Kill Your Completion v3. 0

[Fitzquaid]

Game #7: Invisible, Inc.

Days 1-3

 

I was looking forward to this because it sounded like my kind of game - stealth XCOM feels like a fairly good shorthand.  Like XCOM, you're working against the clock to try and make sure your team gets the resources they need to be able to keep up with challenges later in the game.  Is it more important to spend the limited money you've stolen on improving an agent's skills, buying weapons and equipment, installing neural augs, or downloading new programs for your AI? 

 

Failing is going to be a big part of the process, as you need to figure out what to prioritise and how to work with whatever resources you find, plus develop your own tactics and skills.  On the bright side you can choose to have 99 rewinds available without voiding any of the trophies (except the iron man one, obviously).

 

I didn't find the UI as annoying as @BillyHorrible, but my own minor gripe was that it wasn't always easy to visually parse the maps, and a couple of times I found I was trying to interact with things that were on the other side of walls.  Luckily there's an alternate view mode that strips away all the furniture and visual clutter and just shows the need-to-know information.

 

I enjoyed it while I was playing it, but I haven't gone back to it in days 2 or 3 - that was mostly due to real life and other commitments, but after reading @dizzyshadow's review I realised that I probably also avoiding it a bit.  It's the kind of game that would be hard to play casually; I'd really want to clear a block of time to focus on learning the tricks of the trade to 'git gud', and with so many other games in my backlog and great new games coming out all the time, that might not happen for a while.

 

Personal Rating: I haven't given it a fair chance, but I guess the high end of

Time Played: 2 hours roughly

Trophies: 3/23 (6%) - Rank A

[crimsonidol38]

1 hour ago, PerryToxteth said:

So I'll be firing up Life is Strange in about 10 hours and was looking for some guidance from those who have previously played it. Looks like most of the trophies are for taking photos.  Is it rather obvious where these photos should be taken? I wasn't planning to follow a guide or walkthrough, but I don't want to have to replay an entire game just to do a collectible photo run. 

My aim was to go in blind as this is a new type of genre for me and I know next to nothing about the story.  I feel using a guide might spoil some of the things the game has to offer, but I also don't want to replay a 20-hour game just to shoot a photo here and there.

suggestions? Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

 

The photos to be taken are shown in some rough silhouettes so if you take a look at them as soon as you hit a new area the chances are quite good that you will get some or most of them during your normal playthrough. Only a few of them were IMO really hard to find. And like Rob said there's a replay mode which will unlock after you finished an episode and that will show you how many photos you have missed in one subsection.

[voodoo_eyes]

6 hours ago, Soneto said:

May I join?

 

The event is almost over by now. Sign ups were until end of February and the event ends on the 30th of this month. Thus each of us only having 3 games left to go through.

2 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

So I'll be firing up Life is Strange in about 10 hours and was looking for some guidance from those who have previously played it. Looks like most of the trophies are for taking photos.  Is it rather obvious where these photos should be taken? I wasn't planning to follow a guide or walkthrough, but I don't want to have to replay an entire game just to do a collectible photo run. 

My aim was to go in blind as this is a new type of genre for me and I know next to nothing about the story.  I feel using a guide might spoil some of the things the game has to offer, but I also don't want to replay a 20-hour game just to shoot a photo here and there.

suggestions? Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

 

Some of the photos are obvious, others can be easily be missed (some are dependent on your actions with the environment, if I remember correctly). If you don't want to run through parts of it a second time, you're better off using a guide for those.

Edited March 22, 2017 by voodoo_eyes

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #7: INVI؟IBLE, INC

Final Review

Total playtime: about three hours and fifteen minutes

Trophies: 2/23 for a B rank

 

Not invisible

Is not a corporation

Stick it to the Man

 

Spoiler

So yeah... Why exactly call it "INC." if the agency actually fights against corporations? Is this a hint at a plot twist I haven't reached yet? This coming after "Tearaway Unfolded" where the only tearing away is done when scraps rip through the paper and where you don't unfold anything (that would mean death, actually), I think it's weird that so many games have titles that seem right but are actually very incorrect. I'm guessing that "This War Of Mine" will not actually be about my own war either.

 

Okay, so me getting hung up on the title might be a good hint that I wasn't that into the game. A guess like that would be correct; actually I didn't even want to play it yesterday but I felt like buying and immediately playing Hue, which was on sale for €5 from €15 in a sale that ends today or tomorrow. Sorry @Hemiak, that's another 100% for me but then again it's a 100% with only 11 trophies and I only obtained 2 out of 23 in this one so I feel like it evens things out. I'll try to keep it to only Witcher III next to KYC3 for the final week but I can't promise anything.

 

I wanted to like the game but the steep difficulty even on beginner combined with the cluttered view where I often found myself trying to open something that was not actually a safe and the annoying interface which doesn't let you go back to your character level screen if you accidentally pressed mission select because the buttons are too sensitive (and many other things that trouble me)... Sorry, I just don't like it. Perhaps I should give it another shot with the basic view mode @Fitzquaid mentioned, but I feel like losing clutter in the view means losing appeal as well.

 

So my final conclusion is that while it might not be a bad game, there's just too much that goes against how I can enjoy a game and that means I don't like it. At any rate, there's stuff in my backlog which is much more appealing to me so I won't go back to this one soon. I'll probably give it another try when I've gotten through the PS+ games that I like more.

