Madbuk's List of Unfinished Games

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #487 - Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA

After playing and loving Ys: Memories of Celceta, I was very much looking forward to playing this which I had heard from basically everyone was the superior game. When I finally got around to it I was... underwhelmed, and dropped it relatively early. Something about it just felt off, and I think it's the new camera perspective. However, I came back to it a week or so ago and fully restarted on nightmare difficulty instead of normal to try and get a one playthrough plat, and I think doing that was the right decision. Nightmare made this game engaging in a way normal never was, and helped the environments and enemies feel like the threats that the story depicts them to be. Areas feel oppressive in a very fitting way. The OST is also stunning, there's not really any bad tracks in it at all. The story was significantly better than Celceta but still not even close to Falcom's other series, Trails.

 

I think overall that this is the better game compared to Celceta, just as an overall package, but I do think that I liked the combat of Celceta more in general - not that it's bad here, because it's certainly not. I'm excited to play IX eventually.

Spoiler

Retail

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA [+44] {+85%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #488 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

What an absolutely surreal feeling it was to actually be playing these games. For over a decade, fans have assumed that these games would never come west and be a permanent gap in the story... but here they are. I'm still shocked by its simple existence even after 100 hours of playing it. Geofront, the team behind the fantranslation that the official localizer used as a basis for the official release, did good work making this available for more people and I cannot thank them enough. It's crazy to think that the entire series can now be played completely in order with no gaps in official English releases, after there being gaps for such a long time.

 

For years I've been seeing people hype this (and its sequel, Azure) up as two of the best Trails games in general, but honestly I'm not sure I agree with the hype. It's certainly very good, as all Trails games are, but when compared to the likes of Cold Steel 3 or Sky the 3rd it's not even close imo. Sky the 3rd in particular was just an absolutely phenomenal game. 3rd also had a lot of setup for this particular game, and I was interested to see how well it would get paid off. I'm happy with the results - I do think some of it could've been handled better (maybe Azure covers it in more detail) but for the most part it was a very satisfying story to watch unfold.

 

I cannot express my thanks anywhere near enough to both NISA and Geofront for making this release possible. It's just a magical feeling to be playing it and I'm very glad to have had the pleasure. I love this series so much.

Spoiler

Retail

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero [+41] {+89%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #489 - Mafia

I've been wanting to try out this series for a while now, and after learning that all of them will be leaving PS+ this month I decided now was the time to at least play the first game (not going to risk starting 2 too with it leaving so soon). I honestly really appreciated the minimalist open world this game had. It didn't try and pretend it was more than it is by padding it with garbage filler content, it was just an area used for missions, which worked very well. And a hub for over a hundred pointless collectibles, but let's just ignore those.

 

The mission design was nothing particularly noteworthy but it's also a very old game, so it's good enough keeping that in mind. Combat felt good and the driving isn't as bad as people were telling me it was. I appreciated that after finishing a mission it sent you straight into the next one without you having to travel from one end of the map to the other to activate it like most other open world games do. 

 

The story was.. enjoyable, up until the end where it really didn't manage to stick the landing imo, which is a shame because of how relatively interesting it had been up until then. It does make me wonder what Mafia II involves since this didn't feel like a game that really needs a sequel. Will I ever actually play 2, though? Honestly this'll probably end up as another Crysis. I play the first game from PS+, enjoy it, and then never see the sequels cheap enough to continue playing them. Which is a shame, but at least I got one experience with the franchises.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: Mafia [+44] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Updates: #490 - Final Fantasy VIII

After some very lackluster past experiences with this franchise, I was almost ready to give it up completely (well... other than 7 Remake, I do want to try that eventually), but so many people told me that I'd enjoy this one a lot more due to setting/characters that I figured I'd give it a try since it's on PS+ Extra anyway (and I was told it was also relatively short, too.) I... should not have listened to the advice.

 

This game features many of the same problems that plague other FF games - bland, undeveloped characters, a lackluster main narrative, game mechanics that are completely archaic even for the time they released (a big example being having to reload a save when you die. PS1 games already solved this issue), unenjoyable combat, and to top it off the stat system in this is needlessly convoluted. Thankfully it gives you a handy "Auto" button to assign magic optimally, but why is it even a system in the first place?

