realm722 Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 Game: Children of Morta Analysis: I bought Children of Morta for $14.73 back in February 2020. I have a lot of thoughts about this game - especially since it's a roguelike. It had been on my radar for a long time and after describing how much I enjoyed games like Dead Cells, Wizard of Legend, Slay the Spire, Risk of Rain, and so forth. In fact, for awhile I have been aiming to make this games platinum my 4,500th trophy on my milestone tracker. That's pretty significant because already in my head I'm expecting to really enjoy this game. Setting expectations before I play a game has lead to varying success, sometimes it turns out amazingly and it lives up to all the hype (Pyre) and sometimes it leads to me wanting more (Forgotton Anne) and thinking a game squandered some of it's potential. Nonetheless, let me start with mentioning the things I really enjoyed about this game. 1) I love the game's premise. You play as a family of fighters mandated with protecting this world and have each honed their various skillsets. Here they are below. John - Father of the Family, big sword attack range, amazing crowd control sword hail-down, and can shield Linda - Daughter of John, utilizes a bow, can shoot while moving, had some great boss fights with her under-leveled Kevin - Son of John, utilizes dueling knives, very quick with multiple dashes, can get pummeled vs strong beasts Mark - Son of John, all hand-to-hand combat, probably my favorite with his giant whip attack which is awesome Lucy - Daughter of John, has hair like her mother Mary, fire range attacks and is the youngest of these fighters Joey - Son of Uncle Ben, humongous powerful albeit slow hammer attack, lots of fun for beating down enemies The game does a great job of switching up each of their skillsets so they actually do feel different in-game. While it's true Linda/Lucy and Kevin/Mark are pretty similar, if you think about it in the context of them being siblings and they'd naturally have slightly similar fighting styles, I actually dig it. When I started playing the game, I wondered how this game was going to force me to try the other members of the family though. I was perfectly content early on simply playing as John - learning his skills the best, and stomping the game. Then I discovered the game uses a "fatigue" system with the corruption from the dungeons that lowers you max HP by a multiplier if you don't play as other characters. I love it! It was a great way to make sure I played as all the other characters and I did just that - very solid game design. Now, next I love - 2) This roguelike actually tries to a have a cohesive story with cutscenes! Shocking! In roguelikes I'm perfectly fine with them having no story - I got used to it with Wizard of Legend, and was even impressed by Dead Cells brief moments and lore scattered throughout the world. But Children of Morta takes it to the next level. There are proper cutscenes with interactive moments between characters each and every time you finish a run in a dungeon whether you win or die. Helping John's wife Mary with her pregnancy. Protecting the wolf puppy and helping him heal back to health. The Automata's. The game just does a great job of having you anticipate the house changing or having an interaction after you accomplish something significant in a dungeon. I'm just glad they actually tied as opposed to throwing in the towel! Finally, 3) The combat is fun! None of the prior 2 things I mention really matter if the gameplay isn't enjoyable. COM does a fantastic job of having you go searching for a bunch of enemies and then unleash your attacks to get on one of those fun 40-50+ slain enemies streaks. The game is very far mind-numbingly easy either. You will get your ass handed to you every time when you enter a new zone, at least I know I got mines handed to me each time. The best stage of the gameplay is always when you're in that stage of learning the lay of the lang in a new dungeon and just trying to survive and go a little bit further each time. In that sense, this game pulls that off extremely well. So wow Realm you sure seem to be gushing about this game. Is it a 9/10 and enters that elite class of games for you? Sadly, no... but I still really enjoyed my time with this game! The good news is, I've actually discovered why this game doesn't reach those heights. If these things don't apply to you - you'll perhaps like this game even more than I did. Let's start with the most severe. 1) I question how much I am genuinely getting better vs. just upgrading my workshop/characters and winning that way. Combat is fun. You will die a lot early on. But I have very serious questions about how much I actually got better in terms of playing as opposed to just making my numbers get bigger (more attack damage, more armor, more Book of Rea upgrades) than actually... yanno... "getting good" at the game. That's concerning. Once you've properly upgraded, I felt like there was no way I could die unless I purposefully played poorly and let myself get a hit a lot while trying to do maximum damage. In Dead Cells, you unlock upgrades - but the boss cells and difficulty always remained and I DID get better because the game forced me to with no healing. Slay the Spire same deal - while I unlocked better and better relics/cards, I had to rise with the game or else I couldn't last many encoutners. In Children of Morta, without that sliding difficulty slider (there's a Hard mode but it doesn't compare) - this game lacks that challenge and you'll just end up sprinting through dungeons at the end to get the remaining souvenirs/journals. That's disappointing when a roguelike doesn't demand some level of mastery from you. 2) I wish there was dialogue between characters. I wish you could run dungeons with multiple characters. There's a narrator this game and no actual speech between the members of the family audible to the player. Voice acting is difficult and can be a lot to ask from an indie team. But man... not even text or interaction sections between them? I LOVE this stuff man. Look at my favorite games. That's a HUGE part of why I love Pye, seeing the dynamics between teammates. How about Persona 5 and the Phantom Thieves goofy dynamics? I think it's great they added a story, but I prolly would have preferred interactions between family members such as Linda caring for Lucy or Kevin/Mark bickering who's stronger than the story we got. Maybe that's personal preference. Also - one of the best moments in this game was when I was playing as Mark and Lucy, for her training before she became a playable character, had to survive a section with me and it was fantastic! Why didn't they do more of that? There's some brief sections but why not make dungeons more difficult with stronger/faster/more enemies and let us run with a group? Maybe because they already knew the game was too easy past a certain point? 3) You will be on the edge of your seat thinking this game crashed 50+ times. So... optimization for the PS4... not your guys strong suit? Maybe that's harsh. There are lots of long loading screens for a game of this visual aesthetic and scope. I'd expect it from Final Fantasy 16 on the original PS4. I did not expect a pixel art game to struggle EVERY time it returned to the house - or when you finished a level the 15-30 seconds it takes for all your stats to load and click the X button. The game only actually crashed once for me. But... I wish this was fixed. Maybe on the PS5 with that hyper SSD this can get resolved. Finally, 4) A Souvenir Quest Glitched on me and I almost became a psychopath. Watch this video. Imagine me planning out my 4.5k trophy milestone and this happens. My platinum streak gone. All cuz mans didn't wanna walk. Of course I deleted the game and re-installed it and it worked but still - I was already thinking of going back and playing the MLB The Show games to keep that streak alive. That's mental institution worthy behavior. WOW - there's a lot of text. and you may be thinking damn, there's more negative than positive. NO! This is a GOOD game. I know a game is good when I want to keep playing it and wish there was a higher barrier as opposed to the journey being over. For an indie studio like Dead Mage to make this is fantastic. But I still feel like their Apex of a game is in their future. This was good - I trust based on what I've seen here they can do even better. All in all, it took me 4 days and 8 hours to achieve the 27.46% rarity platinum. I did not talk much about the trophies in this post. They are very simple and easy to achieve. Just worry about beating the game first, play a decent amount of each character so they're all around the same level and none of them fall too far behind, play the little puzzles under the trophy pops, search each map thoroughly, pick up souvenirs/journals, and you'll get it in no time. Hell, I got the "Perfectionist" trophy with Kevin on the spider boss when I was Level 7 or so. You can do it! All in all, this was a certified fun time. Panda Score: 8 / 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 Game: Spyro 3 - Year of the Dragon Analysis: The 3rd in the trilogy! Bought for $19.99 back in April 2020. Largely building off the foundation set in the 2nd game, "Year of the Dragon" possesses the same goal of finding the unique Dragon eggs going through the level and completing random tasks, this time with the difference and aid of 4 helpers in the form of Sheila (kangaroo), Sgt. James Byrd (rocket-launching bird), Bentley (giant yeti smasher), and Agent 9 (monkey with a gun). They're mostly quite gimmicky but none of them are bad or insufferable - gameplay is still at it's best when Spyro's in charge. Given I hadn't played the originals, I watched this video to get an idea of how faithful the remake was. Overall I took away that they were pretty damn faithful in just about every major context. None of the trophies were at all difficult - and I managed to earn the 36.95% rarity platinum in 2 weeks and 1 day. On the whole the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy is fundamentally decent. I do not consider them landmark games. They are games you play in-between the games you really genuinely think will grab you. But they still have their purpose. I enjoyed Ripto's Rage after the mammoth game that Hollow Knight was. They're also so easy going they make for good mindless games to play while watching / listening to other content on Netflix or YouTube. For that reason, I'm not too upset this ended up also becoming my Level 27 rank-up trophy (trying to get Child of Morta for my 4.5k trophy basically pigeon-holed me into this). So that's it for Spyro! OR maybe not! I'm writing this on June 20th, 2020. I fully expect given Crash's announcement of a 4th game for a new Spyro game to be announced that will receive some positive reception after this trilogy was received postively, but I'm really, really scared that 4th game will be received with much ire and Spyro will fall back into oblivion. Prove me wrong Toys for Bob! Panda Score: 6.3 / 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 Game: Slime Rancher Analysis: WOW. This game is GOOD. Hell, they should rename this game - Coziness™ - The Video Game I bought Slime Rancher for $9.99 back in early May 2020. This is one of those games I had heard lots of good things about as someone who comfortably enjoys the Harvest Moon community and is always looking for games to scratch the itch that Harvest Moon: Magical Melody provided me during the Gamecube days. (eventually I will make a very long post / video explaining why HM:MM is the greatest Harvest Moon game) VERY few games have scratched it truly. Stardew Valley is the rare exception of a 9/10 game (that doesn't have a review cuz of the stupid Praire King trophy). This is a game that was basically described as "it's farming with slimes, it's cute, you'd enjoy it." But meh, I shrugged it off until recently. Having played it now - man this game just gets you in a comfortable rhythm. At first it's extremely over-whelming and I have to admit I was lot in terms of progression (please tell me I wasn't the only one who didn't see that large pink gordo in Dry Reef) and had to look up how to get Slime Keys due to being gated off. Once that clicked and I learned how to breed largo slimes the game started taking off. There's a beauty in its simplicity. You play as Beatrix, an adorable fun loving lady who's decided to try to make it on her own on the Far, Far Range wrangling slimes. These slimes have distinct glistening colors and characteristics. Blue slimes spike you. Green slimes offer radiation. Boomer slimes explode. You compensate this by upgrading and maintaining proper distancing measures on your farm to ensure you don't have a Tarr outbreak. The more you progress over time you'll eventually unlock the Moss Blanket, the Ancient Ruins, and the Glass Desert (finally area in the game). If you play games like I play games, the fact this game offers you a jetpack of all things means you're going to be Skyrim-traversing throughout the entire world trying to get to places in the world you shouldn't be able to access. I didn't unlock a single Slime Key door in the Glass Desert and yet I accessed the finale in order to unlock the "Adventure Complete!" achievement for beating the main story of this game. (let's be honest - nobody cares about the story in Slime Rancher - that's not me being mean, it's the truth. The game is still good fun regardless). I did all of this - and then I discovered "oh crap, The Lab is a thing". So then I started going for those trophies. I get lucky and had the Royal Jelly's pop while going for the 35 necessary drills to craft for another trophy, quickly got all the materials and got both the "Best of the Worst" and "She's on Fire!" basketball achievements quite quickly once learning the proper strategy. All that was left for Adventure Mode was "Hat Trick". Here I thought the trophy was going to SUCK. I needed to get to Rank 22 of the 7ze Rank-Up Club in order to get "Golden Sureshot", go to the vault, and shoot a golden slime. I was 300k+ short of that bench mark. But yanno what? I actually enjoyed it. I got some Mosiac Slimes, Crystal Slimes, and a hilarious Dock section with Quantum and Dervish Slimes that was a DISASTER (all the Quantum's ate Dervish plorts and it was utter chaos but hilarious + they still produced tons of plorts) leading to me racking in money at an obscene rate. Within a few hours I was all done, moved on to Rush mode and quite enjoyed rushing for that very rare gold trophy given the unique parameters of having to complete requests in a given time window and make as much money as possible in a number of days. I finished with like 126k easily, and before I knew it the 8.53% rarity platinum popped for me in just 5 days and 6 hours! This is all to say Slime Rancher isn't without it's flaws. 1) Performance. It never crashed - I consider that a win! Still, due to all of the slimes bouncing around individually, all the food from veggies and fruits and hens being live individual items that fall and stay on the ground in your gardens, AND all of the active plorts being produced... this game LAGS a lot. This is expected from small indie studios. Subnautica had this problem with it's big expansive world. Slime Rancher has it as well - I was able to put up with it on my original PS4 but there's no question this would have been a nightmare to polish on any platform). 2) You only have 4 slots for items in your SUCC? You start the game with 4 item slots to hold things. You END the game with 4 item slots to hold things. You're telling me there couldn't have been some expensive 20-30k purchase upgrade to get up to 5 or 6 slots? That's a disappointment. 3) The lack of achieving true proper automation. I never used the drones. I don't know how good they work - but at least for me, I fed, collected, and sold the plorts of my slimes from Day 1 - Day 52 of my Adventure Mode playthrough. That's tedium and micro-management even if I enjoy the "game flow" of it. 4) I didn't use the teleporters, I wish I had. I wish the game made them more well known. Cuz back-tracking throughout the game as much as I did wasn't the greatest. I could have saved SO MUCH time if I knew they were a thing earlier. Finally 5) The game needed a 3rd tier of learning to become great. What do I mean by that? A 3rd evolution of slimes you could do to reap even bigger rewards. A set of corral unlocks that would pacify even the most vicious of slimes. I feel like once you learn to combine 2 slimes into 1 with a proper food source, you max out your corrals, and that's it. You kind of know how to win the game and farm to the end. All "The Lab" is generally superfluous. But a 3rd tier you could reach via those means could have extended the games life cycle even more for many. In the end, I really enjoyed this game despite these flaws. I kinda wished it had taken me longer to platinum. Panda Score: 7.7 / 10 (I wanted to give it a 8/10 but Spider-Man, A Hat in Time, and Hollow Knight make that impossible) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted June 26, 2020 Author Share Posted June 26, 2020 Let's Take A Detour: Talking About Game Developers This is a bit different from a normal post - instead of reviewing a specific game, let's take about video game developers. I dunno about you guys - but I like playing good video games. You've typically got two sides of the coin when a game is released. The game developers (the people who poured their heart and soul into the product, typically) and the publishers (the blood sucking parasites born in suits who manipulate the game to fill their desires). That's not being 100% sincere or even fair. You have relatively good regarded publishers like Devolver Digital but you'll have your horror stories and there. The reason why I decided to go through this under-taking is because I want to know what studios are making games I'd likely be interested in for the future. If you made a game I really liked, even if it's completely different genre in your next game, I'm going to want to check it out. Thus, here's what I uncovered. In an effort to not make this post an eye sore - I've hidden all games that only have 1 game from them that I've played. I've still included them in the spoiler filter - but at least it won't make this post unbearable long for the future. Here are the way I have the games graded personally. Green - 9.0 range Blue = 8.0 range Orange = 7.0 range Purple = 6.0 range Red = 5.0 range Grey = 4.0 range Most Played Video Games From These Game Studios: * SCE/SIE Japan Studio: 4 games (Gravity Rush Remastered, Gravity Rush 2, Knack 2, Knack) * Supergiant Games: 3 games (Pyre, Transistor, Bastion) * Rocksteady Studios: 3 games (Batman: Arkham Knight, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Asylum) * EA Canada: 3 games (FIFA 17, FIFA 18, FIFA 20) * Ghost Games: 3 games (Need for Speed: Payback, Need for Speed: Rivals, Need for Speed) * EA Tiburon: 3 games (Madden NFL 19, Madden NFL 20, Madden NFL 18) * Toys for Bob: 3 games (Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon) * Namco: 3 game (Arcade Game Series: Dig-Dug, Arcade Game Series: Pac-Man, Arcade Game Series: Galaga) * ColdWood Interactive: 2 games (Unravel, Unravel Two) * Drinkbox Studios: 2 games (Guacamelee! 2, Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition) * Quantic Dream: 2 games (Detroit: Become Human, Heavy Rain) * Insomniac Games: 2 games (Marvel's Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank) * Square Enix: 2 games (Kingdom Hearts 3, Dragon Quest Builders) * Giant Sparrow: 2 games (The Unfinished Swan, What Remains of Edith Finch) * Milestone S.r.l.: 2 games (Gravel, Monster Energy Supercross) Spoiler Contains 1-game Developers Spoiler * Atlus: 1 game (Persona 5) * Motion Twin: 1 game (Dead Cells) * Mega Crit Games: 1 game (Slay the Spire) * Sabotage: 1 game (The Messenger) * Psyonix: 1 game (Rocket League) * Contingent99: 1 game (Wizard of Legend) * Clover Studio: 1 game (Okami HD) * Guerrilla Games: 1 game (Horizon Zero Dawn) * Night School Studio: 1 game (Oxenfree) * Funselektor Labs: 1 game (Absolute Drift: Zen Edition) * The Sims Studio: 1 game (The Sims 4) * EA Sports: 1 game (FIFA 19) * SIE San Diego Studio: 1 game (MLB The Show 18) * Team Cherry: 1 game (Hollow Knight) * Gears for Breakfast: 1 game (A Hat in Time) * Hopoo Games: 1 game (Risk of Rain) * Monomi Games: 1 game (Slime Rancher) * Haemimont Games: 1 game (Tropico 5) * Matt Makes Games: 1 game (Celeste) * Zeboyd Games: 1 game (Cosmic Star Heroine) * D-Pad Studio: 1 game (Owlboy) * EA Digital Illusions CE: 1 game (Mirror's Edge Catalyst) * Villa Gorilla: 1 game (Yoku's Island Express) * Thekla, Inc: 1 game (The Witness) * Konami Digital Entertainment: 1 game (Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood) * Ivory Tower: 1 game (The Crew 2) * Throughline Games: 1 game (Forgotton Anne) * Mothership Entertainment: 1 game (Aven Colony) * PopCap Games: 1 game (Peggle 2) * Hidden Path Entertainment: 1 game (Defense Grid 2) * Criterion Games: 1 game (Burnout Paradise: Remastered) * Vicious Cycle Software: 1 game (Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations) * Giant Squid: 1 game (Abzu) * Sony Interactive Entertainment: 1 game (PaRappa the Rapper Remastered) * Parabole: 1 game (Kona) * MidBoss; 1 game (2064: Read Only Memories) * Thunder Lotus Games: 1 game (Sundered) * Codemasters: 1 game (Onrush) * Infinite State Games: 1 game (Rogue Aces) * Sumo Digital: 1 game (LittleBigPlanet 3) * Frima Studio: 1 game (Battleship) * Cavalier Game Studios: 1 game (The Sexy Brutale) * Marucome: 1 game (Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life) * Petit Depotto: 1 game (Unholy Heights) * Unknown Worlds Entertainment: 1 game (Subnautica) * Double Fine Productions: 1 game (Grim Fandango Remastered) * Polytron Corporation: 1 game (FEZ) * Ripstone: 1 game (Chess Ultra) * Spearhead Games: 1 game (Tiny Brains) * PolyKnight Games: 1 game (InnerSpace) * Bithell Games: 1 game (Thomas Was Alone) * Exe-Create Inc: 1 game (Dragon Sinker) * Zoink Games: 1 game (Fe) * Wish Studios: 1 game (Knowledge is Power) * Artefact Studios: 1 game (Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders) * Ty Taylor & Mario Castañeda: 1 game (The Bridge) * Faceplam Games: 1 game (The Swapper) * Blue Isle Studios: 1 game (Valley) * Jo-Mei Games: 1 game (Sea of Solitude) * Daedelic Entertainment: 1 game (Sea of Solitude) * Delphine Software: 1 game (Another World) * Chris Chung: 1 game (Catlateral Damage) * Bigben Interactive: 1 game (Mahjong) * Ubisoft Montreal: 1 game (Child of Light) * Brain&Brain: 1 game (Burly Men at Sea) * Mediatonic: 1 game (Hatoful Boyfriend) * Koei Tecmo Games / Omega Force: 1 game (Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below) Most Played-Developers: WOW - That's pretty cool that the Gravity Rush games and the Knack games were made by SIE Japan Studio. I really dig their style. Of course, each of the games were worked on with their respective games but still. As for my All-Time favorite game studio? It has to be Supergiant Games! You have Pyre, which I adore. Transistor - which is my highest rated 8.0 graded game, and Bastion which was a damn solid favorite attempt. Thankfully, I already know their next game which is Hades as it's available on PC on the Epic Games Store and Steam. I guarantee it will come to PS4 eventually and I can't WAIT since it's a roguelite and c'mon... you're combining their style, aesthetics, and music with a style of gameplay I adore? I fully expect to love that game. Then you have Rocksteady Studios! We are hearing rumors about maybe a Suicide Squad game or maybe Gotham Knights or maybe Batman: Court of Owls? I dunno - all I know is I wanna play what Rocksteady has to have. A Suicide Squad has me hesitant since... I think the Batman formula is great and they were getting better with each game but I'll keep my eyes peeled - I know when it finally does get announced the swarms and masses of Batman Arkham fans will let us know. After that you have EA Canada with the FIFA games. It's sort of like the saying "The evil you know is better than the one you don't". That's how I feel about the FIFA games at this point compared to other sports games. Ghost Games also made Need for Speed: Heat which I am currently playing and enjoying! Too bad they're giving the series back to Criterion. EA Tiburon is... bad. Toys for Bob is... okay. Namco was legendary for the 80's and 90's - just a decent history trip nowadays. ColdWood Interactive is a studio I'm VERY interested to see what they do next. They hit gold with the Unravel series that started my trophy hunting love. I want to see what the devs in Sweden has next for us. Drinkbox Studios same deal! I had a blast with the Guacamelee series, lemme see where they go from here (I've heard nothing thus far). Finally, some bigger studios in Quantic Dream, Insomniac Games, and Square Enix - they make good games, not my favorites but solid experiences. Finally Giant Sparrow makes unique fun story games that I await to see what they do next (there will be lots of YouTube videos about it in all likelihood) and finally an awful studio in Milestone that makes bad racing games! Will not buy another one moving forward! Let's Talk About Atlus: They've produced my favorite Playstation 4 game of All-Time in Persona 5. They're a subsidiary of Sega, and are most known for their Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. We haven't gotten a SMT game in modern times and Persona 4 Golden was recently released on Steam to mass acclaim. I suspect that's gonna lead to them broadening their releases moving forward given how well the sales went - and that's cool, I think it's better for these games to be widely available than shunned away on hardware that may become obscure as times goes on (such as the Vita). Even though I never played it, I really enjoyed watching multiple Catherine playthroughs on YouTube (the gameplay just doesn't seem like my thing due to the challenge) but Vincent's storyline and goofs made for such a fun time. Catherine: Full Body while tempting - still means I'll probably never play it. SMTV is supposed to be Nintendo Switch only - we'll see when that gets released. Besides that I just wanna see them continue to make new stuff. Maybe localize Persona 5 Scramble (even though SCREW Omega Force for that awful DQ Heroes game that I had to force myself through). I know it sounds ridiculous but if P-Studio announces Persona 6 teasers at some point before 2022 I'd be over the moon. 3 Smaller Studios (Motion Twin, Mega Crit Games, Sabotage): Motion Twin is the game studio behind Dead Cells (2nd favorite PS4 game ever) and they are based out of Bordeaux, France. It's wild how they're run since everybody makes the same salary and has the exact same decision making power of around 11 people. That means each of their votes counts the same and since they've never had a game with the success of Dead Cells, they must now decide what they want to do next as a team. Here's an article covering them from Variety. I'm kinda scared we may never see them hit their Apex again since that is just a wild way to run things in my mind but I can't argue given what it produced. I know I will be on board to check out whatever they make next given how intoxicating Dead Cells was for me though. Next is Mega Crit Games who made Slay the Spire! Right now they appear 100% dedicated to continue working on Slay the Spire as it was in Early Access for awhile and is all they have available on their website, they're based out of Seattle and are a team of around 8 people. One of the dudes who founded the studios favorite games is Rocket League so excellent taste. I dunno if they'll make another card game next - if they do rather than be hesitant I'll be 100% there given how much I loved Slay the Spire - if they decide to make a more typical game with live action, I'd be excited for how innovative they can be! Finally - Sabotage Studio - the crew that made The Messenger! They are making a new game called Sea of Stars! It's on their website - boy am I excited. They claim it's a retro-inspired turn-based RPG. Don't care if it's not a genre I normally play. What they did with The Messenger is made a game that has stuck with me and quite arguably in hindsight may be a 9/10 for me. Their style is utterly gorgeous and I know their developers are smart, I'll be there when it comes to the PS4 or hell even PS5 if that's how long it takes. I'm especially excited as it's a prequel story set in The Messenger's universe! Other 8.0 Game Range Studios: Psyonix is taking care of Rocket League and given the success they've had with it and how much I still enjoy (Plat 3 in 3v3 standard boyyyy) - I can't blame them. Contingent99 is still a really small team and didn't hit it quite as big as the 3 dev teams I mentioned above. They made a great roguelite in Wizard of Legend, given their inexperience and yet they produced a game of that quality - I really hope their next experiment puts them on the map even further. Clover Studio (RIP) made the Viewtiful Joe games, God Hand, and Okami somehow. They sadly folded and became Platinum Games - a studio known for the Bayonetta and Nier series. Eventually I will play one of those games. Guerilla Games is one I'm very excited for - Horizon Zero Dawn: 2 Forbidden West will be excellent (I'm sure of it) and you can go underwater now! Night School Studio made a game after Oxenfree, I had no idea, it's called Afterparty! I need to play it since I digged the dialogue between the young kids and Alex in the first game and I won't read anymore on it give the fact it's out and spoilers are abound. The 1-man team who made Absolute Drift: Zen Edition hasn't done anything since. That's a shame. Best of the Rest: Team Cherry is currently working on Hollow Knight: Silksong where you play as Hornet and man is that gonna receive a lot of praise (they deserve it, Hollow Knight is amazing) Gears for Breakfast, the game studio out of Denmark behind A Hat in Time has less than 20 people on their development team, but I hope they make something new soon and continue with the generally pleasant theme that they presented in their debut title. As for Hopoo Games, I literally have a physical edition of Risk of Rain 2 waiting to be played. I'll have that review by the end of the year hopefully. Haemimont Games no longer works on the Tropico series and instead made Surviving Mars, not really intrigued by it to be honest. The guys who made Celeste (Matt Makes Games) have two hits while including Towerfall Ascension. They'll make something good and difficult in the near future, I'm sure of it. Zeboyd Games who made Cosmic Star Heroine apparently released another turn-based RPG, this time a comedy, in the form of Cthulhu Saves Christmas. What a title! Only available on Steam as of right now (released in December 2019). D-Pad Studio is a small team out of Norway behind Owlboy, 2030 will be when their next game is released given their previous development cycle (I'm sorry if that's mean - making games is hard). Villa Gorilla is also based out of Sweden, they're promising. Jonathan Blow who made Braid and The Witness likely isn't making a game any time soon and instead focusing on programming language. That's alright. Throughline Games made Forgotton Anne, are also Scandinavian and out of Denmark, have one of the best art styles and professional looking websites but need to work on gameplay mechanics for their next game to be a hit. The guys behind Abzú are making a game called The Pathless. Thunder Lotus Games who made Sundered is right now working on an indie game called Spiritfarer that caught my attention during a game presentation show and hasn't left my memory since. Please be good! I learned that Codemasters (Onrush) make the F1 games. Basically anything after that is a game I didn't really love enough for to be intrigued by their next game. WOW! That took a lot of time. Look at all those words. This was a fun experiment though. Back to normal game reviews though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Game: Need for Speed Heat Analysis: Rather than paying a full price for NFS: Heat - instead I bought the $0.99 discounted offer by EA Access for the month of July 2020. That's a pretty incredible deal for a game that you still always see on sale for $30 or more. I also bought the Speedcross DLC pack for NFS: Payback and 100%'d the game to achieve the 3.94% rarity. I also have the platinums in both Need for Speed: Rivals and Need for Speed (2015, though not 100% cuz screw those prestige DLC trophies). As you can tell - I enjoy the Need for Speed games! While NFS (2015) was in the 6-range scale, I thoroughly enjoyed Rivals for it to land in the 7-range and enjoyed Payback far more than many of those and it too landed in the 7-range. Lemme say - I had heard very good things about this game from reviewers. Raycevick really liked it in his roadblock video AND Whitelight gave it a damn solid review as well. Those are two guys with opinions I thoroughly trust - PLUS this game had the bonus intriguing factor of taking place in for all intents and purpose, South Florida. I dunno if you can tell by my avatar, kinda live down here - so I expected this game to be good! The result? Yea, it's another solid Need for Speed entry, and edges out being the best by a hair. Initially getting into the game I was kind of put off by just how damn slow your car starts out. I understand the need for progression and how you'll really feel the difference once you have a masterclass sports car but it was frustrating at first failing at missions simply because I couldn't keep up. That eventually changed when I got the SRT Viper GTS '14 and began upgrading it. This car carried me a huge way all the way to the Koenigsegg Regera '16. So that was fun! In terms of story - come on... it's a racing game guys. You have a wacky crew as per usual in Ana, Dex, and everybody else I forget their names. There's a brother/sister dynamic between two of the big-time characters. Maybe there's a Lucas. I know there's a corrupt lieutenant cop named Mercer who is laughably evil (look at the realism...heh can I get banned for that?) Regardless, I think the "good chick cop" named Torres murders him and takes his place? Whatever. It's not relevant. What is relevant is the main new system of this game being the difference between legal daytime competitions and illegal nighttime racing. You earn actual money to buy cars / upgrades during the day. But in order to unlock better cars and upgrades you need to get your reputation level up by racing at night. What's the catch? If you get busted by the cops by them damaging your car enough, your multiplier resets to x1 as opposed to potentially going as high as x5. Initially I didn't know how I felt about this system... I ended up really digging it. You have fun pushing your lock, and I know I myself got busted at over 200k+ rep and it sucked but it 100% added to the rush of the game trying to escape the cops and make it back to a garage. But there are problems. 1) Getting rid of the cops once more than 1 is on you without jumps is IMPOSSIBLE. 80% of the time you will never be able to out-race cops beyond Heat Level 3. You need jumps, and you can just cheese a section in "Downtown Palm City" and lose them EVERY time. It's how I cheesed the 1 mill rep in 1 night trophy. 2) Once you reach Level 50, rep is meaningless. You hit this ceiling way too quickly to the point that there's no point to drive at night other than the High Heat events for the Ultimate+ parts and the rush for simply enjoying it. That's not wrong, but I wish there was some incentive you got for collecting rep even once you hit the cap. But yea - this is a good fun game especially if you can get it for as cheap as I did. My final car was the Lamborgini Aventador SVJ Coupe '19 and I used that to complete all the activities in the game. There's a few tricky ones - "Down in the River" speedtrap took me 1-2 hours but you'll eventually get the game once you learn their strategies. 300+ collectibles with wraps, flamingoes, and billboards is kinda mind-numbing but you can play something in the background while you do that. All in all, it took me 1 week and 2 days to achieve the 18.12% rarity platinum! Panda Score: 7.6 / 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 (edited) Game: Soccer Pinball Analysis: I bought Soccer Pinball in July 2020 for $1.49.... yea, it's not good. I would not have bought this game if it were a platinum since it's completion percentage would be far too high for my liking. Instead it's a 100% so I figured hey I already have Dark Mystery on my resumé, this can't be much worse - it's about the same. You use 2 controllers and set 1 minute games and click the X button every minute to quickly cycle through the 100 games (which the developers cheekily said is more than they themselves played). It's 100% completion sits in at 68.33% rarity. But rather than have a ridiculously short posts... let's talk about some Real Madrid! Yup - it's as good an excuse as any to talk about my favorite soccer club. So funnily enough, any time anybody messages me on PS4, they always shorten my name to "realm". Who can blame them? But I actually intentionally made it "RealM" for that Real Madrid distinction. Nobody got it. It's cool. Real Madrid currently sits 4 point clear atop of La Liga! It's July 10th, 2020 and there's still 3 matches to be played due to COVID-19, but with 80 points, I fully expect us to win the league title over Barcelona who currently have 76 points and struggled with some draws after the break meanwhile we've been winning plenty thanks to Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, and a bunch of 1-0 victories with penalties (we're actually managing cleansheets????). La Liga has kind of been a sore spot for us. Barcelona have generally dominated even during CR7's reign but hey - we got 4 out of 5 Champions League titles in that time frame so can we even really complain? I remember watching each final and each having their own distinct ridiculous moment. '14 Final vs Atletico was of course Sergio's header late that led to us trouncing them in extra time 4-1. '16 Final vs Atletico went to penalties (that Carrasco goal gives me nightmares) and we won thanks to Juanfran botching it and Ronaldo sending us home. '17 Final vs Juventus was a fantastic match but we pulled away in the 2nd half thanks to a stupid Casemiro deflection goal, eventually pulling away 4-1. Finally the '18 Final vs Liverpool of course is the "Karius" match but Gareth Bale went mental hitting bangers like this. To think his passion is golf. I really like the way our team is set up for the future. It's incredible how well some of our tenured players are still playing. Ramos is one of the highest goal-scoring defensemen of All-Time and continues shining for us despite the fact that he's 34-years old. We bought Luka Jovic thinking he'd be Benzema's replacement and instead Benz has gone to another level and we're likely going to sell Jovic as he's not quite the quality of player we need. Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are both mainstays for the foreseeable future since they're still brilliant. Thibaut Courtois is leading La Liga with 18 clean sheets after initially struggling with us(I understood the love for Keylor Navas but eventually we were gonna move on). Varane feels like he should be way older than he is but he's been playing for us since he's been so young he's only 26, and Eder Militäo hopefully makes a great future pairing. I'm a little bit scared about Eden Hazard... he hasn't quite adjusted completely yet, struggles with fitness, and I really fear him becoming one of those pre-Kaka/Xabi Alonso/CR7 signings that flames out after being a star elsewhere(Sneijer/Robben). I hope some of our young-ins Vinicius Junior (very optimistic), Rodrygo, Takefusa Kubo, and Martin Ødegaard eventually crack the starting 11 soon enough. Overall for such a wild year, losing to Manchester City wouldn't be the end of the world (it'd suck but we have La Liga and come on look at the world) and we can come back next season with Barcelona continuing to totter with their incompetent board and dare I say go for a treble. But that's enough soccer talk! Time for ninjas in futuristic cities. Panda Score: 4 / 10 Edited January 18, 2023 by realm722 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 13, 2020 Author Share Posted July 13, 2020 Game: Strider Analysis: Bought Strider when it was on sale for $2.99 back in late April 2020. This is a game that is constantly in the different PS4 sales and one I finally decided to cave on since it's so cheap and the trophy guide only gave it a 3/10 difficulty despite the fact the game was close to being an ultra rare platinum, I was intrigued. With over 190k owners it made sense why since this game released in February 2014, one of the oldest PS4 released games I've played. You can most definitely feel that since this game visually isn't remarkable, it's a 2D side-scrolling slasher where you play as a ninja called Strider and try to stop the corporate overlords (who are Russian?) that send an onslaught of mechs and soldiers and for-hire assassins to try and take you down. It's not spectacular visually based on pure graphics but does a decent job with it's aesthetics to compensate. The one time I will say when it looks particularly bad is when it introduces a new boss fight. The colors just look... off. If they cleaned them up to look cooler it would look far nicer. Nonetheless, this playlist helped me greatly making sure I got all the collectibles in this game. There are so many from all of the upgrades to the canisters that you'd be hard pressed to pick them all up without a video guide. I was kind of pushing to try and beat the 4-hour mark on my 1st Hard playthrough but that ended up proving impossible when I missed one of the canisters in Kazakh City and had to backtrack for it at the end of the game. In all my first run ended at around 4-hour and 49 minute completion with just needing the speed demon and normal trophies to pop. This is where I must say - I appreciated this game A LOT more on my 2nd playthrough than my 1st. I was so worried about picking up every little thing for the trophies that I feared I had missed something. When I got to go as fast as possible and already knew the lay of the land with all the upgrades and different swords, I had a far greater time. Strider is a very fun character to control. You can do as much as you can smashing the square button, he can climb anywhere and everywhere from up giant walls to across vast ceiling chasms with his two climbing sickles, plus once the game gives you the double jump upgrade it opens up your moveset even more. You only need 4-5 health/energy upgrades to complete the speed run really. The sister fights aren't hard, the gorilla fight kicked my ass, and then the final Meios bosses aren't too challenging as you just spam eagle flight and sit and wait in the proper areas. My speed run took me 2 hours and 27 minutes and before I knew it I had achieved the 5.54% rarity platinum in 5 days and 9 hours! This is a proper good little game, and I wish the studio Double Helix Games could have actually created more games rather than being bought by Amazon and falling into the abyss of nothingness. Oh well. Panda Score: 7 / 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 (edited) A Complete List of Every Video Game I Have Ever Physically Owned OR more like ones I recently just tracked and have physical evidence of their existence. I don't know why exactly I decided to embark on this journey - part of it is just wanting to take a trip down memory lane and enjoy looking at the sheer amount of games I've experienced over the years. Another part of it is wanting to see what games I feel have been "abandoned" in the sense that there is no real modern game filling that void. Granted, it's asking a lot given so many of the games I've played that there will inevitably be some that slipped through the cracks but yea... here we go! What I will say: There are some PC games that I've completely forgotten about and inevitably lost that won't be included. I also can't find a single one of my Nintendo DS games when I know for a fact I remember fondly playing Nintendogs. All in all though, the fact I have a record of basically all the other games is an achievement in it's own right. I will show a general Top 10 ranking for each console but no number scores, my memory would simply betray me and I won't remember how truly "good" a lot of these games are. Without further ado, let's go through the list! Gameboy Advance SP Top 10 Gameboy Advance SP Games: #1. Shrek 2 #2. Shrek Super Slam #3. Madagascar: Operation Penguin #4. Donkey Kong Country 2 #5. The Incredibles #6. Teen Titans #7. Sonic Advance 3 #8. Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed #9. Power Rangers: Dino Thunder #10. The Lion King 1 1/2 List of All Gameboy Advance SP Games: Spoiler #1. Banjo Pilot #2. Brother Bear #3. Chicken Little #4. Donkey Kong Country 2 #5. Dogs #6. Extreme Skate Adventure #7. Family Feud #8. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown #9. Madagascar #10. Madagascar: Operation Penguin#11. Midnight Club Street Racing #12. Monster Truck Madness #13. Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed #14. Power Rangers: Dino Thunder #15. Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes #16. Shrek Super Slam #17. Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy! #18. Shrek: Reekin' Havoc #19. Shrek 2 #20. Sonic Advance 3 #21. Sega Smashpack #22. Spider-Man 2 #23. Spongebob Squarepants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman #24. Teen Titans #25. The Incredibles #26. The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer #27. The Lion King 1 1/2 Reflection: Wow... I was a pretty big Shrek fan back in the day eh? Let's rapid fire go through a few of these (not all of them because my god is anybody reading this going to have their jaw hit the floor with the amount of Disney movie tie-ins to video games that were just... not it, man. Donkey Kong Country 2 is one hell of a pick-up. How about the immaculate Madagascar Penguins game man? I remember dying so much while playing that. The Shrek Super Slam was some LEGENDARY stuff. I remember getting wrecked in the saloon. Just all the Shrek games are a delight. 'm impressed with how visibly credible the Sonic games back then looked. The Incredibles game specifically playing as retro Mr. Incredible in the blue suit gives me so many flashbacks. The best game of this entire lot though? TEEN TITANS BABY! Absolutely phenomenal game where you could switch around to different characters from Cyborg to Beast Boy (who was my personal favorite becoming any animal on a moments whim). There's not a ton of amazing games here, and to be honest I don't have a "ton" of nostalgia for the Gameboy Advance, but it's cool to have these games nonetheless. In the end, I give this collection a 6/10 - some decent stuff but generally mediocre. Playstation 1 Top 10 Playstation 1 Games: #1. Tom & Jerry in House Trap #2. Toy Story 2 #3. The Emperor's New Groove #4. Miss Spider's Tea Party #5. Bugs Bunny & Taz Time Busters #6. Atlantis: The Lost Empire #7. Goofy's Funhouse #8. Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge #9. 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue #10. Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase List of All Playstation 1 Games: Spoiler #1. Atlantis: The Lost Empire #2. A Bugs Life #3. Barbie's Super Sports #4. Barbie Explorer #5. Blue's Big Musical Movie #6. Bugs Bunny & Taz Time Busters #7. Bob the Builder: Can We Fix It? #8. Caspar: Friends Around the World #9. Chicken Run #10. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix #11. Detective Barbie #12. Donald Duck: Going Quackers #13. Elmo's Letter Adventure #14. Goofy's Funhouse #15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone #16. Jump Start: Wildlife Safari #17. Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge #18. Lilo & Stitch #19. Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure #20. Mary Kate and Ashley's Magical Mystery Mall #21. Miss Spider's Tea Party #22. Mulan #23. Muppet Monster Adventure #24. Pac-Man World #25. Play with me Teletubbies #26. Peter Pan in Return to Neverland #27. Plucky's Big Adventure #28. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie #29. Rugrats: Totally Angelica #30. Sesame Street Sports #31. Shrek Treasure Hunt #32. Sim Theme Park #33. Spice World #34. Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase #35. Tarzan #36. Tigger's Honey Hunt #37. Treasure Planet #38. The Emperor's New Groove #39. The Little Mermaid II #40. The Jungle Book: Rhythm n' Groove #41. Toy Story 2 #42. Team Rocket Rescue #43. The Flintstones Bedrock Bowling #44. The Land Before Time Racing Adventure #45. Tom & Jerry in House Trap #46. Treasure Planet #47. Walt Disney World: Magical Racing Tour #48. Zaboomafoo Leapin' Lemurs #49. 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue Reflection: I cannot get over how much I miss that Atlantis game. Such a trip going back and speaking with that guy tryna progress and being confused and looking at the fish tank... man, that's just crazy. I also remember swimming under-water. Bugs Bunny & Taz Time Busters had me searching for hours upon hours for gears and stomping on that guy with the green hat. I can't believe there are so many longplays on YouTube of these ancient games. I have a sister in case you're wondering why there's so many barbie games. i distinctly remember playing the Detective Barbie game though and being legitimately spooked by it at a glamorous part. Goofy's Funhouse was AMAZING!!!!! I remember looking at the paintings, messing with the dog with the sausage, messing around with different things like the car and making messes just to make stuff happen. The spooky attic? THE FISHING? WHAT A TIME! How about that mf'ing Lego game man???? All I remember is being so upset when a prisoner busted out, a bunch of pizza delivering, and ALWAYS dying during a jousting battle on horses. I remember dying a lot to the brick monster in Lilo & Stitch. I cannot believe that Lion King game can be completed in under 40 minutes given how much I died. Miss Spider's Tea Party is beloved forever due to the fact my elderly abuela loved playing that game even by herself which is a testament to it's greatness. Playing the music with the orchestra and the matching game? Absolutely love it. How about finding all those pumpkins in the shrek game? All I remember about Sim Theme Park is placing pavement and not being able to do anything else. I love that Scooby-Doo game and it is ingrained in my memory the little green matrix vortex that would warp you up when you completed a level. Tigger's game has surprisingly good graphics given it's 20 years old. The Emperor's New Groove is an All-Time classic for me and I still remember that "ticking" that it would do.. being scared of the night levels, if you don't like that game I don't like you. The Toy Story 2 game is one of the rare few that is actually still good this many years later. It was so far ahead of it's time having you wander around this gigantic house and not just being a mindless 2D side-scroller like so many of these other games. Another great game? Tom & Jerry in House Trap! Absolutely wonderful, delightful, and INFURIATING WITH THAT STUPID MECHANICAL CAT... still a phenomenal game and one of the few I actually finished till the end here. I also love the Dalmatians game. Man - looking back on this, this collection has some absolute bangers. What does my collection lack? No Spyro, no Tomb Raider, no Odd World, no Final Fantasy 7, no Ape Escape, no PaRappa, no Silent Hill, no Twisted Metal, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, or Castlevania, but yanno what? It's special to me this collection. I give this console a damn solid 8/10 with how many good games there were on the backend. Playstation 2 Top 10 Playstation 2 Games: #1. Sonic Heroes #2. Shrek 2 #3. Kingdom Hearts 2 #4. Kingdom Hearts #5. Need for Speed: Underground 2 #6. Mary-Kate and Ashley Sweet 16 #7. Sitting Ducks #8. Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures #9. Sonic Riders #10. Gran Turismo 4 List of All Playstation 2 Games: Spoiler #1. Barbie's Horse Adventures #2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory #3. Crash Nitro Kart #4. Chicken Little #5. Curious George #6. Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future #7. FIFA 06 #8. Gran Turismo 4 #9. Graffiti Kingdom #10. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown #11. Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 #12. Kingdom Hearts #13. Kingdom Hearts 2 #14. Mary-Kate and Ashley Sweet 16 #15. Madagascar #16. MX vs. ATV Unleashed #17. Micro Machines v4 #18. Madden 07 #19. MLB The Show 07 #20. NBA Live 07 #21. NHL 07 #22. Need for Speed: Underground 2 #23. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 #24. Power Rangers: Dino Thunder #25. Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures #26. Spider-Man 2 #27. Suzuki TT Superbikes #28. Sly 2: Band of Thieves #29. Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure #30. Swing Away Golf #31. Strike Force: Bowling #32. Sonic Mega Collection #33. Sonic Riders #34. Sonic Heroes #35. Sitting Ducks #36. Scooby-Doo Mystery Mayhem #37. Shrek 2 #38. Snoopy vs. The Red Baron #39. Spongebob Squarepants: Lights, Camera, Pants! #40. Tak and the Power of Juju #41. Tak and the Great Juju Challenge #42. The Incredibles #43. The Cat in the Hat #44. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger #45. Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo Reflection: This is the console when I was a bit older and finally could properly play and try to beat some of these games. I'm not apologizing - that Barbie game was legit good. That Charlie and the Chocolate Factory game was proper difficult and all I remember is the 1st level. I can't believe I never played Crash Bandicoot yet owned the racing game. I remember Chicken Little dodgeball and driving around which i thought was the coolest thing ever. I remember being scared of the Ecco the Dolphin game cuz I'm scared of being deep under-water in darkness in the ocean (and whaddya know I still feel that way - see: Subnautica). The menus from GT4 are ingrained in my memory and I kinda wanna get back into the franchise since this is the only time I ever experienced it. Graffiti Kingdom sticks out in my memory because of your ability to draw anything you wanted and then actually be able to play as that thing in the open world levels (I kinda... wanna see something like that for the PS5) Kingdom Hearts is incredible and a beloved childhood memory - there's a reason I spent $60 for KH3 as a new release considering I NEVER do that given how cheap you can get games on sale. I will say - it's funny since I never understood any of the Final Fantasy characters being in the game. The Mary Kate and Ashley games were bangers, great mini-games. Sneaking past the guards in the zoo as Marty in Madagascar? THE CRANE LEVEL??? Don't even (@) me if you don't think of Riders on the Storm simply when reading about NFS: Underground 2. The crashes in that game were SO MUCH fun. That Power Rangers game where you stomp around as a dinosaur is etched into my memory. I also feel like I should point - in case you haven't noticed, 2007 was around the year I started getting into sports (and boy oh boy how little did my mom know this would be a lifelong affair). That Shamu game is Sea World propaganda. I finally played a Spyro game! The 6th in the franchise (not one of the first 3 that's in the reignited trilogy). I always knew I owned a Sly game but don't remember progressing much because I sucked at it. In Swing Away Golf I remember purposefully missing awfully so the big guy with the goattee would smash the camera in anger. Bowling was fun. NOW MORE SONIC GAMES: I don't remember the Sonic Mega Collection at all, BUUUUUT - Sonic Riders? Love that game - and the Xbox 360 Free Riders was even better. But the greatest Sonic game I have ever played? It has to be Sonic Heroes. That game is immaculate. It is so wonderfully built with that memorable beloved casino level to being able to play as different teams with different goals, (Amy's team was SUPER EASY, Sonic's was like medium, Shadow's team was my favorite and then the Gator team always had bizarre objectives). I loved the levels where you directly faced another team head-to-head. That game is a 9/10 for me, no joking whatsoever. Sitting Ducks was basically Grand Theft Auto for children. Utterly marvelous game although there was one level where you had to chase something down and I could NEVER beat it as a child. I never played the Scooby Doo game since it scared me too much with it's creepy cover. I LOVE THAT SHREK 2 GAME! SOOOOOOOOO GOOD! Stomping around the castle grounds with your team of 4? The scary trolls? Puss n' Boots kicking your teams ASS with the rhythm game you had to play. THE POTION LEVEL? One of the rare games I 1000% remember completing down to the very end. That game is also a 9/10 for me. The Tak games were decent. The Incredibles was a fun game where you had to take down the 4-legged robot machine. Finally, the Wallace & Gromit games always made me feel a bit uncomfortable with their art style. This console generation was incredible man. It lacks Katamari Damacy, Raw Danger, Bully, Jak & Daxter, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Ratchet & Clank, Okami, GTA, and Metal Gear but what it does have? I love to death. I give this console a 9/10 as it was a time when I was really coming into my own gaming wise. Nintendo Gamecube Top 10 Gamecube Games: #1. Harvest Moon: A Magical Melody #2. Animal Crossing #3. Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure #4. Super Mario Sunshine #5. Super Monkey Ball #6. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life #7. Teen Titans #8. Shrek: Smack n' Crash #9. Mario Kart: Double Dash #10. Barnyard List of All Gamecube Games: Spoiler #1. Animal Crossing #2. Barnyard #3. Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure #4. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat #5. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life #6. Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life #7. Harvest Moon: A Magical Melody #8. Happy Feet #9. Hot Wheels: The World Race #10. Ice Age 2 The Meltdown #11. Mario Party 4 #12. Mario Party 5 #13. Mario Party 6 #14. Mario Party 7 #15. Mario Kart: Double Dash #16. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour #17. Madden 04 #18. Madden 07 #19. NFL 2k3 #20. NHL 06 #21. Shrek: Smack n' Crash #22. Shrek Super Party #23. Sonic: Mega Collection #24. Sonic: Gems Collection #25. Super Monkey Ball #26. Super Monkey Ball Adventure #27. Super Mario Sunshine #28. Teen Titans #29. 