RealM722's Trophy Cabinet

[realm722]

Game: Battleship

 

Analysis: We have quite the classic here. I bought Battleship for $5.99 when it went on sale in mid-October 2019. I didn't have a 100% completion on my profile resumé since Fez in late July, so I figured it was about time to have one I could properly complete so it's not just a sea of blue on my profile. I figured, hey, I've 100%'d Scrabble, how difficult could Battleship be? Plus, it's nice to have a classic board game like this at convenience on a game system. If you've ever played, you know the deal. Sink the opposing teams ships by varying your missile shots and try to spread yours out in a way that you don't think the opposing player(in this case CPU) would easily identify. All you really have to do is play through all the campaign missions which totals like 30 or so, and none but a few where you're put at a disadvantage at the start is all that difficult. I quite liked saving my missiles up until I could do the full straight coordinate spread. In the end, I achieved the 9.03% 100% completion marker in just 1 day and 46 minutes! Unbelievably, it's the 26th fastest to accomplish it on PSNProfiles! I wasn't even setting out to accomplish that. All in all, it's decent mindless fun while you do something else. 

 

Panda Score: 6.5 / 10

[realm722]

Game: The Messenger

 

Analysis: I love this game. Unbelievably, I managed to get it for free thanks to an amazing user on here by the name of iGGTheEnd. They literally just messaged me a code they got from the developers since I had expressed interest on another post in playing this. The only reason I knew about the game was because YouTuber Joseph Anderson streamed it! I knew he quite enjoyed it and I figured what the heck, I'd love to give it a shot too since I had forgotten much about it. But oh my goodness.... this game is magnificent. It's a platformer that is linear for the 1st half and then splits into a 16-bit metroidvania. I will say, there are some pacing issues in that 2nd half portion since it's not as direct as the 1st half of the game but this game is a freaking delight to play. I don't brag about soundtracks as much as many other people do with their games, BUT OH MY GOD THIS SOUNDTRACK. LISTEN TO IT. My personal favorites are Autumn Hills, Cloud Ruins, and Sunken Shrine. Nonetheless, this game is insanely difficult for me. I know it has a fairly high completion percentage and everything but holy crap I died 830+ times playing through this and the Picnic Panic DLC. I know that's an insane amount for many, but my god the Queen of Quills boss lady? That fight legit took me 40 minutes and I refused to look up a guide. The Arcane Golem at the end of the 1st half? They kicked my ass man. Destroying all of the Power Seals was also tricky since a few rooms were stupidly tricky. I'm not complaining, I enjoyed it and got past it, but this isn't a walk-in-the-park game whatsoever. Thankfully the wonderful witty dialogue with The Shopkeeper is iconic and will be likely what I remember mostly from this game. The windmill shuriken saved my life on the Demon General fight, and it helped greatly in the DLC section which had some brutal parts, but all in all, I earned my 32.28% rarity platinum in just 5 days and 5 hours! Hell, the 100% is a good deal rarer at a 13.79% 100% completion rate. I will never forget my time with this game and I strongly recommend it to everybody who enjoys humor with their games. 

 

Panda Score: 8.5 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Gravel

 

Analysis: This is a very mediocre game. I bought it for $7.99 during early November 2019 just has a racing game to play since I really wanted something to mindlessly play while listening to other stuff, and Gravel fulfilled it's role in that regard. The game is fairly simple and straightforward where you play through different matchups, try and get 3 stars, and advance the "story" in that sense. I'll be honest and say I'm kind of surprised by how barebones it was. It pales deeply in comparison to any of the NFS games or The Crew 2. I did have some fun getting the 10 online matches after boosting it with Celestial_Lily but all in all there isn't a single memorable thing about this game for me. No open world, maybe the Namibia desert tracks were pretty cool. It only took me 6 days and 14 hours to achieve it but in the end I got my 39.96% rarity platinum. Hope I find another racing game that satisfies me more than this one soon. I'd love to get NFS: Heat given all the positive feedback I've heard on it, but only when it goes on sale for $20 which is 6+ months from now in all likelihood. 

 

Panda Score: 5.75 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Heavy Rain

 

Analysis: I never intended to play Heavy Rain. When it was available for free for PS Plus users back in July 2018, I didn't get it, yet since I did download Detroit: Become Human when it was free for PS Plus users in July 2019 - I got Heavy Rain in that bundle! Cool! I figured what the heck, it shouldn't be too long and I've always heard conflicting things (people who don't normally do in-depth critiques loving it, people with a more critical eye hating it) I decided to dive in. Since I wanted to make sure I got all the trophies - I followed this 10 hour speedrun on YouTube by speedrunner HolySanctum. It's hilarious. Let me say this - there are some great things I genuinely like about Heavy Rain. Playing as Scott Shelby was the best part of the game for me. Being this private investigator, having a partner in Lauren, going around and visiting the victims of this Origami Killer (which once again, cool concept) who drowns his victims by letting rain accumulate over days (once again, cool concept). He was fun to play as, had a good voice actor, and seemed caring (saved the woman in the bath, could save Hassan, cared for the baby) and so forth. Ethan's character is the 2nd best, going through the trials can be agonizing (and at times - hilarious), Madison is 3rd best and while it can be torn to shreds with the sexism and David Cage creepiness (eh I don't harp on it like others to) she has one of the better endings if she alone confronts Scott at the Warehouse and saves Shawn. Jayden's the worst IMO. Awful lietuenant Blake banter (which funnily enough became the BEST part of Detroit: Become Human between the Connor banter with Clancy Brown) just made him uninteresting to play. I'm still impressed that I got "All Endings" and yet there were still a good number of scenes I didn't know about until watching this critique on Heavy Rain. It's nit-picky and heavy handed with the Cage hate, but it is fair in some parts (Jason's death, Madison's scenes, Scott becoming John Wick while being fat and having asthma, oh and he has billions of dollars, oh and he borders between sympathic victim who's suffered and still cares and PSYCHOPATH killer who still wants to kill Ethan?). I dunno - I still liked it. It only took me a little over 3 days to achieve the 12.37% rarity platinum which is pretty nifty. The toughest individual trophies are "Kamikaze" and "I'm not Scared" but besides that smooth sailing. I think the best way I'd describe Heavy Rain is it's good dumb fun. It's not a narrative masterpiece. But it does have some good fun compelling sections that can be enjoyed - and if you play this game with someone who normally doesn't play video games - I imagine it can be a hilarious blast.

 

Panda Score: 7.1 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Batman: Arkham Knight

 

Analysis: I bought this game a good few months ago, in around June of 2019, for $5 during a "4 for $20" deal at Gamestop. Batman: Arkham Knight was one of the games I got for that bundle. To give some background on my Batman knowledge, I enjoyed a full playthrough of this game when it released by a YouTuber by the name of 2BCProductions. Here's the playlist. He is magnificent at personifying Batman and being immersed in the story - I recommend watching it. Even with that, I wanted to finally play one of these games, and my goodness can I say it is the "Batman game to end all Batman games". This game is spectacular. I am not someone who found the combat easy at first. I knew very few of the combinations, and I died plenty to various brutes, and in certain situations where I didn't prepare well enough with my gadgets. Yet the satisfactory combat once you get free-flowing is impeccable. The stealth predator sections are also incredibly fun acting as the hunter as opposed to being the hunted. The two biggest reasons I see for people who criticize this game are 1) the bad PC release which I don't care about whatsoever since that was at release, everything since then has nothing to do with it and 2) the overuse of the Batmobile and it's empty drone fighting sections. I enjoyed the sections with the Batmobile. I thought the combat was pretty decent. Like a 6.5 - 7 out of 10. This is also my first ever Arkham game, and thus, it doesn't feel so out of place as a tank battle simulator like others who will have played Asylum and City. But for me, I did not feel like it took away from the normal Batman sections. In terms of the story? I adored it. Scarecrow feels like a legitimate villain with his fear toxin and wonderfully weeds that element of fear for the entirety of the main story. Joker appearing in Batman's mind is wonderfully done with his constant minor quips at Batman's expanse. The other "Most Wanted" side missions deal with Penguin, Two Face, Riddler, Deacon Blackfire, etc... have their pros and cons. I loved the section with Azrael. I wished there was a better final Deathstroke fight. People can have their complaints involving the Arkham Knight ending up being Jason Todd but I thought it was fantastic. The culmination of the finale where Joker "wins" and takes over Batman, only for his fear of being forgotten be made relevant, and Bruce Wayne fully succumbs to becoming Gotham's Dark Knight... it's immaculate - and it deserves more praise than it gets from your everyday player.

