Time for another KYC - 20th edition

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 20

Game No. 5

 

Trophies Earned: 6/16 (36%)

Playing Time: 2+ hours

 

Final Thoughts: The US Holiday weekend has guaranteed that this KYC will go out with a whimper for me. My PS5 tells me I played 15 hours of Ship Graveyard Simulator to start this KYC, yet I didn’t even get 15 hours of playing time into my next five games. Yikes! Been a crazy month!

  So this “game” has been on lots of recent sales and I thought it would be fun to try in a KYC. Hard to describe it as gaming, as it’s closer to watching a TV show, with occasional interaction from you. Kind of a choose-your-own-adventure, except there’s not that many paths to go down. 
  The premise is you are Vinny, the guy wearing the black T-shirt above, and during the depths of the pandemic, Vinny tries out a virtual dating site for the first time. I was a bit worried he would be a real douchebag, but he’s actually not that bad. Definitely not a player, self-deprecating at times, and a good sense of humor. 
  At the start, you can enter in a variety of info about Vinny and this is supposed to guide the path you head down in your gameplay. You can select his interests, photo, career and horoscope sign (seriously, is this still a thing?). I thought this criteria might shut you out with certain daters, but it really doesn’t. You just might get a question or two about your profile info. 
  Step Two is to request dates with three of the five available women. Sorry, there is no way to flip the sexes. You have to be Vinny. The women can categorized as a party girl, career oriented professional, granola hippie, health care worker who lives with parents, and part-timemodel/full-time bitch. Again, doesn’t matter what’s on your profile, they will accept the first date. Also, this takes place in London, so most everyone is British. If these characters were American, I think this really would’ve sucked.
  Vinny and his suitor will appear on screen and engage in dialogue. You will sit and watch this (and there is no skip button). The scenes are done pretty well, with a decent script that incorporates the pandemic into it. It’s interesting to see what people probably had to do to date during Covid. During your first dates, you might have 5-7 times where you pick a question to ask, or pick an answer from something she asked. This is where the game turns into Dating For Dummies. If you lack success in dating, you can learn from Vinny’s miscues; or his correct answers. Most of the questions are easy to figure out an answer for. And even if you choose wrong, you still have a chance to backpedal to keep the date a success. Same thing with the questions. Do you dare have Vinny ask his date if she’s ever had a one night stand? 
  After you have first encounter with the three dates, Vinny narrows down his picks to two women for a second date. If you failed miserably on a date, she will reject your offer. Example - I offended one of them by saying that her job as a social media influencer, wasn’t a real job. There was ZERO chance of date two.  When the second dates begin, it’s the same dialogue watching, with occasional choices from you. The dates get a bit more personal, but again, unless you’re a Caveman, you can answer safely and proceed. 
  The goal of the game is for Vinny to get digits so he can call them personally. That happens after Date 3, and you will unlock a trophy. The “grind” of this game is to get all five phone numbers from each suitor, so that’s five play throughs. Unfortunately, the game will not let you use save slots to minimize the play throughs. 
  I managed to finish just one of the endings. I was doing a second play through to see how the other two women were, but ran out of time.   Overall, I think the developers did a pretty good job with the game. This could’ve been pretty corny and failed miserably. But they selected decent actors who, although are not Oscar-worthy, did well enough to convey realistic personalities to their characters. The game seems to be pretty safe in its dialogue, so it’s not as funny as the other dating simulator I have played, One Night Stand. I am glad I met my wife the old-school way (in person), but it’s interesting to see what technology Millennials and Gen Zers can use to meet someone. 
  Five Dates was entertaining, though I think playing all the way through to get all five endings will be a bit of a drag. And, there’s not much game play to it. Maybe in the sequel Ten Dates, there are more paths to go down. 
 

 

 

[purgta]

Game #5: The Legend of Dragoon

 

 

This is an rpg developed by Japan Studio. The game is originally a ps1 game.

 

The game follows a mercenary Dart who is returning to his village. Stuff happens and Dart heads off on his adventure. It doesn't take long for the game to get going. I have played around five hours so far and not a huge amount of the plot has been revealed yet. Just a lot of foreshadowing. The character models look blocky but nice enough for a ps1 game. The backgrounds tend to look great and are the graphical highlight of the game so far. The maps can feel a bit busy and can sometimes be confusing to navigate. Dialogue between characters can sometimes feel odd or unnatural but is fine for the most part. You can change some filters in the game to give it more of a crt look.

 

Battles are slightly different from normal turn based rpgs. When you attack, you have to press X or O at specific times to use an ability. If you mess it up, you just do a regular attack. They feel like quick time events. There was a bit of slowdown entering every battle which was annoying. The fights themselves were fine, it was just when it was loading the battlefield.

 

I have been wanting to play this game for years. I played a demo disk as a kid which covered the second dungeon of the game. I have passed the section in the real game and didn't realise the demo gave you certain abilities before you would get them in the full experience. The game is not quite hitting the highs of PS1 greats like Breath of fire 4 or suikoden 2 but it is early days yet. JRPGs tend to take a while to get going. 

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

 

That is the final game for me. Thanks to voodoo_eyes for another great event. It is always great to start some games that have been gathering dust for a long time in my backlog. Don't know if I will finish Jak and Daxter or Bards Tale but I plan on continuing Legend of Dragoon and I am Setsuna.

[Vulpine9Tails]

Doing this a tad early but I'm not going to be playing this anymore anytime soon:

 

Game #5: Tamarin

 

 

 

 

Time played: Like an hour

Trophies: 5/31 = 10%

Personal Rating: 3/10

Recommend?: No

 

Well this is unfortunate but not unexpected. This game was in development for quite some time and it is... not great. I remember being so excited when it finally came out but the gameplay trailer looked a little weird. I ended up not getting it for a while because I expected it to be one of those games that ends up taking forever to come out only to be trash. Well I recently bought it when it was on sale and what do you know? It is trash. It's cute; I will give it that. You play as a little Tamarin monkey, but he looks more like a red panda. He's adorable either way. Unfortunately that's pretty much the only thing the game has going for it. The premise is bizarre: ants, of all things, are the enemy as they burn your village down and abduct your family in the opening of the game. You have a friend, who is a hedgehog, who shows up periodically to give you hints and he actually gives you a gun to fight back against the ants! It's kind of a strange contrast with the cutesy-ness of the characters and art style. 

