Madbuk's List of Unfinished Games

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #338 - LEGO The Incredibles

This is one of the better LEGO games I've done. The openworld didn't feel tedious, and the levels were all decent length - not too short like a lot of the Vita ones, or too long like a couple of the console ones. I also really liked that each level had its own miscellaneous trophy to earn for doing unique level-specific tasks, that's something I'd like to see return in future LEGO games. Probably not though since DC didn't have them. The crimewaves were a bit repetitive but other than that I had a lot of fun with this.

Spoiler

Retail

Katamari Forever [+5] {+9%}

LEGO The Incredibles [+52] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Batman: Arkham City [+6] {+9%}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #339 - The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Before playing this I had heard from many sources that this was worse than the first game.. honestly I'm not sure I have a preference, this one had a pretty annoying infamy system which punished you for ignoring side content, but you can bypass this entirely by doing everything in the open world before you start being punished, and then just rush the story. The combat felt a little better here than in the first game, although it was mostly the same. The side content is just as bad as in any other open world Spider-Man game (Insomniac's included), so I've just gotten used to the repetition from that.

 

The story was clearly setting up an Amazing Spider-Man 3, it's a shame it never happened because these games were pretty fun. This had barely any content though, only 14 main chapters which only have one actual level each. I did like the Peter Parker sections that fleshed out the story a bit more than the first game did, although the story still wasn't anything overly special. The suit grind at the end of the game was pretty dumb but luckily it didn't take very long.

 

I'll enjoy stacking this at some point in the future, but it won't be for a while.

Spoiler

Retail

3D Dot Game Heroes [+1] {+1%}

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 [+47] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #340 - Katamari Forever

Katamari is a very unique series, which is a shame since the gameplay is pretty fun. I don't think it has enough variation to justify the length of this though, it definitely outstayed its welcome for me (Touch My Katamari on the otherhand left me wanting more.) To plat this you need to do each level at least 4 times, but very often you need to do them 6+ times because unlocking each game mode is RNG, and it could take 1 try or it could take 6 tries to unlock it, and each level has multiple modes and you need to do this process for each individual level. It got tedious pretty quickly.

 

Some of the levels on the King's side were fairly annoying too like Hot Stuff, because the controls don't really allow for the precision that the game wants from you (Touch My Katamari controlled a lot better, the controls were pretty disappointing here.) I wish every level had an eternal mode, not only because it would make filling the collection a lot less annoying, but also because eternal is just satisfying to play. Most of the King's level didn't have eternal unfortunately.

 

I'm very thankful to everyone out there who has posted about the items they were missing and where they were located, that saved me a lot of pain because the game offers no hints as to where the items you're missing are, and there are over 4000 of them so it's pretty easy to miss a few. I only missed one that nobody else had (Math Textbook), and all my searching just resulted in info for a different item (Math Workbook) that I already had. I'm still not completely sure where I eventually picked up Math Textbook, as I didn't notice I had picked it up until I saw it in my collection suddenly, but I guess it was in the Shopping level? Other than that, all the items I had missed other people had too and they provided information on where to find them.

 

Fun game, I'd like to see the series return (and with the power of modern technology, hopefully make it so items don't disappear as you grow larger), but if we do get a new game I hope they drop the RNG elements for unlocking game modes.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance [+1] {+1%}

 

Retail

Katamari Forever [+11] {+50%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #341 - Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds

This was better than Norn9, but once again it shares the problem of all the routes pretty much having the same ending. It's not quite as bad as Norn in that regard because there were more variations but I don't really think it was varied enough to justify 12 different routes. I guess this is just a thing in otome? I remember Amnesia routes being very unique, Code:Realize seemed unique at first but then I redid it and realized how similar the routes actually are, and then Norn and this... It's a shame because non-otome VNs generally haven't disappointed me in ending variety (Steins;Gate and Chaos;Child for example.)

 

Also once again the main character isn't the brightest. There was a blatantly obvious plot twist that she should've been able to piece together early in the game, but then she never actually figures it out and has to have another character explain it to her entirely towards the end of the game. Why can otome protagonists not figure things out for themselves for a change? Especially when it's so basic. The rest of the cast was pretty good although the names were even more Japanese than normal (understandably since this is all based on real events, with some heavy creative liberty thrown in, so these are all real Japanese names) so even by the time I was at my 12th playthrough there were still a few characters I only knew by their last name/first name, not both. I couldn't tell you Hijikata's first name, for example. Not a big issue though since it's very rare that they get referred to by that name, it's almost always just "Hijikata".

