Popular Post BlazzingWind Posted July 17, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 17, 2023 On 7/14/2023 at 3:55 PM, StraightVege said: Very glad you think so! Similar to the infamous race in Mafia, I personally found "Can't Cat-ch Me" to be rather overexaggerated in difficulty, although it's certainly Stray's trickiest task by far. Sometimes those Zurks precisely home in on you with their leaps, regardless of how well-timed your zigzagging is, it seems. Thankfully, the chase segment in question is brief enough to prevent restarts from becoming overly frustrating. And, if you're referring to the bit which has you running after Clementine's truck as drones pursue, I also got blasted several times there. Surprisingly little room for hesitation in that section, right? Great choices, by the way! Loved The Forgotten City and The Gardens Between, so I hope you do as well. That is exactly the point I am referring to, I don't know if that would be considered spoilers for those that haven't played so was keeping it vague. The problem for me was that, even with doing everything perfectly, the little flying jerks perfectly fire at you after they are behind you and the game is taking a few seconds to bring up the cutscene of the cat actually jumping on the bumper. Got zapped there, right at the end, so many times. Also, wanted to let everyone know, due to certain things IRL (work and personal) July won't be updated until the end of the month. There is a lot of things moving and shaking at work and us peons are getting swept up in it. I apologize for this, but the leaderboard will update on August 1st for the month of July. We've made it to the four-and-a-half breakneck rush toward the end of the year! What this means is that the final 'anything goes' month is also upon us. Weigh your options carefully before submitting a change to your backlog lists starting August 1st. Only ONE removal post will be accepted! For those that weren't here with us in April for the first one what August allows you to do; is that any game already on your profile, no matter the completion percentage, is okay to add to this event. But keep in mind, you can only have a max total of 50 games in your backlog list AND the event ends on December 31st and whatever games remain on your list incomplete are subject to the penalty of -0.10 points from your total. So think of it as a double-edge sword in terms of risk and reward. I will keep reminding everyone as August 1st gets closer. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darling Baphomet Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) Small update here! Finished Life is Strange: True Colors and Wolfenstein: The New Order. About to start streaming for a friend so I'll edit in some comments on those games later, but for now I'll add Cities: Skylines and Sam & Max Save the World to my list. Edit: Alright! Got a bit carried away. Also finished my speedrun of (and platinumed) Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise while I was at it. Putting Holy Potatoes! We're In Space?! in to replace it. Life is Strange: True Colors was good. A return to the formula of LiS1, I think - I was not that big a fan of LiS2, between its extremely hollow attempts at politics (and this is coming from someone who appreciates progressive politics in games) and the fact that telekinesis is just... not that interesting narratively, especially when you don't control the character with the power. I was originally kind of skeptical of Alex's empathy powers when I first started hearing about this game leading up to release, but it was actually done quite well - being able to hear other characters' innermost thoughts adds a lot to the game, and it's played very dramatically so it adds a lot to the story. With something purely physical like telekinesis it's like... cool, you can move rocks, but problems relating to moving rocks aren't going to really enrich the narrative - nobody will be splitting hairs over the ethics of moving a particular rock - whereas time travel and empathy / power over others' emotions can create very interesting conundrums. The more cheerful tone of True Colors is something that got a bit of criticism, but I think the series has been depressing enough (and True Colors isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, either.) That being said, the game is painfully short. The main narrative felt really rushed along and despite the relationships with characters being the best part of the game, you don't really get to experience much of them because of how damn short the game is. It's a weird balance, or rather lack thereof - if the game had just focused on the main plot, it might have worked, but the game decided to devote a large amount of time to silly stuff, to the extent that one episode takes place almost entirely inside of a LARP adventure - which is great! I love character building! - but it doesn't seem like it balanced it out by making more space for the actual plot. Regardless, I enjoyed my time with it. Wolfenstein: The New Order is a game I'd been meaning to platinum for a very long time but kept putting off. It was nice finally coming back to this apolitical gem and finishing it after... *checks notes* six fucking years?! Jesus christ. Anyway, Wolfenstein: The New Order is a solid singleplayer FPS game with fantastic setpieces and a strong story. The gunplay holds up pretty well to this day, managing to feel a bit more arcade-y than your standard cover shooter (although it does still fall into cover shooter tropes to an extent, which is made infinitely worse in its sequel), and the addition of stealth is interesting, and better implemented than in most games where it just gets thrown in as a half measure. The environments manage to look great too despite largely falling into the "everything is gray" trope of AAA games made before the invention of color a half decade ago. Probably go for The Old Blood at some point soon once I finish some other games. Agent A is a charming little adventure / hidden object esque indie game that I picked up on sale because of its glowing Steam reviews. Personally, I think it might have been a bit overhyped? It does manage to be quite inventive in its puzzles, and it's neat how the environments flow together, with chapters 1-2 and 4-5 taking place in the same hub area that you slowly unlock more and more of, resulting in levels feeling a lot more meaningful. Lots of seeing puzzles you have no clue what to do with and going to do something else until you find a relevant clue. The puzzles are quite fun, although after chapter 3 they seem to take a bit of a backburner, with the inventive minigames of the first three chapters largely being replaced by simpler "enter code" or object interaction puzzles. But it's overall a solid little indie adventure game and I'd give it a healthy 8/10 or so. Also made significant progress in Cozy Grove and KeyWe - finished the main story in Cozy Grove, now most of what's left is playing for another two months to break enough tools and get to summer - I may start time traveling earlier if I max out all the bears' stories before then. Been playing KeyWe with my usual coop partner too, and we're about halfway through the main campaign I think. Excellent co-op game despite the server issues we've been having lately. Started Town of Light and Sam & Max Save the World too - eager for the third season to make its way to PS4/5, and I love the graphical upgrades for Sam & Max. Also making slow progress on Far Cry 6 - this last insurgency week wasn't glitched so now I just need to wait two more weeks. Hopefully I can start tackling some of my VR games soon - still unpacking at my new place and waiting for my desk to get here so I haven't been able to set everything back up yet. God knows I have too many damn VR games on my list. It's just a lot harder to actually motivate myself to play VR games because they're their own thing you have to 100% commit to, whereas I can play other games much more casually. Backlog Games: Spoiler IN PROGRESS Shadow Point - 13% Lucky's Tale - 12% Along Together - 34% After The Fall - 45% The Sims 4 - 17% Fracked - 27% Far Cry 6 - 23% World War Z: Aftermath - 20% OhShape - 27% Resident Evil 2 - 29% Bravo Team - 20% Cozy Grove - 79% Seum - 15% Sackboy's Big Adventure - 17% Trackmania - 10% KeyWe - 29% FINISHED (January) Moss - 100% (January) Serious Sam 4 - 100% (January) Serious Sam Collection - 100% (February) Manifold Garden - 100% (February) Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - 100% (February) Stray - 100% (February) BoxVR - 100% (February) Cat Quest - 100% (March) Cat Quest 2 - 100% (March) GRID - 71% (March) Prodeus - 100% (March) Mundaun - 100% (March) Creed: Rise to Glory - 100% (March) Evil Dead: The Game - 100% (March) Mythic Ocean - 100% (April) Chromagun VR - 100% (April) Grid Legends - 57% (April) Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan - 100% (April) Paradise Killer - 100% (April) Ghost of Tsushima - 64% (April) Foreclosed - 100% (April) Q.U.B.E. 2 - 100% (April) Star Renegades - 100% (May) Fashion Police Squad - 100% (May) Megaquarium - 100% (May) Psychonauts 2 - 100% (May) Pyre - 100% (May) Nightmare Reaper - 100% (June) Hero Land - 100% (June) Two Point Hospital - 81% (June) Shady Part Of Me - 100% (June) Warhammer 40000: Boltgun - 100% (June) Super Daryl Deluxe - 100% (July) Two Point Campus - 95% (July) Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? - 85% (July) Evil Genius 2 - 100% (July) Life is Strange: True Colors - 100% (July) Wolfenstein: The New Order - 100% (July) Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise - 100% January: Moss + Serious Sam 4 + Serious Sam Collection = 2 February: Manifold Garden + Spongebob Squarepants + Stray + BoxVR + Cat Quest = 3 March: Cat Quest 2 + GRID + Prodeus + Mundaun + Creed: Rise to Glory + Evil Dead: The Game + Mythic Ocean = 4 April: Chromagun VR + Grid Legends + Rainbow Billy: Curse of the Leviathan + Paradise Killer + Ghost of Tsushima + Foreclosed + QUBE 2 + Star Renegades = 4.5 May: Fashion Police Squad + Megaquarium + Psychonauts 2 + Pyre + Nightmare Reaper = 3 June: Hero Land + Two Point Hospital + Shady Part Of Me + Warhammer 40000: Boltgun + Super Daryl Deluxe = 3 July: Two Point Campus + Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! + Evil Genius 2 + Life is Strange: True Colors + Wolfenstein: The New Order + Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise = 3.5 POINTS: 23 NOT STARTED Curse of the Dead Gods - 21% Pixel Ripped 1995 - 10% Forgotton Anne - 8% Groundhog Day: like father like son - 0% Iris.Fall - 0% Time Carnage - 0% Neon City Riders - 0% Paper Beast - 3% Silence - 0% Spiritfarer - 0% Subnautica - 13% Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown - 0% The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - 11% The Town of Light - 0% XING: The Land Beyond - 0% Felix The Reaper - 4% Falcon Age - 28% Wanderer - 0% The Walking Dead Onslaught - 0% BPM: Bullets Per Minute - 0% Sniper Elite VR - 1% Return of the Obra Dinn - 0% Fortnite - 57% Mass Effect Andromeda - 78% Tiny Metal - 46% Killing Floor: Incursion - 34% Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot - 43% Overcooked! All You Can Eat - 32% Train Station Simulator - 0% Road 96 - 0% Bug Fables - 0% Sam & Max Save the World - 0% Cities: Skylines - 1% Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! - 0% Edited July 19, 2023 by Darling Baphomet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post StraightVege Posted July 19, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 19, 2023 Succeeded at beating Bloody Whiskers mode in Tails of Iron a few days ago, so I do believe I'm overdue for one of these: Coincidentally, April's PS+ Essential title is the second dark fantasy game starring anthropomorphic rodents I've played this year, with the other being the mediocre stealth/disguise-focused, third-person adventure Ghost of a Tale. Its furry mammalian cast is essentially where the similarities end, however, as Tails of Iron is a beautifully hand-drawn, side-scrolling action game, relentlessly saturated with brutal combat throughout. Albeit the setting is equally grim, here it's not rats and mice at each other's throats, instead depicting a longtime conflict between royal rats and barbarous tribes of frog invaders. Furthermore, in contrast to Ghost's total lack of voice acting, Tails features fitting, gravely narration from Geraldo del Rivero himself, Doug Cockle. I'm convinced their direction for him was to simply "do your Geralt voice," which is fine by me, since it often felt like the White Wolf was reading me a macabre, fairy tale bedtime story. The guy even mentions "lilac and gooseberries," for shit's sake. Years ago, a courageous rat king rose up to repel the cruel amphibians in battle, bringing peace and prosperity to the land for a time. Rats age rather quickly, though, soon leaving the enfeebled ruler unable to defend his people any longer, with the merciless frog clan warchief, Green Wart, once again smelling blood in the water. Their emergency measure is to swiftly choose a capably young, replacement monarch from among the sovereign's offspring, via an honorable duel. Enter Redgi, the smallest (and cutest) of the four brothers, and our heroic protagonist. While no one expects the unassuming little fella to triumph over his stronger sibling, Denis, Redgi defeats his older brother in the contest with surprising ease, becoming heir to the throne. As it turns out, although comparatively undersized, Redgi is nevertheless an ice-cold killa, son! Underestimating him is to be done at one's own peril, as the murderous frog clans will someday come to learn. Shockingly, before the crown can even touch a hair on his adorable head, Green Wart and his vicious army abruptly intrude on the castle grounds, slaughtering every last rat they see, and the badly injured Redgi is suddenly without a father or a kingdom. Crawling from the smoldering rubble strewn with corpses of his kin, Redgi takes on the seemingly insurmountable task of rebuilding the ruined kingdom, beginning with nothing more than a rusty sword and the bloodied shirt on his back. Of course, this necessitates not only hacking and slashing his way through hordes of grisly frogspawn warriors, but also filling his coffers with plenty of coin. To amass the required gold funding for projects such as reconstructing the blacksmith's forge, Redgi must get his paws dirty doing various bounty board jobs for the citizenry, earning it the old-fashioned way, through glamorous labor like exterminating an insect infestation plaguing a local farmer's cellar. Seems to be awfully modest work for a new king, but I suppose Redgi truly is the people's monarch, ruling differently from his more traditional father. Herein lies where the gameplay loop bored me initially. Following the enthralling first hour or so, the player is forced to laboriously run around fighting sewer bugs and whatnot, in the process of making enough money for the next castle upgrade. Despite them being called "side-quests," it's a bald-faced lie, because these mostly dull missions are not optional whatsoever—you have to reach several, increasingly expensive gold thresholds, in order to progress the story. Honestly, can't Redgi send some of his remaining subjects to do this busywork in his stead? Tails of Iron exhibits a bizarre obsession with pitting you against insect enemies and bosses, which have no relation to the main plot. Considering the similar bench savepoints, I can hazard a guess that the folks at Odd Bug Studio were enormous fans of Hollow Knight, causing them to shoehorn in as many creepy crawlies as they could. "Listen, we gotta have THREE fights against giant mosquitos!" Thankfully, these diversions from Redgi's goal of banishing the detestable frog tribes don't last terribly long, before you return to the actually interesting main quest sections. One cool element of it is how, as you complete these bounty missions and restore the castle's amenities, the surrounding regions gradually recover, becoming brighter, and populated by an increasing number of rat NPCs going about their daily lives. It lends a satisfying, tangible sense of progression with each improvement, in spite of the largely mundane tasks carried out to achieve them. The restoration offers a number of character benefits for Redgi, as well. For example, rebuilding the destroyed kitchen allows him to give any collected ingredients to his talented chef brother, who will then prepare hearty meals, which permanently lengthen Redgi's health bar. After seeing this game repeatedly referred to as a "Soulslike," I'm somewhat puzzled why that is, having now played it thoroughly. Tails lacks the usual stamina mechanic entirely, no currency is dropped upon death, the checkpoints don't function like bonfires that respawn monsters or anything, and its RPG aspects are shallow at best, featuring no stats to increase beyond the aforementioned HP upgrades and armor-based resistances. Yes, the desperate, deliberate combat is quite comparable in its weightiness and lethality, but that alone isn't quite enough to call it a Soulslike, I think, nor did Souls invent these concepts to begin with. Now, I'm positive the Souls series was influential on the development of this game (as is so often the case), but at most, I'd say describing it as a 2D hack and slash with some Soulslike elements would be more accurate, while admittedly pedantic on my part, perhaps. Using one-handed implements via the R1 button—such as swords, axes, and spears—Redgi can deliver a series of three fast strikes. Likewise, larger two-handed versions mapped to R2 can be utilized both to clobber foes and break through environmental obstacles. Each attack option is also chargeable, by holding their respective buttons, increasing the range and damage dealt by the swing when released. He's no slouch in the defense department, either, employing various shields on L2 to block some enemy attacks, and parry others with a well-timed tap of R2 during the blocking stance. Parrying is surprisingly generous in Tails overall, hence you'll often succeed, even when you're facing away from your opponent's incoming blow! Looks funny, that does. Additionally, several powerful ranged options are available to him at the press of triangle: longbows, crossbows, and pistols, which not only inflict solid damage, but are capable of interrupting certain annoying boss attacks. "Wait, guns in a medieval-themed game?", you ask? Indeed! See, Redgi later becomes acquainted with a society of technologically advanced, communist moles in one of the game's most memorable segments, who introduce him to firearms and professional wrestling (there's literally an opponent named Hulk Molgan in the related arena battle quest, amusingly). And, what action game would be complete without a dodge roll, utilized by Redgi to evade the frequent unblockable attacks. Finally, to heal his inevitable wounds, Redgi can tilt back a refreshing flask of bug fluids (uh, yum?) by holding L1 to deplete the well of horrendous healing liquid, until his meter is restored. Unlike the expendable charges of Souls' estus flask, however, the button must be held, not tapped, to slowly replenish HP, which can leave you pretty vulnerable. Personally, like cheerful Solaire, I prefer SunnyD over vomitous insect juice. To protect his delicate rat flesh from the scourge of angry frogs, buzzing mosquitos, and hard-shelled grubs, Redgi can equip an impressive array of armor sets, each providing damage resistance against specific enemy types. Failing to wear