1080 Avalanche Reflection: I can't believe I actually own a Gamecube... my mom is awesome. How the hell did she know to buy Animal Crossing? One of the rare games I may just give a 10/10 due to my nostalgia glasses and how deeply it affected me in the sense of loving video games as chill games where you take care and become part of a community in a village chilling catching bugs and fishing. The game is an All-Timer (oh and it's better than New Horizons don't care what anybody tells me). I'll take catching Red Snapper's back in the day for 3k bells and hunting down beetles by the beach any time when the call arrives. How about Barnyard? A fantastic open world game where you could just goof off in. Kinda like another GTA for kids. CHIBI-ROBO??? WAS THE GAMECUBE REALLY THIS INCREDIBLE? So fun fact: Chibi-Robo actually sells for A LOT of money on eBay and Amazon so while I wouldn't part with it cause - come on, it's my collection - this game is fantastic and I still think it ages well today. Wandering around this home with this wacky family of a daughter who's a frog, picking up chips, plugging yourself in to save, cleaning up the house, it deserved better than the shambolic advertising it's gotten from Nintendo. I'm just glad to say I'm one of the relatively few who own a copy! If you don't own one of those Donkey Kong bongos that you had no place to store after a few months playing this game - you are everybody child from the early 2000s ever. Now we get to some more phenomenal games... Harvest Moon baby! This is where I fell in love with the franchise, just before it died. You have A Wonderful Life - which I actually purchased again on the PS4 and platinumed!!! Only gave it a 6ish rating but I loved it a lot on the Gamecube. Then we bought Another Wonderful Life cuz now you could play as a girl. But how about... Harvest Moon: A Magical Melody? Watch the let's play by DeltaShinyZeta. I've watched every episode. I've played the game for 100+ hours. I've earned EVERY melody note to give to the Harvest Goddess. I am not kidding when I say I think about this game once a week. If I were to ever become a billionaire, I would move heaven and earth to buy this IP and find a way to get this remade and available on modern consoles + PC - THAT'S how much I love this game. It's one of my Top 10 games of All-Time. I love the mining, I married Ann, taking care of your cute chibi characters, Theodore the Mayor, nothing compares to this game and it is the apex of the Harvest Moon franchise. Better than 64, better than Friends of Mineral Town, it's not a debate. I love you HM and I wish you hadn't died during the split of Marvelous and Natsume, but at least Eric Barone with Stardew Valley picked up the pieces after you fell apart. Why... do I own a PS2 and Gamecube version of Ice Age 2? Anyways, I remember having fun playing the Mario Party games with my sister. I'd be lying if I said I remember a favorite in the series. What I do remember? Mario Kart Double Dash! The city level with the giant worm was so much fun, and my favorite crew was Donkey and Diddy Kong or Yoshi and his girl. The volcano level is also iconic. Love how it went in the unique style of having two characters per kart. I can't believe I owned sports games on the Gamecube though... have a freaking 2k NFL game from 2003! Before any Madden I owned! This will be a theme in the Xbox 360 days soon to come. Not gonna lie - the menus and commentary back then and franchise depth is better than it is today. Back to Shrek. Why were his video games so good? How did they do it? That racing game was SO much fun. The party game was very solid as well. I don't remember either of the Sonic games pretty much at all. Super Monkey Ball on the other hand? Iconic. Love the announcers voice and the sheer difficulty even as I always kept dying. I do remember not enjoying Adventure as much since it was now "open world" and that wasn't conducive to the fun fast-paced game of the original. Sunshine was fun cause of the beach aesthetic (South Floridian here), the goofy villagers, but the red M scared me. Finally, I'll say that the children of this generation deserve a good fun beat-em-up crew like Teen Titans was for the Gamecube. All in all, this console has very fewer games than the previous 2 but man... the quality that it does have? Exceptional. Genuinely some of my most cherished gaming moments are here. No Viewtiful Joe, Zelda, Metroid Prime, Luigi's Mansion, Star Fox, Smash Bros, or Pikmin but I had my own gems in there. I'm giving this a 8.8 / 10 only being docked a few points below the Playstation 2 since it does have over 15 fewer games to play. Xbox 360 Top 10 Xbox 360 Games: #1. Viva Piñata #2. NBA 2k11 #3. NFL Head Coach 09 #4. All-Pro Football 2k8 #5. Toy Story 3 #6. Portal 2 #7. Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise #8. MLB 2k11 #9. FIFA World Cup 2010: South Africa #10. Need for Speed: Most Wanted List of All Xbox 360 Games: Spoiler #1. All-Pro Football 2k8 #2. Create #3. FIFA World Cup 2010: South Africa #4. FIFA 11 #5. FIFA 12 #6. FIFA 13 #7. FIFA 14 #8. Fantastic Pets #9. Forza Horizon #10. Import Tuner Challenge #11. Kinect Adventures #12. MLB 2k7 #13. MLB 2k8 #14. MLB 2k10 #15. MLB 2k11 #16. MLB 2k12 #17. Madden 08 #18. Madden 09 #19. Madden 10 #20. Madden 11 #21. Madden 12 #22. Madden 13 #23. Madden 25 #24. NFL Head Coach 09 #25. NBA Live 10 #26. NBA 2k11 #27. NBA 2k12 #28. NBA 2k13 #29. NBA 2k14 #30. NHL 2k9 #31. NHL 11 #32. NHL 12 #33. NHL 13 #34. NHL 14 #35. NFL Tour #36. Need for Speed: Pro Street #37. Need for Speed: Most Wanted #38. Professional Drag Racing 2005 #39. Portal 2 #40. Sega Superstars Tennis #41. Sonic Free Riders #42. Shrek the Third #43. The Sims 3 #44. The Sims 3 Pets #45. Toy Story 3 #46. Viva Piñata #47. Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Reflection: Do you know when... a character takes a "dark" turn to prove they're more edgy and adult? Like a Disney actress now doing stuff that's wayyyyyyy out there to prove she's not a kids star anymore? This is my version of that - and you're able to tell simply by the display of games I have here. Let's start with the good though. All-Pro Football 2k8 is the best football video game created in the last 15 years. You heard me. it is that excellent. I didn't play NFL 2k5, but the animations and physics based tackling of 2k8, despite the limitations of it being all HOF players and no real teams (if it had a franchise mode... my god), it'd be GOAT-tier. The game is a 9/10 and I miss running flea flickers with Dan Marino and John Taylor. I also got into football, or soccer as Americans call it after the 2010 World Cup with all the vuvuzelas and rooting for Spain over Netherlands in the final. That 2010 World Cup game was fantastic! I also remember enjoying FIFA 12 due to the introduction of Ultimate Team.... letting did I know it would become a soul-less blood sucking cancer that would ruin sports video games. But that's a post for another time. **** Kinect and everything that it deceived and derailed Xbox for a number of years. Now it's time... for the wave of sports games. Yup - I became a full-blown junkie on these games. I played Ultimate Team, I loved Franchise Mode and making the Dolphins great, I loved MyCareer (I remember playing as Trent Edwards on the Buffalo Bills specifically) - it was everything for me. First, the MLB 2k games. No - I wasn't on Playstation so I didn't have "The Show" anymore. Instead I had MLB 2k, and I loved it! I still remember the pitching animations and loving the games with Verlander and Halladay on the covers. The series would be cancelled after MLB 2k13 (didn't purchase) and they instead would focus on the NBA and WWE games. This is partially a major factor as to why I jumped ship from Xbox back to Playstation, I wanted a realistic baseball game I could play. After that, you have the Madden games! Man... these games... I spent so much time playing them. I would be talking online with my squeaky voice during head-to-head matchups and everything. But looking back, the presentation in those games gets so UGLY from Madden 12 and onwards. I HATE how they titled "Madden 14 ---> Madden 25", the whole franchise is just gross and I'm glad I'm off that narcotic (not until PS4 era though). Another great football game though? NFL Head Coach 09 is FANTASTIC. Tony Dungy on the cover, it was gonna be great. You could design your own plays, the draft and re-signing was deep, you couldn't play in games but we NEED a modern day version of this. I remember Albert Haynesworth always being the biggest free agent signing in the offseason - man do I wanna go back and play this given the hours I sunk into it. The NBA2k franchise on the other hand? YOU HAD TO BE THERE WHEN 2K11 DROPPED. It had the GOAT on the cover in Michael Jordan. It lived up to the hype. I remember losing my mind when I saw he would stick his tongue out when he free throw line dunked. That game is an All-Time classic. The following iterations were good too. Of course, I'm a bit biased that this era was the GOAT for NBA2k games since the Big 3 Heat were running rampant with Bron, D-Wade, and Bosh and man was it fun seeing them in action. 2k14 during the LeBron Legacy Mode tryna win like 9 rings with him and my beloved Miami Heat was a blast. Shame it wasn't on the next-gen version. After that you have the NHL games. I am one of the few people on the planet to own MLB2k and NHL2k games! Yes! My favorite one to play though was NHL 11 since I remember loving Evander Kane and playing as an Atlanta Thrasher (a team that no longer exists). I also got really into a YouTuber by the name of 2BCProductions2BC during this time and that's why I bought so many NHL games during this era as opposed to before and after leading to relatively few since. For the final stretch of games, you have NFS: Most Wanted (2012) and what I remember most is a YouTuber named Nepenthez put me on it and it had the amazing song "I drove my car into a bridge I don't care". I distinctly remember playing that Drag Racing game and thinking "wow this game sucks" even as a child. Portal 2 is amazing and I understand all the love it gets and then some. Sonic Free Riders is a game I see get A LOT of hate online - I freaking enjoyed it! Solid 7.5 / 10 for me I had fun racing against the CPU and playing as the whole cast and crew of Sonic games. This console also ended up being my last without a Shrek game... that's a bit sad. Toy Story was a surprisingly fantastic movie tie-in game with so much to do in it's open world.... and then you have the GOAT of the Xbox 360 Days in my mind. Viva Piñata. No matter what console it is, I will find a way to obtain my peaceful deeply relaxing farming/caring for animals/villagers simulator. Do you know how I said if I were a billionaire I'd bring HM: Magical Melody to modern consoles? I'd make Viva Piñata 3 for all platforms with that money and authority as well. All in all, the Xbox 360 generation for me was marred by unbelievable highs and lows. I had THREE Xbox 360's suffer "red rings of death" - and given how much of a stupid child I was, that sucks as it slowly degraded away my love for console games for awhile. I remember loving the Xbox 360 for the first 3-4ish years, and then falling off in favor of my love for Alpha Minecraft and playing that on PC a crap-ton. The end of the life cycle for the 360 really out on a whimper for me and it led to me switching back to Playstation (thankfully). I feel like Xbox 360 "won" it's generation over Playstation, but if it did, it had a 24-0 lead and ending up barely winning by 1-2 points with all their screw-ups and love for the Kinect above all things. This generation will forever be defined for me as a "I love all sports games" meanwhile the game that ultimately shone through couldn't be further from that genre. All in all, I give the Xbox 360 a 7.2 / 10 given it is the first console that was truly "mine". Nintendo Wii Top 10 Wii Games: #1. Animal Crossing: City Folk #2. Wii Sports #3. Mario Kart Wii #4. Endless Ocean #5. My Sims #6. Wii Fit #7. Epic Mickey #8. Wii Sports Resort #9. Wii Play #10. Super Mario Galaxy List of All Wii Games: Spoiler #1. Animal Crossing: City Folk #2. Carnival Games #3. Cooking Mama: World Kitchen #4. Disney Think Fast #5. Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter #6. Endless Ocean #7. Endless Ocean: Blue World #8. Epic Mickey #9. Harvest Moon: Animal Parade #10. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility #11. Hasbro Family Game Night #12. Hello Kitty Seasons #13. Jambo! Safari #14. Lost Blue: Ship Wrecked #15. Mario & Sonic at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games #16. Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games #17. Mario Kart Wii #18. Mario Party 8 #19. My Sims #20. My Sims Kingdom #21. Monopoly #22. NBA Live 09 #23. Pet Resort #24. Petz Dogz 2 #25. Petz Sports #26. Pixar's Up #27. Super Mario Galaxy #28. Super Mario Bros Wii #29. Sim Animals #30. Space Camp #31. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 #32. The Dog Island #33. Wii Sports #34. Wii Sports Resort #35. Wii Play #36. Wii Fit #37. World of Zoo Reflection: Oh boy the Wii... thankfully we're starting off on a high note! If you put a gun to my head and asked me which Animal Crossing was better, the Gamecube or the Wii version - I wouldn't know what to tell you. I remember playing. A LOT of the Wii version of the game but I'd have to actually go back and see how much time I invested in it to give a proper estimate. It's still a 9/10 no question. I remember playing that Carnival Games a fair amount and I think it was actually pretty decent. Cooking Mama is so cool to have just from an old relic standpoint. Endless Ocean is special to me as I remember my sister loved playing it since I was too scared to (why did I have all these underwater ocean games if I was scared of them?) I'm surprised there isn't an Endless Ocean 3. Epic Mickey is so unique and I remember thinking it was a cool game even while very young. Harvest Moon: Animal Parade was the first game I remember thinking "this is kinda ugly". I know, sacrilege but I'm being serious. I do remember being confused about trying to find the bells of different colors. I have close to 0 memories of playing HM: ToT if I'm being honest. Maybe the series peaked with HM: MM for me and was never the same since (also blame Natsume). I remember not enjoying Lost Blue. I remember playing the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games A LOT - specifically, the 2008 edition. Mario Kart Wii is a fantastic game and we still have the little racing wheels that went along with them. The shopping mall level was our favorite. My Sims is excellent and there's a lot of people who really love it based on what I've been able to discern online. When I die, bury with my NBA Live 09 Wii copy. Those Petz games were just.... awful - why did we play them? Just because we loved puppies. I'm personally glad that Up is one of the few movie-tie-in games here, there were far too many on previous generations. Here is where I'm going to make my boldest proclamation of this post yet. Super Mario Galaxy? I liked it. I remember playing it. But it wasn't this landmark 10/10 #1 game of this entire console generations life game for me like it is for so many others. I kind of remember Super Mario Bros Wii more fondly due to all the hours I played with my sister. I remember my mom buying me Space Camp and still instantly hating it when I saw it that I never played it (only game I ever distinguishably remember thinking like this). I remember playing a lot of hours on that PGA Tour 10 game that I'm surprised I never bought another one given how much I enjoyed the career mode. That Dog Island Game is cursed. Finally, we get to the icons of the Wii platform. Do you know the concept of a small child enjoying a cardboard box more than an extremely expensive toy? That's me with the Wii and the Wii games. I LOVE these games and played them to death. Wii Sports Baseball? The tennis? The bowling? Oh man. Wii Sports Resort's iconic plane flying around the island which I thought was the coolest thing in the world + the jousting sword mechanics. Wii Play is iconic because of the magnificent tanks mini-game that I would spend hours on. Oh and Wii Fit? I still have my Wii Board even though I haven't used it in 5+ years. All in all, in hindsight, the Wii is a bit better than I remember. I thought this was going to approach Gamebody Advance territories with the shovelware games on here - and the bad here is the worse than other consoles, but it's still overall positive memories. I'll give the Wii generation a 6.8 / 10 with acknowledgement that I get why this could be somebody's All-Time favorite system and everything. Playstation 4 Top 10 Playstation 4 Games: #1. Persona 5 #2. Dead Cells #3. Slay the Spire #4. Batman: Arkham Knight #5. Horizon Zero Dawn #6. NBA2k15 #7. Marvel's Spider-Man #8. MLB The Show 16 #9. Kingdom Hearts 3 #10. Tropico 5 List of All Playstation 4 Games: Spoiler #1. Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations #2. Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders #3. Batman: Arkham Knight #4. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons #5. Dead Cells #6. Dragon Quest Builders #7. Dragon Quest Builders 2 #8. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below #9. Final Fantasy XV #10. FIFA 14 #11. FIFA 15 #12. FIFA 16 #13. FIFA 17 #14. FIFA 18 #15. FIFA 19 #16. FIFA 20 #17. Horizon Zero Dawn #18. Kingdom Hearts 3 #19. Knack #20. LittleBigPlanet 3 #21. MLB The Show 14 #22. MLB The Show 15 #23. MLB The Show 16 #24. MLB The Show 17 #25. MLB The Show 18 #26. Madden 25 #27. Madden 15 #28. Madden 16 #29. Madden 17 #30. Madden 18 #31. Madden 19 #32. Marvel's Spider-Man #33. NBA2k15 #34. NBA 2k16 #35. NBA 2k17 #36. NBA 2k18 #37. Need for Speed: Rivals #38. Persona 5 #39. Risk of Rain 2 #40. Slay the Spire #41. Subnautica #42. Tropico 5 #43. The Crew 2 #44. The Last Guardian #45. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Reflection: We've hit modern times! But man.. that jump feels GIGANTIC. Yanno why? The Wii was just sorta there towards the end and I bailed on Xbox 360 after all the red rings of death that I had a brief run as a "PC" gamer playing all day Minecraft, Zoo Tycoon 2, and Faster than Light. Eventually in early 2014 I got a Playstation 4 and it's the console that has been with me through maturation to make this GIGANTIC masturbatory post about every game I've ever owned so I'd say that's significant. Agatha Christie is a really weird game to have so that's cool. Arkham: Knight is the best Batman game and I think about it often with how much I want another one. Brothers is really near and dear to many people. Dead Cells is immaculate. Dragon Quest Builders was such an ambitious idea that they were able to take it, expand upon it, and improve it in virtually every way in the sequel (that will eventually have a review down the line). The remaining Dragon Quest game was my 1st one ever and I only paid $5 for it. I overpaid. Final Fantasy XV I also bought for $5 and I haven't actually played it - my sister has! (and she really likes telling people she's played it). Look at FIFA 16 with my unbelievably extensive Swansea City franchise on Operation Sports... OR my Crystal Palace one on FIFA 18. FIFA is probably the most competent sports franchise going (that's going to make some people mad) but I really believe it. It's the only latest edition sports game I own physically. FIFA 20 was fun because I gave myself the challenge of trying to earn the platinum as quickly as possible and ended up in the Top 5 at the time of my accomplishment. Will I buy FIFA 21? Who knows... maybe when it comes down in price - we'll see. Horizon Zero Dawn is a game I look very kindly upon new and I am VERY excited for the sequel and think it has the potential be a 9/10 caliber game for me. Kingdom Hearts 3 is a game I can't believe finally arrived but it did... I hope the wait for an inevitable Kingdom Hearts 4 isn't too long. I know some people weren't left very impressed with KH3 and it's more better remembered as your "kids" game, but I had a fun time with it. Knack is permanently marred by the fact any video or commentary associated it will be followed by hundreds of comments saying "KNACK IS BACK BABY WOOO" from Dunkey's video. Now we're going to notice a returning trend from the Xbox 360 days. It took me awhile to ween off the narcotic that was sports games, and what you're seeing is the remaining residue of me "getting clean". MLB The Show is a good franchise though! It's not physically owned but MLB The Show 19 has a fun Diamond Dynasty mode where you can get 99 OVR's without paying money. The prior entries were proper fun as well. Check out my MLB The Show franchise with the Marlins at nearly 50k views on Operation Sports! KURT RUSH BABY!!!! I love going back and reading my dorky posts about playing such exciting games. Lemme say though... the sheer amount of effort that went into those posts is NUTS. Anyways, as for Madden - ask anybody and they will tell you the franchise has stunk for over a decade. I'm not going to disagree. Blame Ultimate Team. That being said - I do have two extensive franchise modes in Madden 15 with the Detroit Lions as well as an extensive Madden 17 franchise with the Miami Dolphins. HOW ON EARTH DID I WRITE THAT MUCH BACK THEN? How does it have nearly 50k views? I LOVE going back and reading them though. I went 9-7 and lost to the Patriots in heart-breaking fashion in the Wildcard Round. I then went 12-4 the next year, was playing fantastic, and got spanked by the KC Chiefs in the Divisional Round. OUCH! That's so awesome though looking back on it. Too bad none of the recent Madden's have given me those memories. Spider-Man is pretty good though! OH MY GOD MY NBA 2k15 FRANCHISE WITH THE HEAT THOUGH? It has 100k+ views on Operation Sports. I won so many NBA titles after LeBron left. It's hilarious. I tried re-creating the magic for 2k18 but it just wasn't the same. The franchise while incredible for MyLeague has been bogged down with MyCareer storylines (Frequency Vibrations, Prez) and microtransactions. But yanno... looking back on it, that NBA 2k18 franchise was actually really freaking dope! It doesn't have nearly the posts or views but that's the fondest closest memory I have from my franchise days. Moving on - Persona 5 is the greatest Playstation 4 game I have ever played. I would be surprised if it were to lose that mantle before the Playstation 5 comes out. Slay the Spire is magnificent and anyone who likes a challenging roguelite