 

You could tell this game was split into two halves though. The game was engaging enough for me to decide to continue with the second half, Edo Blossoms, but not straight away. I just hope Edo Blossoms has some great recaps because there are 13 routes to keep track of, and despite how similarly they ended, there are still some key differences that can change how things progress going forward.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds [+36] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Need for Speed Payback [58] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #342 - MediEvil

I have never played MediEvil before, and going into this I was a little concerned about the combat because it looked very imprecise and janky, but now having played it, the combat wasn't exactly great but it was serviceable, and I really enjoyed the rest of the game. Exploring the levels for items to progress was enjoyable, the platforming was pretty basic but it worked well, and I wasn't really expecting the game to have as many puzzles as it did (which was a welcome surprise, even if they were all a bit too easy.) All the reviewers complaining it hasn't aged well, I don't agree with. It has aged perfectly fine, sure the combat isn't exactly spectacular but it works, and that's all I wanted from it.

 

The story leaves me questioning how they managed to write a sequel to this, since I felt it ended rather well as a standalone experience. I'd love to see a MediEvil 2 remake like this one, because I hear 2 is even better. If they go on sale I may just pick up the originals for my Vita though instead of waiting. The game was a little short but most PS1 games were to be fair, so I can't hold that against it too much. At least Sony didn't try charging full price for it because, as great as it was, I don't think it really would've justified a full £50/$60.

Spoiler

Retail

NEW GAME: MediEvil [+39] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #343 - Batman: Arkham City

I had already done this game on PS3, and was a little hesitant to stack it as I remember not liking it as much as Knight/Asylum, and the DLC trophies were a pain. Since the PS4 Arkham remasters come as a bundle though, I figured I'd do it anyway since I owned it after buying Return to Arkham to replay Asylum. I'm glad I did, as this was more fun than I remember it being, but I still feel that it's the weakest of the three.

 

None of the sidequests are particularly interesting, honestly. Zsaz's phonecalls had some nice backstory expositions, but other than that they all felt rather generic other than Mad Hatter's which only lasts a few minutes anyway. The open world is also annoying, as it is shaped like a U so it's tedious to go from one end of the U to the other whereas in Knight you could just freely roam wherever. The story didn't feel as well paced as Asylum because of all the sidequests it continues to throw at you. The riddler stuff was also heavily overdone, did there really need to be 400 trophies? 440 if you want to count the extra 40 added via DLC.

 

Despite my grievances with this game though, the combat is as fun as it is in the other games and predator encounters are also still as engaging as usual. The ranked maps weren't quite as annoying as I remember them being as Batman, so I hope they're not as bad as I remember them being with the DLC characters. The combat ranked maps in particular are actually a lot of fun.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Batman: Arkham City [+23] {+37%}

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #344 - Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms

I appreciate that the routes in this game do actually significantly diverge from each other (they share similar key events, but that makes sense since the MC shouldn't have any control over them), but... 13 routes was a bit much. They all began to blur together for me, and if you ask me in a year or two I doubt I'd be able to remember any routes in particular, as none really stood out to me apart from maybe Harada's. This is likely the longest VN I've done and I don't feel like it really justified that length at all.

 

The main character definitely seemed more competent in this compared to Kyoto Winds, it feels like she has actually grown as a character throughout the story. I wish Sen and her bodyguard were more prominent instead of being relegated to side characters, as they were my favourites, but I guess that just made all of their appearances more meaningful. Some characters have their personalities shift dramatically between routes, but I don't really understand how the main character's decisions impact them at all as she's very rarely even in contact with them. Also the decisions that lead to the bad ends/game overs don't make much sense either to me because the choices and the endings seem completely unrelated to each other.

 

Overall these two games were good, but apparently this is a remake with added routes and I feel like all the added routes have diluted the overall quality a bit.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Batman: Arkham City [+16] {+20%} (COMPLETE!)

Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms [+36] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #345 - LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues

Having already played this before, I went into it knowing what to expect and I think overall I enjoyed it more now that I already knew each hub was an entirely separate thing and progress isn't shared between them at all (outside of red/green/blue bricks.) Unlike last time where I did all 30 story levels and then went back and did all of the clean-up afterwards, I tackled each hub area one at a time before moving on and enjoyed it a lot more than leaving everything until after the story is done.

 

I actually quite like the concept of each hub being comprised of several puzzles, where you can only solve one or two at the start, but those unlock more characters/vehicles so you can start doing the other puzzles scattered around too. It's a gameplay loop that the other games don't really attempt, as they just have one large overworld where once you've unlocked the necessary characters (usually accomplished just by finishing the story) you can just do anything anywhere which trivializes a lot of the puzzles in those games. From the very little I've seen, LEGO Movie 2 actually kind of reminds me of this but for the entire game. Maybe I should try it at some point.

Spoiler

Retail

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues [+39] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #346 - Batman: Arkham Origins

This game is pretty underrated. I'd say it's on par with City, honestly. The side quests are about as generic and the main plot if anything is even better. It also only has 200 or so tedious collectibles instead of over 400. The performance of it wasn't great, but it's a PS3 game and for years I've only played Arkham on PS4 so I think giving it some leeway in terms of how it performs is reasonable. It took quite a while for me to readjust to PS3 Arkham, but once I did I began to really enjoy this a lot.

 

The game introduces some fun new tools for predator encounters like the rope launcher, and the predator challenges themselves weren't anywhere near as obscure or specific as the ones in City which I appreciated a lot. The combat was mostly the same but with the addition of shock gloves, which were fun. They're a bit overpowered but they're also on a cooldown timer so it balances out imo. The open world wasn't anywhere near as tedious to travel through either because this game actually features fast travel, and isn't shaped like one big U like City was. I wish I had the advanced grappel from Knight though lol.

 

The MP was fine in concept, not so much in execution. I can see what they were trying to do - turn regular predator encounters from the main game into multiplayer by having most of the players be the goons and two people be the predators (Batman/Robin) but that wouldn't be very interesting for the goons so they had to introduce another goon faction, and you're too busy capturing bases and fighting off the opposing faction to effectively keep an eye out for Batman/Robin.

 

I'm definitely interested in what the next Arkham game from this team will be like, hopefully a lot more polished.

Spoiler

Retail

Batman: Arkham Origins [+35] {+63%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders [15] {Digital}

NEW GAME: Ys Origin [31] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #347 - Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace

I really was not sure what to expect from this game going in, being a dating sim spin-off. It's something I never really expected to be localized, and then it just suddenly appeared with no announcement a couple of days ago. I bought it instantly. I absolutely love every other Steins;Gate game (Chaos;Child was decent too) so it was a must for me, and it even had a 10% discount. I do not regret the purchase at all.

 

Going into this my biggest fear was that it would be shallow, it would be full of fanservice, and really just not engaging at all. I was pleasantly surprised, yes this game has fanservice, but it's mostly contained to a single route (you could argue two of the routes.) Outside of that it's just telling multiple good stories that, in some instances, don't even focus on the romance at all. Kurisu's route was arguably my favourite and I'd say Moeka's my least favourite, but I honestly enjoyed all of the routes a lot. Suzuha's route was a bit of a retread of one of the Linear Bounded Phenogram stories but that's ok. There were some scenes in this I was very impressed by, especially a specific one in Kurisu's route. You can tell the writers treat these characters with respect and don't just treat them as waifu bait.

 

Even now that it's done I'm still pretty excited about the fact it was finally localized. Overall it was my least favourite Steins;Gate entry, but that's really not a bad thing because I still loved it... I just loved it less than the others. With this and the already announced Robotics;Notes localizations next year, we're only missing 3 more Science Adventure games. I hope to see the day where we finally have every single game available in the west.