 

INVI؟IBLE, INC final score:

- dizzyshadow, Fitzquaid, Pickle2907

- BillyHorrible

 

Next up: 

Ultratron

 

P.S. only 2 out of 23 trophies (3%) and already on a B rank... damn.

Edited March 22, 2017 by BillyHorrible

[Pickle_Riiiick_X]

Game 7: Invisible Inc

Time Played: Just about hit the 3 hours

Trophies: 3

Completion Percent: 37.24%....slightly skewed, played a little of game 8 and got a few trophies before I remembered to check

 

Final Thoughts

 

There isn't much to add to what @BillyHorrible, @dizzyshadow and @Fitzquaid have already said. The tutorial was OK, but on beginner mode I think advice on your next mission would be helpful. You get 72hrs game time until I assume the final mission. I did 2 levels in 24hrs. At approx 9hrs for next mission that leaves maybe 5 more missions before the final showdown without any idea what will or won't benefit you. It took me about an hour to beat my second mission and it didn't feel like I had achieved much and felt like I needed to do some forum searching before I committed to my next move. Cue "Close Application" load game 8.

 

I too avoided my play time with this game...actually used my free time to install/update/download my whole game collection (except already platted) to my new 6TB external HDD. I don't hate the game and will probably go back to it. Just need to find a Wiki or something for it to understand where to focus my efforts. Don't want to commit the next 5hrs, get to the final level and realise I've done sweet FA to further my progress.

 

Overall Rating: Silver

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

@Pickle2907 I see This War Of Mine in your sig now... Thought we were playing that on spot nine and you'd play Life Is Strange on spot eight

[dizzyshadow]

1 hour ago, BillyHorrible said:

 

INVI؟IBLE, INC final score:

- Fitzquaid, Pickle2907

- BillyHorrible

? - @dizzyshadow (will update when I find out their score)

Next up: 

Ultratron

 

 

Was going to give it bronze until I reread the classifications I think its silver from me as well.

[Pickle_Riiiick_X]

@BillyHorrible....dammit...sorry, maybe that was my plan....getting confused now, lol, must be getting old, forgetting what game number I'm on, when next game starts, lol. Will switch to Life Is Strange and do This War on slot 9 with you 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

2 minutes ago, Pickle2907 said:

@BillyHorrible....dammit...sorry, maybe that was my plan....getting confused now, lol, must be getting old, forgetting what game number I'm on, when next game starts, lol. Will switch to Life Is Strange and do This War on slot 9 with you 

 

You can also just do This War now, we can still compare notes (or at least, I can compare yours to mine, it'll be too late for you)...

[Pickle_Riiiick_X]

3 minutes ago, BillyHorrible said:

 

You can also just do This War now, we can still compare notes (or at least, I can compare yours to mine, it'll be too late for you)...

 

Think I saw that @PerryToxteth is doing Life Is Strange now, I'll join him with that, then you with This War. All the games I picked were ones that others were playing I think, except possibly AC: Black Flag. I have so much backlog to go at that I used everyone else's lists for motivational choice, lol.

[FFHannibal]

I played so little of this game, I'm nowhere close to the 'required' 3 hours but I don't want to fall behind with my next game and so on. If possible I'll try to fit in some more LBP 3 alongside Resident Evil before the month is over. I'm going to do a tiny, tiny review of what I've already seen in an hour of gaming, but it's not going to be much.

 

Started with: 42.45%
Now: 41.36% (I didn't actually get any trophies for LBP 3 so the change in comparison to the previous game is purely because I got some trophies in Gems of War)

Game #7: LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4)

Trophies: 0/38
Playtime: 1 hour 3 minutes

 

I assume a lot of people have heard about LittleBigPlanet and have at least played some iteration of it, but for those who don't: LittleBigPlanet is essentially a platformer. It has some cool gimmicks, the platforming is not only 2D you've got multiple (mostly 2) lanes to switch to, though I haven't really seen it being used in a clever and innovative way so far it's just that: a gimmick.

 

I've completed the prologue and I'm currently in the first 'open' area (something something Swamp?). The prologue has you getting familiar with the controls and gives you one 'weapon' which looks like a hairdryer but acts a little like a vacuum cleaner. In every level there's a lot of stickers/collectibles to get and I got a bit annoyed that already there were things I couldn't get to unless I was playing co-op. I do have a second controller, but there's no one around that regularly wants to knock-out some LBP 3 or any other game for that matter.

 

There is a story in LBP 3 but admittedly I haven't seen much of it. Newton or Newty is a walking lightbulb and he wants you to break into an old lady's house to steal her tea? Of course that turns out to be a ruse and instead of Gramsy being the evil one it's actually Newty who wants to free the Titans. That goes wrong and Newty turns really evil (Gramsy blames you of course) and you get sent on a quest to save Bunkum.

 

I've encountered that one dude in the swamp (I forgot his name, he looks a bit like Elvis though so I'll go with that). Elvis says you'll have to find 3 marbles to 'resurrect' the little SackDog statue (I really wasn't paying attention at this point it seems). I also found a dude that sells costumes, nabbing me a sweet wolf one (the others look ridiculous and I haven't really played around a lot with the stickers and decorations). There were two other people who gave me sidequests but I needed a second player for one of those (again I don't really like that) and I didn't want to do the other one yet.

