Shaking It Up

[MissShake]

 #89: Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Leave Everything to Me!
Collect all the trophies.

 

I'm sort of weird when it comes to crossovers. I get what it is that makes them appealing, but usually I don't really care for them. I'm at the point where I even find Smash boring, I genuinely don't give a flying fuck who gets into Smash and who doesn't. That might be because there was just SO much of Smash for a while, and that just made the series no longer feel special in my eyes. Even so I thought the idea of Nick All-Stars was an interesting concept. Nickelodeon has a lot of classic IPs that could have made this game really unique, and seeing how everyone played looked like it could be a treat. But overall this plat was only good for one thing: a filler plat to add to the list.

 

The roster in this is really a mixed bag. I like that Helga is in here, it's nice that they recognize that Hey Arnold even exists since it's my favorite Nick show. But other than that... Do we REALLY need four Ninja Turtle characters? I know they're popular and all, but April? Not even all of the actual turtles are in here, which I would at least understand. Just seems weird. I also feel a bit weird that Ren and Stimpy has two reps. I might not really have a right to talk about this since I was never really into that show, but I feel like it'd have be fine to just have the Ren and Stimpy duo thing they have. (Maybe I just don't wanna think about the show too much because of the creator, though.) Where are the Fairly Oddparents characters? Why does The Loud House get two character reps and that show gets none? The Avatar picks also feel off to me, but that's only because I am not a watcher of the show. It feels like Zuko was the obvious pick over Toph, but I know she has her fans too so honestly that just makes me think they need a fighting game specifically for Avatar. I bet fans would love that. The three paid DLC characters are a mixed bag for me too: I didn't buy them because only one is out and also I don't really plan to continue playing this, but to some degree I do understand why the characters they pick are here, even if I don't really like them. I liked My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Jenny works just as a general pick due to her powers. Rocco is a classic, even if the show was a bit before my time. But Hugh Neutron? Really? I get that he's a meme like Nigel Thornberry and all that stuff, but Jimmy is a genius who can make a lot of gadgets that would be perfect for fights? Maybe the devs think he would have been too much like Zim, but I think if they were willing to get creative Jimmy would have made more sense.

 

You can very much tell that this team is made up of a bunch of Melee fans. From the way the menus are set up to the movement of characters, it feels like this dev team desperately wanted Melee fans to move to their game since "Ultimate doesn't have xyz tech and that makes our game SO much better guys!" I even remember Hungrybox, a top Melee player, running tournaments and stuff for this game a while ago, and I have his Youtube open in another tab to see if he's been playing it still. Looks like his last video about this game was a month ago. And what was covered only one video before that? Multiversus. What was covered two videos AFTER the Nick All-Star Brawl vid? Multiversus. And what still is getting coverage from him? Smash Ultimate. Now usually I don't use a single player's coverage of a game as a way to gauge how a game is doing, a community is a community after all! Buuut Hungrybox was, from what I was seeing, the person to hold onto Nick for the longest time. As far as I know he was really the ONLY person holding tourneys that had any sort of size to them, and devs even spoke to him directly. I remember that the voice acting being added in was an update that he got to reveal on stream. Smash fans may not always love the newest game in a series, but clearly they're more willing to play it than jump back into Nick without new content like DLC. Three characters are on the horizon. That's not enough.

 

And if we're totally honest here... Why would you want to come back? Even if you are a Smash fan, what does this game offer you that isn't available in other games? Interactions with the Nick characters? I mean... If you call random lines of dialogue "interactions," then sure. There isn't even any specific interactions if the characters know each other, which makes no sense but alright. Melee-esque movement? I'm not sure man, the attempts at emulating wavedashing just feel like the character is always on ice. A really big challenge in the highest difficulty? That being tied to a trophy? The fact that for another trophy you have to beat THREE characters at the highest level? Here's how you win: pick Toph, spam your down O, you win! So again, I ask. What does this game offer you, a person who wants to play a game like Smash, that can't be found somewhere else? Fanservice for Nickelodeon properties is probably the best you're going to get. I'm probably gonna sound like I'm bragging here, and I'm sorry in advance, but considering every year (that a pandemic hasn't been happening) I have been to San Diego Comic Con and there's ALWAYS a bunch of Nickelodeon stuff... I don't really need that nostalgia? And even besides that, we ALL know that Spongebob is everywhere still. My fave Nick property got The Jungle Movie. I'm pretty sure Avatar is on Netflix, as is Korra, and both of those have comics too. I know for a fact that Invader Zim has a comic book and a sequel movie thing. If you are really nostalgic for Nick properties you aren't exactly starving for choice, so maybe just stick to something that has some actual quality to it.

 

And I hate the plat image. The Wild Thornberries is really fucking overrated. Change my mind.

[Copanele]

Ok, now seeing a proper review from someone who knows Smash AND Nickelodeon...I don't feel that bad for bashing in the game anymore  

It did feel like a "why is this even a game" indeed. The game felt like the stories I had to write for school when I was 10, take several ideas that contradict each other, put them into a jumble mess that resembles a form of writing on paper and call it a day. 

Also I never dashed in this game, heard about wave dashing in Smash but I preferred to jump because dashing...yeah 100m skating more like.

And this  

10 minutes ago, MissShake said:

A really big challenge in the highest difficulty? That being tied to a trophy? The fact that for another trophy you have to beat THREE characters at the highest level? Here's how you win: pick Toph, spam your down O, you win!

Having to set up the match was harder than getting the actual trophy.

 

Congrats though, if anything, it was fun to read about the game here (more than actually playing it lol)

P.S. I still didn't understand the idea of Sports event in this game...it's the most lame ass capture the flag game ever.

[MissShake]

13 minutes ago, Copanele said:

It did feel like a "why is this even a game" indeed. The game felt like the stories I had to write for school when I was 10, take several ideas that contradict each other, put them into a jumble mess that resembles a form of writing on paper and call it a day.

 

See I thought the appeal of crossovers was seeing different characters interact... So it's just really weird that they don't. Then again, I am the resident crossover hater, so what do I know!

 

15 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Also I never dashed in this game, heard about wave dashing in Smash but I preferred to jump because dashing...yeah 100m skating more like.

 

Iirc, Smash games do feel a little bit... Skatey, but I don't remember it being this bad. I feel like I fell off of the map waaaaay more in Nick than in Smash. That goes for any version of Smash!

 

17 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Having to set up the match was harder than getting the actual trophy.

 

Yeah when you messaged me about that I booted the game up and sort of thought to myself... This menu isn't very clear, is it? But because Melee was such a huge part of my childhood I instinctively knew. No wonder you were struggling, man.

 

19 minutes ago, Copanele said:

P.S. I still didn't understand the idea of Sports event in this game...it's the most lame ass capture the flag game ever.

 

Was so relevant I forgot to even talk about it in this post!

[MissShake]

 #90: The Caligula Effect 2

The Caligula Effect 2
Acquired all trophies.

 

Now. If you have read previous updates from me you'll know that I pretty much hated Caligula Effect Overdose. It was messy, to say the least, but I also found it to have a lot of potential to be something very interesting. That's why when I saw that there was going to be a second game I still decided to give it a try. When I started seeing positive reviews I (very cautiously) began to expect an improvement. I played this with the same friend that suffered through Overdose with me, and the best summary of our experience is this: we expected an improvement, but I don't think either of us were quite ready for just how much of an improvement it was.

 

First thing's first: the new writers are exactly what Caligula 2 needed. The same guy for the first game is still here, but they added Takuya Yamanaka, a guy who majored in psychology. I get that Tadashi Satomi is a Persona alumni and all that, but his writing in the last game was just not empathetic enough to work for a game that focuses so heavily on the psychological traumas of its characters. That's not to say it didn't try, but the overall handling had too many missteps that ultimately hurt the experience. I remember cringing more than once in Overdose because some stuff was just so incredibly tone deaf, but Caligula 2 was completely different... I was close to tears twice. I'll put them under spoilers for those of you who may have played it, but if you haven't given this game a run then it's absolutely worth your time. So don't spoil yourself!