frog-appropriate armor when facing frogs, for instance, is just asking for a quick death. The distinct armor pieces all look fantastic cosmetically, too, changing Redgi's appearance stylishly, a fact which should delight the many "Fashion Souls" inclined players out there. Clearly, a great deal of effort was put into this aspect of the game, and I express my appreciation for that. Keeping my equipment burden light seemed to work well for the majority of encounters, but I did flirt with medium weight occasionally. I should also mention that it's possible to poison your weapons, but this feature is sort of an afterthought, bestowing a pitiful DPS increase. Still worth doing, but underwhelming. Generally, the combat system functions thus: attacks showing white indicators can be blocked, the yellow ones must be parried, and red moves need to be dodged or otherwise avoided. Theoretically, this means battles are merely a predictable dance of reacting appropriately to boss attack patterns, but it's easier said than done in practice, particularly on the much harder Bloody Whiskers mode (a link to my video and tips regarding that setting). Because dodge rolls impart no invincibility frames in Tails, it's frustratingly common to be stunlocked to death from full health by your foe's combo, and recovering from mistakes is made all the more difficult by the silly design choice to turn the screen black and white when Redgi's health is low. Kinda tough to see the color of those incoming attack indicators through such a filter, now ain't it? Regardless of whichever game popularized that garbage (Gears of War, maybe?), I've always maintained that it's idiotic. If anything, a low health state is precisely when I need a clear view of the screen most to survive, not a moment to punish me further with blinding. Please, stop putting this in games, or let me switch it off in the options, at least. Players tend to enjoy crying foul about "bad hitboxes" in video games, whether it's true or a cheap excuse, but in Tails of Iron, this is a genuine problem at times. Attacks such as Ratnor's horizontal lightning, Molekind's steel chair, and various other boss ground pound moves can damage Redgi even when the animation wasn't close to touching him. None of this is insurmountable, mind you, but it's surely obnoxious, and could've benefited from more polish. Overall, I didn't hate the fighting mechanics, despite the obvious flaws, but there's frankly just too damn much combat! Constant battles and bosses every ten steps, it seemed, resulting in an experience which felt like a painful slog by the end. A number of these encounters appeared tacked on to pad playtime, basically being reskins of a previous foe with a slightly different moveset. They probably could've left a quarter of these on the cutting room floor, and released a superior game for it. Aside, the stormy soundscape during some of these conflicts was pretty engrossing; believable howling wind, pouring rain, deafening thunder, and so on. For me, reducing the combat in favor of more Metroidvania elements like exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving would've been incredibly welcome here. Tails does feature a smidgen of this stuff, but 95% of it is walking down a linear corridor to kill endless enemies. Moreover, the simplistic "good versus evil" narrative could stand some nuance. While it's true that Redgi's dad had his share of skeletons in the closet, giving the frog side a flimsy justification to behave like cartoonishly evil bastards, it wasn't really adequate to prevent them from being utterly contemptible. To conclude, I loved Doug's narration, thought around half of the bosses were well worth fighting, and was impressed with miscellaneous facets, such as the armor implementation, art style, sound design, and setting. That said, Tails' overemphasis on combat, and the constellation of issues therein, ultimately turned me off, alongside the dreary gold farming bits. A decent action game by and large, but not one I'd be eager to revisit anytime soon. Anyway, I need to shut the heck up now. See ya after Rogue Legacy 2 is done, I assume. -Completed- 1. Dreaming Sarah - January 9th (+1.0) 2. Streets of Rage 4: Mr X. Nightmare - January 10th (+0.5) 3. Afterparty - January 13th (+0.5) 4. Mortal Shell: The Virtuous Cycle - January 21st (+0.5) 5. Gunlord X - January 25th (+0.5) 6. GreedFall - February 6th (+1.0) 7. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - February 8th (+0.5) 8. Shu - February 23rd (+0.5) 9. Psychonauts 2 - March 4th (+1.0) 10. Habroxia 2 - March 8th (+0.5) 11. Two Crude - March 10th (+0.5) 12. The Outer Worlds - April 2nd (+1.0) 13. Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity - April 4th (+0.5) 14. Valley - April 6th (+0.5) 15. Jydge - April 25th (+0.5) 16. Superhot - May 1st (+1.0) 17. Superhot: Mind Control Delete - May 5th (+0.5) 18. AER: Memories of Old - May 5th (+0.5) 19. Little Nightmares - May 7th (+0.5) 20. Little Nightmares II - May 9th (+0.5) 21. Amnesia: Rebirth - May 14th (+0.5) 22. Ghost of a Tale - May 18th (+0.5) 23. The Persistence - May 27th (+0.5) 24. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: Fearless - June 1st (+1.0) 25. Mafia: Definitive Edition - June 2nd (+0.5) 26. The First Tree - June 5th (+0.5) 27. Trek to Yomi - June 11th (+0.5) 28. The Forgotten City - June 17th (+0.5) 29. Chicken Police - June 18th (+0.5) 30. The Gardens Between - June 27th (+0.5) 31. Tacoma - June 27th (+0.5) 32. Stray - June 29th (+0.5) 33. Omno - July 2nd (+1.0) 34. Axiom Verge 2 - July 3rd (+0.5) 35. Tails of Iron - July 8th (+0.5) Points: 21.0 Backlog: 1. Alan Wake Remastered 2. A Tale of Paper 3. Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood 4. Dead Cells 5. Death's Door 6. Deliver Us the Moon 7. Ender Lillies: Quietus of the Knights 8. Endling: Extinction is Forever 9. Ghosts 'n Goblins: Resurrection 10. I Am Dead 11. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning 12. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom 13. Moonscars 14. Resident Evil 3 15. Resident Evil 7 16. Rising Hell 17. Rogue Legacy 2 18. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 19. The Last Guardian 20. Xeodrifter 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psy-Tychist Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 (edited) 12 hours ago, StraightVege said: Succeeded at beating Bloody Whiskers mode in Tails of Iron a few days ago, so I do believe I'm overdue for one of these Congrats indeed! I really need to get Bloody Whisker done, so this is good incentive to get it completed. This is now the state of plat with the games I have finished and am currently playing: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle - 25% --->30% Creaks - 18% Captain Cat - 48% Super Exploding Zoo - 25% Remothered: Tormented Fathers - 9% Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - 9% Underland: The Climb - 18% Sokocat Combo - 27% Far Cry 3: Classic Edition - 31% ---> 39% Donut County - 0% Chess Knights: Shinobi - 15% ---> 21% Another World - 0% Black & White Bushido - 0% Breeder Homegrown - 0% Elea - 0% Darkestville Castle - 0% Flying Soldiers - 0% Knight's Retreat - 13% Laws of Machine - 0% Lydia - 0% Milanoir - 0% Mystic Fate - 0% Old Man's Journey - 0% Pantsu Hunter - 0% Reflection of Mine - 0% ---> 18% What Remains of Edith Finch - 0% Waking Violet - 0% Virginia - 0% The Last Wind Monk - 0% Suicide Guy - 43% The Shapeshifting Detective - 0% Weakwood Throne - 0% Stilsand - 0% The Long Reach - 0% Sagebrush - 0% Saomi - 57% ---> 100% Foreclosed - 14% LEGO Ninjago Movie - 19% ---> 21% Batman: Arkham VR - 0% The Fall Part 2: Unbound - 21% Mousecraft - 20% Another couple done, not adding anymore yet until I get it below 35 games. Games completed: The Dark Prophecy - 1pt Cross the Moon - 0.5pt Autumn's Journey - 0.5pt Foxyland 2 - 0.5pt Fivies - 0.5pt Blind Men - 0.5pt Arrog - 0.5pt Cybxus Heart - 0.5pt Castle of No Return - 0.5pt Castle Pals - 0.5pt Alienzix - 0.5pt Black Death: A Tragic Dirge - 0.5pt Hakosan - 0.5pt Marsi's Adventure - 0.5pt Strawberry Vinegar - 0.5pt Aborigenus - 0.5pt Night Detective: Decrepit Manor - 0.5pt Knightin+ - 0.5pt Repentless 2 - 0.5pt Vera Blanc: Full Moon - 0.5pt Vera Blanc: Ghost in the Castle - 0.5pt Demon Hunter: Chronicles from the Beyond - 0.5pt Himno - 0.5pt Football Game - 0.5pt Thunder Paw - 0.5pt War Dog: Red's Return - 0.5pt Bleak Dystopia - 0.5pt Cubic Lines - 0.5pt Saomi - 1pt Total Points: 15.5pt Have my first game for July with Saomi, hopefully get some more soon. Edited July 19, 2023 by Psy-Tychist 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darling Baphomet Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Oh, I had a question - so what happens if you lose access to a game that's on your backlog? Does it get stuck as dead weight? I haven't had it happen yet but quite a few games that I intended to eventually add to my list have since been removed from PS+ Extra. Anyway, finished Neon City Riders and The Town of Light. Neon City Riders is a competent little Zelda (specifically the top down, 2D games) inspired indie game. You're a masked vigilante in a cyberpunk city in the grip of four competing gangs, and you have to go through their territories defeating them and regaining your powers. It's... decent? Honestly, this is one of those games that does everything okay but doesn't really innovate or do anything exceptionally to make it stand out. The combat is fairly simple, consisting of a three attack combo, and as you progress through the game you'll unlock some powers which can help in combat, namely the dash and the invincibility shield. There's a projectile reflect skill which is technically a combat ability but which is so useless you will only use it for puzzles, and the last power puts you in a 'second sight' mode where