Kill Your Completion (Event finished)

[Hemiak]

Game 2 - Greg Hastings Paintball 2
Day 2, 2.5 hours total

So I got in another hour and a half or so last night and the game is growing on me. I took a brief look at a trophy guide. Since there isn't a story, I figured spoilers didn't matter. Eventually I'll have to play every event in the game on hard, but I also have to purchase every piece of equipment in the game. This involves winning events to unlock the items, and then using reward money from winning tournaments. To get enough money to buy everything I'll need to play way more events than there are in the game. I then dropped the difficulty to easy, since you get the same amount of money on all difficulties.

I played about 8 more tournaments, and won them all handily. I played about 4 more recball events, and 2 each of woods ball and speedball. Woods ball is exactly what it sounds like, any of the various game modes but in an all natural setting. Sometimes there are small buildings, but mostly set in a wooded area. Speedball is basically set on a soccer(football) field, with inflatable obstacles. The timers are all very short and they use guns that fire much faster. Most of those rounds lasted less than a minute.

I played several varieties of capture the flag, elimination, and control. I also played a mode called sniper, where each team has 2-5 targets that the opponents have to shoot to win. Some events allow reinsertion, (re-spawning after 10 seconds) while many do not. When reinsertion is off, events can be won by first eliminating the entire enemy team, then completing the objective. If reinsertion is off and you get shot, it immediately places you into a different teammate so you can continue playing.

Ive now "impressed" a few division 3 teams, and can recruit their players, for $800-2000. These people have 2-4 perks unlocked, though without more research I have no idea what they do, as they're just small round icons next to the persons name. I've upgraded several pieces of equipment, where I'm focusing on range and accuracy, and that seems to be helping a ton.

I tried out exhibition, which allows you to set up individual matches with whatever course and settings you want. There's also the option to create your own course for people that enjoy that sort of thing. As expected I couldn't find a single other player in the online section, and amazingly, there weren't any game sessions set up on this site either. Whatever, there aren't any trophies for using the online anyway, thank goodness. At some point I'll have to use a 2nd controller, but only for like 2 or 3 trophies.

Speaking of trophies, I earned 10 last night, most of them before I actually looked at the list. Got one for shooting a player in the back from their side of the field, winning after bossing my team mates around, 3 face shots in a round, and several other simple things. It seems like pretty much the whole list is misc tasks, except for the two for completing the events on hard, and 1 for collecting all gear.

All in all I'm having a bit of fun. The game's not amazing by any stretch, but it's about what I expected and there are definite moments of hilarity. At one point me and three team mates were running to an objective and we surprised an enemy, he just started spinning in place randomly firing, he didn't even move. All three of us took aim and opened up and it was like 10 seconds of wtf where nobody hit a damn thing, before he ran off and collected our flag and returned it unopposed. O.o

Edited July 6, 2016 by Hemiak

[Maddawgmax]

I'm still here by the way, just haven't had time to update. I got through most of the first chapter of the Raven on day 1, but didn't get any done yesterday. I was going to make progress at work, but PS Now doesn't seem to want to work for me so I'll have to wait until tonight when I get home.

[MStalker58]

 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Day 2

Trophies: 3/54

 

I put a few more hours into Castlevania: LoS yesterday and almost made it to the end of Chapter 2 as well as tripled my trophy count to a whopping 3 trophies. I bought some combos, acquired some new items like the grappling hook, and completed a few trials in the levels. I've fought some new enemies such as giant monster spiders. Man do I hate spiders. If they actually existed and I ran across one of these spiders in real life, I'd instantly die from a heart attack. Also fought a Titan that I had to climb around on while he violently shook every couple of seconds. Immediately started getting flashbacks to Shadow of the Colossus. Oh look, there's also a trial for beating the Titan in a certain amount of time. Oh great, time attacks. 