 

Relative to the other FF games I've played, I will say this one probably has the best minigame of them all in the form of Triple Triad. It's a little too easy to just get powerful cards then stomp any opponent with no effort, but I liked the idea of the game. Squall is also a stronger character than Cloud, Tidus or Lightning, because they actually do something with him (similar to what they tried with Lightning, except executed properly), but he still wasn't overly compelling.

 

I shouldn't have bothered giving this a chance, and it just reinforces that this franchise isn't for me. Other than 7R, 16 (because it's no longer turn-based) and Theatrhythm, and maybe (but probably not) 12 since I've heard glowing praise for that game, I'm just not going to bother anymore.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

Final Fantasy VIII [+28] {+89%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Updates: #491 - Trials of Mana

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. The story is nothing special, the characters aren't either, and the combat is fairly basic, but all of it comes together into a really solid package. It's not something that I'd say would be up for any awards, but sometimes an average game like this one is refreshing and uniquely enjoyable to play through. Sort of like my feelings towards Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls - it's not a great game, but it hits the spot perfectly regardless somehow.

 

That said, it did begin to wear a bit thin by the time I was doing my third playthrough of it. I'm disappointed by just how little the story ever changes, even if you bring along a completely different cast. It wasn't exactly unenjoyable, but I certainly began rushing to my objectives instead of fighting things more frequently. I'm definitely interested in trying out the other games in the series at some point, but I have no idea when that'll be.

Spoiler

PS+

NEW GAME: Trials of Mana [+44] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

Assassin's Creed Valhalla [+5] {+4%}

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by madbuk

[madbuk]

Progress Updates: #492 - Final Fantasy VII Remake

After playing FFVIII, I was wary to play any more FF games (apart from Theatrhythm next year), because they're almost always disappointments it feels like. But, of the FF games I haven't played, VII Remake was definitely the most appealing and it just so happened to be chosen for me via random chance in a PS+ event. So I figured I'd give the series one last chance.

 

I'm glad I did. This was such a significant improvement over the original in just about every way imaginable. Gameplay, character development, world building, pacing... I can't say it was a flawless game, because there are some gripes I have with the side quest chapters being bland (thankfully there aren't many) and the combat rarely allowing you to actually stagger bosses because they progress to their next phase due to damage dealt and reset the bar before you get a chance to. But these are very minor problems.

 

I greatly appreciate the lengths this game went to to actually give the characters some interactions. To keep spoilers at a minimum I'll just use one example - the rooftop walk after leaving the church. In the OG game, you enter the church, meet a character, and then go from the church to the character's - who you've just met - home. And during that entire walk to their home, both people are dead silent. And I get that it's a PS1 game and it might be harder to have casual conversation with the gameplay style that it had, but the remake adds so much more to that walk to the house just by having the characters actually talk to each other. They've just met, they should get to know each other, right?

 

The game has a lot of great quiet moments like this between the action, and I think the decision to focus this game completely on Midgar paid off due to how much more time they had available to do more with the characters. It would've been nice for Barrett to feature in more scenes since it feels like he doesn't get the same amount of screentime as anyone else and falls kinda flat as a result, but we still have two whole games left for him to get his time in the spotlight.

 

While I don't expect this to surpass my favourite JRPG trilogy, Trails in the Sky, it is pretty wild to actually be excited about an upcoming FF game, and I hope this trilogy can stick the landing. I'm aware that a lot of people hated the pacing/linearity of the game, and that makes me worried Rebirth/Part 3 will try and "fix" that, but hopefully that doesn't happen, because it's partly what helped the game be so compelling.

