Kill Your Completion - Catch 22

[ProfSeajay7]

So, I am back from my trip and this review is a day late. I could have noped out of the hotel a day early, but then where would I go? Rebooking a flight is a pain in the kaiser roll, and I am recovering from jet lag, so let's just call the review and be done with it...

 

 

After revisiting The Food Network thanks to hotel TV and seeing a Survivor-style show called Ciao House, I may have to trash my usual outro and create a new one without any Italian words in it. Oh how far Food Network has fallen, and not a single sign of Cooking Channel in sight.

 

Woes betide the fall from grace of good cooking shows after Alton Brown went HD with his Good Eats series as a bald guy , let's get onto the review of this Vita title. This is a remake of the original Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice for the PS3. Like Disgaea 5 Complete and Disgaea 4 Complete+ did, this game adds in all the DLC episodes and content, and there are trophies for every last one. I don't even know if the platinum is doable anymore since two of the trophies require you to reach leader boards. I may have shot my account in the foot with an unobtainble. They also retro-added my two favorite Disgaea 4 characters as playable unlocks in this game, Fuka and Desco, and they added another new episode involving a rival demon academy which ends up getting two new characters, both female and former members of said academy. (Those characters got added into Disgaea 4 Complete+ as Dark Assembly bill unlocks.)

 

Still, it was fun for what it was worth - a portable Disgaea game you can play on the go and I did not want to bring my Playstation 4 Pro in a suitcase. (I did bring my PS5 in a suitcase when I went to Orlando to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter so I could play Hogwarts Legacy on my last account during the nights, but since my parents shared a hotel room with me and slept early, it was tough having to wear earphones at night.)

 

While the visit to RPG Limit Break 2024(which is still going on) didn't pan out well(due to irritable throat syndrome, I got told to leave because the feed was picking my coughs, so I had to spend the rest of the time there in the game room wearing a mask), at least this game was a nice trip back to PS3 days. The story of Mao, the honor student of Evil Academy, where doing mischief is good and being nice is delinquency, and how he enslaves a young soldier called Almaz(one of my favorite Disgaea characters ever as he constantly worries about Princess Sapphire who look like Elsa with long hair and wearing a very sexy fur coat) and steals his 'hero title' to destroy his father and the reason he wants to commit patricide is so hilarious funny and a nod to those poor gamers out there who lost a lot of save progress when bad stuff happened it's satirical, this is my favorite Disgaea story.

 

I doubt that NISA will ever petition for a Disgaea 3 Complete, but I'd play it.

 

Profile Completion %: 86.78% (-1.78%)

 

Unfortunately, I didn't put a completion % for my last game so this is covering both that game and this one. I was so busy prepping for my trip that I forgot to put that stat down.

 

Now I'm going to put up the next game, but I don't think I'll be able to play it today as I need to take a nap and get back to stuff I was neglecting...

 

Game #8: Final Fantasy VIII

 

No, the fact that Final Fantasy EIGHT is the EIGHTH game is pure coincidence, I didn't set it up this way. 😜

 

FFVIII was my favorite of the Playstation Trinity. Trophy-wise, it's the one game I'm eager to go back too. A lot of people hate the enemy level scaling system but I've read guides which make it so that you can get super powerful by the middle of Disc 3 once you get the right Guardian Forces and I intend to follow that guide. If Square-Enix decided to try their hand at making a three-game triology covering the story of Final Fantasy VIII like they are doing with Final Fantasy VII, I might get tempted to try it out.

Edited May 24 by ProfSeajay7

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

I haven't checked in in a while but I also haven't managed to play much. These two games were things I played the day of my last reviews, just hadn't gotten around to writing something yet.

 

 

Game #14: Redout 2

Playtime: about an hour

Trophy completion: 5/53, weighed as 7%

 

Making my list from the start even more worthless, I decided I wanted to play a racing game and chose this one.

 

I like it a lot and will certainly play more of it. It's the closest I can get to modern F-Zero.

 

 

Game #15: Assassin's Creed Mirage 

Playtime: about two hours

Trophy completion: 2/51, weighed as 5%

 

Final Review

 

Ugh. Ubisoft promised a breath of fresh air but this game is more like a wet fart. There is still everything from the RPG games - talent trees, too many weapons/outfits, the likes - so it's not really back to form, the only thing that was fixed was the bloat.