 

I did not get far into the story. In fact, I got lost. I am hopelessly lost at pretty much the beginning of the game. I started out with the ability to roll and break down doors, but after receiving the aforementioned gun from my hedgehog buddy, I no longer have the roll ability. I've tried every button to try to holster the gun and roll again but no such thing seems to exist. There is an upgrade of some kind behind a door that I am unable to breakdown because of this. I have also gone through every tunnel that is open to me right now and killed every ant I have come across. I simply cannot figure out where to go from here. There are also baby birds that seem to randomly show up and they are a collectible. I checked out my inventory before I ended my last session and it looks like they can actually die? And you collect their corpse? I am not sure. As far as I know, they were all alive and well when I picked them up, so why do I have an icon that looks like one of them is dead? The game doesn't explain much, and certainly didn't say anything about the collectible birds being able to die! I thought you just had to pick them up and bring them to the bird houses scattered around the map. As there are no trophy guides anywhere, I have no idea if this is a thing or if I'm just misunderstanding the icon (it really looks like a dead bird and the live birds have their own icon), and if this makes the rescue all birds trophy missable. If that is the case, I would be very annoyed, as I couldn't tell you what would have killed the bird. Collectibles are bad enough as it is, why would this be a thing that can happen  

 

Moving on, the combat with the guns against the ants is just ridiculous. The ants glow green when you aim at them and the hit detection is wonky as heck. I got the headshot trophy when I was clearly shooting the body/legs. You can't even really aim at their heads easily. you can get hit and not take damage, or you can get hit and actually take damage. Again, the hit detection is very wonky. There is no melee, especially now that the roll seems to be disabled. I got an upgrade to my gun and I could not tell lol. I also got a different gun that has more ammo but it seems like more of a palette swap than an actual different gun. I don't know what you might get later in the story but I would expect more of the same kind of thing. 

 

I couldn't in good conscience recommend this game which is sad because I wanted so badly for it to be good. I waited for so long for it to come out and it's just not up to par with what I would expect from such a long delay. The characters are cute and the environment looks nice but it's like an old, broken down car with a beautiful patina; looks good but doesn't work well.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Vulpine9Tails

[voodoo_eyes]

Time for my wrap up, while the last few Impressions come in from everyone.

 

My picks ended up being mostly middle of the road, but at least there weren't any total busts in there.

 

 

From best to worst:

• Mass Effect Andromeda - Enjoyable so far. Definitely had more potential, so it's not as good as it could've been.
• Beholder 3 - Unfortunately a bit too similar to the first game, without any significant improvements
• Afterparty - Fun adventure game, that is definitely different from most others.
• Forspoken - Not living up to it's price tag, but it's still fun. Movement and combat is a lot of fun, everything else is mostly ok.
• The Callisto Protocol - Could've been good, the combat is too tedious though.
• Hard West - Another slightly above average game. It just didn't grab me quite enough.
• Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water - Constantly having to go through the same areas and buildings, drained the fun out of this one a bit
• Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 - Has an interesting concept with being a 3D metroidvania, but it doesn't quite work.
• Beyond a Steel Sky - A pretty forgettable adventure game.
• Sundered - Subpar metroidvania. Enemies that attack you 5 rooms away off screen is just not fun.

 

 

That's it from me. Hope everyone had a good time and thanks to those who participated. Good to see a lot of original participants back.

 

The next event will only be in November, as every 6 months seems to work out better currently than ever 4 months. We'll see, if there's enough interest to keep the event going that way.

[Hemiak]

Solo Game 5

Eldest Souls
Time Played: 5 ish hours

Trophies: 18/51 (25%)

 

This game has been on my radar for a while and went on sale a couple weeks back for 6$. It’s an isometric action adventure game that very much reminded me of Jotun, which I enjoyed. It seems to be a game with minimal exploration, and tough boss combat, and that’s about it, and that’s what I got, so I’m happy. 
 

In Eldest Souls you’re a traveler who has journeyed to a prison to slay the gods who’ve been corrupted. They spent centuries working with humans, and then were corrupted by a rogue god named Eksyll. They then enslaved the humans for years, until the humans banded together and rebelled and cast them down and locked them up in a prison. Eksyll alone escaped. Now centuries later he has returned and further corrupted them, leading the world into darkness and threatening their escape.
 

Your character has a sword made out of a certain type of material, and so it’s the only thing that can kill then. You can swing in a combo (super ineffective), charge attack that lets you dash a distance to hit, actually dash through attacks, and you have an overkill bar. You can only use the dash three times in a short time and it takes quite a while to refill, however if you use it to go through an active attack it fills back up much quicker. The overkill bar fills up when you do charged attacks, when it has power your attacks are slightly stronger, and you siphon health, but when it’s more than halfway you can execute an overkill attack which does a ton of damage. Like more than twice a normal charge attack, which is about 10x a normal attack. 
 

The cool part is you get a skill point for each boss you kill, and bosses also drop shards of their power that you can slot in four different places. Each boss shard has different abilities in each of the four slots, so there are a lot of options. There are also three different skill trees, focusing on pure power (Berserker, which is where I’m spending points). Wind something focuses on movement and passive damage, and Counter focuses on defense and absorbing damage. Each tree has a primary ability, then two primary paths. Each side has three minor nodes you can choose from, then one, then three more, etc, down to a final ability that seems pretty strong on all of them. 
 

In Berserker Slash you get a series of three “teeth” up by your normal HUD that fill as you do damage. When one is full you can hit L1 to do a strong attack with a short dash, which grants extra effects based on the path you take. In mine hitting an enemy with this or my main charge attack generates a red shard on the ground. These can have various effects based on the path you choose. In mine picking one up grants me a buff, that can stack twice, it also refills my Overkill bar, meaning I can infinitely use that ability as long as I can continue picking up the shards within the five seconds before they despawn. This is incredibly powerful. 
 

