Kill Your Completion - CYOA

[Kevvik]

5 hours ago, DamagingRob said:

Hmm.. It'll depend on how bad the trophies are. I don't mind online only games, so long as they aren't insanely long grinds. :/

 

I was just gonna use 1000 Top Rated, but it's probably not gonna work once it receives its name change.. So I bought 101 Ways to Die. Lol. Picked up Xblaze awhile back for X. I don't got squat for Q, though. :/ 

 

That's what my Z Plat is. I didn't really like it, though, so I didn't mention it.

 

I've got 101 Ways to Die as well. In fact, I'm planning on playing that this month as a selection for this event now because my Tomb Raider Trilogy disc has vanished. Went to get it today to play Legend as my game 7 only to find an empty case. No idea where it's gone.

 

So instead, I have...

 

Game #7: Hitman: Absolution

 

Initial/Day 3 Impressions

 

Time played: ~3 hrs

 

I don't think I need to explain Hitman as a game concept but I'll give an abbreviated overview. This is actually the first real Hitman game (not counting Hitman GO) that I've played sine the original Codename 47 on PC way back in the day. It's a 3rd person title where you play the aforementioned 47 who executes people for The Agency.  In this title, your first mission (and tutorial) has you going to take down your previous Control or the agent who issued you your missions.  Apparently she has gone rogue and now has to die.  You carry out your mission but get a dying mission from your old Control to help a girl that she smuggled away from the Agency doctors (giving you a minor flashback to your training). You agree and set out to find her a safe haven and more info about her.  I've played through the first 2 missions and that's about what I've got so far.

 

You get pretty much walked through the first mission, though you have some latitude in how you carry out the mission while getting introduced to the gameplay mechanics you have available to you.  You get paid at the end of the mission based on things like speed, carrying out kills in certain ways, times you were Spotted by guards, killing too many bystanders and a variety of other factors. Their are also little challenges within the missions ( The cash allows you to purchase upgrades which help in future missions.  Less guidance is given as your missions progress on how to carry them out and let you play in your small sandbox.

 

There is also an online play option.  Normally I cringe at this but it's done reasonably well. It's called Contracts. There are tutorials both for playing a contract or making one. They are shorter giving a specific kill in an area and certain conditions for the kill which must be met.  You can challenge friends to competitions and build up cash for buying in game upgrades. The trophies are relatively painless to do and I completed all the online trophies in less than an hour.

 

I liked my time returning to the world of 47 and am interested in seeing where the story goes. I will likely do the plat for this but in small doses to keep it fresh.

 

Current rating: 7/10

Trophies: 15/47, 32% for C rank

Completion rate: 78.12% (-2.09%)

 

Next up: Either 101 Ways to Die or Dust: An Elysian Tail. We'll see how much time I have since I'm planning to go see Dunkirk at the IMAX tomorrow night (fingers crossed anyway). Need some kick back time and that looks like a good way to do it.

[dmland12]

Game #7: Reus

Game Progress: 13/29 Trophies (22%)

Completion: 89.45% (-0.95%, -5.41% from start)

 

Reus is a real-time strategy game where you start in control of four godlike giants and a barren planet.  Your goal is generally to make things hospitable for people.  You don't directly interact with them, but rather you create the environment by choosing what biomes to put where and what resources to put on each tile.  And sometimes you need to do some smiting too.   Overall, I thought it was an interesting and fun game.  But, I think you do need to be a micromanager and min-maxer at heart to get the most out of it.

 

Most of the game centers around meeting the requirements to build projects.  A project is basically some building that each town has decided they are going to try to build.  Based on what each town chooses, you'll need to optimize the surrounding environment in order for them to meet their goals.  They start out fairly easy, but for higher level ones you'll really need to squeeze everything you can out of the environment.  Once a town completes a project, they provide you with an ambassador which will unlock some more skills from one of your particular giants (your choice).  If a town grows too quickly they'll get combative and will try to attack a nearby town (you can try to interfere if you wish) and could even destroy it if they're strong enough.  They can also attack your giants if they feel like you haven't been showing them enough attention or are just getting too feisty.  Also failing a project seems to put them in a more warlike mood.  And some of the projects require the town to win a war or to have another town destroyed.  The different projects do mix things up rather well.

 

If you're looking at the trophy list and wondering what "developments" are, they are just in-game achievements.  They do serve a purpose as they unlock higher level resources, which you'll generally need to complete some of the more difficult projects later.  You do eventually get a lot of options on how to upgrade the resources you place if you make an effort here.  Each giant has one or two types of resources they can place and three possible aspects (upgrades) they can perform.  Also depending on the biome (forest, desert, swamp, mountain, ocean) you'll get different effects and upgrade paths.  So, there's really quite a lot to wrap your head around.

