is the game where you take shots and then try to stack the glasses to make a tower; that game is a nightmare to play. Afterparty is a game I am not sure I liked after I played it. I don't feel like I hated it but at the same time I never remember having much fun while playing it. Maybe I'll play it again and be able to tell you why I feel that way. Don't get your hopes up or anything. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 25, 2021 Author Share Posted July 25, 2021 Game #5 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Final Impressions Time played: 5h Trophies earned: 5/45 I did not play as much of this as I had intended. I played a decent bit though and have been enjoying the game so far. I only defeated 3 bosses so far I beleive, so I didn't get all that far into the game yet and am still only in the second major area. Thankfully there's some sort of fast travel so it's not too bad of getting around, as some areas are fairly big. Visully the game looks great, althoguh I wished the armor would actually show on the character. T some extent it does, but only the accessories, so that's a bummer. Sound design is decent and didn't really blow me away. There is decent enemy variety and lots of items to pick up, be it armor, ingredients or weapons. Killing enemies may also ulock abilities that are tied to that enemy. These can be either an attack they have, or you get to summon some of the enemies. Passive abilities are also a thing, and there are othes that will be unlocked through progression. THe most recent one I unlocked is to be able to move certain abstacles to free up paths. The combat is solid, and thanks to the different weapons and abilities it has a good variety to it I do not like how the dodging works though, which essentially is just a little backstep. Also sliding along the ground, is faster than the regular walk that the character has. So I've been sliding everywhere obviously. Plenty of coridors with dead ends and treasures are to be found in this game, as can be expected for it's genre. The map is always shown and can be zoomed in, and will also indicate treasures that you may have uncovered, but not been able to reach yet. There are also sidequests for NPCs, which usually want you to either kill something for them or bring them something. One of them wants you to cook her favourite meals that she doesn't remember the name of. So that's been interesting. Solid 8/10 game so far, might bump it up depending on how it continues. On the other hand I've been playing more Spider-Man as well, and Im going to lower that rating to 7/10. I've come to the realization, that it's inferior to the Batman games (at least worse than Arkham Asylum), as it almost exclusively sends you into an area to fight a shit ton of enemies, does some mild story progression, back to more enemies, more story,and so on, until there's eventually a boss fight. It being open world, makes it so that there are actually no interesting levels or areas to explore. Furthermore my map is now plastered with side stuff I don't really care for. So yeah, honestly the game's overrated imo. My intention of getting the DLC, has dwindled completely as I figure it's going to be more of the same. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 26, 2021 Author Share Posted July 26, 2021 Game #6 - Devil May Cry (PS3) - Preview Developer : Capcom / Ninja Theory Publisher: Capcom Genre: Hack & Slash Well Capcom games tend to be a mixed bag for me. Some I enjoy, others not so much. As far as Devil May Cry goes, well I only played DMC. For what it's worht, DMC was actually one of those games I enjoyed. So I'm quite late to the party "starting" this franchise now, but it is what it is. I'm planning to incorporate these HD games into future KYC events as well, Here's hoping the Devil May Cry one still holds up and isn't trash like the Splinter Cell one. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willythom88 Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 Well this feels a bit amateurish but I took for granted that after so many successful Gamestop purchases they wouldn't have sold me a lemon, but here we are. 6 months after buying Gran Turismo 5 I discover the disc doesn't work. With that being said sorry about that, looks like I won't be able to put in the last review for this one. I'll be giving Gamestop a 5/10 for leading me to believe it would be fine, and I'll be rating my own foresight a 4/10, since I should've known better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 1 hour ago, willythom88 said: Well this feels a bit amateurish but I took for granted that after so many successful Gamestop purchases they wouldn't have sold me a lemon, but here we are. 6 months after buying Gran Turismo 5 I discover the disc doesn't work. With that being said sorry about that, looks like I won't be able to put in the last review for this one. I'll be giving Gamestop a 5/10 for leading me to believe it would be fine, and I'll be rating my own foresight a 4/10, since I should've known better. If you got anotehr game to play, you can just pick that to replace GT with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willythom88 Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 6 minutes ago, voodoo_eyes said: If you got anotehr game to play, you can just pick that to replace GT with. I appreciate that. I'll go ahead and swap in Futuridium EP Deluxe for the Vita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 29 minutes ago, willythom88 said: I appreciate that. I'll go ahead and swap in Futuridium EP Deluxe for the Vita. All good. it also happened to me in one of the first KYC, where Star Wars Republic Heroes disc stopped working after the frist few missions. It's the one risk when buying games used ?. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryToxteth Posted July 27, 2021 Share Posted July 27, 2021 KYC 16 Game No. 4 Playing Time: 6/21 (22%) Time Played: 2 hours Thoughts: Quick apology, this is the most tardy I have been on reviewing games in any KYC. I knew I should have sat out as this July has been nuts. As for the game, Infinite Minigolf is as advertised, it’s putting on whacky holes. I played Golf with your Friends a few KYC’s ago so I will compare/contrast with that. The Bad: Lack of courses. Whereas GWYF had around 15-18 courses, IM only has six. And two of those are dlc’s! Oddly, the courses have 27 holes on them too, but in tournament play, you only play nine at a time. Strange. The Good: Gameplay. I think I would give the nod to IM. The holes look much cleaner and graphics are very eye-appealing in comparison to GWYF. In IM, you advance and unlock levels in Tournament Play. Each round consists of nine holes vs. three computer foes. Score better than them and you unlock the next level. I think there are nine levels for each course. Scoring is by lowest amount of shots (naturally), but you can gain extra points with banking shots, and using power ups. There are a variety of items you can collect on the course that will allow you to jump, go faster, slow down, etc. There are also gems you can collect which will add points to your score. I’m sure on the hardest levels you will need to collect all the gems and sink your putt within 1 or 