Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[Rally-Vincent---]

20 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I'm on the fence about Frostpunk.

 

I played Frostpunk on PC, and after 1 1/2 playthroughs, I didn't bother to pick it up again. The setting is nice, but it has a survival aspect which I am not so much into. It's not a bad game, though, it just couldn't hold my interest. But you played a couple of survival games, so it might be a game for you. It's not city building alone, it has events (e.g. to choose between laws/policies), and you can send out expeditions to explore the world for events and resources. It's at least worth a look into by ways of a couple of videos.

[Rune_Crys]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:55 PM, Cassylvania said:

there are a few DLC levels (that are required for the platinum)

DLC is required for a platinum? That is the worst sin a game developer would ever commit. Ready the pitchforks.

 

Just about done with Trials of Mana. Angela with Obsidian Power is insanely powerful.

 

EDIT: Hey Cass, did you see the PS+ free games for May? I think... you might be laughing your ass off when you see what one of them is, considering how you platinumed it recently. It's about asphalt jungles...

Edited April 29, 2020 by Rune_Crys

[AJ_Radio]

On 4/27/2020 at 11:53 PM, Arcesius said:

 

If you ask me, they should remove the glitch from any potential remaster / remake. 

 

As for stockpile Thomas... well, NPCs stay aggressive / dead in the Dark Souls games, too, if you piss them off / tickle them with a Broadsword... your actions are irreversible, and it should stay that way, too 

 

You can fix that in Dark Souls. In Demon's Souls you cannot.

 

I don't know how they would go about a remake. Someone would have to make the game easier, even if they took out the glitch. The whole Character Tendency and World Tendency crap got to me after a while.

[Cassylvania]

On 4/29/2020 at 6:27 AM, Rune_Crys said:

DLC is required for a platinum? That is the worst sin a game developer would ever commit. Ready the pitchforks.

 

Well, DLC levels in the PC version. They're included in the base game here. First one wasn't too bad because it used the same gimmick as one of the earlier levels, but every level kinda starts to feel the same once you have a strategy that works.

 

Five to go.

 

On 4/29/2020 at 6:27 AM, Rune_Crys said:

EDIT: Hey Cass, did you see the PS+ free games for May? I think... you might be laughing your ass off when you see what one of them is, considering how you platinumed it recently. It's about asphalt jungles...

 

Not surprised. Cities: Skylines might as well be free now, since the DLC is still going to cost you around $100.

 

Farming Sim 19 could be worth a look. I played 17 and it was OK, but I don't know what changes have been made and those games have always been a little janky.

 

13 hours ago, Spaz said:

I don't know how they would go about a remake. Someone would have to make the game easier, even if they took out the glitch. The whole Character Tendency and World Tendency crap got to me after a while.

 

I think Demon's Souls might be too far of a step backwards for people who have only played Dark Souls games. They'd have to scrap world tendency and probably make the crystal lizards an infinite spawn. Dragon God is still a garbage boss, and I'm not sure people would like the more linear level design. Would they add in the sixth archstone as a required or maybe secret level? They'd have to change its placement in the Nexus or Worlds 4 and 5 would suddenly go by different names.

 

I think a remake or remaster is inevitable, but I wouldn't mind it being released alongside a sequel. I don't think I'll ever get tired of playing Souls games.

 

Anyway, I realized killing Maiden Astraea is a requirement for the Blueblood Sword. I always do that level last, so I decided to go with a different build instead. Not that it matters. I'm always an archer in this game. ? Just like I'm always a mage in Dark Souls, a cleric in Dark Souls 2, and a knight in Dark Souls 3...

 

You guys ever have an experience like that? A game that gives you the freedom to customize your character, but you always end up with the same build? I know a lot of people say they always end up using a bow in Skyrim.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Cassylvania

[Rune_Crys]

Well, I don't like to brag, but I just finished Trials of Mana. Just had to do one more playthrough, but I was able to get through it speed-run style because my team was two Level 88 and one max Level, and the other two got up to Level 99 before the sixth chapter. Not sure I like the platinum picture to be a final boss giving a death scream, but it is was it is. At least it's not a black screen of death.

 

I'm done with that and it's off my desktop, so now I can focus on Dragon Quest Builders 2.

[Copanele]

20 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

You guys ever have an experience like that? A game that gives you the freedom to customize your character, but you always end up with the same build? I know a lot of people say they always end up using a bow in Skyrim.

Ironically Skyrim is the exact game I end up using an archer assassin build. That's because it's the most fun "class" to play in that game, compared to mindless 2handed barbarian or the joke mage. Why spam R1 when you can get sick slow mo headshots with a bow doing x15 damage  

That and Dark Souls 3. Whatever I do, I end up finishing the game with Longsword/Lothric Knight Sword because beautiful weapons.

[Darling Baphomet]

8 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Not surprised. Cities: Skylines might as well be free now, since the DLC is still going to cost you around $100.

 

Farming Sim 19 could be worth a look. I played 17 and it was OK, but I don't know what changes have been made and those games have always been a little janky.