should play it. Subnautica maintains my history of playing ridiculously scary underwater games across all console generations. Tropico 5 is tremendous fun as well. Finally, you have the opposite of that in The Last Guardian. All in all, the Playstation 4 has been very good to me. I've had 0 issues with it's hardware, it's been the generation that saw me grow from my sports self into a variety gamer and have the pleasure of enjoying so many unique experiences. I discovered trophy hunting which led me to this forum that I'm using right now. What makes this a little more tricky to compile is the fact I don't own all my games physically anymore. Digital became huge this generation. Games like Stardew Valley, Pyre, and Gravity Rush Remastered I "own" but not a physical license. Kinda seems like the next generation will likely be the last with people properly having physical discs of their games. Regardless, even though we haven't hit the very end of the life cycle of the game console just yet, I am willing to give it the Playstation 4 a console rating of a 9.25 / 10. Yup - it's the best console I have ever owned to date. Let's hope the Playstation 5 lives up it to its predecessor. WOW I WRITE A LOT DON'T I? This was a ton of fun though. NOW WORD OF NOTE: This does not include the Nintendo Switch I own (Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses) since it's so small it's not even worth putting up in this class of consoles. This also doesn't include the likely 1,000+ hours I have invested in Minecraft at the end of the Xbox 360 / Wii life cycle. I also adore Faster than Light, played Kerbal Space Program, and have Zoo Tycoon 2 and the Nancy Drew Games on PC. I will naturally play less video games as I get older (it's a fact of life) but I hope I can squeeze the juice of the best it has to offer to get as many wonderful experiences as I've gathered from this bunch. Before I conclude, let's take a look at how my collection of games compares to the opinion of Metacritic and their All-Time great games. Basically, I'm going to demonstrate why anybody who uses Metacritic for anything other than a number to look at and say "oh" is an idiot. But yanno what? Let's leave that post for another time. Something this post is long enough as it is without any further ranting. This post serves as a historical document to my video gaming prowess. To the person who's reading this - WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR TIME? Thanks for reading. My Personal Console Rankings: #1. Playstation 4 (9.25) #2. Playstation 2 (9.00) #3. Gamecube (8.80) #4. Playstation 1 (8.00) #5. Xbox 360 (7.20) #6. Nintendo Wii (6.80) #7. Gameboy Advance (6.00) P.S. - The Nintendo DS would prolly above Gameboy but below the Wii and the Switch would prolly be a 7/10 given my use thus far. Edited July 20, 2020 by realm722 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 Game: LEGO Ninjago Movie: The Videogame Analysis: I got this game for free in mid-May 2020 because... I guess they just made it available for free for awhile? It's honestly pretty smart on their behalf - the Lego games are a gigantic franchise and making one of them will inevitably bring along a few new fans that enjoy the games and will purchase the plethora of other releases, either cuz these are good kids games and the platinums are fairly straightforward and simple. How did I feel about it? It's okay. It's honestly impressive the sheer amount of characters and designs they have along with some different game modes and all. But... let's just say I don't want to play another LEGO game for at least another 2-3+ years unless another one comes out for free. The reason? 1) This game felt like it was going to implode at any time. The polish isn't all there. There are glitches, and this game chugs like crazy. Loading different levels takes forever and you always kinda slightly hold your breath that the whole game isn't going to crash. It crashed twice on me. That's just not a very fun experience to have while playing a game. 2) The side content is... not great. The random golden blocks and using different characters to get to obscure locations is fine. I liked the races (though they were VERY easy), and the side quests were generally not good. I get that it's a collect-a-thon... and honestly all the little lego pieces being collected is kinda fun to collect, but it's the sorta fun that's empty calories and junk food from McDonald's. Not bad once in a blue moon, but don't make a habit of it. I completely ignored the story and the fact the cutscenes aren't skippable is awful. How do video games still do this? I understand the hard work and effort placed in making them but it's antagonistically anti-consumer. How are the trophies? Nothing too awful as long as nothing glitches out on you. Collecting all the gold bricks at the end is boring. But if you follow packattack's YouTube videos on them and have another video/podcast playing you'll survive. It took me 1 week and 2 days to achieve this 26.95% rarity platinum. I'm kind of in a difficult spot right now that I'm approaching 100 platinums and don't have a big game in mind for a milestone like I did previously with Persona 5 and Dead Cells so... we shall see what I come up. In the meantime, I'm probably gonna go back and try and tackle a few white whale's that have escaped by possession (cough The Last Guardian and Unravel Two cough) Panda Score: 6 / 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 (edited) Metacritic is a Bad Source for Rating Video Games - Let's See Why Game: LOL hell no I'm not playing Overwatch, does my 100+ game catalogue make you think that's my lane? I just dig Tracer's look. So in my long winded post covering every video game I ever owned, I made a point about how Metacritic is an awful source to use for rating video games - past or present in my mind. This applies to anybody who is generally beyond a "casual" gamer status. Listen, if a mom is browsing a cool video game to get for her kid, fine - she'll get her son GTA 5 or Witcher 3 and win MOTY for her selection 9 times out of 10 - but kids generally know what they wanna play nowadays (it tends to be what all their friends in school are playing). What about the video game connoisseur? He who alleges to have tastes so refined that they're reading an extensive post by one random user on a website completely dedicated to achievement hunting on a console? What the hell can Metacritic do for that man? Next to nothing! For I'm here to prove why this system of letting user ratings (which can be dictated by the mob of many and so often manipulated especially on games that don't receive gigantic coverage like a Ghost of Tsushima or Paper Mario: Origami King) that it even makes trusting "professional video game reviewing" websites pointless when you see the types of games that are about to be highly rated. (Warning: A LOT of sports games back in the day were treated like the second coming of Another World) So without further ado - let's go through this list for each game console I've ever owned! Red in the top 10 means I own it! Gameboy Advance SP Top 10 Gameboy Advance SP Games (By Metacritic): #1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (95) #2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (95) #3. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (94) #4. Mario Kart Super Circuit (93)#5. Advance Wars (92) #6. Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (92) #7. Metroid Fusion (92) #8. Final Fantasy VI Advance (92) #9. Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (91) #10. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (91) List of My Gameboy Advance SP Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler literally just Donkey Kong Country 2 - Ranked 86 Analysis: Aight - I can't really front... I don't really remember my Gameboy Advance SP days all that well. I don't even really know what I missed out on - so I can't complain too much over these selections. I'm a bit upset that I never got those Harvest Moon: Friend of Mineral Town games since I bet I would have absolutely adored them. To be fair, this is actually one of the more reasonable rankings list for Top 100 games on a game console. They've got some Fire Emblem tossed about in there, Mega Man, of course some Pokemon - it does kinda suck that I can't sort by user rating and instead have to click on each one individually to see the "general" consensus. By parting final thought... man I wished I had played a Metroid Prime game at some point in my early youth since it seems to be a genre of games that the people who love, REALLY love. Given I've literally enjoyed "Metroidvania's" from Guacamelee! to Hollow Knight - getting a taste of the origin like I enjoyed with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night would be really cool. Besides that... handheld consoles - underrated! I think if I traveled more I would get the love people have for them (the freaking Switch people...) Overall, 1 of 27 my GBA games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. 3.70% rate of success. Nice. ANYWAYS - LET'S MOVE ON! Playstation 1 Top 10 Playstation 1 Games (By Metacritic): #1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (98) #2. Tekken 3 (96) #3. Gran Turismo (96) #4. Final Fantasy IX (94)#5. Chrono Cross (94) #6. Metal Gear Solid (94) #7. Gran Turismo 2 (93) #8. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (93) #9. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (93) #10. Wipeout XL (93) List of My Playstation 1 Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Chicken Run - Ranked #96 Toy Story 2 - Ranked #97 Analysis: Damn... you would think the Tony Hawk's games were basically the Grand Theft Auto's of the early era of gaming with how highly rated these were. Also Tekken and Street Fighter? I can't imagine a fighting game out of Smash Bros being rated that highly nowadays. Your Gran Turismo's are of course beloved, and it's nice to see a game I played - albeit decades later, in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night making an appearance! It's good! Prolly don't rate it as high as somebody who played the game upon release but still, I get the love for it given the atmosphere it gives. Other games that I find notable are Final Fantasy 7 is ranked 13th, you have PaRappa the Rapper at 15th, having played the Remaster I really like it. It only has a 7.6 user score though - why? Cuz Sophie from 2005 wrote "EEEK - it's so wrong, slurp it, suck it, with lyrics like that, I gotta say I'm speechless" - was trolling a thing back then? Internet Historians let me known. Spyro: Year of the Dragon is 17th, played it, it's pretty aight on the Reignited Trilogy. Some Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, and the appearance of some NHL and Madden sports games receiving 88's! This is where I admit.... Toy Story 2 isn't my highest ranked game in the Top 100. It's ranked 97th. Chicken Run somehow is ranked 96th! They each got 75's on Metacritic. Barely any of my games got reviewed, which makes sense - the PS1 released in 1994 so... fair enough. Overall, 2 of my 49 Playstation 1 games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 4.08% rate of success. Yikes! Playstation 2 Top 10 Playstation 2 Games (By Metacritic): #1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (97) #2. Grand Theft Auto III (97) #3. Resident Evil 4 (96) #4. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (96) #5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (95) #6. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (95) #7. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (95) #8. Madden NFL 2003 (95) #9. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (94) #10. Devil May Cry (94) List of My Playstation 2 Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 - Ranked 64th Gran Turismo 4 - Ranked 68th Sly 2: Band of Thieves - Ranked 81st Kingdom Hearts II - Ranked 99th Analysis: Ayyo dawg I heard you liked Gran Theft Auto. Could you imagine if Rockstar released 3 different GTA's for the era of Playstation 5? Hah... lemme say, the Playstation 2 was such a freaking cool console. I have so many games from it, I remember it fondly since it felt like games really made that jump graphically and there are SO MANY games for it due to it being the best selling console of All-Time. Over 155 million sold! But this is also where you saw the ridiculous amount of sports games plaguing the Top 100... even as someone who loved sports games for a long time. Ignoring them, you have God of War at 15th, Burnout 3 at 17th, some SSX games, Okami 21st (great game even all these years later), of course some more Final Fantasy games, famously FFX, I'd like to get my hands on ESPN NFL Football, Klonoa, Ico, ESPN NFL 2k5 (WORTHY sports game ranked this high), the Jak series, Dragon Quest VIII, Silent Hill 2(great review by TheGamingBrit), Ratchet & Clank and Bully. Of course, there are up to 15 pages worth of games on Metacritic totalling over 1,500. Only 4 of mine cracked the Top 100. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 made it and somehow NFS: Underground 2 did not. You have GT4 which I put up here since it has a cool cover. Sly 2, and of course the Kingdom Hearts franchise with the 2nd entry just sliding in under the 100th game marker. These are all good games! Shrek 2 and Sonic Heroes were disrespected but I'll concede that those games being ranked so highly for me was a product of my age more than their quality. Overall, 4 of my 45 Playstation 2 games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 8.88% rate of success. Woo! Gamecube Top 10 Gamecube Games (By Metacritic): #1. Metroid Prime (97) #2. Resident Evil 4 (96) #3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (96) #4. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (96) #5. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (95) #6. Madden NFL 2004 (94) #7. SoulCalibur II (93) #8. Viewtiful Joe (93) #9. NFL 2k3 (92) #10. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (92) List of My Gamecube Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Madden NFL 2004 - Ranked 6th NFL 2k3 - Ranked 9th Super Mario Sunshine - Ranked 14th Mario Kart: Double Dash - Ranked 48th Animal Crossing - Ranked 49th Super Monkey Ball - Ranked 50th Harvest Moon: Magical Melody - Ranked 84th Madden 07 - Ranked 87th Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour - Ranked 100th Analysis: WE'VE GOT TWO GAMES IN THE TOP 10 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!... Madden 04 and NFL 2k3. Someone tell Price Charting that they need to make these games as valuable as Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and price them at north $80. Pretty hilarious looking at this list how high these games are - but let me share two brilliant NFL2k3 user reviews. BradS from August 2002 writes: "This is the must have for any true xbox enthusiast. This game is true to life in its player details and its gameplay. When xbox goes live this is the game to have, don't miss out on this one." 10/10! Then you have MatC who hits 'em with a 6/10 (prolly fair), in December 2002 saying "Sorry to burst the bubble, but this game isn't *that* good. He then dares you to play a game on 15 minute quarters. Thank you MatC for the perspective, being appreciated 18 years later. I've realized I've dedicated a good portion of my favorite Nintendo console to NFL2k3 but... that's how she goes sometimes. How about that Metroid Prime though? I wish I had played some of the Zelda games, or even better Viewtiful Joe given how great Okami HD was. Smash Bros Melee is ranked 13th. Pikimin is 27th (another game I wished I had played). The Gamecube deserved better given the gems it had, but not playing DVDs in the early 2000s had them finish in dead last compared to PS2/Xbox. In terms of my games though, man did I do well here! 3 of the 9 are sports games, but it's gor your Sunshines, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Balls', and my beloved HM: Magical Melody. Overall, 9 of my 29 Gamecube games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 31.03% rate of success. Overwhelmingly the best thus far! Xbox 360 Top 10 Xbox 360 Games (By Metacritic): #1. Grand Theft Auto IV (98) #2. Grand Theft Auto V (97) #3. BioShock (96) #4. The Orange Box (96) #5. Mass Effect 2 (96) #6. The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim (96) #7. Red Dead Redemption (95) #8. Portal 2 (95) #9. Batman: Arkham City (94) #10. Gears of War (94) List of My Xbox 360 Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Portal 2 - Ranked 8th FIFA 12 - Ranked 41st FIFA 13 - Ranked 52nd NBA2k12 - Ranked 54th NBA2k11 - Ranked 76th NHL 11 - Ranked 93rd FIFA 11 - Ranked 96th NBA2k13 - Ranked 100th Analysis: This is where I personally really feel the shift to the modern era of gaming. I mean, part of that is that GTA 5 is gonna be a launch title on the Playstation 5 but man... stuff like Left 4 Dead, Bayonetta, Mass Effect series and so forth. I do have Portal 2 and there are surprisingly 7 other sports games I know that managed to crack the Top 100. NBA2k11/12 being the most worthy by far. As someone who played Arkham: City in 2020 and really enjoyed it, I get the love it received (even though I still believe Arkham: Knight to be superior). Your Halo's, BioShock's, and wait Guitar Hero and Rock Band each got 92's? Arkham: Asylum got a 92 - probably one of those 10x more impressive upon release than in hindsight. The Walking Dead deserves it's ridiculously high rating with how impactful Lee and Clementine's relationship were. Dark Souls of course. Then you start seeing some Xbox Arcade titles like Super Meat Boy and Limbo make the list. I've played but do not own the likes of FEZ and Burnout Paradise and for the most part understood their appeal. As I mentioned in my previous post - Xbox 360 was a very strange growing pains console for me - I am disappointed that somehow neither Viva Piñata cracked this list. All in all, 8 of my 47 Xbox 360 games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 17.02% rate of success. Eh? Nintendo Wii Top 10 Wii Games (By Metacritic): #1. Super Mario Galaxy (97) #2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (97) #3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (95) #4. World of Goo (94) #5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (93) #6. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (93) #7. Rock Band 2 (92) #8. Xenoblade Chronicles (92) #9. Rayman Origins (92) #10. Rock Band 3 (91) List of My Wii Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Ranked 2nd Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 - Ranked 19th New Super Marios Bros. Wii - Ranked 22nd Mario Kart Wii - Ranked 66th Wii Sports Resort - Ranked 87th Wii Fit Plus - Ranked 89th Wii Fit - Ranked 99th Analysis: So a few points. 1) I wrote I owned Super Mario Galaxy. I actually only own the 2nd one! They came out 3 years apart (2007 for the 1st, 2010 for the 2nd) which seems mind-boggling to me. Even as someone who's never been a gigantic Mario fan - that cover art for the 2nd game is downright phenomenal. Of course, my extensive impressive Wii collection ends there. How the hell did Wii Sports only score a 7.6? You've got some guy on Metacritic named "LeVronYames" giving it a 0/10 and instead giving 3 different platforms "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" 10/10's calling it the best game of All-time. All reviews made on June 23rd, 2020... what? City Folk also scored a 7.3 which is insanely low for a huge release in a beloved franchise. Of course, this leads to user reviews dunking on critics about how they know nothing. That Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 game was legit really solid. Also - clicking on a random user "BaronMonaco's" Metacritic account has allowed m to achieve clarity on the website. Ignore everything that's a 10 and a 0. Then you will find actual opinions. This guy isn't a random one off and instead has 150+ reviews ranging from 6-9 range for most games. It's honestly pretty cool to get an instant grasp for someones gaming tastes. Regardless, back to the Wii... I think it's going to be Nintendo's console that easily ages the worst. It won't be as collectible as the Gamecube or SNES or Switch even. It was a fad, it was fun for the time, but besides the Wii Sports centric games it will not be the ideal place to play games that are cross-platform. Overall, 7 of my 37 Wii games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 18.91% rate of success! Better than I thought it'd be. Playstation 4 Top 10 Playstation 4 Games (By Metacritic): #1. Red Dead Redemption 2 (97) #2. Grand Theft Auto V (97) #3. Persona 5 Royal (95) #4. The Last of Us Remastered (95) #5. God of War (94) #6. The Last of Us Part II (94) #7. Persona 5 (93) #8. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (93) #9. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (93) #10. Journey (92) List of My Playstation 4 Games in Top 100 Metacritic: Spoiler Persona 5 - Ranked 7th Uncharted 4 - Ranked 9th (DIGITAL) Journey - Ranked 10th (DIGITAL) Shadow of the Colossus - Ranked 16th (DIGITAL) Celeste - Ranked 18th (DIGITAL) FEZ - Ranked 27th (DIGITAL) Titanfall 2 - Ranked 35th (DIGITAL) Bastion - Ranked 39th Horizon Zero Dawn - Ranked 44th (DIGITAL) What Remains of Edith Finch - Ranked 46th (DIGITAL) Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration - Ranked 49th NBA2k17 - Ranked 50th Slay the Spire - Ranked 55th (DIGITAL) Owlboy - Ranked 56th (DIGITAL) Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition - Ranked 62nd (DIGITAL) The Witness - Ranked 68th Dead Cells - Ranked 69th Batman: Arkham Knight - Ranked 74th Marvel's Spider-Man - Ranked 75th (DIGITAL) Okami HD - Ranked 76th FIFA 14 - Ranked 79th NBA2k16 - Ranked 87th (DIGITAL) Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection - Ranked 89th (DIGITAL) Stardew Valley - Ranked 93rd Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Ranked 95th Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered - Ranked 98th Analysis: Wow.... the PS4 is definitely the biggest chasm in terms of pure game taste and quantity of video games. The digital modern era will do that. It's wild to me that 2 versions of Persona are in the Top 10 even while I consider it to be my favorite PS4 game of All-Time. I own, but still have never played Uncharted 4, I may need to get on that. Journey's really that high? That's wild for me. Of course games like Witcher 3, Divinity Original Sin 2, etc.. are also classics. In terms of my own games - I don't own too many physically but what I do own - MAN is it good. Of the digital games I wish I had a physical release of, I'd choose Celeste, Bastion, Owlboy, Guacamelee!, The Witness, Okami HD, and my beloved Stardew Valley that's also prolly a 9.5 but may never get a proper review out of me due to the freaking Fector's Challenge trophy. I can't wait to see what the Playstation 5 has in store for us. I know that the Switch is getting a love right now, but PS4 really captivated this generation almost completely from start to finish. Overall, 12 of my 45 Playstation 4 games landed in the Metacritic Top 100. That's a 26.66% rate of success. Accounting for including digital, it's more around 15-18% due to the sheer quantity of games I have. In conclusion: There's a dude who gave Divinity Original Sin 2 a 0/10. His name is paddystudmuffin. Go look up his other reviews. Then realize that his opinion on that website affects the user scores. OR the dude who gave all 4 editions of Dead Cells a 0/10 and those are his only 4 reviews. Who are these people??? Edited August 1, 2020 by realm722 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 Metacritic is complete garbage. Stuff like Whatculture and Watchmojo are a bunch of garbage too. Watchmojo practically started the countdown video trend which is still really popular on YouTube. Countdown videos are a good way to collect Ad revenue because a number of these people copy lists from other channels and put them on their own. I follow a select few reviewers who have a small but loyal fanbase. Channels like Watchmojo that have millions of YouTube subscribers are trash. Canned lists and nonsensical crap they put as countdown videos. Kids nowadays aren't playing GTA V nor The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. They're playing the latest smartphone or iPad app that their parents put on there for them. I don't think kids today could handle The Witcher 3, far too much story and depth for them to comprehend all of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grotz99 Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 I don't really go by Metacritic either when choosing games, but this is a neat idea that I should take a look at for my older consoles. I actually have a few in the top 10 for PSX. 12 hours ago, realm722 said: Of course, there are up to 15 pages worth of games on Metacritic totalling over 1,500. Only 4 of mine cracked the Top 100. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 made it and somehow NFS: Underground 2 did not. I played NFS Underground 2 the most out of maybe any racing game. it is still the best NFS IMO. The amount of customization they actually let you do at the time is unheard of now with the licensing restrictions for cars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigHatPaul Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 The only reviews I take into considerations are from people that I feel have similar tastes to me or make good points. That said, there's only two on YouTube that I even bother to check out what their opinions are. Sometimes I like to listen to GiantBomb talk about their opinion on games, but I haven't made a lot of time for their podcasts and other content as of late. Metacritic is so far out of my radar I don't even bother.. OpenCritic isn't much better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 1, 2020 Author Share Posted August 1, 2020 19 hours ago, Spaz said: Kids nowadays aren't playing GTA V nor The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. They're playing the latest smartphone or iPad app that their parents put on there for them. I don't think kids today could handle The Witcher 3, far too much story and depth for them to comprehend all of that. Eh... I disagree on that GTA V. I feel like it's still a gigantic franchise that brings in youth due to it's sheer premise. You're 100% right on Witcher 3 - bad example, but I bet there is some kid out there who's played it at 12-13 years old and he'll end up loving vidya games for the rest of his life because of it. I just personally think back to the PS2 days. There are kids who played Silent Hill 2 and loved it - even if they didn't understand all the greater complexities behind the narrative and thematic elements. Same for Metal Gear. I have no doubt mobile gaming is a titanic market but I feel consoles still have the weight to throw around that they're "real video games" for better or for worse. I mean, look at Fortnite. 8 hours ago, Grotz99 said: I don't really go by Metacritic either when choosing games, but this is a neat idea that I should take a look at for my older consoles. I actually have a few in the top 10 for PSX. I played NFS Underground 2 the most out of maybe any racing game. it is still the best NFS IMO. The amount of customization they actually let you do at the time is unheard of now with the licensing restrictions for cars. Yes I recommend it! I had fun making the post just going through to see where I agreed consensus wise and where I went against the grain. Even for a simpler game like Unravel for example scored a 78, which is an alright score for an indie, but it has a 8.1 user score and absolutely resonated with people based on a few reviews I glanced at - the same way it resonated with me. Those are the games I'm always trying to seek out personally rather than the obvious 10/10's everybody knows about. and yesssss 100% on NFS Underground 2. Jam that Riders on the Storm. 7 hours ago, BigHatPaul said: The only reviews I take into considerations are from people that I feel have similar tastes to me or make good points. That said, there's only two on YouTube that I even bother to check out what their opinions are. Sometimes I like to listen to GiantBomb talk about their opinion on games, but I haven't made a lot of time for their podcasts and other content as of late. Metacritic is so far out of my radar I don't even bother.. OpenCritic isn't much better. Yup I agree. I have a few people who's opinions I really value YouTube wise (Joseph Anderson, Tim Rogers, Whitelight, NeverKnowsBest, NakeyJakey) plus the giant channels like ACG/Dunkey/Skill Up but the most important thing is to know where their tastes align with yours and where they don't. Dunkey's a gigantic channel and it's generally well known he has a great appreciation for Nintendo games. I don't lean into that nearly as hard as he does. So when he calls Super Mario Odyssey a 10/10 mastapeece while I think it's a 6-7/10 at best - you've gotta know what you're dealing with. and yea... Metacritic I can say scientifically after my experiment is a bad source. Don't use it unless you just want to fight online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, realm722 said: Eh... I disagree on that GTA V. I feel like it's still a gigantic franchise that brings in youth due to it's sheer premise. You're 100% right on Witcher 3 - bad example, but I bet there is some kid out there who's played it at 12-13 years old and he'll end up loving vidya games for the rest of his life because of it. I just personally think back to the PS2 days. There are kids who played Silent Hill 2 and loved it - even if they didn't understand all the greater complexities behind the narrative and thematic elements. Same for Metal Gear. I have no doubt mobile gaming is a titanic market but I feel consoles still have the weight to throw around that they're "real video games" for better or for worse. I mean, look at Fortnite. A lot of parents don’t want their kids playing GTA V for obvious reasons. The scene where Trevor is ‘buttfucking’ a female in his trailer. The scene right after where Trevor stomps a guy to death with his foot. The mission where you interrogate a guy and Trevor yanks a tooth out of him. None of that appropriate for kids. GTA Online is filled to the brim with toxicity. Playing that probably would of traumatized me if I was 12 - 13 years old. The Witcher 3 has sex, violence and nudity, but does that with much more class and reasoning. GTA V is essentially messing around in a sandbox, that’s what has made this series so popular for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) Game: Beholder (Complete Edition) Analysis: Man... I REALLY liked this game! I bought Beholder for $4.49 back in late-June 2020. It's become more of a struggle as of late for me to hit my 4-5 games a month goal that I set for myself in 2020 as I'm running out of "shorter" (sub-20/25ish hour games) and my list of "longer" (40+ hour games) is growing. That's one of the reasons I purchased Beholder despite the fact it's pretty damn unknown - at least I had never heard of it before seeing it pop on the sale. I bought it because 1) It has a reasonable 12% platinum rate 2) it was a cheap and sub-20 hours and 3) the concept of "being a landlord under a totalitarian regime" instantly appealed to me. When I read that, I thought of Papers, Please - a game by Lucas Pope released in 2013 that I absolutely adore. Of course, there you played a border-crossing immigration officer at a checkpoint. This is a bit different, but with the same delightfully grim and dystopian atmosphere and aurora, rather than Glory to Arstotzka, it'd be caring for the residents of Krushvice, 6. This game hits all those notes wonderfully. You play as Carl Stein, and have a family including a wife, son, and daughter whom you have to care for while also attending to your needs as an employee of the oppressive state. You are given no sympathy, and left to fend for yourself for the most part at the behest of the Ministry. You're supposed to spy on your tenants, go through their things, steal occasionally, and install cameras in their residences against their consent in order to write profiles and very often report them to authorities. Meanwhile you'll be attempting to balance the chemistry and relationships amongst your tenants, family, and needs of all of the above. It's pretty damn fun. There is some lack of mechanical depth. I mean - the menu to buy cameras has that, and furtnite/electrical repairs that are barely used outside of literally 2 parts in the story for 5 minutes and then never touched again. I was waiting for the game to get "deeper" in terms of your spying techniques but it never went that far. Instead, it mostly consisted of balancing and puppeteering the lives of those living under your care. Are you going to care for Klaus and Maria Schimmer? OR the elderly Ranek's? How about helping out rebel George Danton? OR assist the lonely Dr. Allosius Shpak. This game can get really dark but realistic about how awful it is to live under these regimes. With every funny "glorious dear leader" joke you'll have to tell a resident wife that she needs to go sleep with a member of the Ministry in order to receive a bone marrow transplant to their ill daughter. OR how about the comical banning of apples only to be met with viewing a police officer abusing his nurse of a wife. But the dark humor is more prevalent than the nasty realty. Some things that had be bursting out loud was being able to take a potion that lets you talk with your cat and him tell you "you're a good man, Hector" or the fact you can report your daughter as Carl Stein to the authorities, or hell - report your cat for red caviar as Hector! It's a charmingly well written game. In order to get the platinum, I had the aid of a masterfully written guide over at playstationtrophies.com and it made a game with so many missable trophies much more manageable. A little under half the trophy list is dedicated to the DLC - "Blissful Sleep" where you have a limited amount of time as Hector Medina to save your skin as the regime euthanizes people at the age of 85 - they think you're 85 - when you're not even 60 years old! With some help and aid from the guide none of those trophies will prove too difficult and I personally managed to achieve the 12.69% rarity platinum in just 1 day and 22 hours. That currently makes me the 28th fastest achiever on PSNProfiles! By doing some research on this game, I discovered there's a "Beholder 2" and I most definitely want to check it out when it goes on sale as well hoping it improved on the mechanical depth this game provided as a foundation. Oh - and also having there be a penalty for being caught by your tenants being in their room when you shouldn't be would be nice. All in all, this is a wonderfully designed game and I recommend it to anybody looking for something a little bit different from the norm by Western developers. This game was made by Warm Lamp Games, a studio out of Russia - and this bleeds through in their creation here. Panda Score: 7.1 / 10 Edited August 2, 2020 by realm722 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) Game: Sonic Mania Analysis: I have never experienced such a wide range of emotions while playing a game. From utterly hating it, to suffering through it, to genuinely appreciating it. This is my experience with Sonic Mania, a game I downloaded for free as a PS+ User back in August 2019. Let's start with something a little bit different - my background on Sonic games! My History with games involving Sonic the Hedgehog: Gamebody Advance - Sonic Advance 3 Playstation 2 - Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders, Sonic Mega Collection Wii - Mario & Sonic at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games Xbox 360 - Sega Superstars Tennis, Sonic Free Riders All in all, that's a decent patch of Sonic games. My favorite being Sonic Heroes, that being explained in an earlier post found here. Of course, in comparison to the vast amount of Sonic games out there, it's almost nothing. Seriously - check out this wikipedia page. 20 Sonic games that are 2D. 13 Sonic games that are 3D. 14 games that are racing games. 6 games that are fighting games. 3 games that are educational games. 36 games that are spin-off games. 7 games that are compilations. That's 99 games involving Sonic, with some remasters/compilations naturally inflating that number. A YouTuber by the name of Super Eyepatch Wolf did a phenomenal job of analyzing and breaking down "The Bizarre Modern Reality of Sonic the Hedgehog" and I strongly recommend it for those who want a bit of a background on how Sonic went from this once beloved character with fun games to becoming an internet meme, made fun of, and mocked, to now being in a somewhat alright place in internet culture. How do I feel about the blue fella? He's alright - it's kind of wild to me that my favorite Sonic game was their 4th iteration of a 3D game of his - and everything since then has looked unbelievably awful. I say this as someone who hasn't touched Sonic Forces, though I did download when it became free for PS Plus users. I don't really have a great memory of the 2D sonic games. I know I played Advance 3 and have the Mega Collection but what I remember most besides Heroes is the spin-off racing games and facing Mario and friends in the Olympic games. Knowing that... this is how my experience went with Sonic Mania. I absolutely despised this game my first time playing. Do you know what I hate? Being hit by enemies that you can't possibly know are going to be in your way when you're moving quickly as Sonic. The stupid ass slow momentum of shifting Sonic's ass from one direction to another. Failing to get enough speed from his roll to get to certain vantage points. Just... awful. By awful, I mean I WAS AWFUL at this game. I am not kidding when I say this, I suffered somewhere between 10-15 GAME OVERS playing this game. Think about that for a moment. That is at minimum dying x3 on each level as Sonic over, and over, and over again having to restart from Act 1 of each zone and go through the same miserable slog. I died so much on Chemical Plant Zone in the underwater purple section getting crushed by the moving platforms. I liked the Studiopolis zone, but I actually rage-quit when playing Flying Battery Zone. I must have suffered 5ish game overs and gave up ont he game. I did not care I only had 9% completion, I said screw it, I'm done with this - and abandoned this game in favor of playing and enjoying MLB The Show 19. I did not touch Sonic Mania from late August 2019 all the way up until early July 2020. That's basically an 11 month hiatus. I was determined and sick of the F overall grade + 9% completion on my PSNProfile and powered through all those deaths to finally beat FBZ. While also playing Lego Ninjago Movie I made inch by inch progress. I got through each of the levels, and finally got my 1st ending on July 16th, 2020. The more and more that I played, my appreciation for this game grew. Don't get me wrong - I still suffered through it on occasion but I actually took notice of the wonderful level design (besides unfair enemy placement). The care and meticulous backgrounds that were designed are exquisite to look at. Hunting down the Chaos Emeralds in a Sonic CD fashion was really damn fun the quicker you went as Sonic collecting rings trying to chasedown the UFO. I enjoyed going through and getting the specific trophy for each zone that tended to be a fun extraneous activity. Oh and the blue sphere stages? I LOVED those. I know it may sound crazy but I've discovered my favorite fun in video games is being presented a task, knowing what I have to do, and getting a little bit better at doing at it the more I practice it. The blue spheres offered that exact challenge, and though it could get trippy and I'd trip myself up and goof over the most ridiculous mistake, I kept at it. Eventually I earned perfect gold medals on all 32 stages! In an unbelievable 24-hour binge I had managed to unlock every trophy except one as I wanted to leave this game as my 100% for August. Somehow, despite being awful at this game, my perseverance I managed to conquer it and achieve it's 2.15% 100% completion rate in 11 months and 3 days. I discovered also from Sonic fans that his games AREN'T about going as fast as possible, it's about momentum based platforming and exploring secrets in their levels. I completely understand how someone could view this as a 8/10+ game for them if they're into it. I'm not, so it scores a good deal lower - but I'm proud to say that despite the fact I Am the Worst Sonic Mania Player to Ever 100% It on Playstation 4.... I did 100% it! Panda Score: 6.4 / 10 Edited