The overworld is a ruined building with several distinct sections. Before you arrive you face The Watchdog, who took me two tries, and barely touched me the 2nd one. Inside you have The Guardian, who I did first try. The game stopped playing around after that. I faced Eos, who was two small orbs that have individual attacks, who begin the fight merged with both sets of abilities. Then you cycle through breaking then apart and whittling down their health bar. Ak (something) is a warrior angel who teleports around and has a variety of beams and physical attacks. Beating the two of them in whatever order unlocks the door to the next area. The next area is divided into three sections, an icy area with a frozen boss, a park like area with a Deer, and a weird spacey area with floating platforms you have to navigate to face a super annoying boss. I thought Eos was nasty but this guy is rough, though I got him eventually. He has orbs he shoots out in groups of 3 or 4, can teleport around, summons a ball over your head that blasts the ground after a second or two, 2-3x based on his phase, and covers a big portion of the ground with purple crap that tries to suck you to the middle. After five seconds it pulses and does a ton of damage. Pretty easy to avoid, but if you have the orb over your head or there are other orbs flying around the screen it gets pretty annoying. He also summons ghostly warriors you can’t attack that charge attack you, then disappear. He can also send you into another dimension to break three crystals, in this area there are infinitely spawning ghost guys, and black orbs near the crystals, super fun, especially since doing this doesn’t actually hurt him at all, but you have to do it to get back to the main fight. Oh, and he can generate clones of himself. The clones will either fire out a steady series of orbs, meaning the screen can get literally covered with them, or they explode into orbs traveling the four directions, which is way easier to deal with. You have to find and hit the real him, or destroy every clone. There’s a tell, but it isn’t always easy to pick up. This attack can single handedly end a run if it goes poorly enough. 
 

I’m really enjoying this. Sections of minima exploration, with items to pick up and people to deliver them to, blueprints to find, and more items to read help it be more than just a boss rush. The guide says it’s 8/10 difficulty and I can see that. Just beating these guys the first time is taking some work, and I’ll need to do no damage for each, beat them on hard mode, and beat the game start to finish no deaths. All in all the art is cool, the music/sound fits and isn’t too distracting, the bosses are varied, and the challenge level is certainly there. Everything I could’ve wanted when I picked it up. 
 

Rating: 9/10(not for everyone)

 

I’ll get my Rise of the Tomb Raider review in later. 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Hemiak

[Taruta13]

So it's over, my last game is done, and I took a bit of time with this last session, so...

 

Final Review, Final Game
Persona 3 Portable

 

Time Played: 5.5 hours over a week

Trophies Earned: 5/36 (7%)

 

That image was from the last trophy I got for this game, for now, and I was VERY lucky to get it - I kept finding golden hands but they always spotted me and teleported away. I did kill two Golden Hands but I am not really concerned as, unlike Persona 4 Golden, these guys give ZERO EXP. I also didn't realize you could use the Velvet Room right away to fuse Persona so I was scouring the place for an Omoikane when you can't get it from Shuffle Time. The guide does not tell you to fuse it, and then I had to scour for ANOTHER Nekomata because that Persona is needed to fuse Omoikane.

 

Anyways, I really did enjoy this game. This is a game meant for short bursts because most of your time will be in Tartarus. I don't see the sh** anti-hype against this game. Yeah, you can't run around the school as your avatar but to be honest, this game just cut out all the animations that would have wasted a zillion hours. I think this game would be the perfect Persona for a speedrunner because there is no wandering the halls and getting lost, just point and click.

 

Now that I just infuriated the hardcore Persona 3 fans I must say this game is kind of fun and I will gladly continue it. Having ridden a guide to Persona 5 Royal, I was able to fall nicely into the routine. I have just gotten past the first session of Tartarus and gotten the first Social Link that isn't forced upon you(Chariot) and it's nice to see Rio instead of a dude.

 

Verdict: If you have never played a Persona before, this is a good start as it is easily accessible and the guide is very good, for the most part. Also, you get to play as a babe.

Rating: 9.5 Golden Hands out of 10

 

Also, I forgot to record my completion drop in the last four games, so here's my final completion:

 

% Completion: 88.96% (-somethingsomething, as I said I forgot to record my last drops and I can't go back and do that. )

 

And with that, my list is done. I am doing a spin-to-win roulette thing to start work on those games I had started, and got Kingdom Hearts III as my game for June. Wish me luck. Also, I will probably not do any more KYC events as I have way too many unfinished games to finish. In fact, I will probably boot up Heirs of the Kings tomorrow and plat it for #195(I did the plat for this game for the PS4 version yesterday).

 

I would like to @voodoo_eyes for another year of completion trophy murder and forcing me to start up games I swore I would do someday. Good luck to anyone doing crunch time on this final day. Stay strong and keep at it.

 

Final List:

• 12%
• 
• 12%
• 
• 30%
• 5%
• 8%
• 1%
• 3%
• 7%

Edited May 31, 2023 by Taruta13

[Hemiak]

Wife Game 5

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Time: 4-5 hrs

Trophies: 7/66/125 (5%)

 

I played the original Tomb Raider in high school and the 2nd in college. Played the third but lost interest early and didn’t touch any of the others until the reboot on the ps3. 

This is set after the events of the reboot, where Lara has returned from the ship wreck. Her dad is a famous historian and has gone missing, and she wants to find him. So she pieces together a bunch of his work to figure out where he has gone. She ends up going to Syria, and then to Siberia, to an abandoned Soviet military base. Apparently dad was researching the source of life and the human soul or something, which had been discovered by a man named the Prophet and his people a long time ago. A group called Trinity had wiped out the entire group and is working to cover up the whole thing. 
 

This game mixes sections of linear exploration from point to point, with open areas that you can explore a little more, and there’s a lot of stuff to find. 
 