 

Spoiler

The first time came at the end of Sasara's character episodes. Something about it ending the way it did paired with the fact that in reality she's an elderly lady who was so happy with her life that she wished she could do it all over again just hit me. After that reveal I quickly became worried that the ending was gonna include Sasara's funeral somehow and I could not handle this idea!!! Thankfully it didn't, or else I would have lost my shit lol.

 

The second moment came with Gin's realization about possibly being nonbinary. Gin is just such a great character, such a great bro to the protagonist, so seeing him (them? I'll stick with him though since that's what the game goes with) in tears at finally figuring himself out was really satisfying. I just want happiness for Gin, guys!

 

The overall theme of this series is really interesting: each game follows a group of people who end up stuck in a virtual world due to mental problems in reality being too heavy to deal with. (See why an empathetic writer is so important to this story?) Once your party members begin to realize the world they're in is fake, they all resolve to find a way out. In both Caligula Overdose and 2 the world has a virtual idol that is pretty much worshiped by the general public, and they are the key to getting out. Lucky for the party, in both games you have a virtual idol of your own to give you powers and help you go home! The main bosses are all "Musicians," which are basically Vocaloid producers, and they went the extra mile to even bring in Vocaloid producers to compose the soundtrack. If the story and characters are the best part of the game, the OST is the second best part. I am absolutely obsessed with SINGI, but Swap Out, Designed desire, and Miss Conductor are faves too. (And that's not even including the remixed version of SINGI that shows up during the final boss, I sort of went off at that lol. Honestly all the boss fight remixes are amazing.)

 

The same gameplay system from Overdose makes a return, but with much refinement to it. I played on Normal again for this round, and while the game starts with a bit of challenge to it, the progression makes later fights much easier. I don't really mind it being easy in this case, though. Something about the gameplay just felt more satisfying to me, I think it may have to do with how much quicker the game felt this time. In the previous game you were forced to decide on three moves per character, and it did start to feel like a slog if you weren't just mashing X. This time they got rid of that, and I feel like it helped the game flow a bit better.

 

The plat was also pretty easy this time around. You still have to deal with the pesky Causality Link chart, but it felt like there was a better variety to these side quests so I never found myself bored while completing it. There's more of a story to the side quests this time too, each "clique" has its own arc and they're quite fun to read. The best one is the one at the gardens. You'll see what I mean if you give the game a try. However, the Causality Link chart does have one really annoying side quest in the damn tissue packs. You need a total of forty of these filler items, and you can only get them from the lottery. It's annoying that you can get jukebox songs from this lottery and not feel like it's a win because you need more tissues! Lucky for Steam users, they cut this in half for that release, but we're stuck with forty. You're also required to do a partial second playthrough for the plat, but if you do everything else first for the plat then you'll speed through this part. (I think I got this done in about three or four hours? It's really not that long, especially since for one side quest you need to hit level sixty.)

 

I think there's only two things that were lacking in Caligula 2. The biggest downgrade to Overdose is the lack of a Musician route, which added a lot of depth to the enemies. You could argue that this game is so tightly written that it doesn't necessarily need that route this time around, but it was a bit of a bummer to have that removed from this entry. Some of the Musicians do get their own development within the story, but there are some that would've benefited from their own character episodes. The game does have a post-game series of fights that later give you the background of each Musician, but I want to see them interact with the protagonist a bit more. The second aspect was the covers by χ, the virtual doll that's helping you get home. I love the character, but χ just can't sing like the main antagonist Regret.

 

I think it's obvious what I'm going to say next: Caligula 2 is incredible. I haven't played a JRPG that has made me feel this passionate in such a long time, I was beginning to think that the genre just wasn't for me anymore. That really sucked since I grew up with JRPGs, but now that I've played Caligula 2 I'm excited about the genre again! It's nice to fall back in love with something. I'm just saying, you don't need to play Overdose to play this entry. They catch up new players fairly well, so if you like JRPGs I don't really see any reason for people to not try The Caligula Effect 2 out

Edited July 21, 2022 by MissShake

[MissShake]

 #91: Sonic Origins

Complete Clear!
Get all the trophies

 

I was thinking of making this my 100th plat, but nah. This port isn't worth that honor.

 

I grew up with Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis was the first game I ever played, back when I was a child and I didn't have to think about things like work and bills. Truly a simpler time. And I was ready to go back to that simpler time! I preordered this bad boy, ready to jump back into the games that defined my childhood. And how was it? Well... Eh. I did enjoy the challenges for what they were, even if I did take a little more time with them than I expected. However, one of the biggest issue with this port showed up via this mode: the collision. I had one moment when doing one of the challenges where I jumped and Sonic just... Got stuck on the ceiling, in his ball form, and I couldn't get out. I had to restart the level, it was pretty annoying. Lucky for me, this is the only real glitch I had with the game, but considering how vocally upset the Sonic fans are about Origins this doesn't seem to be an uncommon issue.

 

I have more problems with this collection than that, though. You get four games in this collection, and I personally think all of these games are fun in their own ways. Too bad most people who hunt for trophies aren't going to really play them due to cheats not disabling trophies. I'm completely guilty of this, I'll admit. However, I have played all of these games so I didn't exactly feel too bad about it. (Also the only game I never beat, Sonic CD, didn't have a usable debug mode. I don't know why I had such a hard time with this game when I was younger, but it's a breeze. Didn't get the good ending though, maybe I'll go back for that soon.)

 

I think my biggest problem with this collection honestly just comes down to price. It's rather expensive for really only having four games, a gallery, and some challenges to offer. Forty USD is just way too steep for this package, put it at thirty and maybe it'd be worth it, but even then I'd be a bit hesitant to pull the trigger on this collection. If you want an easy plat, maybe wait for this to go on sale. Sega should know better than to release an imperfect port of a game that was made over thirty years ago, especially for forty dollars.

[MissShake]

To read about my 92nd plat you can head to my Evo checklist here!

 

#93: Spyro the Dragon

Gnasty's Demise
Collect all Spyro the Dragon Trophies

 

A classic has been completed! I owned the original Spyro back on the PS1, I think it was actually one of the first games we owned for the console. I don't think we ever beat the game, though, so this is my first time giving the game a proper run. Thoughts? Well... It was okay.

 

First things first, the graphics for this remake are excellent. Everything is so colorful and full of personality, I especially like the variety that comes with all of the dragons you free and the design of the Dream Weaver world. The art style is excellent and Toys For Bob really went all out on this aspect of the game. Second of all, the level designs themselves were varied and had just the right amount of challenge to them. I love how you sometimes have to think outside of the box to really figure out where every gem is, many times utilizing the level specific gimmicks in creative ways to navigate around. Speaking of navigation, I have to say that Spyro's controls felt a bit off to me. There were quite a few times where I would miss a jump in a way that just didn't make sense to me, so that was rather annoying, but maybe that's just a me problem. I don't play a lot of collectathon games, so maybe my lack of experience in the genre was hindering me in this case.

 

So then I thought to myself: why don't I play a lot of collectathons? I think... Maybe I just don't like them very much. I'm coming to realize that I'm not really an "explorer" type of gamer: I like knowing where I'm going and why, I like having side stuff placed on a map if I've already walked past it, and if a game is about exploring I like the idea of finding a story or something interesting with it. Collectathons are not really that, you explore and you find more items to collect to get your number up, and that doesn't really do much for me. Weird to say because I like to try and collect plats, I suppose, but this genre just might not be for me.

