Kill Your Completion is back with it's 19th Iteration

[Kevvik]

Aargh! 2 more full playthroughs done and the Sherlock trophy still won’t pop. I’d read that the 1.02 update which I am playing fixed this but still having issues. Thought maybe the problem was that I was playing it on PS5 but did another playthrough on PS4 and still no go. I’ll probably try 1 more run as it takes about 2 hrs speedrunning, though the supposed skip text button doesn’t seem to have any effect on actually skipping text.  I’ve looked around and I’ll try something else and see if it works but score dropped to 6.5/10 for this crap. This was why I had held off on this game and played it now because I thought it had been fixed.

 

Trophies 45/47, 97% for A rank

[dmland12]

Game #6 Review: VVVVVV

Trophies: 13 of 19 (61%)

Completion: 94.62% (-0.05%, -2.38% from start)

 

Ah now this is a game I can understand.  Spikes, crazy platforming, and death.  Lots of death.  The main twist to this game is that you can't really jump at all.  You can however, flip at will when you're on the "ground" so that you're now upside-down and walking on the ceiling (or vice versa).  Which is like a crazy kind of jumping, I suppose.  The rest of the mechanics are built off of that and also some screen wrapping.  Throw in a a fair amount of spikes in all the worst places, and there you have it.

 

The main game is very short, but with a lot of replayability if you're interested in going for the trophies as several of them require that you get very good at going through the various sections of the game.  There's of course one for going through the whole game with no deaths, but also all of the "V rank" ones require going through a level with no deaths while also collecting a few collectibles (and wouldn't you know if, some of them are in the most hellish parts of the game!).  They're also timed, though from what I've seen that is the least of your worries here.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this one.  It has some really interesting platforming mechanics that I hadn't really seen before.  Checkpoints are plentiful, so all the dying doesn't really matter too much as far as just getting through the game.  And then there's some trophies that provide an extra challenge, which is fun to go for as long as I'm in the mood for something like that.

 

 

 

 

Game #7 Preview

I really have no idea what this game is about.  It's been in my backlog for a while, and I'm sure I had some idea when I bought it, but not now.  PSNP lists it's genres as Real Time Strategy, RPG, Simulator, Strategy, and Adventure.  So yeah, that really narrows it down, lol.

[voodoo_eyes]

2 hours ago, Kevvik said:

Aargh! 2 more full playthroughs done and the Sherlock trophy still won’t pop. I’d read that the 1.02 update which I am playing fixed this but still having issues. Thought maybe the problem was that I was playing it on PS5 but did another playthrough on PS4 and still no go. I’ll probably try 1 more run as it takes about 2 hrs speedrunning, though the supposed skip text button doesn’t seem to have any effect on actually skipping text.  I’ve looked around and I’ll try something else and see if it works but score dropped to 6.5/10 for this crap. This was why I had held off on this game and played it now because I thought it had been fixed.

 

Trophies 45/47, 97% for A rank

 

I thought the only way to get that trophy was playing the physical version. of the game. That was the case for me at least.

[Kevvik]

9 hours ago, voodoo_eyes said:

 

I thought the only way to get that trophy was playing the physical version. of the game. That was the case for me at least.

Everything I had read was that the new patch for 1.02 had fixed it, though some people still had issues. I’m giving it one more try during this event and then I’ll mess with it later and experiment around.

[Phantochi]

unfortunately i will be dropping out of the event as well, life did a 180 and i won't be able to continue with my list for the next few weeks, i'm sorry. Make sure to keep reviews coming as i'll be reading them all. enjoy the event!!

[Kevvik]

1 hour ago, Phantochi said:

unfortunately i will be dropping out of the event as well, life did a 180 and i won't be able to continue with my list for the next few weeks, i'm sorry. Make sure to keep reviews coming as i'll be reading them all. enjoy the event!!

Hope everything works itself out. Went through a long rough patch myself a few years ago and it’s good to remember that this is a hobby and can always wait while you sort life out. Take care.

 

On my gaming side, I got the trophy to pop.  The trophy gets invalidated when you press L3 or R3 (asking for a hint) at any time other than when the game makes you do it once as a tutorial. A guide I had found recommended turning off all the hints data in the options menu in order to effectively shut them off but this was not working for me so I followed another suggestion in that I turned a the hints data on so that if I somehow pressed L3/R3 accidentally I would know right away with a mass onscreen data reveal. I was then extremely careful using the joysticks for the duration. The reveal never happened and the trophy popped after the credits on the return to the main menu so I got the plat, NA digital copy with update 1.02. 
 

Time played: 11 hrs (5 hrs + 3x2 hrs)

Trophies earned: 47/47, 100% for S rank

Final score: 7/10

 

Got over the trophy peeve and went back to my original score for the game.

 

Completion rate: 87.61% (-0.15% for the event)

 

Next game: Game #5: Fear Effect Sedna

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by Kevvik

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #4 - Zombie Driver HD Immortal Edition - Final Impressions

 

 

Time played: 4h

Trophies earned: 13/31

 

 

Didn't play this game much, compared to the previous games. Just couldn't get into it as it's kind of boring.