 

Final rating:  - I expected much more, the only thing this is more of is of the same. I'm afraid the Assassin's Creed that I loved is truly dead. If Shadows doesn't fix this then I'm done.

 

Ratings of owned games:

 

Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage - 

 

Ranking of PS+ games:

 

Definitely going to play more of

1 - Ghost Of Tsushima

2 - Planet Coaster

3 - Redout 2

4 - Maneater

5 - Trials Of The Blood Dragon

6 - Just Cause 4

 

Definitely going to buy

 

Probably going to play more of

7 - Tunic

 

Probably going to buy

8 - Spider-Man 2 

9 - Everspace 2

 

Probably not going to play more of

10 - Mystic Pillars

11 - Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

 

Probably not going to buy

12 - Hogwarts Legacy

 

Already deleted

13 - Power Wash Simulator

[PerryToxteth]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:51 PM, grumpaluffagus_1 said:

Game #3: LEGO 2K Drive

Time played: 28 hours

Trophy progress: 12/39 (18%)

 

The open world is really well done, there is so much to do. The collectibles are everywhere. Some are simply out in the open and others require making jumps at top speed or some precision bunny-hopping from ledge to ledge. None of that is too difficult. Where some difficulty can come in is with the on-the-go events in the open world. For the platinum, a gold medal is required in every one and while simply finishing them is very easy, getting gold requires very precise steering, drifting and jumping at decent speeds. I pulled off the gold medal time in three of them and they took me about 15 to 20 minutes each. It might be possible to cut that down if someone has figured out a shortcut and posted a guide, but it isn't too difficult to figure out on your own.

 

Now, I feel obligated to mention the grindy trophies. There are four that really stand out as being a monotonous grind with no true in game benefit. The first is to wreck 100 times; this will likely take about an hour, but will not be completed naturally since it is very difficult to do unintentionally. The second is to jump over a missile 50 times, not difficult but is easiest to do with a friend or a second controller since the AI does not cooperate here. This likely has the same time requirement and honestly neither one of these is too bad, they just won't occur naturally. The worst are the drive 3K and 6K miles trophy (why are these in miles when the game is in meters?). 

Nice review! Here’s some advice to make it easier:

- Don’t sweat the gold times on events until you unlock some top cars. Some are near impossible until you get a certain vehicle. And others, are just near impossible.  Took me hours to get through a couple of the drift events. I can give tips when you get to that point.

 

- 100 wrecks is actually easy. There’s a mission where you have dynamite strapped to you and if you go too fast, you’ll explode. Hit the gas immediately and you’ll explode in seconds. Rinse and repeat. It was one of my earlier trophies when I realized this exploit.

 

- You need a second controller for the missile hop. Once you get set up near a missile spawn for the second car, it goes by pretty quick.

 

- The 6K is brutal. Good job on using the Test Track rubber ban method. 
 

- There’s a YouTuber that made Collectible runs videos. There’s no way to find all of them without help. Especially when some collectibles like the carrot are near impossible to see.

 

Best of luck! Definitely worth an Ultra Rare plat! 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #16: Bee Simulator

Playtime: about an hour

Trophy completion: 9/51, weighed as 12%

 

Following @voodoo_eyes in "I'd never have played that if it hadn't been on PS+"...

 

It's like My First Flight Simulator. If my daughter had been eight instead of three, I might've put it on for her to play.  It's going low on my list of things to play but I'm not exactly saying no either, I might be so without energy at some point that anything more complicated or energetic is too much.

 

Ratings of owned games:

 

Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage - 

 

Ranking of PS+ games:

 

Definitely going to play more of

1 - Ghost Of Tsushima

2 - Planet Coaster

3 - Redout 2

4 - Maneater

5 - Trials Of The Blood Dragon

6 - Just Cause 4

 

Definitely going to buy

 

Probably going to play more of

7 - Tunic

 

Probably going to buy

8 - Spider-Man 2 

9 - Everspace 2

 

Probably not going to play more of

10 - Bee Simulator

11 - Mystic Pillars

12 - Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

 

Probably not going to buy

13 - Hogwarts Legacy

 

Already deleted

14 - Power Wash Simulator

[ProfSeajay7]

Getting near the end of the event with a really nice game... (EDIT: I fixed the images to include the trophy icon for the last trophy earned for this game and the last one, since I was being lazy.)