 

The last thing I did was play the Heist level which got me the first marble. I also got a sweet new 'weapon' out of that. I'm sure it has a name too, but it lets you shoot a ball into some vague substance essentially teleporting you through laser beams and to higher platforms. The only medal I seem to get consistently is the one for completing the levels I didn't get any trophies though I've taken a quick look at them and it seems they're for actually completing and collecting large parts of the game (where are my finished the tutorial trophies!).

 

Likelihood of me going for the platinum: 35%

Edited March 22, 2017 by FFHannibal

[wtru9]

 

Game #7 - Tropico 5

Day 3 - Final Thoughts

Playtime - 6 hours

 

Only got another half hour or so done today, so only made a small amount of progress through the Cold War era. I decided to build a high security prison to use for a few of them pesky rebels after their recent uprising. Also built a hospital because I noticed I'd had more than a fair deaths due to a lack of healthcare, so hopefully that has an effect. I also managed to increase my standing as an oil magnate by building another oil refinery, and overall after a while of being in or close to debt things are starting to look bright again for Tropico. Even the sour relations with the USA are starting to improve.

 

Now, onto my opinions of the game. Overall I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with it so far. I've always wanted to try an RTS game such as this, but most are on PC and tend to assault with you with a ton of information making it pretty daunting to get into. Thankfully Tropico 5 has a capable tutorial which gives you a general feel for things to look out for, and ultimately the game's strategy isn't terribly deep (or at least from what I've experienced). It's good for newer players to the genre such as myself, but the game may be a bit too basic for some of the more hardcore RTS players. I kind of wish decisions would carry more weight at times though, there's a system in place where there are many different factions you must try to appease, and ultimately it's felt a little easy to keep it all under control (although again, it may get more challenging towards the end game). So far my biggest focus point has been building enough housing and supplying enough jobs to keep up with the steady rise in population, and as long as I've done that, throwing in a few police stations, health clinics and entertainment venues I've been fine.

 

I feel as though I've been a bit too negative for how much I've enjoyed my time with the game. I've loved being able to view information about every single citizen, seeing their income, ideology, family and workplace along with their thoughts over various facets of the city, like whether their well fed, have good housing conditions and the like. It really helps make the city feel alive, and I got the feeling that every single citizen has a role to play in my nation's success. Speaking of the city feeling alive, the buildings are bright and colourful and there are constantly citizens moving about, be it the teamsters taking goods to the docks to export in their trucks, construction workers moving in a convoy towards your latest construction site or even children wondering around the residential area, which truly makes the city feel alive. Hell, you can even get mini traffic jams as vehicles line up at the traffic lights! Sometimes I've found it fun to just zoom the camera right in, bring it to a lower angle and just watch all the people/ cars move on by. I really got a sense of attachment to my budding nation, a feeling not entirely dissimilar to the feeling of attachment I get to my soldiers in XCOM (One of my favourite games of all time by the way).

 

There have been a few things that irk me slightly along the way, but I'm not always sure whether these are the fault of the game, or just my incompetent self not looking well enough at all the resources the game gives you. Things like families building shacks and remaining homeless even though there is perfectly good housing on the other side of town. Or not being sure whether my force of teamsters is adequate in bringing all my goods/ food to the dock, or whether I need to build more teamster offices to maximise my exports, and not being sure whether to build more docks if I've reached the capacity of the current shiploads exporting goods. I wish I could make more informed decisions in that particular department other than just guessing really as I currently am (Again there may stats for that somewhere though, I just haven't found it).

 

But nonetheless this game has been an absolute joy to play, and I'm certainly going back to it after the event has finished to continue my Duck Dynasty adventures and I'll probably go for the platinum too. I wasn't sure whether any of my games I picked for the event would make a big enough impression on me to award a platinum. It would have to be a pretty incredible experience I thought to myself,and Tropico 5 certainly has been just that, and absolute joy to play. It does enough to win a from me!  

 

 

[zettlock]

Let's get this quickly out of the way – I'm a Godzilla fan. Maybe not a psychofan overall, but a dude that knows a difference between both Japanese Godzillas and doesn't laugh at Minilla. So, when I've heard that there is a movie coming back in 2014, I was excited like a virgin before a prom night. And that flick was awesome! (That Mothra easter egg, aaaaa...). Then they announced this game and I was hyped like there is no tomorrow. Since I don't buy games on premiere, I waited for reviews. And they tore the game to pieces. I was devastated. But one day I decided to buy it nonetheless, brand new. I though that it's gonna end up on my pile of shame called nobly backlog, but I took this opportunity with KYC and gave it a shot.

Warning! This review is written by Godzilla fan. There will be loads of fellatio and oral metaphors and references. You have been warned!

I launched this game with really unexpected excitement. And it hit me with intro – really nice CGI of Big G. And then it came. Then I came. Godzilla roared. Fuck me, I missed this! I don't know what tiger/lion did the Toho studio guys squeezed by the balls to record it, but this is something that gives my fucking chills all the way through my spine right into my... You know. It's wonderful, it's great, it's poetic, it's animalistic, it's fucking perfect. 10/10 IGN.

Then I went into gameplay and got hit by something peculiar – this game has tank controls. Yeah, 2014 game with retro steering! At first I was stunned, but then I realized – it's brilliant. What's a better way to steer a motherfucking organic atomic-fueled tank other than tank controls?! And Mr. G steers like he should be – barely moving, slowly paced death machine.