 

You get a vehicle and kill a bunch of zombie with a handful of weapons, of which you can only "hold" one at a time, or drive over them. Depending on the vehicle you use, the latter might become problematic due to lack of force and health. These can be upgraded buy getting money through killings zombies, destroying stuff and completing missions. You can also unlock new cars by completing some bonus objectives.

 

There are a few design choices that I didn't like. Weapons have fairly limited ammo, so you're constantly driving back and forth to respawn points for ammo, while the objectives partially reset. They set up the game ina a way, that you sometimes need to kill zombies in an area, so when you run out of ammo and drive over to the respawn point, said location has more zombies again and your progress went out the window.

The missions are also very repetitive. Half have been rescuing civilians, which sometimes don't all fit in the car, so you have to take the first batch, drive to the base to offload them and then drive back to pick up the rest.

 

Another issue is cars can only shoot forward and you can't just look in another direction as would be the case with twin.stick shooters. So you have to adjust your aim while driving and turning awkwardly.

 

Besides the campaign, there are two other modes. One of them is kind of like the micro machines races, with varying objectives and the other is a survival mode.

 

 

Overall, not a game I enjoyed. 5/10 won't play again.

[Taruta13]

Well, this was an unproductive week, no thanks to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet coming out and me procrasing because I wanted to catch Pokemon.

 

@Kevvik, glad to see you got that trophy issue worked out. I am annoyed how something as sensitive as L3/R3 can invalidate a platinum. Devs, take a note: If you MUST Use the analog presses for one of your mechanics, make sure that you don't center a trophy about NOT using it as some people have big thumbs and stupidly press the analog sticks in without noting it. ?

 

Game #4: Ni no Kuni Remastered

Revisit Review

 

I only got two trophies in this whole six days, even adding a sixth day. If I hadn't gotten bored with LEGO Star Wars, I would have probably just not taken the extra day exploring Ni No Kuni and instead spent the day that would have been the last for LEGO Star Wars just completing space missions for Kyber Bricks.

 

No joke: The last two days I spent on this game were just going through the Golden Grove and then doing some quests in Al Mamoon, the second city. This is typical as this game is light on the story trophies, despite having the deepest story about a boy who awakens a magical fairy who makes the boy a wizard and takes him to his world to find the boy's mother's counterpart and save her to save the real mom. Did I lose you? I'm not surprised. This game's story is very complex and has many twists and it's long, very long. The fact that the only trophies i got were for entering the new world and for beating the first boss(I fought two more bosses but got bupkis from them) shows that Level-5, the creators of this, don't care jack about trophies, they want you to play the game and relax with it, not grind. I mean, instead of earning a trophy for completing 10 errands(the game's side-quests), you have to get FIFTEEN, and that's not happening until you beat the very dangerous boss known as the Nightmares, which I won't do in this session as I'm only Level 14 and this nightmare boss is TOUGH even at that level.

 

I've have yet to actually be able to recruit familiars. For all my love of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, this game's "Pokemon" system of familiar capturing is inane and frrustating... and you have to get 250 unique familiars for a trophy. Yeah, the grind is REAL, which is why I have put the game down and won't pick it back up until 2023. ?

 

Don't get me wrong, the graphics were done by Studio Ghibli, which you may recall from fan favorites like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. They didn't hold back on the looks and cinematic movies. It's not Persona 5 Royal, but it's breathtaking. This is why you should never skip cutscenes in a first play.

 

A great game, but very long and stingy on the trophies. Don't expect to push past 10% until you get your third party member and get to the Fairy Village after a brief fight with the game's big bad, Shadar the Dark Djinn.

 

If anyone murdered my completion, it's this title.

 

Time Played: Didn't check the in-game timer, but at least 5 hours, 30 minutes
Trophies Earned: 2 / 34 (2%)

Unearned Trophies: 210 (Well, not really dead - I've been earning Persona 5 Royal trophies in the meantime )
New Completion: 92.65%

 

Next game up for the chopping block...

 

 

It's time I got this started. Let's do this.

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by Taruta13

[purgta]

Game #4 Coffee Talk

 

 

 

Coffee Talk is a visual novel where you are a barista in a coffee shop, serving drinks and listening to the problems of your customers. It is a lot like a more chill VA-11 Hall-A if anyone has played it. The game is set in modern day Seattle where earth is also populated by many fantasy characters. The game is pretty cozy.

 

The only gameplay aspect is picking three ingredients to make a coffee. There are no choices to make other than what drink to serve customers. The game looks very nice and has interesting characters. Not every character arc has a satisfying conclusion. The couple having relationship issues and the father and his kid are the only story arcs I felt had a proper conclusion. The others just kind of ended. The only character I disliked was the main character. They felt annoyingly bland.

