YaManSmevz Posted August 13, 2021 Author Share Posted August 13, 2021 Aayy what's up @Heather342!! Thank you so much, I appreciate it??? I missed keeping up with everybody, you and Crispy in particular. And hell yeah, you handled Cuphead like a boss! The challenge is gonna be a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to it too?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post YaManSmevz Posted August 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 15, 2021 Platinum #10: Cuphead This cute lil guy has already come up a few times, so why not? Cuphead was easily the first platinum that I was truly proud of, and to boot a game I immensely enjoyed, frustration withstanding. I first heard about it when I had just gotten back into gaming via the 360, but unfortunately for me it was a next gen title. It really grabbed me. You wouldn't be able to tell because I don't say things like "bee's knees" or resort to sculpting a handlebar mustache for myself every day, but I absolutely adore Roaring Twenties/Prohibition era stuff. I remember feeling like yeah, the game looks dope... but what am I supposed to do, just buy the new console? An Xbox, no less? The only reason I've got a 360 is cuz that's what my old roommate had and he gave me some games! Not gonna happen, my guy. Then when I caught wind of what an arduous task it is to complete, it got easy to just figure that I'll have to sit this one out. Fast forward to last summer when the PS store randomly blurted out "we have Cuphead too." I was so excited, I bought it right then and there without even bothering to look at the (extremely reasonable) price tag. I started it immediately, looking like a little boy on Christmas morning, and... The Root Pack beat my ass. I got my ass beat a LOT. And as highly enjoyable as this game is, I must confess to quitting three times: 1. Grim Matchstick, Normal mode Absolute classic rage quit. I told Grim to fuck himself (or something along those lines), shut the system off, picked up a pillow and just screamed into it. Didn't touch the game again for at least a week. 2. Hilda Berg, Expert mode Not so much a rage quit as much as a delirious-with-frustration quit. I could not make ANY sense of how people got the platinum. I barely beat it the first time around, how the hell am I gonna do THIS? Am I really that bad of a gamer? What am I doing wrong? Are you mad at me?? Why don't you LIKE me, Cuphead??? 3. Wally Warbles, Expert mode This was the sad, resigned quit. I accepted that Cuphead was simply out of my wheelhouse and it wasn't gonna happen for me. You can't do it, I told myself. But that's okay. Maybe you can go play a Mayo game or something. A few months went by, and one day I had the house to myself and did some acid (not that that's a normal thing I do, but when the odd opportunity arises I won't say no to psychedelics). For whatever reason, halfway through my trip I thought "you know what'd be AWESOME..." and slapped on Cuphead, initially for the visuals alone. But unexpectedly, I found myself doing really well. I finished Inkwell Isle II over night, and was having a great time. That's when it hit me, I CAN DO THIS. Disclaimer: This is not to say that acid is a PED or anything, I was just too busy giggling and admiring the artistic visuals to bother with feeling frustrated or defeated. I still sucked? At that point I actually had a pretty reasonable amount done, with finishing the second run and a few miscellaneous trophies left. I watched videos for tips and just kind of muscled my way through. The last fight was the devil on Expert mode, which was not the hardest (that would be our good friend Wally) but still pretty rough. I remember going from 5HP to one all in the last segment of the fight and being so tense, just holding on until I finally heard the announcer declare "KNOCKOUT!" along with that finishing bell. I exhaled so loudly that my wife called to me from the other room, asking if I was okay (that poor woman)! As Patrick Bateman would say: I'm on the verge of tears by the time I reach the devil in Expert mode, since I'm positive I won't beat him, but I do, and relief washes over me in an awesome wave. And once I got that sweet platinum, the first thing I did? I went back and beat the Root Pack's asses. Just because I could. In fact, I went back and played several bosses and levels again, because now that there were no more trophies to stress over, I could just... gasp... ENJOY the game! Which of course means that Cuphead joins Mark of the Ninja in my post-platinum play club?? Truth be told, I could go for some more Cuphead soon... Now that all that is out of the way, in case you haven’t guessed, I think this is a great game. Nice and simple gameplay, creative levels, extremely entertaining bosses, and of course that utterly gorgeous presentation. This game looks so damn good that even my wife walked by as I was playing it, stopped what she was doing for a moment, and started asking about it. The music is outstanding as well. It's fun, catchy, and even with as many times as I died or restarted levels/bosses, not once did any of these songs grow tiresome. Plus, when one the levels has music that reminds you of Super Mario World, you're in pretty good shape! As far as the co-op, I couldn't really say much as I've never tried it, but I do think it's cool that it's there. I realize I'm kinda rushing through this part (where I actually talk about, y'know, the game) but I kinda went off the rails earlier? Cuphead absolutely nails the aesthetic of golden age animation. The graphics, the jazzy soundtrack, that announcer's campy ass voice, how the NPCs talk, everything comes together beautifully. THAT Trophy: Beat the Devil at His Own Game There was a good amount of competition here, but this was the one that almost broke me, and made completing the game feel like all the greater accomplishment. There's something so wonderful about powering through those feelings of inability until triumph is inevitable, and while I do envy those highly skilled gamers who can plow through games like this in a day or two, I wouldn't trade my Cuphead experience for anything. Now if only I could apply that sense of dogged persistence more often in real life... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 Damn dude, that's a great write up, and really inspiring. I have Cuphead on Steam and got about an hour into it before I said "NOPE", but this review is tempting me to give it another go... What is it about badass, unique indies that then almost always have crushing difficulty? The Hotline Miami's, Hyper Light Drifters, and of course Cuphead. I've been really tempted lately to pick those games back up but on PlayStation to chase the trophies. It's not quite on the mark, but you might like Blasphemous if you want another punishing indie with a very strong aesthetic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather342 Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 15 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said: Damn dude, that's a great write up, and really inspiring. I have Cuphead on Steam and got about an hour into it before I said "NOPE", but this review is tempting me to give it another go... Cuphead is definitely one to give another chance. When I bought it I knew it had a reputation for being difficult, but when you get your ass handed to you on the first level it can be disheartening. But it's a game of pattern recognition mostly, and over time you do get better at it and you can see yourself getting better. It's a really satisfying feeling when you finally beat a stage. Although Wally Warbles on expert mode is the most difficult boss I've ever encountered in a game ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 3 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: Damn dude, that's a great write up, and really inspiring. I have Cuphead on Steam and got about an hour into it before I said "NOPE", but this review is tempting me to give it another go... What is it about badass, unique indies that then almost always have crushing difficulty? The Hotline Miami's, Hyper Light Drifters, and of course Cuphead. I've been really tempted lately to pick those games back up but on PlayStation to chase the trophies. It's not quite on the mark, but you might like Blasphemous if you want another punishing indie with a very strong aesthetic. Thank you! I really hope you give it another go. If I can plat Cuphead, believe me, so can you. Obviously it's not an easy ride but the journey is so rewarding and once things start to make a bit more sense, you'll be having tons of fun! Hotline Miami is actually in my backlog, funny that you mention it? Blasphemous is not, however... I'll have to do some homework on that one! 3 hours ago, Heather342 said: Cuphead is definitely one to give another chance. When I bought it I knew it had a reputation for being difficult, but when you get your ass handed to you on the first level it can be disheartening. But it's a game of pattern recognition mostly, and over time you do get better at it and you can see yourself getting better. It's a really satisfying feeling when you finally beat a stage. Although Wally Warbles on expert mode is the most difficult boss I've ever encountered in a game Wally is absolutely the worst! An impressive feat, considering that he shares the game with Dr. Kahl's Robot. You're absolutely right, once you can recognize the patterns, even the hardest of bosses are doable. It does take a bit of time though? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 That was a great review of Cuphead, man!! So let me get this straight..... If I do decide to play it in future... I should channel Martin Sheen in the opening of Apocalypse Now?? All I could think after reading the psychedelics part, was this clip being your preparation before playing ?.... It worked for you though. We could be about to hear all over PSNProfiles of people who had previously struggled with Super Meat Boy dropping some acid and laughing their way to freedom! I admire your determination to push through and get the platinum in it. That's impressive. Most of all, I loved how much you enjoyed all of your time getting to that point - I love it when it games give you that Rollercoaster ride of almost giving up... Then at some point your desire returns and sooner or later you have a nice shiny platinum to look at! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 6 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That was a great review of Cuphead, man!! So let me get this straight..... If I do decide to play it in future... I should channel Martin Sheen in the opening of Apocalypse Now? All I could think after reading the psychedelics part, was this clip being your preparation before playing .... It worked for you though. We could be about to hear all over PSNProfiles of people who had previously struggled with Super Meat Boy dropping some acid and laughing their way to freedom! I admire your determination to push through and get the platinum in it. That's impressive. Most of all, I loved how much you enjoyed all of your time getting to that point - I love it when it games give you that Rollercoaster ride of almost giving up... Then at some point your desire returns and sooner or later you have a nice shiny platinum to look at! Oh shit, maybe THAT'S how the mirror broke..? Excellent reference, and funnily enough you're not super far off? Thank you, sir! Masochistic as it may seem, I find myself wanting to go for more platinums like that. Nothing toooo crazy, and of course enjoyment is absolutely a requirement, but like you alluded to, that roller coaster ride made the platinum all the more rewarding. Once my percentage is a bit higher, Bloodborne will be in the near future for me, and I suspect I'll have a similar experience with that? Apparently I can't end thoughts without an emoji right now? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 Damn, that was one nice Cuphead-Writeup! ? Gotta love it when you finally conquer something that seemed impossible at first. Congrats on the plat, and congrats on your perseverence! Cuphead has been, since it released on XBox, my answer to the question "What XBox exclusive would you want on PS?" Yet for some reason, and while I was excited to see in the PS Store, I still haven't gotten around to playing it... One day 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 Big congrats for that psychedelic Cuphead run And I have to agree with you, as much as I hate Dr Kahl's Robot, Wally Warbles on Expert was FAR worse. The boss that made me also rage quit before picking up the game weeks later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 17, 2021 Author Share Posted August 17, 2021 A fine mahok to you all. Quick update: Completing UFC 3 is pretty horrible. I've made it to level 135, which is cool and all, but once I make it to 150 (what was wrong with 100, huh EA?) there's still the matter of Legendary difficulty to deal with, which is just unreal. Their hand speed and footwork alone are absolutely crushing, I'm just gonna have to figure somethin out?♂️ It's taking... well, about as long as I'd imagined! Oh well. That 0.77 rarity isn't for nothin. Moving on! Platinum #34: Beholder First of all, shout out to @realm722! If Beholder has taught me anything, it's that when he recommends a game, don't ask questions, just get it. You'll be happy, trust. I already am looking forward to scanning the next sale for Afterparty? And now, for my next trick, I'm going to try reeeeaaally hard to not just mirror his excellent review of this game... Beholder appealed to me instantly. I loved the dark, charcoal look and the general idea of exploring the grim hopelessness of life within an oppressive re- GLORIOUS REGIME. WE WILL VANQUISH ALL FOES OF OUR SUPERIOR WAY OF LIFE. ALL HAIL THE MINISTRY! SINCERELY, PSN REVIEWER ......my apologies. Try as I might, I can't fight off every corny joke that comes to mind... I was fascinated by the window given into the day to day experience of the citizens, and the effect that these kinds of conditions can have. Alcoholism, suicide, domestic violence, and a variety of shady behaviors (like reading books) are on display, doing an excellent job of showing, rather than telling, how miserable this kind of existence can be. It can be a bit too on the nose at times, but Beholder never flirts with Detroit levels of "yeah yeah, we get it already." What really sells it is the fact that Beholder is a funny game, to the point where it felt tailor-made for someone like me, a history nerd with a pitch black sense of humor. There's a secret ending you can access almost right at the beginning of the game that cracked me up ("NOTHING, CARL!!"), there's a bomb defusing instruction manual that says something along the lines of "Make sure not to pray, as God has never defused a bomb," and there's an overall quirkiness that keeps the mood in check. Beholder is a surprisingly open-ended game, and there's not only so much to do, but so many ways to go about it, which is impressive for how ultimately small-scoped it is - for a short game taking place in a single building, they managed to cram in a lot of content. Absolute heaven for gamers who love having to make a series of decisions, and then go back to try the others to see all the possibilities. The aesthetic is very unique as well; the dialogue appears via text, accompanied by adorable gibberish unique to each character, which had what I thought to be an endearingly PS1 vibe to it. Each character has their own charming design (OF COURSE the secret agent guy has a friggin eyepatch) and I liked the little details, like the perpetual rain hitting the roof with that bleak background. The spying aspect was a lot of fun! Especially before you're able to nail the patterns of when the tenants leave for the day; rummaging through someone's things and noticing that they're approaching their door while you're mid-search is a type of tension I never knew I would enjoy so much! The close calls are pretty funny, because you can zoom right out the door while they're about to walk in, and as long as you do it before they open the door, THEY'RE NONE THE WISER. Oh Carl, you slick devil, you. THAT Trophy: N/A There was one task that actually gave me a bit of trouble, but there was no trophy for it - at the beginning of the DLC the Ministry has you getting DNA samples from every tenant. At this point you're used to searching, so it should be easy but three of the apartments have an extra tenant or two, with both first story apartments having children who apparently never go to school! Getting into the apartments unseen and finding the necessary items within the time limit was a tad tricky, but nothing frustrating or anything like that. The DLC was also a great prequel of sorts for the main story, and seeing where some of the characters were before you roll through as Carl Stein is... well, kinda sad! ---------Buzzkill Alert---------- One last thing I wanted to make mention of: the trophy for getting caught at the border is