 

I've noticed that this game is going to feature one of the things I hate most when it comes to collectables. The old "let's use crappy camera angles to hide a collectable" trick. You know, the kind where an item is basically right out in the open, but the developers decide to manipulate horrible camera angles to make it impossible to see the collectable. Yeah, those kind. I prefer having to explore to find secrets and luckily there are those kinds as well. However, there have already been a couple that used the cheap method of making them hard to find.

 

I know that it may appear that I'm slacking since I'm only at the end of Chapter 2 and just have 3 trophies in this game. But I really did put several hours into the game yesterday, I swear. For anyone that hasn't played the game, each chapter is broken down into levels. Chapter 1 had around 5 levels and Chapter 2 appears to have 9-10. So I've really completed about 12-13 levels. Saying Chapter 2 makes it sound worse though I guess. It doesn't help that I'm the type who tends to explore every inch of a level in search of secrets. If there are multiple paths, I'll usually backtrack and check out the alternate routes as well. I've also replayed several levels to complete the trials that only unlock after you've beaten a level once.

 

Plus this game really doesn't want to give you trophies. It reminds me of that vending machine at work that always steals and eats your money because the snacks get stuck on the prongs and refuse to fall. I feel like I've been shaking the trophy vending machine and yelling "Come on already, just drop some trophies on me." Anyways, I'm starting to really get into the game and enjoying it a lot. Looking forward to seeing what today brings. 

Edited July 6, 2016 by MStalker58

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Plus this game really doesn't want to give you trophies. It reminds me of that vending machine at work that always steals and eats your money because the snacks get stuck on the prongs and refuse to fall. I feel like I've been shaking the trophy vending machine and yelling "Come on already, just drop some trophies on me."

 

It's called "kill your completion", not "buff your completion"!

Edited July 6, 2016 by BillyHorrible

[Hemiak]

It doesn't help that I'm the type who tends to explore every inch of a level in search of secrets. If there are multiple paths, I'll usually backtrack and check out the alternate routes as well.

I totally do this too.

The best/worst, is when you head down one path, see that it goes a bit, so you turn and head down the other path, figuring that's where the collectible or whatnot is. Then after like 2 minutes you realize you are now on the correct path, and have to backtrack all the way back to the first tunnel again. You get there, turn one extra corner, and find like money or ammo and Not something important. :/

[crimsonidol38]

 

 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Day 2

Trophies: 3/54

 

I put a few more hours into Castlevania: LoS yesterday and almost made it to the end of Chapter 2 as well as tripled my trophy count to a whopping 3 trophies. I bought some combos, acquired some new items like the grappling hook, and completed a few trials in the levels. I've fought some new enemies such as giant monster spiders. Man do I hate spiders. If they actually existed and I ran across one of these spiders in real life, I'd instantly die from a heart attack. 

 

 

Oh great. Did you have to write this?  I started LoS myself back in 2014 and just put it back on my PoS after finishing the first level and now I have to read that the following parts will contain giant monster spiders. Eeven though I know they aren't real I dislike giant spiders in videogames, too. 

As a kid I was even afraid to finish the Deku Tree in Zelda: Ocarina of Time as I knew that the boss was a giant spider. And then those Skulltulas...   

 

But still nice to read this. I just had to put the OST in my playlist.

[MStalker58]

It's called "kill your completion", not "buff your completion"!

 

Or if you are effdeegee it could be called "kill your profile with horrible games"! I want more Deadliest Catch updates. 

 

Don't feel like having a post with all kinds of quotes so:

 

@Hemiak: Haha, I've already done that exact thing a couple of times. Once it was a lousy health fountain that I didn't even need and the other was a scroll which aren't required for any trophies. I didn't mind that one as much since I like finding everything I can even if it's not needed for trophies. I keep going down one path looking for secrets and then start second guessing myself because the path seems to keep going forever. The worst was when I stopped going down a tunnel, decided to try the other path first only to hit a checkpoint and finish the level out of nowhere. Had to replay the entire chapter to go back and finish searching that 1st path I took.

 

@Crimson Idol: Sorry about that. I've only seen them in that 1 level so far and they aren't in the next few stages. Maybe we'll get lucky and they only make that 1 appearance. I'm sure they'll return though. 