 

I did enjoy the game quite a bit. The story did not really need fantasy characters to work but I did enjoy them. The developer is currently making a sequel and I will probably end up picking it up. The game was a bit shorter than I was expecting. There are 14 days and each one is not too long. I think it is the kind of game that plays better on a handheld than on a console. Shame there is no Vita 2.

 

Last up is Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 19

Game No. 3

Playing Time: 3 hours

Trophies Earned 8/38 (11% E ranking)

 

Thoughts: In keeping with KYC tradition, I am falling behind with reviews. But nice job everyone else, there’s lots of games I want to check out!

  This one however, probably deserves a skip. The first taste is good, but it goes flat after a few hours. Not really sure how you categorize this one. It’s story-driven, you have an open map to walk around on, there’s an element of taking care of your character with health and money (though I don’t think it really matters), and the gameplay is best described as odd. 
  You start out as a stick figure on a giant map of the USA. Only major cities like Boston, Nashville and Miami are marked, though all the state lines are represented. You walk (or hitchhike) around until you spot what resembles floating orbs on the map. Once you interact with the orb, the game’s narrator begins to tell a story. Sometimes the story is only 2-3 sentences. Sometimes the story involves choices for you to make in it, and the story might last for half a page. Once the story is finished, it is filed away in a stack of tarot cards. The stories aren’t all that great bc they’re so short, but they’re worth listening to bc the narrator sounds exactly like Sam Elliott. Giddy up! 
  Eventually, you will come across campsites. When you stop into the camp, you will interact with a character and they will tell a little backstory about themselves. (The information being picked up is making it evident that the era being represented is most likely the Great Depression.). Then the character will ask for a specific kind of story. It could be sad, scary, exciting, etc. Your Tarot deck then opens up and you try to pick a story that will elicit the emotion they requested. If successful, an eye on the screen will slightly open. Your goal is to get the eye fully open. Sometimes, you have an arsenal of stories of a specific emotion and it is easy to open the eye. Other times, you haven’t discovered enough stories and it’s hard to meet the person’s request. I can’t tell yet, if this eye mechanism is tied to trophy requirements yet. God, I hope not. 
  And…that’s pretty much it. The gameplay doesn’t evolve after the first 15 minutes. I’ve managed to make it down the entire Eastern Seaboard and have run into a half dozen camps. The gameplay hasn’t really changed, except for when you meet a person for the second time in a camp, the first stories you told them are locked bc they don’t want you to repeat it. So best to track down more stories to have more options. Or, sometimes you rehear a story you have told, but it has been embellished by others and you can reuse it. 
  The game has really nailed the artsy-fartsy theme with the graphics (rustic would be a good word), the music (Americana folk/ country) and the narration.  I just don’t know if that can carry a game 10-15 hours for a platinum run. 
Grade:  and that’s probably a bit generous. 
 

Next game: Hot Wheels Unleashed

 

 

[Taruta13]

Game #5 Preview:
Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition

 

 

One of my favorite game series is Dragon Quest. I've played and cleared every Dragon Quest up to Dragon Quest 9. Sadly, Dragon Quest 10 is an MMO exclusive to Japan because they saw how FFXIV was getting toxic profanity-spewing players(remember, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest now fly under the same banner ) and decided "Nope, one localized MMO is good enough" so we never got the amazing stuff the Japanese did. There's still hope for a single-player Dragon Quest X as they announced a title based on that MMO, but I am not holding my breath.

 

Instead they skipped a title to come to this, Dragon Quest XI. I've played it several times, and I even beat the main story on the Switch and completed one of the post-game dungeons... all in 2D mode. Yes, this version of the game lets you play in classic mode with graphics and random encounters just like in one of the DS remakes of Dragon Quests IV-VI. However, I think I am being unfair to the game's 3D elements, so I will try to play this session without switching to 2D mode(except when they forced you to for the optional new town, Toppleton, which has a sidequest which is a love letter to the ten games before this one ) so I can experience it for myself.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Close to the Sun - Preview

 

 

Developer: Storm in a Teacup

Publisher: Wired Productions

Genre: Adventure

Price: 24,99€

 

 

Not quite sure what to expect of this game. Seems to be somehwat of a walking simulator with focus on puzzles, from what I recall watching of it.

 

I've played a handful of games from this publisher before. Some were better than others and I think I only didn't like Those Who Remain. Same publisher from Deliver us the Moon by the way. Never played anything made by this developer though, so it's going to be some kind of new experience at least.

 

 

Won't have time to start today, but I'm planing to boot it up tomorrow after work.

[Psy-Tychist]

The Hollow Knight Simulator

Trophies Earned: 28/30 - 97%

Completion Percentage: 70.42% : -0.11%

Personal Arbitrary Rating: 5/10

Times I used the Flip Power: 2

 

Since Hollow Knight came out in 2017 it created a new standard for the Metroidvania. Inevitably, there would be clones, spiritual successors and copycats. Gleamlight looks like this should be the case because of how it is portrayed. The title screen as seen above is almost an equivalent image to when the knight challenges the Radiance, the protagonist uses a sword or some sort of sharp instrument to attack the enemies in the game and you unlock powers after defeating certain bosses. However, Gleamlights similarities peter out from this point and all sense of originality that is shown within the game is bogged down with technical issues, terrible balancing and story-telling which is vacant and non-existent. 