Spoiler

Retail

Batman: Arkham Origins [+10] {+16%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders [+15] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

De Blob [+6] {+8%}

NEW GAME: Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace [+44] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #348 - De Blob

I played De Blob 2 years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was glad when this remaster was announced for PS4. Unlike De Blob 2 this game doesn't take away the timer once you've finished every challenge in a level, nor does it have cheat codes for extra time, so I was a bit worried about how strict the time limits would be to 100% a stage but I always finished with at least 10 minutes to spare outside of the final level so it's very lenient. I looked at some Wii footage of this game (as it was previously a Wii exclusive) and it would appear as though you needed to shake the Wii remote every time you want to jump and that just sounds like complete hell, since this is a platformer, and I'm so glad there's no use of motion controls at all in this port of it.

 

I'm looking forward to redoing De Blob 2 eventually on PS4, this is a pretty fun franchise (tbf 3D platforming is my favourite genre.) I hope THQ make a De Blob 3 at some point.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

De Blob [+17] {+92%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #349 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

For years there have been several games that I have seen as key blocking points for a 100% profile (despite having no unobtainables on my list.) This was one of them, and while it's not actually 100% yet, the fact that I at least got the plat gives me hope the 100% isnt too far out of reach. Honestly this wasn't as bad as I was expecting, the S ranks and VR missions had been causing me to put it off for years, but finishing Gran Turismo 5 a few months ago (which at the time felt like the biggest 100% profile blocker) bumped this up my priority list, so here we are. It actually only took about a week once I decided to fully focus on it.

 

This game is overrated imo. I got some enjoyment out of the 1v1 fights, but when the game throws multiple enemies at you at once it becomes a bit of a struggle trying to keep the camera in a position where you can see everyone to be ready to avoid or block any incoming attacks. A lot of these multi-enemy fights also take place in small rooms, where the camera likes to get stuck on walls so you can't move it properly. This was especially bad during some VR trials. The story was completely forgettable to me, I finished my normal playthrough years ago and all I remember is a sombrero and "nanomachines, son" tbh. I didn't care enough to watch the cutscenes again on my further playthroughs. Music was good, especially the boss themes.

 

With this (almost) done, another 100% profile hurdle has (almost) been conquered. I'd say my next big blocks in terms of difficulty are probably Stealth Inc 1 and Binding of Isaac, who knows when I'll get to those. I almost considered delaying this plat to make it my #350 milestone but that felt a bit dishonest since I had basically already earned it as #349 by the time I was considering doing so. DLC should give me a level up so I suppose that's a consolation prize.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance [+29] {+55%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham [71] {Digital}

 

[AJ_Radio]

On 11/6/2019 at 9:19 AM, madbuk said:

Despite my grievances with this game though, the combat is as fun as it is in the other games and predator encounters are also still as engaging as usual. The ranked maps weren't quite as annoying as I remember them being as Batman, so I hope they're not as bad as I remember them being with the DLC characters. The combat ranked maps in particular are actually a lot of fun.

  Reveal hidden contents

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Batman: Arkham City [+23] {+37%}

 

 

I’m not looking forward to New Game Plus. 

 

I’ve put this game off primarily for the predator challenges. I’ve heard they’re a bit hard and pretty annoying for the DLC trophies. 

 

Combat wise this game isn’t that difficult. I pulled off 12 - 14 different moves from Batman within 10 minutes of trying. His sweep attack that stuns enemies is a bit overpowered, which was removed in Arkham Knight. 

 

I did all of the Community Challenges trophies in Knight for crying out loud, so I should be more than capable of getting the DLC challenge trophies. 

[madbuk]

4 hours ago, Spaz said:

 

I’m not looking forward to New Game Plus. 

 

I’ve put this game off primarily for the predator challenges. I’ve heard they’re a bit hard and pretty annoying for the DLC trophies. 

 

Combat wise this game isn’t that difficult. I pulled off 12 - 14 different moves from Batman within 10 minutes of trying. His sweep attack that stuns enemies is a bit overpowered, which was removed in Arkham Knight. 

 

I did all of the Community Challenges trophies in Knight for crying out loud, so I should be more than capable of getting the DLC challenge trophies. 

They are hard but they’re completely doable. Some of the medals are just stupidly obscure so I recommend using some videos to see good routes.