Spoiler

PS+

NEW GAME: Final Fantasy VII Remake [+63] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Ys IX: Monstrum Nox [+11] {+15%}

 

Retail

Assassin's Creed Valhalla [+13] {+12%}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Updates: #493 - Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

Ys VIII was, after I came back to it a few years later on a higher difficulty, a very compelling experience both narratively and from a gameplay perspective. IX therefor had some big expectations to meet, and... did it? On the whole, I'd say yes. The combat is just as fun as it was in VIII, there's some fun new movement options, the story is engaging, the characters are, mostly, better than VIII's. But despite IX being better in some aspects I can't help but feel like as a whole, it's a little worse than VIII. The music was definitely a downgrade - it wasn't bad at all, but VIII had one of the best soundtracks in any game I've played, so it would've been almost impossible to surpass it in that regard (arguably the only game that has is Genshin.) Both are still excellent games worth playing, though

 

Exploring the town every time you unlock a new area of it was very enjoyable, it was like a mini collectathon platformer and always happened in such short bursts that it never became tedious. Dungeons were all fairly linear hallways, but it worked well enough as a break from the exploring that you do outside of the dungeons. Nightmare felt a lot easier in this than the prior game, despite certain aspects being more punishing (bottle refills - your main source of reviving/healing - now cost money and material, whereas in VIII they only cost material), and I'm not sure why. Maybe the skills are more powerful, or maybe I'm just practiced via VIII.

 

This game was very much worth my time even despite being a small step down and I hope that Falcom continues to gain popularity for both this series and for Trails, because both are still way more niche than they deserve to be. Ys X taking inspiration from Assassin's Creed Black Flag has me a little concerned, but Falcom have never fully let me down, so I'll stay hopeful.

Spoiler

PS+

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox [+43] {+85%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim [56] {Retail}

NEW GAME: A Plague Tale: Requiem [36] {Retail}

NEW GAME: LEGO Jurassic World [50] {Retail}

NEW GAME: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga [46] {Retail}

NEW GAME: Need for Speed: Heat [43] {Retail}

NEW GAME: Sonic Frontiers [41] {Retail}

 

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #494 - LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

A prime example of a modern day gaming open world bloat-fest. I will give this game credit where credit is due, it's impressive they got all 9 movies into a single game (and without copying from prior games, like Complete Saga did), and if they had stopped there I'd have said this was a good game with a satisfying and reasonable amount of content. The problem is, they didn't stop there. Having all 9 movies wasn't enough, they wanted to make an entire open world galaxy (with roughly 24 planets or so?) to explore. And this is where the tedium sets in, because the planets all feel the same. They look different, and are quite varied visually, but the tasks you do for the gold brick-equivalent are identical no mater where in the galaxy you are. Totally unnecessary bloat.

 

As for the movie levels, they felt quite different to normal. In a lot of ways they felt like they came out of a Vita port instead of a console game, and honestly for the most part I'd say that's probably for the better. A lot of modern LEGO games have very lengthy levels that begin to outstay their welcome, particularly on replays, but the levels in this were all very short and replayable.

 

Not a game I plan on stacking, even though I could if I wanted to (free upgrade), but I enjoyed this first plat run of it decently enough, even if I am now exhausted and ready to move onto something else.

Spoiler

Retail

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga [+46] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Alan Wake [68] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #495 - A Plague Tale: Requiem

After playing the first game, I felt it concluded nicely and there was no need to follow up on it. So when a sequel was announced, I was very skeptical of it. I gave it a chance anyway, and I am very happy to say it proved me wrong. This was a worthy follow-up - whilst I still prefer the original game as a whole I think, this one had the better narrative, which is why I played these games in the first place. Hugo and Amicia's relationship is believable and the side characters were better than the ones in 1 were. 

 

I do think the combat encounters took a step back though. Amicia is far more equipped to deal with enemies in this game (which makes sense from a narrative perspective), so there's a wide range of options to approach these large stealth sections, but some of them feel overly long and the upgrade system that's tied to your playstyle (how many people you kill during an encounter) takes away that sense of freedom that all your tools present you with because you just end up playing a specific way anyway to ensure you get the upgrades you want. So while in theory the encounters are more open than the first game's which were very scripted, I think the upgrade system results in the encounters being just as railroaded as the first game's

 

Once again though, I think the series should end here. They've proved me wrong before with this game, but I really don't think there needs to be a follow-up here. I'm interested to see what game this team does do next instead though, since they're clearly a talented bunch of storytellers.

