Most Recent Platinum

[ippikitako]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:05 PM, AgentSmiz said:

Platinum 177 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
 

Let me start by saying this - The original FFVII is probably my favourite game of all time. The Remake was something I was massively hyped for for years and really helped get me through the early pandemic days of mid 2020. I have a lot of love for the FFVII world. When this title got announced, I was up for giving it a go at some point as, whilst I knew the basic plot, I had never played it.

...

I really did not enjoy this game.

Gameplay wise, it's fine. It's clear it's a former handheld title so it is a lot of short, repetitive missions. Graphically nothing special but again, given its roots, it gets a pass. Trophies were relatively easy following a guide, although most are missable. Music was good and there's a couple of standout tracks. But the story...my Christ, the story. It's SO bad. It comes across as a fanfic that an edgy teen wrote and rehashes pretty much every theme the original VII had but worse. The Buster Sword did not need a backstory. Not every antagonist needs to have one wing and white hair. The main villain monologues and quotes from a play and where they not attached, my eyes would be perpetually rolling in the back of my head. It's cringey bad and my big fear now is that, with Square incorporating aspects of past FFVII titles into the Remake era, they'll bring back Genesis in Rebirth. If I hear "The gift of the Goddess..." again, I will scream.

Not since Heavy Rain have I felt this way about a game and, like with that, I think I stuck through this one just so I would have no reason to ever go back to it. Hell, I'm debating trading it in, which I something I've not done since the PS2 era. I've kept every 360 and PS4 physical game I bought and this is the line - I don't want this in my collection.

So yeah, wouldn't recommend. 

 

My thoughts exactly. Huge fan of FFVII and made myself play this for the story, and because I never played it on PSP.

I hated going through the 300 missions. The dialogue writing was so bad. I felt like watching a Nickelodeon high school show. I also fear they bring back Genesis... I really hope they don´t and stick as much to the original story as possible for Rebirth.

Actually thinking of replaying FFVII Remake now.

Edited August 27, 2023 by ippikitako

[Lordguwa]

platinum #736 I Love Food (ps4)

completed in 2 hours and 18 minutes

platinum rarity 88.87% common

platinum name: Fruit Master

 

i had to sideline a previous platinum game due to massive personal difficulty (cant find matches quick enough).  going for a kemco game which is going to be Asdivine Dios (ps4) seems like a small to medium length RPG.

[percy547389126yv]

#2,842 EU version of Nicole

 

[BubbleJayGum]

#123 - Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus

 

 

The Pride of Fastoon

 

My very first Ratchet & Clank experience. A short game, but a fun one. Looks cool on PS3 (I guess those R&C games that you can play on PS5 will look just fantastic). This platinum is just a little bit grindy, the grinding part can be done fast. I should definitely try out other games from the series.

Next, Nioh platinum!

[Nelson_]

#546 - Air

 

 

[NZBigC]

 

I thought the trophy pic was pretty horrifying haha. I can see why he is called the American NIGHTMARE!

 

 

[Hitman_Spinksy1]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:05 PM, AgentSmiz said:

Platinum 177 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
 

Let me start by saying this - The original FFVII is probably my favourite game of all time. The Remake was something I was massively hyped for for years and really helped get me through the early pandemic days of mid 2020. I have a lot of love for the FFVII world. When this title got announced, I was up for giving it a go at some point as, whilst I knew the basic plot, I had never played it.

...

I really did not enjoy this game.

Gameplay wise, it's fine. It's clear it's a former handheld title so it is a lot of short, repetitive missions. Graphically nothing special but again, given its roots, it gets a pass. Trophies were relatively easy following a guide, although most are missable. Music was good and there's a couple of standout tracks. But the story...my Christ, the story. It's SO bad. It comes across as a fanfic that an edgy teen wrote and rehashes pretty much every theme the original VII had but worse. The Buster Sword did not need a backstory. Not every antagonist needs to have one wing and white hair. The main villain monologues and quotes from a play and where they not attached, my eyes would be perpetually rolling in the back of my head. It's cringey bad and my big fear now is that, with Square incorporating aspects of past FFVII titles into the Remake era, they'll bring back Genesis in Rebirth. If I hear "The gift of the Goddess..." again, I will scream.

Not since Heavy Rain have I felt this way about a game and, like with that, I think I stuck through this one just so I would have no reason to ever go back to it. Hell, I'm debating trading it in, which I something I've not done since the PS2 era. I've kept every 360 and PS4 physical game I bought and this is the line - I don't want this in my collection.

So yeah, wouldn't recommend. 

 

 

I felt the same way about this game. It's so bad that it's ranked as the worst game I've ever played, quite an achievement. I only finished it because it was Final Fantasy.

[SaiyanSenshi]

Elden Ring

 

 

Elden Ring

 

 #30

 

Rating/Enjoyment: 8/10

Difficulty: 6/10

Duration: 65 Hours

Rarity Psn: 10.80% Very Rare

Rarity Psnp: 40.15% Uncommon

 

Next up ⬇️

 

 

Sifu

[Vynzen]

 

[R123Rob]

Platinum #1614 - On Sunday

 

[NetoStyle]

A Castle Full of Cats (PS5)

#197

 

 

Castle Full Of Love
Unlock all trophies. Pawsome!