 

Did you ever finish Ocarina of Time? I feel your pain though. I don't like spiders and spider webs but I'm absolutely terrified of snakes. If I see one in real life, I usually end up running away as fast as I can and look like a small child crying for their mommy. Then can't sleep good that night due to fear of having nightmares of one crawling all over me. Getting shivers right now just thinking about it.   

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Game #2: Flame Over
Final Review
Total playtime: about eight hours (of which about half an hour in tutorial)

Main 'story' completed at around seven hours of playtime, including tutorial

Trophies: 25/36
 
 

 

There once was a buddy named Blaze

Who left all the people amazed

He extinguised those fires

And could have retired

If only he'd gotten a raise...

 

Yeah, I'm really working myself into a corner here with the limericks, I hope I don't get stuck on one of the later games.

 

I played another hour today but I just couldn't get into it. Failed to get any trophy at all. I'm going to leave it at this. I might return to it if I ever find myself without a backlog but until them I'm done, at least with the PS4 version. I might just play the Vita version after I have gotten through Rocketbirds and Nihilumbra.

 

So, one of the bad consequences of finishing a game on day two is that I don't have a lot to add to my day 2 review.

 

Well, since I still have the intention to play the Vita version some day you know it can't be all that bad. Is it a masterpiece? Definitely not. Is it enjoyable? With the right mindset, it can be. It's a tough game and you have to be in the zone to make any progress, as is the case with many "death is a major setback" games. I still think it's weird that a small game like this needs that much stats levelling to become tolerable in difficulty, I think that's a big mistake on the design part.

 

On the whole though, if you can enjoy a game like Spelunky, Road Not Taken or really any difficult roguelike, or if you just like being challenged in general, you can probably find at least some joy in Flame Over. I'm not into 'real' roguelikes myself and I often don't really feel the need to be challenged but I'd give the game a passing grade at the least. Then again, the fact that I can enjoy a game like this perhaps means that I'm finally ready for Spelunky.

[delboy_rules]

Game #2: Flame Over

Final Review

Total playtime: about eight hours (of which about half an hour in tutorial)

Main 'story' completed at around seven hours of playtime, including tutorial

Trophies: 25/36

 

Snip

 

Good show, the majority of people don't even give it a chance, hence the UR plat.

 

Keep the posts coming you beautiful people, I love reading them.  I would contribute to the thread more, but work (finally) you know.  Oh, and Rachp13 my thoughts are with you are and yours, come back when you can    .

Edited July 6, 2016 by delboy_rules

[MarkusT1992]

@Hemiak: Haha, I've already done that exact thing a couple of times. Once it was a lousy health fountain that I didn't even need and the other was a scroll which aren't required for any trophies. I didn't mind that one as much since I like finding everything I can even if it's not needed for trophies. I keep going down one path looking for secrets and then start second guessing myself because the path seems to keep going forever. The worst was when I stopped going down a tunnel, decided to try the other path first only to hit a checkpoint and finish the level out of nowhere. Had to replay the entire chapter to go back and finish searching that 1st path I took.

I normally try to collect everything as well. Best example is Far Cry 4. You only need a few of all the collectibles but I collected all nonetheless

 

 

Tropico 5 (Final Day)

 

Today I started mission 3. I don't know what exactly my goal is in this mission but I think I just have to survive the invasion after the ceasefire agreement.

I got a mission to enter an alliance with one of the nations. After doing this I got attacked by the other nation and lost. I had no chance.

For the next time I have to build more military buildings to fend them off.

 

Thanks to BillyHorrible we managed to get all 6 multiplayer trophies for the base game from whome 4 replaced my rarest trophies.

 

I enjoyed playing this game but I'm glad to go on to the next game. This type of game is something I playe very rarly so it's difficult to get into it. But if you are into it than Tropico is a very nice game.

Nonetheless I would say that I enjoye Wolfenstein more so far but that's only after two games.