 

Games last 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours, although you'll need to complete some in-game achievements, ahem I mean "developments" to unlock the 1 hour and 2 hours modes.  You can pause the game/clock whenever you want, so you have plenty of time to figure out what the best setup is.  Generally, I spent more time paused than letting the clock run, but I think the more you play the game, the less time you'll need to stop and think.  The 2 hour game should provide ample time to go after most of the developments, but there are some that require you to play in the 30 minute or 1 hour modes (four of these are also some of the rarer trophies).

 

Anyway, enough talk.  If you want to see the game in action, here's some video from one of my 30 minute games.  It's the beginning setup I fell into... 2 desert, 2 swamp, 2 forest towns.  The video goes through the 4th town popping, but the last three look a like like the first three.

 

 

Closing Thoughts:

This is a rather nice real-time strategy if you don't mind micromanaging and like lots of options and unlocks.

My Rating: A-

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #8 - Day #1

 

 

Already got a couple of hours in. My expectations for this are pretty straight forward having played 4 other R&C games before. Therefore I believe it'll be as enjoyable as the other games (except Q-Force, screw that game). So far Into the Nexus was my favourite R/C game, so the only real question is, if this one will surpass that one.

[DamagingRob]

Final Review- Red Faction: Guerrilla

 

Mayhem and destruction! That just about sums this up. Lol. Your goal is to completely liberate an area, and then you'll unlock the final story mission for said area. This is done by destroying EDF buildings, or completing side missions. So far, I've liberated the first 3, with only 3 more to go? Unless some areas don't have a trophy attached to them. 

 

Like I said, the game is an open world 3rd person shooter, similar to GTA. Most of the time, you'll be trying to destroy EDF property, and fighting the EDF. Your tools of the trade consist of C4, a giant sledgehammer, assault rifle, and pistol at first. But as you progress, you get new toys. I bought some kind of weapon that electrocutes enemies, a weapon that fires discs at enemies, a rocket launcher, and proximity mines. I even picked up an energy gun that an enemy was using. 

 

Turns out killing people with the sledgehammer is just as great as destroying buildings with it. Lol. One smack with that thing, and they're dead. Of course, you have to watch your regenerating health bar, and not go charging into the middle of a large group of enemies with it. You'll probably end up dead. :/ 

 

Side missions consist of destroying buildings in a certain amount of time, driving a vehicle to a safehouse in a certain amount of time, using a turret on a vehicle while an AI character drives to destroy as much as possible in a certain amount of time, and rescuing imprisoned Red Faction members, and returning them to a safehouse. 

 

So far, the game is a blast. But could get a bit repetitive.. Probably between a  and a  rating. Though I think FFXIII-2 remains the game I'm most looking forward to returning to when this is over. 

 

Time played: 8 hours maybe? I really hate when there's no in game timer.. I don't always keep close track. 

Trophy progress: 11/61 for 15% and a C rank. 

Did it lower my completion? Still under 88%, so I'd say so.

 

@Kevvik I try not to do it anymore, but I used to have to open multiple game cases to find the one I wanted, 'cause I'd just shove the last one into the case of the one I was switching to. Lol. 

Edited July 22, 2017 by DamagingRob

[Myu]

Sorry I'm now two reviews late, life got in the way and I couldn't bring myself to post on time, so here it is : 

 

Day 18 - Persona 5

 

Time played : 3 hours

Trophies obtained : 1/49

Completion % : 1%

Rank : E

 

I only played the three required hours for this one as I didn't want to go further into the story and get too hooked on it. 

The prologue is quite nice : you are a Arsene Lupin-like thief trying to escape from a casino. But unlile your famous counterpart, you fail miserably in your attempt and get caught by the police. 

You wake up in a prison cell, get badly beaten by cops who are trying to get more info out of you. Then, a lady comes by to ask you some questions and you start reminiscing what happened, starting from the very beginning. 

 

The gameplay is very similar to Persona 4 but there are some new additions : you have to try to ambush the enemy to prevent the danger gauge from rising too much or you'll get kicked out of the dungeon. I really like to run and collide with the enemy so this system is a bit of a bother. You also have a gun with limited ammo but it deals great damage so I'll probably leave it for extreme situations or boss fights. 

 

I met what I suspect to be three characters from my future team : Morgana, the cat that is not a cat and Ryu, the typical punk kid who hides a nice heart, and that girl with the twintails. 

Basically, Teddy, Kanji and Rise from Persona 4G. 