 

Trophy wise - this game has a fairly precise list. Having to collect all those 243 Riddler trophies was a bit of a grind, but I got through it and it serves as a nice barrier to make the final ending of Knightfall Protocol more rare. I also had a blast with the AR challenges. Going into these little arenas and plucking enemies off one by one whether it be in the Gotham Banks or trying to marathon through an endless slog of goons never gets old. Brutality 101 wasn't tricky at all with the gadgets "glitch" to make it count for the free flow guide I found on YouTube. The real difficulty involving trophies that extended the game's lifecycle was with the DLC. The super short DLC packs involving "A Matter of Family" to Harley Quinn, Batgirl, Robin, Catwoman, Nightwing, etc.. were nothing too special, "Season of Infamy" was great giving Mr. Freeze's ending, deciding whether or not to save Ra's al Ghul, and also Mad Hatter's book section and taking down Killer Croc. The added AR challenges for the Batmobile and Bat family are fun since the gameplay loop is inherently rewarding. The only brutal thing is the final Community Challenge Pack, particularly, 3 trophies specifically. "The Chill in the Air" involves fighting in Crime Alley without getting hit as Batman, Robin, and Nightwing. That took me 4 hours that I achieved at 4AM. "Requiem for a Killer" was a trophy I tried for a today, gave up, and then went at hard again the next day and finally got. You need like a 400 hit combo with endless militia thugs coming at you. I did it, but my god it's the most difficult. Finally, "The Curtain Falls" was probably the easiest for me since I had so much practice with the other two. I flawless freeflowed as Batman, Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing and locked up all those very rare trophies. In total, Batman: Arkham Knight took me 1 month and 4 days to complete (with on and off playing since I had to re-play the full main story again) and in total I achieve a 7.48% rarity platinum and even far rarer 0.76% 100% completion. It also is my Level 23 level-up trophy. I wouldn't want it any other way. This game is astounding, and I think everyone regardless of their preferences should give it a shot and enjoy such an experience.

 

Panda Score: 8.5 / 10

Edited October 23, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: PaRappa the Rapper Remastered

 

Analysis: I bought this game for $4.49 in early December 2019 as it was only the second time in the games history it was on sale! Funnily enough, I would probably have never even glanced twice at this game until Playstation Access member Rosie Caddick mentioned it in one of their videos and I always remembered the game in the back of my mind. It goes on sale, I see it doesn't have an impossible platinum, figure what the heck, let's get it! Here's all the songs and the 6 different stages. I love the first two with the onion in the dojo and the moose teaching you how to drive. The frog is okay. I HATE CHEEP CHEEP because of his stupid ass stage where none of the buttons are actually alligned and instead you have to bash your skull in for a few hours trying to figure out the proper combination. I voiced my frustration here - but FINALLY I achieved it after lucking into cool mode 3 different times and failing, the 4th time I got the job done. The 5th stage is a weird bathroom song, and then the 6th was a celebration. All in all, it's like a 2/10 difficulty game that becomes 5/10 merely because of Stage 4. After I got it done though, I got the remaining secrets and in just 1 day and 3 hours achieved the 17.66% rarity platinum. Now with some perspective and not as much anger over Stage 4 and the stupid "M. I. X. and CRACK CRACK CRACK, but I'm a chick ya beef jerkey!" I enjoyed this game a fair amount. Sweet cute rhythm game that's catchy with 1 infuriating challenge. 

 

Panda Score: 6.75 / 10

Edited September 3, 2021 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Forgotton Anne

 

Analysis: To the person reading this... you have no idea how much I wanted to love this game. I have been keeping my eye on it since like early April 2019, and now recently in early November 2019 I purchased it for $7.99, the lowest it has ever been on PS4. I was ecstatic. I always remembered how unique the game looked animation wise and while a puzzle / platformer isn't my favorite genre, there was potential here for this to be a cult classic favorite of mine like Pyre was. First, let's start with the good. Oh my goodness this game is gorgeous. The developers, ThroughLine Games did brilliantly well in their 1st ever game - they're an indie studio from Denmark, they're naturally a smaller team but the looks did not disappoint. Naturally you can tell due to their smaller stature that there were limitations as to how many cutscenes they could implement and everything, but what did come out was outstanding. Secondly, the voice acting was exquisite. I did not even expect the game to have voice acting. Rarely do I go out of my way to look up the performers but Rachael Messer as Anne was fantastic when it came to conveying anger as the Madam Enforcer. Daniel Pierce in his one role as Mr. Fig was great, and Christopher Teller as Bulb was also impressive. Usually in games with tons of VA, there's some cringeworthy lines or stuff that sounds like the characters are just saying lines rather than speaking with one another. This game wonderfully avoids all of that. Props to them.

 

So what's the problem? The game's gorgeous and the voice acting is a delight. Well... the actual gameplay side of things.... oof. Anne moves like a tank. I can't tell if this is because they had to remain dedicated to the animation style and thus give her so much momentum that makes her clunky to turn around, or the fact they couldn't give her a proper platformer-style jump in order to maintain "realism" but man... it's just clunky to jump around. They do their best with the wing suit to give Anne more air but it always feels like there's a split second delay and it's just not responsive enough to be a good platformer in any way. You can get a running headstart and such but I think the gameplay here was sacrificed for the visuals, or maybe the developers just don't have enough experience yet to achieve that "game-feel" that this needed. Secondly, the puzzles. I LOVE the idea of the arca and manipulating the valves, distilling forgotlings.... but you're never properly challenged. I didn't love FEZ, but I recognized it had some serious complexity. I quite enjoyed The Witness and it's puzzles were thoroughly enjoyable. Hell, The Bridge isn't a favorite of mine yet it had me engaged. Anne doesn't go far enough. It's understandable that there will be budget constraints and some things aren't able to get fully fleshed out - but man to whiff on both of your gameplay elements is a brutal blow to something I wanted to deeply enjoy. 

 

The game story wise always had me intrigued, but once again it felt like the budget got in the way. You live in the Forgotton Lands as Anne, an enforcer who makes sure the forgotlings (items in the real world that have been forgotten) stay in line. You can distill them (basically... kill them?) by taking away their life source. I was fascinated where this was heading and it leads to the main premise between the divide of sticking with your father figure and what you've known in Bonku VS. joining the rebels, Mr. Fig and Bulb, and fighting for the injustice of these items. That's a damn good premise! Too bad given their small budget they needed to rush one of the endings and you're sort of left feeling a bit empty since you thought there'd be more meat on the bone. This game has flashes of brilliances. Crate Boxton, the scene where you're interrogating Heeltoe and can be Good Cop or Bad Cop, ALL of the Chief Inspector Magnum sections (I love his love for Anne), entering the Rebel Camp, some of the scenes with Mr. Fig, and the fact you're actions and how you treat the forgotlings has CONSEQUENCES at the end of the game when Tick Tock judges you... but the gameplay is a chore to get through. The story isn't deeply sorted out of enough. There's another world where this game has some more polish, a bit more time, a superior gameplay loop (good platforming and compelling puzzles) and it's a cult classic 9/10. Instead, I feel like Throughline Games produced a solid first attempt, but one that falls in the 5-6 / 10 range for most players since they won't be as forgiving as I'll be. It's a 7 for me, but it could have been so much more. I got all 34 trophies in 1 day and 4 hours to achieve the 32.44% rarity platinum. Not a single trophy is very difficult and the plat with wonderful Anne is my 3,500th trophy on my profile. I'm a bit sad this game didn't achieve the heights of a Dead Cells / Pyre / Gravity Rush / The Messenger for me... yet, I will 100% an eye on what Throughline Games produces moving forward! (pls better gameplay)

 

Panda Score: 7 / 10

[AJ_Radio]

You can’t expect every game to deliver. I’ve played my share of shit games. 