It plays as a pretty standard adventure game. You explore areas making your way slowly closer to the end goal. You can beeline there or really take your time and explore each area. There are lots of things to find. Materials such as wood, berries, cloth, metal to build or upgrade various tools and weapons. There are also ancient coins that you can spend at a shack to buy guns or tools. Then there are murals, maps, scrolls, tape recorders, and monoliths that all give you lore, increase your knowledge of various languages, and generally tell you more about the world and even uncover directions to hidden caches or locations. 
 

You start with the ability to climb ledges, scramble up vertical walls for a couple extra feet, and use ice axes for zip lining and climbing ice caves and prying things apart. I have found a lock pick that lets me open certain boxes and lockers, and a rope ascender that speeds up climbing up zip lines. I also just got the ability to craft my own explosive arrows for getting through barriers and combat. I have yet to find a combat knife, broadhead climbing arrows, and rope arrows used to pull down barriers or setup your own zip lines. So it pays to return to areas when you get new items. The good news is each area tracks how many of each thing you’ve found so it’s easy to see where you need to clean up. 
 

Not that it’s a huge deal for me but the visuals are really good for a ps4 game. It plays a bit like an Uncharted game, without quite so much gratuitous gunplay, and a lot more material gathering, hunting, and crafting. 
 

Im enjoying it so far and plan to keep chipping away at this one now that we’re over. 
 

Rating: 8/10

 

————————————

Final wrap. I played ten games and enjoyed most of them. I had two firsts this time. This is the first event I earned a platinum (and it did it twice), and the first time I left a game without a single trophy. 
 

Final results:

Superhot - 20/27

God of War - 2/37

Assault Android Cactus -  

Biomutant - 1/47

Alien: Isolation - 19/51

Sherlock Holmes Chapter 1 - 1/39

Hyper Light Drifter - 

Dreams - 0/

Eldest Souls - 18/51

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 7/125

 

Completion: 79.14%

Starting/Drop: 80.67%/-1.53%

Edited June 1, 2023 by Hemiak

[Kevvik]

Game #6: Psychonauts 2

 

Initial/End Event Impressions

 

Psychonauts 2 is an action platformer which, like its predecessor, comes to us courtesy of Double Fine. In this follow up to the original and the VR title, Rhombus of Ruin, Raz has finally arrived at Psychonauts HQ to begin his career as a Psychonaut. Bringing with them the rescued but still poisoned head of the Psychonauts (and father to his girlfriend Lily, having rescued him in Rhombus of Ruin), Raz finds that he is not a full fledged Psychonaut, but an intern placed under the over-protective hand of Second in Command Hollis. The other Psychonauts are tracking down information on Maligula, an old enemy who died but whose followers seem keen on returning to the world of the living. Then Raz’s acrobatic circus family show up. Life just isn’t always easy.

 

If you have played the original, you’ll know what you are in for, a 3d action platformer where you have melee and psychic attacks (like psi-blast, pyrokinesis and telekinesis). You also use your powers to get past obstacles (levitation) and solve puzzles (clairvoyance and mental connections). You enter the minds of troubled people to help solve their problems (through platforming, violence and puzzle solving). It has the usual Double Fine humor.  I’ve always been a fan of the games and this has been just as enjoyable though it’s a little slow at first as you learn how to use the slowly unlocking powers. As usual, you also have a number of collectibles to find which also help you rank up, giving you access to stronger powers which you spend skill points on.

 

The controls are tight as you explore and fight your way through the mental environments.  This has been fun so far and I expect the convolutions of plot to be as amusing as they have been in the past.

 

Time played: 6-7 hrs

Trophies earned: 20/58, 29% for D rank

Score: 8/10

Completion rate: 86.76% (-0.78% for the event)

 

I’ll post a summary later tonight for the event.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Kevvik

[MarkusT1992]

Game #4: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered

 

 

This is actually the first CoD I played. Ever. Or at least I think it is as I don't remember ever playing one.

CoD is a first person shooter set during a war. This is a remaster of the 2009 game. You play as differnt characters during the campaign but I can't tell who is who.

The campaign is split in three acts with several missions in each act. I reached the second mission of act two so far and travelled all around the world in those missions. From a city area over an enemy camp in a snowy mountain to favelas in Brazil.

I can't really say anything about the story as I was just playing through the missions doing my objectives. I know that one of the characters was undercover in the russion army to get information but that didn't last long as the leader of the group you were with already knew and shot you..

 

Gamplay is a basic fps. You can carry two weapons you can switch with and can pick up weapons from the killed enemies. There are guns, maschine guns, snipers and even rocket launchers sometimes. Some guns can also be wielded akimbo which reduces your aim. Besids walking and shooting everthing in your sight you have some parts where you are in a vehicle on the gun and even a stealth mission was part of the game so far.

 

I enjoyed my (short) time with this game but it wasn't anything special for me. This game also contains the infamous "No Russian" mission in which you basically do an amok run in an airport. I know that in the original game in the german version you would get a game over if you shot any civilian. I don't know if that happens in the remaster as well as I didn't fire a single shot. But the game asks you at the beginning if you want to skip certain missions and I think this is one of them.

 

Time played: 3h

Trophies: 11/51 (15%)

Rating:

[MarkusT1992]

Game #5: Neptunia ReVerse

 

 

The last game was a remaster and this game is a remaster of a remaster and there is even one more version of this game. So this is the fourth version after Hyperdimension Neptunia, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 and Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 Plus.

 

The game is set in Gamindustri, which consist of the four regions Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox. Each of those regions is ruled by a goddess. Those four goddess' are fighting in the Console War and that's where the game starts. We see the four fighting each other when three of them hear a voice telling them to attack the fourth to defeat her. That attack causes her to fall and lose her memory. That goddess is Neptune, the main character of the Neptunia series. And she is aware of that. Neptune is a charcter who likes to break the 4th wall.

