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Madbuk's List of Unfinished Games


madbuk

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Progress Update: #397 - Astro's Playroom

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I was very excited for this, as a fan of Astro Bot on VR, and it didn't disappoint. It may have less content than the VR game and I wish it still had the challenges the VR one did, but considering this was a free pack-in with every console I can forgive it. Still got a couple of hours out of it, at least. As a game designed to showcased the new DualSense controller, I do feel a little underwhelmed. The adaptive triggers are interesting and have a lot of potential but the rumble really isn't anything special or new imo. And I've never liked motion controls, and DualSense doesn't change my mind on that one.

 

I really liked the celebration of PlayStation's history in this. There are so many references from every single generation (that PS has been a part of) and it's very charming. I enjoyed seeing the Labo fill up gradually with more and more PS artifacts until it basically became one big museum. Other than that there's not much to say about this game since it's basically just a controller demo. I hope we get another full game like Astro Bot, because the world needs more 3D platformers.

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Retail

NEW GAME: Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory [+25] {+68%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: Astro's Playroom [+46] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Killzone Shadow Fall [47] {Digital}

 

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Progress Update: #398 - Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory

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Another GOTY contender has appeared. I was initially pretty skeptical about this game. Kingdom Hearts has some fantastic music, and I do enjoy Hatsune Miku, but I never really play rhythm games so I wasn't sure how much I'd end up enjoying it. They released a demo, and that was enough to sell me on it. I ended up putting 13 hours into the demo alone because it was so fun. I was originally content to let the Kingdom Hearts series rest after 3. It closed up a lot of loose ends and felt like a good stopping point. Not that I don't enjoy the games, but I'm tired of having to slog through tens of hours of Disney filler to get any actual story progression, but Melody of Memory looked so unique and different and the demo was so good that I just had to play it anyway.

 

It suffers the same problem as Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3 (and Dream Drop Distance tbh) - the plot is horribly paced, and even worse than the aforementioned games, there's barely any of it too.  What is there does set up some interesting plot threads going forward but I don't know if I really care enough to continue (unless it's another rhythm game like this lol), I'll have to keep my eye on it closer to the time. Hopefully they stick to PlayStation (and ideally elsewhere too) from now on instead of spreading all over the place like before the HD remixes.

 

I definitely recommend everyone trying out the demo for this game at least, just to see if it's for you. It was much, much better than I had anticipated.

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Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory [+16] {+32%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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Progress Update: #399 - Robotics;Notes DaSH

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While still fairly interesting, I have to say that overall the Robotics;Notes duology doesn't live up to the standards set by Steins; and Chaos;. I think part of that has to do with people hyping up its connections to the series as a whole, when in reality... it doesn't really advance the main narrative linking everything together a great deal. It does borrow elements from both branches to aid its own individual story though, which was nice, but I was mostly excited for how it connects for the overarcing narrative.

 

The cast is good, maybe on par with the Chaos;Child cast but not the Steins;Gate cast. The story in this one specifically was a bit too slice of life for me, unlike the first Robotics;Notes game where every route is actually canon and leads into the next, the routes here are entirely separate stories. I loved how the first game handled it because here the endings just don't feel all that important when the next ending retcons it anyway and the only actual canon ones are the final two, whereas in the previous game everything mattered.

 

I did like the very small interactions with the Steins;Gate cast via Twitter (in this game called Tweepo because copyright), you never actually reply to their tweeps but they're there throughout the game and it's a nice way to get their perspective on things even if they don't appear in the main narrative. This game has also made me very interested in what Okabe is busy doing, originally when Steins;??? was announced I was skeptical because I considered Okabe's story to be over and I didn't want him to be dragged out for another story, but this gives me hope that it wont just be shameless fanservice.

 

I'm interested to see where the series goes next with Anonymous;Code and Steins;???, but I hope those are both closer to Chaos;Child and Steins;Gate in terms of pacing than these games. I'd still recommend Robotics;Notes to Science Adventure fans, because they're alright, they're just not amazing. It maybe doesn't help that I'm way less interested in the core concept of the game (robots) than I was with Chaos; and Steins;.

