Popular Post AK-1138 Posted April 12, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2022 Platinum #700: Difficulty: 3.5/10 Playtime: 60-70 hours Life is... weird, huh? And vexating, confuzling, and mystifying, besides. You might even say life is... odd? A man wakes up an average Randomsday with an inexplicable yen for some sandboxy and open worldy motorcycling zombie bashing action (hands down, the best table leg-based close quarters combat since Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb!) in the verdant naturescapes of Tolerant Oregon, having been more or less conditioned not to expect much... and, well... it only turns out to be, likely as not, a man's 2021 Game of the Year experience; no big. Like I said, man, life is... unco. Yes, it's a word... look it up! Now, I'm not necessarily saying this is, like, Redline Redemption right here... but it does rather tend to embody the same aesthetic of graceful and ambient wonderment at a methodical pace. Which is doubly amazing considering the general post-apocalyptictitude of it all, courtesy--true to form--of the careless overreach of Hugh the Manatee, who may well one day doom us all outside of the realm of fiction, too. The hills may be alive(ish) with the sound of zombies (not least those damn Screamers and their brown note-inducing humming), but the awe-inspiring beauty of the Great Outdoors is not so easily put asunder. The same may well be said of the human spirit... which is something this particular game has in abundance. Despite overtures, seemingly endemic to the oeuvre, about the duality of man by way of copious references to being "in the shit," as it were, the game unflinchingly casts its lot with unfettered hope and optimism against all odds. Maybe this is what provided some unique resonance for me after having recently been somewhat stymied as to the overall intent of that other first party Sony zombie story... The tale of Corporal St. John's Zombie Burninating Motorcycle Club Band is a great deal more than just the unlikely story of a guy managing the Herculean feat of shaking the normally inexorably bouchedaggy stigma of wearing a backwards cap... I'll admit it, I made the same mistake as all too many characters in the game by having pegged him as just another gritty anti-hero. Whereas in truth, Deacon is a beacon of decency and comparative forbearance in a world in which the undead are only just slightly more dangerous than the various groups of survivors fighting over territory and dwindling resources: the key to their survival. But "Surviving Isn't Living" is more than just a catchy marketing slogan... it really is the key to the whole thing. The core strength of the narrative lies in its exploration of the variety of human responses to their new existence, and their journey to find a new purpose in the world, without too much inorganic taking of judgment or moral stands. Even people whose measures of survival are a little... extreme display a a kernel of something understandable that motivates their actions. Hey, even the various shopkeepers that dot the landscapes have stories to be told if you interact with them enough. Despite all the death and destruction, life endures. I'm deliberately painting with vague and broad strokes here, because I'm somewhere between having trouble conveying my exact experience, and suggesting that it really is best for you just to have your own experience without too many expectations. Suffice to say, it's a story that moved me deeply at points, in ways video game stories seldom do these days. It plays a blinder with a wonderful bit of keepaway with the copious cliches and pitfalls of the genre, without ever losing its emotional footing. To say nothing of the romantic subplot, which features one of the most disarmingly winsome-yet-complex pairings in the medium. My cashing in the platinum on February 14 was only partway unintentional. And you get to save the only non-zombie dog left in the world along the way, so there's that! Just give yourself to the experience and you may just have a special time. Well, I did, anyway. As for the gameplay, while hardly revelatory, it's a satisfying and weighty open world zombie-splattering romp all the same, with countless ways to turn the tables against the endless hordes of Shavis Cravis looking bastards. Some of the more effective tactics would make the 300 Spartans of Thermopylae justly proud. Speaking of hordes, absolute hordes of them dot the landscape, and you can run smack dab into one at a moment's notice. This not only forces you to keep on your toes, but can help engender some procedural awesomeness: one happened me while I was clearing out the last bandit camp, and actually took out the enemies before I ever had a chance to! Gotta thank the zombies for that trophy, I guess... oh, and there's also nests filled with evil zombie birds that hate your ass, so this is about the best Birdemic game we're ever likely to get. Aside from the aforementioned endless opportunities for some DIY CQC, there is a canny contingent of unique utilities with which to unleash untold units of Lake City Quiet Pills upon the undead, varying from bogstandard handguns and crossbows, to military grade sniper rifles... and a freakin' Tommy gun! Yep, you can wield a chopper while riding a chopper. Yo dawg... and all that. Of course, you can always opt to doo doo doo doo doo do it stealthy... there are enough makeshift oil filter suppressors lying about to make Snake cream his sneaking suit. Speaking of on-site procurement... it's essential to maintain your bike by scrounging up repair parts from your environs, as well as keeping her fueled with fuel cans strewn about, or by using some very conspicuously bottomless fuel pumps still extant. You only need to run out once to learn well the importance of habitually servicing your effervescent chrome gal... that's not to mention the understated thrill of learning to use the momentum of slopes to conserve fuel usage and holy shit I just realized how unintentionally sexual the preceding sentence came off. At any rate, you're bound to regard your comely and accommodating metal horse with the same affection as a fleshy Red Dead horse come time. ...Oops, I did it again, didn't I? I swear I did not outsource part of this review to Jeb Blankenship... for all his faults, his love seems pretty monogamous, if nothing else. As to the