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #350 - Concrete Genie

I've had an interest in this ever since it was first announced, but after learning how short it was I decided against a day 1 purchase. I enjoyed it quite a bit, even though it was ridiculously short. The story is nothing particularly unique or special but it works, the game has some fun puzzle solving, and the core concept of painting on walls was well done and well controlled. I also enjoyed the collectible hunting (although the draw distance sometimes made it so you could be staring right at a collectible and not see it as it hadn't spawned in yet, which was a tad annoying.)

 

I'm not a very creative person however, so I don't think I fully appreciated what this game had to offer. Whenever the game gave me specific instructions for paintings (like telling me to put in some stars or grass) I at least tried to make it look pretty, but I never spent time painting random walls just for the sake of it like I feel you're probably supposed to. But I appreciate the fact that there's enough surrounding the painting mechanic in the game to be able to enjoy it even without utilizing that core mechanic to its full extent.

 

The length was definitely my biggest problem with it, I feel a little bad about blasting through it so quickly when it was a gift, but at least it was fun while it lasted. I'm not expecting a sequel or anything, this felt very standalone.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

Metal Gear Rising [+7] {+20%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

NEW GAME: Concrete Genie [+56] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA [+2] {+2%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age [59] {Retail}

NEW GAME: Zero Escape: The Nonary Games [38] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #351 - Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

This game surpassed my expectations. I think I've only ever plat one turn based game before (Ni no Kuni 1) so I was a little hesitant about going into this and expected I would drop it like all the other turn based games I've already started (for example Persona 4 Golden and Final Fantasy X.) However, I didn't stop playing it to play other games instead at all. This kept me engaged from start... almost to end. The game kinda falls apart towards the end and the story collapses imo, which was very disappointing. I won't spoil how or why, but it did mean I finished the game on a negative note.

 

Everything before that was very good though, I like the characters, the locations were diverse, the story had good twists and there were many different subplots, quite a few of which I'd say were even better than the main plot. The combat was decent although very easy, it got to a point where I could just spam X to keep attacking and not have to worry at all (I kept my party members in "fight smartly" mode and only controlled the main character.) I'm also impressed with the level scaling, at the start of the game you earn 1-10XP per fight and late game you're earning thousands, and there was never a noticeable spike in XP gain unless you're actively farming it out. It all felt very natural.

 

The dungeons were nothing special, as I expect from JRPGs at this point. The few puzzles available are super easy and it's just a case of running through rooms to get to the end and fighting stuff along the way, just like Tales games. Most of the towns were above par (from my JRPG experiences at least) and were a lot of fun to explore. I enjoy exploring JRPG towns and this definitely felt like a step up from what Tales offers on that front.

 

I'm interested in Dragon Quest XII but I don't think it'll be a day one buy.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth [+1] {+2%}

 

Retail

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age [+59] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games [+1] {+2%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Ys Origin [31] {Digital}

NEW GAME: Zero Time Dilemma [33] {PS+}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #352 - LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

This is my second time doing this plat, because I remember enjoying it a lot on PS4. I still think it's one of the better available LEGO games overall, but it had a lot more combat than I remember it having, and combat is one of the weakest aspects of the LEGO franchise imo. The story was pretty generic, as usual, and it sets up a LEGO Batman 4 that never happened. The hubs were diverse in terms of scenery even if they were all the same shape and size, and the main levels themselves were fun. I don't think having a boss fight at the end of every single stage was necessary, but the bosses differ enough to avoid it feeling too tedious.

 

Overall I'd say I enjoyed it a little less than the last time I played it, but I still had a lot of fun with this.

Spoiler

Retail

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games [+7] {+23%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham [+71] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #353 - Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the story going into this, besides the fact that people compare it to Danganronpa and the gameplay revolves around being trapped in rooms and escaping. I think this was for the best as I saw very few of the twists coming (especially in 999.) That said, the story went in... some pretty ridiculous directions. It works, but I do think overall it's a bit overrated. Definitely not my favourite VNs but I suppose they're up there.

 

The gameplay was decent, although I felt 999 was way too easy so I appreciated the step up in difficulty VLR provided. I even had to get a notebook out for it (the game has an in-game memo system as it was designed on devices with touchscreens, but it's very hard to use with an analogue stick instead.) I also liked the idea VLR had of having two solutions to each room, the second giving you some background details for the story. None of it was particularly interesting however and essentially were just records of what the story was already telling me. I hope ZTD improves on that.

