Madbuk's List of Unfinished Games

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats with the recent plat well done! I am working on CTRNF right now, just time trials left. Which time trials did you struggle with the most? Keep it up mate! 

[madbuk]

22 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Congrats with the recent plat well done! I am working on CTRNF right now, just time trials left. Which time trials did you struggle with the most? Keep it up mate! 

Thanks Crash Cove was the one I spent the most time on I think, but that may just have been because it was my first. Dragon Mines was another tough one because of the wooden spiral, but Oxide messes up there so there's some leeway. Sewer Speedway was tough because trying to get into the shortcut 3 laps in a row didnt seem very reliable.

Other than those 3, none of the rest were too bad, although Tiny Temple took a little longer than most.

[ZoutjeNL]

Thanks. I beat N trophy on Tiny Temple, however I was already struggling to maintain sacred fire so I am a bit afraid of Oxide. But like you said practice makes perfect and your post is highly motivational. 

 

Good luck on your next game! What game is it going to be? I saw you had Oddysey and Team Sonic on your list.

 

[madbuk]

19 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Thanks. I beat N trophy on Tiny Temple, however I was already struggling to maintain sacred fire so I am a bit afraid of Oxide. But like you said practice makes perfect and your post is highly motivational. 

 

Good luck on your next game! What game is it going to be? I saw you had Oddysey and Team Sonic on your list.

 

Next game will be Edith Finch, after that I'm not sure. It'll likely be either LEGO Incredibles, Team Sonic, or Judgment... but it may be something else altogether lol, I jump around between games a lot.

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #323 - BioShock 2

Before playing this, I had often seen it regarded pretty negatively so I went in with pretty low expectations overall. I definitely found it to be the weakest of the trilogy, but it's still a pretty enjoyable game. The story wasn't quite as engaging and gameplay wise it felt almost identical to BioShock 1, except I felt so much weaker than I did in the first game. Enemies were 1-2 shotting me even on normal mode and I took forever to kill them. And then I switched some tonics around and destroyed everything in my path. Hard mode felt like a breeze compared to medium, I only ever died against big sisters (and I had Vita chambers active unlike on medium so death isn't a big deal.)

 

Researching enemies was different in this. Instead of taking pictures of enemies, you're recording your fight. I think I prefer it in this game but I'm still not a big fan of the concept and am glad Infinite gets rid of it (if I remember right at least... Has been a while.) I'm not sure when I'll get around to doing Infinite on PS4, but it likely wont be for a while.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: What Remains of Edith Finch [+9] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

BioShock 2 [+39] {+74%}

LEGO Jurassic World [+17] {+26%}

 

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats on finishing What Remains of Edith Finch! And nice progress on BioShock 2 good luck with the rest of the trophies! I am actually thinking about starting Bioshock and going through the whole trilogy. I already completed Infinite on PC but I don't mind doing it again as it was an enjoyable experience, plus I heard that the blue ribbons are cheesable on PS4. Looking forward to your next update. 

[madbuk]

 

Progress Update: #324 - LEGO Jurassic World

Another LEGO game down. This one was chosen as part of a backlog event, I had originally planned on doing Incredibles as my next LEGO game, but this one was fun instead. It's definitely one of the better Vita ones - there are no timed challenges, no character specific challenges, no multi-challenges. There's also a jump button and platforming instead of it being entirely automated like some of the other Vita ones (Hobbit, Movie, Marvel 1.) You also don't need to finish a level to keep all your collectibles which was nice. Made clean up go by very quickly.

 

I had absolutely no idea what was going on in this game plot wise, though. There's voice acting, and 9 levels per movie, but even with 9 levels each it feels pretty rushed and poorly explained, but that's not a big deal. I wasn't particularly interested in the story anyway.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

BioShock 2 [+15] {+26%} (COMPLETE!)

LEGO Jurassic World [+30] {+74%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #325 - Team Sonic Racing

Unfortunately, this was pretty disappointing compared to Sonic & SEGA All-Stars/Sonic & All-Stars Transformed. For some reason they decided it would be a good idea to slow everything down to a complete snails pace on every difficulty below expert - and expert isn't unlocked from the start. If expert had been unlocked from the start I think I may have enjoyed it more, but even then the team mechanics get in the way a bit - it's a pretty common occurrence to finish first place and still lose because your teammates were too far behind.