 

I haven't cleared the first dungeon yet but it feels very similar to P4G, except that you have to be a bit more stealthy this time.

 

 

 

Day 21 - Period Cube

 

Time played : 5 hours

Trophies obtained : 10/34

Completion % : 17%

Rank : E

 

I had high hopes for this one. Really. But I think it will be on the same level as Norn9, and that is not a good level. 

You play that girl, Hanamiya Kazuha, who is getting more and more worried because her brother has not been sending her lots of texts and emails lately. 

You decide to go check on his little student appartment. On the way, you meet Hiroya, your childhood friend, who decides to accompagny you, even though it's been years since the last time you've talked to each other. The big brother is nowhere to be found but his computer screen is on and you can read "access World V". Kazuya then explains that this is from Arcadia, an MMORPG that the big brother and him used to play. In this game, you can choose to be either an Angel or a Demon and fight the opposite side. However, World V is actually a server that is never available on the list and there are some rumors about this one allowing access to a version of Arcadia from which you can't log off and of course, if you die in the game, you die in real life too (*cough* SAO *cough* *cough*). 

Kazuha creates her character and both enter the game. They are immediately attacked by random ennemies and our little heroine realizes that she's a useless lvl1 character in a world made for hard-core gamers. And she will remain useless most of the time. 

 

I've already completed two routes : Hiroya (top middle on the pic) and Astrum (top left), both characters with a big inferiority complex that tends to get on my nerves. I'm currently on Radius' route (top right) which looks a little bit more promising. We'll see. 

 

Each route is a re-telling of the story but with a different character at your side. You can clear each one in a few hours, but it gets very repetitive. The same info is told again and again, with the same flashbacks, the same events. There are very few new pieces of info in each route and everything feels pretty rushed. The translation is not always on point either.

 

I also find it very funny when the heroine "falls in love" with the character after spending two days with him. Very realistic. Maybe it gets better, I don't know.  

There's a good end and a bad end for each character, the bad end being as creepy as ever in Japanese VN. I must say that they don't lack imagination when it comes to finding a disturbing ending.  

 

And as a bonus, this little gem of a screenshot, just a few minutes into Astrum's route. Enjoy! 

 

Note : This is not an Eroge. 

 

[Edunstar84]

32 minutes ago, Myu said:

*Snip*

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Note : This is not an Eroge. 
 

 

 

 

 

CLASSIC!! Re bad ending: Japanese creators tend to do creepy well, don't they?! Steins;Gate and that cage scene in Amnesia: Memories.

[Myu]

37 minutes ago, Edunstar84 said:

 

CLASSIC!! Re bad ending: Japanese creators tend to do creepy well, don't they?! Steins;Gate and that cage scene in Amnesia: Memories.

 

God, that cage scene... 

But the worst and creepiest bad endings I've ever encountered are from Drammatical Murder. Those are unrivalled. Seriously. 

[Kevvik]

2 hours ago, DamagingRob said:

 

I try not to do it anymore, but I used to have to open multiple game cases to find the one I wanted, 'cause I'd just shove the last one into the case of the one I was switching to. Lol. 

 

Yeah, I know. I don't usually do it myself but my kids have before. So I went through every PS3 case I have looking for it but nowhere. I'm sure I'll find it down the road totally unexpectedly but not spending the time right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've never actually put it in the machine so I have no idea why it would be out of the case in the first place. Oh well.

[DamagingRob]

1 hour ago, Kevvik said:

Yeah, I know. I don't usually do it myself but my kids have before. So I went through every PS3 case I have looking for it but nowhere. I'm sure I'll find it down the road totally unexpectedly but not spending the time right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've never actually put it in the machine so I have no idea why it would be out of the case in the first place. Oh well.

Hmm.. Hopefully, it turns up, eventually. I really liked those games on the 360. 

[JoaoQuique]

Game Nº 6 [Absolute Drift: Zen Edition] - Final Report

 

 

First Day Report: Click here

 

After had completed "main game", I continued events mode - for a trophy, you must complete all 5 tasks from every place. There are four kinds of event (actual names from game was not being used due to fact that I do not remember proper names...): "circuit", when you should complete three laps on a closed circuit to complete a event, driftkhana, when you have two minutes to complete tasks on a sandbox'ed place, "mountain drifts", when you should complete given course while completing tasks, and midnight event, which are simmilar than mountain drifts, but they are completed on dark.