Spoiler

Retail

A Plague Tale: Requiem [+36] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age [+11] {+17%}

 

Digital

Genshin Impact [+1] {+1%}

 

[Puppeter04]

Okay, so I thought I understood everything but what does the 68 in Alan Wake mean? 

 

And after that stupid question, I'm just here to say: congratulations!! cuz the amount of work you put in is great mate, I'm looking forward to the next update.

 Such a varied taste and that's what I enjoy! Any milestone or big project ahead? 

[madbuk]

10 hours ago, Puppeter04 said:

Okay, so I thought I understood everything but what does the 68 in Alan Wake mean? 

 

And after that stupid question, I'm just here to say: congratulations!! cuz the amount of work you put in is great mate, I'm looking forward to the next update.

 Such a varied taste and that's what I enjoy! Any milestone or big project ahead? 

The number is the amount of trophies in the game. Helps give me a rough idea of how badly my completion will take a hit once I start it lol

 

Thanks, next milestone is #500 and I still haven’t fully made up my mind, but I’m leaning towards Tales of Symphonia. I don’t like the game, but it’s my final PS3 game as a whole, so it feels significant enough to be worth a milestone. I love the PS3, but it’s getting pretty old now and it’d feel great to finally put it to rest.

[Puppeter04]

7 hours ago, madbuk said:

The number is the amount of trophies in the game. Helps give me a rough idea of how badly my completion will take a hit once I start it lol

 

Thanks, next milestone is #500 and I still haven’t fully made up my mind, but I’m leaning towards Tales of Symphonia. I don’t like the game, but it’s my final PS3 game as a whole, so it feels significant enough to be worth a milestone. I love the PS3, but it’s getting pretty old now and it’d feel great to finally put it to rest.

Ohhhh ok then I understood right ?

 

Feeling kinda sad that you are gonna put your PS3 to rest ngl, i still need to clean up my backlog but since I left my PS3 in another country.. it's gonna take some time lol go for it, that'd be a great end of cycle

 

 

 

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #496 - Sonic Frontiers

I didn't quite know what to expect out of this one. Generations was a disappointment, Colours was a disappointment, Forces was a disappointment... I was doubtful that Sonic Team would ever break the curse and bring back level design that was actually good like Unleashed had. Turns out my doubts were correct, except somehow they managed to make the stages even worse than the ones in Generations/Colours/Forces. Just give me an Unleashed remaster, SEGA. At least I know that one will actually be amazing.

 

On the bright side, the levels are a very minor aspect of the game, all things considered. The game has fishing in it, which lets you buy in-game items. I bought my way past all of these levels starting from around halfway through the second island. I got 100% on every level on the first island, and 100% of the ones I played on the second island, but outside of 1-2 literally every single one of them was horrid. Some good music to be found hidden within them, but the level design basically plays itself, the red rings are almost all basically impossible to miss, and the S rank requirements are handed to you with 0 effort needed whatsoever. Just extremely underwhelming and a waste of time.

 

It's a good thing that this game has an open world to make up for its severe shortcomings as a regular Sonic game. Once you get some speed upgrades, exploring is genuinely interesting and I liked that the game didn't ask you to get everything because each island had hundreds of memory tokens, but you only need to get enough to unlock all the story/optional scenes. I had a lot of fun doing the mostly linear platforming to get memory tokens, but if I had to track down every single one of them it'd just be a tedious case of opening the map up, putting a waypoint on the token, and then going to get it. Which is a problem a lot of open world games face, the sheer tedium of it all.

 

I have completely lost faith in Sonic Team at this point to offer me what I want out of Sonic, but if this is the new direction and they let me skip all the levels in the next game too, I'm interested. A huge step up from the games that preceded it since Unleashed as a whole. The boss fights were all great and made me feel like I was playing Metal Gear Rising at times, which is absolutely not something I expected from Sonic of all things.

