Kill Your Completion 18

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Narcos Rise of the Cartels - Final Impressions

 

Time played: around 4h

Trophies earned: 9/35

 

 

This is an isometri tactics game, similar to X-Com, but based on the TV shows Narcos. There are two campaigns to play, one for the DEA and one for the drug cartel. The latter unlocks after doing a couple of missions in the DEA campaign. However they seem to be exactly the same missions just playing from the other side, which is kind of lazy.

 

There is no manual saving in this game, so if you need to leave during a mission, be prepared to start it over again. Before you go on a mission (main missions are unlocked by completing side missions), you can set up your team (up to 5 characters, if I'm not mistaken), and you can also recruit new team members. These are expensive though, compared to the amount of money you get from the missions.Seapking of missions. You usually have 4 side missions available to you each time you progress with a story mission. If you pick one and can't beat it for whatever reason, you can pick another one, but you'll have to pay to play it and usually the reward  ends up being cut in half due to that.

 

There are a handful of classes, with a lot of skills that end up being common across most of them once they are upgraded. Most of the skills seem to be movement oriented, some boost attacks, and then there's buffs.

 

The combat is somewhat similar to other games in the genre. Instead of your whole team taking a turn though, it alternates beteween you and the enemy after using a character. You can even use the sam one voer and over again, and the same applies to the enemy. SO the whole tactics component gets thrown out of the window, because it's impossible to predict what the AI will do.

 

There is also only a half-arsed version of "overwatch", in which you need to manually aim, while the enemy is moving and hope that you'll hit them. That skill is also only available, if you've saved a specific resource, which you get from kills, resting or as a buff from other squad members.

 

Visually the environment looks pretty good, cutscenes and characters not so much. THere is some voice-acting, which is passable and tehre are also a few clips from the TV show scattered about.

 

 

The game is just OK overall. Personally I think it's somewhat unbalanced. Considering each enemy can kill you in two shots (so can you). The problem is that, if yours die they're gone and you need to buy new ones with  If they're injured they can't be used for a couple of missions. and that's where I stopped playing this. I had just completed the first main mission and the next side mission ended up with one 3 injured. That meant I only had two available for the next mission, only enough money to buy 2 new recruits at level one.

 

 

5/10 can't recommedn it as a tactics game.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #6 - Warriors Legends of Troy - Preview

 

 

Developer: Koei Canada

Publisher: Tecmo Koei

Genre: Hack & Slash

 

 

Time for the final game. This one seems to be a musou game in a western setting. I guess this was Tecmo Koei's attempt to get the western audience into this niche of games. Musou games tend to be hit and miss for me a lot of the time. We'll see, if this is any good.

[Arctic Cress]

Game #4 - Hades

Time played: 5 hours

Trophies: 3/50 (4% - E)

 

I've heard a lot about Hades for the past few years, as many of my friends have done countless escape runs in the PC/Switch versions since its release and have definitely thought of it as one of the best games of all time. I waited long enough to buy it, and it got a PlayStation release so I was able to pick it up and finally play it for this event.

 

Hades stars Zagreus, who is the son of the god of death Hades. Zagreus wishes to escape from the underworld to find his mother, Persephone, who has left the underworld at some point prior to the events in the game. To do this, he enlists the help of the of the other Olympians, who provide him with various effects to help him traverse through the many encounters he faces through the underworld, and even the help of some of the residents of the underworld who support his adventure.

 

Hades is a roguelike, therefore it takes multiple runs just to clear the game. So far, I've done 14 runs, and have made it to the boss of the second of what seems to be four areas. The game's combat is a hack and slash dungeon crawler, where Zagreus is tasked with navigating through a number of rooms in the area while destroying every enemy in his way. Every room provides a reward when cleared of enemies, which could be anything from obols (the game's currency) to the Olympian boons that were referenced above. From what I've gone through so far, I tend to prioritize health upgrades and Olympian boons to make it a great distance through the Underworld. In particular, Poseidon's dash boon happens to be one of the boons that I've used to get the farthest in any of my current runs. Like most roguelikes, some of the items received can be used back at the House of Hades (where all the runs start), to provide permanent effects to the runs, create new rooms in the Underworld, or unlock new weapons to be used. There is definitely a lot of things to be unlocked here, so I think I'll be playing this for a good while longer. There's also "God Mode" which you can turn on and which provides you with a permanent damage reduction, and doesn't affect trophies. As of now I haven't seen the need to activate it at all.

 

For now, though I've enjoyed what I have played of the game I don't yet see the appeal or what sets this apart from other roguelike titles. It's definitely possible that I have to get a successful run through the entire game to figure it out, so I'll try to do that at some point!