It's very simple game – you have this arena (city district, harbor, etc.), you have to destroy all the buildings and military stuff to gain fury, that in exchange rises you G-cells output and you gain height. Literally, you grow into badass. Ultimate goal is to destroy those G-generators, but in the meantime some other kaijus might appear. And when they do – oh, boy. I felt like myself back in 90's. Summer. Polish NES ripoff, Pegasus. My neighbor owned one (I was stuck with Commodore, duh...). He came to me with this grin on his stupid face. „Guess what I've got!”, he asked. „I new porn?”, I replied. „No, you idiot – a Godzilla game!”. I almost came right there, in front of him. This summer I was watching all the available Godzilla movies on VHS – vs. King Ghidorah, vs. Hedorah, vs. Mechagodzilla. I loved it. So we launched said game. It was very simple thing – a sidescroller with Godzilla or Mothra. A motherfucking Mothra! I loved that guy. And guess what dude showed up as my first kaiju?! MOTHRA! I was so happy, that I wanted to hug him if I only could. Well, I could and I did, but that broke his spine. Then came Hedorah, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Biollante, all the Space-X vessels. The whole roster was here. Even – The 2014 Godzilla. Fuck me, when he showed up in all it's glory, I couldn't see the screen because of the erection. When I played with him and as him, I felt like a real god of distruction.

There is a boss rush – you fight six kaijus in a row. There's multiplayer that I dived in for few seconds to knock out some easy MP trophies only to find out this one guy with 4000 wins (sic!) that was about to rape me, so I quit.

On the other hand – there is literally no plot, the arenas are small and boring, the fighting mechanic is lackluster at best (four basic attacks and two specials) – and there is no block! In a fighting game! It's a Japanese game at soul, with all of it's grinding and lacking content stuff. But it didn't matter to me (though it will be reflected in final score). I felt like a kid. And that's what games are all about.

 

Rating: 7 weird boners out of 10 Godzilla's roars

Trophy progress: 26 of 45 (rank B )

Completion drop: 86,33% → 85,74% (influenced by Battlefield 1's DLC)

Edited March 22, 2017 by zettlock
because I can't count, apparently...

[xFalionx]

After turning into a rebel (It's all thanks to Billy, I swear ), I spent last evening finishing the story of this game, therefore earning the platinum of the title and playing one and a half hours longer than I was supposed to. No regrets though, this game was definitely worth it. After finishing this game my completion has risen by 0.09% since the start of the event again. Let's see that increase get smashed into the ground again with my last 3 games.  

 

Anyways, this was one of those games that I really couldn't put down again after the second half started. I'm impressed at the 21 hours I managed to play in those 3 days.  

 

Game #7: Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (on PSVita)

Final Review

Total playtime: about 21 hours and 30 minutes

Trophies: 37/37 for an S rank

 

Well, this was one hell of a game. Since my day 2 review was filled with pretty much every complaint I have about the game, I can focus on the positives in the final review.

 

This game starts out with you, the stranger, hunting bounties to afford an important surgery that will cost you 20.000 Moolah which is this games currency, what a rip-off. Towards the middle of the game there is a plot twist which basically turns the game into Half Life 2 gameplay wise, putting a larger emphasis on the story of the game which was pretty much neglected in the first half of the game.

 

Gameplay wise, you can choose to stealthily take out your opponents, capturing them alive one by one since they're worth more that way, or you can blow shit up, throw your enemies into the water and watch them drown, or blow even more shit up using conveniently placed explosive barrels. You do that by arming your double barrel crossbow with two of the many different types of ammunition which can be used to incapacitate single enemies or groups, lay traps, or simply kill them in multiple ways. Later on these all get upgraded version which make each type of ammunition feel completely unique by giving them additional traits. For example the Stankz, which are skunks by the way, will now pull every enemy in it's reach towards it instead of simply incapacitating a group of enemies before the upgrade. This can be used to throw them off a cliff or round them up for other kinds of destruction. You can buy the ammo in towns, catch them yourself as they're all critters or insects of some kind, or find them in ammo crates littered throughout the world. In the second half of the game enemies you catch will also give you ammo instead of later being turned in at a town to gain money.

 

There are also bosses which are really hard to catch alive in hard mode which was why they were giving me so much trouble in my playthrough. For some reason the bosses in the second half of the game felt a lot fairer than the bosses in the first half, and I had fun beating them. The main problem with catching bosses alive is that they have a stamina bar that you have to lower by using special types of ammo. These bars refill extremely rapidly on hard mode, making a live capture almost impossible without exploiting bugs.

 

The atmosphere in this game is really unique. The game's world is inhabited by all kinds of creatures like chicken people called Klakkerz who live in the game's towns. All of these creatures and items have their own names, which makes the game world feel immersive. What I really like is that you can interact with the NPCs in certain ways. For example they'll get upset if you knock into them or hit them, causing them to lose their money. If you do that too much they'll even sound the city's alarm bells and everyone runs into their houses like the chickens they are, spouting some funny lines at you in the process. You can talk to NPC's using  which is sometimes required to ask for directions or other things that require the help of an NPC. If you press that button while no NPCs are around, the stranger will remind you of where to go in form of his current thoughts.

 

While the game overall has a western feel and look to it, there are parts of the game that look really different to that like a river area that looks a bit like a jungle, or a snowy area.

 

I think the thing I like the most about this game is the protagonist, who starts out as pretty much your standard bad ass who kicks ass and chews bubble gum but is all outta gum. With every line he says you see a bit more of his true character, the lines he says on pressing  included. Most of what makes this character so special to me would spoil the game, so I'm just gonna leave it at that, but he's got a special place in my heart.