 

Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed at this month's games - Cities: Skylines would have been a good game if I hadn't already bought it (and barely played it) last year. It seems like every month they give away a game that I've already bought - same with PS Now. I guess that just means I have too many games?

[Arcesius]

9 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Not surprised. Cities: Skylines might as well be free now, since the DLC is still going to cost you around $100.

 

Hahaha, really?? ? Holy shit, that's a clever move. 

 

 

9 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I think Demon's Souls might be too far of a step backwards for people who have only played Dark Souls games. They'd have to scrap world tendency and probably make the crystal lizards an infinite spawn. Dragon God is still a garbage boss, and I'm not sure people would like the more linear level design. Would they add in the sixth archstone as a required or maybe secret level? They'd have to change its placement in the Nexus or Worlds 4 and 5 would suddenly go by different names.

 

Probably, but I wouldn't mind an unchanged experience (selfish of me, but I don't care ?). Now Spaz already mentioned it as well, but why would World Tendency need to be removed? I don't exactly know what it is. 

 

 

9 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

You guys ever have an experience like that? A game that gives you the freedom to customize your character, but you always end up with the same build? I know a lot of people say they always end up using a bow in Skyrim.

 

Yes. I always play dual-weilding, agile characters. Until now, that is. I started Nioh 2 playing again with dual swords, but in the middle of the playthrough I decided to switch things up and ditched them in favor of one of the new weapons. It's still a fast and agile, technical weapon, but it sure feels different to use. I dunno what it is... I should want to role-play different characters, make a noble mage for once... But nope, just doesn't feel right ?

 

What I could never play is a fat-rolling, tanky, ultra-GS weilding piece of walking iron (@Copanele Harkyn, am I right? ?). 

[Copanele]

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

What I could never play is a fat-rolling, tanky, ultra-GS weilding piece of walking iron (@Copanele Harkyn, am I right? ?). 

Oh dear LORD (of the fallen) don't mention that name again  The only instance I could play a super tanky warrior that hits you with a tree trunk would be in Dark Souls I believe or any game where you have ragdoll effects. Launching an enemy into space is fun, not gonna lie. But apart from that...naah, I can play Truck Simulator if I want a good experience.

 

Also World Tendency and Character Tendency were massive pains back in the day in Demon Souls, especially when online mode would seriously screw you over. HOWEVER me personally I would keep it just because it's an annoying dumb mechanic that pisses off people that and 5-2 area that is so infamous. Always having fun fighting OP enemies while moving like an 80 years old.

[Rune_Crys]

15 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

You guys ever have an experience like that? A game that gives you the freedom to customize your character, but you always end up with the same build?

Eh. I dunno. The games I can customize characters usually don't have that much to customize other than looks.

 

Spoiler

 

However, I can say that, during my Trials of Mana final run, I used Charlotte in two of my runs. I wanted to use her in my second team, but she was Level 88 and I wanted to have the remaining three I didn't use in Run 1[Duran, Angela and Kevin] get some levels. Turns out that this team was OP and not only maxed their level before Anise, but ROASTED her on Hard Mode. Kevin Beastmode is super-strong and Angela's Doppleganger is the best 3rd-class spell. I was an idiot for not having her as Grand Diviner again in my final run. Still, I felt like a horrible monster when I saw Charlotte getting pummeled by monsters in Lampbloom Woods.

 

Charlotte isn't just for looks, she is the only character who can learn both healing spells without a class change, making her your go-to healer, unless you are rich and can buy tons of Potos Oils in the Night Market.

 

 

[Cassylvania]

On 5/1/2020 at 2:46 AM, Arcesius said:

Hahaha, really??  Holy shit, that's a clever move.

 

I bought the "complete" edition on sale in 2018 for $30. They've come out with five additional DLC packs since then. Each of those goes for around $15. Unless they come out with a revised "complete" edition -- or maybe you can bundle the DLC packs to save money -- I still think it's going to cost you more than the price of a full retail game.

 

At least it's a good game. Better played on PC because of mods, but still a great value.

 

On 5/1/2020 at 6:13 AM, Copanele said:

Also World Tendency and Character Tendency were massive pains back in the day in Demon Souls, especially when online mode would seriously screw you over. HOWEVER me personally I would keep it just because it's an annoying dumb mechanic that pisses off people that and 5-2 area that is so infamous. Always having fun fighting OP enemies while moving like an 80 years old.

 

I'm doing that level now. ? It's not so bad if you go slow, use a bow, wear the Thief's Ring and Regenerator's Ring, have a stack of Royal Lotuses, turn the brightness up to max, know where every single enemy is, don't fight the Meat Clever bitch, and NEVER PRESS THE CIRCLE BUTTON IN THE SWAMP.

 

But yeah, I don't mind world or character tendency. They'd just need to explain it better in a remake/remaster and probably allow for it to be shifted infinitely. The problem with it comes from being tied to finite resources. You could argue, I guess, that reaching NG+ resets the world tendency to neutral, so it's not at all that different than killing or aggroing an important NPC, but at least you know you fucked up there. I bet the majority of people who play Demon's Souls don't know why their world suddenly got harder.