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Retail

Robotics;Notes DaSH [+32] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz [+45] {+75%}

 

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Progress Update: #400 - Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz

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Well this ended up being much, much harder than I was expecting. I had been planning this as my 400th plat milestone ever since I finished the PS4 Monkey Ball game, which, apart from the dumb grinds, I enjoyed a lot. I was expecting this to definitely be harder, but not to the extent that it was. I had to spend days practicing advanced and master, and honestly, advanced wasn't very fun to practice because of the fact that it's 50 levels long, and if you game over at any point, you have to start at level 1 again. I got so bored of repeating the first 3 worlds over and over just to game over at world 4 or 5. Master was much more enjoyable since, although arguably more difficult because you have much less lives, it's only 10 levels long so you're not spending almost an hour replaying stuff with each attempt.

 

The motion controls were also absolute garbage for some stages, like 5-9. The game clearly wasnt designed with them in mind by that point, because the level of precision required is absurd. I spent hours just trying to pass that one level with motion controls. This game isn't free from dumb grinds either - while much less offensive than the PS4 game, this has a trophy for creating 100 custom levels, and you have to endure 3 loading screens each time you do this and they're not exactly short either. Very tedious, and there's no way of tracking either. I also missed the jump button that the PS4 game had, although I understand that that is just the norm for Monkey Ball, the Wii/PS4 game was the exception. Even though it did make some stages easier, having a jump also allowed for some creative level design imo.

 

Overall despite several grievances, I would definitely say I enjoyed this overall. I think I'd give the PS4 game a slight edge in terms of which I liked more, but tbh it's pretty close. I'd be excited to see a new game in the future.

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Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz [+6] {+25%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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Progress Update: #401 - Borderlands

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I did not enjoy this game at all. An extremely bland setting, awful story presentation (basically entirely through quest text, and even then it's boring and barely relevant), tedious inventory management, repetitive and generic quest design, awful vehicle controls, an annoying fast travel mechanic... Nothing here was good. It wasn't exactly awful either, but it's certainly didn't make me want to play Borderlands 2, which I do own via PS+, via the Handsome Collection. The DLC was all very bad too, I'm grateful I got carried through Moxxi so I could just idle that lol.

 

Definitely not a game I would recommend, and I'm glad to be done with it after so many years.

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PS+ Titles

Trackmania Turbo [+33] {+61%}

 

Retail

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA [+1] {+1%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Borderlands [+42] {+53%} (COMPLETE!)

Pic-a-Pix Classic 2 [+2] {+4%}

Sonic CD [+12] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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1 hour ago, madbuk said:

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Progress Update: #401 - Borderlands

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I did not enjoy this game at all. An extremely bland setting, awful story presentation (basically entirely through quest text, and even then it's boring and barely relevant), tedious inventory management, repetitive and generic quest design, awful vehicle controls, an annoying fast travel mechanic... Nothing here was good. It wasn't exactly awful either, but it's certainly didn't make me want to play Borderlands 2, which I do own via PS+, via the Handsome Collection. The DLC was all very bad too, I'm grateful I got carried through Moxxi so I could just idle that lol.

 

Definitely not a game I would recommend, and I'm glad to be done with it after so many years.

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PS+ Titles

Trackmania Turbo [+33] {+61%}

 

Retail

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA [+1] {+1%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Borderlands [+42] {+53%} (COMPLETE!)

Pic-a-Pix Classic 2 [+2] {+4%}

Sonic CD [+12] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

I’ve never played the first Borderlands, so I can’t comment on the quality of the first game. Could you please explain the fast travel mechanic in Borderlands 1? I can say that the second game alleviates some of the problems that you covered in this post. The environments are more varied in 2, better story presentation through talking characters, cutscenes, and in-game moments, instead of quest text. Rather, text is a quick refresher in case you don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know about the inventory management or quest design, since I’ve never played 1. I recommend looking up gameplay or playing on a second account before platting this one though, since it is more grindier than the first, with level 50, fulling exploring all locations, completing all side quests, and completing a bunch of challenges.

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45 minutes ago, Trumpet_Boi_208 said:

I’ve never played the first Borderlands, so I can’t comment on the quality of the first game. Could you please explain the fast travel mechanic in Borderlands 1? I can say that the second game alleviates some of the problems that you covered in this post. The environments are more varied in 2, better story presentation through talking characters, cutscenes, and in-game moments, instead of quest text. Rather, text is a quick refresher in case you don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know about the inventory management or quest design, since I’ve never played 1. I recommend looking up gameplay or playing on a second account before platting this one though, since it is more grindier than the first, with level 50, fulling exploring all locations, completing all side quests, and completing a bunch of challenges.