After falling Neptune is found by Compa who is a nurse. She brings Neptune back to her house in Planeptune where she treats her. Because of Neptune's memory loss the two decide to visit the place where Neptune landed because she might remember something to no avail. After that they visit the Basilicom, a kind of church for the Goddess of that region. There they learn that the Goddess is missing and decide to go the Lastion to meet the Goddess there. In Lastation the meet IF an adventurer and that's it so far.

 

The game is a JRPG with a lot of dialogue. On an overworld map you can select the dungeons you want to visit and the city where you can use the shop, see events and create game discs, whic can be equiped. In the dungeons you can move freely. The few dungeons I visited so far a very small and only take a few minutes to reach the end. In there are monsters wandering around. You can hit them to beginn the battle with an advantage. In battles you have a bar that indicates which character's turn is next. When it is one of your characters turns you can move that character in a limited area and attack the enemies with normal attacks or skills. Each character has a box infront which is used to target. Every enemy inside that box is attacked. So if you position is good and enemies aren't too far from each other you can hit multiple targets.

Besides enemies there are items in the dungeons to collect ond one hidden item that can be detected by pressing . The last action you can do is jump but I disn't find any point where it is necessary so far.

 

Then you have the remake system. With that system you can unlock things in the game from new items in the shop to new dungeons or new enemies in dungeons to gameplay changes like making the fight easier or harder. This system basically works like a crafting system. You get many different materials from the defeated enemies you can use to craft the stuff. You also need MB to craft. Everthing requires some MB to be able to be crafted. New items in shops for example cost 1MB plus the material and a new dungeons costs 16MB plus the materials.

 

I played this game (The Re;Birth version) once on PC but didn't get really far. I think I'm still behind where I was on PC because I remember having to grind to defeat a boss at one point I didn't need to do it here so far.

Overall I enjoyed the game so far. I like the setting of the game which turns reallife consoles in girls even the developer and publisher (Compa for Compile Hearts and IF for Idea Factory). It all a big reference to the gaming industry in a whole with the console war for shares which strenghen the Goddess of that regions.

 

Time played: 4,5h

Trophies: 7/25 (11%)

Rating:

 

 

I'll write the review for my last game LEGO The Incredibles tomorrow as it is late already for me.

[Kevvik]

And so another age completes…

 

Okay, final scoring summary, from best to least…

 

Disco Elysium - 8.5/10

A solid, very dialogue heavy iso RPG. No formal combat but skill checks based on skills and dice rolls. 
 

Psychonauts 2 - 8/10

A welcome return to a beloved world with another action platformer. Also good for your funny bone.

 

Wytchwood - 7/10

A relaxing crafting sim with minimal combat. Just the thing for when you need a break.

 

Contrast - 7/10

A clever platformer/puzzler which plays with light. Short but solid.

Sakura Wars - 6.5/10

A harem dating sim with some action elements and a VN feel. Not bad but expecting the JRPG grind for collectibles and S ranks.

 

Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion - 4.5/10

A side scrolling squad action game. Not bad but not very good. Don’t play the Vita version.

 

Disaster Report 4 - 4/10

An adventure/puzzle game that’s light on puzzle and the story is pretty lame, though it’s fun acting like a real dick. Hasn’t progressed far from its PS2 roots.

 

Overall, not too bad this time around. After playing some more Psychonauts 2 tonight, my final completion rate is 86.79% for an overall change of -0.75% though this includes Hogwarts Legacy where my wife got a few trophies. They’re all story-based so when I go through the game this month, I’ll hit the marks where I would have obtained them anyway.

 

Thanks to our host @voodoo_eyes for another great event and it was great seeing old faces again. Hopefully everyone will return in November with friends and get more of the band back together.  Take care, everyone. ?

[slicknick3822]

Game #6 - Persona 4 Golden - Final Review

Time played: ~10h

Trophies Earned: 13/50 (18%)

 

I am really enjoying the start of this game, however there are some things I realize that Persona 5 updated that make that game so much better. I never realized before because I had played them so far apart, but Persona 5 definitely improved on a lot of Persona 4 mechanics (imo).The gameplay is the normal Persona gameplay. Going into a "TV World" to work your way through someone's "castle" in order to free them from their Shadow version. In between it is mostly a life sim/visual novel storytelling device. You create social links with other characters that enhance your abilities (and sometimes theirs) to perform in the TV world. The story is what drives a Persona game and Persona 4 has one of the best. Even in the early going of the story you can see all the deep characters and how people change throughout the game. I went hard early on with this game and couldn't even get past the first castle and had to load up a previous save to start over. I got a little better RNG and was able to beat it pretty easily my second try. And I played up until the second castle. Now I haven't played for a few days as I have been busy with house stuff, but I plan to jump back into this for Summer Backlog Challenge and finish it soon! I'm excited to continue my Persona adventure!

 

Rating: 8/10

Current %: 66.00% (-22.70%) 

[MarkusT1992]

Game #6: LEGO The Incredibles

 

 

There are two movies of The Incredibles and I havn't seen any one of them, therefor I can't say if this game is based on any of the stories from the movies or if it tells its own story.

What I can say is that it is just like any other LEGO game with its own little gimmick.

 

The main character are the members of Parr family. Every one of them has some kind of super power like super strenght, super speed or imitating Mr. Fantastic stretching her body.

The game starts after the family exits a mall or something when suddenly a giant drill appears. Being a superhero family they imediatly change clothes and chase after the drill. The problem is that superheroes are prohibited by law. Despite saving the city all of them get arrested afterwards. But a guy very interested in superheroes offers them to help change the law and even buys them a new house.

Your first task after that is fighting a crime wave in one of the districts of the city. That's the first time you can explore the open world a bit but more on that later.

After you cleared the crime wave the next one appears in the next district which you can do or you can continue the story, Continuing the story leads to e meeting with other superheroes the guy from earlier has assembled. Elastigirl is send to a mission to fight some crime while the new suspension railway is inaugurated. The railway starts to move in the wrong direction and Elastigirl has to stop it before it reaches the part that isn't built yet. In the end you save the city again and the people start to like superheroes a bit more again. So much for the story.