 

I didn't DISlike Spyro, it was a nice trip down memory lane and I definitely appreciate aspects of it. But I do find myself needing more breaks than usual when I play games like this, so it's clearly not one of my all-time fave games. I'll come back for the other two games in the series, but I think for now I'm going to attempt another series in the genre to see if maybe it's just Spyro that isn't for me. Stay tuned to figure out what series that is

Edited September 5, 2022 by MissShake

[MissShake]

#94: Saints Row: The Third Remastered

Kingpin
Unlock all Trophies in Saints Row: The Third Remastered.

 

Another classic game done! While everyone else was complaining about the Saints Row reboot I figured it was as good enough of a time as any to go back to one of the older games. I played this game back on my old 360 (I think it was a game I got for free), and I remember loving it from the start. I've never really had any interest in GTA games or even Red Dead, but the tone of SR3 drew me in immediately. But does it hold up many years later? I'd say yes, but my personal priorities as far as games like this go have changed.

 

You play as a character of your own creation, and oh man do they have a lot of options for your character. You wanna make a cool character? They got ya covered. Wanna have a character that only speaks in zombie noises? Sure, why not. Does the idea of an absolute abomination to mankind leading the Saints tickle your fancy? Hell yeah, go for it. The main character creation process along with the abundance of clothing options really allows for the creation of a boss that is totally your own. I can't imagine any other character besides my own as the boss, and I feel like this is probably the case with most people who play this series.

 

Anyway, the Saints have become a household name since the events of SR2, and the story starts with you and the gang robbing a bank to promote the release of a movie about their exploits. Unfortunately the heist goes wrong, they all end up in jail and then are held captive on a plane, and eventually everyone is stranded in Steelport, a city that is ruled by the Syndicate which is comprised of three main factions: the Morningstar, the Deckers, and the Luchadores. The first faction the game focuses on is Morningstar, which is honestly the weakest of the three. They're in charge of the sex trade in Steelport, and there's really nothing interesting about their leader Loren or even the gang members themselves. His lieutenants Kiki and Viola are alright though, and they end up doing more than expected in the story. The Deckers and the Luchadores end up being way more fun, design wise and story wise, plus the leaders of these gangs have much more personality than Loren ever did. I'll give the Morningstar credit for one thing though: they're the reason the most iconic mission of the game happens. If you know, you know. If you don't, play the game to find out. You'll like Kanye West music more than you expect to when you're there.

 

As you probably expected, your main goal is to make Steelport your city, and besides beating the residing gangs you do this by buying up property and participating in various side missions. You are pretty spoiled for choice if you aren't wanting to take on the main story, and for the plat you're gonna have to take on pretty much all of these. You can take on paid assassinations, steal some cars for money, race some vehicles, destroy stuff with a tank, commit insurance fraud (my fave activity by far), and that's not even scratching the surface. There are definitely some activities I enjoyed more than others (no one likes collectibles) but nothing was too difficult or unfun. I recommend that when you do the car thefts you have the ability to wipe your notoriety with law enforcement unlocked. I was having trouble with some of the thefts because the cops would just get absolutely relentless, but when I remembered I had that option these became much easier.

 

Now, I haven't really mentioned one aspect of this game that everyone seems to remember fondly about SR3, and that's the humor. I might hurt some feelings here, but I think a lot of that is a bit dated. Don't get me wrong, there's some moments that absolutely made me chuckle, but there are some things that I found funny when I played this many years ago that didn't really do it for me during this run. Take Zimos, for example. He's a pimp that has had a tracheotomy done, but instead of a regular robotic sounding voice that comes with this procedure he speaks with autotune. Back in 2011 this was hilarious since there really was so much music with autotune in it, but in 2022 I just find it annoying to listen to. There was more than one moment where I muted the game so I wouldn't have to listen to Zimos, and that's a shame because I really loved that gag back in the day! Ah well, I guess some things just can't hold up no matter how much you wish it did. (Insurance fraud as an activity is still hilarious though and I won't be debating this with anyone.)

 

So I may not be completely in love with the jokey nature of SR3 like I was back in the day, but the game itself is fun enough that I can recommend this to anyone who is a fan of GTA-like games. According to my friend who has played more games like this, SR3 is pretty easy even on the harder difficulties, so perhaps giving it a run after doing something a bit more grueling might be a nice palette cleanser. It's also making me consider looking into other games in the genre. Maybe I'll finally give GTA a shot, I have that PS2 pack of III, VC, and SA... I also have Bully and Sleeping Dogs, so maybe I'll try one of those soon? Or heck, maybe I'll go back to SR4. I couldn't plat it because I ended up with a glitch, so maybe it's time to just finish that up. Who knows?

[YaManSmevz]

17 minutes ago, MissShake said:

#94: Saints Row: The Third Remastered

Kingpin
Unlock all Trophies in Saints Row: The Third Remastered.

 

Awesome write-up! I been thinkin about trying this out for years, maybe it's time to take the plunge.

 

19 minutes ago, MissShake said:

Maybe I'll finally give GTA a shot, I have that PS2 pack of III, VC, and SA... I also have Bully and Sleeping Dogs, so maybe I'll try one of those soon? Or heck, maybe I'll go back to SR4. I couldn't plat it because I ended up with a glitch, so maybe it's time to just finish that up. Who knows?

 

As much of a GTA fanboy as I am... I gotta give a shout to Bully and Sleeping Dogs. Those games are so good and so unique in the open world game landscape, I can't recommend those enough.

[MissShake]

7 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

Awesome write-up! I been thinkin about trying this out for years, maybe it's time to take the plunge.

 

As much of a GTA fanboy as I am... I gotta give a shout to Bully and Sleeping Dogs. Those games are so good and so unique in the open world game landscape, I can't recommend those enough.

 

Thanks for giving it a read! It's definitely a fun time, kind of mindless but I think we can all appreciate that every once in a while lol.

 

Honestly I was leaning that way too. Bully in particular has been calling my name and I'm not even really sure why? I'll probably need a couple of plats outside of the genre first though, games like this tend to feel like a chore when played back to back... At least for me!

[MissShake]

#95: Far Cry 4

Master Of Kyrat
Obtain all the Trophies.

 

Once upon a time, Shake did not care about trophies. She would usually play a game up until the completion of the main story, and then she would move onto another game. Then she played Final Fantasy Type-0, and she decided to get the platinum for that game. And suddenly she was addicted to trophies. Thanks for that, Type-0! Anyway, just a couple of weeks before she finished the main story of Type-0, she had beaten Far Cry 4. She had enjoyed it, but she never did return to get the platinum done. And now... She has.

 

Enough of the third person lol. I was compelled to do this after a category I had for my Bingo Bonanza card said to play the oldest game in my backlog. I went all the way to the bottom of my list, and there FC4 sat, incomplete since 2015. Even with that category it still took me a while to come back for this plat, I'm not even really sure why, maybe it's because I (like many) live in fear of Ubi lists. But then I saw this amazing video on Youtube about Far Cry 4, and it inspired me to finally take the plunge. I'd forgotten so much of this game, and this video really reminded me of what I'd enjoyed about it back in the day.

 

You play as Ajay Ghale, a man born in the fictional Kyrat, who fled along with his mother to the United States when he was only three. Now he returns to Kyrat, his mother's ashes in tow, in hopes of finding "Lakshmana." While entering the country his bus is stopped, people are gunned down, he's forced to the ground, and the main big bad makes his entrance. By far this character, Pagan Min, is the most interesting part of the game's story, as is tradition with the Far Cry games. He's charismatic and intimidating, and it turns out that he was in love with Ajay's mother. Once he escapes Pagan's clutches, Ajay finds himself allying with the Golden Path, a group that hopes to overthrow Min and set Kyrat on a better trajectory for the future. One problem: the two leaders, Sabal and Amita, are constantly at odds with each other, and somehow it ends up being left to Ajay to decide which of the two are correct. Or really, which one is the lesser of two evils.