 

You play as an unnamed character who finds a sword stuck in the ground. The character then decides to stab themselves, imbuing them with colour and now having the sword to attack things. You progress from screen to screen, with enemies spouting red crystals willing to attack you if you come close. Some rush you, some jump on you, some lazily spike you if you get too close, all are generally easy to dispatch. If you take damage, you will only be able to gain 'life' back if you hit enemies and steal their 'life' which is depicted as red crystal pieces. As you progress, the protagonist has to destroy crystal checkpoints to unlock doors to progress. Early in the game they are easy to access and a maximum of 3 to find to escape to the next area but soon you will be looking for them in all corners and on the roof to progress. Coming across the first boss in the game, I was expecting a challenge but sadly the mechanics are what make the boss fights partly a joke. To gain health you hit enemies, you hit enemies to reduce their health; you see the conundrum that happens. Unless you get hit multiple times in a row without hitting back, you can survive nearly indefinitely. Further onwards, you meet a flying boss and finally a boss that looks like you but in a back robe. After defeating the black robed foe, the game ends.

Well, nearly. The credits roll and the game looks like it is glitching out and puts you back to the title screen, the glitching continues. If you leave the controller alone, it will reload the game through the glitches and the game will continue with the protagonist taking the last bosses sword and unlocking another way out. After this, you will come across about 6 bosses, 3 of them you fought already and you gain a lot of movement abilities but no offensive abilities besides a charge attack which is used to break through the new bosses defences to fully damage the boss. Finally you come to what looks like a walking trash compactor, defeat that as the last boss and then you die from the toxic smog that is released from the machine you just destroyed.

 

I described all of this because there are no signposts, no map, no help, no words, no text boxes, nothing that helps you figure out what is happening or what you need to do or how to get anywhere. This was all through a bit of luck and because I watched a video a while ago that gave a small run down of how to get the trophies in the game. To complete everything in the game you need to do 2 and half playthroughs of the game and most likely you will still have one trophy left that you have to grind for even though it shouldn't take that long. There is nothing in game to describe the story, no backstory, no text whatsoever to give you clues as to do what you need to do to get the 'True' ending or any ending at all. Credit goes to Platinum SOS for this video to give a spoiler free way of completing the game in the best way.

 

Trophy-wise, the game is very easy when you know what to do. Most for killing the bosses and 5 ending trophies. The one that will cause issue is the Next Body trophy which requires 100 deaths. That sounds like an easy ask, but after a while of collecting powers you seem to become nearly invincible, taking in excess of 20 hits before dying. This makes the second playthrough trivial but also any enemy loses its fear factor. 

 

Overall, this is a very pretty looking game, but the aesthetic wears thin very quickly, the combat is repetitive and dull, the enemies are ineffectual after the first 'playthrough' and the game is so short on context that it borders on learning sign language. It's a game that has some enjoyable moments, but it fails to live up to any expectation as a metroidvania or a good platformer.

 

Next Game - Rainswept

 

P.S - I have finished my Deliver us the Moon review.

P.P.S - I will have a review on Rainswept quite soon as it finished a lot quicker than expected.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Psy-Tychist

[Psy-Tychist]

23 hours ago, purgta said:

Game #4 Coffee Talk

 

 

 

Coffee Talk is a visual novel where you are a barista in a coffee shop, serving drinks and listening to the problems of your customers. It is a lot like a more chill VA-11 Hall-A if anyone has played it. The game is set in modern day Seattle where earth is also populated by many fantasy characters. The game is pretty cozy.

 

The only gameplay aspect is picking three ingredients to make a coffee. There are no choices to make other than what drink to serve customers. The game looks very nice and has interesting characters. Not every character arc has a satisfying conclusion. The couple having relationship issues and the father and his kid are the only story arcs I felt had a proper conclusion. The others just kind of ended. The only character I disliked was the main character. They felt annoyingly bland.

 

I did enjoy the game quite a bit. The story did not really need fantasy characters to work but I did enjoy them. The developer is currently making a sequel and I will probably end up picking it up. The game was a bit shorter than I was expecting. There are 14 days and each one is not too long. I think it is the kind of game that plays better on a handheld than on a console. Shame there is no Vita 2.

 

I like the idea of this game, is it easier or better to do it in small bursts? Might have to pick it up sometime.

 

@Kevvik you have 4 games on your list that I have in my backlog that I haven't tried yet (Spiritfarer, Valthirian Arc, Silence and Fear Effect Sedna) and it's giving me valuable insights about whether I will enjoy them or not. By the looks of it, Spiritfarer is going to be top of my list.