 

This being a LEGO game means it has a lot of collectables but not as many as some of the newer ones have. There are a total of 210 gold bricks and 113 characters. The one thing special in this game are superbuild you can build with special incredibricks. Then you have the crimewaves, races and challenges to complet plus the story levels obviously with ten minikits in each of them. The last collectable are the red bricks which unlock cheats like studs *2 or destroying everything by just touching it. The challenges are split in district specific ones and the ones for the whole map. Each district has you do something like repairing broken ice stands ore hydrants.

The crime waves are small side missions in each district. The next place a crime wave appears flashes red on the map. After entering that district the crime wave starts with a smal cutsceen that explains what's happening. Then you have to do some missions for people in that district to complete the crime wave. Those missions entail defeating some villains, bringing stuff to a specific place and so on and are done pretty quick. After completing the crime wave the collectables are marked on the map for that district and a special superbuild appears. Completing that one unlocks a new character from the Pixar franchises and a red brick you can get with that character. So far I got Dory, Merida and Russel from Up!

 

I played a fair share of LEGO games already and so far it seems this one is one of the easiest. I could get all the collectables so far because I got a character that can fly and most things are just lying around. Some need you to solve a puzzle which are very easy. The story levels seem to be quite long and take some time to complete.

Since I have no problem with collectables in games and liking every LEGO game I played so far I also enjoyed my time with this one. It's always better if you know the franchise but you can still play and enjoy the LEGO games without knowing anything about the franchise it is based on.

 

Time played: Around 4h

Trophies: 12/52 (18)

Rating:

 

 

End of event stats:

Games played/completed: 363/210  +6/+-0

Trophies earned: 8483  +76

Unearned trophies: 4870  +164

Completion: 63,65%  -0,69%

 

After a long time without a KYC event I enjoyed reading all the reviews of the games played here and some of them landed on my wishlist. I was lucky with my picks as I only disliked one of the games with The Darkest Tales. The other 5 were all quite good in my opinion so that's a plus.

Thanks to Voodoo_eyes for still hosting this event after all those years and maybe till the next one.

[Chirithy84]

Game 4

Fuga: Melodies of Steel

Cyber Connect

39.99 €

Fuga: Melodies of Steel -  Add on/ Deluxe Edition Upgrade € 19.99

Chirithy84's Fuga: Melodies of Steel Trophies • PSNProfiles.com

Finally, Fuga Melodies of Steel is 100% complete. Including all trophies.
----
And now for the main story. Peace still reigns, then the atmosphere of a second world war ensues, complete with a mad dictator. He pursues an ancient prophecy of powerful weapons of war from this legend./ And in his madness he is the first to attack villages, abduct adults; as well as children. Later it doesn't even stop there; He sacrificed his own people for his madness. // In the course of this game and this story, exactly eight brave children stand in his way. Exactly these children; who discovered one of the most powerful weapons of the past. Exactly these; who then protected her all along. Exactly these; the kids all the time...

----

I've played through Fuga Melodies of Steel three times; to get everything.

-----

Game 5

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2

Cyber Connect

39.99 €

Fuga: Melodies of Steel -  Add on/ Deluxe Edition Upgrade € 19.99

-----

Spoiler

 

--

Prologe
Malt, Kyle, Sheena, Hack and Chick were horrified to find their former teammates and friends across from them, as if under intense hypnosis-
Boron, Mei, Hanna, Socks and Britz stared blankly. Suddenly, Mei was loaded into the tank's chamber and with the gun fired the Tanaris fired with all his might. But this was only the beginning of a vision; which should be fulfilled. But not in the way Malt thought

--

Chapter 1
A year passed after the peace treaty between Berman and Casco was signed, bringing the war to an end. The children, no longer involved in a bloody conflict, all went their own way.
Everyone is now enjoying their peaceful lives; for which they had all fought. One day they all got a letter from the poor of Gasco asking them all to appear in Pharaoh, the new capital.

The children spent quiet hours in the capital while both tanks were examined by the soldiers. During this, the Tanaris were able to free itself, then spiraled out of the control in the imprisoning. Malt´s half friends and father from Vanilla itself where incaptive then from the Tanaris. Having done so, it fired a powerful shot and pierced all fortifications. Then it drove as if it were the wind itself. The children had no choice; than to take Tarascus himself and pursue the Tanaris with it. Once friend, now friend?
At the end of the pursuit, this battle from Malt's vision reappeared, only with the Tarascus they could only defend against the Tanaris. Until Malt and everyone with him were killed by the Tanaris' soul weapons. Then Malt returned to the in-between world with a second chance before the fight. But then he was able to defeat the Tanaris with the others and bring back his sister, little Mei.

--

Chapter 2
Following in the footsteps of the Tanaris, the children reached a ruined harbor. Dropped by a devastating attack. This port serves as a hub for airships, a new mode of transportation. Which played an essential role in the rebuilding of Gasco./ At the end of the second act, the friends had to fight the Tanaris again. But they managed to free Boron and Socks from the clutches of their only silver bullet. So the two became part of the team again. And then the Tanaris had to step down again with two few combatants. But who was the mysterious mastermind behind it all? Who is Hanna talking to all the time?We'll find out.

--

Chapter 3
When they reached the port, Malt was greeted by a crowd of children. He heard from the children that there was a man there; who would hand out comic pages. One who would be dressed like Count Nouvellune. As in the Adventures of Sucre./ And at the end of the battle area reached just like before its predecessors, a little more of the story is revealed as before. There the story is revealed as to what the two or three war machines are. Like the thousands of then..

 

 

There are also new skills
of the children and also those in dungeons. As well as in battle and as well as in dialogues between the villagers and the heroes in the tank. And don't forget a new upgraded tank to use. With even more possibilities!

----

---

I am not even able finishing tis game, but had fun with this two games... and even try to finishing the second  title of Fuga.

And yes, i had fun with the event here.. with the nice ppl and you vodoo_eyes

And I will try to play my games a little with more focus.... this was my first event here and i was really.. a disapoitment I think, my apologies.