certain objects will disappear and some will appear where they weren't before. Combat in practice is fairly satisfying, with enemies all having patterns you can learn to make dispatching them easier. The puzzles are where the game really starts to falter, as they're often frustrating or tedious - some involve having an extremely slow moving homing missile follow you through an entire screen, while others have you trying to use the projectile reflect ability to light torches or hit switches, which gets extremely frustrating since it's very difficult to accurately aim where the projectile goes with the joysticks. Then there's screens which have your controls inverted - which is fine for the most part, as I've adapted to that trick by this point in my gaming career, however there are a series of races which are initially a nice way to mix things up, but which end with a race where you're having to avoid a bunch of instant kill traps while your controls are inverted, which is... not fun. But the music is solid and the sprite work, while a bit loose in places, is pretty good looking. And the boss fights are all memorable enough. I'd say it's probably a 6.5 or 7/10 - it's good, but not particularly memorable. The Town of Light is a psychological horror walking sim game that's all about the inhumanity with which mentally ill people were treated in asylums in the past. This concept from the get go intrigued me, as we rarely get good depictions of mental health in video games - if neurodivergent people aren't background noise or offensive caricatures, we're often treated to narratives where we serve as motivation for the main character, inspiration porn rife with toxic positivity, or on the other hand, bleak, meaningless edginess. The Town of Light is hardly a positive narrative - it's shockingly horrific at times, in fact - but it is humanizing in a way. The game has you traversing the ruins of an old asylum and finding clues as to the protagonist's past and her time in the asylum. This is not a scary concept, and yet the game manages to be terrifying. I was streaming this game for a friend for my first playthrough and we were in near constant suspense - even though the game never had any jumpscares and rarely did anything to justify that suspense, the game is absolutely masterful in its atmosphere. Even as you're walking through bright, lush foliage, hearing the cheerful chirping of birds feels almost like an omen paired with the oppressive background music - and that unsubstantiated anxiety feels oddly appropriate for the game's subject matter. The game also has some branching paths which mostly amount to some changes in dialogue but do alter some scenes significantly, which is an appreciated touch. And the VA for the protagonist pulled it off quite well, I think, providing a frailty to the main character's voice and panic when appropriate. And to top it off... that fucking ending. Jesus christ. Spoiling the entire game below Spoiler The ending of the game has the protagonist getting lobotomized. And it's not some artistic representation that obscures the details - you get a few screens giving a description of lobotomies, and then you're switched to the doctor's point of view during the cutscene to get a proper view of the procedure being performed. Me and my friend both ended up looking away for most of it because of how unexpected and graphic the whole thing was. Nonetheless, as unpleasant as the whole thing was to witness, I think it did a good job of capping off the game's miserable narrative and of highlighting a part of our medical history that we're all too eager to trivialize or sweep under the rug. Nonetheless I do have a few complaints about the game - for one thing, it can be a bit confusing, and there are sections where the guide button (which has the main character repeat what she needs to do, as there are no objective markers in the game nor any mission overview in the menu) does nothing - which is great for suspenseful, linear sections, but not as great when that section isn't actually linear. The pace of walking in the game is also very slow, and slows even further during important dialogue or other moments - although while this does get annoying, it does intensify the game's haunting atmosphere since you can't simply madly dash out of any area that's giving you the heeby jeebies. So I'm not sure I would list that as a negative overall. Anyway, also started Return of the Obra Dinn which I haven't earned any trophies in. Fun game so far. Been playing Overcooked: All You Can Eat with a bunch of friends, and hopefully I'll be able to plat it before the end of the year. Also decided to bite the bullet and set up my PSVR even with the extremely limited space to try out XING: The Land Beyond, which has been a lovely little puzzle game so far. Terrible poetry though. I feel like most people underestimate poetry as an art form which results in people with little to no poetic experience being tasked with writing poetry for games, resulting in extremely awkward meters and rhymes that reek of desperation. Maybe most people just don't notice? But it's always painfully obvious to me. Anyway, I'm adding Cities: Skylines Remastered and Redout 2 to my list. I had had some issues with redeeming DLC on Skylines Remastered, so I had elected to add the PS4 version to my list, however those issues seem to have resolved themselves after I redeemed all the DLC on the PS4 version (despite the season passes supposedly being cross buy for both games), so I'll be playing Remastered instead and removing Cities Skylines next month, which I hadn't yet started. Backlog Games: Spoiler IN PROGRESS Shadow Point - 13% Lucky's Tale - 12% Along Together - 34% After The Fall - 45% The Sims 4 - 17% Fracked - 27% - To Be Removed? Far Cry 6 - 23% World War Z: Aftermath - 20% OhShape - 27% Resident Evil 2 - 29% Bravo Team - 20% Cozy Grove - 79% Seum - 15% Sackboy's Big Adventure - 17% Trackmania - 10% KeyWe - 29% Return of the Obra Dinn - 0% Sam & Max Save the World - 12% Overcooked! All You Can Eat - 57% XING: The Land Beyond - 18% FINISHED (January) Moss - 100% (January) Serious Sam 4 - 100% (January) Serious Sam Collection - 100% (February) Manifold Garden - 100% (February) Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - 100% (February) Stray - 100% (February) BoxVR - 100% (February) Cat Quest - 100% (March) Cat Quest 2 - 100% (March) GRID - 71% (March) Prodeus - 100% (March) Mundaun - 100% (March) Creed: Rise to Glory - 100% (March) Evil Dead: The Game - 100% (March) Mythic Ocean - 100% (April) Chromagun VR - 100% (April) Grid Legends - 57% (April) Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan - 100% (April) Paradise Killer - 100% (April) Ghost of Tsushima - 64% (April) Foreclosed - 100% (April) Q.U.B.E. 2 - 100% (April) Star Renegades - 100% (May) Fashion Police Squad - 100% (May) Megaquarium - 100% (May) Psychonauts 2 - 100% (May) Pyre - 100% (May) Nightmare Reaper - 100% (June) Hero Land - 100% (June) Two Point Hospital - 81% (June) Shady Part Of Me - 100% (June) Warhammer 40000: Boltgun - 100% (June) Super Daryl Deluxe - 100% (July) Two Point Campus - 95% (July) Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop!? - 85% (July) Evil Genius 2 - 100% (July) Life is Strange: True Colors - 100% (July) Wolfenstein: The New Order - 100% (July) Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise - 100% (July) Neon City Riders - 100% (July) The Town of Light - 100% January: Moss + Serious Sam 4 + Serious Sam Collection = 2 February: Manifold Garden + Spongebob Squarepants + Stray + BoxVR + Cat Quest = 3 March: Cat Quest 2 + GRID + Prodeus + Mundaun + Creed: Rise to Glory + Evil Dead: The Game + Mythic Ocean = 4 April: Chromagun VR + Grid Legends + Rainbow Billy: Curse of the Leviathan + Paradise Killer + Ghost of Tsushima + Foreclosed + QUBE 2 + Star Renegades = 4.5 May: Fashion Police Squad + Megaquarium + Psychonauts 2 + Pyre + Nightmare Reaper = 3 June: Hero Land + Two Point Hospital + Shady Part Of Me + Warhammer 40000: Boltgun + Super Daryl Deluxe = 3 July: Two Point Campus + Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! + Evil Genius 2 + Life is Strange: True Colors + Wolfenstein: The New Order + Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise + Neon City Riders + The Town of Light = 4.5 POINTS: 24 NOT STARTED Curse of the Dead Gods - 21% - To Be Removed Pixel Ripped 1995 - 10% Forgotten Anne - 8% Groundhog Day: like father like son - 0% Iris.Fall - 0% Time Carnage - 0% Paper Beast - 3% Silence - 0% Spiritfarer - 0% Subnautica - 13% Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown - 0% The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - 11% Felix The Reaper - 4% Falcon Age - 28% Wanderer - 0% The Walking Dead Onslaught - 0% BPM: Bullets Per Minute - 0% - To Be Removed? Sniper Elite VR - 1% Fortnite - 57% - To Be Removed Mass Effect Andromeda - 78% - To Be Removed Tiny Metal - 46% Killing Floor: Incursion - 34% Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot - 43% Train Station Simulator - 0% - To Be Removed Road 96 - 0% Bug Fables - 0% Cities: Skylines - 1% - To Be Removed Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! - 0% Cities: Skylines Remastered - 0% Redout 2 - 0% 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillerUni12 Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 This game was *not* on my list and doesn’t count for points - but I just completed Woah Dave and I’m incredibly excited!! I wanted to share because I’ve been trying to finish this on and off since 2015 - and I finally did it. For those that don’t know, Woah Dave is an arcade style platformer. Eggs fall from the sky and hatch into aliens. You get a coin every time you kill an alien (using skulls, which also drop from the sky). Everything gets faster and more chaotic as the game continues, until you’ve used all 3 lives. It’s a simple game - but the final trophy is to collect 1,000 coins. After dying with 992 and 988 coins the last 2 days, I finally broke through and got all 1,000 without any deaths! Very happy to finally have completed this one. My favorite thing about trophy hunting is accomplishing things at one point seemed impossible. This is probably the best example of that, and one of my proudest trophies. Thanks for reading now back to my backlog and earning some more points! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Hurricane_Tanya Posted July 25, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2023 On 07/07/2023 at 7:56 PM, Hurricane_Tanya said: Anyway enough excuses. I’m adding some games to my list. - Endling: Extinction is Forever - The Warriors - The Order 1886 Just quoting this so it doesn’t get lost. I’m also going to add Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! to my list. There are a few games on there that were removed from plus extra so I’m going to have to remove them in August. The last couple months have been slow progress for me, but hopefully I’ll have a few more completions soon On 22/07/2023 at 8:17 PM, KillerUni12 said: This game was *not* on my list and doesn’t count for points - but I just completed Woah Dave and I’m incredibly excited!! I wanted to share because I’ve been trying to finish this on and off since 2015 - and I finally did it. Congratulations! I’ve heard how hard this game is. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillerUni12 Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Finished Hitman 2 and adding Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise to my list. One of the oldest games on my backlog that I've been meaning to get to for a while. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlazzingWind Posted July 28, 2023 Author Share Posted July 28, 2023 Alright everyone - 3 days left of July and the heat index has been reaching 100 degrees in my corner of the planet. So hot even when doing early morning donut deliveries >.> But the end of the month also means August is almost here! Hopefully everyone has had time to think through their backlogs and have decided what gamble they would like to do. Remember, only one removal post is allowed. For clarity sake; please post in such a way that it is obvious that this is your removal post. Also, just to re-iterate August also marks when games already on your profile that are above 30% completion can be added! Looking forward to next month and the challenges it is gonna bring at work and pushing through to the next game on my own backlog. Currently I played The Pedestrian and was extremely happy/impressed with the charming little game. Though, once the game went to first person my brain went stupid and I couldn't figure out how to progress for the longest time. Finally started going through the leftover dlc for LEGO Dimensions and the PS3 versions are pretty buggy, but LEGO has always been relaxing for me so while it won't be done for a while at least there is some progress being made. Up next is Tacoma! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seannyboy913 Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 (edited) A couple housekeeping things about my score before I add to my completed list, It looks like Hot Wheels: Unleashed was missed on my May completed games as I earned the platinum on May 3. Jump king is also listed on my completed games as well as my to be completed games if that could be removed as there is no second version to do. I'd like to add Neodori Forever to my backlog January Completion Demon's Souls (PS5) January 29th, 2023 February Completions Catherine: Full Body February 3, 2023 Prototype February 22, 2023 March Completions Deadbolt March 5, 2023 PowerWash Simulator March 22, 2023 April Completions Jump King April 2, 2023 Active Neurons 2 April 2, 2023 Ape Escape April 2, 2023 Death Squared April 8, 2023 Sifu April 13, 2023 Dirt 5 April 18, 2023 May Completions Hot Wheels Unleashed May 3, 2023 Unravel 2 May 14, 2023 Disco Elysium May 27, 2023 June Completions Sekiro Shadows Die Twice June 22, 2023 Tchia June 25, 2023 July Completions Wuppo July 6, 2023 Full Throttle July 9, 2023 God of War II July 15, 2023 Toem DLC July 16, 2023 Ape Academy 2 July 16, 2023 Hogwarts Legacy July 27, 2023 A few games to add to my list, first is Wuppo which isn't a very complicated game, you pretty much just point and shoot while occasionally eating to recover health but it still finds a way to make the bosses a fun challenge that mostly feels fair throughout. The gameplay is a pretty standard adventure with some platforming, some puzzles and bosses sprinkled throughout and the bosses are the highlight at points with how varied most are. It's also a good thing they bosses fun to fight at first as you will fight them a lot for the various boss rush trophies the game asks you to do. For better and for worse this game was not made well for the playstation and it shows up as you go for your probably last trophies in the boss rush. There's a glitch that gives you double health and another that crashes the game when you die. All in all though a fun game that gives a pretty good challenge. I've also finished Hogwarts Legacy, played it a ton when it came out and the magic system and variety of activities you can do are a blast and the story is solid enough though getting everything in the game can quickly become a bit of a chore, with over 600 collectables you spend 10 hours just running around trying to figure out what you missed. Edited July 28, 2023 by seannyboy913 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princexedar Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 I would like to sign up. Doing 6 games for now. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor 12% Control (PS5) 9% Hades 3% Bioshock 2 (ps4) 0% Dark Pictures: House of Ashes (3%) Last of Us Part 2 (12%) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
be_minor Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 Finally have a July game up on the board with My Big Sister. (It was a simple, somewhat graphic, adventure game with multiple endings.) Probably won’t finish up any other games this month; I’ve been too stuck playing Diablo IV’s first season to attempt anything else since its release. Moving forward, the plan is to completely revise my backlog list, condensing it to five doable games next month. Happy hunting! Spoiler Completed (JAN) Cult of the Lamb (JAN) Bugsnax (JAN) Pinball Heroes (FEB) Saints Row: The Third (MAR) Hogwarts Legacy (MAR) Bunny Raiders (MAR) Dysmantle (MAR) Ape Escape (MAR) Biomutant (APR) The Artful Escape (APR) Omno (MAY) Horizon Forbidden West [DLC] (MAY) Yet Another Zombie Defense HD (MAY) Back 4 Blood (MAY) Life Is Strange: True Colors (MAY) Deliver Us The Moon (JUN) The Last of Us Part 1 (JUL) My Big Sister Backlog Afterparty Chernobylite Child of Light Control: Ultimate Edition Cthulhu Saves Christmas Cyberpunk 2077 Dark Souls Remastered Deathloop Diablo IV - 52% Dishonored 2 - 18% Dragon Age: Inquisition Dragon Age Origins - 73% (DLC) Elden Ring Final Fantasy VII - 2% God of War Ragnarok Gravity Rush Remastered - 4% Hades Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! I Am Dead inFamous - 24% Last Stop LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Life Is Strange 2 Mass Effect: Andromeda - 87% Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - 61% Nobody Saves The World Party Hard Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition Spiritfarer Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated The Order: 1886 The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct TOEM Points: 12.5 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boorish Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 (edited) <deleted> Edited February 3 by Deleted User 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princexedar Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 On 7/29/2023 at 10:04 AM, princexedar said: I would like to sign up. Doing 6 games for now. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor 12% Control (PS5) 9% Hades 3% Bioshock 2 (ps4) 0% Dark Pictures: House of Ashes (3%) Last of Us Part 2 (12%) I'm going to add Spiderman and Spiderman: Miles Morales to the list as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightVege Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Yeah, I intend to wait until around the end of August to do my removal post, just to see how well I fare throughout the month before making any rash decisions. That said, I expect several of the games which I dropped during the previous event will again need to go bye-bye, haha. Will those poor games ever get played? ? I also had concerns about PS+ Extra titles becoming unavailable, which is why I've been prioritizing those, rather than playing the stuff I bought years ago. Nice to see everyone's still diligently plugging away at their backlogs. It's a far more lively event than it was around this time last year, which is great. I've had very little much motivation for anything this month, unfortunately, but I do return with news of my hard-fought victory in the Kingdom of Genesis, 58 hours later: He is not like you, Abel. You save the lives of others, while he profits from their deaths. For the unaware, alongside Mystery Dungeon and Spelunky, one could rightly claim that the first Rogue Legacy was instrumental in popularizing meta-progression systems in roguelikes, thus birthing the more casual roguelite subgenre. While I'm certain I could have finished it around ten hours sooner by utilizing the custom difficulty sliders to their fullest from the beginning, I had been eagerly anticipating this game's release ever since playing the addictive original in 2017, hence I