[realm722]

Game: Monster Energy Supercross

 

Analysis: This is a free PS Plus+ game from December 2019. I mean, it seems fair to say that this is quite a letdown for a game apart of a service where you're paying $60 a month. That being said, I had heard the platinum grind wasn't so bad so I decided to scoop it up. A user on here by the name of jdh0921 made a phenomenal post letting you fly by a lot of events using a retire from event feature. The initial game feel for the motorcycle wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be for a game like this. I'm someone who perfectly enjoys a mindless racing game as long as I can tune out and listen to other stuff while playing. While it took me a while to get a feel for the proper turns and utilizing rewind, once I did, this was a piece of cake. I won all the main events in the stadiums, created all the tracks, got the 10 holeshots (which is really simple to be honest given you can restart the event as many times as you'd like) and finally mindlessly rode around the same track until I raced the total of 300 miles. That took a few hours of grinding but all in all, it took me a mere 3 days and 5 hours to achieve the 19.43% rarity platinum! Overall, it's not awful by any means but I can't support the blatant gross advertising plastered everywhere in this game. It's Death Stranding on steroids with the Monster Energy placement. If you can stomach that, bump this game up half a full point.

 

Panda Score: 5.70 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Knack 2

 

Analysis: Super happy with the price I got this for at $4.99 in December 2019 - after it had been $10 at various points throughout the year. If you've heard about Knack, it's likely been in the context of the Dunkey jokes of "KNACK BABYYYY". I get it - they're funny - but I thought Knack despite it's obnoxious trophies was a fun mindless beat 'em up. I knew I wanted to get Knack 2 since it'd be a similar experience and had a good platinum rarity. I finally started playing it and man I've gotta say - Knack is a well-designed game by Sony that had the potential to be so much more if they made literally any character that was actually visually appealing to kids and had some mild success with adults. Literally. Crash Bandicoot, Banjo Kazooie, Knack could have been something similar to that if it was let's say... an animal figure that could slowly increase it's size and shrink back down for the same purposes - just like Knack. Instead, this dynamic relic design (while impressive) just doesn't fit with the kid genre. But in terms of the gameplay? It's fun as hell. You can parry, block, counter, the enemies are nice and fluffy to destroy, and on harder difficulties the game is legitimately challenging... dare I say, baby's Dark Souls? Plus the Time Attack's and Collisium Attack's are fun to earn the 5 stars, plus all of the Knack medals means a boatload of content, if not just a tad grindy for the trophy. Nothing was ever too challenging and I earned the 15.22% platinum rarity in 2 weeks and 2 days while splitting my time between playing this and Persona 5. Knack 2 is well made and could have been an actual feature product for Sony if they had a more kid-friendly focal character and a new story (because my goodness Lucas is ANNOYING and unlikeable and the robots/goblins thing just doesn't gel very well)

 

Panda Score: 7.3 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Aven Colony

 

Analysis: I bought Aven Colony for $5.99 during the December 2019 Holiday Sale. It's been quite some time since I've played a city builder. In fact, besides playing Cities: Skylines for a little bit to knockout a few trophies, I'd have to go back to playing the DLC in Tropico 5 - and beyond that a fairer comparison would be Defense Grid 2. Initially - I was a bit daunted by the space colony atmosphere and all of the various language and mechanics I'd have to learn in order to properly achieve the platinum - but the game has a great tutorial and you won't get too lost if you look up tips on how to get through things. There's a total of 9 different missions and I gradually progressed my way through those picking up some miscellaneous trophies along the way. The aesthetics for some of the different biomes is utterly gorgeous - and once you learn the importance of producing iron mines to up your number of nanite processors - you can really get flowing and build a well-stabilized territory. I would say none of the trophies are difficult - just require a few specific parameters to set up (such as the Speed Runner, complete 50 Sols, and win on Insane difficulty) but nothing gave me a headache. Overall - I achieved the platinum in essentially 5 days and it had a damn solid platinum rarity at 15.37%. My only gripes with the game would be that it does chug along once you get too big and touching your farms whatsoever will make the game stutter like crazy. As opposed to Defense Grid 2 - the dialogue between the NPCs (Viranda... I know there was a guy called Jack and a woman called Kalandra) only talk at the start and end of missions really. There's a HILARIOUS ending animated cutscene that is so unbelievably poor but it's a city builder what could you possibly expect? I've already forgotten the story (other than the fact there's talk about species extinction and you need to summarize your tribes background in 88,000 words or something). In the end, - it's pretty solid and I enjoyed it!

 

Panda Score: 7 / 10

[realm722]

RealM722's Games Played in 2019 Year-In-Review

As you can see based on the glorious image I've created above... I played a lot of really good games in 2019. In fact - I would say that 2019 was my best trophy hunting year to date. Granted, I've only been going truly hardcore at this since 2018 so it isn't the most impressive thing in the world but I'm still quite happy with it. Still - it's time to do my games ranked list based on the ratings I've given them over the course of the full year. Some of these ratings in hindsight I'm not 100% sure I'd rank them where they are - but it's based on how I was feeling at the time and overall I'd say they came out exactly as I'd like them to. 

 

Games Played in 2019 Ranked:

#1. Dead Cells (9.25 rating) 

#2. Pyre (9.00 rating) 

#3. Transistor (8.75 rating)

#4. The Messenger (8.50 rating)

#5. Batman: Arkham Knight (8.50 rating) 

#6. Wizard of Legend (8.25 rating) 

#7. Okami HD (8.25 rating)

#8. Guacamelee 2! (8.25 rating) 

#9. A Hat in Time (7.75 rating)

#10. Risk of Rain (7.75 rating)

#11. Marvel's Spider-Man (7.75 rating)

#12. Guacamelee 1 (7.75 rating)

#13. Kingdom Hearts 3 (7.50 rating)

#14. Bastion (7.50 rating)

#15. Celeste (7.50 rating)

#16. FIFA 20 (7.50 rating)

#17. Knack 2 (7.30 rating)

#18. Dragon Quest Builders (7.10 rating)

#19. Heavy Rain (7.10 rating)

#20. The Crew 2 (7.00 rating)

#21. Forgotton Anne (7.00 rating)

#22. Defense Grid 2 (7.00 rating)

#23. PaRappa The Rapper Remastered (6.75 rating)

#24. Onrush (6.50 rating)

#25. Rogue Aces (6.50 rating)

#26. Battleship (6.50 rating)

#27. What Remains of Edith Finch (6.50 rating)

#28. The Sexy Brutale (6.50 rating)

#29. Unholy Heights (6.25 rating)

#30. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (6.25 rating)

#31. FEZ (6.25 rating)

#32. Grim Fandango (6.25 rating)

#33. Dragon Sinker (6.00 rating)

#34. InnerSpace (6.00 rating)

#35. Knowledge is Power (6.00 rating)

#36. Gravel (5.75 rating)

#37. Monster Energy Supercross (5.70 rating)

#38. Silence (5.50 rating)

#39. Mahjong (5.00 rating)

#40. Child of Light (5.00 rating)

#41. Dragon Quest Heroes 1 (4.75 rating)

#42. Dark Mystery (4.00 rating)

 

Yeah... that's a lot of games. Didn't include Tropico 5 / NFS (2015) since their plats came in previous years.