 

Spoiler

Pagan is definitely a piece of shit, but he is nothing compared to Sabal and Amita. No matter if you side with Sabal or Amita, horrible shit happens, and it's really hard to decide who is worse. I remember back in the day I sided with Sabal because he seemed nicer, but it turns out that his more traditional views are just going to lead to a mass genocide of those who disagree with him. Yikes! That's no worse than the Amita path, which ends with children being forced from their family and turned into child soldiers. Double yikes! You probably should have sat at the dinner table, enjoyed your crab ragoon, and let Pagan take you to Lakshmana.

 

It's an interesting story overall, but it could have been done way better. Some of the big moments seem to kind of come out of nowhere, and it's really hard to care about Sabal or Amita when Pagan is always at least cordial to Ajay. You can tell he definitely cared for Ajay's mother, and you can tell that Sabal and Amita only care about Ajay when it benefits them in some way. If Ubisoft had managed to make the two of them more likable from the jump then some of the later events would have definitely hit much harder than they do now. But let's be honest: most people don't really play FPS games for the story. So how's the gameplay?

 

I should preface this section with a disclaimer: I am bad at FPS games. Like... Very bad. I even looked at my options menu and scrolled to difficulty. What had I put the difficulty on back in 2015? Why, easy of course! I still died a couple of times in my return to this game, I'm ashamed to admit. It wasn't until I started to slow it down a bit that popping those trophies got easier. I feel like this game rewards stealth a bit more than other FPS games might, and once I finally understood that this trophy cleanup journey became a lot more fun! And I'm glad I did, because a lot of my remaining trophies required stealth or I'd risk an instant fail state.

 

Overall I think Far Cry 4 is worth a look. It's often on sale, so price shouldn't really be a problem in this case. Yes yes, I know, most people are going to say to play FC3 instead, but why not both? Both are fun, both have some interesting stuff to them, so I see no reason to not give FC4 a shot and see what this one does right too!

Edited September 18, 2022 by MissShake

[MissShake]

#96: The Artful Escape

All Done
Unlock all trophies

 

I felt like I needed a braindead plat after the last two games I completed, so I went with this little indie that could! I have always had my eye on The Artful Escape, but for some reason I just never gave it the buy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this game was available on PS Plus, so I went ahead and gave it the download... That was a while ago now, and I'm really not sure why it took me so long to get this list started up. In the end I'm glad I waited, for this ended up being just what I needed for right now!

 

Our main character is Francis Vendetti, a talented guitarist who constantly lives in the shadow of his famous folk singer uncle. But try as he might to fill in his uncle's shoes, Francis finds himself drawn to the more abstract wonders of music. Just before he's about to perform for the first time ever, Francis finds himself... In space. Playing a space guitar. Meeting space creatures. And most importantly, seeing the amazing sights of spaaace. This little indie is basically a 2D walking sim with maybe one or two moments where you need to actually platform, and even then the amount you do is incredibly minimal. This makes Artful Escape perfect as a filler plat since even though it's incredibly easy you can see the love and care that went into making this world. If you love the sci-fi aesthetic you are gonna have a ball with these designs, and even if you're only lukewarm on sci-fi you're likely to marvel at the art design of this game. I should know: I'm not the biggest nerd for science fiction, but I did have multiple times where I found myself audibly saying "wow."

 

There's honestly not too much to say about The Artful Escape, really. It's a good time, it's beautiful to look at, and the story is nice and simple. You really hope Francis can come to accept himself by the end of the game, and I found the conclusion to his arc satisfying. It was nice to spend an afternoon with him, and I recommend you do the same if you're looking for something simple and relaxing!

[MissShake]

  ✔ #21: The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition ✔

 

 

Completely forgot to post this! Probably because it's not as interesting as plats are, but I digress. The truth is that this isn't exactly a game with a lot to say about it as far as the trophies themselves go. The online is easily boosted, and you can use a boss character to take care of the rest of the trophies. It's a fun game, though! KoF 98 is a classic for a reason, so if you like the genre any it's definitely a game that's worth playing outside of trophies.

 

#97: Dragon Ball FighterZ

Trophy Triumphant
Acquire all trophies.

 

My sixth UR! And it was kind of miserable! If you wanna read more about my thoughts I have them linked above, I went on a bit of a rant about the game... Just wasn't the best time, what can I say? I really only recommend this game's plat journey to those who love DBZ.

 

#98: Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi

Fujoshi
Got all the trophies. Well done! You're a beautiful person with your whole life ahead of you.

 

Damn, is Hakuoki hitting on me here? Just look at that plat description! (It's probably making up for calling me a fujoshi... Hm.) Anyway, if you've frequented my posts you know that I'm a fan of otome games. Hakuoki is one of the big names in the genre, but before I booted this up I only played part of one route on Steam with a friend. That version of Hakuoki has a whopping twelve routes, so needless to say it's sort of a behemoth of a visual novel. For me this game is like War and Peace in that I know it's good, but I look at that page count... And back away. Luckily for me, the version that is on my PS Plus tier is the one that has only six routes, so I was much less intimidated.

 

That being said, I can definitely see why this is one of the most popular games in the genre, and why it's often considered a must-play. Hakuoki takes place at the end of the Edo period, when the west started to creep its way into the Japanese way of life. Our main character, Chizuru Yukimura, heads to Kyoto in hopes of finding her father that has gone missing. What she finds instead is, of course, a group of very handsome men who knew her father and promise to help her find him. These men are the Shinsengumi, a group of men that actually existed. Their job was to protect the ideals of the shogunate at the time, and they are very popular within Japanese media. You may have seen one of these characters in another form if you like Ruroni Kenshin or Gin Tama, for example. I know the idea of playing an otome about people who really did exist is a bit strange, but the way it's executed definitely works. It's interesting how they weave real events into some more supernatural elements of this world, allowing for men that passed away to live and for Chizuru to see events that she otherwise wouldn't have.

 

I've heard people who don't play this genre but still read visual novels have Hakuoki recommended to them, and I definitely see why. In the main game the romance takes a backseat to the battles and character development of the chosen Shinsengumi man that is being romanced, and I think in this case that's totally fine. It felt a bit like a history lesson, but more fun! However, I do think this affects the routes themselves in some great and not-so-great ways. Again, you do get to learn a lot about how the Shinsengumi lived and ultimately died (if you get the normal ending at least, there are still liberties taken in some cases though), and every character feels realistic. Lots of differing ideals are present here, which makes every interaction make sense, even if it hurts. However, the fact that the romance is secondary means that a majority of the mushy gushy stuff feels unnatural. Heisuke is really the only route where the romance felt realistic, but that's because him and Chizuru are of a similar age. The other captains are more focused on their own hardships, so when the big moments happen it would feel a bit stilted. I'm okay with this though, because by the time these moments would happen I'd be invested enough in the characters that I didn't care.

 

Oh, what's that? You're asking who the best boys are? Well...

 

Him (Soji Okita), and...

 

Him. (Hajime Saito)

 

But every romance option in Hakuoki is great in their own way. I like the above two best, but I wouldn't judge even a little if someone else's favorites were different from my own. I love them all... But then there's Chizuru, our main girl. Contrasted with the boys, I kind of hate her. She's basically every trope I detest: a shy girl who tends to cry a lot, she's always feeling like she's useless and it makes her feel like she's dead weight. And while I get that she's meant to be just blank enough so that people who play these games can self-insert, I just think she's a bit too blank, and the personality they do give her is just kind of annoying. I think this is a problem with a lot of otomes, to be fair: getting the balance of just blank enough to self-insert, but not too blank as to be bland. Unfortunately Chizuru is bland, and it's a good thing that every character, including side characters, really make up for this.