[crimsonidol38]

@Crimson Idol: Sorry about that. I've only seen them in that 1 level so far and they aren't in the next few stages. Maybe we'll get lucky and they only make that 1 appearance. I'm sure they'll return though. 

 

Did you ever finish Ocarina of Time? I feel your pain though. I don't like spiders and spider webs but I'm absolutely terrified of snakes. If I see one in real life, I usually end up running away as fast as I can and look like a small child crying for their mommy. Then can't sleep good that night due to fear of having nightmares of one crawling all over me. Getting shivers right now just thinking about it.   

 

Maybe there will be a big spider boss you have to kill?

 

I never finished Ocarina. I stopped right before the Shadow Temple as that contained those big hands that dropped from the ceiling, grabbed Link and brought him back to the entrance. Too scary for little old me back then. That part about the snakes sounds really uncomfortable. I hope it's not common for the area where you live to meet a wild snake...

I enjoyed playing this game but I'm glad to go on to the next game. 

 

Me too. I will totally not nag you with questions. I promise. 

[Hemiak]

I only just now realized that I'm supposed to start a new game in 9 hours. Where the hell is the time going? I'm looking forward to starting Ico, and hopefully the wife enjoys it and I get a solid amount of time to play it.

Edit:just took a look at the lists and only just now realized Stalker is playing both Ico and Echochrome as well. Damn, I didn't know we had 3/10 games in common.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Hemiak

[MStalker58]

A bit of sad news.

Mesopithecus had a family issue and has to step back. She might rejoin us in a week or so, but for the meantime don't expect any updates.

 

Going back through the thread and I just noticed this post. Hate to hear that and my thoughts are with you. Hope the situation gets better if possible or you are at least doing okay. 

 

I only just now realized that I'm supposed to start a new game in 9 hours. Where the hell is the time going? I'm looking forward to starting Ico, and hopefully the wife enjoys it and I get a solid amount of time to play it.

Edit:just took a look at the lists and only just now realized Stalker is playing both Ico and Echochrome as well. Damn, I didn't know we had 3/10 games in common.

 

No kidding, time seems to be flying by. I'm just now getting into Castlevania and want to keep playing but we only have a few hours left. I knew we had Helldivers and Echochrome in common but I forgot about Ico being on your list. I remember thinking about possibly changing one of those games because we had multiple games in common but I'm glad I left Helldivers in there for the co-op. It'll be interesting to see if we have different thoughts on Ico or Echochrome.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Good show, the majority of people don't even give it a chance, hence the UR plat.

 

If it helps, I'm not much of a completionist so that platinum trophy was pretty much out of the question from the get-go for me. I do try to give tough games more of a chance these days though, which is why I managed to defeat the second boss in Bloodborne just before starting this crazy month.

 

Glad I gave Flame Over a chance, it got better in the end.

 

 

Starting with Yakuza 4 tomorrow. Of all my games, this is the one I know the least about (don't think I ever even saw some gameplay or screenshots), yet I somehow keep thinking that it will be just my kind of thing if only I'd start it up...

Edited July 6, 2016 by BillyHorrible

[voodoo_eyes]

 

 

 

Hours played: 5 and a half

Trophies earned: 18/36

 

 

Only played an hour today, due to footy time .

 

Anyway, I focused mostly on getting a few trophies through quick races, by picking specific drivers/cars/tracks. Oh and you think the loading times are short, like in the video.... I edited them a fair bit, try 3 times as long and that happens after every race, and even to start one it takes some time.

 

 

Well, I'm glad this one is done. I honestly couldn't be bothered to play much more of this.

[Pavani_]

Wait wait wait... you guys are starting 10 games and leaving them incomplete on purpose?

[Hemiak]

Wait wait wait... you guys are starting 10 games and leaving them incomplete on purpose?

Well, I'd you can finish it in 3 days then that's OK. And I'm sure most people will go back and complete some of them when the event ends.

It's basically just a way to experience a wider variety of games in a month than most of us usually play.