 

Games #42-#36: Dark Mystery is just a bad game. Do not buy it. Dragon Quest Heroes 1 The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is a miserable grind towards the end where you spam the same attack 50 times over and try to hunt metal slimes to stack your party's levels. Child of Light has insufferable rhyming and isn't cute or charming whatsoever - can't fathom the love it got. Mahjong is just aight. Silence had the cool monsters and designs but a super whiny baby protagonist. Monster Energy Supercross was a decent free game but had so much advertising plastered over it I couldn't give it much love. Gravel is an okay off road mindless racer but you can do so much better.

 

Games #35-23: Knowledge is Power is fun for the first few games maybe 3-5 times and then it's a grind to get through. Thankfully I had the devices ready and podcasts ready to listen to to endure it. InnerSpace is disorientating and could be frustrating but it has some cool colors. Dragon Sinker has a tsundere companion and you play as a character called Abram, feels like it should be rarer trophy wise. Grim Fandango was decent to start the year playing a character named Manny and assisting the rebels - but it's obtuseness and the need to follow a guide step for step wasn't great. FEZ is prolly overrated for a puzzle game. Harvest Moon: AWL was fun and there was 1 stupid trophy that glitched for me but I finally got it thanks to another user on here named Kallume. Shoutout to him. Stupid cow not wanting to give me the sprite. Unholy Heights is an unusual tower defense game where you employ monsters as your tenants and have them make babies that become your daunting warriors to destroy heroes. The Sexy Brutale has a cool idea of a mechanic and a fun catchy tune I still listen to now and then. What Remains of Edith Finch greatest contribution because it's mystique is the YouTube video by Joseph Anderson on it. Battleship is decent mindless fun. It's Battleship, c'mon. Rogue Aces is a free game I didn't expect to enjoy but manipulating the save function means you can get the platinum in a day or two once you figure out the controls. Onrush is even slightly better mindless fun just crashing into other cars. PaRappa the Rapper has some fun catchy tunes but I HATE CHEEP CHEEP THE STUPID COOK FOREVER

 

Games #22-16: Defense Grid 2 is the best tower defense game I played and I was surprised how much effort they put into the story / commanders speaking. Forgotton Anne disappointed me in the sense I wish it was an 8 or even 9 rating game for me but I still recommend people to play it due to how different it was - if it had more fun movement and platforming it would have been on that level. The Crew 2 you can basically be any vehicle you've ever imagined and move around the entire United States. Shame the car physics feel like your car weighs 4 billion pounds and crashing isn't fun (CRASHING SHOULD BE FUN IN RACING GAMES), Heavy Rain is fun when you play as Sam and brutal when you play as the FBI agent or the lady, Dragon Quest Builders was a game I loved, abandoned for like 6 months, came back, and enjoyed using a guide to finish it. Weird. Knack 2 is good old fashioned mindless beat-em-up fun. FIFA 20 was not worth it for $80 but given how fast I platinumed the game and how hard I went for it it will forever hold a special place in my heart.

 

Games #15-9: Celeste is some peoples game of the year. I personally don't love it like that - I get why people love it like that - but I'm just not rocking with it like that. Still a cute fun game tho. Bastion same thing - for some people they LOVE this game - it's my least favorite Super Giant game - but going for the high scores in the dream sequences was fun and it's very unique which I give it credit for. Kingdom Hearts 3 was a huge disappointment in a lot of peoples eyes, it's one of the INSANELY rare full-price non sports games I've bought in recent years due to the hype and anticipation - I enjoyed it, I didn't LOVE it like the die-hards do, but it's still a fun KH fighting system and the game was actually challenging for me on Critical since I didn't use like 1/4 of the game mechanics given. Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition is a bundle of fun - which I had played the games in order. Marvel's Spider-Man is a game that does not make my Top 10 and isn't even my favorite super hero game from this year but it's very well made and polished. Maybe too polished for my enjoyment. Still a good game. Risk of Rain was the 1st game I played in 2019 - knocking down all those whorls to get the 100% was a pain but this game is freaking awesome and I want to play RoR2 eventually. A Hat in Time is a game that nearly finished as an 8 for me but it serves well as the pinnacle of 7's. It's adorable. Has awesome boss fights. The movement system is just fun. I want more games like A Hat in Time to be made in the future - Super Mario 64 for all consoles basically!

 

Games #8-4: Guacamelee 2! was a game I forgot I had placed this highly. It's a phenomenal game. I played it before I played the 1st game and had a blast with it despite how little I knew about it. The chicken humor is hilarious. It's a genuinely funny game and I have a soft spot for metroid-vanias. The DLC was fun as well. Given how hard some sections of the game can be - I'm surprised it has such a high rarity. Okami HD is a game I played for what felt like 3 weeks straight but it was less than 2 weeks. I played that game HARD since it had been on my backlog for a long time and I get all of the love for it. The art style with those cell shaded cherry blossoms is drop dead gorgeous. Issun as your tiny horny companion to Ammy's status is a fun dynamic - and the villagers are fun - each setting is so different - going for the plat and the various challenges was a ball - just a brilliantly made throwback game that gives me Zelda vibes even though I've never played a Zelda game. Wizard of Legend is a fantastic game that I also forgot just how fantastic it was since I played it back in March. I used to barely be able to get past the first 3 levels and eventually I got a build that had me speed-running the entire game in under 20 minutes. The fire, ice, and tree battles are still something I remember. Fighting the final Wizard at the end. It can be a damn difficult game but it's so much fun - and they updated it with co-op and everything! Batman: Arkham Knight... doesn't get enough love from others. "Oh Asylum and City are better". I'll be the judge of that when I play them next year - but Arkham Knight is freaking FANTASTIC. The batmobile was not over-used. It was perfectly used. Stop hating. The combat is so snappy and quick - you're powerful, you dominate, and you overcome the Joker taunting you. This was also the hardest game I played this year for trophies due to the DLC. Still loved it and felt like a champion after conquering it. Finally, The Messenger. To think I got gifted this game by another user on here by the name of iGGEnd. YOU LEGEND. I can't believe this is a Top 5 game for me. I adore the Shopkeeper and his banter, I enjoy this sort of platforming far more than Celeste and I died like 800+ times in this game including DLC so it was far from easy for me. The soundtrack is pure gold and I still listen to it even though it's been several months since I finished this game. Play it!

 

The Top 3: I've already documented by love affair with Transistor. I played a little, dropped it for a month, came back and fell in love with it. It took a moment for the combat and different combinations to click but once it did I just wanted more. Until The Messenger came around, this soundtrack was my #1 of the year - now it finishes #2. Red's singing voice is gorgeous, the "unknown" character who was Red's boyfriend is a great narrator, Sybil's revenge song is something I still play In Circles. It's fantastic - and I don't gripe anybody who has Transistor as their favorite Super Giant game.... but sadly Transistor is not my favorite, that is our #2 entry in Pyre! Pyre feels like a game made for me intended to entirely please me. I LOOOOOOOVE the art style. Everything feels so lush and like it's made of candy, it is my background on my PS4 and will likely not change for quite some time. I love the gameplay, I love the sports feel to it of passing it around to your teammates and commenting like a dork like it's a real live sports event. The stakes of the rites and the consequences of losing - and losing not being the end all - be all, the characters from Hedwyn, Rukey, Jodariel, etc... I loved the cowardly worm character for his speed. Bertrude is the freaking LeBron James of Pyre. I just love this game and the story of getting back to the Commonwealth - I want to still do a True Nightwings run at some point and play this game just to enjoy it all over again. But... it is not my GOTY 2019. That award goes to Dead Cells. What can I say? I bought the physical copy of this from Gamestop expecting to enjoy it. I did not expect to fall in love with it as deeply as I did. The snappiness of the combat and utter explosion of action on your screen. I probably died my first 8-12 runs in the opening room and little did I know there would be these things such as "boss cells" that I'd have to climb my way up to achieving. I loved the rapier weapon and abusing the purple turrets. Pretty sure those got nerfed. Nonetheless, Dead Cells is a forever game for me with the way I adore it and there's a reason the King sits atop the mountain in my 2019 Image Collage. I can't wait to see what these developers decide to do next. 