 

19 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

KYC 19

Game No. 3

Playing Time: 3 hours

Trophies Earned 8/38 (11% E ranking)

 

Thoughts:  This one however, probably deserves a skip. The first taste is good, but it goes flat after a few hours. 
  The game has really nailed the artsy-fartsy theme with the graphics (rustic would be a good word), the music (Americana folk/ country) and the narration.  I just don’t know if that can carry a game 10-15 hours for a platinum run. 

 

These two lines make me feel that I will either enjoy the slow burn or follow your thoughts exactly. I hoped for more from this and I'll see if this is my cuppa tea.

 

5 hours ago, voodoo_eyes said:

Game #5 - Close to the Sun - Preview

 

 

Developer: Storm in a Teacup

Publisher: Wired Productions

Genre: Adventure

Price: 24,99€

 

Not quite sure what to expect of this game. Seems to be somehwat of a walking simulator with focus on puzzles, from what I recall watching of it.

 

It is a walking simulator as much as Deliver us the Moon is. The main difference is the aesthetic and that it does have some genuinely creepy moments at times. I personally really enjoyed the 1920's look and feel with some Rapture-esque vibes thrown in, but you will need 2/3 playthroughs to get that Plat. Hope you enjoy it.

[Kevvik]

1 hour ago, Psy-Tychist said:

 

@Kevvik you have 4 games on your list that I have in my backlog that I haven't tried yet (Spiritfarer, Valthirian Arc, Silence and Fear Effect Sedna) and it's giving me valuable insights about whether I will enjoy them or not. By the looks of it, Spiritfarer is going to be top of my list.

 

 

Spiritfarer sits with several others on my pleasant surprises list for this year and is probably at the top of that list for me.  The others are The Artful Escape, Observation and Observer: System Redux. I found all to be way more enjoyable than expected.  I had a number of other games this year that I enjoyed but these ones were unique in that I really had no expectations going in as compared to something like P4G where my expectations going in were fairly high.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 19

Game No. 4

Playing Time: 2 hours

Trophies Earned: 8/54 (10% E ranking)

 

Thoughts: It never fails, another KYC and another racing game gets added to my list. The last driving/racing game I played in a event was Snow Moto Racing Freedom which was a genuine turd.  I actually earned the platinum for that a few months ago, which is one of my better achievements for 2022. There was an awful, trick-related trophy that was diabolically difficult bc the controls wouldn’t accurately register. 
  Anyways, this game is certainly not a turd. Though I pray there is more to it than the surface I scratched in the one afternoon I was able to spend time with it. Hot Wheels is an arcade racer, though not a Mario Kart game. So no last-second, bullshit banana up your tailpipe right before the finish line. It plays like a toy racer, as it should, since all the vehicles are modeled after the cars we all got as kids (truth be told, I favored Matchbox cars). 
  There is a circuit you race in - I believe there’s 52 events in all. Each race takes only a few minutes. Most events are locked until you beat the previous event. There is no penalty for racing on Easy, so it’s pretty easy to win most races. Just go fast, don’t crash, and stay on the track and you should win on Easy almost every time. There are time trials, and it sounds like some could be difficult. I haven’t come across that yet. 
   Controls are pretty simple. Gas, brake, nitro and drift. To increase your boost/nitro meter, you need to drift through turns, which isn’t too hard and just requires to hold . If you have played the Garfield Kart game, this will be quite familiar to you.
  The tracks are not as elaborate as I hoped. At least not yet. It’s mainly driving on pretty narrow tracks, modeled just like the toy tracks you can buy for the toy cars. You remember, the narrow orange tracks, right?  Looks cool, but doesn’t enhance the racing experience. Table Top Racing was far more innovative on their tracks ( and frankly, more fun). 
  When you win, you earn a variety of things.  Coins, which can purchase vehicles. Gears, which can upgrade your current inventory, and every once in awhile, a blind box. That is a vehicle sealed in a box until you open it and it has some RNG to it. This has loot box written all over it, and you can probably waste a chunk of real money here, but I don’t think there’s any hard trophies with stocking up your inventory. So don’t fret. Guides suggest it used to be a real bitch to earn coins, but after the latest update, it seems to be much easier. I think dozens of hours of grinding have been eliminated with the new update. 
  There is a multiplayer portion to the game. Can’t comment on it as I didn’t touch it. But I don’t think the trophies appear too taxing in MP play.

  In summary, it’s an arcade racing game. Nothing fantastic, but certainly not like the clunky, poorly engineered driving games that seem to be prolifically released each year. I do like racing games where you can jump in, play 15-20 minutes, and move on. Hot Wheels Unleashed checks that box, so I will give it a .

 

Next Up: Procession to Cavalry

 

[dmland12]

Game #7: Curious Expedition

Trophies: 16 of 61 (32%)

Completion: 94.32% (-0.30%, -2.68% from start)

 

I'm not sure I've played anything quite like this game.  You control an explorer and the gold is to search the map until you find the golden pyramid.  Along the way, you can find items that can help you during the expedition, loot that you can sell at the end of the expedition to help fund your next one or to increase your fame, wild animals that will likely try to attack you, and native villages which will trade with you or provide new recruits for your party (unless you piss them off too much, then they'll also attack you).  On your journey you'll need to keep your sanity and health up or very bad things will happen (everyone will die).  The combat (and some events) are dice based with your explorer and every member of the party having a set of dice as well as some items contributing dice.  6 expeditions make up a full game at which point you'll be compared with the fame of 4 other cpu explorers to decide your place at the end of the game.