Spoiler

Retail

Sonic Frontiers [+41] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital

Genshin Impact [+1] {+0%}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #497 - Devil May Cry 2

Before going into this I had been told by multiple people that this is not only a terrible game, but also the worst in the whole franchise. Now that I'm done with it... it was an okay game? It was definitely worse than 1/DmC and very flawed - the story is complete nonsense, combat isn't as satisfying due to it feeling like you had less options in terms of combos, the secret missions became generic combat arenas (in 1 they had extra stipulations, like not getting hit, and whilst at times they could be rough I liked having that extra bit of challenge), the level design felt a lot more linear to me too.. but despite its faults, I still found myself enjoying the barebones combat and obvious level design. I also appreciate that this game removed the battle data that 1 had, which was more of an annoyance trying to fill in than it was actually a helpful guide.

 

The 9000 floor arena was something I admittedly just didn't even bother trying to do without the infinite devil trigger cheat code - the combat in this game is fine for a playthrough of the story, but it's definitely not good enough to make such a long arena mode - that you can't take breaks from and takes around 5-8 hours legit supposedly - an enjoyable trial. Even with infinite devil trigger it still felt like it took an eternity to get through. I did at least do all of the story runs on each difficulty without the cheat code, because that part of the game is where the fun is.

 

Probably won't get around to DMC3 for a while, too many games on the horizon, but I'm definitely looking forward to it when I do find the time.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Devil May Cry 2 [+34] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line [42] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #498 - Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line

I have been excited for this ever since it was announced, as a big fan of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory and after having been told that MoM was very lacking compared to prior Theatrhythm games. I pre-ordered this special deluxe whatever edition that comes with everything, and whilst I am sad that there's seemingly not going to be any trophies for these DLCs, I will definitely be keeping up with it and playing all the new songs that release. I will say that locking Eyes on Me, Zanarkand and Melodies of Life behind DLC was a bit of a greedy move though. Maybe there's some licensing issues they had to get resolved that made them more expensive to include, since most of the DX content was lyrical songs.

 

Having now played it, I can absolutely see just how lacking MoM was in comparison. Hundreds less songs (less games to pull from tbf), less features, and an RPG system that is completely irrelevant unlike here where there are so many different characters with multiple applications for countless team synergies. Honestly that got pretty annoying when trying to do some of the more obscure quests that required very specific loadouts to get around their gimmick(s), but there'll be info online for it all soon enough.

 

Unlike MoM where I'm a big fan of the series and have played almost every entry (and if not played, then at least watched the rest), Final Fantasy is a very mixed bag for me. Anything after XIII seems to be pretty enjoyable, with caveats sometimes, but anything before XIII is a struggle to enjoy for me. So I was wondering if that lack of enjoyment with earlier titles may hinder my enjoyment of playing through their songs here - it definitely didn't. This series has never disappointed musically it seems, as every game has multiple good tracks to choose from. Having 32 here for XIV seems like a little overkill when others like X-2 only get 6 (I think?), but I'd rather have more than less, and even though XIV is far too big of a beast to get into (especially when I'm already invested in Genshin), this game has certainly made it more interesting to me. In a way, this is like one big advertisement for every game in the series, but in the best way possible.

 

I'm not confident saying this is GOTY when we're so early in the year and Trails to Azure and Trails Into Reverie release this year too, on top of other things like REmake 4, but... it will almost certainly win best soundtrack, even if it does have a little of an unfair advantage lol. Wonderful game, wish more franchises had spin-offs like this. Ys could use one.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: Last Day of June [+21] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Retail

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout [+7] {+10%}

 

Digital

Genshin Impact [+3] {+2%}

Genshin Impact [+2] {+2%}

Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line [+42] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Mafia II [68] {Digital}

NEW GAME: The Sinking City [29] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #499 - Call of Cthulhu

This was okay. I like the main character, and it's very atmospheric, it has some interesting tabletop RPG style mechanics, but... the story fell a bit flat for me, and that was perhaps the most important aspect to get right here. It started out relatively interesting, but it felt like it kept going further and further off the rails to the point where I honestly couldn't tell you how it ended. I remember the cutscenes of the various endings, but by that point I had no idea what was going on and.. didn't really care.