 

 

86.05% | Common

14 hours, 43 minutes.

 

 

 

I played this game thanks to a free review code, so I must say that first of all I'm pretty thankful for it cause I had such a great time! I love Cats (I got 3) so of coure I was very happy to play this one. It is a point-and-click adventure videogame about a cursed castle full of cats, where your task is to stop that curse in order to rescue all the cats. And then facing a furry boss in the end of the game haha lovely stuff. 🐈

 

Also I'd like to highlight the fact that the money of every sale proceeds go to help a good cause, which is helping stray cats in real life and it also bring awareness for cat abandon and abuse... Good stuff!

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by NetoStyle

[Moridin83]

 #281 Justice Sucks

 

The fully-fledged sequel to Roombo: First Blood is an upgrade in every way. It sports a large number of environments for your hoovering pleasure, multiple different mission types, greatly increased trap variety, and a substantially upgraded selection of abilities and perks. The story is rudimentary, but still amusing. The gameplay is simple to pick up, but extremely enjoyable. The opening/ending theme song (same track) sounds like something from a 90s boy band, and I mean that in the best possible way. The trophies aren't particularly outlandish, so you can just have fun playing, and then go back for a little cleanup afterwards if necessary. I've really got nothing bad to say about this game. It was ridiculous and fun from start to finish. Absolutely recommended. 

[percy547389126yv]

#2,843 PS5 EU version of Crisis Wing

 

[JAK-KRIEG]

 Platinum #668 - FIFA23  (PS5 Stack)  3.44% UR

 

Enjoyment: 5.75/10

Difficulty: 3.5/10

Grindiness: 6.75

 

Very grindy compared to 22 not really hard or anything. It's fifa it's the same every year more or less like COD, not much else to say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by JAK-KRIEG

[shadaik]

#103 & #104

Paradox Soul (PS4 & Vita)

Platinum Soul

 

Tchia is being a bit of a slog, so I started up this tiny game. And I mean "tiny"., just under 60 MB on PS4 and exactly 40 MB on Vita. I have not seen a game this small on a Playstation in ages, if ever.

 

Iceland, 1987: Something happened in a remote research station.  A robot uprising, by the looks of it. A woman (according to the art, the in-game  sprite gives no such indication) investigates and finds a lot of dead bodies and less dead robots attacking any human they can find. Even background robots in glass tubes can join in, assaulting the player and, exclusively on VIta, the framerate. Oh, right, the Vita version has bad issues with slowing down to a crawl when the particle effects of breaking objects or a trophy pop-up hit.

 

I hesitate to call this a metroidvania, mostly because it's being very linear with some minor backtracking. What is far more interesting is the cover mechanic: The main character can dodge behind some background objects to avoid enemy fire. Too bad the game neglects to mention what is probably the most important feature of its fights, relying on the player accidentally hitting the button (it's o) instead.

 

On Steam, this turns up as one of the worst-rated metroidvanias ever. And while that is a bit unfair, as I have seen plenty worse, especially on Steam, Paradox Soul is not exactly good. Though it does have that dodge mechanic going for it, that is actually quite a neat idea.

 

One hour on first play-through on PS4, 40 minutes on the second one on Vita. Platinum comes after 33 rooms out of 50, which seems an odd place to stop. At this point, the publisher might as well have included a trophy for reaching and beating the last room.

 

Fun: 5/10

Platinum: 2/10

Time: 1 hour

[nestamar5]

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

 

 

 The Dream Traveler

Trophy Rarity: 41.17%

 

Collect all Trophies

 

 

                    Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is a pair of remakes of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (1997) and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (2001). Door to Phantomile originally released on the Playstation 1 while Lunatea's Veil released on the Playstation 2. While the Klonoa franchise is critically acclaimed and has a dedicated fanbase, the games generally sell poorly and became dormant after the 6th generation of gaming.  Phantasy Reverie Series was a godsend to us Klonoa fans! The last game in the franchise, simply called Klonoa, was also a remake of Door to Phantomile and came out for the Nintendo Wii in 2008. For 14 years, there was no Klonoa content.

 

                    I actually grew up with Door to Phantomile! On the Bonus Turbo Mode Disc of R4 Ridge Racer Type 4, there was a 60 FPS version of Ridge Racer (60 FPS in the 90's! Wow!), a demo of Tekken 3, as well as a demo of Door to Phantomile. It also promoted other Namco games. I played the hell out of these demos. The Klonoa demo consisted of Vision 1-1, Vision 1-2, and the Rongo Lango boss fight. A very decent length for a demo! Years later, circa 2010-2013, I would own my own copy of Door to Phantomile. In either 2020 or 2021, I would own a copy of Lunatea's Veil as well.