 

I do like that this game had an actual story attached to it, unlike the previous two, and it's not just boss introductions like in Crash Team Racing... The problem is, the story wasn't very good. It was predictable and the voice acting was horrible. Especially Big and Shadow, but honestly the whole cast was pretty lackluster in this besides Sonic who's on par with the other games. I'm also not a huge fan of some of the remixes the soundtrack uses, but that's not a big issue. Track design is decent and there's a good number of tracks available.

 

Crash Team Racing is the better team racing game by far, but on expert mode this game is still worth a play I'd say. It's just a shame you have to slog through hard mode, in which you drive way too slow, to unlock it.

Spoiler

Retail

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition [+4] {+5%}

Team Sonic Racing [+32] {+70%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Darksiders III [+0] {-3%}

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [+6] {+10%}

 

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats on your recent completions of Lego Jurassic Park and Team Sonic race, I completed Jurassic Park on PC and I really enjoyed that one. Unfortunate to hear that team sonic racing was so disappointing, I completed all-stars transformed yet again on pc and that game was great! I think I pass after the beauty that CTR was. 

[madbuk]

3 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Congrats on your recent completions of Lego Jurassic Park and Team Sonic race, I completed Jurassic Park on PC and I really enjoyed that one. Unfortunate to hear that team sonic racing was so disappointing, I completed all-stars transformed yet again on pc and that game was great! I think I pass after the beauty that CTR was. 

CTR really was so much better than I expected. I hope we get a sequel or something later on, although I certainly wouldn't say no to another regular 3D platforming Crash instead. If you can find Team Sonic on a deep, deep sale I think it's worth at least trying out.

[UltraDog177]

Hey Buk you can do it! Get that Completion rate ?

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #326 - A Hat in Time

On a whim I decided to buy this game on sale yesterday, and I'm glad I did. This was a lot of fun and just reinforces my longing for a return of 3D platformers. I think it's safe to assume Spyro and Crash are back for a while, but despite that there's not really much out there, which saddens me as they're my favourite genre. I was a bit concerned by the first world which didn't really have many platforming challenges at all and was more focused on exploration, but the game really picked up from the second world onwards. Alpine Skyline was my favourite level because each time piece was basically a platforming gauntlet, which is exactly what I wanted from this.

 

It's a shame there are only 4 levels total, I wish it was a longer game. There is a 5th level DLC I think but it's not available on PS4 at all. I hope it gets ported over later (preferably with trophies.) The levels were all pretty unique and had their own themes and gimmicks to keep them interesting, and each had a running narrative connecting the missions together but really the story and character's weren't that great. They were serviceable, which is all they needed to be.

 

If you're a fan of 3D platformers I absolutely recommend checking this out on sale, but it's way too short to justify full price imo. I hope we see a sequel someday... I hope we see any 3D platformers someday...

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: A Hat in Time [+28] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [+3] {+5%}

Tales of Hearts R [+1] {+1%}

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by madbuk

[Piezilla57]

I can't wait to read your post about GT5, Buk. Soon, I'm hoping

[madbuk]

1 hour ago, Piezilla57 said:

I can't wait to read your post about GT5, Buk. Soon, I'm hoping

God I wish. Never happening though, I'm not good enough at racing games for it.

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #327 - Tales of Hearts R

This was fun. I'd say it's the weakest Tales game that I've finished, but there's still some enjoyment to be had. The characters were quite forgettable besides, arguably, Beryl, Gall and Ines who at least have some interesting traits. The overarcing plot was pretty generic and by the end I just didn't care anymore about anything that was happening. Combat was fun though, pretty fast paced compared to Vesperia which I recently started (and now that this is done I can continue without feeling bad about neglecting this), although I barely experimented with the different artes. I also didn't really bother playing other characters because Kor (the main guy) was quite strong to begin with.

 

I hate the random battles in this. They're so intrusive and get in the way of exploring and puzzle solving. It's the same issue I have with the Final Fantasy games, it's just tedious. I'm so glad that other Tales games let you see the enemies and choose to engage them. I usually kill everything on screen anyway for the XP, but at least then I dont have to worry about being interrupted when I'm trying to solve a puzzle or find chests.

 

Another thing that was very disappointing is the lack of a dub. Every other Tales game I've played has had one and to go from those to this was rather disappointing, I'm always a dub > sub guy.

 

Despite my grievances with this one it was a fun 50 hour romp that didn't ever feel too grindy or tedious (if you can look past the random battles like most JRPG players probably can.) It was nice to see the Vita be supported with a Tales title and it's a shame we never got Innocence R over here too, but oh well. Plenty of other Tales games still to play.