 

 

Review:

 

Of all the original Playstation-era titles, I was in the Squall Leonheart camp back when FFVIII released. I didn't care much about graphics back then, but thank goodness that when they ported the game to the PS4, they used the PC version and put a hoover vac to the graphics for character models! I saw the memes of troll-face Squall and knew that pure ports are not the way to go with games that didn't age well. 😜

 

For a lot of people, this game was a turn-off due to the usual strat of grinding to max level and crushing the game didn't work here due to the enemies matching your level. However, after seeing an old FAQ about how to power level and use the Boost abilities to get passive stat boosts once you got certain Guardian Forces in Disc 3, following that guide made the game more enjoyable and made me focus on the story rather than the gameplay, which is great as this game has a powerful storyline and much cleaner FMVs than FFVII ever had. No offense to the people who made those claymation-style CGIs back in the day, but VIII has VII beat. Same with the models, no more Popeye arms!

 

 

Anyways, we owe it to Balamb Garden for introducing the coolest card game known to man in Triple Triad.* Without it, FFXIV would have never gotten the coolest mount ever for the most inane collect-a-thon ever. Also, the music for playing Triple Triad has become one of the coolest earworms known in the universe! I will definitely be revisiting this one as I haven't even gotten to the Dollet Mission yet.

 

* Queen's Blood in FFVII Rebirth is trying to pull up to it, but it's not even going to make a close second to me, should I ever care to play Rebirth. 😛

 

Completion %: 86.25% (-0.53%)

 

And now for a...

 

Preview:

 

Game #9: Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

 

 

Since we are on the subject of FFXIV, another thing that it pulled from its predecessors was the entire realm of Ivalice involving the original Final Fantasy Tactics and even Fran, who is one of the playable characters in FFXII. They really hit most of the marks recreating this character into FFXIV.  For those asking, all of the Ivalice stuff is introduced after you clear the Stormblood story line in a series of 24-player alliance raids(3 treams of 8 people if you don't play FFXIV) where Rabanastre is in ruins, with the Garlean Empire taking the place of the Rozalia Empire in this reality.

 

I know this game is going to be a cu** and a half to platinum due to the requirement of clearing Trial Mode, with the final battles being the worst battles ever. Not to mention having to invoke EVERY concurrence, and Black Hole is the hardest concurrence to invoke in the entire game!

 

However, unlike the original FFXII, there is a speed-up function so grinding isn't too long in the tooth(4x speed is best used in fights once you set up the right gambits, you can just AFK every minor fight) and they have guides for how to stock up on the dummy weapon Seitengrat, the invisible longbow that is not only the most powerful bow weapon but the STRONGEST WEAPON IN THE ENTIRE GAME. Yeah, they forgot to remove a weapon with 750 attack and 75% evasion. I will definitely try to RNG manip three of those.

 

For now, however, I will probably just be trying to get through the first part of the game. Wish me luck, as this is the penultimate title. Once I finish this session, the remaining four days of May will be chillaxing to Georama building and dungeon crawling in psuedo-dungeons while building up weapons.

Edited May 24 by ProfSeajay7

[PerryToxteth]

On 5/22/2024 at 8:21 AM, Psy-Tychist said:

Game 1: Submerged - Apocalyptic Big Sister Simulator.

 

Great review! You summed up this game perfectly. You also  just reminded me that it has a sequel I should play. 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

4 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

Great review! You summed up this game perfectly. You also  just reminded me that it has a sequel I should play. 

I've only played the sequel, but I liked it while it lasted.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 22

Game No. 4

 

 

Playing Time: 4-5 hours

Trophies Earned: 10/30 (15%)

 

Final Thoughts: OK, so I’m an idiot. I anticipated this game to be the latest golf game for the PS5. The one with the legendary Masters Tournament and hallowed ground Augusta National Golf Club. Five minutes in and I can’t find it. What the…

  
That would be EA Sports PGA Tour.  This is PGA Tour 2K23. How in the name of Curtis Strange could I possibly mix those two up???

 So now, I have 40 hours of grinding on a game that I probably would’ve skipped. There’s nothing wrong with the game, but I just platinumed PGA Tour 2K21 a few months ago, and now it just feels like I hit the reset button. As anybody who has played the FIFA franchise, they’re fun games, but there’s not all that much new content added year by year.