 

Tasks given follows a standard - usually have a point task, a multiplier task (the hardiest ones so far), probably some tasks that can be used on any or almost any kind of event (like block smashing or clipping posts) and some tasks which were "unique" to a certain kind of event (for instance, "spin zones" usually are exclusive to driftkhana events). Finally saying, after completing a certain task, you must finish the event to registrer that task as "completed", however, you do not need to complete all tasks on a single run (actually some ones are pretty excludent, like a task on driftkhana which demands you to complete seven donuts in 2 minutes - but that place have just one point to donut: so considering time demanded to do a donut and a "cooldown" of that place which denies you to following donus as quick as possible, you probably will not have enough time to do anything but donuts if you want to complete given task).

 

Actually I had not enough time to try out mountain events (I completed a midnight event on my first day however), but I think it will not impact so much on my avaliation.

 

Playtime: Almost three hours, I think

 

Trophies obtained: 14 from 21 (Completion at 66% - Rank B)

 

Personal Completion: from 71,32% to 71,25% 

 

 

Final Ratings:

 

Graphics: B- - this game does not feature awesome graphics, but the marks of rubber are amazing...

 

Sound: C+ - the music from main menu are actually pretty good, but the car's sounds are a bit annoying...

 

Gameplay: B+ - this game's drifting is a quite fun and challengeful in a good way - easy to do, very hard to master.

 

Replay Factor: B- - this game is a very good option as a game to be played casually. However, it is quite short...

 

Trophy-wise: C+ - too much golds... Probably this game's trophy list would be better if had more trophies and less golden trophies... But it coule be worse...

 

Personal grade: 

[Hemiak]

My completion rate is finally moving in the right direction again.

 

We just got a new dog two days ago so things have been crazy and Mim has been super tired once the kids go down. That means no Until Dawn, but It'll happen again soon. 

 

Game 7

1 hr played, 12/46, 22%

 

I got this game free from Ps+, and before that had never heard of it. I know it's kind of a runner type game with colors and it's a relatively easy and fast platinum. 

 

So the back story. Our heroes live in a bright colorful world. Then a bad guy (demon/bat thing) shows up and tries to steal all the color. Just before he gets away with it, Rev (I think) punches the giant globe of color and spills it all across the land. Trouble is, now it's locked up in little balls, and we have to go collect it again.  

 

The game is pretty simple. You run from left to right on screen, and there are three lanes. Pressing up or down shifts you one lane over. The balls (red/yellow/blue/prismatic) are scattered along the lanes. You can change your character's color at will, and you only pick up an orb if you are the same color. , , and change you yellow, red, blue respectively. Seems pretty easy and so far it is. 

 

I played all the way though the first world twice last night and never had any real issues. You are ranked based on score at the end of the level. This is based on how many orbs you pick up and whether or not you got them with a perfect rank. Each time you hit a color button you spin, and spinning through an orb is required for perfect. 

 

The game has slowly added new mechanics as I go, and most are pretty easy to pick up. There are small mushrooms on the ground, sometimes one color, sometimes prismatic. If you are the correct color they will launch you up in the air, allowing you to grab floating orbs or reach higher places. 

 

There are orb links, where picking up one gets them all. There are also chains where one is larger than the others. You get all three if you hit the big one. There are also vines in the way, which you can only pass if you are the correct color. There are now arrow plates, and hitting them while the correct color launches you either forward or backward, allowing you to reach previously inaccessible paths. 

 

Level 10 was a speed level, but I didn't really notice any difference speed wise. After that was a boss level. It started with me being chased by some wierd black creatures. I had to dodge obstacles and hit color pads to stay ahead of them. Finally I'm launched far enough ahead to not worry about them. At this point a big bat thing comes down and chucks Bombs at me. Some are a pink color and must be avoided. When you get a true color one you can switch to the correct color to pick it up, then hit circle to throw it back. More dodging Bombs, pick up + throw. Repeat 3 times and the fight is over. 

 

After the fight I'm told some wierd glow bird things got released, and one just happens to go to each level. I'm then told that collecting all of them in one world will unlock a secret level. After going back and collecting all of them in the first world I shut the game down. 

 

Interesting game so far. Going to let the kids try it out and see how they do with it. It's cool because each level starts out completely grey, and as you collect orbs more and more of the screen becomes colorful. 

[Myu]

So... I was supposed to play Final Fantasy Type-0 today but after launching the game, watching the very sad intro (that poor Chocobo!) and finally being able to control the character, motion sickness hit me hard. After playing for 4 minutes, I decided that it was not worth it since I had not even managed to clear the first battle before dizziness came to say hello. Those Square Enix games are getting harder and harder to play. FFXIII's great plains was the same and most of FFXIII Lightning Returns too. 