 

The setting definitely saved the game, a lot of the locations are memorable and despite them all having the same vibe they still felt distinct from each other. Overall, this is the sort of game that I had a decent time playing, but really don't have much to say about and I'll probably have forgotten most of it within a week or two. At least it was from PS+ so it was "free", and under that context it was definitely worth my time to at least check out, it could've been far worse.

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter [+14] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

NEW GAME: Call of Cthulhu [+50] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[effdeegee]

500 plats, ol' bukky boy! I remember when you didn't have 500 trophies!  

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #500 - Tales of Symphonia

I began this game almost 7 years ago, back when I was first starting to try out JRPGs (or single player RPGs in general, really), and after playing Xillia beforehand... it fell very flat. Combat felt bad, the amount of missables was overwhelming, the story wasn't really engaging me... so I dropped it. And over the years I've come back to it a few times and each time I bounced off it again because it just hasn't aged well after playing much more recent Tales games. I was committed to getting it done now though as my 500th milestone - it's an ultra rare plat which is really my only requirement for an x00 milestone, but also, it held some significance to me for being such a long-standing unfinished game and simultaneously being the last unfinished PS3 game on my list. Unless I decide I want to go back to the console to play the sequel - which isn't likely - or Zestiria's stack - no thanks, the PS4 version was trash - or Yakuza Dead Souls - why did I even buy this? - I've completely ran out of games to play on it. It's a bit of a surreal feeling really, even moreso than back when I ran out of Vita games to do, because I've owned a PS3 since launch (admittedly only really started using it in 2013 though) and it has never been in a state of no unfinished games. It's a journey I never thought I'd see the end of, due to the likes of Gran Turismo 5, GTAV, Symphonia, 3DDGH, etc. being games I dreaded the idea of going back to. A contest last year got me through it all (but ended before I got to Symphonia), and I'm so grateful to the host for that burst of motivation that has led me here. I might do a bonus post recounting my PS3 journey and the low points and high points, but I'm also tempted to hold off until I'm confident I'll never come back to it for Symphonia 2, because even though I don't plan to... you never know.

 

As for the game itself, now that I've finally pushed myself through all 4 playthroughs of unskippable cutscenes that this game had to offer, my feelings on it... are mixed. I did warm a bit to the characters and story, with Sheena being the standout character by far compared to any of the others. It's certainly not high up on the list of JRPG stories or even Tales stories tbh, but it was decent enough. The gameplay got better as the game went on, because your TP guage increases and actually lets you do combos, which is very nice since at the start of the game you're constantly running out and being reduced to the basic 3 hit combo to get it all back. I loved seeing that this game actually outgrew that problem, unlike Vesperia where you're still stuck struggling for TP even during the final act. I do greatly miss free running, because being restricted to a 2D plain limits your evasive options massively, but thankfully the block in this game is actually pretty strong so the lack of evading isn't too big of an issue.

 

Some of the requirements for the platinum are pretty obnoxious, with the main standout to me being the low-level Gung Ho title where you need to reach a certain point of the (late) game with your party below a certain level. It injected the whole run with stress of not knowing if I was going to make it or not and when I finally got there, I was level 140 - only 5 below the cut off point. Throughout the whole run you're struggling for money due to running from every mob, you can't do damage because you can't buy better gear as a result of always being poor, and it's just an utterly miserable time. The next two playthroughs after that were substantially more fun because they were the exact opposites - 10x xp active so you're always overleveled instead. It was still pretty boring since you're rewatching everything you've already seen twice before, but it was satisfying being so powerful after such a slog of a run beforehand.

 

I'm glad I'm done with this, but it's not quite the disaster I thought it was going to be, and I haven't entirely written off playing the sequel, but I've heard it's much worse and I'm already not super fond of this one, so idk.. maybe.