2 shots to beat the AI. Let’s hope people have posted You Tube videos! Something new: Course editing. I have never been one for creating content, but you could spend hours creating pretty elaborate holes and then posting them so other people can play them. One trophy involves playing 100 holes from other users and some are mighty impressive! I have created one, strictly for trophy purposes, and it’s just not my thing. But people have done a marvelous job in this aspect and have outdone the game developers. Trophies: IM doesn’t have a platinum, but it’s has one trophy with a 0.41% ultra rarity so it’s either an absolute grind, or nearly impossible. I haven’t played enough to figure out which is true. Mechanics: You control a golfer in IM, whereas in GWYF you just have an arrow. I think I prefer the golfing dude method. The one problem is your swing is on the and you can’t switch it. I am used to aiming with that button and swinging with in other golf games which has created lots of errant shots. But when done correctly, it works adequately. In the end, I think Infinite Minigolf is the better of the two games. It will be a long road to 100% but it will be a good game to play 15 minutes here and there. Grade: Next Up: Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willythom88 Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 The game that assumes you have a cheap pair of 3D glasses I love shmups, but Futuridium takes it just a bit too far. Between the distorted visuals, the lackluster controls and the terrible "one shot per zone" mission structure, I think after 3 and a half hours I am content with my progress. I'll likely pick it up again tomorrow, given how damn close I keep getting to finishing zone 2. But this game is just really good at grating on your nerves. Each level of the game is an isolated area, usually a massive ship, with blue cubes all around the ship. The objective is to simply destroy all of the blue cubes, and then a massive core that reveals itself. This is done over 50 levels, across 5 zones. Each zone is 10 levels long, and you have to beat them all without running out of energy. Energy is progressively drained as time goes on, making the focus on beating levels quickly. However, it's a dual edge sword. See, you can dash, very quickly, around each level, but it makes controlling your ship a nightmare. If you hit something or get hit, you get sent back to the beginning of the level, and lose some energy. Fortunately, the energy doesn't drain particularly slow, but under normal circumstances, you can easily lose track of time and end up dead. And if you're on level 9, you go back to level 1. Level 19 sends you back to level 11. Fortunately, you keep your gains, which in this case are a count on the number of blue cubes destroyed. You can play the same level over and over again and just rack up cubes, which lead to unlockables. There are new modes, extra lives (the best unlockable, as it means if you run out of energy, you can retry without restarting the zone AND they are permanent, meaning you don't have to re-earn them if you restart a zone after losing them all), and skins. I've unlocked 3 or 4 skins and cannot for thel ife of me figure out how to apply them to my ship, but that may be a me issue. Enemies start coming in early, and they range from fairly benign to infuriating. One enemy in particular is an orb that generates a larger purple orb, that blocks your path periodically. Fortunately, you can blast enemies into nothing, but dodging these and environmental hazards is often nerve wracking in a way that never manages to be fun. The boss fights, or at least the two I've encountered, are not particularly good either. The first fight is especially annoying, taking place inside of a moving cube. This is all made the worse by the controls. You're not moving the whole ship, but the cannons and the nose. This causes movement to be fairly sluggish, since the front has to literally drag the back along with it. Make hairpin turns is impossible because of this, or at least requires a ridiculous amount of patience that I simply don't have. These kinds of turns would help a lot too, given how maze like alot of the levels are, and how weird the hiding spots they used for the cubes end up being. Graphically the game is very difficult to look at, at least on the Vita. The distorted, 3D effect colors often get blurry and make the actual act of figuring out where you are in the level almost impossible. Fortunately it's fleeting, but it shouldn't really be there to begin with. What's most annoying about it is that when it doesn't do this, it actually looks really cool. Oh well. Trophies in the game are good for what they are. I can definitely see why the completion rate is so low. Get a 100 cube combo? Bite me. And I've never even played the Flappyridium but I can only imagine it's terrible. Still, I won't fault the trophy list for being hard, considering how rough the whole game is overall. Gameplay - 5/10 Controls - 4/10 Art - 4/10 Trophies - 6/10 Overall - 4/10 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purgta Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 Last Rebellion Last Rebellion is a turn based rpg. The battle system seems pretty unique. You can target multiple parts of an enemies body. If you target them in the correct order, you get benefits. The game tells you when you have targeted one of the body parts in the correct order and keeps a list for you. Combat is pretty easy so far and seems to be getting easier as you go along. If you try to get a 999 combo in boss fights and large groups of enemies, your level really jumps up. I have not completed the story yet but the world seems interesting . Character interactions are not great. The conversations seem a bit unnatural. I won't really comment on the story as I have not finished it yet. It is not brilliant so far but they seem to be suggesting there is some grander mystery which may change my opinion. I do like the character and cutscene art. It has an almost pastel artwork feel to them. The loading screens have artwork done by guest artists. As you progress through the game, new art is shown. The dungeons look a bit rougher. They tend to be short enough so far. The dungeons I have completed so far have been pretty basic but they seem to be introducing some more puzzle aspects to them now which is welcome. The PS3 library is filled with some fantastic JRPGs but I don't know if I would include this among them. The game seems a bit too basic. I don't know if I would call it bad but it feels like it is on the wrong side of average. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 30, 2021 Author Share Posted July 30, 2021 (edited) Game #6 - Devil May Cry (PS3) - Final Impressions Time played: 2h Trophies earned: 2/34 I didn't end up getting to the 3 hours with this one, as I eventually just got bored to be honest. I ended up trying out both DMC 2 and 3 on an alt account for about 30 minutes each, so kind of got to the 3 hour total xD. I think I got to mission 4, beat a miniboss and couldn't figure out where to go next, whcih brings me to the main issue with this game. The camera angles are fixed, they jump around, and don't show you the area well. I know this is a thing of the PS2 era for a lot of games, but damn is it annoying. What's also annoying is how the game or rather the trilogy is set up progression-wise. I keep coming across locations to upgrade and buy things at, but whenever I do I don't have enough red orbs, to buy almost anything (especially upgrades). I don't see why the game would put shops at these points, if there's no way I'd be able to buy things at them. This pointlessness transitions over to saving the game as well. You can save at any time. Do you start from where you saved? No. Do you keep the orbs, etc that you got until your last save? No. Then why the fuck do you let me save at all, if I have to start the mission over anyway? This nonsense also applies to the 2nd game, while the 3rd one you get to choose to do it this way or start back at the room you left off I beleive (not 100% sure), maybe that's just how dying works. No point going much into the visuals, it's PS2, so it's not great-looking by todays standards. Gameplay is just passable honestly. I know this is a lot of people's favourite, but I don't have any nostalgia for PS2 games, as I didn't own or play that system. So to me this is just not great. The aforementioned camera issue, then there's also the really weird way of dodging. For like the first 30 minutes of the game, I even thoguht tehre was no way to dodge. Turns out you need to aim with your guns, and press another but and direction at the same time. DMC2 got better in that regard having a separate dodge button, and feels as an overall improvement to be honest. At least gameplay-wise, from the little I played. DMC 3 seems to be the best out of the trilogy to me. It looks better, and combat feels more fluid, but they reverted the dodging back to Oh right, you probably wanted to know about the game, so you go through mostly narrow hallways, that lead to bigger rooms and killthings or get killed. I might end up going back to DMC3, but the first and second game have lost my interest. 6/10 for the whole trilogy. Here's something that's going to trigger people. DMC is better than any of the games in this trilogy, by fucking miles. Edited July 30, 2021 by voodoo_eyes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryToxteth Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 KYC 16 Game No. 5 Playing Time: 3 hours Trophies Earned: 20/47 (29%) Thoughts: Could you ever find a timelier game??? After a couple days of playing, I’m not sure if it’s more exciting to watch the real Olympics or play this game. Maybe the nod should go to the video game because there’s no gymnastics. So the game is like any other Olympic focused video game. There are a variety of sports (20 events in this game), none are terribly complex. But some are much easier than others, some much more fun than others, and a few that are excruciatingly painful to play either based on difficulty or bad gameplay. With 20 events in this one, I’d say the developers did a good job with most sporting disciplines. I haven’t found one that is downright awful, though I didn’t even have enough time to play all the sports. Off the top of my head, there is track events (100-meter dash, 400-meter hurdles, long jump, hammer throw), couple swimming events, and random things like judo, tennis, baseball, BMX, rugby, football (soccer), beach volleyball, boxing and sport climbing. Wait, since when is sport climbing considered an Olympic sport? Some sports have a fighting game aspect to it, some are dumbed down team sports, and the others are either button timing or some serious button mashing, The team sports seem to be the ones that play the poorest. Why include baseball if it’s only two innings? But rugby is pretty fun, even though I don’t even know the rules, After playing most of the events, I’d say a vast majority are doable to earn a Gold Medal in them, after some “git gud” training sessions. Some seemed really difficult, until I whipped out the Turbo Controller . For trophy purposes, you need to earn 10 gold medals, so you can skip half the events. You do have to earn a victory in all disciplines, but prelim heats count. There is an online aspect that have a handful of trophies attached to them, but I think it can be done without a booster. Or at least I’m hoping a boosting partner won’t be needed when you have a Turbo Controller. There is a large aspect of this game to change your character’s appearance. Even has trophies ties to it. I could care less what the character looks like, but maybe that’s bc I grew up on the NES. Mario always looked like Mario. But I guess kids today care about outfits. In conclusion, this game has been fun. An easy game to jump into for a few minutes, or dump a few hours into and get real good in a specific sport. Hop onto to the platform to get your ! Kinda off topic - Go ?? Water Polo !! Last game: Tower of Beatrice 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 31, 2021 Author Share Posted July 31, 2021 (edited) Well, it's time for my usual wrap up. From best to worst: Bloodstained Ritual of the Night - It's just fun and offers a lot of variety. - 8/10 Marvel's Spider-Man - It's a solid game. Personally I expected more out of it, and felt it was a bit too "filler" heavy. 7/10 Devil May Cry HD - Was just ok to me. Didn't expect much of it, didn't get much in return either. - 6/10 Yakuza 3 - Again, just passable. Constant interruption with random fights and whole chapters of "slice of life" stuff really knocked the enjoyment down for me - 6/10 Commandos 2 HD - I couldn't get used to the controls, those that can are likely to get something enjoyable out of it - 5/10 Splinter Cell HD - Another one where the controls don't feel great, and the aiming is complete arse. - 5/10 Now regarding all the other games I've played on the side: Ghost Recon Breakpoint - This game has grinding all over it. Almost every mission feels the same, and is on a 3-4 mission loop of finding waldo. Target moved from point A to B, when you get there and tehn from B-C and so on. It's the blandest mission design of all time, but the gunplay is kind of fun - 6/10 Dead or School - Well this ended up kind of getting featured in KYC. Solid metroidvania, with satisfying combat. - 7/10 Assassin's Creed Odyssey - A lot of fun, if you enjoy the type of game it is. It took me 70' hours to beat the game and another 20 to do the first 2 DLC«s - Still need to finish the last DLC to finally be done with this game. Had a great time though, but it has it's issues nonetheless. - 8/10 Worse Than Death - a neat indie horror game. It's pretty alright in all aspects, but there are better indie horror games out there - 6/10 Wolfenstein The New Order - This was another great one. It was a ton of fun, has lots of weapons and still looks great on PS3 - 8/10 The Church in the Darkness - This is essentially a top-down stealth gome where you need to find people without getting seen. Camera is zoomed out enough to adequately plan for a route and not zoomed in enough to be able to identify what is what. - 3/10 Do not buy this, it's 20 bucks for one map that randomly generates it's layout Shadow of the Beast - It was a decent enough game, although a bit short. - 6/10 Spaceland - Budget X-Com. It's decent enough - 6/10 Ziggurat - rouguelike FPS, that feels somewhat chapat times - 5/10 Plague Inc Evolved - As messed up as it may sound, considering the ongoing situation aroudn teh world, this game is fun - 7/10 DMC Devil May Cry - I returned to this on account of the HD games, boy is this one fun, it just feels right - 8/10 Edited July 31, 2021 by voodoo_eyes 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuroraHistoire Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Nekopara Vol.4 Made Me Hungry; I Want Cake Now I was browsing the PSN store when I saw there was a 4th Nekopara. I played the first 3 Nekoparas; the first 2 I didn't like that much but I liked the 3rd one. I got the feeling that the third one was going to be the last game since the protagonist clumsily romanced almost every important character into their harem and the remaining characters seemed like unlikely candidates. I was shocked when I saw a 4th game and was curious to see where it would go. I was 3 games in and I might as well see where this goes. Nekopara Vol.4 is the mostly the same as the other games. It is a linear visual novel where you can pet the characters on the head if you feel like it. Most of the character are half cat half human hybrids but you can also pet the humans; the catgirls will have many reactions to your headpats while most humans have 1 reaction and they seem very annoyed. The first game had only 9 characters that appeared on screen and the 2nd and 3rd games didn't add any new characters that where anything more than names on a text box. The nice thing about the 4th game is that there are a few new characters that are appear on screen. Also, every character from the pervious games has a new outfit or 2. The character animation in the 4th game is on par with the other 3. The character animation in Nekopara has always been incredible by visual novel standards. Characters have fluid motion between poses and can go between multiple poses during their lines. Also the other characters on screen will reactto what is happening even when it is not their line. The story is that our main protagonist, Kashou, and his father have not had the best relationship for several years. During Kashou's mom's birthday, his father shows up unexpectedly, looks at Kashou's cake and says it is a bit shit. Kashou gets really depressed and after 2 chapters of mostly filler he decides to go take a trip to France to learn from his old mentor and hopefully learn to make a cake that his father will find a bit good. I was not too entertained by the story. I got bored multiple times and went to play other games. Overall, the story was not that great but it had a few good moments. If there is a 5th game, I'll play it out of obligation and wait for a sale. Giraffe and Annika is so Wholesome That I Feel Happy For Once Giraffe and Annika was the last game on the list. I had no idea what to expect going into this aside from there was rhythm game in there somewhere. I bought Giraffe and Anika because it looked cute, I think. I bought this so long ago that I don't really remember. Giraffe and Annika is a brief adventure that blends that blends a bunch of genres together. The game starts with a brief cutscene where Annika trips and falls over. As a result of such a horrible fall she has amnesia and low health. After you break into a house and walk out like you own the place, Giraffe shows up and tells Annika that she needs to collect 3 crystals from 3 different dungeons. Giraffe can't do it himself because there is a magical barrier that prevents him from entering the dungeons and Annika is asked to do it because she is part cat. Giraffe and Annika plays like a 3D Zelda game most of the time. It is mostly about exploring the world while trying to get to the next dungeon. There is some light puzzle solving and some platforming. The game has a day night cycle that I have only seen used to lock events that you need to do to progress until a certain time of day. The day night cycle moves pretty fast and you can sleep in a bed to pass time; beds are everywhere and there is usually one close by when you are required to pass time to progress. Annika's jump is a single jump and it does not have much height. You have to commit to the jump since you have very little air control. Annika has a little momentum behind her movement and it will take her half a second to stop or change direction. Annika can also swim... Kinda. She can only go underwater and will lose health while swimming. Getting out of the water is very janky since Annika will basically try to teleport onto land when you are at the edge of the water. Annika has no offensive options so you have to avoid enemies. It is not too hard to avoid most enemies and if you get hit it is not too big of a deal since there are numerous healing crystals that will heal Annika to full health if you stand next to them for 5 seconds. There are boss battles and that is where Giraffe and Annika becomes a rhythm game. It is a bit odd and will take a bit to explain. You hit notes with the X button and there are only tap and hold notes. Notes will fly at towards Annika at the left and right side of the screen and you must move Annika to the side of the screen where the notes are to hit them. Annika can move very fast and you can from one side to the other in under half a second. Annika will also be attacked directly and you must avoid attacks. Missing notes or getting hit with a direct attack will lower Annika's health and as long as Annika survives until the song is over, you win. You are getting attacked by a witch named Lily during the boss fights; she mostly dances around seems to be having a lovely time. It is also strange that Lily is attacking you since she left a hundred signs around giving you hints on how to progress. Boss battle have 3 difficulties that you can choose before the battle starts. Easy is pretty chill, medium is a good challenge and hard is difficult but never feels cheap. The trophy list is a tough one so far. There are many trophies tied to the rhythm boss battles, the hardest ones being missing no notes on all songs on all difficulties and getting a S rank on hard on all songs. There is a trophy for finishing the game in under 4 hours and 30 minutes; I got it on my first playthrough without outside help and I watched every cutscene. I think that was the easiest speedrun trophy I have encountered thus far. Also you need find every collectable in the game. Most of the collectables are various bits of art made by various artists that have nothing in common aside from being cat themed. There is also a treasure map that is ripped to pieces that you must collect. Giraffe and Annika is a little rough around the edges but the game was a ray of happiness that I really needed. The story gets really good in the second half of the game and the ending made me cry. Those tears were the good kind of tears. I wanna play through Giraffe and Annika again because it was so good. I enjoyed the game so much I went and ordered the special limited edition for my Switch. The music during the boss fights was pretty catchy. I'll do the recap tomorrow since I am exhausted and need some sleep. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Cress Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 Game #4 - Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Time played: 4 hours Trophies: 10/41 (16% - E) The farming / RPG hybrids, such as this game, seem to be under XSEED's catalog, who now have Rune Factory, Story of Seasons, and now this game. Picked it up when it was on sale thanks to a Wario64 tweet, and I enjoyed the four hours I played of it! Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin stars the titular goddess in the picture above. Basically due to Sakuna's actions, a number of humans enter the Lofty Realm, and then the offering of rice to another goddess is burned to a crisp due to the Sakuna trying to stop them from causing more damage. Due to the damage caused, the head goddess Lady Kamuhitsuki tasks Sakuna with taking care of the humans as they cannot return home at this point; as well as clearing the demons from the nearby Hinoe Island. On the island itself, Sakuna and the human party returns to a small house and field that Sakuna's parents used when exploring the island. The party finds a number of rice seeds in the storehouse, and Sakuna decides to provide food for everyone by growing rice and hunting demons for meat and other supplies. Unlike the other farming games stated above, Sakuna only focuses on the one crop of rice. It goes through the entire process of making rice in the fields; tilling the field, planting seedlings, making and using fertilizer, controlling the water level, pulling weeds, drying the harvested rice plants, hulling the rice and then breaking it down using the mortar and pestle. This goes over the course of an in-game year (12 in-game days) where the four seasons cycle through - obviously nothing will grow in winter, so most of these tasks must be done during the nine days from spring to fall. Sakuna can do all these tasks herself, or she can task the human party to do the work for her - however, Sakuna is more proficient at these tasks and will procure a larger harvest if she takes the time to do it herself, and will eventually learn a number of farming skills to continually work through the tasks at an accelerated pace. The rice cycle is essential to the game, as Sakuna does not level with the combat portion of the game; rather, her levels increase and she learns new combat skills as more rice is harvested. Through two rice cycles I have gotten Sakuna to level 8, though she said both harvests were pretty bad on the roundup at the end. I guess there's still more practice to be needed here. However, the rice cycle is only one half of the game, and doesn't really touch on the actual story of the game - the other half is an action RPG in a 2.5D perspective through various areas. Areas in the game have multiple demon enemies within as well as harvest points to obtain various materials. Sakuna traverses through the areas with a single jump and her divine raiment which acts as a grappling hook on almost any surface. Sakuna brings both an one-handed weapon for quick attacks with the button and a two-handed weapon for heavy attacks with the button, and special attacks tied to the button. The divine raiment can also be used in combat, it allows Sakuna to move through enemies and dodge their attacks effectively. I've only faced one boss so far, and it was pretty easy as its attacks were telegraphed pretty easily. I assume it will get harder as the game continues. Also, after bringing materials back to the houses, some of the humans will make new weapons and armor for Sakuna to face the demons easier. Sakuna also has a fullness meter which affects her HP regeneration and skill boosts - if it hits zero, she loses any food buffs and cannot passively regenerate her health outside of combat. The fullness meter gets regenerated after eating a meal back at the house - the materials collected and rice harvested allows for different meals to be produced which allows for different stat boosts and buffs. I had not heard much about this game before purchasing it, but I saw that it not only sold a million copies but also got some Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, so it definitely has a fanbase somewhere! XSEED also apparently thought it would do well, as they actually took the time to dub the game in English too! The voices seem to fit the characters very well, especially Sakuna's English VA, which is really fitting to her character. It's probably the one game I will go back to before the others that I played this month. Starting completion: 74.24% Current completion: 73.89% Difference: -0.35% Nexomon: Extinction - 12/57 (19% - D) Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition - 10/25 (41% - C) Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story - 10/30 (15% - D) Three games with 10 trophies each and three different letter ranks, interesting! Kind of surprised at which one each letter is, though. Only one game left, and I still have a few hours to get to it - Streets of Rage 4 will come up later tonight or early tomorrow morning! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Cress Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 Game #5 - Streets of Rage 4 Time played: 2 hours, 10 minutes Trophies: 19/46 (27% - C) Kind of cheating on the time requirement here, but I already completed the entire story mode of the game which is, admittedly, very short. Even with twelve stages it doesn't take all that long to go through it all. Streets of Rage 4 continues the Streets of Rage storyline ten years after the events of the previous game in the series - after the death of Mr. X, his children, the Y twins have moved into Wood Oak City to take it over for their own ends. By using a hypnotic music device, they are able to control the minds of others and plan to broadcast it throughout the entire city if not stopped. Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, as always, are playable in this title, joining them are Adam Hunter's daughter Cherry and Floyd Iraia, an apprentice of Dr. Zan from Streets of Rage 3. Through collecting points and progressing through the story, various other characters are unlocked - including versions of characters from earlier Streets of Rage games. By the end of the game with Axel I had unlocked his Streets of Rage 1 version of himself able to be played. The gameplay is very familiar if you have played any game in the series. Attack enemies with , use special attacks with and throw enemies/pick up weapons with . Each character also has another special called a Star Move that can be used after collecting a star within a level. These are most likely used when either surrounded by enemies or against bosses. There are also special retro levels in the stages found by using a taser on an arcade machine, which puts your character against a boss in complete 16-bit graphics. These usually lead to extra items and/or points depending on the stage. A lot of the trophies focus on either stringing together combos, destroying objects on the stages, or killing enemies in a certain way. There's not much to say here unfortunately, the game also has an Arcade mode and Boss Rush mode for additional play time, but both are just copies of the story mode with a different twist on it. It's a great beat-em-up title and I will probably beat it with some of the other characters, but it might be a while until I actually do that. At least for now, I have confirmed that I will probably buy the DLC pack that was released for it lately, as the game is definitely worth it. Starting completion: 74.24% Current completion: 73.75% Difference: -0.49% Nexomon: Extinction - 12/57 (19% - D) Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition - 10/25 (41% - C) Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story - 10/30 (15% - D) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin - 10/41 (16% - E) Almost got a full half percent off, but it was not to be - even with the Streets of Rage 4 DLC trophies, there's just too many trophies in the story mode of the game that I collected to lower it that much! It is currently August 1st here, but I'll be back later 'today' to make a wrap-up post at some point. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuroraHistoire Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 Dreamcast - Yakuza 5 I have been playing Yakuza 5 in the background throughout the whole event. At one point I saw I had ninety hours of playtime, it is a bit inflated since I tend to leave games idle quite often. I would check my playtime again but I don't know how to do that. I have completed the main story, done every sub story and played most of the side content. I'll start off where I left off last time at part 2. Part 2 opens with a long cutscene where Saejima and Majima are eating meat while having a philosophical discussion about their lives. The most important information is that Saejima is going back to prison that night. After the cutscene you are given free reign to explore Kamurocho as Saejima until you feel like progressing the plot. Nothing is off limits and there are plenty of fights around town to earn some experience. Saejima is one of the harder characters to play and the prison escape sequence in Yakuza 4 was difficult, so it is nice that the game lets you prepare a bit. Saejima is slower than the other characters and is all about charging heavy attacks by holding triangle for a second. Saejima has the highest health of all the playable characters and has some really strong grab attacks. Saejima has a special attack that can only be used with enough heat where he will grab a enemy by their leg and swing them around; the damage is not very high but it can hit multiple enemies. Saejima is the only character that can use heavy objects, like motorcycles and street lamps, as improvised weapons. Saejima gets a dodge roll as a evasive option that is good defensively but is too slow to be used to get behind a enemy since they will have plenty of time to turn around and face you. Saejima's hits are very strong but he struggles to hit evasive opponents; most of Saejima's boss fights are against evasive opponents but the few hits that land will really hurt. Prison was a lot nicer to Saejima the second time around. It is a bit cold and Saejima gets brutally beat up on a regular bias but Saejima made a few friends this time around. The prison section spends a lot of time setting up the characters, most of them you will not see for the majority of the game. The escape sequence is just 2 fights and Saejima's cellmate Baba tagging along the whole time. There is a snowmobile driving section afterwards that sucks but it the only time it is required to progress the main plot and I only ever saw it used a second time. After you do your best to avoid crashing, Saejima crashes the snowmobile in a cutscene, getting separated from Baba, and then there is a boss fight with a bear. After fighting off the bear, Saejima collapses from exhaustion and gets saved by a passing hunter. At this point the game introduces Saejima's side activity, hunting. Hunting does not have much waiting around for animals to show up and is more about running around until you see a animal, sneak as close as you can and waiting for the perfect shot. The longer you aim the more zoomed in your shot will be and the easier it is to get a head shot. Bears and deer need to be killed with a head shot while the smaller animals will be killed as long as a shot hits. There are traps that can be set around the hunting area and will eventually catch a small animal. The only animals that will attack you are bears and the deer with antlers. Deer are not a that threating while the bears will try to kill you on sight. If you get into a fight with a bear it is a battle to the death and the only time you can kill a bear during a fight is when it is charging at you. Saejima will slowly lose health while out hunting because of the cold weather. You are forced to do some hunting until you get past the tutorial stages and then you are allowed to move on and ignore it if you wish. I completed the main hunting missions and did most of the side hunting missions because I enjoyed them. Hunting is also a really good way to make money and I made over 1 million yen from it. One you decide to move on from the hunting village ( you can go back later if you feel like it), Saejima and Baba arrive in Tsukimino. It is the first and only area in Seajima's part with sub stories. The layout of Tsukimino is one big street down the middle with a streets on both sides of the main street. There are snow sculptures at the north end at the map that are nice decorations. Tsukimino is a new map to the Yakuza series and there is not much to do on it. A snowball fight minigame unlocks as you go through the story and it a mess but is still a lot of fun. Part 3 of the game starts out in Haruka's section. Haruka has been in Yakuza games since the very first one but this is the first time that she is a playable character. Haruka has no combat skills what so ever and fortunately she is not assaulted by random punks looking around every corner like our other protagonists. Haruka is currently working as a idol in Sotenbori and her gameplay is mainly rhythm games and other various mini games. Concert battles are the main type of rhythm game for Haruka that are mostly tied to the main story and work events. Concert battles can be freely practiced and will improve Haruka's singing skill. Haruka has skills to raise that will help you win concert battles if you are not the best at rhythm games and there is also a easy mode. Concert battles a basic rhythm game where notes will fly into the bottom right corner and you need to tap or hold the correct button at the right time. You can also trigger idol heat to make notes worth more points for a brief amount of time but you have a set number of times you can use idol heat per concert battle. You need to get a certain combo, a certain amount of great notes and your overall performance needs to pass a certain rank for the concert to be successful during practice and most other events that use a concert battle. There are 3 songs for concert battles but you unlock them as you progress the plot and hear the first 2 a lot more than the third. The other type of rhythm game for Haruka are dance battles. Dances battles are a bit harder than concert battles since you need to use the d-pad to switch between lanes where the notes are. You also need to worry about Haruka's health during dance battles since if you do poorly on a section Haruka will