 

2019 Gaming Awards:

Best Game: Dead Cells

Best Online Multiplayer: Rocket League

Best Sports/Racing: FIFA 20

Best Soundtrack: The Messenger

Best Art Style: Pyre

Best Story: Batman: Arkham Knight

Best Developer: SuperGiant Games

 

Can't wait to see what I have in store for 2020 - hope y'all who read this enjoy the ride with me!

Edited January 10, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Yoku's Island Express

 

Analysis: I bought Yoku's Island Express for $6.79 in late December 2019. This game is adorable. You play as this tiny insect named Yoku who ends up being tasked with being a mail carrier who delivers things to various villagers while utilizing this pinball in every facet of your movement. It's a pinball metroidvania. I had heard about it once on a The Game Maker's Toolkit episode - thought it sounded cool - and it turned out to be very well made! I played the game blind since I just wanted to zone out and play it and the only two downsides to it were that 1) I got plenty lost and hit a point where I wondered I needed to go next other than the area that was foggy on the map and 2) I wish I had been hunting for scarabs all throughout even though the clean-up once I was almost done wasn't too bad. There are 80 Wickerlings collectables, only a few are difficult. The music is a solid 7/10. I just enjoyed playing it and only wished that the side characters were a little more memorable - I can't remember their names really despite having played it a few days ago and the "ninja" guys had a cool design but needed something else special to them. The little side quests you can do are fun - I feel like the only real things the game was lacking was 1) I know the movement is 100% pinball focused but man it feels so debilitating not having a jump button... I know it would require a massive re-design in a lot of areas but you feel like Kratos in the 4th GOW and it can sometimes feel crippling, 2) until you get the Grand Master Post badge earned for delivering al mail, you feel way too slow which can mean back-tracking can suck balls sometimes and 3) the precision you need on some pinball shots can be a teensy bit frustrating - nothing absurd. All in all, everything the game asks of you is reasonable and there's a reason it only took me 3 days and 11 hours to earn the 37.82% rarity platinum. If you want to try something a bit different, cutesy, and something that reminds me of something you'd find during the Gamecube era I recommend giving this a shot. 

 

Panda Score: 7.5 / 10

Edited December 12, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum

 

Analysis: I bought Batman: Arkham Asylum as part of a Batman: Return to Arkham bundle in December 2019 for $5.99. For context - this is the 2nd Batman game I've played by Rocksteady as I finished up Arkham Knight in November-December 2019. After seeing how cheap this bundle was - and given how much I enjoyed Arkham Knight for it to finish as one of my Top 5 games I played in 2019, it only made sense for me to play the previous iterations that are on the whole perceived as the best in the series. Hell, Asylum has a 91 on Metacritic (and I don't really use or like Metacritic) and the game was genuinely regarded as ground-breaking at the time for it's dark, grunge aesthetic behind the Batman character. How did I take it? Eh - it's good - but my god I cannot fathom how people view this as a better game than Arkham Knight. I have no problem with someone finding this game at the time as outstanding as an 8 or 9 out of 10 - I get that. The Freeflow Combat was revolutionary and is a ton of fun once you get into a rhythm, the voice acting while choppy here and there is wonderful by Mark Hamill (Joker), Tara Strong (Harley Queen), and Kevin Conroy (Batman). The detective mode while I probably used far too much as it covers over the gritty feel was great and has been copied there and again by other games. I didn't think the story was excellent - but Joker causing chaos with the titans, fighting tank Bane, Scarecrow's nightmares (tho tbh with how well fleshed out and far scarier he was in Knight - this version of him pales far worse in comparison), it made for a decent enough time. I guess the best way I can put it was this is an outstanding foundation with tons of great hidden lore (the sheer amount of villains they hinted at in this is wonderful) but they built so much on top of this - Arkham Knight deserves even more love for how it expanded on the combat system making it so two guys can attack you at once, the ninja guys, etc... I'm very curious how far along Arkham City went to progressing this system. All in all, - I enjoyed it - the combat challenges were fun and nothing was too challenging, Riddler trophies will always be... eh (they're not THAT bad in this one), and earned 100% completion with Perfect Knight. It's a 14.87% platinum rarity and my Level 24 rank-up game, I'm quite chuffed given it took me just 4 days. Oh - and before I forget - yea the Joker boss fight sucked but in general making damn good memorable boss fights is far more difficult than people realize. This one sure could have been better though. 

 

Panda Score: 7.2 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Arcade Game Series: Galaga

 

Analysis: I bought Arcade Game Series: Galaga when it went on sale in late November 2019 for $1.59.... so... this game managed to put me on tilt. I've played one previous game in the Arcade Game Series which was Pac-Man back at the very end of 2018. I managed to complete it in under 4 hours utilizing the save glitch to achieve all of the Om Nom Nom trophies. That had a platinum rarity of 26.43% - while this one had a platinum rarity of 21.55%. Not a huge difference - but since I knew other games in this series weren't close to that 20% range - I held off for awhile - until I figured what the heck it's an All-Time iconic game, what the heck let's play it. How hard could it be?

 

Uh.....

 

EVEN WITH THE CLOUD SAVE LOOPHOLE - holy crap this game had me bashing my skull in. I did not use the "no fire" glitch - maybe that was a mistake. Early on I wasn't having too much trouble but I think Stage 14 I kept re-loading for over an hour just trying not to die and keep my dual pilots. Then I believe it was Stage 24 had me stuck for 2 hours or so, this isn't even factoring in the challenge stages where you have to take out every enemy - and man Stage 27 damn near killed me with it taking me 3+ hours to achieve. I just couldn't get the pattern down in my head for whatever reason or react quickly enough with the X button to kill the enemies dashing for the far corners. Regardless, I eventually made the necessary breakthrough, got all of the perfect's through stage 31, and then within an hour got a single perfect on Stage 27 after discovering the auto-fire button holding square to perfectly time the corner hits. Of course, I was pressing since I wanted to make this my 74th platinum to set-up my 75th and All-Time Favorite Playstation 4 Game that'll be in this next post, but I still think I would have struggled mightily even if I wasn't pressing as hard to get this done today. All in all, it still only took me 1 day and 4 hours to achieve, but I'd rank it a 5.5 / 10 difficulty and while not on the level of PaRappa the Rapper Remastered's stupid Cheep Cheep level, I'll remember this as one of my tougher challenges of 2020. In terms of enjoyment otherwise? Eh - taking out the ships as they fly in knowing their patterns is fun, but you just die way too easily with the randomness of the shots being fired once they start buzzing about. 