 

Overall I had a fun time with Hakuoki. There's some stuff I didn't even get into (like the supernatural elements that did actually creep me out a couple of times), but I'll leave that up in the air in case someone wants to try the game themselves. Now that I've completed this version maybe I'll have the mental fortitude to complete the remaining six routes in the Steam version? Guess we'll have to see.

 

Now then. I'm at 98 platinums, and can get started with my road to 100 plats. This will get very interesting indeed.

[MissShake]

#99: Mortal Kombat X

Platinum Trophy
All Trophies Unlocked

 

My seventh UR, and my rarest trophy in general! I never expected that I'd end up with the plat for a Mortal Kombat game of all things, but my previously mentioned EVO challenge sort of forced me out of my comfort zone in this case. If you want the full breakdown of the adventure you can check out the link, but here's the condensed version from the link.

 

The trophy list for this game is a mixed bag, much of it just being a complete fucking mess. A lot of it is very grindy, and that's all well and good, but I think that you HAVE to be online for much of it. I'm pretty certain that once this game gets taken offline not only will the trophies from these modes be unobtainable, but I have a feeling the EXP and Faction trophies are gonna completely break. Shit, the game is still online and even then many of these trophies are glitched all to hell. Basically what I'm getting at is this: Invasions are back on, the towers are still working, but I have a feeling that this is temporary. My gut is saying that they brought back Invasions because the game is going offline soon, and this is their way of letting weird trophy hunters like us get a chance at these trophies before it's too late. Should you start MKX even with this being a possibility? I'd maybe advise not, but if you want to get this plat do it now. Better safe than sorry.

 

It's a fun game though, and I definitely see why people like this series so much! I just think this particular plat is not great for someone who might be new to the genre/hates online trophies, and that's why it's so rare.

 

I know this post is short, but I had to update you guys on what I've been up to before I begin writing for The Big One. I've already got my 100th plat done, and I have a LOT to say, so I'll just put this here instead of combining it with my next one. Stay tuned, it might be a couple of days...

[MissShake]

#100: Sonic Frontiers

Trophies Completed!
Collected all trophies.

 

I honestly don't even know where to begin on this one. I guess at the beginning works, but we're gonna have to go way back to do that.

 

You can track what point of my life I'm at based on what Sonic game I was playing. As far back as I can remember I've had an affinity for Sonic games. One day when I was a baby my dad brought home a Sega Genesis with the first Sonic game on it, and that was it. Safe to say I've literally grown up with Sonic the Hedgehog, especially since the first game in the series came out only two years before I was born. I'm not a purist for the classics, though: yes I love the old games on the Genesis, but Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all time, and Generations is fantastic. I played the fighting games (you probably know Sonic the Fighters, but what about Sonic Battle?), I enjoyed the Riders games, and yes... I played AND BEAT Sonic 06. "Did you buy Team Sonic Racing, Shake?" Sure did! At launch! (Didn't plat it though because I'm bad at racers, maybe I'll go back for that one soon.) "How about that terrible Sonic RPG by Bioware?" Got it for my birthday when I turned sixteen! "Did you own Sonic CD at launch?" Well... No, but who did??? Needless to say Sonic means a lot to me, and I probably wouldn't even be on this website if I didn't pick up a Genesis controller back in the day.

 

Fast-forward to now, and I'm approaching one hundred platinum trophies. I was honestly struggling on picking my milestone game. Dragon Age: Inquisition was definitely in the running since all I'd need is a playthrough on Insanity and I do love that series, but it just didn't quite feel right to me. I also considered Sonic Origins for this, but well... You know. As I kept popping plats the release date for Frontiers grew closer and closer. I preordered it, but not immediately. I'm the type of person that doesn't get excited for a game until it's basically release date, so I wasn't chomping at the bit for this or anything. I don't remember when it clicked for me that making Frontiers my hundredth was the way to go, but when it did I didn't stray from the plan. I admit, I didn't expect number ninety nine to be my rarest trophy to date, but that sure was a nice surprise! And I even popped it on the release date for Frontiers, funny enough. Sort of like it was just meant to be? (I was probably subconsciously lining things up, but let's just say it was fate lol.)

 

This might have been the perfect game to have as my Big Huge Milestone. It's abundantly clear that Sonic Frontiers is mostly for fans, especially in relation to the story. The writer for this is Ian Flynn, a writer for the Sonic comics, and it is incredibly clear that he's a fan of the series first and foremost. In this game alone there's references to: Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Forces, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Boom, and there's even a mention of a specific hedgehog originally from Sonic 06 hidden in there. [EDIT: Just went back into the game, found references to Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Riders.] But it's not just a game full of references to past events. Some of these events, especially the ones tied to SA1, are incredibly important to the story. (HUGE SPOILERS in the cut!)

 

Spoiler

As you progress the story Sonic begins to see flashes of people from a different time, but what makes these flashes particularly interesting is how they look. If you've played SA1 you'll immediately think of Chaos, which was the main antagonist of the story. I freaked the fuck out when the ancients first showed up on screen, the fact that they were tying the main plot of this to SA1 was super exciting as a fan that's been here for so long! What's even cooler is how their existence expands the lore: you find out towards the end that the Chaos Emeralds were brought to Earth by these ancients. I never in my life expected an explanation for the Chaos Emeralds, but I am so happy to have one. Sonic is a weird series in that it has a lot of elements and lore to it, but not a lot of explanations behind this stuff. I feel like this is gonna be a great direction for the series: now things will like... Make sense?

 

Overall the story is definitely different than what past Sonic games have been doing. It takes itself seriously, but it never gets into the stupid category that games like Forces ended up in. The character writing is particularly strong in this entry, and it really makes me hope they keep Flynn along for future games as well. He knows these characters like the back of his hand, which was especially noticeable in the sections with Tails, and I'd like to see more of what he can do in the game world. Heck, he even pulls some interesting stuff with Eggman! The story in this makes me want to see more of the current run of comics, maybe I'll get on that next year.

 

But what about the game? That is a bit more complicated. This is the first open "zone" (world) game of the series, and you can tell. All of the hallmarks of the genre are here: do little tasks to reveal the map, collect Kocos which are basically Korok seeds from Breath of the Wild, level up your Sonic, and sometimes do a stage that's similar to past games (like dungeons in BotW). This is basically Sonic: Breath of the Wild Edition, which isn't the worst thing ever because I found myself having a lot of fun with this game! The flow of gameplay is interesting and relaxing, I enjoyed the little puzzles you have to do to complete the map itself and the Kocos are pretty cute so I loved collecting them. But since this is the first time they're doing this formula there's growing pains. The maps could be a tiny bit more creative, and the physics of Sonic is a bit wonky. After I was more leveled up I found myself dying from flying off the map, so yeah... That could use some work.

 

Funny enough, though, the stages that were like past games were the least fun part of the game. I actively found myself skipping doing these if I could, which is weird because they're all very much rooted in Sonic's past. Maybe a bit too much, now that I think about it. ALL of these levels are from past games, and at this point it's boring. I'm tired of Green Hill, Sky Sanctuary, and Chemical Plant. I don't get why Sega doesn't get that people are ready to move on. Generations was eleven years ago (god I'm old) and revisiting the past hasn't been novel or fun since then. The best levels of Sonic Mania were the new ones, yet Sonic Team, just keeps doing this. It's a bit frustrating, but in the end they aren't the star of the show.