really didn't want the experience to end too quickly. Instead, I decided to drag it out, by completing my first playthrough using standard settings, then experimenting with the House Rules only on New Game Plus, where I gradually turned them up every few deaths in an imitation of Hades' God Mode. Naturally, my choice made things substantially harder than they needed to be, as I was rather under-leveled for higher difficulty threads. A worthwhile struggle overall, though, because it's an understatement to say that this long-awaited follow-up is enormously improved and polished compared to its now bare-bones predecessor. An extremely rewarding roguelite that feels amazingly good to play, Rogue Legacy 2 has assuredly secured a top spot on my year-end "best of 2023" list, despite having its share of problems. Truthfully, this post might wind up sounding more negative than it's meant to be, as I am known to be a nitpicker. This prequel to the highly influential original is fairly obtuse from a narrative perspective, being an eclectic blend of various mythological elements, presented with all the vagueness of a Souls game, which seems to be an oh-so popular style for indie titles to mimic, ever since Salt and Sanctuary was released. As per usual, you're dropped into a world post-calamitous events of some unknown manner, and forced to glean what actually took place via lore descriptions and NPC dialogue, complete with a cliché solemn knight, who forever sits on his ass making obscure comments. Personally, I find this approach to storytelling largely trite and uninteresting at this point, not to mention how noticeably it clashes with the otherwise humorous aspects of the game. In Rogue Legacy 2, you can literally play as a farting clown, and the amusing cast of cartoon characters populating the starting docks area can't stop blabbing about their love for pizza, so I'm not sure why the po-faced story takes itself so damned seriously. It was honestly confusing to determine the exact goings-on here, but I'll try my best to summarize things with some degree of accuracy. Rarely do I bother with spoiler warnings, as that should be self-evident in a post of this sort (don't know how one would even discuss a game in any meaningful way while avoiding them), but considering that RL2 is new to the PlayStation platform, please be advised that this post will contain some spoilers. Events unfold in Genesis, an ever-shifting subterranean kingdom established by the immortal ruler Cain, where its denizens tend to the Garden of Eden. Nourished by souls in the river Styx, the magnificent white tree growing there produces fruit vital to maintaining Cain's eternal life, and the city features all the amenities of an above-ground civilization, including an artificial sun. To govern Genesis, Cain creates six similarly immortal "Estuaries" by having them partake of his flesh, putting them in charge of various duties, such as military operations and crop cultivation. Eventually, the population becomes deeply unsatisfied with the oppressive living conditions, and existing under the authoritarian Estuaries, culminating in a bloody rebellion. After the horrific war in which some Estuaries even turn on one another, the tree's hungry black roots grow out of control, corrupting most survivors, and transforming them into mindless monsters. The disaster prompts Cain to put his contingency plan into action, sending his twin brother Abel, an immortal of a different kind, into Genesis to eliminate the corrupt Estuaries and retrieve the precious forbidden fruit. Following his untimely death long ago, Abel was entombed in Hestia's Reliquary, a powerful magical heirloom, capable of transferring his soul—memories, knowledge, skills, and abilities—into an endless lineage of warrior heirs. Although it may require sacrificing hundreds of bodies and thousands of years for the endeavor, Abel is destined to learn from his mistakes and build his strength, ultimately defeating the Estuaries and acquiring Eden's life-giving bounty. Unfortunately for Cain, things may not turn out exactly as he plans, since good-natured Abel is quite unlike his brutal sibling, who cares only for conquering others and extending his everlasting life. Actually, Abel seems to be something of a prototypical white knight hero, concerned with assisting those in need throughout Genesis, while always tackling problems with childlike enthusiasm and a jaunty step. Regardless of which gender, proclivities, or personal problems his next heir's body ends up with by chance, the happy-go-lucky Abel remains raring to go for one more attempt, after yet another unfortunate demise temporarily halts his progress. As it turns out, he also has a number of chthonic gods on his side, most famously Charon the boatman. An undeniably unique setting, and I enjoyed learning of Abel's origin, but I do have my issues with the over-serious presentation, as mentioned above. Some games pull it off well, but I wouldn't say this is among them. To succeed in his lengthy crusade, Abel must make countless forays into the procedurally generated environments of Genesis, accumulating mountains of gold to build up Cain's castle (which also improves his subsequent heirs), obtaining new abilities to traverse the world, and finally, seeking out each Estuary for an epic showdown when he's prepared. Rogue Legacy 2 offers six different biomes: the beginning zone, Citadel Agartha, eases you into the experience with standard action-platforming gameplay in a castle setting, pitting you against pretty basic enemies and traps. Up next is Axis Mundi, a side-scroller which sees you moving from left to right through a dreary village, flooded by the Styx, featuring more difficult foes and platforming sections. The third region is Kerguelen Plateau, the snowy outdoors, in which the challenges escalate further, with the player unable to access the boss before finding two key items to open the gate. Stygian Study comes afterward, as an upper extension of Agartha, introducing a new type of transparent platform into the mix, and locking the local Estuary behind a couple of mini-bosses. Fifth in the series is The Sun Tower, a treacherous vertical climb through some of the toughest hazards and monsters seen so far. At last, you'll be able to delve into the gloomy underground of Pishon Dry Lake after procuring a lantern, wherein striking giant chimes is necessary to reveal the location of the next objective. Being the final area, this map not only combines the keys and mini-boss challenges from previous biomes, but includes plenty of dangerous creatures and traps to face. Each region shakes up the gameplay in novel ways, feeling nicely distinct from the last, and increasing the challenge level at an appropriate pace. However, some old fans may not appreciate how progression is far more curated than in the first game, with areas meant to played in a particular order, and requiring that you first locate abilities in Metroidvania fashion to access them properly. For example, you can't really complete the Stygian Study before unlocking the double jump and upgraded dash moves by finding their heirloom statues. As a Metroidvania lover, I didn't mind this structured approach myself, and NG+ allows you to tackle the biomes in whichever order you prefer anyway. Most of the time, your main goal is to explore the map thoroughly, gaining as much gold as possible for future upgrades, and maybe taking a stab at the easiest boss available, before an inevitable slip-up sends you back to the castle for a replacement heir. Death rarely feels disheartening, though, because you can usually return with a much stronger character. As if the game didn't provide enough content already, one can also locate cleverly hidden combat challenges, known as "scars," that reward you with a special soul currency for use at one of several vendors. Another new addition are the relics. These artifacts can be found in random Arcane Chambers across the world, like Issac's items, granting a variety of boosts and effects to your current heir, but are limited by a sort of weight mechanic called Resolve. Picking up too many relics reduces your maximum health as your Resolve drops further below the 100% threshold, albeit this can result in a ridiculously powerful character with 1 hit point, hence the player must decide if a glass cannon build is worth the risk (usually not). A couple of my favorites were Amaterasu's Sun, which applies a strong burning DOT to your opponents upon hitting them, and Icarus Wings, letting you fly around at your leisure, with the downside of taking more damage. There's quite a few negative or useless relics, though, and I rarely found it worth the trouble to seek them out before challenging a boss. This feature simply didn't feel vital to your success in my view, and could've used some changes in the implementation to incorporate it better, although I don't know exactly how they'd go about it. Perhaps an upgrade that reveals nearby relic rooms on the map would make them less tedious to collect? For the most part, the Estuary encounters are remarkably well-designed, making it rather enjoyable to learn the nuances of their attack patterns, with the singular exception being the irritating boss of Pishon Dry Lake, Tubal. Especially when it concerns the Prime version of him on NG+, this jerk feels as if he was created by a different development team altogether, considering how precisely the other battles were crafted. He basically floods the screen with endless nonsense, trapping you in unavoidable damage situations, and it almost manages to be even more infuriating than the original Rogue Legacy's Alexander the IV fight. Only when using certain classes did I stand a chance, and the frustration caused definitely hurt my opinion of the game a bit. On the