countenance of the Hunt... it's a bit Baby's First Open World, but thankfully, they largely stay away from potential pitfalls like grinding or missables. Most of them will just pop naturally as you engage in comparatively conservative open worldery. Ironically, the game only tasks you with attaining 3/4 of the collectibles... but this is one of those rare games whose collectibles are made with so much care and prove so conducive to the worldbuilding that I got 'em all anyway! Now, for this one I kind of went against my usual code and decided to cash in the platinum before doing the add-ons... I needed a milestone, and Days Gone proved more than worthy of one, so pop went the trophy. I must also admit I am a little worried about how the Challenge Mode stuff might potentially change my opinion of the game, so I also kind of wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still almost unanimously positive. Even should they change, I would like for this to forever remain the kind of monolith of unbridled positivism such a game experience has duly earned. This was exactly the kind of game I needed at exactly the right time, and it shall linger ever on in my heart and mind. Hell, I even find myself just driving around aimlessly from time to time, because it just puts me in a special place of zen, or something. Who knew how much unfettered existentialist joy could be derived from zombies and the art of motorcycle maintenance? The days are gone, but time shall never lose them... sometimes, life is good, man. Final Score: 9/10 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GarciaFever Posted April 12, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2022 #213 Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Original) #214 Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (2021) This is one of those game where I wish I had never started. At first glance, all of the trophies seemed like they wouldn't pose a problem (back when the original was first released), that is until I saw what was I needed to do for getting the platinum, and I knew it was gonig to be bullshit. Having to deal with 40-60 other people pushing, falling, and shoving each other trying to reach the finish line was so chaotic, it felt like I was part of a mob that you would see during Black Friday in the United States at some store like Walmart. Worst of all, Mediatonic, the original developers of the game switched (or got bought out, I don't know eactly), by some other company, and that is why the original servers are getting shut down as of May 9th, which would make another platinum unobtainable. Their solution: Make ANOTHER Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout game, and any progress or purchases that you made in the original would carry over. All I can say is that they should have the option of having private servers so that you can invite your friends and boost with each other. If not, then make it so that you can play by yourself against computers. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grimydawg___ Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 142 Dirt 5 Got it from PS+ I thought it was an OK game. Took around a solid two days of actual playing time to get 100% Maybe it was me, but there were times where the game would stutter lag, which was an annoyance. I don't know what have I'm gong for next. I bought so many games, yet I don't have the time to place as much as I'd like. Maybe play Horizon (both games) and then finish up something like Control for me? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Yoey_666 Posted April 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2022 #546 - Rage 2 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eispan Posted April 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2022 Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition (AS version) Hong Kong Legend 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol_WhippedXG Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 Finally earned my first Platinum Trophy on Playstation! It took me way longer than I expected to actually earn my first Platinum, but I wanted to make it something special. My original plan was Sniper Elite 3, but it's been difficult to find a reliable partner for Authentic difficulty in coop, plus a couple of multiplayer ribbons require 3 players. Eventually I'd like to get that done as well, but I figured I've waited long enough, and chose a game from a series that I love. I've already completed Trials Fusion and Trials Rising on Xbox, so I had prior experience. The big part was just shaking the rust off as I haven't played in a couple years. I still struggled a bit, as I'd say I have a lower skill than a lot of people who complete these games, I just have the persistence to keep trying. The hardest part for me was getting gold on Loose Screw. That skill game caused me so much frustration back on Xbox and unfortunately it didn't come any quicker here. I also had a much harder time earn the "Two is Better Than One" trophy, which requires you to beat Stonehenge on the tandem bike with zero faults. When I did it on Xbox, I had an irl friend around to help me, and while he didn't have much experience, it was still much easier than doing it solo with two controllers, like I had to do this time. This trophy probably took me 2 hours, where the first time it might have been 30 minutes. On top of that, it was physically painful to play that way. However, some things came much quicker this time, specifically the diamond medals on the dlc tracks. You have to earn 1 diamond in each dlc, the first time I did this, it must have taken 2-4 hours to get each. This time I grabbed both within 50 minutes. That was a relief as I was dreading earning those again. I'm really glad I chose this game to be my first, as Trials means a lot to me, hopefully this won't be my last platinum lol. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ShinySpidey Posted April 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2022 (edited) Elden Ring 95 hours and I haven't explored everything yet nor I've finished all the quest lines. I can't believe there are some people who are disappointed by this game. I get it might be not meant for everyone and it has some flaws but for me this is a masterpiece even though dungeons aren't so inspired as they often look similar and even though there are recycled animations from previous Souls. They really do not affect the overall experience, which is really unique in its own and extremely enjoyable. 