 

                    One day, Klonoa wakes up next to his friend Hewpoe in Breezegale from a dream turned into a nightmare. For some reason, he can remember this dream perfectly no matter how much time has passed. Shortly after, an airship crashes on Bell Hill, just like in Klonoa's dream. While noting the coincidence, Klonoa and Hewpoe set after the crash site.

 

                   

                    To my surprise, the game actually got darker in the second half of the game. The first part's theme is what you would expect of a kids game. Everything is bright and colorful, and the villains seem like a bunch of goofballs. Not in the second half. I still remember playing this with my friends and seeing their reactions as the entire mood of the game shifted. I won't spoil it here though, you'll have to play it yourself or watch it on YouTube.

 

                    

 

                    In Lunatea's Veil, a prophet called Baguji the Wise tells Lolo and Popka that a traveler would appear, and the traveler's ring would save the land of Lunatea. One day, Klonoa awakens at the Sea of Tears and meets Lolo and Popka. They immediately ask Klonoa to help them on their quest to save Lunatea. Obviously still confused, Klonoa agrees to help them on their journey.

 

 

While the games are pretty easy overall, the platforming and puzzles can get pretty tricky during the endgame just like in the picture above!

 

                    The trophies for this game are pretty easy. Just complete every stage and free every resident in Phantomile in the first game and collect all dolls in the second game. There are six residents/dolls in total for every level except for bonus stages. You can go for 150 dream stones in every stage if you want but you won't get a trophy for doing so. I actually hunted the PS4 version when the game came out over a year ago, but I think I failed to write about it despite promising to do so. The only difference between the PS4 and PS5 version are the saving and loading times, with the PS5 being much faster. I also think the picture quality might be marginally better on PS5.

 

                    If you're looking for an easy platinum and/or a good platformer with some puzzles thrown in, I highly recommend Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series.

[ChrisAlmonte]

                                        #83

 

My rarest Platinum trophy.

Follow the guide online and unlock archive prism asap, her disguise makes the game alot easier. Do your best to get at least 2 shock traps lll and 2 cloaking rig lll on each agent. My starting agent was archive prism and derek both on expert plus and endless run. Use and abuse the back up save via usb method so if you mess up you already the map layout for a particular mission. Read the forum here about the game they gave some pretty good advices.

 

Difficulty-7/10 the last mission is the hardest.

Enjoyment-6.5/10 gets repetitive.

 

[Karashion]

  #304 Secret of Mana

[Mr_Fluffy_Pants_]

 

 205 - Moving Out 2 PS4

 

Platinumed this with @WyndigoSpirit , believe this is the third(?) game we’ve finished together now. Pretty fun I must say, definitely more fun with a partner.

 

I enjoyed this game and recommend it, but I must say I liked the first one more. I really liked the first game though, even bought the dlc which is rare for me even for games I like.

 

A lot of the objectives were buggy and didn’t pop when I felt like they should have, and there are just way too many gimmicks in this game. 5 worlds full of levels and 4 of them revolve around gimmicks. I never understood developers obsession with gimmicks, especially Nintendo. This isn’t Nintendo level gimmicky nonsense but it still takes up a far higher percentage of the game then I would have liked. 
 

The platinum is shorter then the first game, and easier. You don’t need to do everything or finish every objective, and the misc trophies are few and easy to accomplish. 
 

The game is cute though, colourful, relaxing, and full of great humour. I’d imagine after a few patches the buggy objectives won’t exist anymore but all in all, if your going to play a moving out game, I’d recommend the first.

[Lightsp33d1987]

 

[GarciaFever]

#220 Kawaii Death Desu

 

 

 

It feels nice to get back into earning a couple of platinums. I just hope that I can be able to keep up the pace. Anyways, I thought I would give this a try since, and it wasn't too bad. Granted my fingers kept getting sore after a few hours mashing anywhere between 2-6 buttons, but compared to other games that I have grinded over the years, this was nothing. Now I  need to figure out what game I should platinum next.

Edited August 28, 2023 by GarciaFever

[Ala-Arska]

Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed (PS4)

 

Beyond Perfection

Obtain all trophies

 

Foolish earthlings.

Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is a sandbox game with five different locations where your goal is to 

kill humans and aliens, demolish buildings and cause general mayhem. And it's set in the 60's. Groovy.

Graphics are good and colorful. The feel of hippie culture and Cold War is present throughout.

Controls are kind of okay. Sometimes you get stuck a bit in the environment, and camera is controlled

by a guy who's had a few beers too many, but nothing too aggravating.

Dialogue is a tad raunchy at times, and for some reason they made the main alien dude sound

exactly like Jack Nicholson. That. Is. Just. Odd.

If you can possess another human when nobody is looking, a text appears that says " Clean snatch!" 

Nice to know when you get a hold of a tent-dwelling hippie woman...

Collectibles are a thing here. Nothing too taxing, but could have lived without them. 

All in all, it's free right now so grab it if any part of you wants to meteor strike a landmark. Or two 

 

"Oh my God, space aliens!  Don't eat me! I have a wife and kids. Eat them!"