I really really hope I'll be able to play FFXV. If this one gets me dizzy too, I'll have to give up on the FF franchise :/ 

[Edunstar84]

2 minutes ago, Myu said:

So... I was supposed to play Final Fantasy Type-0 today but after launching the game, watching the very sad intro (that poor Chocobo!) and finally being able to control the character, motion sickness hit me hard. After playing for 4 minutes, I decided that it was not worth it since I had not even managed to clear the first battle before dizziness came to say hello. Those Square Enix games are getting harder and harder to play. FFXIII's great plains was the same and most of FFXIII Lightning Returns too. 

I really really hope I'll be able to play FFXV. If this one gets me dizzy too, I'll have to give up on the FF franchise :/ 

 

Oh no *sadness* I hope FFXV doesn't make you dizzy. Will you switch out Type-0 for a different game?

[MosesRockefeller]

Game #7: Salt and Sanctuary

 

Salt and Sanctuary is an interesting game that blends Metroidvania elements with some things from the Dark Souls series. I have not played any Dark Souls games (besides the beginning part of Demon's Souls, many years ago). However, I am a big fan of Metroidvania type games, so I was looking forward to trying it out. 

 

My initial impressions were that the game is fun, but didn't quite do what I wanted. After spending more time with the game, I like it a lot more.

 

In this game you create a character and class, and travel through different areas, defeating enemies as you go. Killing enemies rewards you with salt and occasional item drops. Treasure chests and destroying barrels and other environmental objects gives you gold. Salt is probably the most useful resource as it is used to level up. Gold buys gear, supplies, and upgrades. When you die, your killer gets all your salt (falling to your death spawns a bat-like creature that gets your salt) so you have to defeat that enemy to get it back. You lose a small amount of gold when you respawn, but I never ran out of gold. I'm not sure what happens if you're careless and spend all your gold and then die. The enemies between your savepoint (where you respawn) and where you died will respawn, making it sometimes very hard to get your salt back. Often times I would write it off and just move on. There is a skill tree that you progress through by leveling up with salt. For example, I put points down a path that eventually gave me the ability to cast spells (right now I can only heal myself), but other skills unlock additional weapon types, abilities, etc. Your character can block (with our without a shield), roll, jump, and attack (both strong and light). Doing anything beyond basic movement drains stamina, which recharges quickly when not performing an action. Attacking until your stamina runs out leaves you unbalanced and vulnerable to attack. I still haven't gotten the knack of blocking. Sometimes it drains stamina, but not always. And counterattacks never work well for me, I have more luck just moving or rolling back, then attacking all-out. Anyway, that's a basic rundown of the gameplay. 

 

Let me get my main complaint out of the way. The game does not have an in-game map. In my opinion, this is cardinal sin number one for this type of game. I know some games don't have them, and I dislike the lack of a map in them as well. Super Metroid and the later Castlevania games are the gold standard here, and they have maps. I don't buy the argument that it makes the game easier so it's better to not have the feature. Wrong. A map would be very useful for this game. 

 

The difficulty can be pretty high in this game, but thankfully I got better over time. That being said, I still haven't gotten as far as the second boss. It's quite possible the difficulty will spike and I will give up out of frustration. But so far I'm enjoying the game. 

 

I prefer playing the game on Vita, where as current patch 1.01, it performs flawlessly as far as I can see. I did want to try the PS4 version as well, so I played that and beat the first boss again. The trophy lists are separate, but as I've said, I don't care about my completion percentage at all (I probably need to play an event like this year-round to help whittle down my backlog). 

 

My first couple of sessions with the game lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, but sadly I lost that save due to memory card problems with my Vita. I started again and played for about the same amount of time, and went through most of the same areas. I played the PS4 version for 15 minutes and stopped immediately after beating the first boss. As a measure of how I got better at playing, the first time through I took about a dozen tries to beat the first boss. On the second time through, I beat him on the first try. When I evaluated the game on PS4, I breezed through and was a bit reckless, so it took 2 tries to defeat him. 

 

There are still some elements of the game I don't understand, but I feel like I have a decent grasp on it now. I firmly believe that my enjoyment of the game would shoot way up with an in-game map though. That's keeping me from really loving the game. 

 

Playtime: 3 hours or so

Trophies obtained: 4/38 + 3/38

Completion Percentage: 5% for an E rank + 4% for an E rank

Score: 7/10 

My Plans after KYC: I will continue with the game until I finish the story, or give up out of frustration

 

Next up: Orcs Must Die Unchained for PS4

Edited July 22, 2017 by MosesRockefeller

[Jaguargenie]

So I'm done with my initial 6 game list and I'm starting in on the bullpen. I'm going to try and go with length of time the games have been on my list after I polish off Abzu that I started on a whim last night. 