  This game is remarkably similar to its predecessor. Pretty much the same look and way too many of the same courses, though they did add Pebble Beach. The big claim to fame for this game is they got Tiger Woods to add his brand to it. And his ugly mug is all over the place. It would have been fun had they had some side game exclusively for Tiger’s career. They could’ve done a mini-version of Hello Neighbor with Tiger’s ex-wife chasing your character around the house while she tries to impale you with a 4-iron. Or maybe a driving simulator with your character driving too fast on a curvy road while juggling a cellphone, Starbucks Latte and cigarette. I digress. As you might’ve sensed, I’m not a Tiger Woods fan. 
  Other than Tiger, the game is pretty much the same. You try to level up your character by playing a season on the PGA Tour. Some, but not all of the Major Tournaments are here. All tournaments played at a PGA course are in the game (TPC Scottsdale, TPC Deer Run, etc.). Cool, except these were all in the previous game. 
  I did manage to get the one MP trophy out of the way in Matchmaking, and it only reiterated why I believe the Fall and Decline of Western Civilization has its roots in gaming servers. Three other people joined and one had a terrible connection which prolonged their shots by minutes. One quit halfway through, and the third person with a Weed reference in their profile name, started cussing me out bc the PGA character I chose, had cost him $900 in online sports betting. I heard “ F you Colin!” at least 50 times in 15 minutes. Thankfully, there’s only one trophy tied to socializing with the dregs of the gaming world. 

That’s pretty much all I got. I will slowly chip away (no pun intended) at this platinum over the summe/fall. Playing a round of gaming golf before bed is always a good way to unwind your day. Unless you play in Matchmaking. 

 

Next Up: Rustler

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #17: Sonic Frontiers

Playtime: about half an hour

Trophy completion: 3/41, weighed as 9%

 

Another demo I figured I'd give a go. Unfortunately the gameplay seems finicky to me and the setting seems like a Zelda BotW rip-off. 

 

I might play this more but only if it's available very, very cheaply.

 

Ratings of owned games:

 

Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage - 

 

Ranking of PS+ games:

 

Definitely going to play more of

1 - Ghost Of Tsushima

2 - Planet Coaster

3 - Redout 2

4 - Maneater

5 - Trials Of The Blood Dragon

6 - Just Cause 4

 

Definitely going to buy

 

Probably going to play more of

7 - Tunic

 

Probably going to buy

8 - Spider-Man 2 

9 - Everspace 2

 

Probably not going to play more of

10 - Bee Simulator

11 - Mystic Pillars

12 - Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

 

Probably not going to buy

13 - Hogwarts Legacy

14 - Sonic Frontiers

 

Already deleted

15 -Power Wash Simulator

 

 

Just 5 more games to go. Following my current plan, 2 more PS+ demo/game titles and 3 more titles that I actually own and play more of than a maximum of one hour. Edit: looking at my original tentative list, I think Kena Bridge Of Spirits is one I absolutely want to try.

Edited May 25 by Oobedoob S Benubi

[purgta]

Game #4 Dave the Diver

 

 

 

The game is divided into ocean exploration and restaurant management. You can explore the sea twice a day with the option of night diving also, later on. There are no time limits while diving. The pixel art graphics look great. So far, I have always had some story or side quest goal, whenever diving. I haven't had to just go diving just to get to the next day anyway.

 

I wasn't a big fan of the game at the start but the further I got the more fun I found I was having. I had a lot more fun when I trained my staff to pour drinks for me. Most nights now, I just make wasabi and clean up. The game seems to have something new happening every day. There are still gameplay mechanics unlocking for me in the fifteen in game days I have been playing. My favourite part of the game is probably whenever you get a cutscene at the restaurant. Characters can be pretty fun with the chef probably being my favourite.

 

The game controls fine on console. The only issue I have had so far was the hook that needs you to use the analogue sticks. It can feel a bit awkward. I have not used weapons much outside of boss fights but the sniper rifle seems the clear winner so far. I have only faced three bosses so far but they seem fine.

 

I am not sure if the game is really for me but I can see why it got so popular. I am not sure if I will finish it but I enjoyed my time with it so far. Last up for me is Star Ocean: the divine force.

[ProfSeajay7]

I am so mad right now.