January 18, 2023 by realm722 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 6, 2020 Author Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) Game: VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action Analysis: Woo boy this review is gonna be a doozy. I bought VA-11 HALL-A on August 3rd, 2020. I am writing this review on August 4th, 2020. Having gone through a normal playthrough of reading each and every nook and cranny of dialogue and finally speed-running the game to pick up all the trophies (I missed most of them). That should tell you I have A LOT to say about this game. For one, I should state from the outset that this game has been on my "waiting list" for awhile. As in - I had heard EXTREMELY good things about this game ages ago, put it on my watchlist on PS Prices, and awaited for it to go on sale. It (to this date in August 2020) never did. It was released in May 2019 so it's been over a year - and yet it has never wavered from its $14.99 price point. Due to the fact I have a special one planned for my 100th platinum, this game fit beautifully into one that I could get through quickly (while still enjoying the game) and then reaching my milestone, thus I decided to purchase it. We can get into the review now right? WRONG! I knew this game was made by Sukeban Games, a video game studio out of Venezuela. I shouldn't have to tell you how rare and unique that is. When you think video game creation, you think the US, maybe a studio in Toronto/Montreal in Canada, a few European countries(France/England/Germany to name a few), the odd Eastern European developer out of Russia, and Japan. That's about it - with rare exceptions otherwise. So to see a South American video game developer really caught my eye as someone who lives in South Florida and interacts with a lot of hispanics from Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and of course... Venezuela. Specifically Venezuela due to the current cultural climate. Even if you aren't an expert on Venezuelan politics, Nicolás Maduro acting as an authoritarian dictator will surely have crossed your news cycle if you even dabble in news over the last 6+ years. Many citizens are starving and in poverty due to the absurd inflation taking place. Crime has sky-rocketed as well. Things aren't well, and the foreseeable future is unlikely to bring much change. I was curious where that left Sukeban Games. They had a detailed post explaining their situation in April 2019. Another article with one of the games creators Christopher Oritz. Finally, on their FAQ they've stated how all of the team has managed to leave Venezuela, some are in Argentina, others in Spain. This is probably largely irrelevant to what the vast majority of people on this website care about when discussing VA-11 HALL-A but it most certainly hit home with me seeing those who made this have to flee their country due to a dictatorship, and the rumblings of what manifested itself years later comes through in the way Glitch City's corporations and corruption make lives hell for it's citizens. Wonder where they got that idea? (Spoilers here on out this is a visual novel you've been warned) You play as Jill. A very chill 27-year old bartender at VA-11 HALL-A, or simply Valhalla for simplicity's sake. Jill's demeanor is generally that of a cool chill woman willing to converse with any and all who pass through, no matter how ridiculous they may be. I feel like this is best manifested when she is still courteous to the likes of Ingram and Donovan D. Dawson who despite disrespectful and repulsive comments, still get treated courteously by Jill by letting them vent without interfering or correcting them. When a pleasant guest comes through in the form of Alma (busty blonde hacker lady), Dorothy (Lilim sex worker), Stella (Cat Boomer daddy's girl) or Sei (ex-White Knight soldier bandage girl) - she'll converse gracefully with them and strike up friendships. Jill isn't a stiff. She'll feel deep self-hatred over the way her last serious romantic relationship ended with Lenore (ex-girlfriend), laughs her ass off while getting drunk with Dana Zane (her ex-wrestler boss), and offers a teasing friendship to Gillian (her co-worker). Jill's really damn likable - and you'll grow to sympathize with her struggles that you'll experience as you play. The gist of the game involves you conversing with the different patrons that pass through. * Alma is a hacker and will detail you about family drama involving her sister Dayana. You grow to have a deep friendship with her. She's my waifu of this game. * Art von Delay is a private investigator trying to track down Crimson Rose, a gun-for-hire. He didn't really captivate me. * Beatrice and Deal. A funny duo that banter with one another and are united despite their contrasting personalities. * Donovan D. Dawson. A jerk of a boss for The Augmented Eye, a sensationalist newspaper. He's a complete jerk but pretty interesting to talk to. * Dorothy Haze. A bubbly flirtatious sex worker. She'll even flirt with Jill directly. She'll often recount funny experiences from her line of work. * Ingram. A bit of a brute who talks down Valhalla, generally unpleasant individual with occasional bright spots. * Lenore. Jill's ex-girlfriend who died due to a nanomachine rejection. Her sister, Gabby, hunts you down to inform you. * Nicole Chen. Streaming-chan. One of the funnier moments in the game, she livestreams her life 24/7 and has Premium users who see everything. * Sei Asagiri. Best-friends with Stella who has lost her job as a White Knight due to a series of events in-game. Bandaged, she's deeply compassionate. * Stella Hoshii. Best-friends with Sei and daughter of wealthy parents, she's even protected with bodyguards due to her status. There's even more to this though. Rad Shiba is a Shiba Inu who helps work part-time for his dog organization. Jill holds prejudice against dogs. There's Taylor, a literal walking brain. Fore, your cat and Jill's beloved son. Brian, the somewhat owner of the cafe? Mario, a delivery guy. Jamie, an assassin. Nacho is Rad Shiba's boss at the dog organization. *Kira*Miki is a pop idol who performs concerts for thousands of adoring fans and has dedicated stalkers. Hell, there's even secret hidden characters from the game 2064: Read Only Memories (a game I platinumed back in November 2018) in the form of Lexi Rivers and Tomcat who make secret appearances in this world of Neo-San Francisco that apparently take place in the same universe! How neat is that? All in all, I was impressed by a good amount of the dialogue. I feared it would resort to nonsense "anime" tropes with Dorothy and it being plainly evident the developers are "small-time" with some of the topics mentioned in the web applications (Waifu Revolutions, Kanyevania, marrying body pillows) but in conversation covers a nice spread of topics from the complications that come with family and romantic relationships, the corporate world, dealing with life after high school and college, and so forth. So... I must love this game right? I mean - I literally read through all 19 days of dialogue in under 24 hours to complete my 1st playthrough. I MUST have enjoyed it. Yes! But... I have a lot of qualms with this game. Complaints I haven't seen voiced by many who have reviewed this game. Criticisms with this game that I have to voice in order for me to put this game in it's proper place mentally for me. 1) The idea of having different branching story paths based on drinks served is frustrating and too ambiguous. Here's the 100% completion guide to VA-11 HALL-A. Of course, don't click it if you don't want complete spoilers. On my 1st playthrough, I ONLY got the good ending. I played blind, so I was happy with that, I managed to pay my 10k rent for the end of the month but missed the 8k for electricity. But why didn't I get any of the patrons endings? Cuz on my 2ND DAY serving drinks I didn't know to serve *Kira*Miki a Mulan Tea. OR I was supposed to know to serve Alma a Brandtini at a specific time for her ending? These felt too vague for me to notice. I understand Donovan D. Dawson always wanted beer. That was established even when it wasn't explicitly said after the first 1-2 times. The others though? Just went past me unfortunately. Even if I played the 2nd game through fully without skipping dialogue and not reading a guide - I don't think I would have figured them out. 2) I wish there were dialogue options. This game has received praise due to the drinks you serve being how you get different dialogue/story endings rather than merely clicking an option of what you want to say. As somehow who DOESN'T play many visuals novels, I WISH it had let me choose what I wanted to say as Jill rather than her have her scripted dialogue while I followed along. I understand why the concept may be unique to those who always play VN's and thus it's nothing novel, but I was actually looking forward to being able to reply to Dorothy's flirty quips or tease Gillian - the game never let me do that directly instead. 3) The gameplay could have been so much more. I KNOW I KNOW. It's a visual novel - what did you expect? I WANTED BARTENDING PAPERS PLEASE DAMMIT. Instead - it's click and repeat the same ingredients and read what Jill says in the text box unless you're distracted, in which case, it's still insanely easy if you're paying an ounce of attention. "But it's good they didn't have complex gameplay this game is supposed to be chill and cozy not stressful" - I DISAGREE. Papers, Please is where you play as a desperate border control operator desperately trying to make ends meet and process citizens while dealing with this authoritarian regime over your head ready to axe you the moment you screw up. It's a damn fun gameplay loop that's still able to give fantastic story moments despite the focus being on gameplay. VA-11 HALL-A could have done the same, but opposite! Imagine a timer to mix in ingredients and make you actually properly remember the orders here and then? OR a review-the-details system like Papers, Please? I'm telling you I swear it could have worked and added to the fun of - "make sure you have this much $$$ by this day in order to keep Jill happy". Instead, they opted to do little to nothing with it and that's just a bit disappointing. 4) This game could have used more variety in terms of locations/activities. I understand being a bartender is the focal point. But do you know what two of my favorite sequences in this game were? Drinking at your apartment with Dana chugging beers on Day 6 and playing Truth or Dare with your friends on Day 13. Does anyone else feel like 2-3 more of those interactions could have been sprinkled in at the start/end of some of your work days? OR how about unique 1-on-1 encounters with specific patrons you really get to know at their place or yours? I'm not even saying I need romance options (though let's be honest - with Alma, Dorothy, Dana, hell Gillian, etc... those could have worked if felt a bit off given the focal point on Lenore and I understand why they didn't go that route). I'm just sayin' there was more meat on the bone here than they decided to chew. WOW - my biggest paragraph is the one about me talking about what this game got wrong. Don't get it twisted! TL;DR - I absolutely adore VA-11 HALL-A's atmosphere, aesthetic, and themes. Jill is an incredibly likable protagonist. Dana and Gillian make for fantastic co-workers. The best patrons who pass through are Alma (#1), Dorothy (#2), Stella and Sei (#3 and #4), and Donovan D. Dawson (#5). Many of the conversations are genuinely interesting and heartfelt. The constant wrestling references are good goofy fun. Being able to customize your apartment and browse websites on your phone is cute. They left a lot on the table in my mind in terms of what this game COULD have been. But it's already beloved by many given that's what brought me to this game in the first place. Who knows due to the circumstances in Venezuela if that affected their development and aspirations when it comes to this game. N1RV ANN-A is a sequel game being created by Sukeban Games that appears to follow in many of the same steps as VA-11 HALL-A so it seems even the developers believe there's a lot more they can do in this genre. I hope it goes well for them. Finally, since this is a trophy website I will mention that I earned this 32.11% rarity platinum in just 1 day and 2 hours. The reason it took me that long was since I of course did a blind playthrough and then used a 100% guide. You can easily complete this game in 2-3 hours if you're purely interested in the trophies, I'm surprised it's not between 45%+ given how easy it is - even the Model Warrior Julianne mini-game. My final parting words are this: I guess I just wish this had been a game I also absolutely loved and adored instead of just liked. Take it easy everybody. Panda Score: 7.2 / 10 Edited August 6, 2020 by realm722 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 7, 2020 Author Share Posted August 7, 2020 (edited) Game: Unravel Two (100th Platinum Special Edition) Analysis: We have a real treat for today. I purchased Unravel Two for $9.99 all the way back in mid-November 2018. That seems like a lifetime ago given all the stuff that's transpired in 2020. Hell, just going by my trophy ranking profile - I had 30 platinums to my name when I achieved my first trophy in this game back on November 21st, 2018. I had finished up platinuming 2064: Read Only Memories and moved on to Unravel Two... and then this little game by the name of Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition went on sale for $10 and I became obsessed with that game. This game would then be sidelined for nearly a month as I enjoyed other games. Eventually, I came back to it, and even though I had enjoyed it - I recognized that this games trophies were incredibly difficult. All of the gold medal speedruns were sub-3% rarity, and that was just beyond my scope of comprehension way back when in late 2018 - where I was still finding my footing as a trophy hunter. You see, the reason I bought this game in-spite of how difficult and challenging it is, was because Unravel is a game that will forever be special for me. You can see my review post on it here if you want a little idea of why. It transformed how I played video games, changed the types of video games I play, and made me somewhat competent trophy hunter / completionist. That's pretty significant giving I've been gaming for a good while now. Here's a post I made earlier that details every game console I've ever owned(plus every game I STILL own!) Still, how did this game compare? Doesn't this seem like something that's ripe for disappointment given there was no feasible way it could live up to the original? In some ways, you'd be correct. Unravel Two isn't as good as Unravel. It did not have nearly the impact on me that the original did. How could it? That'd be like catching lightning in a bottle and being pissed the next thunder strike wasn't as miraculous. Instead, Unravel Two ended up serving as a testament to my effort for pursuing a difficult challenge and conquering it. How so? Take a look at how I documented my gold medal runs for this game. Unravel Two Gold Medal Times: * At the Rapids: 11:09 (3 attempts) (December 28th, 2018) * Little Frogs: 7:59 (6 attempts) (January 3rd, 2019) * Nightswimming: 8:59 (5 attempts) (January 9th, 2019) * Ashes to Ashes: 11:57 (4 attempts) (February 19th, 2020) * Is That All There Is: 14:16 (3 attempts) (February 20th, 2020) * Hideaway: 12:58 (9 attempts) (August 2nd, 2020) * BONUS: Hard and Fast (August 6th, 2020) Look at the expansion of time between doing each of those. Do you know how many games just fall to the wayside for me once I "check out" on them? Just due to the grind and misery of having to go back and re-learn the game each time basically. Usually if I do it - it's because I'm fed up with it (Sonic Mania / Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life with a specific trophy), rarely would I ever go back to tackle serious challenges. But for Unravel Two, I kept wrestling with it. That's because the movement in this game for a platformer is so delightful. I decided to watch some reviews of this game on YouTube and the general consensus is "meh, it's not as good as the first - same puzzles for 2 characters, and the movement is sluggish" WHAT? - the movement and "game feel" of the Unravel games is the reason why I love them so much. Momentum is key for swinging and can feel fantastic when you get it down correctly. Also, I discovered how painful it is to watch people play this game when they don't know the exact layouts of each level like you do when you're speedrunning them. I now understand why the developers put these trophies in. This game is at it's BEST when you're doing everything fluently and as quickly as possible. Did they goof up by making cutscenes unskippable? Absolutely - but the devs even offered some tips in the gold medals post to help us trophy hunters, and the game gives you your time once you finish it to let you know how close you are each time. My only one correction would be I wish there was a timer in the level that you could follow as opposed to having to use your phone / just kinda guess how well you're doing pace wise (but that in of itself can be a fun side game of recognizing when you need to give up and try again) I really enjoy these games. There's something so wholesome about bouncing around as Yarnzy or "The Yarnster" - in these lush gorgeous environments. People chastise EA for their business practices but their program for helping these indie studios like ColdWood Interactive is magnificent. Ultimately - Unravel Two for me serves as a testament to how much better I've gotten as a trophy hunter since I 1st got my original platinum in Unravel back in April 2016. I loved that game so much, I found excuses to keep playing it, and those "excuses" were found in the ways of trophies asking you to complete levels without dying and such. To think that back then, a sequel to Unravel hadn't even been announced. But now it's successor serves as my momentous 100th platinum? That's pretty cool. Especially when you consider the "milestones" from here forward will be more infrequent, coming at my 125th, 150th, 175th, 200th, etc... - I don't quite have a game in mind for my 5,000th trophy yet but I'll come up with something. Plus, I always have my Level Up trophies I also like specializing for platinums. All in all, it took me 1 year and 8 months in order to achieve this 1.69% rarity platinum. This is the rarest non-sports game platinum I've earned thus far in my trophy hunting career. It's extremely difficult, but fair. I'm a slow learner - so those who are master platformers can likely earn this games ultimate prize much sooner than I can - but damn if I don't believe this game will be more special to me than most due to the sentimentality I hold towards this series. Panda Score: 8 / 10 (here's to the next 100 platinums! ?) Edited November 27, 2020 by realm722 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 (edited) Game: Stardew Valley Analysis: Is there something in the water or did I just put together my back-to-back most impressive platinums ever? (and maybe most impressive I'll ever pull off) Before even diving into this magnificent game, I feel the need to give some context on how I even discovered it. Over 2 1/2 years ago, I had a serious craving for Harvest Moon: Magical Melody. I've touched on it here and there in past posts about farming / townfolk life simulators - the more I think about it the more I believe HM:MM may be my favorite video game of All-Time. But - as the Harvest Moon franchise had fallen to the wayside, I didn't know where to tune since games like Rune Factory weren't possible for me given I didn't own a 3DS/Vita. Thus, I had made this post in the Harvest Moon subreddit and got recommended a little game by the name of... Stardew Valley. I had heard very good things about - saw that it's own game subreddit was pretty massive, and that there was a dedicated fandom with an expansive wiki. The price really intrigued me given how cheap it was. At Gamestop it was $20 ($5 more expensive than the digital, although now in hindsight I WISH I gotten the physical version) - and paid $14.99 for it all the way back in March 2018. Keep in mind, this is way before I re-dedicated myself to serious trophy hunting. At the time I started playing Stardew Valley, I only had 13 platinums to my name and the games I was playing were NBA2k18, FIFA 18, just having platinumed The Witness (FINALLY beating The Challenge at that!), and MLB The Show 18. Basically, this game was a far cry from what I was normally playing and I hadn't dabbled in rekindling my lost love in this type of genre of video games. Stardew Valley is one of the 5 best games I have ever played on the Playstation 4. Ultimately, I think it finishes #2 All-Time for me, potentially #1 depending on how I'm feeling swaying back and forth with Persona 5 - but I'll keep it at Top 5 just so I can give myself some wiggle room. First - let's talk about play time. While this isn't the greatest single gauge for if a game is my favorite - it can tell you a lot about whether I enjoy sitting down and playing it casually or not. In 2018, I played great games from Horizon Zero Dawn, Cities: Skylines, The Sims 4, Gravity Rush Remastered, and so forth. What were my top 3 games in terms of play-time? In 1st place finished FIFA 19, with 209 hours. In 2nd place finished Stardew Valley, with 141 hours. In 3rd place finished Rocket League, with 128 hours. 