 

Game 7

Abzu

Review

 

I know the prequisite for this event is 3 hours worth of play. I never expected to finish this in a little over 2 hours... so I'm going to go back tonight and try to clean up the few collectibles I missed and be done with it. 

This is a really tough game to critique fairly for a few reasons. The main one is I played Journey and loved it. This is OBVIOUSLY trying to be Journey. The main character looks like the Wanderer, the main mechanic is a chirp from the diver, it's an exploratory adventure with "deeper" themes of mortality, and there are environments that have their designs plucked straight out of Journey. At one point, I was being pushed through a jetstream and the camera swung to a side view and it looked just like the sideways sliding scene in Journey (the best scene in that game imo). So I'll try my best to be as neutral as possible with all that being said. 

The game is beautiful. Stunning almost. It is very colorful and absolutely full of sea life that is all so well designed. It runs very smooth and I only experienced slowdown twice, both times when I was swimming through a school of at least 100 fish. So pretty impressive. 

The sound is really nothing to speak of. Literally. Most of the environments have no music, so on comes Kinda Funny Daily (kinda breaks the whole mood of the game I know ?).

I'm super impressed with the controls though. Swimming mechanics are usually bad to ok. This game does it really well. I mean I would hope it would since that's it's only mechanic. It's really smooth and easy to control once you turn inversion off (which is on by default).

My biggest knock on this game though is near the end they try to introduce an environmental danger into it and it's just annoying. The game isn't designed for avoidance and evasive manuevers. These things can't kill you, just shock you and stop your progress for a few seconds. So there really isn't much danger and on the way to what was the final door, I must have run into 6 of them because the mechanic wasn't fun and I just didn't care. 

Overall, it's an OK experience. I missed a few collectibles which I'll try and grab tonight with a guide but afterwards, I won't ever think about this game again. 

 

Trophies: 10/12 ; 60%

Completion: 73.41% (-1.87)

Personal Grade: C

Edited July 22, 2017 by Jaguargenie
Stupid auto correct...

[Myu]

3 hours ago, Edunstar84 said:

 

Oh no *sadness* I hope FFXV doesn't make you dizzy. Will you switch out Type-0 for a different game?

 

I haven't decided yet. I could play Adventures of Mana on Vita. That's also a Square Enix game (though not the same type) and I'm pretty sure I can't get motion sickness with this one  

[ItsMeMartyy]

Game #12 - Tomb Raider - Definitive Edition 

Day: 21,22 / 31

Time Played: 9 hours

 

 

Graphics: Being that this game was made on previous gen I think it holds up pretty well. The graphics honestly remind me of Uncharted 3 remastered, but this game has a lot more gore and blood than Uncharted. I have previously stated before that I enjoy the more visceral and gore driven type graphics and I love when game developers make it a priority in their games. The textures are decent and there isn't anything that stands out as bad but its not a 2017 game for sure but it looks good.  Environments are dense and rich with wildlife and foliage which looks great and suits the game and the areas are diverse in nature.  

 

Sound: I want to say straight out of the gate that I do not really enjoy the background music in this game that much, it seems super average and uninspired. That being said the voice acting is pretty great, every character has their own distinct voice and emotion that helps you build a connection with them. Lara sounded a bit whiny to me at some points but it's probably just me that is annoyed by that. The guns sound cool and the enemies have a lot to say. The sound in this game is pretty good.  

 

Gameplay: When I started playing this game I was impressed with the amount of gameplay elements on the move at the same time in this game. I thought it was just a level based action game but it's actually an open world action game with rpg elements that are all well done. There is a lot to the main story and there is a ton of side stuff to do as well including hidden temples which are pretty cool and have their own set of puzzle type actions you need to do to reach the treasure. The game flips back and forth from slow paced dialogue and get an item type sequences to guns blazing and super fast paced action. The game is very action driven more times than not though, you don't get much time to catch your breath here and its a wild ride.

 

Fun Factor: The game starts off a bit slow for my liking but I understand it for story purposes. After a few hours this game becomes very fun and you are always driven to try to get more salvage to upgrade your weapons or level up to get cool new skills. I wanted to keep playing but had to go on to do some other games for the competition. 

 

Closing Thoughts: A great game that flew way under the radar for me. Probably didn't know about it because I didn't have a console until last year. 

 

Rating: 8.5/10

 

Game Competition: 20% ( 14  )

 

Ill go back to this game to at least do the single player trophies 

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #8 - Ratchet & Clank - Day #2

 

 

I've put a few hours into this so far, clearing the missions on 4 planets thus far. I'm actually not sure if it's a 1:1 remake of the first game. There are a lot of areas that seem familiar, yet there might have been a few changes. Either way it's definitely more enjoyable than the first one was, although I have yet to play the hoverboard races, so that might well change.