get damaged, tho the same applies to your opponent as well. Both sides will build up heat during dance battles and heat can be used on moves to apply buffs or debuffs, heal, damage your opponent or gain extra points. Points are used to decide a winner if nobody health went to zero during the battle. I found both rhythm games very easy but I am good at most rhythm games. Haruka's side content consists of a series of sub stories that are dance battle related and a bunch of Idol related jobs. The Idol jobs are pretty much anything the game can get away with being slightly idol related. The story of Haruka's part is where the story gets interesting and everything kind of comes together a bit. Haruka made it to the finales of Princess League off screen and Haruka only needs to win the finals to get a huge boost to her idol career. Park, the president of the production company Haruka works for, used to be a idol herself but her idol career didn't really go anywhere. Park schedules a debut concert at the Tokyo Dome after Haruka wins Princess league (she is so confident that Haruka would win that she preps in advance) since she almost got to preform there in her idol days. The opening of Haruka's part is the most nice and wholesome the main plot of a Yakuza game gets for a extended period of time. The only bad thing that really happens is that the idols Haruka is competing against are mean to her. The plot eventually realizes that Yakuza 5 is still a Yakuza game and kills off Park. At that point your protagonist switches over to Akiyama. Akiyama hears the news that Park had died and walks over to see it was true. Park borrowed 300 hundred million yen from Akiyama recently and that is the reason he got involved. Akiyama doesn't really care that much about the money and helps Haruka out with finding out the circumstances around Park's death. During the second half of part 3, you will bounce between Akiyama and Haruka. Akiyama's fighting style is very fast and he defeats enemies with kicks. He is a very fast character and he has some heat moves are very good against groups of enemies. Akiyama's special move that can only be used with full-ish heat is a kick that will send a enemy flying in the air and then Akiyama can follow it up with a air kick combo. Akiyama is also the only charater without any exclusive side content. The fourth part of Yakuza 5 is about Shinada. Shinada is a completely new character to the Yakuza series. His section starts with some angry guy (his name is Uno) pounding on the door to his "apartment" (it is basically a dirty shack on a roof) demanding to be paid the money Shinada owes him. Shinada just wants sleep in a little more since sleeping until 4 in the afternoon is not enough sleep for him. Takasugi, the friendly neighborhood loan shark, strolls into Shinada's shack like he owns the place (he literally has a key) and politely informs him of a way to pay off his debt quickly that involves a insurance scam and Shinada losing a few fingers. Shinada doesn't want to lose his fingers, so he runs out to go make some money since he only has 217 yen to his name. After a day of antics to make some money, Shinada gets enough money to pay Uno back and get some food but then Takasugi swoops in and takes almost every yen Shinada earned. The next day a mysterious masked man offers Shinada 5 million yen if he finds out the truth of the baseball scandal Shinada was involved in 15 years ago. Shinada was a major league baseball player who only went to bat once and was able to hit a game winning home run. After that game was over, Shinada was accused of stealing signs (stealing signs is a baseball thing) and got banned for life. Shinada refuses the kind masked man's offer at first but eventually accepts with a little coaxing from Takasugi. Shinada's story after this point is about Shinada finding the truth about what exactly happened 15 years ago and Takasugi tags along for support. Shinada's playstyle is grab and weapon focused. His unarmed combos are very short and the longest one is 4 inputs. If Shinada has enough heat, his special move is a tackle that can be added to the end of certain combos. The tackle is unlockable and can be followed up with a heat move or you can push your tackled enemy into other enemies or a wall. Shinada can also unlock an ability to end a light attack with a grab, it is my favorite technique to use with Shinada. Shinada starts with really high weapon skill levels with a few weapons and every skill except gun is at least level 2. Weapons in Yakuza games have poor durability and the best ones won't last more than 2-3 fights. Shinada gets a "sturdy" weapon as part of the main story and can unlock a few more in the side content. Sturdy weapons are unbreakable but have very low attack power. A good amount of Shinada's upgrades are new heat move for weapons. Shinada did get me to explore the weapons system in Yakuza 5. Shinada's side activity is a modified version of the batting center minigame. All you have to do is make sure you aim your bat so you connect with the ball and hit the ball with the right timing for a home run. Shinada will upgrade his stats the more you play and stats can be improved by buying better equipment as well. Stats will increase you recital size to make it easier to hit the ball and make the home run timing more forgiving. There are a bunch of missions that range in difficultly from as easy as hit 1 home run in 20 pitches to as hard as hit 8 home runs in ten pitches. Shinada's stats can get out of control and the minigame will become easy as long as you vaguely know the right timing. The city in Shinada's section is Kineicho and it is pretty forgettable. There is a unique chicken racing minigame that is alright but also very boring. You raise a chicken by paying a trainer in items until all their stats reach their maximum values. The item you pay the trainer with effects how much the stats are raised; I chose to pay the trainer in chicken wings because they were cheap but I also needed to train like 20 times before my chicken's stats were maxed out. During the races you just sit there and watch your chicken race. You can press X to cheer it on so it hopefully does better but if you cheer it on too much it just gives up. Chickens will also just stop to take a nap when they fell like it. Once your chicken has raced and can't not beat the newest races, you can pick from 3 candidates to breed your chicken with to make a new chicken with high stats ceilings. You repeat that process until you win every race. I played this for about a hour before I go bored. After Shinado's part the game enters the finale parts. The finale is every playable character coming to Kamurocho to tie up the loose ends of the plot of their sections. Well, Shinada didn't have loose ends and is just there to help out. You'll be switching between characters in the finale often and there are sections where you are allowed to choose what character you want to play as. There are 1-2 sub stories for every character that is not Shinado in Kamurocho. You are also given a last chance to finish up any sub stories or content you wanted to play before entering the finale section. I did complete all the sub stories so I got the honor of fighting