140+ hours man!!! The vast majority of that, I'd say around 100 was played in the first 2 weeks I owned this game. I was absolutely 100% obsessed with it. I would wake up early at 7-8AM just to get a play session in for the day. The sheer amount of discovery and wonder I had while playing was immense. Completing all the little tasks the game gives you from fetching Lewis' purple undergarments from Marnie's home to taking part in the egg festival, the little unique jokes each character has (Demetrius' wants to make sure you don't go a wanderin' OR Abigail eating literal gemstones). There's that pleasantness and joy that comes shining through from the Harvest Moon franchise to also some darker struggles people deal with on a day-to-day basis (Shane for example as well as Pam involving their drinking). Going through the mines was so much fun making that little bit of progress each day the further and further I was able to go until reaching the bottom and achieving that Stardrop, or hell - the fishing mini-game is good fun as well even as the legendary fish had me raging with how difficult they could be to snag. In terms of my personal profile dedicated from way back when - I named him Killmonger (can you tell I had just seen Black Panther?), have 130 hours of playtime on it, 1,563,571 gold(2.6M total earnings) accumulated and it currently sits at Day 14 of Winter, Year 3. I of course have the fully upgraded home, two kids, and decided to marry Haley since I loved how tsunderé she is and think she has the cutest sprite. I will allow waifu selections of Abigail and Leah with an exception for Maru if you're into geeks. I had forgotten how much I had left my farm off in tip-top shape. I've got fruits and vegetables of every variety and a diamond factory going on in the bedroom (ayyy). Plus a wine cellar stacked to the brim and an iridium factory. I named all my chickens/ducks after Heat players and the majority of them are gone now (Tyler & James Johnson, Josh Richardson) But I still do have my beloved white knight hen Kelly Olynyk! My literal farm animals include pigs Goran and Hassan, sheep Udonis, and GOAT D-Wade. I've never been the greatest when it comes to design so the rest of the exterior of my farm is largely barren - but hey whaddya want from me. I have 10-heart relationships with almost everybody. My only really "ignored" characters include Elliott, Harvey, Krobus, and Dwarf. Now that I'm reminiscing on this I can't believe the sheer scope that Eric Barone managed to pull off with this game. Discovering there was a desert, bath spa, casino, and mines? Repairing the Pelican Town Community Center being so vital to the story and progression of the player... HELL, even as I just popped into my world to do this refresher of a review I'm STILL getting new cutscenes playing. I just earned the Golden Scythe playing just now How does this game do it? Its' brilliance deserves to be echoed even years after its release. In terms of trophies, many of the ones early on will come naturally through your progress if you're trying to take a look at every nook and cranny this game has to offer. Finding the different Stardrop's in each difficult task was a little bit challenging, but I managed nonetheless. I caught every fish, finished all the Adventure Guild Monster Slayer tasks, completed the museum collection (through shenanigans admittedly), reached 10-hearts with the vast majority of the town, cooked every recipe, shipped every item, and even did the dirty Joja trophy by making a separate profile and giving into our corporate overlords. Basically - I had earned all the trophies there were to earn from playing Stardew Valley... except for two. They involved a mini-game by the name of "Journey of the Prairie King". It's a little bullet hell shooter where you've got to keep your little sheriff alive as monsters descend upon you. It's pretty damn difficult. So difficult, that after earning the trophy for getting married and having 2 kids, it would be the last trophy I earned in Stardew until May 2020 when I finally beat this little mini-game! Yes, I decided to come back to it because Stardew Valley was game I loved to the point I was willing to put up with this mini-game I actively disliked in order to try for the platinum. I even documented by journey for this trophy here. I echoed the sentiments of many others when I said "this game is a masterpiece and I adore it, but damn the plat being stuck behind this side minigame that has almost nothing to do with the main game kinda sucks". My sentiments have since changed. Even as I kept dying in a stupid fashion here or there, I kept at it playing just a little bit each die. Then I beat it only dying once on World 2. Then I made it all the way to Fector without dying, but with no power-up he defeated me. Finally, the stars aligned, I got a sheriff's badge right as World 3, Level 3 ended and I destroyed Fector in a matter of seconds. I had done it. It took me 2 years and 4 months, but I achieved the 0.96% rarity platinum. Unravel Two didn't even last one game before it ended up no longer becoming my rarest non-sports related platinum. There's a part of me that still doesn't believe I actually earned it given how unobtainable it felt for the longest time. Earning this kinda makes me feel like I can earn the platinum in any game if I dedicate enough time to it. I only have one serious stone left unturned remaining in my gaming catalogue for myself personally, but we'll get to Tric- ermm... the gigantic bird/dog/cat-like creature another day! Panda Score: 9.5 / 10 Edited August 9, 2020 by realm722 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) How much $$$ have I spent on video games since 2018? Question: Why am I doing this? Well for a couple of reasons. 1) I used to be the sort of player that only bought a few annual sports releases with maybe an odd occasional title here and there sprinkled in amongst my $60 purchases. I'm curious how my habits have changed spending wise since I decided to go bargain hunting for games while trophy hunting since I started taking it really seriously in 2018. There's a reason I included the price in almost all of the posts I've made on this thread of mine. 2) I'm starting in 2018 cuz I don't remember prices of games before then. Hell, I'm not going to give a 100% accurate depiction of games even on my platinum / 100%'d list since I didn't write it down or simply forgot it. That's okay - we'll add a few ??'s marks to it and move on. Finally, 3) I'm curious if there's a correlation between my rating a game price wise and it's quality or if some of my favorite games have been obtained dirt cheap. I suspect it's the later, but I'd like to confirm it with a needlessly in-depth post. Perhaps this can also serve some benefit to you all on being actively checking when games go on sale so you too can benefit from some of the utter steals I've obtained! In terms of a final price total.... I suspect it'll be in the $300 dollar range given I haven't splurged on $60 purchases but the amount of $10-15 dollar games will rack up the final total. We finally ready to go? Let's do it! Price of Game / Video Game / Rating: $79.99 - FIFA 20 (7.5/10) $59.99 - FIFA 19 (8/10) $59.99 - Kingdom Hearts 3 (7.5/10) $59.99 - Madden NFL 19 (6.5/10) $19.99 - The Sims 4 (8/10) $19.99 - Need for Speed: Payback (7.5/10) $17.49 - Dead Cells (9.25/10) $14.99 - Stardew Valley (9.5/10) $14.99 - A Hat in Time (7.75/10) $14.99 - VA-11 HALLA-A (7.2/10) $14.99 - Dragon Quest Builders (7.1/10) $14.99 - Burnout Paradise Remastered (7/10) $14.99 - The Crew 2 (7/10) $14.73 - Children of Morta (8/10) $13.99 - Okami HD (8.25/10) $12.49 - Owlboy (7.45/10) $11.99 - Guacamelee! 2 (8.25/10) $11.99 - Celeste (7.5/10) $11.19 - Wizard of Legend (8.25/10) $10.49 - Gravity Rush Remastered (9/10) $9.99 - Persona 5 (9.5/10) $9.99 - Horizon Zero Dawn (8.2/10) $9.99 - Unravel Two (8/10) $9.99 - Slime Rancher (7.7/10) $9.99 - Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood (7.1/10) $9.99 - Fe (6/10) $8.99 - Silence (5.5/10) $7.99 - Pyre (9/10) $7.99 - Slay the Spire (9/10) $7.99 - Forgotton Anne (7/10) $7.99 - The Sexy Brutale (6.5/10) $7.99 - Gravel (5.75/10) $7.49 - Hollow Knight (7.9/10) $6.79 - Yoku's Island Express (7.5/10) $6.66 - Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (6.6/10) $6.66 - Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (6.3/10) $6.66 - Spyro the Dragon (6/10) $5.99 - Gravity Rush 2 (7.5/10) $5.99 - Aven Colony (7/10) $5.99 - Battleship (6.5/10) $5.99 - Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (6.25/10) $5.99 - Dragon Sinker (6/10) $5.99 - Valley (5.5/10) $5.20 - Chess Ultra (6.2/10) $4.99 - Transistor (8.75/10) $4.99 - Batman: Arkham Knight (8.5/10) $4.99 - Oxenfree (8/10) $4.99 - Mirror's Edge Catalyst (7.3/10) $4.99 - Knack 2 (7.3/10) $4.99 - Abzû (6.75/10) $4.99 - Sundered (6.7/10) $4.99 - Need for Speed (6/10) $4.99 - InnerSpace (6/10) $4.99 - Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below (4.75/10) $4.80 - Absolute Drift: Zen Edition (8/10) $4.49 - Cosmic Star Heroine (7.25/10) $4.49 - Beholder: Complete Edition (7.1/10) $4.49 - PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (6.75/10) $4.49 - Child of Light (5/10) $3.74 - Bastion (7.5/10) $3.74 - Grim Fandango Remastered (6.25/10) $3.24 - FEZ (6.25/10) $2.99 - Batman: Arkham City (8.2/10) $2.99 - Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (7.75/10) $2.99 - Batman: Arkham Asylum (7.2/10) $2.99 - Strider (7/10) $2.99 - The Unfinished Swan (7/10) $2.99 - Peggle 2 (7/10) $2.99 - Kona (6.75/10) $2.99 - Catlateral Damage (5/10) $2.49 - Risk of Rain (7.75/10) $2.49 (EA) - Madden NFL 20 (6.25/10) $2.49 (EA) - Sea of Solitude (5.5/10) $2.29 - Thomas Was Alone (6.1/10) $2.29 - The Swapper (6/10) $2.24 - Defense Grid 2 (7/10) $1.99 - Hatoful Boyfriend (5/10) $1.59 - Arcade Game Series: Dig-Dug (6.4/10) $1.59 - Arcade Game Series: Pac-Man (6/10) $1.59 - Arcade Game Series: Galaga (6/10) $1.49 - Soccer Pinball (4/10) $1.39 - Unholy Heights (6.25/10) $0.99 (EA) - Need for Speed: Heat (7.6/10) $0.99 - Mahjong (5/10) $0.79 - Dark Mystery (4/10) Free - The Messenger (8.5/10) Free - Rocket League (8.5/10) Free - Detroit: Become Human (8/10) Free - Heavy Rain (7.1/10) Free - Onrush (6.5/10) Free - What Remains of Edith Finch (6.5/10) Free - 2064: Read Only Memories (6.5/10) Free - Rogue Aces (6,5/10) Free - Island Saver (6.5/10) Free - Sonic Mania (6.4/10) Free - The Bridge (6/10) Free - Knowledge is Power (6/10) Free - LEGO Ninjago: The Movie (6/10) Free - Monster Energy Supercross (5.7/10) Free - Another World (5/10) Free - Burly Men at Sea (5/10) ??? - Unravel (9/10) ??? - Marvel's Spider-Man (7.75/10) ??? - Tropico 5 (7.75/10) ??? - LittleBigPlanet 3 (6.8/10) ??? - Subnautica (6.4/10) Total $$$ Spent: $809.99 Holy crap... I did not expect it to be that much. Hell, it's easily closer to $1,000 (probably honestly 1.1k - 1.2k since you have to factor in a yearly cost of PS+ as well) since I forgot the prices for a few games there that all weren't bought cheaply - plus I have other games like Dragon Quest Builders 2, The Last Guardian, Cities: Skylines, all the games I bought for cheap like Psychonauts and Zotrix that I will likely never even play and MLB The Show 19 that I all spent money on that aren't included here. Oh and sine the (EA) may seem strange, I basically calculated how much I paid for a month of EA Access ($5) and divided that by what I was able to play in that timeframe, such as Madden 20 and Sea of Solitude all in the same month. Of course - when I factor in that this $$$ has literally contributed to THOUSANDS of hours of entertainment (3k+ over the last 3 years) - then I feel a whole lot better of the cost / time of it all. 3 of my 4 most expensive video games that went for that apex price of $60 (and oh my god the way I got fleeced for $80 on FIFA 20 even as I platinumed in the Top 5 fastest achievers and everything but still...) tells me I've gotten a lot wiser with my money than I had been with it in the past. But now let's break it down! See how much the average game costs comparative to where it ends up being ranked for me to see if there's any correlation between money spent and how I rate a video game. Rating of Game / Price / Total Games 9.00 - 9.99 Games: $10.16 ($61 total, 6 games) 8.00 - 8.99 Games: $10.91 ($174 total,16 games) 7.00 - 7.99 Games: $11.52 ($357 total, 31 games) 6.00 - 6.99 Games: $5.11 ($168 total, 33 games) 5.00 - 5.99 Games: $3.26 ($36 total, 11 games) 4.00 - 4.99 Games: $2.42 ($7 total, 3 games) WOW! That's pretty cool to see pictured visually. Of course, this isn't perfect and really the $80 FIFA 20 burger thrown into the 7.00 range probably inflates this a ton but it's really cool to picture this visually. There's a whole $6 difference between the quality of game in a 7.00 than a 6.00 game. Of course, I've received many 6.00 games that are free, hence that will also have a major influence but I thought that was very notable. The price on the 9.00 games is kinda crazy for me - I'm not really paying a premium for them. Of course, I wanted until Persona 5 became a Playstation Hits before taking a plunge into that universe. But games such as Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, and Slay the Spire? I loved those games even when they were relatively "new" and I managed to snag them for under $20. Speaking of which - what the hell is my adverse reaction to every buying a game over $20? I supposed it's that mentality of "if it's gone this cheap, I may as well wait until it gets even cheaper." which is pretty fair in most circumstances. Rarely is there a game I really want to play that I'm willing to wait on, yet won't pay the $60 up front in order to get it in my grasps. I did think it's very interesting that outside of Madden 19, I've been very wise on not spending too much on 6.00 games. I overspent on Fe when I was just learning trophy hunting, plus The Sexy Brutale and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy wouldn't go cheaper than $20 - but generally I've been very good with conserving my money on games I believe to be just alright. That string of 7.00 games in the $15 range is really intriguing for me though. Well, I could have gotten NFS: Payback for much cheaper now that it consistently goes on sale for $5 or you could just play it via EA Access, but A Hat in Time is a really good deal for that price tag in my mind. VA-11 HALLA if you don't care for gameplay, and the likes of Dragon Quest Builders and a few nice racing titles. There are some games on here I could have gotten for free but bought before they became available on PS+. Those include The Sims 4 and Batman: Arkham Knight (but I am glad I have the physical version). The most amazing game I've actually spent money on (not free - so @iGGTheEnd being a legend and giving me a free code for The Messenger doesn't count) was buying the Return to Arkham: Batman: Arkham City) bundle that got my two games for $6, one of those ending up being Arkham City which I thoroughly enjoyed. Besides that though, it's rare for me to get an 8/10 for so cheaply. Even Absolute Drift: Zen Edition was when I was still understanding my rating system. I have though found some gems in the form of Transistor and Oxenfree for $5, but then you're talking about doubling that price before finding anymore games that fall into that category. In total, out of the 101 games I have properly rating money wise on that list, I come out spending an average of $8.01 on each title. That's pretty damn great value at the end of the day in my mind. Edited January 18, 2023 by realm722 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofbattle8174 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 You are a braver person than I, If I counted up how much I spent it would probably Make my wife want to divorce me for wasting so much money. Well that and I really do not want to know either. All those flash sales add up in the end, plus PS plus membership and every other DLC and yikes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realm722 Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 On 8/11/2020 at 2:28 PM, kingofbattle8174 said: You are a braver person than I, If I counted up how much I spent it would probably Make my wife want to divorce me for wasting so much money. Well that and I really do not want to know either. All those flash sales add up in the end, plus PS plus membership and every other DLC and yikes. Hahaha yea... I'll be honest - seeing that $80 for FIFA that can now be gotten for $5 via EA Access hurts. OR paying that much for KH3 when it didn't become a landmark game for me. Hell, spending $9 on Silence and #8 on Gravel when I didn't really care for those games leaves a bit of a sour taste. But then when I consider I got 2 of my favorite games of All-Time for that cheap it makes me feel better. I see you have 170 games on your profile right now to my 138 - so depending on if you're a sale hunter like me the # shouldn't be too much more(assuming you don't buy many games new like I do) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylansko Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) Stumbled onto this thread on the home page and I gotta say its awesome and I’ve taken away a nice list of interesting titles I haven’t seen to add to my growing backlog, super appreciated That you’ve catalogued your experience trophy hunting and playing these games I had the same experience finally popping the plat for Stardew, I hated the game so much but by the end I found myself falling in a love/hate relationship with it. I’ve even gone back into the game a few times just to run it again for old times sake Shoutout as well from a fellow South Florida sports fan, minus the dolphins (32 teams, one nation. raider nation baby!) Edited August 14, 2020 by dylansko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofbattle8174 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 9 hours ago, realm722 said: Hahaha yea... I'll be honest - seeing that $80 for FIFA that can now be gotten for $5 via EA Access hurts. OR paying that much for KH3 when it didn't become a landmark game for me. Hell, spending $9 on Silence and #8 on Gravel when I didn't really care for those games leaves a bit of a sour taste. But then when I consider I got 2 of my favorite games of All-Time for that cheap it makes me feel better. I see you have 170 games on your profile right now to my 138 - so depending on if you're a sale hunter like me the # shouldn't be too much more(assuming you don't buy many games new like I do) I have been alot better this year then in previous ones. My unplayed backlog is a good deal larger. Most of that is due to flash sales and PS plus but some full price games too. I have has PS Plus for a few years now and they have stacked up, right now I am trying to get through some of my Vita titles. I get some free titles but not many since I do not play MMO's and most free titles are in some fashion, well they are called battle royales now. This year I have kept my buying down, I only have a few games that I want to try still. I really need to start finishing what I have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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