Essentially there are fast travel posts in various areas, but in order to use one, you must first travel to a post to be able to travel to other posts. It should’ve just been doable from the map tbh, it felt archaic. And the DLC areas didnt have any fast travel whatsoever, not even across areas. So it’s faster to shit the game down and reload it to be sent back to the starting area than it is to travel back.

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Progress Update: #402 - Sayonara Wild Hearts

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I loved this game the first time I played it earlier this year, and since then I have been waiting for the stack to go on sale so I could redo it. It finally did go on sale, but I was preoccupied at the time, so I have only just now gotten around to it. I can safely say I enjoyed this just as much as I did the first time around. I challenged myself a little, wanted to get it done in less than 3 hours 3 minutes (from the first trophy pop), to try and dethrone Sound Shapes as my fastest plat. I messed up a little and unlocked a trophy a little earlier than intended, but I still achieved my goal, so this is now my fastest plat (1 hour, 43 minutes.) Also happens to be the fastest achiever, which is a nice bonus. I don't think I'll ever dethrone this one, but I'm fine with that since it's an amazing game and at least it doesn't look like an auto pop anymore lol. I think trying to speedrun it made the experience feel more fresh since I had already played it before, so I'm glad I decided to.

 

The game also happens to be on sale again at the moment, so I recommend it.

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Digital {Excluding PS+}

Sayonara Wild Hearts [+25] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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AMAZING job with the Sayonara Wild Hearts fastest achiever! Genuinely love that game and it ended up being one of my Top 5 in 2020 - and one of my Top 10 I've ever played on PS4. But to see you earn it in under 2 hours is just... mind-boggling. Obviously you had experience with it since you had played it before but not even goofing up on the A-ranks, or the no-death run, or some of the finnicky level specific trophies (0 points on car level, all those near misses on the cars, all the perfect hops on the deer level) - tremendous! I salute you!

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3 hours ago, realm722 said:

AMAZING job with the Sayonara Wild Hearts fastest achiever! Genuinely love that game and it ended up being one of my Top 5 in 2020 - and one of my Top 10 I've ever played on PS4. But to see you earn it in under 2 hours is just... mind-boggling. Obviously you had experience with it since you had played it before but not even goofing up on the A-ranks, or the no-death run, or some of the finnicky level specific trophies (0 points on car level, all those near misses on the cars, all the perfect hops on the deer level) - tremendous! I salute you!

That car trophy gave me a fair amount of trouble the first time around (and getting all goods on Fighting Hearts - perfects were easier imo), but I must still have some of the muscle memory from when I did it earlier this year lol. I agree with top 5 in 2020 - in a Discord server I'm in there's a channel for listing the best games you've played in 2020 and Sayonara was in the top 3 for me. Such a good game.

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Progress Update: #403 - Trackmania Turbo

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I've wanted to play this ever since PS+ gave it to me, but other games always distracted me so I've only just gotten to it. I wish I hadn't waited so long, this was a great game. Some levels were incredibly frustrating, and some just flat out enjoyable, specifically towards the end (looking at you, #178) but for the most part I had a fun time with this. It was a good challenge without feeling absurdly out of reach, there were only a few events in the game that had me questioning whether I even had it in me to finish them. Trackmasters were easier than I had expected too, but only because you only need 50. If you needed all 200 this would be an absolutely insane plat.

 

It's not among my favourite racing games, but it's up there. I'd put it in the same tier as Crash Team Racing, which I loved too but not as much as games like WipEout or Driveclub. It's definitely one I at least recommend trying out. I'd say Lagoon was my favourite track type, and Valley was my least favourite, but they were all pretty good. I'd be interested in a new game, if we ever get one. This is also now tied with Gran Turismo 5 as my rarest plat, and while it was hard, I don't think it deserves to be the same rarity as GT5 at all lol. They're leagues apart imo, both in terms of length and difficulty. The wonders of PS+ rarity boosts I suppose.