                                       

[StraightVege]

 

Platinum Trophy

 

  #351

 

Greetings! With everything going on lately, I haven't felt motivated to play much of anything, or to continue writing these lengthy posts. Since my utter lack of mental energy and free time has long had me contemplating a large reduction in the number of hours I spend here, and considering that I'm not terribly fond of the recent forum update, this seems like as good a moment as any to step away from it, so perhaps this will be the last one I do for the foreseeable future. By now, I must've made well over 100 posts in this thread, and it's just not that interesting to me anymore. But, how about one more for the road? While the last thing I feel like doing currently is writing this, if I don't force myself to get back into my hobbies somehow, I'm only going to sink ever deeper into depression. Therefore, here comes another meandering post from a mediocre writer, detailing my thoughts about a game starring a horror writer with actual talent: Alan Wake Remastered.

 

Although I've never owned any model of Xbox, it was common for me to play the big Microsoft exclusives on my brother's console in the past (it feels like another life now), with which I finished all the main entries in the Halo and Gears franchises. One title in his collection I never had much interest in trying back then was Alan Wake, though. Something about it seemed awfully boring to me at the time, and it's likely I just had different tastes in those days. After Alan's bizarre appearance in the Control DLC, however, my curiosity was finally piqued, and the remaster becoming a PS+ offering cemented my decision to give this weird third-person shooter a go at last. Alan, wake up.

 

Inspired by his idol, Stephen King, Alan Wake is a successful horror/thriller author suffering from an especially severe case of writer's block. Hoping to clear his head, Alan decides that a vacation to the quaint mining town of Bright Falls, Washington, is exactly what he and his wife need. Alan and Alice plan to relax at a scenic lakeside cabin there, but wouldn't you know it, Alan chose the one rural community in America where a malevolent entity known as the Dark Presence dwells beneath the lake, drawing power from the imagination of writers (including one victim before him, Thomas Zane), thus making every tragic event and horrible monster Alan commits to paper for his upcoming book a terrifying reality. Suddenly, his dream vacation becomes a nightmare straight out of his novels, as Alice soon goes missing and Alan is afflicted with acute amnesia, erasing a week from his memory. To rescue her from the clutches of the incomprehensible Dark Presence, Alan must collect the strewn manuscript pages he doesn't even remember typing, and ultimately rewrite the story with a happier outcome. Alan finds himself wishing he was more like the capable protagonist of his books, Alex Casey, but in truth, he's merely an ordinary man, so it won't be easy to triumph over darkness itself. If you enjoy these "idyllic small town with dark secrets and mysteries" settings (Deadly Premonition, for instance), Alan Wake certainly has that vibe going for it. The quirky supporting characters aren't developed significantly, though, with the focus being firmly on Alan's long journey through the night to redemption.

 

Actually, the characterization leaves a lot to be desired in general. Besides the cast of expected small-town stereotypes, Alan's thoroughly annoying agent from New York, Barry, tags along as a sidekick occasionally, and I simply can't understand why so many players seem to be fond of this guy. He's basically a Joe Pesci stand-in, constantly shrieking at "ALLLLLLLL" to do stuff, and spouting jokes that probably weren't even funny in 2010, which is quite distracting when you're in the midst of solving the simple puzzles or fighting enemies. Then, there's Alan's poor wife, Alice, whom he often treats like garbage for no apparent reason, although he does enjoy staring at her butt in one scene, after needlessly snapping at her. She spends nearly the entire game as a half-naked damsel in distress, desperate for her heroic husband to save her from the darkness. It's really a bit creepy, but thankfully, Sam Lake's portrayal of women has massively improved since this game was originally released. Jesse Faden is light-years ahead of this schlock.

 

Speaking of Lake, I'm certain I've previously mentioned (in an old post about Control, I believe) how his style of storytelling has never particularly appealed to me. Sam delights in presenting narrative fever dreams, full of non-linear plot elements, red herrings, meta nonsense, and events left up to interpretation. Personally, I'll take a more straightforward story over his confusing mélanges any day, but I also can't deny that Remedy's games are always a wild ride worth experiencing. I was definitely left wanting to see more of the peculiar universe wherein Control and Alan Wake take place, at least. It's a bit of a shame that playing Control's DLC ahead of time revealed the happenings of Alan Wake to have been a real "Altered World Event," as this invalidates the interesting possibility that Alan is just an unreliable narrator, lost in grandiose delusions following his wife's disappearance. One aspect I rather appreciated, however, is the strong relatability of what Alan goes through. For writers and creative people generally, many of the struggles he describes ring true. Indeed, we're often our own worst enemies and critics.

 

Frantically charging through gloomy forest surroundings in search of the means to save Alice, with only the narrow shaft of his flashlight beam and the moon providing illumination, Wake is continually assaulted by what he names the "Taken." These may resemble ordinary townspeople—joggers, lumberjacks, miners, hunters, local police—but as fresh puppets of the Dark Presence, there's something decidedly off about them. Consumed by an almost hivemind desire to kill Wake, they now wield the tools of their trade as lethal weapons, doggedly pursuing him while shouting mundane phrases out of context. Creepy! Wake's only sanctuary is found beneath overhead streetlights and such, where the unfortunate zombified citizens cannot follow, hence the superior strategy is often to run past foes to the next checkpoint, rather than wasting ammunition.