 

It's a pretty tough game that's easy to get into trouble with.  There's limited inventory space so it's not possible to carry everything you would like a lot of the time.  Starting out, you're also very limited on items in general.  The map can be very brutal with obstacles that require a certain item to be able to traverse without a large sanity penalty.  Grabbing loot from shrines also has dire effects like spawning volcanoes which erupt, poisonous gas vents, or giant spider nests (which seem to then spawn endless giant spiders).  One bad encounter can wipe out your party, either right away or leave everyone bleeding (which will likely mean death unless you have medical kits or some other means of healing on the map).  Negative events are also pretty common whenever you're resting and recovering sanity.  Your party members can fight or just generate negative traits which can cause more problems later.

 

Despite it all, it was fun to try to hold it all together.  And if you can get a decent set of items and party members built up over the first 2-3 expeditions it does all get a little more manageable.  The platinum looks like a real pain though.  Those 19 platinum frames...  I assume you get those for beating the game on the hardest difficulty, since I got a gold frame for beating the game on normal.  So, that's 19 runs on "Certain Death" difficulty with 19 different explorers.  At least every explorer does have a unique bonus and different starting party members and items, but still!  And then there's the grind to get to 100000 fame and funds too, which looks like it will take a while.

 

 

Game #8 Preview

Green Hell

 

I've heard good things about this one.  It's a survival game and I've been a big fan of the genre since coming across The Long Dark.  I'm really looking forward to it.

[serrated-banner9]

since i'm unlikey to game tomorrow here is the review:

GAME 4 REVIEW

 

the crew is the second and final game from ubisoft in this event and this is kinda like fast and furious as in you work as a undercover cop for the fbi to arrest somebody (i have never watched fast and furious)

 

the story i done so far is this. you play as Alex (super original name i know) who has to lose the cops (yeah basically every racing game start lol) and afterwards head to a barn to get a ride for a race in Detroit which you then have to head up to and afterwards where you meet Dayton who is Alex's brother and then take him to the bridge where he is to meet Shiv to question him about some missing money. surprise surprise Shiv does the old "it's you fault bro" where he shoots and kills dayton and speeds off right before the cops arrive and arrest you for his murder. 5 years later a women named Zoe appears and offers you a deal where you can finally get your revenge on Shiv but in return help her to arrest a corrupt guy (i forgot lol) and that's where i got up to

 

but can we talk about the in game world for a sec? sure the handling on the cars aren't the best but hey at least the open world is pretty and it's one of those games where after i beat the story i might play the game just to mess around you know?

 

THE RANKINGS

 

i find this one weaker then steep and probanly just under speulnky IMO

better then rugby 22 though

 

1. steep
2. spelunky
3. the crew
4. rugby 22

 

GAME 5 PREVIEW

 

 

this was delisted off the store due to conflicts between the devs and the publishers, physical might be worth something soon

[Kevvik]

On our way back…

 

Game #5: Fear Effect Sedna

 

I was a huge fan of Fear Effect, an 3rd person action adventure PS1 game with a great story, well rounded characters, and great gameplay (and 5 different endings). I only vaguely recall playing the sequel so it obviously didn’t impress me as much. Fear Effect Sedna revisits the characters with a top angled isometric strategy game.  Our heroes are Hana and Rain, two mercenaries who carry out infiltration missions to obtain artifacts or whatever is required of them. They get dragged into a conspiracy of stolen artifacts and then get hired by a French agent (who Hana has professional history with) when their paths cross and the mission goes to hell.  You are joined by other mercs from the past games who add their own skill sets to the mission.

 

The strategy side is fairly straightforward. Each character has a gun, two special skills like grenades, flamethrowers, bouncing bullets (which can hit 3 targets) and the like which can be deployed in combat, each special skill having a cool down period and limited number of uses. You can stealth kill unsuspecting foes, sneak and use cover. Your main guns need reloading but as far as I’ve seen, you have infinite reloads.  There are kill count trophies and collectibles.  As your heath bar decreases, your fear goes up (a little ECG wave next to that character) which recovers with a health kit. This doesn’t seem to really effect gameplay from what I’ve seen so far. Fallen characters can be revived with minimal health without using a kit if your group doesn’t wipe but this leaves you quite vulnerable. Everything in the gameplay is very straightforward and not particularly difficult.