---

Chirithy84's Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 Trophies • PSNProfiles.com

-----

And for everyone who is also interested in the second part, you won't regret it. You can expect more replay value, five possible endings. As well as various multiple answer options that give you more points in a new judgment system, which in turn grants you new abilities. So I wish you a lot of fun for the second part, only if you can really get excited about the second part of a role/strategy adventure!

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by Chirithy84

[voodoo_eyes]

Quick update on one of the games I played. Unfortunately Beholder 3 ended up dropping in my rating. The game expanded from the base apartment management sim, and started dipping into the busywork that the second game was focused on of being an office worker doing mundane tasks. That would've dropped the score and my interest only slightly, but then it simply wouldn't allow me to talk to the person I was specifically supposed to speak to for story reasons. It being a main objective, mean it's a game over if you fail it. So yeah, it wouldn't let me progress past that mission. It's now a 5/10 for being broken, and can't recommend it.


PS: If anyone would've been interested in getting impressions on some of the games that I originally had on my list (Anno Mutationem, Little Hope, Circus Electrique), I'd chuck them in this thread, should I end up getting to them before the next event.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 20

Game No. 6

Playing Time: 2+ hours

Trophies Earned: 0/24

 

Final Thoughts: I am dreadfully late getting this review in. My May was bat shit crazy so please remind me for 2024 to pick short and stupid games. On to my last game…

   I started the event with a simulator and ended with one as well. To keep it simple, the first one was a hundred times better than this game. Your Thief Simulator starts with a very basic tutorial of how to sneak around a neighborhood. Right from the start, you can tell this game is going to be clunky. The graphics are maybe PS1 quality, and that’s probably being generous. 
   The goal in this game is to steal stuff from houses. At first, you can only use open windows or break them with a crowbar, but there’s a sound wave bar, and you might be heard. Once you are in the house, you can wander around and search for loot. This is where the lack of graphics horrifically affects the gameplay. There is literally nothing to steal. The houses are bare of just about every modern convenience mankind has had since 1900. It’s like looting a dorm room before Move-In Day. There’s a bed, closet and desk, and that’s about it. The first house I went into, I came out with a pot and pan, and my big fence item was a fricking toaster!

   I think your neighborhoods get upgraded as you progress so you have a chance to steal artwork and cars, but I got nowhere close to that. You also have a safe house, where you can sell stolen loot on a fake EBay, buy tools like lockpicks, and get intel on homes. I think this is where the crutch of the game is. You need to case a house and watch for patterns when people come in and out, and hit it when nobody is home. You can also buy intel and it might tell you the bathroom window is ajar.

  Probably the best part of the game is your pal, Vinny. He will call you and give you missions to do. For the time I played, the missions worked great as a tutorial, and there’s much more to the game than I expected. There is a skill tree that will make things easier, like upgrading to a bigger backpack for more loot. There’s also a workbench where you can assemble tools and devices.

  But for all the story and mission stuff the game has to offer, the gameplay itself vastly suffers. It’s just not that much fun. Better graphics and a more detailed world would’ve grabbed my attention more. But it almost feels like you are in the house from Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing video. Okay, not that bad, but uncomfortably close. 
I failed again to earn a trophy and was kinda clueless as to why. Then I looked at the trophy list and one of the easiest to earn is a bronze for stealing five TV’s. Yet, of the six houses I broke into, I only found one TV! 

 Yeah, highly doubtful I return to this one.

Grade: 

 

 

[Kevvik]

Finished the last couple DLC trophies on Disaster Report 4, still not a very good game.

 

Also finished the plat for Psychonauts 2. A little bit easier than the first game but this whole series is just so charming. A really fun experience.

 

Lastly, finished my first story run of Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion. Last boss fight was a bit of work but storywise it finished out all right. The combat takes a bit of time to get used to though. I’ll upgrade to 5/10.

[voodoo_eyes]

Another update from me.

 

Got the platinum in The Callisto Protocol. Nothing changed about my rating. It gets better ammo distribution towards the final two chapters, but that's just too late and it's still not enough to effectively kill enemies with anyway. Final boss fight is somewhat frustrating, as adds spawn, and if they do they'll insta kill you on max difficulty.

 

I've also returned to Mass Effect Andromeda.. The further I'm progressing with the story, the more bugs and glitches happen. Within the last 20 minutes the game softlocked twice on the same mission Once halfway through, once at the end. The multiplayer is also bugged, doesn't connect to servers at all. So it's a 6.5 now, instead of a 7.5 I believe I had given initially.

 

Quite disappointing to be honest.

 

My order of favorites kind of switched quite a bit.

 

• Afterparty
• Forspoken
• The Callisto Protocol
• Mass Effect Andromeda
• Hard West
• Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water
• Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
• Beyond a Steel Sky.
• Beholder 3
• Sundered

 

Only game I'd actively recommend ends up being Afterparty at this point.

[Taruta13]

Can I say something else about my final game? I said i was defending it, but, if yo really want to have the original experience...

 

 

Yeah, a remake of the original Persona 3 was trailer leaked, it's called Persona 3 Reload.

[Chirithy84]

one step to another..... I make proces....puh the second game is very changeling, than the first..

[xItsLesterx]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:54 AM, voodoo_eyes said:

Kill Your Completion 20

(Starts 1st of May 2023 and ends 31st of May 2023)

 

 

It's time again to have another round of trying out a few games over the course of a month.

 

 

The Premise
Participants will each choose a list of at least 5, and up to 10 0% games (or any number in.between) from their backlog and post them here so everyone can follow along. These games don't have to be pre loaded on your profile, as long as you own them already and haven't earned a trophy they count. Participants will start a new game from that list every few days for the next month. They WILL then post their thoughts on each game, and write a short review on the final day for each game. This can take any shape or form each person desires.

 

 

The starting time is whenever the 1st of May begins for you.