 

I forgot that they delisted EVERY FINAL FANTASY GAME ON PS+, so now you have to pay full price for the games. This didn't matter with FFVIII as it was on sale, but I had to pay $50 for FFXII.

 

I could have just gone to Gamestop to get a physical version but I am lazy. I had to transfer money so now I have only 50 bucks in my saving account. Screw you, Sony. 📺

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

2 hours ago, ProfSeajay7 said:

I forgot that they delisted EVERY FINAL FANTASY GAME ON PS+, so now you have to pay full price for the games. This didn't matter with FFVIII as it was on sale, but I had to pay $50 for FFXII.

Wait, why don't you just buy them some other time when they are on sale?

[ProfSeajay7]

57 minutes ago, Oobedoob S Benubi said:

Wait, why don't you just buy them some other time when they are on sale?

Then I would fail the challenge because I wouldn't have that game to play this time of the month.

 

I'm not arguing, it's fine, I didn't go bankrupt or anything, but I should have remembered that Sony said FFVII-XII were being removed from PS+ last month. It just hit me when I didn't want it to.

Edited May 25 by ProfSeajay7

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 22

Game No. 5

Rustler

 

 

Playing Time: 4-5 hours

Trophies Earned: 7/26 (20%)

 

Final Thoughts: This game looked like some Medieval chicanery so I gave it a go - and it is in that realm -  I’m just not sure if it’s good.

For one, this is a throwback game. With an overhead camera, and graphics from PS 1 days, this is feeling very early 2000s. I think the developers were trying to make a Medieval version of Grand Theft Auto. And we’re talking, the EARLY versions of GTA that would only be played for nostalgia these days.

  Just like GTA, you can steal vehicles (horses and carts in this game) and run over people and just make a total F’ing mess of things. And eventually, the authorities will get alerted and come after your ass. This time, when Knights in Shining Armor show up, it’s NOT a good thing. They’ll lock you up! 
  The story starts with you being a guy named…Guy. I guess this character is based on the protagonist in Bully. You’re a local thug who’s looking for a fast way to make money and rip shit up. Quests will come along, story-related or side quests, and if you complete your tasks, you earn money and skill points. Quest tasks are all over the place, scare people dressed up as the Grim Reaper, steal horses, deliver X to Y, etc. There’s no commentary, just Charlie Brown drones blah blah blahing in the background. You can read along with the text and I think it’s intended to be funnier than it actually is. 
  When you complete the quest, you can spend your skill points on the proverbial health, hit points, stamina boosts, ammo levels (for crossbows), etc. I quickly changed tactics to spend skill points on not losing your weapons if you get caught (bc it sucks to backtrack), and other perks to make life easier like not having to get off your horse to pick items up. 
   The negatives - the overhead camera is only north facing. Sometimes it’s tough to see where you are going. A 360 cam would’ve been nice. Movement can be downright horrid, especially on horseback. Your horse will collide into an object and there are times you cannot get the horse back on track. Even dismounting sometimes won’t fix your stuck horse.
 Fighting mechanics aren’t that great either.

  In the end, I was expecting more. The fun factor is just not setting off fireworks here. Lots of restarting from last checkpoints bc the movement mechanics have failed you. The story is here…sorta. Not sure if I have the stamina to finish this one bc the plat requires you to 100% the game.

Grade: 

 

Next Up: AC Odyssey 

[MarkusT1992]

Game #5: Pac-Man World Re-Pac

 

 

Pac-Man World was the first venture of Pac-Man into another genre. At least as far as I know. While the original game had Pac-Man collect pellets in mazes while avoiding the ghosts, this game is a jump and run. The original was released in 1999 for the PS1 and this remake in 2022.

 

The game starts with acutsceen where the ghosts want to capture Pac-Man during his birthday party. Instead of capturing Pac-Man himselfe they capture all of his family members because the look like Pac-Man. Pac-Man then goes the Ghost Island to rescue his family.

 

From the start of the game you have three worlds unlocked. A pirate beach, ruins and a space world. Each world has a few levels to complete with a boss level at the end.