Spoiler

Retail

Gran Turismo 5 [+4] {+6%}

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition [+1] {+2%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [+2] {+5%}

Tales of Hearts R [+32] {+88%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #328 - Redout

I came into this expecting a fun indie WipEout clone and left mostly satisfied. It doesn't come close to being as good as WipEout, but I never expected it to really. WipEout Omega Collection is my favourite racing game of all time so that was already a very lofty goal and this has a visibly much lower budget to work with. The soundtrack is about what you'd expect from a game like this, and it's decent. The aesthetics were pretty generic overall, especially compared to WipEout, but that's fine.

 

The gameplay, which really is the only reason to play this - there's no story at all - is enjoyable although a bit too easy on the default difficulty. I didn't realize until right before the plat that this game even had a difficulty mode, as it's hidden in the options menu and the game makes no move to tell you about it, so I played the whole thing on default and kinda wish I knew earlier so I could've bumped it up to hard. There are posts on here that say the game became stupidly hard, and arguably on par with, if not harder than, WipEout via a patch, but... I really didn't feel that?

 

Maybe it was patched again without anyone mentioning it, or maybe the EU version never received the patch, but at least for me the AI almost never attacked me with weapons, and when they did it was mainly just a leach beam for a second or two - irrelevant. I usually got time trials golded on my first attempt because the times are extremely lenient, pretty sure I even wiped out a few times and still got gold on some maps, and the plat doesn't even require all golds either. You need 45 golds and a gold on the final event (and one platinum medal) and that's it, you don't even need to play any others at all. I might've continued on after the plat to play the rest of the events but... eh. It's fun but not that fun really, it's a bit too basic and the turning isn't anywhere near as smooth or satisfying as it is in WipEout.

 

Just give me a new WipEout, Sony. I can live with these indie games that are heavily inspired by it, but the real deal would be so exciting.

Spoiler

Retail

Gran Turismo 5 [+3] {+4%}

NEW GAME: Katamari Forever [+17] {+41%}

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition [+2] {+3%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [+1] {+3%}

Redout [+35] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #329 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

These are some great games... however, replaying what I've already experienced wasn't quite as fun as I had expected. Before playing the PS4 port, I had played the entirety of Ace Attorney, Justice For All, and the first two cases of Trials and Tribulations on mobile. I stopped at the third case because this port got announced. I'm not sure why I found this so dull to replay compared to Steins;Gate, another VN, which I have played several times now and enjoyed each time. Maybe the investigation phases just dont lend themselves well to replays?

 

Once I got to the new content, my enjoyment drastically increased. I'm satisfied with how the trilogy ended and can see why this was meant to be a stopping point for the series as a whole. Everything came together and wrapped up nicely by the end of the third game. I really liked how little things were planted throughout the trilogy that build up over the course of the three games, it's done very well. The third game especially had a very engaging over-arcing plot linking the cases together. I'd say the third is the best overall, followed by the first, then the second.

 

I really hope they port over the future games next because I know nothing about those so I'll probably enjoy them much, much more.

Spoiler

Retail

Assassin's Creed Odyssey [+11] {11%} (COMPLETE!)

Gran Turismo 5 [+5] {+8%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [+20] {+80%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Burnout Paradise Remastered [95] {Digital}

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #330 - √Letter

Before starting this I had heard some very mixed opinions. Some liked it, and others seem to outright hate it. I'm part of the "like it" crowd. It's nothing outstanding and most of the endings are kinda forgettable, but I really liked the investigation sections (even if they were a bit easy) and I enjoyed delving into the history of the characters and piecing together the overarching mystery. It actually reminded me a lot of Edith Finch, another game I enjoyed a lot.

 

Like several VNs I've played before, the choice system doesn't seem extreme enough to warrant how drastically different all of the endings are. That's my only real issue with the game though. It has good music, great artwork, interesting characters, serviceable gameplay, an intriguing narrative and a satisfying true ending (which was by far the best ending in the game.) It's not one I expect to ever stack, it's no Steins;Gate after all, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Spoiler

Retail

√Letter [+27] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #331 - Burnout Paradise Remastered

This takes me back. My first ever trophy was from the original PS3 version, and 5 years after that it was one of my first plats. I'm not a huge fan of it, I much prefer 3/Revenge/Dominator, but I enjoyed it more this time than I did the last. I decided to give it a second chance now that I've adapted to open world racing games (which I still think are inferior overall) and I don't regret doing so. I don't see myself going for the full completion of all 3 lists, I'll settle for 2, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