 

I won't be jumping into ZTD immediately, but I do have it thanks to PS+ and I'm interested to see where it goes from here. I have heard ZTD is very disappointing from multiple different people, but oh well. Maybe I'll like it.

Spoiler

Retail

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games [+30] {+75%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Code: Realize - Wintertide Miracles [31] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #354 - Zero Time Dilemma

The progression of styles used throughout this trilogy has been interesting, going from 2D models in a regular VN format in 999 to fully animated cutscenes in this game. In terms of presentation I think I prefer this game the most. I also liked how many puzzles were in this game that weren't solely based on having the right object or using environmental clues to solve (for example, a sliding block puzzle.) Being an escape the room game there was still plenty of environmental and object puzzles, understandably, but I appreciated the variety.

 

I don't like how this game splits up its story though. 999 and VLR both had a flowchart that you travel down in a linear path, reach an end, and then jump back to a decision point on the chart. In this, you go all over the place and it's hard to track which timeline you're in or where in that current timeline you even are. I did eventually adapt to it but I still much prefer the (relatively) linear storytelling of the other two games.

 

I don't think this was as bad as people made it out to be. It has some interesting ideas, fun escape rooms, and an interesting presentation, and the actual story itself isn't terrible. Honestly after playing all three I think it probably should've stopped at 999, the sequels felt rather forced (almost like how Hunger Games could've been a standalone story and then they added Catching Fire/Mockingjay anyway) but I enjoyed my time with them regardless.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: Zero Time Dilemma [+33] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

Kingdom Hearts III [+0] {-16%}

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA [+2] {+3%}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #355 - Pic-a-Pix Color

I bought this over a year ago to play on Vita, and I enjoyed my time with it then but didn't bother stacking it at the time. Recently however I saw someone else playing it and got a sudden urge to redo it. The wonderful thing about picross puzzles is that it's very easy to forget the solutions to everything. I can go back to a Professor Layton game and remember how to solve a lot of the puzzles, but here, a single puzzle can have 400 different squares that you need to remember the colour of - and there are 150 puzzles. Although it was more suited to Vita imo, I still enjoyed my time with it on PS4. I'm not sure I'm ever going to stack Pieces, but maybe someday.

Spoiler

Retail

Kingdom Hearts III [+6] {+14%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: Pic-a-Pix Color [+25] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #356 - BioShock Infinite

It has been quite a few years now since I did this game on PS3, but I recall 1999 mode being very hard and dying a lot (even on the very first chapter with any combat) so I was dreading redoing that, but I liked the game as a whole enough to stack it (especially since I got the BioShock Collection mainly for 1 and 2, which meant I had Infinite ready to play, so why not?) This went so much more smoothly than my PS3 run did, so I guess I must've gotten a little better at FPS games over the past 5-6 years. Nifty.

 

I think I prefer Columbia to Rapture, honestly. Seeing actual civilization was a nice change of pace and the city is beautiful, I enjoyed just walking around it exploring and looting. Handymen are more annoying than Big Daddies though. Having a travelling partner, Elizabeth, to interact with was also a nice change of pace compared to BioShock 1 and 2 where you're alone (apart from some radio calls here and there.) Having her around was also a huge help in 1999 mode, it would've been much harder without all the ammo and health pick-ups she threw at me. The story is decent, although I'm not sure I'm a fan of Elizabeth's drastic personality switch towards the end. It makes sense narratively but that doesn't stop it being pretty jarring to witness.

 

I still need to do the DLC, which I don't really remember anything about other than Clash in the Clouds being tedious, so Burial at Sea will be interesting. Especially now that I have the added context of BioShock 1 and 2, which I didn't have when I did this on PS3 as Infinite was my first BioShock game (having actually played 1 and 2 helped me appreciate some base game stuff a little more too.)

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

BioShock Infinite [+51] {+64%}

 

[Dr_Mayus]

Congrats on the plat. I still need to do my 1999 playthrough but like you I also got frustrated with just the first level.