 

This comes to my gripe. This is yet another game where the way the story plays out, using the franchise really doesn’t add anything. The story so far is quite superficial, though a supernatural element has slowly been inserting itself. The supernatural plays a heavy role in the early Fear Effect games but there really isn’t anything from the franchise that is anything but generic. Hana was a great character in the original game and had her backstory deeply entwined with the main story leading to a number of motivational plot points and twists.  Here all she really talks about is money and Rain (also her girlfriend). It makes Hana feel very one note and doesn’t seem to really explain why she is here and not a generic insert female character here. The story is pretty slim, coming in (very) small bite sized pieces with the mission.  There is a bit more story here than Valthirian Arc was coughing up but not much more and it feels just as generic.

 

The gameplay is fine, if uninspired and the sound is forgettable. I was really hoping for better but this just feels like a generic game with a franchise tacked into it.  I’ve heard the same company is doing Fear Effect Remastered and while the cutscenes look fine, the art style being about the only standout point, it makes me nervous looking toward the remaster.

 

Time played: 4 hrs (including some kill grinding)

Trophies earned: 11/25, 29% for B rank

Score so far: 5/10

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Kevvik

[Taruta13]

Just sitting here watching the Macy's Day Parade on Youtube. I miss the days when I could turn on the TV and get a special where celebs would talk about their plans for Thanksgiving and wish each other happy holidays and they'd show cool musical skits and videos from families around the world. *sigh*

 

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and I hope you guys are doing well on your challenge. I'm just loafing around for the last two games as I want to plan out how to get those platinums. Now, I love Dragon Quest games, but XI really didn't stick as much as IX and VIII did. From what I saw in the trailers, Dragon Quest XII is going to be even more dark and gritty and I don't know if I like the direction it's going.

 

FFXII is the last game and boy howdy will it be tedious.

[Psy-Tychist]

Rainswept.

An Actual Murder Mystery.

 

Trophies Earned: 14/14 - 100%

Completion Percentage: 70.50% : -0.04%

Personal Arbitrary Rating: 7/10

Times I blacked out for inexplicable reasons: 7

 

This game is unusual, not in what it is trying to achieve, not in storytelling, not in design but because even though the story is nothing new and the tropes have been well trodden, it still manages to be enjoyable.

 

You play a detective sent to the sleepy town of Pineview to investigate a murder/suicide. A young couple who were thought of as loners were found dead one night, the woman shot through the stomach, the man through his temple. The detective wants to be thorough and make sure there is no foul play but it seems like he is being ridiculed for believing it could be anything other than an unhappy couple who took it too far. You piece together the couples life and how they arrived in Pineview and the events which lead up to their deaths. Several people in the town become suspects to the detective, but no clear motive can be deduced from any of them. Every evening, when you sleep, he relives parts of a trauma which involve a woman called Abigail. Each subsequent night, he gets further and further into a spiral of despair, she starts talking to him in his dreams, beckoning him to join her. The question is, will he solve what happened before his mind takes him off the deep end?

 

Graphically, it has a vector based art-style that is like a cross between pixel-art and a cartoon. The animation is smooth and the transitions are well done, some look like they would be panned right out a movie. The creator of the game really wanted to give that impression that where you are is so far removed from the urban way of living, that you are almost living in a place with its own rules and is cut off from the rest of ciivilisation. The animation for running is quite hilarious to watch, but the funniest thing was watching a character climb a pipe as if he was pulling down the sky and going very slowly. It will be a game you can either accept the artistic choice or you will find it hard to take it seriously.

 

I have a few annoyances with the game, but these are just how I see it:

 - The character smokes (you can toggle it off) but he will revert to smoking at any point, especially after a cutscene. I just didn't want him smoking in an autopsy room...

 - Even though the game is short, the addition of a map with marked points that you can't interact with makes no sense.

 - The game crashes a lot. It crashed a total of 8 times, mostly when pausing and unpausing the game. It also bugged out in a sequence where i had to quit to the menu so that I could continue the story.

 - Even though the depictions of the main character is realistic in how he copes with everything, the other characters are quite bland and lack much in support to the story.

 

Finally, the weirdest design choice to me was to have the trophies all able to be unlocked half way through the story. After day 3, you should have all the trophies and the story is only half done. Doesn't really make much sense when some people will just stop there when getting the Platinum.

 

Overall, the story and design is enjoyable witj some weird choices which may put people off from enjoying it to the fullest. Still worth a go though as it only lasts just under 5 hours.

 

Next game: Spiritfarer

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Close to the Sun - Final Impressions

 

 

Time played: 2-3h

Trophies earned: 14/30

 

 

Since I don't know, if I find time to play this today, I'll wrap it up now.

 

 

I've made it to chapter 6 and so far it's been a decent enough experience.

 

Visually it's nice. The movement reminds me somewhat of We Happy Few, and the game has far more jumpscares than I thought it would.  The artstyle does resemble the one from the Bioshock series, no doubt. This game on the PS5 had some graphics issues at the beginning, similar to Darksiders 3.

 

The sound design is something I've had an issue with. Sound effects are fine, but the sound-mixing for the voice is not great. The is a discrepancy in volume of the protagonists voice that I find irritating.

 

 

Gameplay-wise it's a lot of going through corridors and through rooms, looking for puzzle solutions. THe run is more of a jog and the chase scenes that have been popping up so far have been a minor nuisance. So long they don't combine both  puzzle solving and being chased into one sequence I won't hate on it too much.