 

The game plays pretty much like the other R&C games, which can generally be summed up with lots of shooting and lots of platforming. The usual plentiful amount of weapons is also at your disposal.

 

The main new feature are the card packs you can pick up as drop or from secret areas. Those essentially improve weapons or increase amount of bolts earned.

 

That's it for now, the complete run down comes tomorrow.

Edited July 22, 2017 by voodoo_eyes

[MarkusT1992]

Game #8: Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (Day 1)

 

 

Here's my obligatory PS2 game I seem to have in each KYC event. This time it is one I never heard of before its release on PS4.

The first surprise was that this game has full German subtitles and voices. I thought this was one of the games never released in Europe or at least in Germany.

 

Arc the Lad is a RPG. The game starts with a cutsceen I honetsly forgot what it was about. You then see a sceen with your charcter training with another person.

You are Kharg, a descendant of a royal family. Your mother saved the kingdom and ended the monarchy about 17 years ago. That's about your birth. The other person is Loyd, the commander of the soldiers (don't know the real name right now) which task it is to protect the royal family and the kingdom. There's also Paulette, a young woman and apparently a childhood friend of Kharg. She's one of the soldiers too. You are traing to take the rolle of the leader some day.

Later you hear that there's an old man somerwhere on a plateau and decide to go looking. So you and Paulette went ti investigate. But first you can explore the town and buy some equipement or items.

 

After exploring you leave the tow and are on a map where you can select the place you want to go. So there's no overworld map you can explore by walking around it but rather an area select map. You arrive at your destination and the old man being attacked by some rat type monsters. Like always in RPG rat at the beginning. I write about the battle system later.

You rescue him and he introduces himselfe as a explorer looking for something.

After getting back to town you report back to Loyd. After doing some stuff in town you see Loyd carrying a wounded soldier. He was in some mines gathering spirit stones, which are some kind of energy. Loyd decides to go to see after the rest of the group. We know that the Deimos attacked, which are some kind of demons normally not that dangerous.

Obviously you decide to go with the soldiers but are rejected by your mother and Loyd. But how are you if you let you trll what to do, so you set off to folow them. That's where I am right now.

I know that there's another playable character due to the trophy guide I looked at for missables.

 

The battly system in this game is a turn based tactical one. At your turn you can move on the battlefield within a given radius and attack. You can also pick up loot from defeated enemies but can't move afterward but you are still able to attack. In this game you level up during the fight, not after. It seems that you get EXP for hitting an enemy, not for defeating one. That means that you can level up after hitting an enemy. That's interesting and something I haven't seen yet. Item's you don't pick up during battle also seem to vanish. So you need to pick them up otherwise you could end up short on money and items as you don't get anything after battle.

 

Time played: 1h 10min

Trophies: 2/32

[ItsMeMartyy]

Game #13 - Yakuza 0 

Day: 22 / 31

Time Played: 7 hours

 

 

 

 

Graphics: This game looks decent. I think we had a late release for this game here in NA I thought I seen that it was released in 2015 and it is on ps3 as well so it's not as amazing graphically as some new titles that being said the game does look decent and the cut scenes are well done. The environments have some weird monotone look to them but its strange because some of the cars and garbage containers will have a lot of detail when the buildings sometimes look like they are made of cardboard. Weird mix of textures and colors but nothing that held me back from playing it. 

 

Sound: This whole game is Japanese with English subtitles, its a bit strange to get used to at first but its not bad if you dont mind reading. The weird part here for me is that sometimes the characters will talk and their mouths wont move both in cut scenes and during gameplay. Everything here is fine and theres a lot of uniqueness and diversity when it comes to the sounds in this game and there are a lot of different characters that all sound differently, a great achievement for a game to have this much going on. 

 

Gameplay: Wow, just wow. This game has so much to do, I played for hours before I even started doing anything for the main story for Chapter 2, I went around town doing a bunch of side missions that were all unique and most importantly had interesting stories. I am blown away by the amount of content in this game. At first I thought the combat would be shallow and its just all one sided button mashing but I was so wrong. It takes you a while to get some of the fighting stances but they all have their own unique style and upgrades, this game is crazy indept and I cant wait to unravel all it has to offer. 

 

Fun Factor: This game is very fun, everything you do is fun even running around and just observing the people watching what they are doing or playing any of the mini games. 

 

Closing Thoughts: Cant wait to sink a ton of time into this gem after the competition ends because it has so much content it's mindblowing. 