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PS+ Titles

Trackmania Turbo [+16] {+39%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

NEW GAME: Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning [+11] {+15%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III [+3] {+4%}

 

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Progress Update: #404 - Darksiders Genesis

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When this was initially revealed I was highly skeptical, as someone who does not enjoy co-op, and was already disappointed by Darksiders III. I am glad to say that I actually really enjoyed this. Unfortunately, the game put my PS4 fans into overdrive, drowning out the game entirely and making it less enjoyable to play, and as a result I had to postpone playing it until PS5 in the hopes that I'd actually be able to hear the game on that console. Thankfully, the PS5 was completely silent the entire time, so I am very glad I waited. Ys VIII has this same issue on my PS4, so that's another I've been saving for PS5.. at some point.

 

At this point I've stopped caring about the story/lore in Darksiders. They gave us a big cliffhanger at the end of 1 and then have done nothing but prequels since, none of which have been particularly engaging. I still watched the cutscenes, since I don't skip on first playthroughs, but... I can't really tell you what happened. The 6 month gap between chapter 7 and chapter 8 while I awaited PS5 probably didn't help, I didn't remember anything that had happened by the time I came back to it.

 

I am very happy with the amount of platforming/puzzle-solving on offer. I was concerned they'd take a backseat with this new gameplay style, and I can happily say that they did not. Exceeded my expectations in that regard, and actually had a pretty challenging platforming gauntlet in the hub world which was fun. I definitely recommend this game, although it is very short so maybe only on a sale.

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Retail

Darksiders Genesis [+25] {+92%} (COMPLETE!)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning [+1] {+2%}

 

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Progress Update: #405 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

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I came away from Trails of Cold Steel II content with the story, feeling like things had been wrapped up nicely and, despite one or two lingering unanswered questions, I felt like that could've been the end of the story and as a result I was interested to see what they would do to extend it for another two games afterwards. Now that I have played this, I... have mixed thoughts. There are some things - most things really - that I like about it. All of the new characters are excellent and live up to the standards of the previous set of characters, seeing it tie into the other Trails arcs was interesting as well (although I haven't played the other two arcs - one of them isn't even localized - so it wasn't quite as special for me, though it still makes me very intrigued about them) and seeing how characters have grown (and continue to grow) was great as well. But there are two extremely spoiler-heavy aspects to this story that.. I wasn't a huge fan of. Cold Steel IV could definitely redeem them and make me okay with it all, but for now I'm a bit disappointed in those few things, but overall the story was excellent so it's not a big issue.

 

Gameplay wise this one had some nice new additions to the first two games, such as brave orders, break states, special field attacks, among others that helped make combat more strategic and made getting advantage encounters much less annoying. I also liked how it was possible to get the plat in one playthrough, whereas before in the previous 2 games you were forced to miss at least one collectible and have to do a second run to clean it up. I still did 2 runs anyway - I missed a battle entry (just like I missed one in CS1 and CS2... I'm not good at this lol) and opted to do Nightmare difficulty in NG+ - but the option is nice. There were also a lot of new locations and new cities/towns to explore, which is very appreciated after Cold Steel 2 which had basically one new town and the rest were all from the first game lol. I hope Cold Steel 4 continues to offer new locations to explore, because I love exploring a good RPG town tbh.

 

Overall, despite those two story gripes I have, I'd say this was possibly my favourite Cold Steel game so far. It's either this or the first one, but I think the excellent new cast helps give this one a slight edge (and the gameplay additions are nice, too.) Cold Steel 2 isn't bad, it's just the weakest of a series where every game (from my experience) is great.

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Digital {Excluding PS+}

Pic-a-Pix Classic 2 [+4] {+22%}

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III [+50] {+96%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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Progress Update: #406 - Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut

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This is... a pretty awful game. It has a good atmosphere, a fun cast, an engaging (albeit extremely predictable) story... but the gameplay really drags the overall experience down. The combat sections are a slog, offering no plot so it just feels like a waste of time, although they become a little more bearable once you unlock infinite ammo weapons like the machine gun. The regular life simulator sections where you have to manage your time, hunger and sleep properly are a slog too due to the random weather and needing certain weather for certain events to trigger. There was a lot of sleeping and eating to refill hunger while I waited for the game to finally start raining, ruining my clothes in the process. I would've enjoyed this much more without the hunger meter or the time limits constantly intruding the gameplay.