The main issue I have with this game is the repetition and tedious open world. In prior Burnouts, you would simply have a list of tracks and an event list for each one. It was simple, but it worked and gave you nicely curated tracks to play, each with their own secrets like shortcuts unlocked via takedowns or signature takedowns. But with the open world nature of this game, signature takedowns were removed because they can't really exist, and there's no track, you just drive wherever. The repetition is caused by the fact that every event essentially takes place on the same "track" - the city - and so every single event feels samey. This is especially true because you replay events after each license upgrades so you can end up doing the exact same event 5 or so times (not that you'll notice really since they all seem the same anyway due to the open world nature.) It could also really use a fast travel system.

 

The sense of speed is there though and takedowns were still fun to get, albeit less satisfying than in prior games. I'd say overall it's better than the NFS games I've played, but it comes nowhere close to anything before it. I'm not even sure I'd want to see a sequel, Burnout can stay dead since if it did come back it'd just be NFS rebranded. NFS Most Wanted already felt like a Burnout Paradise 2 and it just kept going from there.

Spoiler

Retail

Yakuza 3 [+5] {+8%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Burnout Paradise Remastered [+95] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Deponia Doomsday [37] {Digital}

NEW GAME: Goodbye Deponia [51] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #332 - Goodbye Deponia

Goodbye Deponia is a decent conclusion to the Deponia trilogy. I'm not sure how they're going to continue from this in the fourth game - or why they even bothered caving into fan demand because this clearly was supposed to be the end. I hope that once I get around to playing the fourth game, it won't feel forced or pointless. The Day of the Tentacle-style multiple character system in this one was interesting, with the plot threads from one character sometimes altering the plot thread of another. Each character had their own specific goal and the environments they go through are distinct and themed. Rufus continues to be a good protagonist, and the supporting cast are good as well. The puzzles could get a little bit obscure due to the multiple character system but I have given up at trying to jump through strange mental hoops to solve point and click puzzles so I just followed a guide. I'm in it for the story and characters, not the gameplay.

 

Overall I think Broken Sword is still my favourite point and click series, although I may be heavily biased as it was also my first, but the Deponia trilogy is certainly a close second. 

Spoiler

Retail

Gran Turismo 5 [+22] {+36%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Goodbye Deponia [+51] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens [+22] {+33%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: De Blob [23] {Digital}

NEW GAME: De Blob 2 [26] {Digital}

NEW GAME: Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms [36] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #333 - LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens

With this, all LEGO games on Vita are now completed. Unfortunately, this ended up being one of my least favourite Vita ones. Hobbit Vita still takes the prize for being the worst LEGO game imo, but this one felt so... bland. There was nothing particularly wrong with it (apart from one bug that softlocked me), it just wasn't interesting. But hey maybe that's a me problem, LEGO Star Wars III and the console version of this were pretty bland too (I did like LEGO Star Wars 2 though). Maybe Star Wars just isn't my thing.

 

The open world sections felt a bit pointless, they were small and all the side missions were generic fetch quests. One thing I will give this game credit for though is while the open world may be lacking, there are a decent number of levels available. More than most Vita LEGO games if I remember right. The story is just a rehash of the movie so I didn't care much, I prefer the LEGO games that have unique stories like Batman 2/3, Undercover etc. (even if they never end up being anything special either lol, at least they're fresh.)

 

It's a shame they've stopped making Vita LEGO games. Their quality was hit or miss, but I've had a good time with most of them. Some of them I even preferred to their console counterparts. 

Spoiler

Retail

Gran Turismo 5 [+1] {+1%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Batman: Arkham City [+26] {+34%}

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens [+25] {+67%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Ys: Memories of Celceta [52] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #334 - Gran Turismo 5

It is finally over. I'm finally free. I have invested hundreds of hours into this plat, and it is by far the longest and hardest I've ever done. There were many points during this game where I was ready to give up. The licenses and the special events - especially AMG - did their best to try and break my spirit. Thankfully, there was a group of people on Discord who continued to pester encourage me, no matter how much I faltered. I'd like to thank Fear for setting up that support system and giving me my own channel to vent in/post progress/get encouragement, everyone who participated, and also @Sergen for his advice - especially for Eiger. His settings made that event so much easier than the settings I was using beforehand.