[effdeegee]

July 4-6

Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos

Trophies: +2/17 (7,499 - 7,501)

Well, I won't go too deep into this overall review because I didn't exactly go very deep into the game itself.

It's poop, but it's fun. I can imagine it would be a total blast for folks that are a fan of the show, but some of the most fun I had was watching the hour long television episode that was included on the disc.

The graphics are incredibly bare bones and all of the minigames consist of press to drop a trap, press to throw a buoy hook, press to grab a crab, ad nauseum. It's all very simple and cheap looking, yet manages to work as a game.

It actually requires a great deal of intelligence when it comes to the management of time, crew, and money. I cannot stress just how many things need to be considered during a fishing season. From the stamina of each crew member, to their potential share in the net profits, their increase in experience, the cost of fuel, the weather's effect on your ship, and how valuable it is that every single hour in a day be planned out and used to the maximum. I was genuinely surprised at the amount of content that went into this game. It did a great job at advertising what crab fishing would be all about and it gave me a better understanding and appreciation for the Captains' job.

Lastly, a few thoughts:

1. I never even noticed this game didn't have a until last night.

2. It sucks that Rach had to bounce. I hope everything get's taken care of and ends up being okay.

3. lololol MStalker got Castlevania and is sad trophies aren't flying out at him. Longest. Game. Ever.

4. voodoo doing video reviews is super cool. Edited July 15, 2016 by effdeegee

[MarkusT1992]

Wait wait wait... you guys are starting 10 games and leaving them incomplete on purpose?

Not everyone cares that much about completion

[MStalker58]

I kept getting sidetracked with different things most of today so I haven't played much Castlevania. I'm ready to sit down and see how far I can get in the final 3-4 hours before it's time to switch games. I'll post my final thoughts on the game tomorrow morning. 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Wait wait wait... you guys are starting 10 games and leaving them incomplete on purpose?

 

Hemiak and Markus already gave some good answers but I wanted to add that for me, this is a great way to get some work done on my backlog. The games I don't know anything about are the last being picked when I figure out what game to play next, this way those games have a fair shot. Seeing as I'm two out of two with games I actually enjoyed, I think it's a good thing :-)

 

Already decided that if Hemiak is going to do another one in August, I'll try to get in as wel. After that I shouldn't have a single game left which I don't know anything about but still want to play. Then I can use the rest of the year to finish* those games I couldn't completely play through during the month :-)

 

 

 

* I mean finish the story, not necessarily 100% the entire game.

[Pavani_]

Not everyone cares that much about completion

 

It's not about the completion itself, it's about starting 10 games almost at the same time and not enoying any of them completely, don't let my completion fool you, i started cleaning my profile this year, it was a mess haha

[Mendant909]

Game #2

 

Day 3

 

Screw it, I tried to finish the story but after having the game freeze on some vents on Ch. 8 I'll call it enough for now. I was frustrated in the morning when a cop get blasting me to death nearly every time I tried to get to his platform. I don't know who thought it was OK to have a close-combat protagonist fight ranged enemies but this game is a prime example of why those elements do not work together. It only takes one to four shots or two blunt strikes for Faith to die so it's entirely possible to die before you get close to a cop. Not only that but there's always more than one cop so while you're dealing with one enemy another enemy will, and with a great chance of success, kill you. Mirror's Edge reminds me of Remember Me as they do have unique looking worlds with corporation(s) having control over the world, and even though the latter isn't that great of a game, I will say that Remember Me knew how to do combat and more importantly differences of kind better. RM knew to separate enemy encounters and platforming from another as platforming requires careful timing to reach a ledge while not falling down a hole; ME constantly has enemies shoot at you while you frantically look for what's the next platform section and sometimes you'll reach a road path blocked by soldiers who'll kill you immediately or the game will stop to force you to fight a few cops and with the game's combat system that doesn't go well. Heck, towards the end the game introduced Runner type enemies that used tasers and fought in close-combat, making me question why these weren't the regular enemies from the start. It still sucks fighting more than one enemy at a time but at least I died less from those encounters.