9.7/10 Edited April 13, 2022 by ShinySpidey 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Dantes_994 Posted April 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2022 (edited) RIME The end is a new beginningObtain all trophies. FUN: 10/10 DIFFICULTY: 3/10 This game got really personal by the end so if you aren't into reading personal stuff online know that this is one helluva game and yet another proof that video games should be considered art. Spoiler I got this game back in February 2018 though PSN+ and got right into it. Never finished it though. At the time I was going through an extremely toxic breakup and simply could not handle just how emotional the game was becoming. So I deleted it and left it for a brighter future. 4 years have passed since then and, in the meantime, I lost both of my grandfathers. The happiest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. That was also the first time that I had ever lost someone and, while dealing with that loss has become something I am very proud of, this game struck so many cords within me that I could hardly breathe by the end. I am so happy that I didn't force through it 4 years ago and even happier that it returned to my life at a time like this. I know people who made this game won't be reading this, but thank you. Thank you a 1000x. I hope you are well. And to you, a fellow gamer who is reading this, take care of the people you love. They are the most beutiful things in the world. Edited April 13, 2022 by Johnathan994 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Moridin83 Posted April 13, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2022 #203 Prototype Sometimes a game will remind you that nostalgia is a product of enough time passing to forget how much something pissed you off. Prototype's platinum is that for me. The game itself isn't that bad, although the last few missions can be annoying even on normal, but hard mode really sucks the fun out of it. You are given all these powers, but you take so much damage, and get overwhelmed so quickly, you're basically reduced to running away to get anonymous, turn military, and steal another vehicle until it gets destroyed. The most recommended strategy for the final battle is to hide, and let the military do the first 70% of your job for you! I would actually say the game is fairly fun for a single playthrough, but between hard mode and platinum on all challenges, it drained most of the fun out of it for me. But I got it done, and now I can forget about it for another 6-10 years until the 24k re-remaster gets me suckered by nostalgia all over again!? 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post nestamar5 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online 4 Goddesses Online Master Trophy Rarity: 33.76% Proof you finished playing 4 Goddesses Online. Thank you for playing this far! This is my first time playing this game. Around the time this game was released, I was starting to get tired of Neptunia games. I went back to clean up the original and that was it, I didn't touch Neptunia for quite a while. That was a mistake, this game is fantastic and is one of my favorites in the franchise! I definitely would've loved this game even back then! The game is a single player simulation MMO, pretty similar to the .hack games on PS2. Neptune and the others are beta testing an MMO game called 4 Goddesses Online, a reoccurring game in the series. As they complete more quests, the game starts getting interfered with similar to .hack. The action is fast paced compared to other Nep games and there is no turn based combat, so most people will probably find this style of gameplay more engaging. Characters level up really fast and it makes grinding a non-issue. Even neglected under leveled characters will somewhat catch up to higher leveled characters pretty quickly. The game is overall pretty smooth, even with a lot of enemies and action on screen. There's only a handful of times I counted when the framerate took a serious nosedive. Given my experience with other Neptunia games, I'm kind of impressed. However, the game has a lot of minor problems and some ideas could be fleshed out more. The dungeons are incredibly small and only have one floor, some of them really could use 3-5 floors at least to further exploration. It would also pad out the 20-30 platinum time which is extremely short for an MMO. There are also a lot of small glitches that should've been patched but were left unattended. Sometimes the camera freezes in place and makes it difficult or impossible to see what you're doing. If the map didn't move with your character's location on it, this would be a painful rage quit. Plutia and Peashy's shop also don't sell accessories like they should after one of the update patches, so I had to play with only the ones I found in dungeons and DLC. I would love to see IF/Compile Heart make this kind of game again with at least a slightly more in-depth battle system and bigger dungeons. Also an online mode that actually works. I think a real Neptunia MMO would hold great potential as long as it's not rushed. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post RoastedPeanut Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 # 181 Difficulty: 5/10 Enjoyment: 8/10 Definitely a great release by FromSoftware. At first I wasn't that into the open world, but the more I played the more it grew on me. The final few bosses, apart from the actual final boss, were awesome. # 182 Difficulty: 3/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Another great entry in the Atelier series. This one was a bit on the easy side, but I'm a sucker for the series so I still really enjoyed my time with it 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jermster_91 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #100 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated 8 years ago I got my first Platinum Trophy and now I have my 100th. SpongeBob SquarePants is a fairly simple platformer that is fun, fairly easy and a pretty decent game to play as well. There are a few area that might be annoying, SpongeBob's dream sequence comes to mind as it was a little annoying but overall not much of a challenge. The game focus on you collecting Golden Spatulas and Patrick's socks as well. If you are looking for a easy platformer where you can just have some fun, this game will do that for you. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percy547389126yv Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 #1,167 PS4 version of Pretty Girls Rivers 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Phlegeth Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 (edited) #60 Radical Dreamer Acquire all trophies. I loved this game back on the PSOne. Soon as it was announced I knew I had to grab it. Playing through this for the plat, I never actually did everything. I played it multiple times, but everytime I started a fresh save. I think my favorite party back then was Serge, Riddell, and Orlha. I used Kid for my first playthrough where I did everything I could. Never really used her. And Irenes was my third. On my second playthrough I got to the fifth ending and remembered something and had to ask if Harle was needed for the Recruiter. Glad I did. I started New Game+ 2 right there. Because of that, I hit 99 while rescuing Riddell. My favorite ending was the one where Lynx and Harle were like married. It was very cute. Edited April 14, 2022 by Ilzakia 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post seyhano Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #83 Difficulty : 2/10 (Enlightened was grindy) Fun :9/10 Time : 21 Hours Unfortunately, the scenario seemed too short to me when I compared it to Metro Last Light. Despite everything, the pleasure of this game is really good. All that's left is the Metro Exodus. I can't wait to play. It's not a problem at all in terms of platinum, there's no compelling trophy in the game. If you're careful enough to get moral points for Enlightened, easy platinum. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geunc Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 (edited) #132: Shadow Warrior 3 (PS4) Difficulty: 3/10 Enjoyment: 7.0 Platinum Time: 5-8 hours Edited April 14, 2022 by geunc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Marvy_G23 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #400 Be Yourself Collect all Trophies 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 (edited) 506 643 Elden Ring To describe Elden Ring as the simply the latest entry in FROM Software's loose 'Soulsborne' series seems a little odd. As a pedestrian description, it is broadly accurate - Elden Ring may, like Bloodborne and Sekiro before it, never feature the word "souls" in title, (or in game,) but it is absolutely of the gameplay and philosophical lineage set by the original Demon's Souls and cemented with the Dark Soul's games... yet the descriptor does little to convey real sentiment of what sets Elden Ring apart. There is a certain expectation of iterative improvement that comes hand-in-hand with series or franchise entries, the shackles of which do a disservice to the magnitude of the advancement Elden Ring represents within its genre. Is Elden Ring the next Soulsborne game? Yes. Does Elden Ring feel like a step in the Soulsborne evolutionary journey? ...No, not really. Let me explain. There are, of course, a great swathe of elements contained within Elden Ring that are iterative from previous souls games. Truth be told, there are actually remarkable few elements of Elden Ring that feel wholly new aside from the scale and non-linearity of the world. Each individual component of Elden Ring does feel familiar to the Souls-enthusiast... however, the sheer scope, ambition and grandeur of Elden Ring as a product is such a exponential expansion of the previous games, as to somewhat dwarf the notion of iterative linearity. Elden Ring does not feel like the next incarnation of a progressive design concept, as much as the realisation of it. It does not feel like a point on a continuing line, in the way the majority of franchise entries, or spiritual successors generally do. It feels more like the destination they were pointing towards. The final product at the end of a decade-long design workshop, if you will. Elden Ring is, fundamentally, a souls game. As such, it is an exploratory mystery game, a challenging fantasy action game, a gothic horror survival game, a loot-based runner, a rogue-like dungeon crawler, and even a multiplayer fighting game at times. To varying extents, this was true of all previous souls games. However, Elden Ring also adds a new primary genre on top of all those elements: Elden Ring is also an open-world game. That change should, by rights, be the death of excellence in all other micro-genres in which Souls games dabble. I say that not as a pejorative slight against the open-world genre - I am a great fan of many open world games, and I suffer far less from the general "Open-World-Malaise" that has become a consumer issue over the past five or ten years. I very much enjoy open-world games. I do, however, have to admit, open-world, as a game category, has a gravitational force stronger than almost any other sub-genre. It's inclusion in a game, or introduction into a game franchise, has a traditionally had a more profound impact on all other sub-genres to which it is mixed than most, in that it tends to redefine the qualitative elements of all other sub-genres. 'Open World' generally means a vast increase in scale, but at a cost. Sometimes, quite a hefty cost. Whether that price is paid in a reduction of gameplay variety, (repeated, 'cookie-cutter missions',) a narrowing of design variability and specificity (modular use of repeated art assets, or a reduction in fidelity,), or a flattening of technical finesse - the price is almost always paid somewhere. Elden Ring though, seems to have found the loophole. It robbed that karmic bank, and gets away scot-free. That Elden Ring seems able to expand its scope so dramatically from previous soulsborne games, apparently free of this trade of, is what makes it really remarkable... and virtually unique in the gaming landscape. The level of detail Elden Ring manages to achieve, on the magnitude scale it does is, frankly, baffling. There are games that look amazing, and have enormous worlds - Assassin's Creed's modern incarnation, for example, or Guerrilla's Horizon games, but they sacrifice bespoke design and gameplay to achieve it. The same mission structure and mission types saturate the world map, and