 

The star of the show? The bosses. Holy shit the bosses. Just listen to these songs and tell me you aren't fucking pumped. I keep hearing people say it's like Metal Gear Rising music, and I suppose I do hear it, but really all the boss music just reminds me of the Warped Tour music that was super popular back when I was in high school lol. I never listened to Sleeping With Sirens, but the lead singer is the vocalist for these tracks and he kills it. His voice matches perfectly with the vibe of the bosses themselves, which are all really fun! This is where you are tested on the battle system, and it generally just feels cool to do cool things. I hope they expand on this aspect of the game!

 

They could honestly expand on a lot of this game, really. If I look back at this game I see it as the Pokemon Arceus of the series: it's almost like a proof of concept that was thrown out to see if fans would be receptive to this game. I definitely am, but it does have things that need to be worked on. I think it's a bit of a shame that you only play as Sonic, this formula would work really well with the gameplay of Tails and Knuckles. I hear that this game is going to be expanded on, I assume that'll be through DLC, and honestly I'm for it. I just hope they don't make it incredibly expensive, but who knows with Sega really.

 

So what point of my life does Sonic Frontiers define? I suppose the start of a new chapter, for the Blue Blur and for myself. A hundred plats and a new chapter of my life, and the same goes for the Sonic formula. I am so glad that people seem to be enjoying this game, but I see it as the first step into something that's even better. Good to know that Sonic is gonna be around no matter where life takes me

Edited November 26, 2022 by MissShake

[SoliDeoGloriaIHS]

Congratulations on the big 100!  Hopefully, I'll make it in another 5 or 6 years or so.  Well done!  And a nice trophy list too! ??

[MissShake]

4 minutes ago, Spider-Man916 said:

Congratulations on the big 100!  Hopefully, I'll make it in another 5 or 6 years or so.  Well done!  And a nice trophy list too! 

 

Thanks! You'll be there before you know it >:)

[SoliDeoGloriaIHS]

2 minutes ago, MissShake said:

 

Thanks! You'll be there before you know it >:)

You're very welcome!  No rush.  I'll get there when I get there.  Quality over quantity, I say. 

[MissShake]

2 minutes ago, Spider-Man916 said:

You're very welcome!  No rush.  I'll get there when I get there.  Quality over quantity, I say. 

 

Agreed. I tried to do some quicker stuff simply for the sake of the plat early on, but I found I just didn't enjoy it. I'd rather the game be quality so I don't feel like I'm just bumping a number up lol

[SoliDeoGloriaIHS]

4 minutes ago, MissShake said:

 

Agreed. I tried to do some quicker stuff simply for the sake of the plat early on, but I found I just didn't enjoy it. I'd rather the game be quality so I don't feel like I'm just bumping a number up lol

???

[MissShake]

#101: Life is Strange: True Colors

Haven Maven
Collect all Trophies in Life is Strange: True Colors

 

I think we all at least know of the Life is Strange games. Back when the Telltale-esque formula was all the rage, the first game came out and put its own spin on the genre. Whether it was successful at what it wanted to do was divisive, and both sides had their fair points to back up their opinions. I'm someone who liked the games: all of them did have their ups and downs, but I found the emotional aspect of the writing to be engaging. (And yes, I didn't hate LiS2. I know this makes me strange.)

 

I knew I would eventually give True Colors a run, I have the plat for every other game in the series after all. Something always held me back from giving it a shot, though. I've had this game installed on my PS4 for quite some time, but I always found myself skipping over this one to play something else. But then the Trophies to Fight Cancer event started up, and I knew I was going to make this game my pink rep. It ended up taking me a long time even then to get this game started, who knew that Mortal Kombat would end up holding so much of my attention at the end of the year? Then of course Sonic Frontiers came out and it just HAD to be my 100th plat, so True Colors was again neglected. When I finally booted the game up I didn't really know what to expect. I was spoiled on what kicked the game's main conflict off, but everything else? Totally fresh to me.

 

I'll say this right now: if you weren't a fan of past games in the series this game will not change your mind. It still has the same vibe as the previous games, but True Colors might be the slowest paced game of the series yet. You have rather large stretches of the game that are just meant for building the town of Haven and its residents up, and I know this might not be to everyone's liking. If I remember right, the third episode doesn't even have a single moment that was related to the main plot, so I can definitely see this being frustrating to some people that give this game a try. (Funny enough I think it may be tied with the fourth chapter as my favorite chapters of the game.)

 

I have a huge soft spot for good character writing, though, and that's where True Colors really shines. The problem with Life is Strange 2 is that the characters that weren't the brothers didn't get a lot of depth to them, but that's definitely not an issue here. Every resident of Haven is fully fleshed out and interesting, even if you don't necessarily like them, so I quickly found myself becoming attached. Alex herself is truly wonderful to play as, she's incredibly likeable and I particularly love how her powers tie into her past.

 

Speaking of, the LiS games focus on characters who seem completely normal on the surface but in actuality have superpowers. Alex's power is that she has empathy that literally lets her see the auras of those around her. This allows her to read situations exceptionally well, giving her the ability to read their thoughts and even in some cases take their emotions away. But this has a major drawback: if she is too close to someone who is dealing with a particularly negative emotion she will lash out at those around her due to the feeling being too intense. As a gameplay element this isn't quite as interesting as the time powers from the first game, but it's still very cool to see in action. There's some particularly tense choices that come from this, and I definitely had to consider the pros and cons to my actions more than once.

 

The rest of the cast is just as likable as Alex, with Ryan and Steph being particularly fun. You spend the most time with these two as they are your two potential romance options, so it makes sense that they're both great. In these games I often find that the romance choices are easy to make, but here I definitely flip flopped on who Alex should pick because both of them were just so charming. I ended up picking Ryan because I guess I like dorky mountain men more than I'd like to admit lol. But I think in the end this was the wrong choice for Alex's character. Her and Steph are seriously on the same wavelength on many things, and Steph is always on your side no matter what, so it just makes more sense than Alex and Ryan does. Ah well, maybe I'll play it again and try to make different choices!

 

I won't spoil much of the story itself because I really enjoyed going into this blind, but if you liked past games you're gonna enjoy this one. It's nothing groundbreaking, and there's a couple of plot points that did feel maybe a bit too similar to past games, but I had a lot of fun revisiting the LiS formula. I do think the game is a bit too pricey though, so maybe get it when it's on discount.

[MissShake]

Alright, let's get this baby back up and running...

 

#103: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

True Thievius Raccoonus
Unlock all trophies for Sly Cooper's first outing

 

I grew up with the Sly Cooper games, so it was a blast to come back to this series! I had forgotten how different the first game is compared to the other PS2 games (we only rented this one, we had copies of Sly 2 and 3 though), so I admit I did need to readjust to the different structure. It's a great time though, I always loved the boss in the swamp level in particular! Since I only rented this one I didn't have many memories of Sly 1, but I always remembered the voodoo lady boss fight! But unfortunately for me, this boss was particularly annoying when you're streaming the game and don't exactly have great internet... Yeah might have to remember that for any games I may try that require great timing lol.

 

If you haven't been exposed to Sly Cooper, it's a mascot platformer with stealth elements. You play as the sneaky thief Sly in his quest to retrieve all of the missing pages of the titular Thievius Raccoonus, a book passed down by his ancestors which details all of their various thieving techniques, which have of course been stolen by a group of criminals known as the Fiendish Five. As a child, these criminals murdered Sly's parents, forcing him to grow up in an orphanage. This is where he meets his buddies Bentley and Murray, a genius turtle and strong hippo respectively. One of the most fun parts of this game comes in the form of the characters and how they interact with each other, especially Sly and Bentley since he acts as your in-game guide throughout the adventure. You won't exactly be getting Shakespeare writing, but I did laugh out loud once or twice.

 

As for the platinum itself, you aren't going to have to do anything too difficult. You'll need to collect every blueprint to pop this plat, which requires you to get every clue bottle in every level, so I recommend trying to get these as you go so you don't have as much backtracking later on. None of these collectibles are particularly difficult though, so even if you do have to revisit some levels it won't be the end of the world.