In each level you can collect pellets and fruits. With the fruits you can open doors with switches or Pacman letters. The switches eather unlock a way forward in the level or spawn some pellets and power pellets. Each level except for the first one also had a maze stages to unlock. In those stages you play an original like level. If you collect all the pacman letters you get to a bonus stage where you have to collect fruits and pellets for some extra points. For most of the doors in a level you have to backtrack a bit because the required fruit is a bit further in the level. Collecting everything in a level awards you a golden crown for that level and you need all for a trophy.

The above gameplay is repeated in all the levels I played so far. I finished the first two worlds (pirate beach and ruins) with gold crowns. While the pirate beach was quite easy, the ruins got more difficulte already. In total there are six worlds so the game could get even more challengeing.

 

Time played: About 2h

Trophies: 9/41

Rating: 7,0

 

My last game will be MediEvil

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #18: Kena Bridge Of Spirits

Playtime: about half an hour

Trophy completion: 2/42, weighed as 3%

 

I was looking forward to playing this a lot. Having played the tutorial area, it seems like fun, even if the main character has a tendency to do the "Dreamworks tilted smile" every five seconds.

 

 

Game #19: LEGO 2KDRIVE

Playtime: about half an hour

Trophy completion: 2/39, weighed as 2%

 

Figured I'd enter another racing game. At the start it felt like a LEGO version of Forza Horizon, then it became clear it had The Crew 2's idea of instantly switching vehicle types, then come the first race it became clear there was Mario Kart in there too.

 

So the game has a lot of things from other games, but unfortunately few ideas of its own. It didn't really appeal to me, I'd much sooner continue on Redout 2.

 

Ratings of owned games:

 

Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage - 

 

Ranking of PS+ games:

 

Definitely going to play more of

1 - Ghost Of Tsushima

2 - Planet Coaster

3 - Redout 2

4 - Maneater

5 - Trials Of The Blood Dragon

6 - Just Cause 4

 

Definitely going to buy

 

Probably going to play more of

7 - Kena Bridge Of Spirits

8 - Tunic

 

Probably going to buy

9 - Spider-Man 2 

10 - Everspace 2

 

Probably not going to play more of

11 - LEGO 2KDRIVE

12 - Bee Simulator

13 - Mystic Pillars

14 - Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

 

Probably not going to buy

15 - Hogwarts Legacy

16 - Sonic Frontiers

 

Already deleted

17 - Power Wash Simulator

[ProfSeajay7]

I thought the Summer Backlog Challenge didn't start on June 1 but on May 27... ah well, shows how little I read the OPs. 😜

 

Anyways, on to the next-to-last review...

 

 

I was on the fence about this game. To be fair, it is a fun game to break. The problem was that some of the the trophies are a bit difficult. However I just recently manipulated a full set of six Seitengrats, the best weapon in the game, and now I could probably rush to the Tomb of Raithwall, kick Belias' butt, and get my second job board for everyone.

 

The start of the game is a bit slow but thanks to Trial Mode, I got very wealthy very quick. Did you know you can get a Diamond Armlet in the first level of Trial Mode and sell it for six grand?

 

So now I left Vaan and his crew in the sewers of Rabanastre killing Malboros instead of going to, you know, rescue Penelo who got kidnapped by ruthless bounty hunters.

 

I'll probably come back to this one soon. I got 1/3 of the Concurrences and once I get everyone to Level 99, I should be doing fine. This game did rub me badly because I forgot that Sony, the blood sharks they are, removed all of the Final Fantasy titles from PS+ and doing that locked me out of the games I had downloaded on another account so I have to repurchase them for $58(8 dollars for FFVIII which was on sale, and the full $50 tag for this game) and this came at a bad time - I had just blown a load of $ on a hotel stay in Utah - but it could have been worse, it could have cost me my entire bank account!

 

Profile Completion: 85.27% (-0.98%)

 

But anyways, let's get to the final preview of the event... the final game I have to play... and it's a decent one!

 

Game #10: Dark Cloud 2

 

This was bound to show up. You have to plat the series and I already got halfway through the original Dark Cloud. There is no glitching here, but there are other ways to get overpowered early, so it's not a wash. This was the game I finished first when the series came out on the PS2, so it's the game I am more biased towards.

 

Anyways, since I will have four days to play it(from the 28th to the 31st), I'll be spending a lot less time advancing story and spending more time just building up weapons, mucking around with Georama, and doing what level challenges I can. I'll probably get to Chapter 3 before the end of the event. Ciao!