Spoiler

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Tales of Symphonia [+35] {+93%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure [57] {Retail}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #501 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

I was initially hesitant to get this game due to the RTS combat, because Frozen Syanpse Prime is still fresh in my memory (though that wasn't exactly RTS, was a weird hybrid) and I had a bad time with that game, but after the story being so hyped up by so many people, I decided I'd put up with the combat (on casual difficulty) and see what what this game had to offer. And I'm glad I did - combat was actually somewhat satisfying on casual difficulty, the battle themes are all great, and the story is quite a ride. It's not without its problems - the non-combat gameplay can be dull and, on very rare occasions, annoyingly obtuse, but for the most part the story is interesting enough to push through the less than stellar gameplay.

 

I do think there was a bit of overhype though. The story is good and compelling, but it's not quite the masterpiece everyone hyped it up to be imo. It's still absolutely something I'd recommend playing though, and I'm glad I gave it a chance. Would probably play a sequel but I really don't think this needs one and I hope it remains a standalone story.

Spoiler

Retail

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim [+56] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #502 - Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout

Atelier has been a very mixed bag for me. After loving Ayesha, finding Escha & Logy mediocre, and Shallie outright disappointing, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Ryza. But Ayesha was so surprisingly good (and Escha & Logy and Shallie weren't bad really, just kinda.. average) that I felt the need to try out another one of the trilogies, and what better one to try than the most recent, which is seemingly very popular. I can see why, because this has overtaken Ayesha as my favourite Atelier so far.

 

I can actually alchemize in this game without heavy guide usage, because they've made it relatively simple. The removal of the time limit is also very appreciated, and this game has the best characters out of the four I've played so far. That's not to say Ryza and her party are particularly well written, but they're fun and I am still interested in seeing where their individual arcs go with 2 and 3. The combat in this was okay - I'm not a fan of turnbased anyway, but despite that, I still found myself having a good time with this. Maximizing weapon capabilities and gradually improving your combat (and exploration) tools via alchemy is a satisfying gameplay loop that feeds into the combat system, and I found myself appreciating that loop so much more in this than I did during the Dusk trilogy, probably because of how streamlined it now is.

 

This is definitely a trilogy I intend to continue, I just hope it doesn't get weaker as it goes on like the Dusk trilogy ended up doing.

Spoiler

Retail

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout [+42] {+90%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #503 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

...A Spider-Man game, I guess. Nothing about this was bad, but nothing about this stood out either. Just another AAA open world game to add to the gigantic pile. Open world web-slinging isn't very novel to me anymore after already playing Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 and the first Insomniac game. All 4 just feel like the same game, which isn't necessarily even a bad thing, if the formula is interesting enough to carry across 4 games worth of it, but... it just isn't imo. I don't regret playing this since it was via PS+ anyway, but it definitely hasn't gotten me hyped up for Spider-Man 2. On one hand I did appreciate how short it was after having already played 3 games worth of it (5 if you include stacks) beforehand already, but on the other that definitely led to some issues, like the narrative reveal of the villain falls completely flat because there's no time put into setting it up beforehand. It's just something that happens, and then the game pretends like it's some shocking big revelation worth caring about.

 

I... really don't have much to say about this one lol

Spoiler

PS+ Titles

NEW GAME: Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales [+50] {+100%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Need for Speed Payback [+4] {+7%}

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy [49] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #504 - Need for Speed Payback

I did not enjoy this game at all, and it is down there with Team Sonic Racing and Need for Speed Rivals as one of the worst racing games I have played. It felt pretty bad to control, which is a huge sin for a racing game, the open world was full of boring bloat (and I hate that Burnout only died so that open world could ruin the genre, still suffering the consequences of that 2008 game even now in 2023), and the lootbox-reliant upgrade system was absolutely terrible. I should probably just stop playing this series because I've been disappointed in literally all of them apart from Hot Pursuit, which was a lot of fun (also wasn't open world, what a coincidence!) ...But I own Heat, and EA gave me the map pack for free, so... maybe one day I'll give that game a chance. Not like the genre is alive and thriving with other options to play instead.