 

Panda Score: 6 / 10

Edited January 31, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Persona 5

 

Analysis: I bought Persona 5 via Amazon in late November 2019 for $9.99. So... a bit of context. This is not the first time I've experienced Persona 5. In fact, it's the 3rd time I've experienced a full playthrough, with this being the 1st time I myself was playing through. The first playthrough I experienced was through YouTuber NicoB, here is the playlist. The second playthrough I experienced was through YouTuber / Twitch Streamer Joseph Anderson, here is the playlist. I had 0 knowledge of Persona 5 in regards to it's build-up or the prior Persona games when it was initially released. Instead, I discovered it through Rob Pearson's Friday Features on Playstation Access. This was the video where he first mentioned it. Ever since I saw that first notion of playing through the life of an everyday high school student, building up relationships with companions, and the slick aesthetic I was on board. Hence I got on the bandwagon and haven't gotten off ever since. In case you haven't realized, watching a 100+ hour playlist, 150+ hour stream complation, and myself having played 78 hours to achieve the platinum... Persona 5 is my favorite game of All-Time on the Playstation 4. I cannot think of another game that compares in regards to how much I enjoy the foundation to the point I have experienced it fully 3 times - when many times even games I adore and want to play again I simply haven't. That is how much Persona 5 is on a completely different echelon. 

 

But does that mean I think it's flawless? Of course not. I adore this game - and I want to see a full Persona 5 Royal playthrough, I want to know what the response is with Persona 5 Scramble if it gets localized in the West (even though it's Dynasty Warriors and uh... don't check out my Dragon Quest: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below review if you want to know what I think about that combat system). Persona 5 is deeply flawed. At some points the palace sections can feel like they drag on forever, and due to the limited time activities available you are 100% incentivized to get through them as quickly as possible only consuming 1 day, which means 2-3+ hours in these sections that can absolutely wear you down. How about the fact that if you cannot stomach much anime... nonsense, this game may simply not be for you? How stupid some of the characters act sometimes, how there may or may not be a few bad plotholes, or just the simple dialogue and dealing with a talking cat in Morgana that forces you to go to sleep, Ryuji shouting that they're the Phantom Thieves, or some of the other ham-fisted ways they jam in dialogue or emotion where they don't belong. You could also argue the palace peaks at the very start with King Kamoshida's (even though I think my favorite is Sae's Casino). The ending palace with Shido really isn't that great either, though the final Mementos Depths run and fighting Yaldaboath is fantastic. If you're not into turn-based combat, even with how advanced this set-up is and how flashy they make it, you may simply never be able to get as much enjoyment out of it as others (hell, I LOVE Dead Cells and that combat as you can imagine is just far more engaging with how you're constantly reacting and the game demands 100% of your attention vs. clicking prompts to do damage)

 

But it doesn't matter to me. The peaks of this game are outstanding. Going through this life and developing these relationships from a wide and varied cast. I get the love of Ryuji as best boy with how he's your bro from Day 1. Ann being a bit of an airhead but the provocative girl member had it's high and lows. A lot of people adore Yusuke's weirdness. I think I would have enjoyed Makoto a lot more if I hadn't known she was EVERYBODY'S favorite (she's great, studious and a bit stiff but she finds her way in the end). Futaba as this almost little sister (or you can go down a different route) buddy of yours with Coffee Papa Sojiro. Haru's also wonderful and actually human despite her hamburgler forehead. In terms of the side confidants, Miss Kawakami (a.k.a Becky) is my one true waifu. I don't care what anybody else says. She's initially depressed and down given her circumstances of how things went with a past troubled student, but you help her return to form as to why she became a school-teacher - to help her students - and hooooooo boy does it pay off for you by the end. I love her, I get other selections of waifus (Haru gets a lot of love, Dr. Takemi is great, Hifumi for a more serious option) all in all - it's a good batch to pick from. Iwai is cool and does his best to be a good father to his adoptive son. Didn't care much for Mishima, Shinya, Ohya, or Chihaya really. I think Sae Niijima is excellent as plays the prosecutor role extremely well, plus her grey hair is gorgeous. Goro Akechi as pleasant boy works marvelously. Besides that, I don't think I'm forgetting anybody. It's a really solid memorable cast of characters that I'll remember forever. 

 

In terms of trophy hunting and my goals, I wanted this to go into my profile as my 75th platinum so the way I played it was a bit weird. My first stint of playing was from Dec 17th - Dec 24th. I managed to play all the way up through completing Spaceport Palace (Okumura's) and then stopped since I needed to achieve 5 other platinums in other games before continuing. Once I accomplished that, I continued playing from Jan 21st - Jan 31st to achieve the platinum which I accomplished today! In total, 1 month and 2 weeks of playtime. It has a platinum rarity of 10.32%. I've gotta say, that's quite high for something that needs to be filled out so carefully with you maxing out all confidants (exquisitely detailed schedule), complete all requests, complete Persona compendium, defeat the Warden Loli Twins. But I think that goes back to show you how much people enjoyed this game that they went to those lengths to 100% complete it. I legitamately got chills when I was on the final battle taking down Caroline and Justine and then as I'm preparing all my attacks to go against the hardest boss in the game, Rivers in the Desert is blasting. Hell, here's the best 15 songs from Persona 5 for your listening pleasure. It's been talked about ad nauseam but just the sheer style of the entire game from the menus to the battle system deserve all the praise it has gotten and then some. For me, Persona 5 is a game for All-Time. It's now time for me to experience different games, but it'll forever stick with me and hey... now I know when Persona 6 rolls around hopefully on the Playstation 5 - it'll be my favorite game of that console generation. 

 

Panda Score: 9.5 / 10 

[realm722]

Game: Abzû

 

Analysis: I bought Abzû for $4.99 back in late December 2019. It was always a game that I wanted to check off my list as having played since the sheer visuals were gorgeous and brought me in even if it was nothing more than a walking simulator, swimming edition. I have to say that for me personally - I am terrified of the deep sea and utterly hate that feeling of being in the vulnerable dark meanwhile some creature can just attack you out of the blue (LITERALLY!) - thankfully this game doesn't have that. There's a shark that follows the plot of Abzû from start to finish, being viewed as your enemy, when by the end he's your friend. This video explains the hidden message of the game well. As for the trophies, the collectibles and nothing else were at all difficult and this managed to become my fastest completed game ever at 1 hour and 38 minutes. Incredibly, it has a strong 100% rarity of 14.25% completion. That's mostly due to the hidden shells. I fell just 4 minutes shy of joining the Top 50 fastest achievers leaderboard as well! Overall, it's very short but I still enjoyed it due to it's visual beauty - OH AND I FORGOT - I was very impressed with how it allowed you to walk around the outside world (however briefly). I really didn't expect that - thought it was super neat!

Panda Score: 6.75 / 10

Edited February 7, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Madden NFL 20

 

Analysis: I did not purchase Madden NFL 20. Instead, for the first time ever, I paid a subscription service in EA Access $4.99 for the month of February 2020. With the latest edition of Madden having been added to the service - I decided hey what the heck instead of being $20 or $15 for a game I wouldn't truly love since football games over the last decade have been in significant decline due to Ultimate Team / EA - it was the perfect opportunity. I dove in and got all of the MUT trophies super quickly only having to do a few challenges, I then took care of the legacy trophies by simulating, got a few random Franchise trophies involving having a MVP and ROTY, did the single game achievements like coming back from 17+ points down and hitting a late game-winning field goal, and then I had to stop since the Triple Crown (sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery with 1 player on 1 play) trophy was frustrating me. Got some help, did it the next day on my 2nd attempt, blazed through the "Face of the Franchise" mode that is just a sh!te "Longshot" mode that wasn't that good in the first place. Shoutout to the Canes as we stomped FSU and LSU. Perfect Combine Drills took me like 5 attempts. Finally got the 2 online trophies playing against the legend @jjtae13 and boom the 4.51% platinum was achieved in just 2 days and 2 hours! It's still the same crappy Madden until they decide to revamp Franchise Mode (EA: but we have Superstar knockout!!!!!)... sigh - it's my first ultra rare trophy since FIFA 20 back in October 2019 so at least I have that. Next - another game I got via EA Access!