 

EDIT: Stupidly forgot to put in my profile completion. Oops!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27 by ProfSeajay7

[grumpaluffagus_1]

Game #4: Sable

Time played: 3 hours

Trophy progress: 14/57 (21%)

 

So this has been my favorite game of the challenge so far. Sable is an open-world game with a heavy emphasis on exploration over all else. It is a coming of age story about a girl, Sable, whose time has come to find her place in the world. So she sets out on her newly acquired hoverbike to collect masks, explore the world and learn more about the different paths her life might take. After the starting area, the game gives you very little direction for quests and progressing the story and so it is up to you to figure out the next step or just to simply wander the vast open world on your hoverbike until another potential activity presents itself. The quests are mostly to help the inhabitants of the world and learn more about them and what they do, so there is no cohesive narrative beyond exploration.

 

The gameplay itself is very reminiscent of the exploration aspect of Breath of the Wild. Almost every surface is climbable, but that is limited by your stamina. There is also a hover mechanic that you can use to glide from ledge to ledge. The games differ in that there is no combat and Sable serves to simply be a relaxing experience. You also have a hoverbike that you can upgrade using parts from various quests and vendors. The bike does struggle to go up some hills but the overall experience of riding it is very satisfying and so far the only way I have found to wreck it is by driving directly into a large lake.

 

Now this wouldn't be an open world game without collectables. First of all, there are the creatures that you collect for your vivarium. This is done by fishing or simply interacting with an insect in the open world. There are also chum, weird floating snakes with mouse faces (they're adorable!), which you find everywhere and can then return to the Chum mother for stamina upgrades. Fortunately, you only need 65% of these for the platinum and based on the number I have found so far that is easily accomplished just through basic gameplay.

 

Finally, I feel I have to talk about the performance of this game. The game is gorgeous and has a wonderful artstyle but there is nothing graphically that would explain why there are so many dropped frames. There were some sections where the framerate legitimately made my eyes hurt, which was really the only thing that stopped this from being a perfect game for me.

 

Overall: 9/10

 

Starting Percentage: 58.45%

Current Percentage: 56.94%

[ProfSeajay7]

I was about to buy this game as I enjoyed playing Breath of the Wild on the Wii, but then you said dropped frames and I was like "NOPE!"

 

Utter crying shame. But then again, I need to focus on my backlog and not waste time buying new stuff... until the HD-2D Dragon Quest 3 comes out. 😜

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Dave the Diver - Final Impressions

 

 

Time played: 6h

Trophies earned: 14/44

 

 

I may still play a little bit more of this today, but I don't think my opinion on it will change much. It's a conflicting game for me as it has things I enjoy and on the other hand it has things i loathe.

 

Visually it's a sort of 3D pixel situation, that works well enough. Sound design is solid, but there's no voice over. Instead we've got the random spurts of weird noises that I'm not a fan of.

 

Gameplay-wise it's several games packed in one. At least at this point it's fishing under water (with a harpoon) and running a sushi shop. This you do by preparing and discovering new dishes with the fishes you've caught. You don't do the cooking part, but the serving and pouring of drinks. All this is timed and eventually you'll need to hire staff to help you out with the demand. This earns money with which you'll upgrade your staff and diving gear. The more you upgrade the gear the longer and deeper you can dive and the more damage you do.

 

You'll get quests that you'll need to fulfill to progress the story. Most of the time the quest giver mentions in what area the items that you need are located. The day is also segmented into morning, afternoon and evening. The shop only runs in the evening though.

 

Now here's the thing, is it fun? For me, no not really. It is interesting though, which makes me kind of want to see what the rest of the story is like. Which leaves me sort of in a limbo of a decision. I do not like the grind factor at all, of having to fish on a daily basis to supply the shop (I hate fishing in games by default, which doesn't help). As such the game feels like a continuous chore that is also somewhat relaxing, until the serving in the shop starts. Apparently I'm in chapter 2 out of 7, and they keep introducing new gadgets and mechanics.

 

 

Game of the year? Fuck no, not even close. Interesting and novel, sure. A 6.5 for me. If I'd like to grind I'd bump it up by a point.

Edited May 30 by voodoo_eyes

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Due to time, I'm going to call it quits after one more game. So a catch-20 for me. Still a big hit to my completion percentage and doing 20 each time seems manageable instead of upping the number every time, this way I'll just do one game every three days.