whole, however, the quality and variety of bosses and enemies is stellar, and they avoid feeling repetitive in the slightest. In fact, engaging with the combat in this game is almost always a joy, as it controls with exceptional smoothness and responsiveness. While I did occasionally have issues with attacking or dashing in an unintended direction, this wasn't a major hurdle, and honestly, RL2 raises the bar for how a 2D action game ought to control. It feels downright fantastic to play, and may have spoiled other games for me now. Furthermore, I greatly appreciated that pogo attacks can be performed with a single button press (L1), which encouraged me actually make use of them far more frequently than I otherwise would. Of course, the game features a comprehensive suite of RPG progression systems to tickle every last corner of your brain's reward center. Besides the truly massive skill tree available in castle upgrades, each character class also levels up individually with use, contributing permanent statistic bonuses to everyone as a whole, and you can outfit yourself with superior equipment from the blacksmith by handing in blueprints found during your Genesis excursions, making your heirs even more formidable. Runes can be acquired from the enchantress, as well, bestowing helpful effects like health leeching and coin magnetization. My only complaint is that the skill screen, while satisfyingly useful to pour gold into, is somewhat cluttered, and should've been streamlined more. The full grid is kind of intimidating to look at, not to mention confusing, with redundant options that could be combined into single nodes. Why have multiple squares that all raise health, damage, and armor, for instance? Bit of a puzzling design choice, really. Your randomized selection of three heirs (more with certain upgrades) on offer after dying can be drawn from any of 15 different character classes, each with zany traits which impart benefits and downsides. As in the first game, it's a fun idea, but entirely too many of these are afflictions that mess with your ability to properly see the game for my taste. "Haha, now your screen is blurry and dark; aren't we cute?" Why no, and I outright refuse to use characters with such uncomfortable visual traits, no matter how big the gold gain bonus is. Come on, I know you can be more creative, Cellar Door. On the other hand, I obviously adored traits such as vegan, which makes it impossible to heal via traditional "wall chicken" drops, but increases gold acquisition tremendously, and there are other methods of healing anyhow... I made serious bank with those, leading to substantial castle expansion, baby! These characters spawn with unique talents, a random spell, and their own weapon types. To briefly discuss the five classes I thought were most reliable: Barbarian - Armed with an oversized axe that crits on every ground hit, and possessing a shout talent which destroys projectiles while simultaneously freezing nearby foes, this class is always solid for boss fights and map exploration. Furthermore, they can whirl through the air using their axe like a blender, and you can spin infinitely with the Icarus Wings relic! Has lots of HP, too. Duelist - Possibly the most broken class in skilled hands. Their talent allows them to invincibly dodge roll through any source of damage in the game, and the rapier they employ attacks so quickly that, when you alternate between jumping and ground strikes, bosses just melt. Not the best option for exploring, but a fine Estuary killer, to say the least. Knight - Surprisingly good! A very simple character, who attacks swiftly with a high-damage broadsword, and utilizes a shield for parrying hits with proper timing, which then blasts the attacker with a debuff. Nothing fancy, but they nevertheless end up being quite useful for boss encounters and making your way through Genesis. Chef - Sounds like an amusing gimmick character, but no. Not only can they heal themselves three times using their soup talent (which can be recharged with health drops and mana potions), their alternate bouncing spoon weapon is frankly more effective than the bespoke ranged class's bow, inflicting a nasty burn DOT. Another class that excels at damn near everything. Boxer - I actually can't stand regular Boxers, but when equipped with their alternate exploding rocket gloves, these pugilists can annihilate bosses from relative safety. This was the class I used to finally defeat Estuary Tubal Prime. Can't recommend them for general play, though, 'cause you'll almost certainly blow yourself up with the awkward attack arc. Ten others exist, which I found to be a mixed bag by and large, therefore I didn't bother choosing them nearly as often as the above dudes. The Pirate and Bard seemed especially bad, so I can't imagine picking them intentionally, and I wanted to like the Ranger, but the Chef and Boxer somehow outperform them in the projectile DPS department. One intelligent change from the first game is that all characters regain mana upon hitting enemies with their main weapon, thus spells are actually useful for everyone this time around. Since several forms of magic can clear enemy projectiles from the screen, it's a welcome alteration for sure, improving survivability across all classes, and increasing ranged attack options. So, was it worth the ten-year wait in the end? Absolutely! Nothing is perfect, and this game is no exception, but sequels rarely get much more satisfying. You can really tell that Cellar Door played tons of other roguelites since 2013—including my beloved Hades, as made evident by the NPC relationship mechanic—and incorporated what they learned into one heck of a well-realized production, while contributing plenty of their own ideas to the formula. Fittingly, Rogue Legacy 2 is vastly superior to its ancestor, in every way I can think of. -Completed- 1. Dreaming Sarah - January 9th (+1.0) 2. Streets of Rage 4: Mr X. Nightmare - January 10th (+0.5) 3. Afterparty - January 13th (+0.5) 4. Mortal Shell: The Virtuous Cycle - January 21st (+0.5) 5. Gunlord X - January 25th (+0.5) 6. GreedFall - February 6th (+1.0) 7. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - February 8th (+0.5) 8. Shu - February 23rd (+0.5) 9. Psychonauts 2 - March 4th (+1.0) 10. Habroxia 2 - March 8th (+0.5) 11. Two Crude - March 10th (+0.5) 12. The Outer Worlds - April 2nd (+1.0) 13. Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity - April 4th (+0.5) 14. Valley - April 6th (+0.5) 15. Jydge - April 25th (+0.5) 16. Superhot - May 1st (+1.0) 17. Superhot: Mind Control Delete - May 5th (+0.5) 18. AER: Memories of Old - May 5th (+0.5) 19. Little Nightmares - May 7th (+0.5) 20. Little Nightmares II - May 9th (+0.5) 21. Amnesia: Rebirth - May 14th (+0.5) 22. Ghost of a Tale - May 18th (+0.5) 23. The Persistence - May 27th (+0.5) 24. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: Fearless - June 1st (+1.0) 25. Mafia: Definitive Edition - June 2nd (+0.5) 26. The First Tree - June 5th (+0.5) 27. Trek to Yomi - June 11th (+0.5) 28. The Forgotten City - June 17th (+0.5) 29. Chicken Police - June 18th (+0.5) 30. The Gardens Between - June 27th (+0.5) 31. Tacoma - June 27th (+0.5) 32. Stray - June 29th (+0.5) 33. Omno - July 2nd (+1.0) 34. Axiom Verge 2 - July 3rd (+0.5) 35. Tails of Iron - July 8th (+0.5) 36. Rogue Legacy 2 - July 27th (+0.5) 37. Deliver Us The Moon - August 1st (+1.0) 38. I Am Dead - August 2nd (+0.5) Points: 23.0 Backlog: 1. Alan Wake Remastered 2. A Tale of Paper 3. Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood 4. Dead Cells 5. Death's Door 6. Ender Lillies: Quietus of the Knights 7. Endling: Extinction is Forever 8. Ghosts 'n Goblins: Resurrection 9. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning 10. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom 11. Moonscars 12. Resident Evil 3 13. Resident Evil 7 14. Rising Hell 15. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice 16. The Last Guardian 17. Xeodrifter After two difficult games in a row, I think I'll play something easier to give my hands a break. See ya later, folks! Edited August 2, 2023 by StraightVege August 2nd update - finished Deliver Us The Moon & I Am Dead. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChecoMayor Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 I did a lot for my standard this month Finished WWE 2k22. What a weird relaunch of the brand, the game itself is okay, a lot more playable than 2k20 but fucking god, online mode and MyRise (story mode) was shit. You have to play 500 online matches against CPUs in a 4v4 mode. Is a "open card packs and get your dream roster" but thankfully there was a few cards that made the game faster but still a painful experience. And story mode was lame, I got 2 trophies while meeting the criteria of the trophy but I lost in game because that's not how the story had to progress. Also mentioning that your character still acts in stupid ways that you probably won't be doing as a "WWE wrestler, sorry Superstar" Also finished Lego Batman DLC Quick levels, not much content, worth the price cut from 9.99. Added a bunch of easy trophies Finished Sleeping Dogs DLC Fun expansions but weird implementation. They work as a separate save, don't share your main campaign progress and have a few abilities from the base game Still fun, variety of things to do and it was a really good game, a good "GTA clone. And finally Today, I finished Crash Rumble (I refuse to call it "Team Rumble" because fuck you T4B) It's a weird game, I mean is not bad, it has the feeling of a household name studio behind, feels like Crash, plays like Crash but at the same time feels like a cheap cash grab, basic menus, lack of content, Battlepass, cosmetics, a hidden currency looking at us next to the Activision Profile corner. A lot