 

The Taken are protected by an aura of malicious darkness, making them impervious to harm from firearms, unless it's first burned away by a light source. Strangely, Alan discovers that he has the ability to "boost" the light emitted from his flashlight (which can later be swapped for a more effective, heavy-duty lantern), focusing the light on his assailants to both temporarily blind them and gradually eat away at their shields. The batteries necessary to accomplish this are plentiful, so there's no need to conserve them, I found. Sometimes, a murder of Taken crows or random possessed objects must be fended off by the light, as well, which frankly came off more like a silly irritation than anything threatening. Standing around shining your light on SCARY possessed gates until they "die" is surely one of the game's low points.

 

Once their defenses are removed, you'll use Alan's limited arsenal of weapons to dispatch the countless Taken. His revolver is a solid option for most encounters, while the two shotguns or a hunting rifle (Alan can only carry one long gun at a time) are more appropriate for bringing down the burly Taken types, such as chainsaw-wielding lumberjacks. When the situation gets especially dire, with Taken encroaching from all sides, it's time to pull out the flare gun to eliminate multiple baddies at once with a satisfying, slow-motion explosive shot. Similarly, flashbang grenades are available to destroy multiple foes simultaneously, or if you'd rather bypass them, Wake can ignite a road flare defensively, holding every enemy around him at bay for a while. The guns are all useful, albeit the shotguns feel somewhat wimpy, both sound-wise and from a damage standpoint.

 

The Taken are agile, though, and will typically get in a few swings, despite your best efforts. To avoid strikes and thrown weapons, Alan can dodge at the last moment for a cinematic evasion maneuver, which comes in handy for survival throughout. Aggravatingly, enemies love to sneak up and hit you from off-screen, making it a wise idea to preemptively press the dodge button whenever you suspect someone's behind you. Many times, you'll trigger a lucky dodge, preventing some cheap damage. Louder Taken noises would've been appreciated here, to better clue the player in on their positions. That's the gist of what you'll do in this game, albeit there are a few basic puzzles to deal with, such as moving a bundle of logs up and down with a crane to create a makeshift bridge.

 

On the whole, I wouldn't say it's a particularly scary game, sadly. While intimidating at first, the Taken quickly become familiar, predictable, generic dudes for you to blast by the dozens, and the lack of enemy variety is painfully apparent long before the game concludes. I would liken it to stuff such as Dead Space or the classic RE4: essentially an action-packed TPS with horror aesthetics. Hopefully, the sequel leans further into frightening elements, and offers more than a shooting gallery of angry guys with knives. Still, the combat gameplay is solid enough to carry the experience for the most part, and it's usually fun to engage with the human enemies, even if the birds and poltergeist objects are pretty lame. Much of the traversal from one place to another just feels like filler content, however, especially the clunky driving sections.

 

Yes, there are occasional "open-world" sorts of areas, allowing Alan to commandeer various vehicles and speed to his next destination. Along the way, you'll blind Taken with the headlights and run them over, which is undeniably satisfying. That said, the cars don't exactly control well, so it's common to collide with some miniscule obstacle or uneven terrain, leaving you flipped over or otherwise stuck, until the Taken swiftly approach to render your vehicle inoperable with their attacks. Usually, this results in a game over, since these segments are meant to be navigated via car, and Wake stands little chance on foot. The worst thing about driving, though, is how the camera immediately swings to look backwards whenever you reverse, whether you want it to or not. Quite disorienting, I must say. Sure, they contribute some gameplay variety, I suppose, but these bits really didn't need to exist.

 

A number of other dated design aspects both baffled and frustrated me, too. The worst of them by far is the game's infuriating insistence on frequently pulling control away from the player, abruptly shifting the camera view to show spawning enemies, an NPC companion, puzzle elements, or Alan's destination. I swear it does this every ten steps, and it's terribly jarring, ruining the flow of gameplay. Worse, under some rare circumstances, it's possible to be hit while the camera's doing its dumb gimmick, which is unacceptable. Why they did this is beyond me; I'm not an idiot, and I don't need to be shown these things by force. Moreover, I realize that writing isn't the most active way to make a living, but Alan really ought to step away from his desk for some exercise from time to time. This grumpy asshole can't sprint for five seconds without slowing down to huff and puff, which is obviously a real drag when you're just trying to get somewhere fast, not to mention a constant hindrance when fleeing from the Taken. Somehow, they've managed to create a character who's in worse shape than I am, adding nothing but tedium to the game. Please, dispense with this mechanic entirely in the sequel, if you have any decency, Remedy.

 

Additionally, I could do without collecting 100 completely pointless coffee thermoses, but I will give plenty of deserved credit for how creatively they implemented the manuscript collectibles. Each page is narrated by the dulcet tones of Alan's voice actor, foreshadowing future events and revealing hints about how to handle the next challenge. It truly feels like the story he wrote is coming to life before your eyes. Gotta be among the cleverest collectible integrations I've ever seen, and possibly my favorite facet of this game.