side-missions are generally of two or three distinct types. Completing 100% of the game almost always result in open-world-fatigue, as the same enemies and tasks, no matter how good they are initially, are required to be performed over and over - often far beyond their ability to truly engage the player. Conversely, there are other games where the design is bespoke and specific and individual across the game, but those game are either far smaller in scale and much more linear in structure, (The Last of Us or Uncharted, for example,) or games where the sole mechanic is exploration. Where simply seeing the game is the game, and there isn't a wealth of other genres mixed into the experience. (Outer Wilds, for example.) Elden Ring is near unique, in that it remains all of those previously mentioned genres conjointly, and not only do all of those elements and genres coalesce in a way that feels complimentary and cohesive, and can seamlessly branch from one dominant genre to another without the player really noticing any hard-change, but it does so without losing any of the finesse its progenitors employed. To give an example of what I mean: Are there are 'main-quests' and 'side-quests' in Elden Ring? Yes... but the difference is pretty much semantic, unless the player is has prior knowledge of the end results. The actual quests are virtually all bespoke and interesting, taking place in unique or interesting locations, or involving unique or interesting enemy types and bosses. There really aren't any mission 'types', as such. They are not categorised, because each is individual enough to feel separate from every other one. When that is the case, the delineation between 'side' content and 'main' content simply becomes a matter of what level of profundity the designers choose to have each quest affect a final narrative. The actual moment-to-moment is unaffected by the eventual level of influence. Are there 'main' bosses and 'side' bosses? You bet... but only in that some are required to advance, and others aren't. There is little indication in a first playthrough though, of which is which, and - crucially - there is little delta in quality between them to give the player clues as to their standing in the overall game structure. Without the advice of peers, or guides, I'd wager the neophyte player would have virtually no indication of whether the boss they are facing, the quest they are walking, or the dungeon they are crawling is technically 'optional'... they simply have a high quality, intricately designed and fascinatingly lore-riddled challenge to overcome in front of them. One that not only did they discover organically, but that they can be confident that, even if it turns out to be optional, will almost always yield some material benefit upon completion, to go along with their own sense of pride in accomplishment. In fact,I will say here, it's somewhat fascinating that Elden Ring - which, given its size, scope and juggernaut critical and commercial success, will likely be considered Miyazaki's magnum opus - seems, on a number of fronts, to have most in common with the only previous Souls game not directed by Miyazaki himself -Dark Souls II. As well as being similar in its more high-fantasy trappings, and more playful, occasionally ridiculous enemy designs, it follows the Dark Souls II gameplay design ethos, in having huge numbers of bosses, of multiple tiers and varying difficulty, and a more sprawling, less vertical and interweaving level design. As said, the scope of Elden Ring humbles the scope of all previous Souls games. To such an extent, in fact, that Elden Ring feels capable of containing entire aspects of all its ancestral games within its sprawling spiders web. Indeed, to the Souls-aficionado, Elden Ring can almost feel like traversing a FROMSoft induced fever dream, where sections of all the previous games seep in and out of the cracks of the world - caught in curious parallel universe tracts. Little pools of gaming nostalgia hidden and blended into a vast, misty marshland. In one moment, while exploring the Capital of Leyndell, the player might be distinctly reminded of Dark Souls' and Dark Souls 3's Anor Londo, in another, while exploring the first main castle, aspects of Demon's Souls Boletaria will creep into Elden Ring's tapestry. If the player stumbles into the Midsommar-esque Windmill Village, they will be delivered curiously Bloodborne-flavoured memories of the Hemwick Charnel, yet when exploring some of the (numerous) poison swamp areas, Demon's Souls' Swamp of Sorrows is impossible to shake from one's mind. There are lava-strewn areas around the volcanic north-western areas of Elden Ring's map, and snowy, foggy regions in the North East that transport the player back to iconic areas of Dark Souls II, yet a Dark Souls inspired crypt, or a Sekiro-style corridor village is only ever a single exploratory venture away. There is, in this respect, some interesting parallels to the much lauded Ringed City DLC - the final swan song of the Dark Souls franchise. The Ringed City also dabbled in multi-faceted hitting of nostalgic beats, harkening back to previous elements of the Souls lineage, however, the scope was vastly different. The Ringed City felt like a compressed greatest hits album by a favourite band. Elden Ring, on the other hand, feels like the entire back-catalogue of a band, covered by a new, often times superior artist, and blended into their own, unique repertoire, to form a body of work that is enormous, sprawling and varied. Some elements feel familiar, others feel wholly unique and new, but what is admirable in Elden Ring is the level to which it all feels a coherent tapestry. Warping from one area to another, the differences in visuals, gameplay style - and even tone - can be stark, however, these myriad changes are blended together so seamlessly when traversing the world directly that the player never really feels disconnected by it. A single evening of exploring might result in traversing a village, a ruin, a sewer, a windswept plain and a convoluted and intricately designed castle, but at no point in that evening does the player feel they are 'shifting' from one distinct area to another. Mechanically, the game does retain the feel of traditional Souls games. The animation-priority-heavy combat and unforgiving, nuanced combat remains virtually intact in this grander