 

I've heard that this game was on PS+ ages ago, so I'd totally advise you to give it a look if you picked it up back then as this is a total gem, and with less than 12% of PSNP players reaching the part of the game where it really starts to take off, it's an underappreciated gem at that. 

 

If you do pick it up I'd advise you to play it on the PS3 as that should have a lot less of the performance problems I was experiencing. Another important thing is that you don't go for the 20.000 Moolah trophy in your first playthrough. It's more money than you need to buy every upgrade available to you and you'll have to capture almost all of the bosses alive basically forcing you to use exploits on hard difficulty. I did this and I feel like it definitely lessened my enjoyment of that part of the game a lot. If you go for the platinum you should probably use a guide for the many missable trophies. There's a good one that lists the missables in the order that you'll encounter them in the story over on .org, so you can just look at each missable trophy separately once you're at the required part of the story. The only collectible that you'll have to worry about are barrels which basically require a guide to be found, there's also chests bust you only have to find about 60% of them so this may be possible blind or on your second half playthrough for the 20.000 Moolah trophy.

 

Overall this game really surprised me. At the start I wanted to give this game a gold rating, that plot twist quickly elevated that gold rating into the platinum league, making it my second favorite game of this event, just slightly behind Severed. That's probably mostly just because I actually don't really like shooters though. I'm giving this game a 9.5/10, missing half a point for a choppy framerate, which is noticeable at times but never really got into my way, and a rarely occuring camera bug. Since the PS3s framerate is supposed to be at a solid 60FPS, this would make it a 9.8/10 on the PS3.

 

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD final score:

 - xFalionx

Next up: From Dust (PS3)

 

@Hemiak I didn't notice that you were also gonna play this game. I had a look at your list and it seems that it's at spot 8 anyways, so I'll go ahead and play it next so we can compare our notes as Billy likes to say. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by xFalionx

[Hemiak]

13 hours ago, Soneto said:

May I join?

Unfortunately we're over 2/3rds of the way through the event. I've typically run one every 4 months or so, which would put the next sign ups  in late June and the event in July. Thanks for your interest. 

 

13 hours ago, Fredoline05 said:

 

@Hemiak Could you please change my 8th game from 'The Crew' to 'Super Toy Cars' in your opening post? Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience!

Bummer about the crew, but yeah I would've advocated just picking a new game so good on ya. I'll change the OP "if I find the time." If anyone gets that reference you'll get like 5 likes and a follow. 

 

9 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

 Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

The game allows you to chapter select once you've beat it which makes cleanup really fast. Also, I didn't realize it at first but there's a photo album in the game that has outlines of the pictures, so you have an idea what you're looking for. Only issue is some of them are locked behind conversation options with fellow students, which can be a pain. 

[Hemiak]

3 hours ago, zettlock said:

Rating: 7 weird boners out of 10 Godzilla's roars

I have to be honest. This was literally the funniest review I've read in 3 editions of this event. Kudos.

 

57 minutes ago, xFalionx said:

Next up: From Dust (PS3)

 

@Hemiak I didn't notice that you were also gonna play this game. I had a look at your list and it seems that it's at spot 8 anyways, so I'll go ahead and play it next so we can compare our notes as Billy likes to say. 

I knew someone was playing it and I was pretty sure it was around slot 8. I've been choosing games pretty loosely so far, but I'll fire this up tonight. 

[zettlock]

8 minutes ago, Hemiak said:

I have to be honest. This was literally the funniest review I've read in 3 editions of this event. Kudos.

 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

11 minutes ago, Hemiak said:

I have to be honest. This was literally the funniest review I've read in 3 editions of this event. Kudos.

 

Wow, that's going to piss off a lot of people

 

That's like, Dorothy saying she'll mis Scarecrow most of all right in front of Tin Man and Lion!

[zettlock]

3 minutes ago, BillyHorrible said:

 

Wow, that's going to piss off a lot of people

 

That's like, Dorothy saying she'll mis Scarecrow most of all right in front of Tin Man and Lion!

 

Thank you, kind sir, for recognizing my lack of brain.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

13 minutes ago, zettlock said:

 

Thank you, kind sir, for recognizing my lack of brain.

 

I might not know The Wizard Of Oz by heart but I'm pretty sure you'll realise you had a brain all along

[Hemiak]

Game 6, final review

~3 hrs total, 2 trophies 

 

It was tough but I did play this for another hour yesterday. I just focused on moving through levels and finding what I could without a guide. I didn't earn anymore trophies but the only non-miscellaneous or collectible trophy is for beating the entire game without dying, which is thankfully glitched. 

 

Not a whole lot more to say. The game is broken into 3 worlds, 18 levels total. And each level has 3 or 4 stages to complete. Collectibles are tied to an entire level, so if you miss something you have to replay all the stages and re-collect it all again. 

 

I got a few more hp boosts, and the ability to stop time for a couple seconds. You can use that to escape enemies, navigate around the numerous stalactites, or push enemies around to open a path through a swarm. 

 

Like I said previously, the game is OK but nothing really amazing. I'll definitely go back and finish it at some point since it'd not very long. I just need to wait until I don't have anything better I'd rather be playing. 