 

I am very glad that this is over and would not recommend it to anybody. Now I can fully enjoy Trails to Azure without feeling like I should finish this off first.

Spoiler

Retail

Trails to Azure [+5] {+7%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Need for Speed Payback [+16] {+71%} (COMPLETE!)

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #505 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

And with this, I have now finished all 9 games in this series. I may have played it out of order, but man what a journey it has been. All 9 are some of the best games I've ever played - the writing is impeccable, the worldbuilding is masterful, every character is compelling (and there are a lot of them), and from a writing standpoint, I really don't have many negative things to say about it - apart from some Cold Steel IV stuff, but that is very minor. It's a shame that the gameplay isn't as compelling, but honestly that's just a me thing. I've never enjoyed turn based combat, but if that is something you're interested in, there's so much depth to the combat system, and although it does simplify itself in some aspects over time, it also adds new systems to bring the depth back in different ways.

 

Gushing about the series as a whole aside, this specific game wasn't my absolute favourite - that'd be Sky the 3rd - but it is certainly up there. A very politically charged story with satisfying payoffs to plot threads started in Trails from Zero - the first game of this duology - and some nice callbacks to the Sky trilogy that came before it. The characters are all well developed and have great synergy, and it was interesting to see how this game sets up various plot threads for Cold Steel to pick up on, having already played that saga already. It still feels unreal to me that I have even played this game - much like Trails from Zero, this was part of the gap between Sky and Cold Steel that simply never got localized, and it was a depressing gap that I had just assumed would never be filled. But it has been, and for that I am so grateful. Having the full context of everything that happened in this duology after having picked up bits and pieces from the Cold Steel games already is very nice.

 

As I say in all my Legend of Heroes posts, I cannot recommend this series enough and I am very excited for July when the next one releases.

Spoiler

Retail

Trails to Azure [+52] {+93%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel [51] {Digital}

 

 

[madbuk]

Progress Update: #506 - Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch

This was a nice trip down memory lane. My first ever single player RPG, I have fond memories of it even though I do remember the grind at the end being brutal, so I wasn't looking forward to doing that again... I started this stack 2 years ago and dropped it, but I don't remember why, because the game is great and I hadn't even reached the grindy part of it yet. And then once I did reach the grind... it was so fast? Compared to how I remember it being from 9 years ago, it went by insanely quick here, got it all done within a day or so. The alchemy, which is what I dreaded the most, only took 4 hours? The plat overall took 64 hours, which is pretty low for a JRPG. So I'm not sure why I remember it being such an awful grind back on PS3.

 

This game is just as gorgeous now as it was back then. The story/characters are nothing special but they're decent enough, and the combat is enjoyable even though it's turn based (ATB) and nothing particularly deep. The music is good although it could've probably used some more tracks - the overworld only having 1-2 themes is kinda bad when you spend so long in it. Just overall a really solid and well put together game, that doesn't do anything particularly special but doesn't do anything poorly either. I'm impressed by how much it holds up after all the RPGs I've played since - goes to show it wasn't just because it was my first that it was so memorable. 

Spoiler

Retail

Assassin's Creed Valhalla [+1] {+1%}

 

Digital {Excluding PS+}

Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch [+23] {+84%} (COMPLETE!)

 

Unstarted

NEW GAME: Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened [28] {Digital}

 

[madbuk]

#507 - Alan Wake

I wasn't completely sure what I was getting myself into here, but I was expecting a third person shooter with sparse ammo and an engaging story. It delivered on that, although the amount of enemy spam in a lot of levels made the limited inventory size pretty annoying. I ended up just running past everything instead of fighting to try and conserve what little ammo the game lets you have. The story didn't blow me away but it was decent, and it was a nice surprise to have some 3D platforming thrown in during the DLC. Overall a pretty solid game and one I might eventually get around to stacking in the future. Cautiously excited for the sequel, because I hear that one is going to be even more "survival" horror, which probably means even less ammo...

 

As a side note, I think for future posts I'm not going to bother including progress I've made on other games in the spoiler section like usual. I don't think it really adds much overall and was ultimately just a waste of time lol