 

Panda Score: 6.25 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Sea of Solitude

 

Analysis: I did not purchase Sea of Solitude. Instead I paid a subscription service to EA Access for $4.99 for the month of February 2020. I never really intended to play this game but since it was a short game that I could bang out in conjunction with my Madden 20 platinum, I figured what the heck. You play as a girl named "Kay" and have to go through a series of stages where you help your brother who you ignored and neglected when he was getting bullied at school, your parents who were fighting amongst each other because dad wanted to pursue his career and didn't want kids while mom thought that would bring them closer, and finally your boyfriend who would have these random outbursts and didn't want to be dependent on you thus you each needed to grow apart. Oh and there's this giant demon monster that swallows you whole you also have to watch out for (it's like your negative side). So how does the game pull it off? Eh. I'm someone who I believe to be very forgiving when it comes to someone trying to speak English and it isn't their first language. Generally it never bothers me. Kay's voice irritated me. Turns out the voice actress was from Germany which is a bummer but I think the game would have been better voiced in German with English subtitles. Just me. The puzzles aren't very fun and jumping is clunky. Moving around in the boat when things are pleasant is good - but the game doesn't do much with that other than taking you from one linear section to another. You search for some bottles and seagulls for collectibles and before you know it you're done. It's no coincidence it only took me 1 day and 1 hour to achieve this 48.63% platinum rarity. I wouldn't recommend anybody to buy the game solely on it's own - better off getting an EA Access subscription and doing this along with other games when you get the chance.

 

Panda Score: 5.5 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Kona

 

Analysis: I bought Kona when it went on sale for $2.99 back in December 2019. That is by far the cheapest it has been to date. I don't even really remember what compelled me to purchase it other than seeing the generic 10-hour trophy runtime and it being of relatively easy rarity in order to obtain the platinum. I had no idea what I was getting into but let me say that I was mildly pleasantly surprised. I used this walkthrough to make life easier for myself, and boy am I glad because with how disorientating the snow can be at times I could have easily seen myself getting lost and missing out on the plethora of missables in this game. Basically - don't do any smoking drugs or drinking alcohol or firing off weaponry and you'll be good to get a bunch of the full game-spanning trophies. The game itself does a great job of narrating what you do as Carl this private detective in 1970s Canada. You're investigating the various corpses you find and trying to make sense of all the strange happenings. I think this game more than anything tells me I enjoy a good atmosphere more than anything. I was incredibly tense despite having a guide with me knowing that I'd have to take action in-game if it threw anything at me. I love the "Sorry, eh?" trophy icon. Being able to take photos wherever was a good mechanic. I got all of the collectibles - and the big reveal at the end showing the true nature of the Wendigo was scary when you have to run away but it made for a damn good platinum screenshot. It took me 5 hours and 28 minutes to achieve the 30.98% platinum rarity. All in all - I enjoyed it and it took me out of my comfort zone playing a first-person game.

 

Panda Score: 6.75 / 10

Edited February 18, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: LittleBigPlanet 3

 

Analysis: I got LittleBigPlanet 3 so long ago I do not remember what I paid for it, all I know is I got it sometime in early 2018. For the longest time - LBP3 was a game I had sitting on my backlog even in 2018. It was that and the Agatha Christie: ABC Murders being games I remembered I had at 0% on my trophy profile. Eventually on the 24th of April 2018 - I went ahead and did a bunch of the creation trophies just to bump up that completion percentage from 0% upwards. About 3 weeks later - I played diligently and got through the entire campaign, aced the Cloud Caravan level, and even completed and aced the Popit Academy both Term 1 and Term 2. After that, for whatever reason - I stopped and abandoned the game almost completely. I had 3 dreaded gold trophies denying me the platinum - and along with the fact there was DLC + the 3 gold trophies were so painful (ace every level, play every level with a fellow sackfolk, and complete all quests) I said screw it and pushed the game to the side. After going through my trophy log - the 3-week break was used to play Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - but after getting back to LBP3 - I took a 10-day break from trophies and then started playing Need for Speed: Payback and never got back to it.

 

Until these past few days. Given how close I was to my rank Level Up 25 trophy plus the 4,000 trophy mark which I have a game lined up for - I decided to digging through my past history at games that could earn me a lot of trophy points (silver / gold trophies) that were attainable in games I had left behind. I had 3 I could play. The first one was Unravel Two - and I had great success with that conquering 2 of the toughest level gold medal times - I'm at 85% completion but the last level is a MONSTER and I don't even want to attempt it right now. The second was The Last Guardian - and I am right now around 1-hour into it going for the speed run / 0 deaths trophies. I'm not enjoying it because I hate that game. But then there was the third one - LittleBigPlanet 3. A game that I couldn't quite remember why I had left other than it got pushed to the side due to those 3 gold trophies. So I started playing and my #1 goal was to get Ace Adventurer after seeing how short the levels were on YouTube you could run through most in 3-5 minutes - with only 19 levels, not too terrible. I blazed through it - a few gave me trouble with dying in dumb spots and the last two (The Great Escape + Even Bosses Wear Hats Sometimes...) were by far the most challenging but after an hour of practicing each I had them nailed down with ease. BOOM! On Feb 21st - the 2.61% ultra rare gold trophy pops. 2 days later - I decide to go for do every level with a sackfolk now that I knew the landscape and I blazed through that. I only had one gold trophy left to finish!
 

Buuuuuut I'm a stickler for wanting 100%'s and after seeing "The Journey Home" DLC had never gone on sale and it was $6 - I bought. I saw @DaivRules had made a gaming session post to bang out the DLC and I got it done super quickly, did the multiplayer levels (which are fun if you have somebody to help), and with his help my DLC was 100% completed. I then used this wonderful YouTube video on how to 100% all quests since screw doing that 4-controller side quest. It popped. The 1.92% ultra rare platinum trophy popped. It took me 1 year and 10 months to complete. It is my rarest non-sports platinum - and I don't see anything beating it any time soon. Even though I earned the majority of the trophies so long ago - having re-played the full game twice - this is a fun game with good mechanics. The bugginess of the trophies in the trophy guide initially scared me off into thinking this game was a buggy piece of crap that wouldn't stop crashing (which did happen to me an alarming number of times) but the core fun of bouncing around with the Sackboy and friends is enjoyable. The developer, Media Molecule - has moved on to "Dreams" as their focal point and good for them for evolving - when that game goes on sale I think I'll hop back on the bandwagon given I did eventually find my enjoyment with this game.

 

Panda Score: 6.8 / 10

Edited February 24, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Detroit: Become Human

 

Analysis: I obtained Detroit: Become Human for free when it became available for PS+ Users back in July 2019. So funny thing - I actually watched a bunch of DBH playthroughs when the game first released via YouTubers Chris Smoove and ChristopherOdd. The reason? I could not turn my eyes away from how utterly gorgeous this game was. My god - I know these games aren't for a lot of people but I might as well come out and say that if enjoying Detroit: Become Human is wrong, I don't want to be right. I know, I know - the heavy-handedness with the allegories to racism and such in relation to the androids has a plethora of problematic issues and David Cage is a weirdo but I really... dare I say... love this game. I understand why people wouldn't - I even get all the jokes people have about this game (there are some unintentionally HILARIOUS moments and some of the dialogue is so memeable from Todd's ridiculousness with Kara in the first part of his story to Zlatko's "IM YOUR MASTA" yelling at the androids, to the ridiculous Chad FBI Agents that Connor has to deal with, I still enjoyed it a crap-ton and can partake in the making fun of rather than being bothered by it. Nonetheless - I now feel the need to break this game down into the 3 playable characters and give their individual scores for this game since there really is a drastic difference in quality between each of them.