 

Starting completion: 75.07%

Current completion: 74.78%

Difference: -0.29%

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout: 7/49 (10% - E)

Children of Zodiarcs: 10/41 (16% - C)

Raging Loop - 9/31 (20% - E)

 

Even finally beating Blue Reflection: Second Light (from the last KYC) wasn't enough to keep the completion percentage from falling a good amount from only getting three trophies in Hades. There should be another steep drop with the last game as I can see it doesn't have many common trophies in its list - we'll see as I play through it!

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #6 - Warriors: Legends fo Troy - Final Impressions

 

 

Time played: not sure honestly, maybe 2-3h

Trophies earned: 9/51

 

 

This one is pretty bland. Every mission kind of feels the same, is in the same envrionment and enemies are also the same. So essentially like a lot of other musou games, but without the visually striking special attacks and variety of heroes.

 

There are a bunch of different modes, like story and challenge mode. I've only stuck to the story so far. Will probably push through it, just to have experienced it and then move on to something better, because there is no way I'll play through this r4 times.

 

It just feels uninspired, even if you end up switching between a handful of heroes. It's a lackluster attempt of making a westernized version of a musou game. 5/10 wouldn't buy again.

[voodoo_eyes]

Well to wrap things up, I'll do an overview of hte games that I've gne through this month.

 

 

From best to worst:

• Silent Hill 2 - It's still a solid game, even if it's the HD release. Had no issues so far and it's been enjoyable
• Necromunda Hired Gun - It's fun for a while wished it didn't run like ass though.
• Narcos Rise of the Cartels - Has potential failed a bit in execution.
• Final Fatnasy X-2 - It just wasn't for me. Too many mechanics that I dislike.
• Earthlock Festival of Magic - It has some charm, but it's another game that failed in it's execution.
• Warriors Legends of Troy - Porbably the only game I would straight up say pass on it. It's not terrible, but it's bland as hell.

 

Other games I've played this month:

• Lamentum - A pretty solid isometric indie horror game in pixel art. 7/10
• Ark Survival Evolved - I'm not even going to pretend I played this. Ran like absolute shit, and it's one of the game types I hate. No rating
• The Technomancer - I almost was going to plat this. Then I noticed I messed up with some quests and romances and I just can't be bothered to play through another 20 hours of this game. It's not bad, but the combat is somewhat clunky which makes the game a bit tedious.6/10
• Dustwind - It's a budget old school Fallout, without the quality story and characters. A bit clunky as well, but still alright - 6/10
• Big Drunk Satanic Massacre - Silly twin stick shooter. Didn't run all that smoothly and was a bit basic, but fun nonetheless. 6.5/10
• Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness - Still playing this. So far it's solid 7/10, but may potentially drop to a 6.
• Neverwinter Nights - I was looking forward to this so much, and then the UI destroyed my spirit. 5/10
• Omega Quintet - So far decent enough, but way too many goddamn mechanics. Not sure, if I'll finish this game even. Currently 6/10

 

One thing I've noticed. All games that have been PS4&PS5 (Necromunda Hired Gun, Dustwind, Dungeons and Dragons Dark Alliance - the latter I played last month - run like absolute arseon the regular PS4. Word to the wise, don't bother unless you have at least a PS4 Pro or PS5.

 

 

Unfortunately turnout for the event was quite low this time around. So I've decided t oskip the next one during summer and then bring it back again in November, which might potentially be the final one, if there isn't much interest.

 

 

A thanks to those who participated and/or followed along.

 

 

[Arctic Cress]

Game #5 - Onechanbara Z2: Chaos

Time played: 3 hours

Trophies: 6/44 (10% - D)

 

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is one of the many hack and slash games from Tamsoft, which includes a lot of different games that I have played in the past, including the Senran Kagura series, the two Neptunia hack and slash spinoffs, and School Girl/Zombie Hunter. What I remember from these games is that they are pretty much average games with nothing special to them, but are still fun to play anyway. So far, this game seems to follow that pattern.

 

The game's barebones plot is that undead monsters are staging attacks around the world, and the four main characters are fighting through the waves of enemies to stop the source. Two of the characters are also vampires.

 

The main highlight of the game is the combat system. After a few tutorial levels, you have full control over the four girls, who all use different weapons and movesets - and you can swap between the four at any time during battle. At this point, I've basically only used Kagura, Aya, and Saki effectively - I'm not a fan of Saaya's chainsaw at all as it's very clunky to use, as opposed to the other character weapons.

 

To be honest, I don't have much to talk about here - the game is just painfully average and not as good as the other four titles I played for this event. I think I'm halfway through story mode already though, so I'll power through it at some point. Should be a good candidate to keep my daily trophy streak alive.

 

Starting completion: 75.07%

Current completion: 74.71%

Difference: -0.36%

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout: 7/49 (10% - E)

Children of Zodiarcs: 10/41 (16% - C)

Raging Loop - 9/31 (20% - E)

Hades - 3/50 (4% - E)

 

Another KYC over, and a small completion drop overall. I understand the turnout was pretty poor overall this time, so I guess I will be back in November. At least it gives me more of a chance to finish all the titles I started!