setting. The focus on unique weapons and armour, and the ability for the player to customise and play with a myriad of builds and types, combining the many different scaling and combat design elements to tackle the journey is, if anything, even more varied and complex as ever. The curious lack of disciplined, straight-laced narrative, and focus instead on deep and mysterious lore-based world, to be uncovered and dissected and parsed at the payers own pace and discretion, and the narrative rewards for doing so remain as they did in previous games, however, all of these elements are more impressive in Elden Ring, simply by not collapsing under the pressure of the new, massive scale. That they are able to be expanded to the extent they have been to populate such a leap in game-scale, and, (almost more impressively,) that they do not simply fail under the increased weight of the game. Systems such as the upgrading mechanics of weapons still allow for a continual gradient of improvement over the length of the game, however here, they are expanded out to meet the much longer timeframe. The temptation would be to retain the same scaled levelling, and have it stagnate at points - with improvements so drawn out that the game drags, however, here the whole scope of expansion is extended and segmented further. regular weapons, for example, are given 25 levels of improvement, rather than 10, allowing the entire game to still follow a gradient of improvement at a similar clip to previous, shorter game experiences. There are other traditional Souls aspects that are altered by the simple increase in freedom and scale - for better in most cases, but some more curiously, or questionably. All FROM souls games have a curious take on narrative with regards to NPCs. Rather than the player providing the catalyst for all narrative story points, with non-player characters providing beats within that single player-focussed narrative, FROM games have always treated the player's quest as one of many, running in parallel, and occasionally intersecting or affecting a tapestry of other quests, being played out by the NPCs. The player feels like they are on their own journey, occasionally passing other non-player characters on theirs. These parallel quests are known to the player only to the extent that the NPC offers, or that the player investigates. In traditional souls games, the more linear structure and smaller game scope always allowed these criss-crossing narratives of quixotic characters to be somewhat guided - while players could potentially miss a character, it was less likely, as the linear nature of the level layouts and primary player quest essentially "funnelled" them into the specific areas where NPCs could be interacted with, in the "correct" order and timeframe. Because Elden Ring allows the player to explore the world at their own leisure, however, and with far more scope for visiting areas "out-of-order" on in a scattershot, non-linear manner, the easing of that narrative burden is gone. If the player wishes to follow an NPC character's quest-line in full, they are not likely to simply stumble into each desired encounter by accident. The player is required to pay much closer attention to the individual lines of dialogue those NPCs speak, and look for clues as to their future actions, to have any chance of knowing where thier next crossing of paths might take place. This is a double edged sword, in terms of design. On the one hand, it makes the whole conceptual idea of multiple non-player characters doing their own quests feel far more organic - a player might miss a character, or stumble on them somewhere they didn't expect, and is required to surmise what their quest was up to that point, and piece together their motives and aspirations. On the other hand, if the thread of a narrative is lost, it can make these NPC encounters feel less coherent, and feel random in a way that they aren't, but without context, can seem. I tend to fall on the side of considering this to be a virtue, rather than a detriment - it certainly increases the likelihood of different playthroughs being distinct, as different NPCs will be encountered depending on player path, however, I acknowledge that it does make single playthroughs far more prone to confusion or simply losing the thread of different NPC narratives. There is also distinct changes to the flow of the game, incurred by the open world design. The ability for the player to 'fast-travel' to grace points (the Elden Ring equivalent of bonfires) from any point on the map, and the ability of the player to simply abandon an area that feels too challenging at the time, in favour of further exploration, and a return when much more powerful, removes some of the "Git Gud"-ity of the series. The player is not likely to encounter the situation of having multiple paths available, all of which feel insurmountable, necessitating either a block-headed endurance test, or mindless level grinding. This does remove some factor of the older Soulsborne games, and the punishing nature of them, to some extent, though I see this as a step forward, rather than backwards. The fact is, Elden Ring is vast and open enough that no player ever needs to feel they are "grinding" purely for levels - that "grinding" can take place while enjoying the exploratory parts of the game. Simply leaving a tough boss until later, and going iff in a new direction will likely yield such a wealth of new, interesting lore and gameplay, that the player can easily forget about the part that was troubling them, only to stumble back onto that path some 20 hours later, and find it much more manageable - without ever feeling that they had to "grind" to achieve their newfound victory. They did, but not in any way that is dull, detrimental or exhausting. Visuals are not a marked contrast to previous games stylistically - the vibe is a gothic-adjacent High Fantasy - and the technical visuals and design ethos remains distinctly FROM. However, in terms of fidelity, Elden Ring is the latest in an iterative lineage, and does its fore-bearers proud in that regard. It is now applied to a world of a size and scale never even approached in previous Souls games, but does so without ever compromising the bespoke nature of individual areas, or attention to detail in one off, single location elements. Like all souls games, the technical artistry