called Wetback Wall, and.. I don't know how I feel about that. I know it's just a joke, and I wasn't thrust into past trauma of being called that as a kid or anything, it just seemed weird. Like if there was a trophy regarding something linked to Africans or Jews and had a similarly suggestive word, that would be frowned upon, no? I asked my wife for her thoughts, and she was supremely unamused, which is the main reason I'm writing this addendum. It felt odd to me personally, but if it genuinely bothered her, I figure it's worth throwin out there. And that's all I have to say about that... let's get out of this territory! ---------Buzzkill Complete---------- Anyway. Pumped for Beholder 2! I might end up getting into that sooner than later what with UFC 3 goin the way it is? 14 hours ago, Arcesius said: Damn, that was one nice Cuphead-Writeup! Gotta love it when you finally conquer something that seemed impossible at first. Congrats on the plat, and congrats on your perseverence! Cuphead has been, since it released on XBox, my answer to the question "What XBox exclusive would you want on PS?" Yet for some reason, and while I was excited to see in the PS Store, I still haven't gotten around to playing it... One day 13 hours ago, Copanele said: Big congrats for that psychedelic Cuphead run And I have to agree with you, as much as I hate Dr Kahl's Robot, Wally Warbles on Expert was FAR worse. The boss that made me also rage quit before picking up the game weeks later. Thanks so much, guys! Arcesius, a stud like you would make mincemeat of Cuphead? And yes, I still think Wally is easily the worst boss on Expert. I always had trouble with the third phase, with the baby bird and the eggs. It makes me feel better knowing that I wasn't the only one to lose my cool with that game! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 (edited) I've actually just bought Beholder 1 and 2 on the strength of you and realms respective write ups - they seem like a very interesting experience. So I'm really looking forward to that... I've gotta repurpose that Hobbit/Lord of the Rings song.. I think.. I should put it somewhere in my thread. As a result of this. " My backlog grows ever on and on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can," I'll add that to my opening post haha! All credit goes to Mr Tolkien of course - but it seems appropriate.. Awesome though, what is there to complain about having plenty of awesome games to play in the future!! ? Edited August 18, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 I believe in you, Bilbo Clarke! If anything, the only real complaint goes out to real life - can't you see I'm busy and have games to play?? Leave me alone! That's great to hear, I think you'll have a lot of fun with Beholder! I hope you managed to get those summer sale prices, it goes for stupid cheap whenever it's on sale. It's a cool experience, and it's short and sweet. As Realm said though, a guide is absolutely necessary, navigating on your own gets tricky real fast! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said: I believe in you, Bilbo Clarke! If anything, the only real complaint goes out to real life - can't you see I'm busy and have games to play?? Leave me alone! That's great to hear, I think you'll have a lot of fun with Beholder! I hope you managed to get those summer sale prices, it goes for stupid cheap whenever it's on sale. It's a cool experience, and it's short and sweet. As Realm said though, a guide is absolutely necessary, navigating on your own gets tricky real fast! That's the true struggle yeah!! ? - I'm looking forward to it, I've kind of had my eye on them for a while.. You just cemented it, so that's great. I'll have to consult a guide then if it gets out of hand really fast. I did manage to get those Summer sale prices, lucky me right? Even if I was cutting it a little fine haha! Which is nice - I don't think it cost me more than £5 for both games. So it would be hard to complain about a whole lot for that price. I might play the first one after I'm done with Final Fantasy IX 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 2 hours ago, rjkclarke said: That's the true struggle yeah!! - I'm looking forward to it, I've kind of had my eye on them for a while.. You just cemented it, so that's great. I'll have to consult a guide then if it gets out of hand really fast. I did manage to get those Summer sale prices, lucky me right? Even if I was cutting it a little fine haha! Which is nice - I don't think it cost me more than £5 for both games. So it would be hard to complain about a whole lot for that price. I might play the first one after I'm done with Final Fantasy IX Haha I kinda rushed my Beholder review because I didn't wanna be like "y'all should get this!! ...like in the sale that ended yesterday, that would've been pretty great, but oh well sorry bout that" and regretted it a bit, but I'm very glad you were able to swoop in! The guide on TrueAchievements is excellent. There are videos but I strongly recommend the text based route because with the way everything keeps going in real time, at least for me I had to watch ten minutes at a time and then mimic that because a lot of stuff has to happen in a certain sequence, and with the RNG you need to know exactly what he's setting up in case certain people or tasks don't appear when you expect them to. It felt like a momentum sucker, so I ended up just using the text guide, which worked much more smoothly for some reason. Of course this was just my experience, so do with that what you will! Besides, you've still got Gaia to conquer? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 -Don't-a Mind Me, I'm-a Just a Long, Uninteresting Update- EA UFC 3 is not going down easy. Or at all, for that matter! Not that I thought it would be easy of course, that would be silly... Wait... EA UFC... that starts and ends with E and C... E-C.. sounding that out, it sounds like... EASY! So why isn't it then?? You LIED to me, EA!! In all seriousness, I will spare you the specific complaints and frustrations for now, as I will no doubt remember them when I do complete this game. That's right, UFC 3... you're only off the hook for now. I haven't forgotten about you, you uh... you bastard. Yeah, that's right. I sure told him. Despite not getting the plat now, it did jump up in percentage from like 17 to 90, which still contributes to my overall goal of a higher completion. But for now, I'ma play it on the side and just move it down the priority list, because this guy has been holdin up the show for way too long. So as far as building up my completion, priority will rank as follows: 1. Rocket League Still up there because it doesn't infuriate as much and I could use that right about now! 2. Family Feud Dropped a notch because it is a pain to find people to play with online, much less to get the six remaining online victories I need for the platinum! 3. Batman: Arkham Asylum This is one I've put off for long enough. Any advice on those challenges I will happily accept! 4. Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires I will need to feed the urge to button mash between the precision necessary for AA and UFC! 5. EA Sports: UFC 3 Meh. We're not speaking right now. Also I joined a completion challenge, and the aforementioned titles were not eligible so I've added these, which I will list in no particular alphabetical biographical chronological order: 1. Hitman Can this still be completed? I recall having to be in the top ten of completing someone else's mission or something like that. I remember burning out on this game for some reason. 2. Final Fantasy IX Been putting this off for a long time but don't want to write about the FFs I've completed without including this fella. Plus rjkclarke has inspired me with his excellent updates! 3. Yakuza 0 Another one I've been meaning to get into forever. I've heard nothing but good things about this franchise and I don't know why I stopped it after completing the intro! 4. Resident Evil 5 I played this with a buddy and never touched it again.. seems there are a lot of boosting sessions these days though, may as well take advantage?♂️ 5. Cities: Skylines This one seems like a blast but is so intimidating and I have absolutely no clue where to start... but with 100+ trophies this could whittle down my unearned number nicely. 6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 Another game I was never good at, but always had fun playing. I would really like to take the time to develop some skill with this.. and after completing the UFC level grind, I'm not terribly intimidated by the one presented here! 7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Again, just so I can write about the GTAs I've already completed. Plus it's nice to have a game in these challenges that you've already beaten to a pulp in the past! Also, the previous challenge I took part in, I also played an RE, FF, and GTA title, so it seemed like the thing to do. Lastly (anyone who read all that is well within their rights to be like "Bitch whatchu mean "LASTLY??!!"), I still want to get those monthly platinums, so I've got a few quicker games on deck, for which there is no priority. -Beholder 2, Afterparty (thank you Realm!) -Transistor (thank you Doc!) -Dex (thank you, rjkclarke!) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, The Wolf Among Us, Assassin's Creed II, uhh probably other stuff as well, I'll keep an eye out. I've got til next Spring to sort out all that I can, and my goals are to pass 50 plats, hit 90% completion, and clear out enough of my backlog that when I buy new games I don't feel kinda sorta guilty. After that I'm probably gonna take wifey on a vacay and leave the PS4 at home alone to think about everything that he's done to me!! Whew. Thanks for listening! I feel like I wrote all this from a therapist's office? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Feels great to get it all out though right.... That's going to be a blast reading your progress on Yakuza 0 in the months to come, I think. I love that game, so much. I think you'll really dig some of the really off kilter humour in that game. I always end up saving an unnatural amount of screenshots when I play the Yakuza games, because there's almost always something that you end up going "heh, why not, it's too funny not to screencap this and send it to some friends," then before you know it, you've got 200MB of screenshots from one game ? If someone else doesn't send you any Arkham Asylum tips - I'll try and think of some and send them to you, I haven't played Arkham Asylum specifically, since I think 2011 or 2012 though, but if I can be of any help I'll do my best. I think you're all good to still get the hundo on Hitman - someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was only the second one that had any kind of multiplayer component, which I heard they were planning to patch it to change the trophy requirement. Not sure if it was though, as I got the 100% on Hitman 2 before the servers were meant to close. Hitman is another one I really hope you have fun with. I can't blame you for burning out, those introductory levels in Hitman are a bit pants (that's an understatement), I have no idea why they used the same tutorials for all 3 of the recent games either. Once you start to get to some of the more expansive maps, like Sapienza and Marrakesh, I found it all began to click a bit better and I had way more fun just experimenting, and playing around in the games sandbox. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather342 Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 From what I've heard the Hitman 2 servers are still up for doing those multiplayer sniper maps, but still not sure how long they will remain up. They were supposed to close them around the time of Hitman 3 launch, but it's gone a bit quiet on that front. For the contracts high score trophy, I think you just need to create a contract, and then just replay it and beat your own score. When you set it up, go in with a guns blazing approach, then re-do it as silent assassin. The others are just to play 10 different contracts, and then one featured contract, but those are fine, you can pick the easy ones. I think I just picked the 1 target/any disguise/any method ones ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 On 8/20/2021 at 4:44 PM, rjkclarke said: Feels great to get it all out though right.... That's what I pay this thread for, after all? On 8/20/2021 at 4:44 PM, rjkclarke said: That's going to be a blast reading your progress on Yakuza 0 in the months to come, I think. I love that game, so much. I think you'll really dig some of the really off kilter humour in that game. I always end up saving an unnatural amount of screenshots when I play the Yakuza games, because there's almost always something that you end up going "heh, why not, it's too funny not to screencap this and send it to some friends," then before you know it, you've got 200MB of screenshots from one game Thank you! Yeahmann, I don't know why I just up and stopped playing that. Really looking forward to it! On 8/20/2021 at 4:44 PM, rjkclarke said: If someone else doesn't send you any Arkham Asylum tips - I'll try and think of some and send them to you, I haven't played Arkham Asylum specifically, since I think 2011 or 2012 though, but if I can be of any help I'll do my best. I appreciate that, man! I got somewhat far along with the stealth challenges, but the combat ones just felt so beyond my reach that I dropped the game altogether. Lookin now at what games I can somewhat feasibly complete, that one kinda sticks out with a sort of "don't be a lil bitch, you could do this is you really put in the work and you know it" aura. On 8/20/2021 at 4:44 PM, rjkclarke said: I think you're all good to still get the hundo on Hitman - someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was only the second one that had any kind of multiplayer component, which I heard they were planning to patch it to change the trophy requirement. Not sure if it was though, as I got the 100% on Hitman 2 before the servers were meant to close. Hitman is another one I really hope you have fun with. I can't blame you for burning out, those introductory levels in Hitman are a bit pants (that's an understatement), I have no idea why they used the same tutorials for all 3 of the recent games either. Once you start to get to some of the more expansive maps, like Sapienza and Marrakesh, I found it all began to click a bit better and I had way more fun just experimenting, and playing around in the games sandbox. On 8/20/2021 at 11:19 PM, Heather342 said: From what I've heard the Hitman 2 servers are still up for doing those multiplayer sniper maps, but still not sure how long they will remain up. They were supposed to close them around the time of Hitman 3 launch, but it's gone a bit quiet on that front. For the contracts high score trophy, I think you just need to create a contract, and then just replay it and beat your own score. When you set it up, go in with a guns blazing approach, then re-do it as silent assassin. The others are just to play 10 different contracts, and then one featured contract, but those are fine, you can pick the easy ones. I think I just picked the 1 target/any disguise/any method ones Zees ees good to know? I made it through to the Colorado mission, and for whatever reason just went ADHD on it. It's an excellent game though! I had Silent Assassin back in the day and was strongly considering buying the HD Collection until I saw the franchise had been rebooted to pretty much unanimous praise. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 A little late to the party here @YaManSmevz, but Hitman 2's multiplayer component (while actually really good) never had any trophies associated with it, so you should be all good. There were a couple of multiplayer trophies tied to the sniper missions, but those can be knocked out in 10 minutes, so as long as those servers remain, you are golden ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post YaManSmevz Posted August 26, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 26, 2021 GOOOOOOOOOOD MOOORRNING PSN!!! A long week, and sadly all I have to report is work kickin my ass and a few of those evenings where wifey binged on her latest reality show obsession a bit longer than usual, which left me little other choice than to shrug, snuggle up next to her and fall asleep listening to drunken twentysomethings. Let her enjoy her drama and passionate pretty people proceedings, I told myself... toppling the Ministry can wait another day. Platinum #35: Beholder 2 This is the first time I've platinumed a game and its sequel back to back (having NOTHING to do with my UFC 3 failures), and I must say that I've really enjoyed this series. The sequel expands on what the original started quite a bit - there's far more ground to cover than just the humble apartment building from the first game, the dark humor and social satire receive the double down treatment, the world