 

As for the story I got part of it right but I'll have to finish the story to see if it fully becomes real. For a mystery the game does a pretty bad job presenting it as it's been people betraying Faith, both Faith and the other person threatening to kill the other, repeat. The story has only managed to progress through that format and it has been boring as nothing of real consequence has occurred. I still don't know how the world has gone to this condition, why the Runners are being hunted down, why Project Icarus exists since their runners are easier to defeat than their armed police force, who "they" are as there hasn't been any analogue to an OmniCorp or heaven forbid a Weyland-Yutani. The story is just a mess as it wants to be a dystopian setting and it's showing the ruthlessness of the police, but we have no idea who's the man behind the curtain as there hasn't been much world building to make the world interesting.

 

Having just finished ranting about the piss-poor combat and story, it's fair to say this game has been a miss for me and will end up in my bottom five of this list. Mirror's Edge isn't even close to being the worst game I played this year and in terms of overall games I've played it probably won't make it into my bottom ten. I'll finish the story sometime in the future and try out the speedruns and time trials as the parkour is exhilarating when there's no interference and you get to feel the sense of speed while jumping or sliding to one platform to another. If only the Runners were the main enemies instead of the Blues maybe the combat wouldn't have been so frustrating and Mirror's Edge could have been like Sands of Time, a platform innovator with bad combat.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Mirror's Edge

 

Yeah Mirror's Edge is one of those blatant cases of "just trust us, those people with power are the bad guys!" Pretty okay gameplay though, gunfights notwithstanding.

Edited July 7, 2016 by BillyHorrible

[crimsonidol38]

Game #2:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan ()

After complaining a bit about the charms and the many random drops on the second day I tried to experiment with the dismantle mechanic and the upgrade mechanic. The upgrade mechanic is rather clear as I have to use those training points and the scrolls I get for beating enemies to improve them. You get one specific enemy scroll for beating up one of those enemies, e.g. beating a Foot Clan dude gives you a Foot Clan scroll. The bad part is: Most of the charms require various scroll types and the amount is quite high sometimes (some require up to 50 units of one scroll). But what i didn't unterstand and what isn't explained in the game (I even looked through all the tutorials) is the dismantle-mechanic. You can select up to three charms at once and dismantle them. At first I thought I could only choose charms which have multiple buffs but no, you can also dismantle charms with one buff. What's the sense of that?

Stage-wise I only finished the sixth and seventh story stage. The sixth stage was against Wingnut (a gigantic bat) and that fight was quite surprising as it was the first fight that consisted of two phases. In the first I had to get him down from some kind of UFO and in the second phase he was just like all the other bosses before, but a bit more aggressive. In the seventh stage I had to climb the TCRI-tower and to my surprise this level was more like a Boss Rush-level. Fortunately I had chosen to play that level on easy difficulty as I didn't want to fight seven bosses with their normal energy bars. After that level I felt a bit unsatisfied as I still have two levels to do (one against a so called Mega-Krang and one against Shredder) but it was more or less two minutes before midnight. :\

Final thoughts:
I really don't know what to say about this game honestly. On the one hand I really liked to slash my way through hordes of enemies while going for the boss, but on the other hand there are many things I didn't like. The controls still feel like a mess when you play solo and the same applies for the whole upgrade-mechanics. Fighting hundreds of enemies just to improve one buff seems rather tedious. Overall it feels like they tried to stretch the game's length by adding tasks and objects that you really don't need.
I will at least finish the story after the event but I don't know if I will try to go for the plat. The amount of filler content you have to do to reach that is beyond my interest. Maybe the game is a bit more fun if you can play with some friends online but solo? Ehm, no way. At least not for me.

Stats:
Total playing time: ~7 hours
Trophies earned: 15 / 51
Completion rate: 24%
Rank: C
Did the game lower my completion? Yes

I hope Zone of the Enders will be a bit better and I hope that I will be able to finish that game's story at least.