 

 

Still the game is not grabbing me all that much. Maybe it gets better further on, but at this point I'll give it a 6/10.

[Taruta13]

Game #5 Revisit: Dragon Quest XI S

 

This game was something I had wanted to try out, being a big Dragon Quest fan. (I completed 100% every Dragon Quest game up to IX. Yes, even the stupid download bar quests you only get from going online with Dragon Quest IX, I did them all. ) So this game was supposed to be fun, right? Well... not really.

 

Since the game had been hyped a lot since before it was the S edition, I'll just spare you the summary and give a brief overview on what happened to my character, who I named Naoto for Persona 4 Golden reasons. Naoto and his friend Gemma climbed a mountain, nearly got eaten by a Mad Condor, got saved by a divine mark on the main's hand, finds out he's the chosen one, and travels to the capital of Heliodor, only for the King to arrest him under false pretense and throw him in the dungeons, where a thief called Erik helps him escape, joins up with him, and they sneak back into town to find a treasure Erik had given his old friend, only to find out that said friend stowed it away in a tomb so now we have to go through the Manglegrove to get to that tomb and get the treasure back.

 

That's as far as I got and if that doesn't whet your appetite, I dunno what will.

 

While you can play in 2D mode and play it like a classic Dragon Quest, the 3D mode(which was the only mode in the original Dragon Quest XI) has some perks like ultra-fast battling so grinding doesn't take as long. In fact, it was so fast that I was goofing around in AFK mode trying to rack up the 3 hours needed for me to qualify this game in the event.

 

Regardless, this game is pretty fun and I will look forward to revisiting it to get the platinum.

 

EDIT: Forgot to put the stats. Thankfully I didn't upload my trophies as I was starting the last game. Oopsie!

 

Time Played: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Trophies Earned: 4 / 57 (5%)

Unearned Trophies: 252
New Completion: 91.73%

 

And now for the Final Game...

Yeah, this is going to be... something. Thank Arceus this is the last game I have to play for the event.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Taruta13

[Taruta13]

Final Game Preview
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

 

THIS GAME.

 

I have stopped caring about the Final Fantasy series. This game was the one that dropped me off. Now, I did enjoy Final Fantasy XIV, it is a great MMO... but it's an MMO and therefore has its own problems, namely you have to be online. This game has the feel of an MMO(or Final Fantasy VII Remake) without the hassle of being online.

 

If you've played FFXIV and tried to unlock Bozja, you had to experience the alliance raids known as "Return to Ivalice" and met a character or two who got their start in this game, namely a certain feminine Viera. All in all, this game is pretty dope but getting the platinum is pretty difficult and not for the faint of heart... me, I'm more crazy.

[dmland12]

Game #8: Green Hell

Trophies: 11 of 41 (15%)

Completion: 93.95% (-0.37%, -3.05% from start)

 

This ended up being a pretty interesting survival game.  I tried playing it without looking anything about the game up, which went terribly until I started figuring things out by trial and error.  However, I don't think this game is really that hard: each death I had could have been prevented with more knowledge of how the game worked, what resources were available or what I could craft.  Death by food poisoning (learned not to eat the bad mushrooms).  Death by jaguar (learned how to make a bow & arrows).

 

One of the more interesting things is that your survival needs are split up much more than in other games I've played.  You need to get enough different kinds of food to provide enough protein, fats, and carbohydrates instead of just eating whatever to keep your hunger bar filled up as is the usual case in these kind of games.  There's also your mental state to take care of which is tracked in game with a "sanity" gage (that's the second game in a row where I'm tasked with trying to maintain my sanity, lol).  Eating insects instead of better food, getting stung by bees, letting leeches stay attached too long, not getting enough sleep and other things which I probably haven't fully explored yet can reduce your sanity.  I'm not sure what happens when your sanity gets too low, but at about half you start hearing voices telling you you're worthless and you're gonna die, so it's probably not a good idea to let it fall all the way down!  You can improve your sanity by "good" actions like getting a full night's sleep, staying for extended time over, or eating some food like cooked meat.

 

Resources keep respawning even on the harder difficulties, so it doesn't look like this is a game where scarcity will become a problem.  Foraging for food is important early on, but you can also craft some farming plots and greatly reduce your need to forage as long as you stay near that area.  Overall, it looks like there's a lot of building/crafting options and I even found an iron ore deposit and melted some iron ore in a forge that I built out of mud from a nearby river.  It's apparently possible to cast the iron and use it to make tools or armor, but I haven't had time to figure it out yet.

 

Overall, this looks like a well thought out survival game that's got a lot of depth to it and where death is very possible but also very avoidable with enough knowledge, attention and the right equipment.  I'm looking forward to playing it some more later.

 

 

Game #9 Preview

Splasher

This is a hard platformer that some people around here have said is harder to platinum than Super Meat Boy.  Might as well get it started and see how it goes.