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #357 - The Amazing Spider-Man

This is my third time doing this plat and I still had a good amount of fun with it, not every game needs to be a masterpiece and this is one of those games which isn't great but it's fun to play anyway. The story is nothing special, but I haven't seen the movie (or any Spider-Man movie) so maybe I can't fully appreciate it. The main story missions are enjoyable but, much like Insomniac's Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man 2, the side content in the city is pretty terrible. Shattered Dimensions is easily my favourite Spider-Man game so far and that one isn't even open world, and I'm starting to think it's for the better. Spider-Man + open world just seems like such an obvious combo but none of the open world Spider-Man games I've played manage to make it more enjoyable than the regular, self-contained story missions instead. Hopefully Insomniac can break that trend with the next one.

Spoiler

Retail

The Amazing Spider-Man [+42] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

BioShock Infinite [+30] {+36%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Block-a-Pix Deluxe [+17] {+27%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Guacamelee! 2 [49] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #358 - Yakuza 3

This game hasn't aged well at all. I loved my time with 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2, and was excited to get into this, but... okay, so it's a lot older than the other games and for its time I guess it's pretty impressive, but the combat is such a noticeable step down from future games. Every enemy spams block, they spam evade, and the moment you break their guard it's instantly up again. Most of the colosseum matches came down to me breaking guard for a minuscule amount of damage over and over instead of actually getting a proper hit in. Not that "proper hits" do any damage either.

 

The minigames are pretty poor. Pool took me hours of frustration to finish and removing your aiming reticle on the batting was such an unnecessary way to make it difficult. And the aiming in darts felt off, I could never get it consistant even when I felt like I was doing the same thing every time. Karaoke was fun but Kiryu only has one song to sing in this, the rest being interjections, which was disappointing.

 

I'd also say the story is perhaps the least interesting so far, however I did still very much enjoy it. Haruka is such a great kid, I'd argue she's my favourite videogame child because she just acts so mature and helps keep things in order while "Uncle Kaz" is out doing important work. I liked all the little subplots with the kids at the orphanage throughout the game and the new characters introduced like Rikiya and Mine were good as well.

 

I might stack this some day, as I own the stack already via buying the Yakuza 3/4/5 physical bundle that released recently on PS4, but it wont be for a long, long time. I plan on doing Yakuza 4, 5, 6, (maybe) 7, Dead Souls and Judgment first at the very least.

Spoiler

Retail

Yakuza 3 [+32] {+80%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Block-a-Pix Deluxe [+14] {+24%}

Need for Speed Payback [+23] {+34%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Oxenfree [14] {Digital}

NEW GAME: Yakuza 3 [50] {Retail}

NEW GAME: Yakuza 4 [48] {Retail}

NEW GAME: Yakuza 5 [57] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #359 - Oxenfree

This game was alright. Someone I know is a big fan of it and recommended it, and it was cheap so I decided I might as well try it out. The story was pretty engaging and most of the characters were enjoyable (not Clarissa though), but the gameplay itself has a few issues imo. The walking speed is quite slow and I would've appreciated a button that speeds you up a little, as you'll be travelling quite a lot. It also softlocked me a lot of times, either forcing me to close the game entirely and reopen (and the only saving is autosaves which are quite far apart so I had to keep redoing stuff), or it allowed me to open the pause menu so I could return to title and then try again. This happened about 6-7 times in total across my 3 playthroughs, the majority of it coming from an end-game section.

 

The sound design could also use a bit of work - especially early game, lots of characters kept interrupting each other, the choices go away faster than conversations end so you have to also interrupt some conversations if you want to respond at all, and you'd frequently reach the end of an area and have to stand around doing nothing if you wanted to hear everything because transitioning to the next area stopped any in-progress conversations. You do get used to it, but I would've appreciated choices pausing time to let you hear everything and still get to respond.

 

The trophy list having a trophy for playing the whole game whilst saying absolutely nothing was... a little strange. The characters only rarely react to your silence, and the story itself doesn't change at all, so I don't really see the point of making it a trophy other than to pad the list a bit? The game is short though so it wasn't an issue, I just found it a bit odd. Overall I'd say I enjoyed this despite its flaws though. If it interests you at all I'd recommend playing it, but it won't be a game that I bring up when someone asks for general recommendations like I would with Edith Finch, or Bound, or Steins;Gate.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Oxenfree [+14] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: 428: Shibuya Scramble [27] {Digital}
NEW GAME: World End Syndrome [23] {Digital}