 

I did have one major aspect of this game spoiled to me years ago, but other than that I was unspoiled on it, and yet... I ended up predicting basically everything that happened apart from two twists of the story. It isn't very subtle with its foreshadowing at all, although maybe it wasn't trying to be? The biggest set of spoilers came just by looking at the trading card menu. I didn't read any of the descriptions, but just seeing how they were arranged was a big clue as to what's going on, which is kinda dumb imo, collectibles shouldn't spoil the plot before it happens lol.

 

Overall this game ended up being acceptable due to its story, despite its awfulness in gameplay, but I'm certainly not craving the Switch-exclusive sequel at all. 

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Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut [+51] {+86%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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Progress Update: #407 - Horizon Chase Turbo

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I have been meaning to play this since it came to PS+, but have only just now gotten to it. It's... okay. I did quite enjoy my time with the campaign and getting 100% in that, but the tournaments and endurances afterwards were a slog that weren't very fun at all. 111 races in a row, really? The rubberbanding was also ridiculous in some of the final tournaments too, I understand why racing games have rubberbanding, but they should at least be subtle about it.

 

I was mainly interested in this game because I had played Outrun via Yakuza and quite enjoyed it and this looked very similar. It is definitely inspired by Outrun and plays very similarly, and it's something unique that I haven't really seen any other racing game do. I'd be interested in seeing another game try it and hopefully without any tedious padding like this one had to ramp up the playtime unnecessarily, because there's good foundations here hidden underneath all the tedious endurances and rubberbanded tournaments.

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PS+ Titles

Horizon Chase Turbo [+38] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

3D Dot Game Heroes [+1] {+2%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Final Fantasy X [+1] {+2%}

Pic-a-Pix Classic 2 [+4] {+22%}

 

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Progress Update: #408 - We Were Here

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Usually I'm not much of a co-op fan, and tend to stick to single player games, but the concept of this game seemed quite unique and I enjoy puzzles so I figured it was at least worth a shot considering it was free. It's about what I expected it to be - nothing amazing, but a unique and interesting concept unlike anything I've ever really played before, and it was interesting and fun to figure out the puzzles on a first playthrough. Unfortunately the puzzles dont really change, so further playthroughs are nowhere near as interesting.

 

The game also has a few bugs - for example, we had to skip the opening cutscene because the first time we tried to watch it, it just booted us out the game. So I have no idea what the story was supposed to be unfortunately, but it doesn't seem particularly narrative driven anyway. On top of that during gameplay there were constant pop-ups saying I was losing connection to my partner. These pop-ups were so brief they were barely readable, but so frequent that if you pressed circle at the wrong time you could accidentally quit the game. That only happened once to us, and then I learned to be very careful with circle, but it's still annoying to have your screen be obscured briefly so frequently.

 

I had fun with this, and I'd like to thank @Elliot for taking me up on my offer to play this. Idk if I'll bother with the sequels, but if they also become free in the future then sure, I'd be interested.

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Retail

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition [+21] {+31%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Final Fantasy X [+1] {+1%}

NEW GAME: We Were Here [+26] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

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Progress Update: #409 - Pic-a-Pix Classic 2

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I wasn't the biggest fan of Pic-a-Pix Classic 1 - in fact I actually quite disliked it - but I was willing to give this one a go because I do like Pic-a-Pix Color, and there are plenty of monochrome picross games available on mobile that I've enjoyed, so I had hoped that maybe the devs of this would've learned their lesson from the prior game and created more enjoyable puzzles. Unfortunately, that's really not the case.

 

This has all the same issues as Classic 1 did, except now on even larger puzzle grids to make it even more annoying and tedious. It's just not fun to be looking for your next move for 5-10 minutes just so you can put one extra square on the grid and then repeat the process trying to locate your next one. A good picross game at least gives you a starting point to build off (like a 10 row or 15 row in a 15x15 grid), and this doesn't even have that for many of the puzzles.

 

This was such a slog I think I'm not even going to bother with Pieces 2, and that one is in colour so should (hopefully?) be good. I've just had enough of picross now, I've stopped playing it on mobile too.