 

As for the two included DLCs... eh, they're not great. The Signal has a tendency to crash during the ending sequence, robbing you of the deathless trophy, so I had to experiment with a bunch of workarounds to even finish it properly. The most important of them seemed to be pausing the game to let it load in specific areas, until my PS4 stopped sounding like a jet engine. What a tremendous waste of my time, and on a Pro model no less, so I can only imagine how poorly it runs on a base PS4. On the other hand, The Writer was stable, but for some godforsaken reason, they decided that putting lots of platforming in their janky horror game was a stroke of genius. 3D platforming can be difficult to do well, even in a bespoke platforming game, so this was ill-advised.

 

Clearly, it's Alan's self-hatred that encourages him to stroll off the edges of platforms after a jump, with no input from the player whatsoever. Inexplicably, it seems that he can also collide with invisible geometry in midair, causing him to plunge straight to his well-deserved doom. Furthermore, because sprint and dodge are mapped to the same button, it's necessary to leave ample room between Alan and any edges when initiating a run-up to them, or he might dodge himself right off the ledge. It's all extremely stupid, with the tornado segment early on being unadulterated trash. Looking back, I feel like reading this paragraph in Squidward's frustrated voice is required to understand my true disdain for the DLCs. Yeah, they're kinda bad. I mean, I guess the new mechanic they introduce is okay. Essentially, floating words in the environment can be triggered with Alan's light for a variety of effects. For example, the word "boom" will create an explosion, annihilating any nearby Taken. 

 

Overall, it's definitely a game where the remaster treatment isn't enough to hide its 2010 origins entirely, but it was nonetheless worth playing to prepare for Alan Wake 2, which looks fantastic so far. Frustrating moments aside, I do find the crazy world of these games immensely fascinating, and will happily play more of them, despite my many complaints. Maybe I'll still tally my platinums in this thread on occasion, and who knows, the inspiration to write these might return eventually. Until then, I'll see you when I see you.

 

I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it.

Edited August 28, 2023 by StraightVege

[KAIZER_SHARKY]

                                                                                                                                     #152 - It Takes Two

 

                                                                                                                   

                      Difficulty: 3/10

                           Enjoyment: 10/10 in Coop

 

 

 

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                             Power Couple
                                                                                                                                        You are unstoppable, nothing stands in your way!

 

 

 

I always played It Takes Two with my girlfriend to relax in the evenings.

At some points in certain levels this worked sometimes more and sometimes less as you can imagine. 😅

But there were always funny scenes and you could laugh a lot. I didn't think I would like this game so much, but I really enjoyed it.
Also the Easter Eggs or references to other game genres.

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by KAIZER_SHARKY

[JAK-KRIEG]

4 hours ago, StraightVege said:

 

Platinum Trophy

 

  #351

 

Greetings! With everything going on lately, I haven't felt motivated to play much of anything, or to continue writing these lengthy posts. Since my utter lack of mental energy and free time has long had me contemplating a large reduction in the number of hours I spend here, and considering that I'm not terribly fond of the recent forum update, this seems like as good a moment as any to step away from it, so perhaps this will be the last one I do for the foreseeable future. By now, I must've made well over 100 posts in this thread, and it's just not that interesting to me anymore. But, how about one more for the road? While the last thing I feel like doing currently is writing this, if I don't force myself to get back into my hobbies somehow, I'm only going to sink ever deeper into depression. Therefore, here comes another meandering post from a mediocre writer, detailing my thoughts about a game starring a horror writer with actual talent: Alan Wake Remastered.

 

Although I've never owned any model of Xbox, it was common for me to play the big Microsoft exclusives on my brother's console in the past (it feels like another life now), with which I finished all the main entries in the Halo and Gears franchises. One title in his collection I never had much interest in trying back then was Alan Wake, though. Something about it seemed awfully boring to me at the time, and it's likely I just had different tastes in those days. After Alan's bizarre appearance in the Control DLC, however, my curiosity was finally piqued, and the remaster becoming a PS+ offering cemented my decision to give this weird third-person shooter a go at last. Alan, wake up.

 

Inspired by his idol, Stephen King, Alan Wake is a successful horror/thriller author suffering from an especially severe case of writer's block. Hoping to clear his head, Alan decides that a vacation to the quaint mining town of Bright Falls, Washington, is exactly what he and his wife need. Alan and Alice plan to relax at a scenic lakeside cabin there, but wouldn't you know it, Alan chose the one rural community in America where a malevolent entity known as the Dark Presence dwells beneath the lake, drawing power from the imagination of writers (including one victim before him, Thomas Zane), thus making every tragic event and horrible monster Alan commits to paper for his upcoming book a terrifying reality. Suddenly, his dream vacation becomes a nightmare straight out of his novels, as Alice soon goes missing and Alan is afflicted with acute amnesia, erasing a week from his memory. To rescue her from the clutches of the incomprehensible Dark Presence, Alan must collect the strewn manuscript pages he doesn't even remember typing, and ultimately rewrite the story with a happier outcome. Alan finds himself wishing he was more like the capable protagonist of his books, Alex Casey, but in truth, he's merely an ordinary man, so it won't be easy to triumph over darkness itself. If you enjoy these "idyllic small town with dark secrets and mysteries" settings (Deadly Premonition, for instance), Alan Wake certainly has that vibe going for it. The quirky supporting characters aren't developed significantly, though, with the focus being firmly on Alan's long journey through the night to redemption.