 

 

The Deeds

  Reveal hidden contents

Requirements to Join
Psnprofiles member for 1 month (or premium member)
Backlog of at least 5 un-started games
Desire to be part of something fun. 
A complete and utter dis-regard for your completion rate (for the next month)

How to Join
Say you want in
Post your list of the games YOU ALREADY OWN that you haven't started.
Post your completion percent for S&G.

Game Selection Suggestions
These are just suggestions, this will have no bearing on you being added to the event. These are just things that I think make for a more interesting selection of games overall.
- Variety is The Spice...: Try to avoid having more than 1 or 2 of the same type of game on there.
- Try Something New or Different - A list filled with AAA games/remasters that you've already played, from only two different series, is boring.
- Don't choose all games that all have average completion times under 10 hours: You're not fooling anybody. Sneaky participant is not sneaky.

 

TL;DR

  Reveal hidden contents

• final day of sign ups will be the 1st of May (2023)
• the event begins whenever the 1st of May begins in your timezone
• pick 5 - 10 games that are at 0% and play them during the respective amount of days (examples: 5 games/6days each ; 10 games/3 days each - this means consecutive days.
• Games have to be a 0%, no exceptions.
• don't pick only short and easy games
• post your list of games
• do yourself a favour and install/preload your games on the system. Less time wasted for patches to download, etc
• each game should be played for at least 3 hours total, throughout the X number of days allocated to them (equal number of days for each game)
• You can't switch a game out once you've already started it.
• Write a review/impression/thoughts on the game you played, before moving on to the next one (final review is mandatory, regular updates are optional)
• If you don't want to miss the start of the event, follow the thread

 

Participants

  Reveal hidden contents

 

ArcticCress

  Reveal hidden contents

9th Dawn III

Akiba's Beat

Digimon Survive

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate

Witch on the Holy Night

 

Chirithy84

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Star Ocean Devine (JRRG/ Sci-Fi)

2. Tales of Arise (common JRPG like the other Tales of game, but better..)

3. God of War: Ragnarök

4. Fuga:  Melodies of Steel

5. A Space for the Unbound

 

GT__Jedi

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Kona

2. 11-11: Memories Retold

3. Tchia

4. Life is Strange: True Colors

5. The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief

 

Hemiak

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Superhot

Alien: Isolation

Hyper Light Drifter

Tsushima

Assault Android Cactus

 

GoW (2018)

Biomutant

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Plague Tale: Innocence

Dreams

 

Kevvik

  Reveal hidden contents

Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion

Contrast

Wytchwood

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

Sakura Wars

Psychonauts 2

 

MarkusT1992

  Reveal hidden contents

Tails of Iron

Neptunia ReVerse

Call of Duty: Modern Warefar 2 Campaign Remastered

The Darkest Tale

Tunic

LEGO The Incredibles

 

PerryToxteth

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Ship Graveyard Simulator
2. Warsaw
3. Last Day of June
4. Strategic Mind: Blitzkrieg
5. Thief Simulator
6. Five Dates

 

Psy-Tychist

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Tales of Iron.

2. Dread Nautical.

3. The Midnight Sanctuary.

4. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight.

5. Superhot

6. The Fall Pt.2: Unbound.

 

purgta

  Reveal hidden contents

1. The Bard's Tale IV

2. I am Setsuna

3. Jak and Daxter

4. Jisei

5. Legend of Dragoon

 

slicknick3822

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

2. Ghost of Tsushima

3. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

4. Life is Strange: Before the Storm

5. Horizon: Zero Dawn

6. Persona 4 Golden

 

Taruta13

  Reveal hidden contents

1. The Last Campfire
2. Rogue Galaxy
3. Kingdom Hearts III
4. Ni No Kuni: Revenant Kingdom
5. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS4)
6. Asdivine Saga (PS4)
7. Yooka-Laylee
8. Disgaea 1 Complete
9. Heirs of the Kings (PS4)
10. Persona 3 Portable

 

voodoo_eyes

  Reveal hidden contents

1-3     Sundered

4-6     The Callisto Protocol

7-9     Hard West

10-12 Beholder 3

13-15 Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water

16-18 Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2

19-21 Mass Effect Andromeda

22-24 Beyond a Steel Sky

25-27 Forspoken

28-30 After Party

 

 

Vulpine9Tails

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Assassin's Creed Liberation Remastered

2. Crysis Remastered

3. Ghost of a Tale

4. Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning

5. Tamarin

 

 

 

Any idea when the next event will take place? Been wanting to join and always find out about it when it’s already started ?

[Psy-Tychist]

On 31/05/2023 at 7:39 AM, voodoo_eyes said:

The next event will only be in November, as every 6 months seems to work out better currently than ever 4 months. We'll see, if there's enough interest to keep the event going that way.

 

@xItsLesterx, this is what the OP has mentioned about when the next one is and the frequency it will be run.

[voodoo_eyes]

11 hours ago, xItsLesterx said:

Any idea when the next event will take place? Been wanting to join and always find out about it when it’s already started

 

It's currently pretty set, that it'll always be in May and November of each year.

[Hemiak]

Finished Eldest Souls a week or so after the event ended, then went back and cleaned up Superhot. Finishing up my first run of Alien:Isolation now, but I’ve been side tracked by a new DBD chapter and the anniversary event so progress is slower than I’d like. 

[Taruta13]

On 5/31/2023 at 1:39 AM, voodoo_eyes said:

Forspoken - Not living up to it's price tag

Why am I not surprised?

 

Poor Square-Enix, they threw all their eggs into that basket and the eggs got rotten. They had to turn back to their OP to save them from bankruptcy. Thank goodness Final Fantasy XVI did as well as it did despite being only sellable to adults due to all the M-rated content scattered about.

 

Then again, they could have clearly gone bankrupt because, well, you know, you try to collab with one of the biggest comic book superheroe multiverses and... eh...

 

Here's to Kingdom Hearts 4 and hopefully some more information and hopes that Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince gets trophy support. That franchise was my favorite before Dragon Quest Builders... Square-Enix, dood, where is the Dragon Quest Builders 3 reveal, huh??? ?