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Retail

NEW GAME: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV [+14] {+20%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 [+6] {+8%}

Pic-a-Pix Classic [+9] {+52%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: A Knight's Quest [32] {Digital}

 

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Progress Update: #410 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

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Using some custom artwork for this one (courtesy of Sebastian, who is also the author of the wonderful walkthrough for this game) because the actual header contains a couple spoilers for people not caught up with the series (seriously though Falcom, why is that your box art?). I began this tetralogy back in August last year, and have loved the journey it has taken me on. It stumbled a bit at the end for me, but nowhere near badly enough to retroactively make me dislike the games. There are just some story developments in this one that I really wasn't a fan of lol, but I can look past them.

 

I love the world-building this series has. Every character, even the NPCs you encounter, have their own lives and stories, many of which develop across the course of the whole saga instead of just being restricted to a single game. It was always nice to see sidequests get a follow up in the next game(s) because it actually made them feel worthwhile. Admittedly, by skipping the Sky saga (only on PC in the west) and the Zero saga (only in Japan) I have missed quite a few details and character developments, so a lot of the references/characters in this were lost on me, but the game does a great job at making sure Cold Steel-only players still understand what is going on, even if they don't have the entire context behind it. Also, speaking of characters, this game had way too many playable ones lol. So many of them just never got used by me at all.

 

This game, like Cold Steel III, added even more QoL upgrades, and the biggest one for me was a chest tracker. In Cold Steel games, you need to open every treasure chest for a trophy, and in 1-3 there's no way to know you missed one until you get to the end and the trophy doesn't pop. Thankfully I never encountered that, but it was nice to have a counter in this one so that that stress was completely removed.

 

Overall, my rankings for this saga would be 3 > 1 > 4 > 2, but none of them are bad at all. I'm eager to see where they go next with the next saga, but also this is a great end point for the series as well (a couple things have been left open for the next saga, but the vast majority was wrapped up), so thankfully I don't have to be on the edge of my seat for them to announce a localization and port it.

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Retail

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV [+39] {+80%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair [+1] {+1%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Persona 5 Strikers [47] {Retail}

 

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Progress Update: #411 - Razed

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Until a few days ago, I wasn't even aware of this games existence. Someone pointed it out to me in the newest sale, and it looked exactly like the type of game I tend to enjoy (fast paced 3D platformer, time trial based), so I ended up buying it without much persuasion lol. Especially since it was so cheap anyway. It's honestly better than I was expecting. It does have its faults - it's a bit loose to control, though manageable, and I ran into a couple bugs, but nothing that closing the game and reopening didn't fix, and they were fairly minor like quick restarts no longer working, pause button breaking, etc.

 

This game gave me Schacht vibes in the way levels are designed, although there's much more care put into it because unlike Schacht, the levels aren't procedurally generated. So there are actual built-in shortcuts to discover, and there are plenty of those. There was a decent amount of levels as well, 66 total, which is good because no level lasts more than 40 seconds maximum. The game introduces new mechanics at a fairly regular pace so the game stays fresh, and even going back for S-Ranks at the end is like playing a different game, because at that point you'll have infinite stamina, opening up so many shortcuts and techniques to take advantage of in each level. It was almost like playing an entirely new level once your stamina gauge is taken away.

 

I also ended up being second fastest achiever, but.. basically nobody has played this, so that's not particularly impressive lol. It's a shame to see how low the player count is, since this game is actually quite good. I'd recommend it to 3D platformer fans, especially on sale like it is now.

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Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: Razed [+42] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Evoland [66] {Digital}

 

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Progress Update: #412 - Persona 5 Strikers

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This was a wonderful follow up to Persona 5. I liked the combat more, since I'm not a fan of turn-based, and the characters who went rather underutilized in 5 got a lot more time to shine here. The roadtrip vibe was also very fun. I did miss the social link aspects, but at the same time, it was nice to not have to worry about following a guide to optimize my schedule, since this is about as linear as a game can possibly get and no choices matter at all.

 

There were a strange number of parallels between the story of this and the story of 5 that the game never really addresses. It was such a common theme throughout I was expecting some kind of twist about it, but... nope? That's fine though, even though a lot of the story was very similar to 5, it still offered enough uniqueness to be engaging. The dungeon areas were all very linear, but I actually kinda preferred that to the approach Persona 5 took.