 

If you're looking for a PS2 era classic you honestly can't go wrong with the trilogy. I'm sure to have more to say about the other two games once I pop those plats, but the first game is absolutely worth a look!

 

I've popped a couple more plats since I last updated this, so stay tuned if you wanna read about some more plat adventures!

 

[MissShake]

#104: Boyfriend Dungeon

Obtain all of the Trophies
Obtain all of the Trophies

 

It's funny that my first PS5 plat ended up being from a game I've already played on the Switch, but after being gone from the trophy game for as long as I was I wanted something simple. (For reference, I popped Sly at the beginning of December... I popped Boyfriend Dungeon at the end of April.) Boyfriend Dungeon is a weird dungeon crawler/dating sim hybrid where the weapons you wield are, in fact, the characters you date. The longer you spend time with the weapons, the more they like you, which means you not only get more scenes with them but you also upgrade their abilities within the dungeons. It's a fun concept, but I feel like the game is missing something.

 

You play as a completely customizable main character that is visiting the picturesque Verona Beach in hopes of gaining some dating experience. With the help of your cousin Jesse, you meet a few people and go on some pretty disastrous dates. The first suitor is particularly nasty: he ends up being a stalker character, and causes the main conflict of the story to kick off with his obsession. Yikes! But as your character adventures into the dungeons, they gain confidence in themselves, which ends up bringing up the quality of their dates! Funny how that works, huh?

 

Speaking of dates, how are the characters in Boyfriend Dungeon? I'd say that I didn't really dislike any of them, even when some characters were huge assholes (cough Sunder cough). But on the flip side, I didn't really fall in love with any of them either. I did have my favorites: Rowan is delightfully weird, and Seven seems like he'd be the chillest buddy. But the characters simply don't get fleshed out enough. You have moments within the dungeon where you go on little mini dates, but these don't feel fleshed out enough to give any real substance. You do have full events with the characters outside of the dungeon though, and these do have some meat on their bones, but it just isn't enough. The main reason is because you only have six dates with each character. I feel like ten events is just the standard for games with this structure, and it'd really help in this game because it feels like just as each arc is really getting started they're just... Done, including any reason to spend time with them. To top it off, sometimes these events feel incredibly short, like the writers got lazy or something. It can be a bit jarring, what can I say.

 

So then, what about the combat? Again, there could be more to it. After every date you have with a weapon, their abilities level up, meaning you get access to new powers that make your future dungeon visits much easier. Sometimes you can pick between two different abilities, which got me thinking. Despite the name of the game, you can date any weapon or be platonic with them, so wouldn't it maybe be interesting if you get different abilities based on what your relationship is? Just to give it some pizazz! I think it would've made the game feel more customizable, anyway. Not like it matters much, anyway... Since there's only three dungeons. Yup, three. In a game called Boyfriend Dungeon, there doesn't seem to be much of boyfriends OR dungeons. (Yes there are female and nonbinary options too, but shhhh.)

 

What about the trophy list, then? You need max affection with each romance option (can be platonic or otherwise), you need to obtain every item and craft everything you can, and you need to beat Flutterbug Road. With the various Steam guides you can find, the romance stuff and item crafting should be a piece of cake save for one somewhat challenging side boss that requires players to "ace" it. This means you not only have to live, but I'm pretty sure to ace it you need to be at pretty high health AND do it within a short amount of time. It's not impossible, but you may fail a few times before you really get a rhythm down. That just leaves Flutterbug Road, the indie game staple of an incredibly annoying in-game video game that is weirdly hard for no real reason. I'm not gonna say this is on the level of Stardew Valley's Journey of the Prairie King or even Va11 Hall-a's Model Warrior Julianne, but the physics of the Flutterbugs can be really frustrating. This one will probably be the plat killer, but I doubt it's gonna kill TOO many plats lol.

 

Ultimately the game just feels like it's unfinished. There's only three dungeons, the writing for the characters doesn't live up to its full potential, and the amount of dates you get per character is just too small for what the game is trying to accomplish. So I bet you're wondering: "Shake, you bought this game on the Switch before. You knew what you were getting into. Why did you buy it again?" The ultimate answer? I'm not totally sure myself lol. I think it was because I knew what I was getting into, and I wanted something mindless I could play while listening to some Youtube. It's not like I didn't have fun while playing this! It's just a game that I feel like could've been amazing if it had maybe had a year or so more development time.

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by MissShake

[MissShake]

#105: I Was A Teenage Exocolonist

All the Everything
Get every Trophy

 

Have you ever started a game that was so captivating that even when you weren't playing it you were thinking about it? If you have, then you have experienced what I did when playing through I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I'd wonder about what would happen if I did this instead of that, I'd analyze the characters to myself, I think I even had dreams about going through it again. The hold this game had on me was insane. Exocolonist is a really fucking special game, and the fact that only around 160 people have played it (at least on PS5) is honestly criminal. I am pretty happy that I'm on the leaderboards for this game though, nothing more satisfying than having that honor for a game that you hold in such high regard.

 

You play as Sol (name and gender changeable), a ten year old child who is part of a group of people that fled Earth in hopes of finding a new planet to inhabit. When your game starts the spaceship is about to go through a wormhole that leads to the group's new home, and Sol blacks out. They see... Something. Is it a dream? Or are they seeing memories? You can't be sure yet, but at this point it doesn't matter much. You'll help Sol live their life, making many mistakes and dealing with so much tragedy until they hit age twenty. Once Sol's first ten years on the planet are up, you get an ending. Whether it's one you're satisfied with or not doesn't matter much, especially in this first playthrough. It's after you start your new life that the real game starts.

 

When Sol wakes up this time, they can not only identify the visions they saw when they blacked out as another lifetime they led, but throughout the game they can utilize their memories to change how this life plays out. An early game example can be seen in Tammy, a character that dies very suddenly quite early on in your first run (unless you know how to save scum). Since Sol now knows that Tammy will die, they can prevent this. It's really satisfying to see how you can change the future as the game continues on. You feel like you're cheating a bit, but it's entirely intentional and incredibly satisfying.

 

Memories are a huge part of this game in other ways as well. Whenever you are faced with a conflict you play a card game, and the way you earn cards is via memories you have made in this particular life. If you save Tammy, you get a card of this event. If you don't, you get a card of what you were doing in the moment she passed, which is eating cotton candy. Saving Tammy is inherently a stronger card than Pink Candy, which makes experimenting with different choices even more satisfying. You may not like doing something, but that could net you a pretty powerful card, so even making decisions you don't want to can feel rewarding. And you'll have to obtain all of these cards for the plat anyway, so why not experiment?

 

I'll admit though, sometimes the memories you have of past playthroughs make some decisions feel tougher than others. You'll really get to know this cast inside and out, becoming close with some characters while making others detest you in the process. I found myself remembering how a past life went, where my Sol would have fallen in love with a character, but to get a specific ending I'd need to be mean to them or make decisions that they abhor. My first run had Sol end up with the loner Dys, and it really made any moment where I went against him sting just that much more. But it had to be done for the plat, since you need to see every ending, so I pushed through it.