 

I admit to using the Vettel glitch to make those 3 events easier. Not exactly my proudest moment, but the rest of this plat was hell enough for me and I just wanted it over honestly. To try and atone for this, I did do the A-Spec level 40 grind legit (play 52-60 hours of the hardest track in the game) whereas I could've glitched it as well and had a much, much easier time (would've still taken just as long though.) Outside of Vettel, the AMG events were by far the hardest for me, as every event is on the Nurburgring, which, depending on the car you use, is a 7-10 minute track and while on some events you have a couple of seconds of leeway, there was one 7 minute event that felt like it required absolute perfection. That one took me a long time, made the Beat Zico trophy that took me 500+ laps in WipEout HD look like a walk in the park.

 

With this game done, every game I played before trophy hunting is now complete. Feels good to finally clean up that part of the backlog at least, even if there are still loads of other games to do since becoming a trophy hunter. For many years I have looked at this game as one of the impossibilities on my list barring me from a 100% completion. I still have plenty of those remaining (Stealth Inc and Binding of Isaac immediately come to mind) but this has given me some hope at least.

Spoiler

Retail

Gran Turismo 5 [+7] {+20%} (COMPLETE!)

Ys: Memories of Celceta [+19] {+27%}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #335 - Spec Ops: The Line

Years ago, this was a PS+ game that I passed on because at the time I had no interest in it at all. Over the years my tastes have broadened though, and I had kept hearing this was a good game so I ended up buying it anyway, and I'm glad I did. The gameplay has plenty of flaws - my biggest issue with it being the janky run and enemy grenade spam - but the story definitely makes up for the rather lackluster gameplay. I had managed to avoid spoilers for this entirely, and seeing how the story and the characters develop throughout was engaging. The moral choices the game presents rarely have an option that is obviously the "good" choice and I liked that about it.

 

I was dreading FUBAR difficulty quite a bit whilst doing my initial run on Suicide Mission difficulty, as I was dying quite regularly and FUBAR is relatively infamous. Having done it though, it wasn't really that bad. I'd say it's like Uncharted's brutal difficulty if brutal was actually fair. You barely have any health, checkpoints are scarce, but unlike Uncharted it never spawns you into a situation where you're killed immediately after the loading ends. You also have some companions to help out, and they're pretty powerful unlike Elena/Sully/etc. in the Uncharted games who are basically useless. Honestly I'd say I found FUBAR easier than Suicide Mission, probably because I already knew what to expect.

 

This was a bit of a surprise, wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. I'm glad they didn't try and milk it and turn it into a franchise though, it works very well as a one off.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone [+20] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Spec Ops: The Line [+51] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #336 - Ys: Memories of Celceta

I have never played a Ys game before, so this was all new to me. It felt like a good introductory game - you don't need to know any of the lore or characters, and the systems are fairly simple and easy to adapt to. Seems like a franchise I'll be a fan of if the other games are a bit better, as this game is held back a bit by its story and characters, which are completely forgettable and bland, and the gameplay got a bit repetitive since none of the dungeons require any real thought. There were no puzzles, exploration didn't amount to much because there aren't really any side paths or secrets...

 

If the other Ys games have better stories and more intricate dungeons, then I could definitely see myself playing more of this franchise in the future. I liked the concept of it basically being a collectathon mixed with a JRPG, although it didn't give you as many tools to track the stuff you're missing compared to 3D collectathons with in-depth level collection lists which is a shame. I hear the other Ys games fix this though which is very nice.

 

I'll probably try out Ys VIII eventually, to see what a mainline numbered entry is like in comparison, but it won't be for a while.

Spoiler

Retail

Ys: Memories of Celceta [+33] {+73%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #337 - NORN9 Var Commons

Unfortunately, not as interesting as I was hoping. It had a promising setting, a fairly diverse cast, and at least one of the main three girls you play as was a good character, but the game retreads the same plot threads so many times over the 9 playthroughs you have to do. The only thing that somewhat changes are the characters involved. I was interested the first two or three times when stuff was new, but the 6 playthroughs afterwards definitely dragged on. The true ending didn't feel very substantial or worthwhile either, it barely added more to the story that wasn't already covered in the previous playthroughs. The artwork was good, although the music is pretty forgettable. I do like that each of the three main protagonists have their own personality though, I was beginning to think the protags in otomes would all be clueless idiots that can't do anything for themselves, but Mikoto and Nanimi both go against that I'd say. Koharu was a bit more traditional.

 

I'd say this was better than Amnesia, but not as good as Code: Realize. Rather disappointed overall but I picked it up fairly cheap, so no big loss.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NORN9 Var Commons [+30] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)