 

 

Game 7, Final Uodate

3 hours played, 6/12 trophies 

 

So I jump into Jim Bob's (not his real name) shoes at the start of chapter 5. I'm looking for medicine for a little girl I've "adopted", and it seems there was a shipment (maybe) stuck hanging from a crane at the top of a nearby skyscraper. I set off to climb through a Parking structure to get as high as I can before switching buildings. 

 

I come across 3 or 4 groups of enemies I have to deal with. As I said early, there is no real way to attack or defend in this game. If you get the drop on someone then you can do a quick kill. If you can intimidate them into surrendering you can pistol whip them. If you back them up with your pistol to a ledge or fire you can kick them in, which is actually pretty cool. One on one you can pretty much win any fight by initiating a struggle kill. Problem is there are almost always 3 or more enemies. 

 

So the basic m/o becomes: trick and quick kill the first enemy, pull your gun and shoot whoever has a gun, then intimidate whoever is left so they don't attack you. If one guy walk up and kill him, if two hopefully there's a nearby danger you can use to eliminate him. If you try to struggle kill one guy while another is present he'll come up and hit you from behind.

 

One new mechanic is "tough enemies". Apparently in groups if you kill this guy first it intimidates the others and they'll surrender, allowing you to incapacitate them. The game tells you this, and then forces you to pull your gun, but doesn't tell you how to identify these enemies. Turns out it's the douchebags wearing bandanas. 

 

Anyway, I make my way through the parking area and switch buildings. I now have to find two jerry cans (gas cans) to get an elevators generator working, because hey, who doesn't think riding in an open elevator on the outside of a building in an earthquake racked city isn't a good idea.

 

That accomplished, I continue climbing up the building, occasionally sliding down inclines, where you can hold R1 to slide slower and hit sideways and X to roll to reach ledges and handholds. The game can be incredibly frustrating as there is almost no room for error on the climbing sections. As I said you have finite Stamina, and need to really plan your exact route before you start a section or you'll be in a world of hurt. If you have an extra piton you can hammer. That into a hard surface with R2 to give yourself a fixed resting point where you can fully restore your Stamina. Some climbing/sliding sections actually force you to use a piton in the middle to recover before continuing, which is both infuriating and kind of cool. (spoiler: I hate using supplies in games, I'm a total item miser) 

 

I finally reach the top of the building and the crate. Lo an behold, there really is medicine for the Brat, and also a handy grappling hook. You throw it at marked points with Square and start swinging, constantly draining your Stamina. When you're lined up you hit X to jump off and continue on your way. Your rope isn't terribly long and he throws the hook by hand so most of these aren't overly complicated. I did die at one point later as I tried to jump to an extended bridge thing that apparently wasn't an actual in game feature but just a background decoration.

 

I finally made it down, navigates back and gave the girl the medicine, and ended the 6th chapter. Along the way I got my 3 and 5 machete quick kill trophies done. As well as rescuing my 3rd and 5th survivors. Why is giving a bottle of wine to two drunkards chilling on a rooftop a rescue? But it probably has to do with [video games] 

 

But Hem, why did that take up 2 whole hours? Oh yeah, forgot to mention I restarted chapter five twice, once because I was criminally low on supplies after the parking area fights, and once because I was convinced I'd missed the 3rd Survivor, who is literally found with 5 minutes of the 45 minute chapter left. It also took me several retries to figure out a couple of the fights and the climbing/sliding sections. 

 

All in all this game is decent. My main gripe is that it doesn't encourage or even allow any sort of individual play. Basically there's one good way to get rhougb each encounter, and if you don't take optimal climbing routes you're screwed. I also wish the combat was a little better fleshed out. I realize this guy isn't a master swordsman, but not having the ability to swing my machete at a guy who's reloading his pistol is just stupid. 

 

100%? Probably someday. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by Hemiak

[Melanogaster1987]

Game #7: Assassin's Creed II

 

A couple of years ago, I decided to see what the Assassin's Creed franchise was all about, and as every game in the series was dirt cheap on PSN, I bought the lot, only to find that I really didn't like the first game - getting to grips with the controls was a real struggle, I found the missions so repetitive, and hyper-sensitive guards that would be all over you if you so much as walked past them too quickly made the game feel overly difficult and very turgid. Maybe if it had trophies, I would have felt like pushing through to the end, but as it was I decided that I had seen enough even though I was only 25% of the way through at most. I have read that AC2 is considered by most to be a big step forwards; so would it be able to kickstart the franchise after what was, in my opinion, a false start with AC1?

 

Assassin's Creed II is set in 15th century Italy, and boy does the environment feel immersive. The sights and sounds of the game world are wonderful - people you walk past will make comments about you and your actions, the city of Florence sounds just like a living, breathing city should, and the view from high rooftops is always a treat. Also, when you encounter an important person or place, a database entry will be generated that gives you more background information. These entries seem to be historically accurate - in fact, it feels like I'm getting a crash course in Italian history rather than merely playing a game, and getting to meet Leonardo Da Vinci himself has been a real highlight so far.

 

The missions so far have included some which are heavy on combat, some where you really should remain undetected by guards, some where you have to pick up and drop off collectibles, and some where you simply have to travel to a certain location, as well as the trademark assassination missions, of course. AC2 certainly feels more varied than AC1 - and given that we're still being taught new mechanics even though I'm well into chapter 4 by now, it seems like there's a lot more different types still to come. Things are also easier than the first game in the missions where stealth plays a part; due to better indicators of the guards positions which also incorporate a detection meter, you're more likely to stay out of trouble.