of Free to Play stuff added in a 40 bucks game. I wish the game survives for a long time, it seems difficult but only time will tell. Game is going straight to f2p live Service mode in a few months January Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition February WWE 2K Battlegrounds March Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Lego Ninjago Nindroids April Stray May Lego Ninjago: Shadows of Ronin June Multiversus July WWE 2k22 LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham DLC* Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition DLC* Crash Rumble Backlog list: Crash Bandicoot DLC Detroit: Become Human God of War LEGO City Undercover LEGO Dimensions LEGO Lord of the Rings LEGO Marvel Super Heroes LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Pac-Man World RePac South Park: Stick of Truth Yakuza 3 Added: Nothing until August 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlazzingWind Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, ChecoMayor said: I did a lot for my standard this month Finished WWE 2k22. What a weird relaunch of the brand, the game itself is okay, a lot more playable than 2k20 but fucking god, online mode and MyRise (story mode) was shit. You have to play 500 online matches against CPUs in a 4v4 mode. Is a "open card packs and get your dream roster" but thankfully there was a few cards that made the game faster but still a painful experience. And story mode was lame, I got 2 trophies while meeting the criteria of the trophy but I lost in game because that's not how the story had to progress. Also mentioning that your character still acts in stupid ways that you probably won't be doing as a "WWE wrestler, sorry Superstar" Also finished Lego Batman DLC Quick levels, not much content, worth the price cut from 9.99. Added a bunch of easy trophies Finished Sleeping Dogs DLC Fun expansions but weird implementation. They work as a separate save, don't share your main campaign progress and have a few abilities from the base game Still fun, variety of things to do and it was a really good game, a good "GTA clone. And finally Today, I finished Crash Rumble (I refuse to call it "Team Rumble" because fuck you T4B) It's a weird game, I mean is not bad, it has the feeling of a household name studio behind, feels like Crash, plays like Crash but at the same time feels like a cheap cash grab, basic menus, lack of content, Battlepass, cosmetics, a hidden currency looking at us next to the Activision Profile corner. A lot of Free to Play stuff added in a 40 bucks game. I wish the game survives for a long time, it seems difficult but only time will tell. Game is going straight to f2p live Service mode in a few months January Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition February WWE 2K Battlegrounds March Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Lego Ninjago Nindroids April Stray May Lego Ninjago: Shadows of Ronin June Multiversus July WWE 2k22 LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham DLC* Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition DLC* Crash Rumble Backlog list: Crash Bandicoot DLC Detroit: Become Human God of War LEGO City Undercover LEGO Dimensions LEGO Lord of the Rings LEGO Marvel Super Heroes LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Pac-Man World RePac South Park: Stick of Truth Yakuza 3 Added: Nothing until August That is a lot to get done for July! Can you please update your profile on psnprofiles? When I look to check dates, your profile has not been updated since July 13th and the only game I can confirm is WWE 2K22. Dates are important when it comes to ties in points, so I will make a note of the ones you've completed, but can't verify the points until your profile on the site is updated. Edited August 1, 2023 by BlazzingWind 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollowCalamity Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 Completely lost track of time last month and didn't end up completing anything. I spent July playing FFXVI and helping write the trophy guide, but I won't be doing the second playthrough for a long time – I loved the game but I'd like to revisit the story further down the line instead of rushing through it again. I'm also trying to spend less time gaming in general – not to mention courses have started for me and will continue for the rest of the year, including one that I'm assisting in teaching. Because of this, I've decided to massively strip down my backlog for the rest of this event. I'm going to assign a game for each remaining month, and if I finish early then I can always add more. Here is my new list: August – Final Fantasy V September – Final Fantasy VI October – Resident Evil HD November – Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin December – Marvel's Spider-Man All of these were already on my list anyway so I guess I'm just removing everything else. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpaluffagus_1 Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 It was only one completion for me in July with Spirit of the North. It was a short, gorgeous game with a cute story. However, there were moments when the platforming was clunky and a couple sections when I completed objectives in a different order than the game intended, forcing a restart for those portions. I had been hoping to finish up Kingdom Hearts and Horizon Zero Dawn as well, but life got in the way of gaming. i'm going to be adding Marvel's Spiderman DLC, Spiderman: Miles Morales and Endling to my list. I'll decide on my deletions later in the month. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlazzingWind Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 On 7/21/2023 at 8:05 PM, Darling Baphomet said: Oh, I had a question - so what happens if you lose access to a game that's on your backlog? Does it get stuck as dead weight? I haven't had it happen yet but quite a few games that I intended to eventually add to my list have since been removed from PS+ Extra. That is a good question. Wouldn't be fair to have it count against someone when we don't control when a game is removed from ps+ service. I would say the rule should be, unless you added the game in question AFTER it was announced that it was to be removed - then it should just fall off your list. Does that seem fair? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlazzingWind Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 The Leaderboards have been updated 07/31/2023: @KillerUni12 20.50 points ---> @Darling Baphomet 24.00 points @Darling Baphomet 19.50 points ---> @KillerUni12 22.00 points @StraightVege 19.00 points ---> 21.50 points @Hurricane_Tanya 16.00 points ---> 18.00 points With August finally here; the final 4th of the year starts with Killer being displaced by Darling for the lead by a handful of points. But neither should sit too comfortably as StraightVege is lurking just below in 3rd place, and Hurricane is coming up quick in 4th place. It is still a large fight in the top 4 and we unfortunately have a few adventurers that have fallen off the trail, but we have found another fellow journeyman. Welcome @princexedar to our little group! As we begin the final descent into the end of the year; August has arrived to allow us to add any game already on our trophy list to our backlog list for this event. It also allows us one final time to remove games, but please remember, you can only do one removal post. And you MUST keep five games, one for each month left in the event. Thank you to everyone that has been with us and continue to journey along through the ups and downs of this year. Hopefully, we can continue to have a good time and sooner rather than later I will have an updated rules list and point system to show for next year. Happy August everyone and the update should continue as normal on 8/16! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddie1989 Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 (edited) Not managed a completion for 2 months now albeit Guardians should be done next sitting so definite August one to start. I have made amendments to my list which I think is inside the rules but let me know if not. April Lego DC Super Villains Stray May Mafia Life is Strange: True Colours Call of Duty Ghosts 47% Metro 2033 Redux 1% Battlefield Hardline 24% Spiderman Miles Morales 0% Guardians of the Galaxy 0% Mass Effect Andromeda Endling The Ascent Rayman Legends Edited August 2, 2023 by freddie1989 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s68sc Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 I don't remember if I sign up to this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlazzingWind Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 On 1/6/2023 at 4:03 PM, s68sc said: I'd like to sign up, My list of games that I'm sure to complete this year. 1. Sleeping Dogs: Definition Edition - 38% 2. Far Cry 3: Classic Edition - 1% 3. Bugsnax - 15% 4. Life is Strange 2 - Not Started 5. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 3% 6. Remember Me - 7% 7. DARQ - 60% 8. That's You - 80% 9. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 5% 10. Medievil - 15% 11. Onee Chanbara Origin - 7% 12. God of War: Ascensions - 5% You did back in January! I try to keep track of everything for the forum. Still have your original list if you wanted to jump back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s68sc Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 11 minutes ago, BlazzingWind said: You did back in January! I try to keep track of everything for the forum. Still have your original list if you wanted to jump back in. So I only done Sleeping Dogs... but I complete other games from my backlog, I will continue to use this list and maybe I can do it 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