 

Actually, the characterization leaves a lot to be desired in general. Besides the cast of expected small-town stereotypes, Alan's thoroughly annoying agent from New York, Barry, tags along as a sidekick occasionally, and I simply can't understand why so many players seem to be fond of this guy. He's basically a Joe Pesci stand-in, constantly shrieking at "ALLLLLLLL" to do stuff, and spouting jokes that probably weren't even funny in 2010, which is quite distracting when you're in the midst of solving the simple puzzles or fighting enemies. Then, there's Alan's poor wife, Alice, whom he often treats like garbage for no apparent reason, although he does enjoy staring at her butt in one scene, after needlessly snapping at her. She spends nearly the entire game as a half-naked damsel in distress, desperate for her heroic husband to save her from the darkness. It's really a bit creepy, but thankfully, Sam Lake's portrayal of women has massively improved since this game was originally released. Jesse Faden is light-years ahead of this schlock.

 

Speaking of Lake, I'm certain I've previously mentioned (in an old post about Control, I believe) how his style of storytelling has never particularly appealed to me. Sam delights in presenting narrative fever dreams, full of non-linear plot elements, red herrings, meta nonsense, and events left up to interpretation. Personally, I'll take a more straightforward story over his confusing mélanges any day, but I also can't deny that Remedy's games are always a wild ride worth experiencing. I was definitely left wanting to see more of the peculiar universe wherein Control and Alan Wake take place, at least. It's a bit of a shame that playing Control's DLC ahead of time revealed the happenings of Alan Wake to have been a real "Altered World Event," as this invalidates the interesting possibility that Alan is just an unreliable narrator, lost in grandiose delusions following his wife's disappearance. One aspect I rather appreciated, however, is the strong relatability of what Alan goes through. For writers and creative people generally, many of the struggles he describes ring true. Indeed, we're often our own worst enemies and critics.

 

Frantically charging through gloomy forest surroundings in search of the means to save Alice, with only the narrow shaft of his flashlight beam and the moon providing illumination, Wake is continually assaulted by what he names the "Taken." These may resemble ordinary townspeople—joggers, lumberjacks, miners, hunters, local police—but as fresh puppets of the Dark Presence, there's something decidedly off about them. Consumed by an almost hivemind desire to kill Wake, they now wield the tools of their trade as lethal weapons, doggedly pursuing him while shouting mundane phrases out of context. Creepy! Wake's only sanctuary is found beneath overhead streetlights and such, where the unfortunate zombified citizens cannot follow, hence the superior strategy is often to run past foes to the next checkpoint, rather than wasting ammunition.

 

The Taken are protected by an aura of malicious darkness, making them impervious to harm from firearms, unless it's first burned away by a light source. Strangely, Alan discovers that he has the ability to "boost" the light emitted from his flashlight (which can later be swapped for a more effective, heavy-duty lantern), focusing the light on his assailants to both temporarily blind them and gradually eat away at their shields. The batteries necessary to accomplish this are plentiful, so there's no need to conserve them, I found. Sometimes, a murder of Taken crows or random possessed objects must be fended off by the light, as well, which frankly came off more like a silly irritation than anything threatening. Standing around shining your light on SCARY possessed gates until they "die" is surely one of the game's low points.

 

Once their defenses are removed, you'll use Alan's limited arsenal of weapons to dispatch the countless Taken. His revolver is a solid option for most encounters, while the two shotguns or a hunting rifle (Alan can only carry one long gun at a time) are more appropriate for bringing down the burly Taken types, such as chainsaw-wielding lumberjacks. When the situation gets especially dire, with Taken encroaching from all sides, it's time to pull out the flare gun to eliminate multiple baddies at once with a satisfying, slow-motion explosive shot. Similarly, flashbang grenades are available to destroy multiple foes simultaneously, or if you'd rather bypass them, Wake can ignite a road flare defensively, holding every enemy around him at bay for a while. The guns are all useful, albeit the shotguns feel somewhat wimpy, both sound-wise and from a damage standpoint.

 

The Taken are agile, though, and will typically get in a few swings, despite your best efforts. To avoid strikes and thrown weapons, Alan can dodge at the last moment for a cinematic evasion maneuver, which comes in handy for survival throughout. Aggravatingly, enemies love to sneak up and hit you from off-screen, making it a wise idea to preemptively press the dodge button whenever you suspect someone's behind you. Many times, you'll trigger a lucky dodge, preventing some cheap damage. Louder Taken noises would've been appreciated here, to better clue the player in on their positions. That's the gist of what you'll do in this game, albeit there are a few basic puzzles to deal with, such as moving a bundle of logs up and down with a crane to create a makeshift bridge.