 

As well as the main missions, there are also 20 secret glyphs to find in the game world, and each has an associated puzzle that features historic paintings and/or photographs. I won't spoil any of these - they're excellent and you really should see them for yourself. Solving each one rewards you with a very short snippet from a secret video. This is a great source of intrigue for me - I've beaten 5 of the 20 puzzles so far, but still have absolutely no idea what is going on in this video clip.

 

Earlier, I mentioned that the controls in AC1 didn't sit well with me, and sadly this is still the case. In combat, having to press L1 to lock on to each enemy feels like an unnecessary step - why can't the game automatically lock you on to the nearest enemy? Also, I have difficulty getting some of Ezio's moves to work at all some of the time. It's possible that there's actually a lot of subtlety to the fighting system and that I'm just not good enough to appreciate it, but at the moment it all feels clunky. On the plus side regarding combat, having lots of different weapons at your disposal certainly adds variety, and there are some neat animations to see when you land the killing blow.

 

You can also run around the city parkour style, but having played and adored both Mirror's Edge games, going from the parkour seen there to Assassin's Creed's free running feels like a huge step down. There have been many times when I've sent Ezio into a bone-crunching leap off a high building when I was just trying to reach a higher ledge, or lost my momentum because he stopped dead instead of making a jump that was well within range. I never feel like I'm 100% in control with the free running, which had made escaping pursuing guards and the racing side missions, which send you all over the rooftops, a source of frustration.

 

However, they have made two big improvements to the control scheme, firstly with pickpocketing, which is so much simpler now - just bump into the side of somebody whilst holding X to pick their pocket, whereas in the first game it required such precision that it just wasn't worth the risk; and secondly the addition of the fast walk function speeds up the game's pace by making getting around when you don't want to break into a full run feel a lot less tedious.

 

Finally, the game is sadly held back by performance issues - loading times of up to 3-4 minutes in some places, frame rate problems and scenery pop-in are sometimes prevalent, especially when moving at high speed, and the game has crashed my console three times already.

 

Overall, a large step forward compared to the first Assassin's Creed, but not without some notable problems.

 

My rating: Silver feels too harsh, Gold a little bit too generous given the problems I stated. Gold/Silver it is.

---

 

Trophies earned in this game: 14 (4, 10) for 270 points
Total trophies earned in this event: 95 (2, 17, 76) for 1,830 points

 

Current completion rate: 61.99% [Down 4.68% since start of event; Down 0.54% as a result of this game]

[PerryToxteth]

7 hours ago, zettlock said:

Let's get this quickly out of the way – I'm a Godzilla fan. Maybe not a psychofan overall, but a dude that knows a difference between both Japanese Godzillas and doesn't laugh at Minilla. So, when I've heard that there is a movie coming back in 2014, I was excited like a virgin before a prom night. And that flick was awesome! (That Mothra easter egg, aaaaa...). Then they announced this game and I was hyped like there is no tomorrow. Since I don't buy games on premiere, I waited for reviews. And they tore the game to pieces. I was devastated. But one day I decided to buy it nonetheless, brand new. I though that it's gonna end up on my pile of shame called nobly backlog, but I took this opportunity with KYC and gave it a shot.

Warning! This review is written by Godzilla fan. There will be loads of fellatio and oral metaphors and references. You have been warned!

I launched this game with really unexpected excitement. And it hit me with intro – really nice CGI of Big G. And then it came. Then I came. Godzilla roared. Fuck me, I missed this! I don't know what tiger/lion did the Toho studio guys squeezed by the balls to record it, but this is something that gives my fucking chills all the way through my spine right into my... You know. It's wonderful, it's great, it's poetic, it's animalistic, it's fucking perfect. 10/10 IGN.

Then I went into gameplay and got hit by something peculiar – this game has tank controls. Yeah, 2014 game with retro steering! At first I was stunned, but then I realized – it's brilliant. What's a better way to steer a motherfucking organic atomic-fueled tank other than tank controls?! And Mr. G steers like he should be – barely moving, slowly paced death machine.

It's very simple game – you have this arena (city district, harbor, etc.), you have to destroy all the buildings and military stuff to gain fury, that in exchange rises you G-cells output and you gain height. Literally, you grow into badass. Ultimate goal is to destroy those G-generators, but in the meantime some other kaijus might appear. And when they do – oh, boy. I felt like myself back in 90's. Summer. Polish NES ripoff, Pegasus. My neighbor owned one (I was stuck with Commodore, duh...). He came to me with this grin on his stupid face. „Guess what I've got!”, he asked. „I new porn?”, I replied. „No, you idiot – a Godzilla game!”. I almost came right there, in front of him. This summer I was watching all the available Godzilla movies on VHS – vs. King Ghidorah, vs. Hedorah, vs. Mechagodzilla. I loved it. So we launched said game. It was very simple thing – a sidescroller with Godzilla or Mothra. A motherfucking Mothra! I loved that guy. And guess what dude showed up as my first kaiju?! MOTHRA! I was so happy, that I wanted to hug him if I only could. Well, I could and I did, but that broke his spine. Then came Hedorah, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Biollante, all the Space-X vessels. The whole roster was here. Even – The 2014 Godzilla. Fuck me, when he showed up in all it's glory, I couldn't see the screen because of the erection. When I played with him and as him, I felt like a real god of distruction.