 

The one thing that tarnishes the experience of this game is the absurdity of the bond level xp grind you need to do for the plat. I finished all of the content this game has to offer at around level 51 I think... and you need to get to 99. It was an excessive amount of extra grinding for absolutely no reason - if you've ever played Chain of Memories, think of how pointless and boring Riku's level grind was. This was a lot worse. Completely out of place in such a streamlined, linear experience where everything else can be done with no grinding at all.

 

Despite the awful grind at the end I overall had a great time with this, and will be looking at picking up Persona 5 Royal in the future since, while playing this, I got a craving to play the original again as well.

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Retail

Persona 5 Strikers [+47] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair [+15] {+23%}

NEW GAME: Genshin Impact [+12] {+65%}

 

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Progress Update: #413 - Resident Evil 2

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I was really excited for this. I had heard great things about it, and I was ready to get away from the fixed camera perspective of REmake and 0 because the aiming in those games is quite bad. Now that I've finally played it... I honestly think I prefer REmake? 2 is better than 0, though. The new camera angle in this makes it much easier for zombies to grab you/ambush you from off-screen, and Mr X was an annoying hindrance that got in the way of exploring and puzzle solving by being invincible and constantly chasing after you.

 

I do like Claire and Leon a lot more than Chris and Jill (or Rebecca and Bill) but there wasn't a whole lot of story in this so they never really got a chance to shine. The other two duos I've played with so far have the same problem tbf. I do think this has the strongest story so far but that really isn't saying much, this series doesn't seem particularly narrative focused so far. The aiming in this is a lot better than in the previous 2 Resi games I've played, as in you can actually aim now. That is one of the biggest upgrades here compared to the prior ones, but also this game is gorgeous. All the environments are beautiful (or, as beautiful as they can be during an apocalypse), all the character models look great, the motion capture is great, it runs smoothly, the smaller details like clothes getting dirtier and seeing the rain on the clothes when outside are nice, and there's plenty of varied locations as well. A big step up from REmake and 0, but to be fair to those games they were just remasters whereas this was a complete remake, so it's maybe not the fairest comparison.

 

Overall despite this not being the big revelation I needed to take me from enjoying the series to loving it, it's still an undeniable improvement in many aspects and REmake only barely has an edge over it. I'll definitely be considering playing RE3 in the future, but now I know what to expect going forward whereas I only had a vague idea of how different 2 was to what came before, so my expectations will be more in line with what 3 actually is (I hope.)

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Digital {Excluding PS+}

Resident Evil 2 [+45] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time [52] {Retail}

NEW GAME: hack//G.U. Last Recode [52] {Digital}

 

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Progress Update: #414 - Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk

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Atelier is a franchise I have wanted to get into for years, but the price point has always been a major prohibiting factor for me. The trilogy collections on PS4 cost £74 each, which is just absurd when you consider how much other trilogy collections like Crash and Spyro, or hell even Mass Effect, from EA, cost. PS Now has finally given me an opportunity to try one of the games out, and was it worth the wait? Well... It's a good game, but I'm certainly glad I didn't pay the absurd fees KT want you to pay to play it.

 

The calendar system, which grants you 3 years to complete the game or else you get a bad end, is completely meaningless. There's no seasonal events, no Christmas, no Halloween, no Valentines, so why even have a calendar? If Winter is the exact same as Summer (barring a change in music, which is nifty), what's the point? All it does is add stress, to make you evaluate your every move to try and be optimal with your timeslots available. I used a guide to minimize this, because calendar games (such as Persona and to an extent Trails) always have a bit of stress for me and I'd rather just mitigate it. Using this guide, I had over an entire year spare to fuck around with and clean up miscellaneous tasks after the main plot was over, which was very nice. By the end I was "wasting" so many days by just resting until the next event became available lol.

 

The alchemy was a little hard to grasp as a complete newcomer, learning the difference between traits, properties, and whatever else, and all the various abilities, but I've never been good at crafting in games (Graces f put me through hell the first time) so it could just be a problem with me. It was fun trying to craft every item though and fill in all the silhouettes (which I didn't end up doing, got fairly close though)

 

The artwork was nice, I like how CG images sometimes appeared during important scenes, like a visual novel. The story was very low key, low stakes, and not particularly prominent throughout, but I actually kind of liked the vibe of that, and the way it concludes was great imo and makes me very interested to see what's next. My one big complaint about the story though is that any character who wasn't either Ayesha (the main character) or a certain other person (who I shall not name, although it wouldn't really be a spoiler, just in case) was just completely absent. They show up, introduce themselves, and then you're able to add them to your party, and... that's that. That's the extent of their involvement in the main narrative.