 

Speaking of the plat, I suppose now is as good a time as ever to go over the platventure. I won't lie to you, this is a grindy platinum. I've mentioned you need to see every ending as well as obtain every card, and I'll tell you right now: this is absolutely gonna be where you spend most of your time. You have a whopping 29 endings to obtain, and getting these can become incredibly specific. There's a handful of special endings that require Sol to have done specific events, and then you have career endings, which are tied to what stats you have raised up and what jobs you have completed the most often. I wouldn't say that the special ends are too tough, I actually stumbled onto a few of them on my own without the guide, so I wouldn't worry about those that much. However, the career ends can sometimes be a bit more tricky. If you have an ending that is tied to the character Vace on the list, you can expect a bad time. I had to restart entire playthroughs because I fucked up something with Vace, so take special care if you're going for the Astronaut end in particular. (Also there is an option to skip dialogue you've already seen. Use it.) The other time sink is, again, seen in the cards themselves. You have to have obtained all 308 cards at least once over your playthoughs, and the way to get many of these can be a bit annoying. Much like the career ends, you'll need to do very specific stuff to get a good handful of these cards, so keeping a close tab on them is highly recommended.

 

Side note: the ost is stellar. Becoming is probably my favorite track, it perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the game, feeling nostalgic as well as futuristic at the same time. Reeds is also excellent, and there's a moment in the game linked to The Child You Were that still hits me in the heart when I think about it.

 

I recently saw a video about someone's journey to obtain this platinum, and they said that going for this platinum ruins the experience of the game itself. I could maybe see that being the case for some people, but it absolutely did not hold water for me. I found myself slowing down at moments I loved so I could reread them, I would feel a sense of excitement a learning new things about the universe when I obtained a new ending, I still have questions about why one character said this one specific thing. I told one of my friends that even when I'm not playing Exocolonist I want to go back and play Exocolonist, and he said "isn't that the best feeling?" Yes, it absolutely is.

[MissShake]

#106: Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Unlikely Bandit
Unlock all Sly Cooper and the Band of Thieves Trophies

 

It's always an interesting experience replaying the games of your childhood, and Sly 2 is definitely a game of my childhood. I have the opening level in Paris seared into my memory, its background music essentially being part of the soundtrack to my elementary school years. I myself actually didn't play the Sly games often, I'd instead watch my younger sister play them, so I actually think that this is the first time in my life that I was the one to complete Sly 2 on my own. It was nice to revisit the world of Sly, especially because this game holds up rather well!

 

The sequel still follows the lovable Sly and his buddies, except this time they're looking for the parts of Clockwerk, Sly's eternal rival that was thought to be taken care of in the previous game. Each part has been stolen by a group known as the Klaww Gang in hopes of utilizing them for different (highly illegal) enterprises, and Sly makes it his mission to make sure Clockwerk does not come back to life. There's a few more twists and turns in this game compared to the plot of Sly 1, much of it involving Interpol and Carmelita, the fox that is constantly after Sly. She was definitely a part of Sly 1, but it's in this game where I feel like her dynamic with Sly becomes a bit more fun. Her no-nonsense, law-abiding personality clashes so well with the gang, it's really fun to watch in action. I think part of it was the addition of Neyla, a mysterious tiger that has been partnered up with Carmelita at Interpol, yet she finds time to help Sly's gang when it could benefit the both of them. Of course, not everything is as it seems with her, but her relationship with the main cast keeps things fresh.

 

Character expansion is kind of a big aspect of Sly 2, since this game has added sections where you play as Bentley or Murray. While I appreciate the gameplay switch-up, I feel like these moments just weren't as fun as the Sly levels, with Murray being the better of the two. I found that Murray's strength-based moveset made it easier to get from point a to point b without too much stop and start, while Bentley needed a bit more patience. Bentley being more of the brains of the operation of course means that he's more fragile than the other members of the trio, so a lot of his moveset is about using sleeping darts to put enemies to sleep. It's interesting, but I like Sly's mobility options the best of the cast by far.

 

When it comes to the hubs themselves, I must admit that I love the second level. Yeah, Paris is iconic because of the music and Dimitri, who is far and away the most memorable bad guy of this game, but the second hub has my favorite part of the game: dancing with Carmelita and Neyla to distract partygoers. I was actually worried about this section because I am playing this via streaming on my PS5, and I was expecting that to cause issues much like it did with Mz. Ruby in Sly 1. But that didn't seem to be the case at all, which makes me wonder if maybe the timing in Sly 1 was just harder? It's true that the game at least felt easier in this one, so maybe that's the case... I also enjoyed the level in Prague since my heritage is based in the Czech Republic, so it was incredibly funny to see how spooky they made that level look. Ooh, eastern Europe, terrifying!!!

 

I think the ease of this game carried over to the plat itself, since you don't have to collect every clue bottle this time. This has to be done for one of the hub worlds only, so you're not exactly in for a grind. I did this easily in the first hub, without a guide, and it definitely felt like minimal effort. I'd say the grind this time can come in the form of buying specific moves for the characters. Don't be like me and buy every upgrade you see unless you REALLY want one. I recommend saving for the trophy required upgrades, then maybe going nuts with your money afterwards. I ended up needing to grind for some money in later levels because I didn't save, so I suppose it's good to keep that in mind.

 

Overall I think Sly 2 is excellent, and my gripes with the game are minuscule. Like I completely forgot to mention some of the mini games that were annoying for me, but I'm willing to accept that I might just be bad. Even with that, I think Sly 2 is a reminder of what made the PS2 so magical. You don't get games that hit like this anymore.

[MissShake]

Hi guys! I have a little bit of a different post to make before I write the novel that is going to be my Hogwarts Legacy plat post. I've decided to play a bit of a game with anyone who wants to come in and add their input, and I'm calling it... The Cleanup Crew! Here's the basic gist: I have a LOT of games that I've popped trophies for but never finished, so I've decided to list every incomplete game on my profile and ask you guys to nominate games for me to play! I will then put the nominated games into a picker wheel and give the winning game a shot sooner rather than later. This doesn't mean I won't be playing new games, just that I'll be doing better about upping my current completion percentage Anyway, the list is in the spoiler tag!

 

Spoiler

Horror:
RE Revelations 2, REmake, RE0, RE2make, RE4, RE4make, Layers of Fear

 

Metroidvania:
Guacamelee!, Strider

 

Puzzle:
Catherine Full Body, Broken Age

 

Action-Adventure:
Limbo, Ratchet and Clank, Transformers: Devastation, A King's Tale: FFXV, Danganronpa, Shadow of the Colossus, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, Unravel, Psychonauts, Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors, Metal Wolf Chaos, The Suicide of Rachel Foster

 

Open World:
Saints Row IV and Gat Out Of Hell, Sleeping Dogs, Yakuza 0

 

RPG:
Bastion, Valkyria Chronicles, Digimon World: Next Order and Story: Hacker's Memory, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Transistor, FFX, FFVII, FFVIIR, FFVIII, KH Dream Drop Distance, KH 0.2, Nier Replicant, Cyberpunk 2077, Neo: The World Ends With You, Elden Ring

 

Fighting:
Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Street Fighter IV and V, Fatal Fury Archives Vol 2, Samurai Shodown VI, Blazblue Chronophantasma Extend and Centralfiction, Fu'un Super Combo, Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe, KoF 98 and 2002 and XV, Guilty Gear Xrd Sign and Revelator, Virtua Fighter 5, Injustice 1 and 2, Jump Force, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, MK11, DoA 5 and 6, UNIB

 

Rhythm:
PaRappa the Rapper 1 and 2, KH Melody of Memory, Theatrhythm

 

Sports and Racing:
Rocket League, Team Sonic Racing, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2, AO Tennis 2, Nickelodeon Kart Racers

 

Etc:
Borderlands 1 and 2, Planet Coaster, YGO Master Duel, Overcooked 2, Disney Dreamlight Valley

 

Bolded options are URs in case someone wants to make me suffer a bit, and underlined games are stuff I have played fairly recently (and may even be in the process of playing) so I request you keep those out of your nominated games. The goal of this is mostly to try stuff that's so old to me that it'd be new, so the older it is on my list the better!

 

Have fun! Make me suffer! Shill for a game you already love! I'm curious to see what you guys pick

Edited May 26, 2023 by MissShake