 

On the whole, I wouldn't say it's a particularly scary game, sadly. While intimidating at first, the Taken quickly become familiar, predictable, generic dudes for you to blast by the dozens, and the lack of enemy variety is painfully apparent long before the game concludes. I would liken it to stuff such as Dead Space or the classic RE4: essentially an action-packed TPS with horror aesthetics. Hopefully, the sequel leans further into frightening elements, and offers more than a shooting gallery of angry guys with knives. Still, the combat gameplay is solid enough to carry the experience for the most part, and it's usually fun to engage with the human enemies, even if the birds and poltergeist objects are pretty lame. Much of the traversal from one place to another just feels like filler content, however, especially the clunky driving sections.

 

Yes, there are occasional "open-world" sorts of areas, allowing Alan to commandeer various vehicles and speed to his next destination. Along the way, you'll blind Taken with the headlights and run them over, which is undeniably satisfying. That said, the cars don't exactly control well, so it's common to collide with some miniscule obstacle or uneven terrain, leaving you flipped over or otherwise stuck, until the Taken swiftly approach to render your vehicle inoperable with their attacks. Usually, this results in a game over, since these segments are meant to be navigated via car, and Wake stands little chance on foot. The worst thing about driving, though, is how the camera immediately swings to look backwards whenever you reverse, whether you want it to or not. Quite disorienting, I must say. Sure, they contribute some gameplay variety, I suppose, but these bits really didn't need to exist.

 

A number of other dated design aspects both baffled and frustrated me, too. The worst of them by far is the game's infuriating insistence on frequently pulling control away from the player, abruptly shifting the camera view to show spawning enemies, an NPC companion, puzzle elements, or Alan's destination. I swear it does this every ten steps, and it's terribly jarring, ruining the flow of gameplay. Worse, under some rare circumstances, it's possible to be hit while the camera's doing its dumb gimmick, which is unacceptable. Why they did this is beyond me; I'm not an idiot, and I don't need to be shown these things by force. Moreover, I realize that writing isn't the most active way to make a living, but Alan really ought to step away from his desk for some exercise from time to time. This grumpy asshole can't sprint for five seconds without slowing down to huff and puff, which is obviously a real drag when you're just trying to get somewhere fast, not to mention a constant hindrance when fleeing from the Taken. Somehow, they've managed to create a character who's in worse shape than I am, adding nothing but tedium to the game. Please, dispense with this mechanic entirely in the sequel, if you have any decency, Remedy.

 

Additionally, I could do without collecting 100 completely pointless coffee thermoses, but I will give plenty of deserved credit for how creatively they implemented the manuscript collectibles. Each page is narrated by the dulcet tones of Alan's voice actor, foreshadowing future events and revealing hints about how to handle the next challenge. It truly feels like the story he wrote is coming to life before your eyes. Gotta be among the cleverest collectible integrations I've ever seen, and possibly my favorite facet of this game.

 

As for the two included DLCs... eh, they're not great. The Signal has a tendency to crash during the ending sequence, robbing you of the deathless trophy, so I had to experiment with a bunch of workarounds to even finish it properly. The most important of them seemed to be pausing the game to let it load in specific areas, until my PS4 stopped sounding like a jet engine. What a tremendous waste of my time, and on a Pro model no less, so I can only imagine how poorly it runs on a base PS4. On the other hand, The Writer was stable, but for some godforsaken reason, they decided that putting lots of platforming in their janky horror game was a stroke of genius. 3D platforming can be difficult to do well, even in a bespoke platforming game, so this was ill-advised.

 

Clearly, it's Alan's self-hatred that encourages him to stroll off the edges of platforms after a jump, with no input from the player whatsoever. Inexplicably, it seems that he can also collide with invisible geometry in midair, causing him to plunge straight to his well-deserved doom. Furthermore, because sprint and dodge are mapped to the same button, it's necessary to leave ample room between Alan and any edges when initiating a run-up to them, or he might dodge himself right off the ledge. It's all extremely stupid, with the tornado segment early on being unadulterated trash. Looking back, I feel like reading this paragraph in Squidward's frustrated voice is required to understand my true disdain for the DLCs. Yeah, they're kinda bad. I mean, I guess the new mechanic they introduce is okay. Essentially, floating words in the environment can be triggered with Alan's light for a variety of effects. For example, the word "boom" will create an explosion, annihilating any nearby Taken. 

 

Overall, it's definitely a game where the remaster treatment isn't enough to hide its 2010 origins entirely, but it was nonetheless worth playing to prepare for Alan Wake 2, which looks fantastic so far. Frustrating moments aside, I do find the crazy world of these games immensely fascinating, and will happily play more of them, despite my many complaints. Maybe I'll still tally my platinums in this thread on occasion, and who knows, the inspiration to write these might return eventually. Until then, I'll see you when I see you.

 

I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it. In it, I lifted the page in front of my eyes and read it.

Dude I hope to see back sometime but I understand health is king. Thanks for all your likes and for being a nice person.