There is a boss rush – you fight six kaijus in a row. There's multiplayer that I dived in for few seconds to knock out some easy MP trophies only to find out this one guy with 4000 wins (sic!) that was about to rape me, so I quit.

On the other hand – there is literally no plot, the arenas are small and boring, the fighting mechanic is lackluster at best (four basic attacks and two specials) – and there is no block! In a fighting game! It's a Japanese game at soul, with all of it's grinding and lacking content stuff. But it didn't matter to me (though it will be reflected in final score). I felt like a kid. And that's what games are all about.

 

Rating: 7 weird boners out of 10 Godzilla's roars

Trophy progress: 26 of 45 (rank B )

Completion drop: 86,33% → 85,74% (influenced by Battlefield 1's DLC)

 

- Quite simply, the most hilarious review I've read in the two KYC events I have partaken in.  I'm not even into Godzilla but you might have motivated me to start. 

 

- Thank you to all who gave the Life is Strange advice.  Got two hours in and am immensely enjoying it.  And my trepidations about collectibles were lessened once I found the photo journal screen.  And, you all informed me there's a chapter select.  I can already tell that I will go back to this one in early-April so I don't forget too much of the story.

[PerryToxteth]

Game No. 5

Nightmares From the Deep: The Cursed Heart

 

 

Trophies Earned: 5/16 (25%)

Playing Time: almost two hours

 

  So I played this in the first week in the event, knowing I would be out of town during the entire Game 5 window.  I purposely chose a short, simplistic game so I could get a taste of it without needing to log in lots of hours.  And this game definitely worked for my criteria; it is a puzzler with a story built in to get you from puzzle to puzzle.

 

Gameplay: It's a combo puzzler, mainly in a point-and-click format, in which you need to perform tasks to advance the story. And in certain rooms, there are hidden object puzzles (screens filled with junk, you need to click on the items on a list).  The oddest part of the game, is if you are having too much trouble with the hidden object puzzles, you can opt to play a game of mahjong instead.  Which brings up the following questions:

- Why would you have trouble with a hidden object game, when you have unlimited clicks AND a hint button?

- Mahjong is the easy way out? Don't get me wrong, Mahjong is simple enough for my 4-year-old to enjoy but there is a fraction of strategy involved to it on the more complicated levels. It's certainly not easier than a hidden object puzzle though.

- Were the game developers high?

 

  Based on the story, I'd say a definite yes to the last question.  You are a curator at a Museum, excited to open a new exhibit about Remington, the legendary pirate from the heyday of Caribbean swashbucklers, when his ghost suddenly appears and kidnaps your teenage daughter.  As you try to find her and get her back, Remington's ghost ship crashes into your museum.  You then board the ship and search the rooms for your daughter.  Many of the rooms are locked so you need to pick up items along the way to solve point-and-click puzzles. Those actually work okay because they take multiple steps to achieve.  You may pick up an item and it will sit in your inventory for awhile before you finally find the room that it will interact with something.

  As earlier stated, there are hidden object puzzles in various rooms and point-and-click puzzle items will sometimes be hidden in them.  The hidden object puzzles are a bit more complex than most games. As in, your list states to find a 'toy car' but you need to find the cars' four wheels before it will count as complete.  With unlimited clicks, a monkey could be trained to solve any of these puzzles.  BUT, if you are really having trouble, then how about a game of mahjong instead?!? And! a game of mahjong that has a reshuffle button so you can never get stuck! The thinking behind that developing strategy is comical but you know what, it works because I'm having a fun time so far.

Trophies: Quite a variety actually.  Some are collectible-based, some are performance-based, and some are completing the game on a set difficulty.  I missed that last criteria on my playthrough so I will have to play it again on expert level (I think all that means is they take the Hint button away). Some trophies look difficult (completing a mahjong and hidden object game in under a minute), but PSNPers have earned those trophies 60% of the time so I'm not going to sweat it. I didn't bother looking at the trophy list and managed to get 5 in a couple hours.  Platinum completion is 60% so this is not a difficult game.

Final Thoughts: The story is corny but you know what? I had fun in my few hours with this one. I was engaged for the multiple hours I played it, unlike Hitman:GO when I was eager to turn it off.  The game isn't a serious one and based on its price (under $5), it's been a worthwhile gaming venture.  So I'll give it a  based on what it is.  It doesn't pretend to be a AAA title and frankly, I've played games I've spent way more money on, that are glitchy and broken messes. So far, this game has been performing like it should.    

 

Gaming Update: I'm almost caught up on reviews! Just need to review AC:Chronicles and then I'll be back on schedule.  My stats are skewed because I am behind but my completion percentage is way down.  It's dropped by more than 5% and that's only six games logged onto PSNP. Life is Strange's 61 trophies are really going to drop me like a rock. 

 

 

 

[NebbyLunala]

2 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

I was excited like a virgin before a prom night.

 

I know that it's usually a tired cliche that virgin girls who go to prom lose their virginity in romantic passion at some hotel but I know for a fact that I went to something like a prom and that never happened to me. Then again, I was a complete geek and rarely attended school dances and I don't think I ever went to prom. Ah, the high school days.

2 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

Warning! This review is written by Godzilla fan. There will be loads of fellatio and oral metaphors and references. You have been warned!

 

Then again, I should have expected this.

 

After playing and platinuming Clockwork Tales, I might look into Cursed Heart. I do love me a good pirate ghost story.

Edited March 22, 2017 by NebbyLunala