immersion is a bit deeper (complete with more endings), hell, even the music feels a tad more rich. And while there are several superbly satisfying references to the first game, playing them in order is not at all necessary. One thing noticeably missing from the first game, which to be honest I haven't decided yet if it's to the game's detriment or not, is that they did away with the real time mechanic, and rather you are given nine hours at work and two at home every day to do with what you will. Tasks are much easier to tackle as they all have a predetermined amount of time that they require. For instance, hacking a terminal takes fifteen minutes, but you're free to take as long as you want, without worry of anybody walking in on you or accidentally going over the time it subtracts. I'm not sure I was a fan - the tension of trying to wrap up certain things while the world carried on around you was a huge part of the gameplay's appeal last time around, and while there was certainly nothing wrong with the time management simulation in use here, I felt it was a bit lacking in comparison. How dope would that be in real life, though.. you walk up to your console and it says "Play Video Games - Two Hours." Then just play, and never stop! Heh heh heh... I just conned a fictitious system? The world immersion was pretty well done, definitely better than the first, but wasn't always able to keep up with its own ambition. I remember when traveling to places other than the Ministry building or your apartment first came up and getting excited to see what else they had in store, particularly with how impressive the work building was. It ended up just being a text-based Choose Your Own Adventure type deal, still cool in its own right (namely when visiting the building from the previous game), but you can't help expecting a bit more. I almost thought they would crack jokes about budget cuts or rough deadlines during these segments! These are the only real cons though, and they're pretty miniscule at that. Everything else is as good as if not better than the original. The animation is a bit cleaned up, and still has that PS1 feel with the garbled voices (these games must have been a blast for the voice actors!) and modest yet distinct graphics. Despite you still only being able to move in a linear fashion, the backgrounds are very much opened up and the world feels much more vibrant and bustling as a result. That dark sense of humor that occasionally dips into outright awfulness is as sharp as the shredder your colleagues (or you yourself) get thrown into. Sure, it's hysterical when stripper-shaped blob characters are needlessly pixelated, and I laughed more than I should have at some of the low-hanging fruit jokes like there being a Spaghetti mafia family, or this gem of a complaint: "Whoever authorized the production of "Leader" branded condoms must be punished! He is the rock-hard shaft around which our society is built, and he deserves the proper respect!" But you also have characters like Maria Curie (you can tell they had fun with the names), a scientist poached from another country who doesn't speak the language and is being terrorized by a security guard. The Jessica Rabbit-esque Emma and the unfortunately named Peter Dong are presented as these comical tropes you've seen so many times in shows about office life, yet they're both teetering on the edge of personal disaster in their own ways. One of your bosses has his very own Don Corneo dungeon where he not only murders a child, but gently walks her offscreen to do it. Everybody knows that makes it so much worse!! The path to being promoted to the top floor is riddled with intertwined tasks, and a guide is strongly recommended. Once you get there, the story surprisingly kicks into a bit of a higher gear, and and you've got some six or seven endings at your fingertips, a few of which are vaguely reminiscent of different Twilight Zone episodes. All in all, it's a fun world to run around in, it's cool how everybody has their own story, and the atmosphere from the first game is very much preserved. It's as dark as it is funny, and I've got nothin but love for these games. THAT Trophy: Behind the Seven Seals One aspect about the deeper immersion that maybe isn't the best part of the game is the fact that you actually have to, y'know, work. Which is fine, but you work on three different floors, each of which has its own task, and each comes with its own trophy for doing it a hundred times. On the first floor, you are filing people's appeals and have to determine if they're complaints, requests, etcetera and which department to send them to. Easy enough, plus the people are always saying some pretty funny shit. On the third floor (rather, the 25th) you assign personality traits to clones, which is even easier. Just add traits until three or more lights turn on, and you're gold. The second one (or the 12th), which this trophy pertains to, was at least for me the biggest pain. You process the forms from the first floor, but there's seriously no rhyme or reason whatsoever to the process. You get an appeal with information about how many babies were born this past month. The correct way to address this? First you reject the information. Then, send a firing squad to the person who filed the appeal. Lastly, you archive it! Like "oh yeah, we're gonna have you killed... but good look on the baby thing, we'll keep an eye on that." I get that the absurdity is deliberate, and I definitely have a newfound respect for office employees, but that was easily the least pleasant part of getting this platinum. It was like one of those jokes that goes on for so long that it's funny, then not, then funny again, then not, and then agonizing. Then very briefly funny again, and then it's done. Once I finished my 100th form, I can't tell you how happy I was to not have to do that shit anymore! Anyway. That aside, great game, great series, and if there's ever a Beholder 3 or something else by Warm Lamp Games I will happily pay full price! ....probably. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 (edited) Alright - you've convinced me - Just added the double pack of Beholder and Beholder 2 to my shopping cart, cause I gotta see this shit first hand... ? Quick question for you - I noticed the games has an odd caveat on the PSN store - It says "ONLY PLAYABLE ON PS4".... then right underneath says the usual "to play on PS5, you may need an upgrade. Although playable, some features may be absent on PS5"... ...was there anything about the game you could think that would be covered by that? It might just be that the dev hasn't done a check to make sure it runs perfectly... there isn't any stuff the literally couldn't work on PS5, is there? A VR component or something? Edited August 26, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 21 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Alright - you've convinced me - Just added the double pack of Beholder and Beholder 2 to my shopping cart, cause I gotta see this shit first hand... Quick question for you - I noticed the games has an odd caveat on the PSN store - It says "ONLY PLAYABLE ON PS4".... then right underneath says the usual "to play on PS5, you may need an upgrade. Although playable, some features may be absent on PS5"... ...was there anything about the game you could think that would be covered by that? It might just be that the dev hasn't done a check to make sure it runs perfectly... there isn't any stuff the literally couldn't work on PS5, is there? A VR component or something? Yay!! Beholder for all! As Flanders would say, that's a dilly of a pickle. The review on Opencritic includes PS5 with its available platforms, this is copy/pasted from the review - PlayStation 4:Jan 16, 2018 Xbox One:Jan 16, 2018 Xbox Series X/S:Nov 10, 2020 PlayStation 5:Nov 12, 2020 So I'm assuming it should be fine, but I wouldn't dare to be like "IT'S 100% GUARANTEED BROH" because I'd be mortified if you bought it and couldn't play it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 (edited) 30 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said: Yay!! Beholder for all! As Flanders would say, that's a dilly of a pickle. The review on Opencritic includes PS5 with its available platforms, this is copy/pasted from the review - PlayStation 4:Jan 16, 2018 Xbox One:Jan 16, 2018 Xbox Series X/S:Nov 10, 2020 PlayStation 5:Nov 12, 2020 So I'm assuming it should be fine, but I wouldn't dare to be like "IT'S 100% GUARANTEED BROH" because I'd be mortified if you bought it and couldn't play it Good info mate, cheers! I do actually have me PS4 still set up, but i've wiped all games from it, and packed most of the controllers etc. away apart from the move one - it is basically set up as a permanent VR station now. (which you would never know, since I have yet to actually use the VR, despite having been given it 8 months ago ?). so at worst, it would mean doing a little busywork to haul that stuff back out - but if they work on PS5, all the better! Edited August 26, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather342 Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 14 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Zees ees good to know I made it through to the Colorado mission, and for whatever reason just went ADHD on it. It's an excellent game though! I had Silent Assassin back in the day and was strongly considering buying the HD Collection until I saw the franchise had been rebooted to pretty much unanimous praise. Unless you're a die hard Hitman fan, I'd say don't bother with the HD collection. Personally I didn't like Absolution that much, the linear gameplay really threw me after playing the reboot, and the dialogue/voice acting is awful. Blood Money was better, but the controls are incredibly janky now, and the hit boxes are ridiculous. Although I'm hoping maybe they could do a Blood Money reboot in the current engine, but that's probably just extremely wishful thinking on my part ? The reboot trilogy is awesome though, and I highly recommend it. Although the 2016 and 2018 levels are all included in Hitman 3. I played through it so many times I know those levels inside out ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 17 minutes ago, Heather342 said: Unless you're a die hard Hitman fan, I'd say don't bother with the HD collection. Personally I didn't like Absolution that much, the linear gameplay really threw me after playing the reboot, and the dialogue/voice acting is awful. Blood Money was better, but the controls are incredibly janky now, and the hit boxes are ridiculous. Although I'm hoping maybe they could do a Blood Money reboot in the current engine, but that's probably just extremely wishful thinking on my part Controls coming as far as they have in the past twenty years or so is tremendously sobering when you go back to playing older games. I loved Silent Assassin but never got around to Blood Money despite hearing good things, and your reminder makes me much less nostalgic! No matter, I will happily settle for the current Hitman crop. Speaking of which, I might tackle that first so I can dive into Hitman 2 before those sniper trophies are unavailable? Never say never on the reboot now, these days you never know... ....actually you're probably right, it's likely wishful thinking? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now