 

Rating:9.0/10

 

Game Competition: 7% ( 5  )

 

I plan on going for the Plat. 

[Metal Slime King]

Initial Impressions

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

Another fun NES style retro game. I wouldn't say it reminds me of any other game specifically. It's got the mega man death spikes and I got a Super Mario 3 vibe when enemy encounters started wandering around the world map but I think it stands as it's own unique game. The controls are good and tight, it's fun to play. The bosses are fun, they're a bit of a challenge to figure out patterns. I'm liking it a lot so far.

 

Zotrix

This game wasn't really what I was expecting. It's a twin stick shmup where I was hoping for more of a conventional shmup like an update on galaga or blazing lazers, something like that where you can still use the d-pad. It is what it is, I suppose. There are 2 modes, Arcade and Quest. I haven't spent much time in Arcade but in Quest you travel from space station to space station in order to fulfill quests given to you. There is some context to the quests given in a text blurb but it's just and excuse to make you take certain routes, there are no NPC's to talk to or any sense that you have docked at and can explore a space station. Just a screen between levels where you can shop (each station has different stuff) or play their weird tacked on resource trading game (you can buy or sell some resources and prices vary depending on the station you are at). The levels are kind of boring, just black star-fields between stations. The music is minimal; short, repetitive techno tracks. I'm not really liking it that much.

[DamagingRob]

Headlander- Day 1

 

This game is a metroidvania, but you control a floating head.  In this world, everyone has uploaded their minds to a cloud storage and control robots, and you're the last human alive. With the help of a voice in your head, you plan to take down Methuselah, who has enslaved the human minds, and plans to use them for some unknown purpose.

 

With your head, which you have 3 to choose from, you can suck off a robot's head and then attach yourself to it. Then you can use that robot's guns, if it has any, and fight other robots. Different colors of enemy robots can open colored doors, letting you progress further. There are also Mappy robots, which you can download and reveal large areas of the map from when controlled. And dog robots, which can enter small doors. 

 

So far, the game is okay. I've gotten stuck a few times, not knowing where to go, only to finally figure out I can do something the game failed to properly explain.. Like the fact that I had obtained a shield, and wasn't told it could reflect these lasers, that were blocking my path in a number of places. Or that I could shoot unreachable doors with a robot's guns to open them, pop off of it, and fly through the door with my head. But maybe I just missed some things, I don't know. 

 

Time played: 2-3 hours.

Trophy progress: 7/31 for 19% and an E rank. 

The Billy tag: @BillyHorrible, since it was him that wanted me to play this. Lol.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

38 minutes ago, DamagingRob said:

Headlander- Day 1

 

This game is a metroidvania, but you control a floating head.  In this world, everyone has uploaded their minds to a cloud storage and control robots, and you're the last human alive. With the help of a voice in your head, you plan to take down Methuselah, who has enslaved the human minds, and plans to use them for some unknown purpose.

 

With your head, which you have 3 to choose from, you can suck off a robot's head and then attach yourself to it. Then you can use that robot's guns, if it has any, and fight other robots. Different colors of enemy robots can open colored doors, letting you progress further. There are also Mappy robots, which you can download and reveal large areas of the map from when controlled. And dog robots, which can enter small doors. 

 

So far, the game is okay. I've gotten stuck a few times, not knowing where to go, only to finally figure out I can do something the game failed to properly explain.. Like the fact that I had obtained a shield, and wasn't told it could reflect these lasers, that were blocking my path in a number of places. Or that I could shoot unreachable doors with a robot's guns to open them, pop off of it, and fly through the door with my head. But maybe I just missed some things, I don't know. 

 

Time played: 2-3 hours.

Trophy progress: 7/31 for 19% and an E rank. 

The Billy tag: @BillyHorrible, since it was him that wanted me to play this. Lol.

 

Sounds like a game I would really enjoy

 

Thanks for the... heads-up!

[Myu]

33 minutes ago, BillyHorrible said:

 

Sounds like a game I would really enjoy

 

Thanks for the... heads-up!

 

Hey! Look who's back!  

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

2 minutes ago, Myu said:

 

Hey! Look who's back!  

 

Well, "back" is putting it strongly but yeah I decided to pop in for a bit. @DamagingRob is to blame, couldn't resist such a post now, could I?

 

Haven't played anything on the PlayStation side since it's been too hot and I've been doing some hiking but I have played a few games on the Switch, sitting outside in the evening sun... If anyone wants some recommendations, I've been greatly enjoying both Snake Pass (about halfway through) and Death Squared (story completed), both are available on PS4.