 

CONNOR - He is best boy. Hands down the best part of this entire game. I cannot fathom how someone could think otherwise. His game segments are consistently 8's, 9's, and even dare I say 10's which is huge praise coming from me. His design is perfect - the naivity of him being this detected android hunting down deviants while having to deal with a police lieutenant in Hank that utterly hates them (shoutout to Clancy Brown for his BRILLIANT performance, he's the 2nd best character in this game) - makes for by far the best experience you will have while playing this game. The way they banter with each other as time goes on depending on how you play is a ton of fun, and as you go through the steps of hunting down these deviants slowly Hank will come over to your side and understand that maybe androids truly are deserving of freedom, and maybe you yourself as Connor also come to understand that. Whether it be tracking down Hank in his home and finding his passed out (I <3 Sumo), going to the Eden club, going to investigate the news tower after Markus' break-in, or anywhere else - Connor is the highlight of this game and shines the brightest of them all. Hence, he's who I used for the main picture of this game review.

 

KARA - I'd say the most accurate description of Kara is she's the one the game lets you play the most with. She can die in her opening story unlike Connor/Markus. She's a housekeeper robot, she feels the need to become a mother and protect this young girl Alice (who you later discover is also an android), and then you go through the ordeal of trying to escape and find peace from the chaotic city that is Detroit. Kara's story segments typically hit an average of a 6, with the occasionally valley of a 5 and peak of a 7. It's generally just alright. I don't hate her segments, some of them can be quite spooky since as Zlatko's home on the first playthrough, trying to make sure you escape through traffic, escaping Jericho when it's being blown up, the concentration camp / trying to cross the border into Canada. Kara/Alice shine brightest when they are with their gentle giant Luther who is probably my 3rd favorite character in this game. I understand why someone could rank Kara higher for themselves personally due to the emotional highs that are supposed to be experienced when playing as her - but as is the case for a lot of these David Cage games that can come off as melodramatic and be a complete turn-off. Still, it's decent.

 

MARKUS - Ugh. I'm not  sure whether or not I would have preferred simply being able to play as Connor / Kara and instead have the leader of the androids be an unplayable character and force you come up against in your own stories. I'm sorry, my goodness are some of Markus segements dull. They typically are 4's and 5's, with the occasional 6/7. My favorite being infiltrating the news tower with your team of Josh, North, and Simon. The boring ass slow segements of re-assembling Markus, finding Jericho, being a leader, the dumb marching, the dumb chanting... he does have one of the better finishing sections being "The Battle for Detroit" but it's such a slog to get through. Also his story sections are the most saturated with the games narrative / agenda which I'm cool with games having an agenda but it can get to the point where you just start tuning it out. If he's your favorite part of this game, congratulations on having far more patience than I do. 

 

In it's totality, Detroit: Become Human is a good dumb fun time with some emotional peaks here and there. In terms of trophies, nothing too challenging with this wonderful speedrun guide I followed to the 17.58% platinum rarity. It took me a mere few days but I got sick so the total completion time ended up being 1 week and 5 days. Thankfully none of all the magazine collectibles glitched on me and while it was a bit painful killing Connor over and over again (my boy Bryan Dechart :() - I did enjoy the survivors ending. Thank you for the trip Quantic Dream - I look forward to this abundance of choice and roleplay options in your next adventure. 

 

Panda Score: 8 / 10

[realm722]

Game: Owlboy

 

Analysis: I bought Owlboy when it went on sale for $12.49 in mid-February 2020. I don't quite remember how this game first caught my eye but YouTuber Shammy sure brought it to the forefront of my memory. All that came to mind was wow that pixel art is gorgeous and it looks so unique that I'd love for it to be a trophy milestone for me. Given how I was closing in on my 4,000th trophy for my PSN Profile - figured it was a perfect time to snatch it up. So how does it fare? I quite liked it. The game itself is as I said, gorgeous. Though when i discovered after having completed it that it was a labour of love for 10 years... wow. At a certain point there's a point of diminishing returns, for D-Pad Studio it was their passion project as a small studio from Norway and it made sense to give it their all no matter how long it took. But to see that this project took that long, for a relatively short game is just so surprising. I think what first got my attention was the ruthless nature in which your mentor, Azio, treats you (Otus) as this incompetent mute who can't stop making mistakes. You're tasked with guarding the city from pirates, get distracted by an intruder, get a new friend in Geddy, and then pirates invade your hometown of Vellie. From there you see major destruction of the city of Avent and go on the quest of protecting the world from being completely lost with two other companions by the names of Alphonse (former pirate who's a big boy and uses a fire musket) and Twig (stick insect / spider wannabe who uses webbing for traversal and to stun enemies). You fight pirates, go through a dungeon dealing with monkey's, and have to save the world with the three relics in order to restore it to what it once was. 

 

How does the game pull all this off? Fairly well. The game is immensely charming. I'm a sucker for the ADORABLE Boguin's who work for Buccanary. The game has some good banter between all of your companions and can be quite humorous while also handling the severity of matters (such as Advent being blown up and heading to the graveyard to console Geddy) as well as going to visit Twig's father and brother in their hometown. Still - the gameplay is more of a 6/10 than anything else. You can love the freedom of being to fly as an owl - but it limits the difficulty of platforming and most of the combat entails circling and spamming Geddy / Twig against any of the enemies that may be circling around you - occasionally using Alphonse when you need strictly power. None of the puzzles were too challenging either. I'm not quite sure how you would make the combat more interesting for this - the bosses were actually fairly decent and I died 1-2 times before learning their skillsets. Trophy-wise - nothing is too difficult just keeping an eye out for all of the coins and chests. I thought the Boguin's Cannon Challenge was going to be far more nightmareish than it was - only taking me 35ish minutes to collect all of the coins and complete it. All in all, I'm glad I made Owlboy's 23.05% platinum my 4,000th trophy milestone given it's uniqueness - it took 4 days and 10 hours to complete, and I'd say it falls squarely in that zone of Guacamelee 1 / Gravity Rush 2 / Celeste / Cosmic Star Heroine series of games that are quirky and ones I'll remember fondly even if they didn't hit all of the notes perfectly to be an 8+ grade game for me. 

 

Panda Score: 7.45 / 10

Edited March 5, 2020 by realm722

[realm722]

Game: Hatoful Boyfriend

 

Analysis: I bought Hatoful Boyfriend for when it went on sale for $1.99 in mid-December 2019. So... I just didn't "get" this game. It's a pigeon dating simulator that has more depth and hidden stories beneath that. You're the only human who attends this Pigeon institution and tries to make sense of Shuu the evil doctor, the Hawks, the Doves, and trying to find peace between the co-existing factions I guess. There's also Okosan who's a pudding lord. I really got most of these details out of these two videos covering the story in the game. Here's Part #1. Here's Part #2. I don't think it's a bad game. But this game has really made me re-think ever deciding to buy visual novels in the future if my goal is to merely speed through them to get the platinum. I think I'd much rather just follow along with somebody playing and reading the dialogue via a YouTube video or on Twitch livestreaming. Sorta like what Joseph Anderson did with Doki Doki Literature Club. Besides that - not much else for me to say on my end. I just didn't get anything out of this other than spamming through the text and following the trophy guide whenever I needed to make a specific decision to pop a trophy. It took me 3 hours and 37 minutes to obtain the 23.96% rarity 100% completion. On a positive note - I dig the bright purple / pink contrast on my PSN Profile and that's probably my favorite thing I got out of this experience. The next time I buy a VN I'll make sure I genuinely want to sit through the text than do this again. 

 

Panda Score: 5 / 10

Edited March 6, 2020 by realm722

[Intoner_Zero]

7 hours ago, realm722 said:

Game: Hatoful Boyfriend

 

So... I just didn't "get" this game.

I feel most people don't, and that's ok. Hatoful is just a weird parody take on some common Otome VN tropes. First game is alright, but Holiday Star was a bit boring.

VNs can be pretty hit or miss, but I like to think the 5pb series' are solid stuff.

 

Some interesting analysis, props on the P5 and Detroit entries!