 

Making my last game Mass Effect Andromeda, probably, since it's the main game I already own that I haven't finished before on other platforms.

[ProfSeajay7]

5 hours ago, Oobedoob S Benubi said:

Due to time, I'm going to call it quits after one more game. So a catch-20 for me. Still a big hit to my completion percentage and doing 20 each time seems manageable instead of upping the number every time, this way I'll just do one game every three days.

 

Making my last game Mass Effect Andromeda, probably, since it's the main game I already own that I haven't finished before on other platforms.

 

You did pretty good, although I think you bribed the mod so you could ignore the rule saying "Each game must be played for a minimum of three hours" so you could cram in 30 games instead of ten.

 

I would love to call time on my list, but, you know, May just has to have thirty ONE days in the month...

 

(Even then I would still be game-locked due to needing to wait one more night for June to roll in, but hey, at least I got some work done on FFXIV. I finally evolved my Arcanist to the twin jobs of Summoner and Scholar. I'll get Bard and then I won't have any more of the battle classes hanging around like dead dogs before Dawntrail. 😛)

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

10 minutes ago, ProfSeajay7 said:

You did pretty good, although I think you bribed the mod so you could ignore the rule saying "Each game must be played for a minimum of three hours" so you could cram in 30 games instead of ten.

Well, I don't know when that rule was added but I know it wasn't there in the old days. To be honest I constantly forget it's there.

 

If I do a 5-10 title list next time I'll put in three hours each again, but I said at the start if I just make it a PS+ dip event I'm going to stick to a maximum of one hour per game.

 

Anyway due to time constraints I've only played my 20th game for like fifteen minutes, until the first trophy popped 😎

 

It was kind of an experiment and I kind of liked it, I just wish I'd had more time.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #20: Mass Effect Andromeda

Playtime: under half an hour

Trophy completion: 1/56, weighed as 1%

 

A short final game just to get to twenty, since I don't see myself having PlayStation time tomorrow.

 

However, I did play a couple of hours of this game a year or two ago on Game Pass, so I am not writing this exactly blind.

 

Andromeda was rushed to release by EA and panned due to animations and bugs, but playing it years later after everything has been ironed smooth, I have to say it's a perfectly adequate game.

 

I think a large part of the hate stems from it being a Mass Effect game and having to live up to the original trilogy's reception, while actually trying to do a bunch of things differently, like having a new main character or making the game more of an open world than the previous games were.

 

Is Andromeda perfect? Nah. But neither are any of the first three games.

 

Final conclusion: 

An unfortunate launch and very well received predecessors made the hate for this game much bigger than it needed to be. It's not flawless but it's fun and it tried something new with its story and setting.

 

Ratings of owned games:

 

Jurassic World Evolution 2 - 

 

Mass Effect Andromeda - 

 

Assassin's Creed Mirage - 

 

Ranking of PS+ games:

 

Definitely going to play more of

1 - Ghost Of Tsushima

2 - Planet Coaster

3 - Redout 2

4 - Maneater

5 - Trials Of The Blood Dragon

6 - Just Cause 4

 

Definitely going to buy

 

Probably going to play more of

7 - Kena Bridge Of Spirits

8 - Tunic

 

Probably going to buy

9 - Spider-Man 2 

10 - Everspace 2

 

Probably not going to play more of

11 - LEGO 2KDRIVE

12 - Bee Simulator

13 - Mystic Pillars

14 - Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

 

Probably not going to buy

15 - Hogwarts Legacy

16 - Sonic Frontiers

 

Already deleted

17 - Power Wash Simulator

[ProfSeajay7]

I'm going to do what I did with FFXII:  Just wait until midnight, play the last hour of my last game doing nothing special, and then put up the final review and my final rankings. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, have to get some tests done by my family doctor to get a referral to an EMT since my stupid congestion caused the people at the charity event to drag me out of the room and politely inform me that I was not welcome to sit in on their streams anymore during that event so my mom is trying to get me a throat doctor to find out why the *kweh* I have had this stupid congestion problem for FIVE YEARS. 😷

 

I'll probably spend tomorrow trying to get some more stuff done in FFXIV so I can be ready for Dawntrail so the sooner I finish this challenge, the better.

Edited May 30 by ProfSeajay7