on show is perfectly serviceable, but not, it should be stated, bleeding edge. Certainly stacked up against some of the technical graphics powerhouses that are Elden Ring's peers - Horizon Forbidden West, for example - there is no question that Horizon is the more impressive visual spectacle, however, FROM's strongest suit has never been in it's graphical flair, but rather, in its design depth. The mere fact that souls games are able to tell their lore-heavy, narrative-light tales at all, is dependent on each and every element of their design - from environments, to enemy design, to weapons and armour - has a cohesive and specific design signature. In a game where lore is interpreted via player engagement with the clues they find, those clues need to work. The player has to be able to recognise that a particular item, or armour, for example, bears aesthetic similarities to another, indicating a connection. that has always been a strength of FROMs design, but never has it been more of a requirement than in Elden Ring, where the vast size of the world means the player genuinely relies on such clues not only to decipher the obscure story quests, but even simply to decipher the direction they should explore in. That requires a specificity to every part of the game, and a density of detail to the world that is virtually unheard of in open world games. Truth be told, it was one of the main concerns I had, when first hearing about an open-world Souls game. If the world is to be huge, and vast, and not bound by guided direction, how could FROM possibly maintain their flair for bespoke and individualistic art-styles? That focus on unique and varied and individualistic design is not easily scalable, and the temptation is great for the developer to simply sacrifice fine detail in favour of modular design when dealing with the economies of scale a massive world incurs. Just ask Bethesda. Or Ubisoft. Or Bioware, even - (Dragon Age 2, for example, suffered greatly in this regard.) Most games deal with vast open worlds in this manner. The world is vast, but individual parts of design are seen repeated all over the land - the same building, the same ruin, the same set of walls in the same formation. It may not be to the game's detriment necessarily, but is almost always noticeable. Here, I struggle to see it. While I am certain Elden Ring must use this trick in some capacity, over the course of over 150 hours of exploration, I became aware of re-use of level pieces a sum total of once. Several mine entrances appear to use the same Elevator shaft, with the same layout of platforms around the jagged rock face surrounds. That was it. That was the only part of a world so massive that I am fully aware I have missed countless locations even after 2 playthroughs, where I noticed the seams. That is virtually unheard of, in gaming. In terms of the narrative - or to be specific, the world building and lore which provides the backdrop upon which the minimalist direct narrative is lent its grandeur - Elden Ringis interesting. Much hay was made of the involvement of A Song of Fire and Ice author, professional procrastinator and South-Park-Confirmed penis obsessive George RR Martin, in the crafting of the lore of The Lands Between in which Elden Ring takes place. The general set up of the world is genuinely interesting - alien and convoluted and strange, with a vast history to be uncovered in fractured splinters and curious fragments, though I have trouble genuinely seeing the influence Martin had. Having played the game, it feels far closer to the lore style Miyazaki displayed in previous Souls games than anything on display in A Song of Fire and Ice (or Game of Thrones.) While I'd hesitate to accuse FROM of "stunt casting", and simply involving RR Martin as a crowd-drawing name, I do suspect his involvement was more to the extend of providing Miyazaki and his team with a fresh set of jumping off points, to ensure they did not grow stale, or find themselves repeating themes, than as a genuine writing or creative lead. The FROM lineage is simply too strong and too apparent for his influence to be felt. This is no great loss, I might add. Whatever the machinations and delineations of the creative process, the final product here is fascinating and very strong. I hesitate to delve into specifics - what constitutes a spoiler in a Souls game is debatable - however, given that discovery of the lore elements forms a driving factor in the player engagement, I simple elect to discuss the game in a broad sense. There is lore, it is good, and - like previous souls games - virtually all detective work on the part of the player is rewarded. The lore has been worked out in such a way, that while little is directly handed to the player, each piece they uncover does fit into the grand jigsaw correctly - they only have to do the work to figure out how. Okay, I need to wrap this up! I am fully aware that this review touches less of the game specifics than I might have liked, or that a reader might have wanted. I guess those can be found easily elsewhere, but here, I'm pretty brad -strokes. The reasons are twofold. Firstly, I have reviewed every Soulsborne game so far. There are a huge number of factors that feed into the why I believe these games are excellent - and they are poured over in many of those previous reviews, and frankly, Elden Ring is not often doing specific, mechanical things wildly differently. That's a positive, rather than a negative - those elements are done brilliantly there, and brilliantly here. What makes the difference in Elden Ring is not that gameplay specifics are done differently, or even markedly better, but that they are done at such scale. Secondly, it's because the game feels like the culmination of a design ethos, the iterative progression of which I already considered to be superlative. There is only so much hyperbole one review can contain, before it begins to pass through the barriers of obsequious, and enter the realms of "fawning"! The game is, quite simply, sublime. It works on virtually every level, ties together the multiple strands of gameplay that all the previous FROM Soulsborne games weaved, and pulls them together in a way that is masterful... and on a scale that is truly epic. It is a really incredible achievement, and one I dare say, is unlikely to be repeated any time soon. It is an open-world experience like no other - one that benefits from all the positives of a linear game, expands it writ-large, and fails to suffer any real drawbacks in doing so. FROM has managed to do what really shouldn't be possible. Not only did they make a Soulsborne game at a scale so big it should, in theory, collapse... but in a single product, they made a thinking-man's action combat game, an action-fan's mystery game, a fantasy-fan's horror game and a narrative-fan's action game... ...and they did it all, while also making an open-world game for people who don't like open-world games. That's a hell of a thing. (For original review and Scientific Ranking see HERE) Edited April 14, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettyBoy Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Not anything incredible but I do have platinums that take effort ordained too but my latest platinum is one of the Bowling Story games. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post reaperveteran86 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 Platinum #258 Biomutant Biomutant Platinum Trophy - 23,04% Open World game wit a strange way of storytelling (narrator, that translates what people say to you, new words for mundane things). I needed a bit of time to get into the game, but as it clicked, I played it almost exclusive until I got the platinum. Platinum #259 The Dark Eye: Memoria Platin Trophy - 62,90% Storywise, this is a continuation of the first game (Chains of Satinav). The game looks beautiful (like most Point and Click adventures from Daedalic) but the story of the first game was better in my opinion. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raphasauer Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Platinum #25 Dirt 5 I got the game for free with PS+ a while back. The good: this game uses all the available rumble in the Dual Sense and its adaptive triggers. The graphs are good but not outstanding and the way that the cars get progressively more dirty as the race goes on is kinda neat. The bad: the game is very repetitive. In the middle of the campaign mode you already want to give up. Hardest trophy: the one you have to make 30K+ points in one type of event. They patched the easy way to do it, so you actually have to try. Grindiest trophy: driving 1000 miles. There are custom maps that let you get this trophy while AFK, but somehow my car was getting stuck in these maps from time to time. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ArabianSwordsman Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #604: EA UFC 4 My dentist is gonna be very happy after this one after the amount of teeth grinding I experienced. I hope whoever decided to make the blitz trophy a requirement for platinum orders their favorite meal but finds a hair in it. Although I gotta say I did feel like a champion after winning the 6 blitz matches I was kinda expecting joe rogan to approach me with a microphone asking about my performance. Besides that, it was a fun experience. Time for some easy rata games to ease the pain. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post mr2k_pdh Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #73 - Ys IX: Monstrum Nox King of the Monstrums Finish "Balduq Prison" by Adol Christin in its entirety by earning all Trophies. --- 25.30% | Uncommon 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post RedRodriguez87 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 #377: Wheel Fanatic From my Jeopardy! platinum post: "I was thinking of doing Wheel of Fortune, but if it's as grindy as this, I probably won't." Shows what I know. It took a couple years, but here we are! *shrug* I honestly don't even remember how unfun my Jeopardy platinum experience was, but I will say that WoF run wasn't terrible all things considered. It does get a bit grindy, and the websites dedicated to this game run from somewhat useful to not even worth your search time. But there are ways to shorten the games length, which according to my Jeo post wasn't possible there, so there's that. Also, I can now say I know how to play both games, decades after knowing of their existence. Plus, I think it's the only two of their kind, so hoorah! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Biertje373 Posted April 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 Platinum #53 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Neptune's Spatula Dificulty: 2/10 Fun: 7/10 Time: 16 hours I do not play a lot of platformers on the PlayStation, I did play Astro's Playroom, but that one was really short but still a fantastic game and a fun platinum. Sackboy I liked but I did not feel like 100%'ing it for a few reasons, but still a fantastic game. And that's about it. So when I saw that this game would be a PS+ game, I was kind of interested to give this game a try. And while not my favourite game, solid but flawed, I still had a great time with it. This is what I love about collectathons, I love playing this genre but I don't do it as much as I would like to. Like almost always I'll give my pros and cons, starting with the pros: + Every area is unique and has something that makes it stand out. + Collecting is a lot of fun, I wanted to do nearly every single thing. + Some platforming bits are really tight. + The bosses are really fun. + The interactions between characters were fantastic. + Most of the robots were really cool. + I never had the need to grind for "money". + The combat was better then expected, not amazing but solid. + The voice acting was really good, not sure if they're the same from the cartoon, but if they aren't then they did a fantastic job. The cons: - The sliding was a pain in the ass espially when it was a timed challenge. - And that's how I felt about a few challenges (like the battle platform in the dream world) - Sometimes SpongeBob does a different voice (only a few times) and it was pretty distracting. - I am glad that you don't have to unlock the cinema becaus 40.000 shinies is not worth it, it's a bad reward for an annoying grind. - The music (while fitting) was pretty forgettable But still, I had a good time, could probably say a few more positive or lesser things about it, but it was a good game and I am glad that I've decided to give it a try. And here's my platinum screenshot, it's kinda creepy and I love it: 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now