 

Sure, they all have side stories and their own routes that you work on alongside the main story, but I would really have liked to have seen some more 'canon' interactions during the main plot instead of them just disappearing forever. Even if you bring them along as party members they have basically 0 involvement. The music in this was pretty good, I loved the final dungeon theme in particular and some of the boss themes (especially one of them).

 

I would absolutely be interested in trying out more of these games, but as it stands, the price point really just doesn't make them accessible. There are three more available to me on Now (including the other two games in the Dusk trilogy, which this is the first of), but after that... I don't see me ever playing more unfortunately. I really hope this changes but it likely won't.

Spoiler

PS Now

NEW GAME: Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk [+39] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Super Hang-On [+12] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Edited by madbuk
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Progress Update: #415 - Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

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I have been interested in trying this game out for years, but never got around to it. PS Now has given me the opportunity, and... it's okay, I guess. The platforming is disappointingly easy, and having to follow a guide every step of the way because it's incredibly easy to take one wrong step and lock yourself out of quests and/or collectibles and thus necessitate an entirely new run from scratch, doing everything again, because there's a 100% trophy. Thankfully there are some good guides out there for this, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous the entire time that I'd mess something up and have to restart lol.

 

The game is very pretty, with a nice variety of locations you visit, but that's really all it has going for it tbh. Everything else is so basic, and never really evolves throughout the game at all. If you've played one hour you know what to expect from the rest of the game pretty much, so it just gets repetitive. Some more challenge in the platforming may have kept it interesting, even if it did still remain generic. The AI being uncapable of performing certain actions and thus requiring a second controller to replace him is pretty bad, I'm not surprised the Vita version is below 1% rarity considering the amount of ad hoc it'd require. Other than the co-op stuff, I wouldn't really say anything else in this game is bad, maybe the way it handles missables, but nothing really stands out either. It's just average.

 

I'm glad to have finally played this after being curious about it for years, but nothing would really have been lost if I had never played it either.

Spoiler

PS Now

NEW GAME: Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two [+47] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

NEW GAME: A Hat in Time [+1] {-27%}

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair [+1] {+1%}

Genshin Impact [+2] {+10%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Persona 5 Royal [53] {Digital}

 

Edited by madbuk
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Progress Update: #416 - Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires

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After playing multiple Warriors spin-offs (One Piece 1/2, DQH1/2, Persona 5 Strikers), I figured it was about time to finally try out a main entry, and this one was the earliest with trophies so I figured it'd be the best starting point. A short way into it, someone told me that... Empires was not in fact a great representation of the regular DW games, because it has a heavy emphasis on strategy and simulation and making your own story, whereas apparently the normal ones are more linear and more story-focused. So perhaps I'll try 7 sometime in the future as well.

 

This game does an awful job at being approachable for complete newcomers. There were no tutorials anywhere to be found, and I had no idea what I was doing for the first few hours, even with the trophy guides. Eventually I figured out how simulating it works, and someone taught me that the game has a block button - would've been nice if the game had told me that - so the early missions became so much easier once armed with that knowledge. After the initial hurdle of the first few events you become so overpowered that blocking becomes a waste of time though. One big thing I liked about this game compared to One Piece and Dragon Quest is that there was nothing literally gating your progress through a stage. So many times in DQH/OPPW (especially OPPW) you'd be standing still in front of a door waiting for all the dialogue to end just so it'll open and let you advance.

 

Overall I wasn't a fan of the strategy/simulation/random events nature of this game, so I don't think I'll ever be playing 7 Empires or 8 Empires, because that seems to be the main core of the Empires games. I hope regular 7 will be more to my tastes.

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PS Now

NEW GAME: Daytona USA [+12] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires [+51] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: NiGHTS Intro Dreams [+13] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity [+11] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Genshin Impact [+1] {+5%}

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 [+4] {+6%}

Tales of Zestiria [+13] {+18%}

 

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