the secret optional boss Amon. Well actually is 4 back to back bosses. Before the fight even starts Kiryu gets a letter Amon wants to fight again (Amon is a secret boss in every Yakuza game) and the letter requests Kiryu brings Saejima, Akiyama and Tanimura. Tanimura was to busy snorting coke off strippers tits to help out with the Amon fight this time around or even make a appearance in Yakuza 5, so Shinada is recruited as a last minute replacement just because he was in the room. I liked the Amon sub story since it was the only time you got to see Kiryu, Saejima, Akiyama and Shinado interact with each other outside of the tail end of the main plot. The actual fights themselves where not too hard. Every boss has a lot of health and maybe 1-2 annoying attacks but they are not much of a threat. Akiyama's and Saejima's fights were easy. Shinado had a harder fight where the boss had some annoying attacks and could easily stun Shinado but once you learned how deal with their attacks they were pretty easy. Kiryu's Amon boss fight was the hardest but the difficulty felt more annoying than challenging. Kiryu's boss has more health than the other bosses but Kiryu has Tiger Drop; Tiger Drop is a extremely powerful move that is borderline overpowered. The boss gets annoying when he starts using Kiryu's temporary invincibility move against him. He will spam that move and Kiryu only has 10 seconds between uses to get damage in. Amon's invincibility will l last longer and his attacks will get more deadly the lower his health gets. Also, if he gets 1 hit in during invincibility you'll be stuck in a long combo that is next to impossible to escape that will deal a fair amount of damage. The best way I found to deal with it is that move was to just run in small circles around him. The Rest of the Recap that is not Yakuza 5 Stuff Party Hard 2: I played Party Hard 2 the most aside from Yakuza 5 out of all the games of this KYC. Since last time I found a character that is good for getting through levels without getting the police called. Marena is a really good character since she can go up to anybody, punch them to knock them out and carry them to a isolated spot to kill them. If you walk into a crowd and knock someone out nobody cares. I also found a glitch where the amusement park level would just not end if you completed it by only killing specific targets and rescuing all the hostages. I got around the glitch by killing everyone in the level. I picked the isolated bottom left corner of the map and dragged everyone there before I killed them. It was a very slow process since there were around 70 people on that map and there were a couple of close calls. I also found out there is a maximum limit of bodies you are allowed to stack in one spot. Giraffe and Annika: It is a very good game. I plan on finishing Giraffe and Annika after I am done with Party Hard 2. Gensou SkyDrift: A very fun racing game with really good music. I wish the online had players. Dragon Audit: It was my favorite of the mostly narrative driven games of the bunch. Dragon Audit has a strange charm to it that I love. SnowRunner: I can tell that I'll get addicted to this one eventually and play nothing but SnowRunner for a month or two. Neptunia Virtual Stars: It is too early to tell if I will like this game or not. I did have fun with the little bit I played. I remember I go lost last time I played Neptunia Virtual Stars and I have no clue where to go to progress the story. River City Girls: I often forgot I played this one. The gameplay was pretty good but the enemies took too much punishment before they died. I think I forgot to mention that I found some of the music enjoyable. Afterparty: I didn't like Afterparty that much upon reflection but it held my attention while I was playing it. Nekopara Vol. 4: I had to force myself to finish Nekopara Vol. 4. I often got bored while playing it and actually went to play something else. I didn't play many games that were not on my list this month. The few I did play where for brief amounts of time. I'll talk about a few. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life: I wanted to play more Yakuza after I finished 5 and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was the next in line. I only played it for 1-2 hours. It tied up a few loose ends from the ending of 5. I was also happy to see the kids from 3 again since they were pretty much absent in 4 and 5. Fire Emblem Warriors: I only meant to play a level or two and I accidentally ended playing a bunch of them. I also played this when I got bored of Nekopara. PowerWash Simulator: All you do is clean really dirty building and vehicles with a power washer. It is quite relaxing and a good game to put on music or a podcast in the background while you play. Groove Coaster Wai Wai Party!!!!: It is a rhythm game and I like those. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willythom88 Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 (edited) I thoroughly enjoyed the event, glad I jumped into it. With that being said, looking back, my favorites for the month were pretty noticeable. Disgaea 1 Complete - Fantastic game, I'm actually looking to finish it this month after Trials of Mana, so I'm definitely stoked about that. Tales of Xillia - I'll be finishing this in the near future too. I'm fairly new to this series, so I'm excited to dive into one of the more talked about ones from the PS3. Resident Evil - This was fine, but I don't think I'll be going back to it anytime soon. I enjoyed what I've played of the second games remake, and I also like RE7,but the original feels like it needs a full remake. Hatoful Boyfriend - This was one of the better visual novels I've played, if for no reason other than it's brevity. I felt like the BBL ending was more interesting than most of them, but the repetition to get to it soured it a bit for me, honestly. Futuridium - Nauseating. Maybe it's better on the PS4 , but on the Vita the graphics are a mess. Fortunately, the gameplay is solid enough I would recommend it to someone whose already played a bunch of better shmups, and only really as a novelty. This month I've also been playing: Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword - Love this game! Switch owners should give it a shot. I don't play Zelda titles very often, but this was a pleasant surprise. Trials of Mana - I just started this, but I'm really enjoying it. I don't like Adventures of Mana very much, but I do like Legends of Mana, so I'm still open to trying the series out. I really like the combat and the story. Charlotte is...Lymle-esque (for those Star Ocean fans), so I don't know how much more of her I'll be dealing with, but I'm definitely stoked to see how it plays out. Dragon Quest XI S - So honestly, I bought this to platinum it again, but I'm also trying to use all the difficulty modifiers while I do it. I love this game a lot, and they definitely made the trek at the beginning a lot more difficult. Also, shypox is hilarious, so I recommend it. I only dipped my toe in though. I'm saving the full run for later in the year. Edited August 2, 2021 by willythom88 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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