 

Well, Indivisible of all games decided to drop another DLC bomb on me. Damn these indie games and their presumably free additional content. Don't they know my backlog is big enough already?

 

If I'm ever to get through all this, I'm going to have to hit back hard. For the next week, it's all about the unearned trophies.

[Darling Baphomet]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Well, Indivisible of all games decided to drop another DLC bomb on me. Damn these indie games and their presumably free additional content. Don't they know my backlog is big enough already?

 

If I'm ever to get through all this, I'm going to have to hit back hard. For the next week, it's all about the unearned trophies.

 

How have you been liking Indivisible? I'm thinking of getting it next time it has a proper sale.

 

And I feel you - I'm pretty sure my unearned trophies are unbeatable at this point. I've crossed the 9000 mark and I have a ton of games (e.g. Vita games and dead multiplayer games) I literally can't clean up. Oops.

[Cassylvania]

50 minutes ago, Darling Baphomet said:

How have you been liking Indivisible? I'm thinking of getting it next time it has a proper sale.

 

It's a very good game. Reminds me a bit of Guacamelee, with its colorful art style and the gameplay being half platformer, half beat 'em up. I got it on physical disc for around $15, but I think it's worth a little more than that.

 

54 minutes ago, Darling Baphomet said:

And I feel you - I'm pretty sure my unearned trophies are unbeatable at this point. I've crossed the 9000 mark and I have a ton of games (e.g. Vita games and dead multiplayer games) I literally can't clean up. Oops.

 

I do wish this site implemented a "possible" trophy counter, so even people with unobtainable trophies would have something to shoot for. At the very least, 99% is always within reach. You would just have a longer way than most people to go. You might even say...it's over 9000!!! ?

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that Operation: Boned is underway. That's right -- we're finally getting to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. If anybody has it or would like to help with the trophy (it requires six people but only takes a few minutes, I think), let me know. We just need a couple more people. Of course, finding a time when we're all on together is the problem.

 

In the meantime, I guess I'm farming for the Pure Bladestone and maybe finally getting to the last Shovel Knight DLC. Once I start popping games for this event, I don't want to get sidetracked with older games. We have enough to worry about.

[Rune_Crys]

I just heard that the makers of Cities: Skylines are making a new game on Vita. Don't quote me on that. Also, found out that company's name: Paradox Tectonics?

 

Started Reverie on the Vita. It's a good meaty title that goes above EZPZ and reminds me of StarTropics, which has died years ago. I wish they had kept up with the series a bit, as those games were dope on the NES. I am tempted to work on a StarTropics spin-off in Dreams, sort of like what they did t remake Final Fantasy Adventure on the Vita.

[AJ_Radio]

On 5/2/2020 at 1:10 PM, Cassylvania said:

In the meantime, I guess I'm farming for the Pure Bladestone and maybe finally getting to the last Shovel Knight DLC. Once I start popping games for this event, I don't want to get sidetracked with older games. We have enough to worry about.

 

The sooner we get out of this C19 virus pandemic, the better.

 

All I know is I lost a job, I'm losing money from having to pay bills on time and I've had to get some friends and family members to help me out. It fucking sucks.

 

I hate the time period we live in.

[Darling Baphomet]

On 5/2/2020 at 10:10 AM, Cassylvania said:

I do wish this site implemented a "possible" trophy counter, so even people with unobtainable trophies would have something to shoot for. At the very least, 99% is always within reach. You would just have a longer way than most people to go. You might even say...it's over 9000!!!

 

Yeah, I just can't be bothered with some trophies - especially DLC trophies, if they're too hard or if the DLC doesn't interest me, I'll usually give it a pass. I'm trying to keep a balance between completionism and just playing games for the sake of enjoying them, because I almost always go too hard one way or the other.

 

3 hours ago, Spaz said:

 

The sooner we get out of this C19 virus pandemic, the better.

 

All I know is I lost a job, I'm losing money from having to pay bills on time and I've had to get some friends and family members to help me out. It fucking sucks.

 

I hate the time period we live in.

 

I feel you. This whole outbreak has really done a lot to demonstrate just how weak and unprepared our society is for disaster. Hopefully we can start making necessary changes once it's all over, and hopefully that's soon.

[AJ_Radio]

Just now, Darling Baphomet said:

I feel you. This whole outbreak has really done a lot to demonstrate just how weak and unprepared our society is for disaster. Hopefully we can start making necessary changes once it's all over, and hopefully that's soon.

 

What's sad is I've come across people who didn't care for personal hygiene. In the year 2020.

 

We should of learned a long time ago to sanitize our food products. Pasteurizing milk is mandatory because otherwise too many people will get sick. There was a case a long time ago where Odwalla didn't pasteurize a lot of their drinks, a lot of kids got sick, some even died from the sickness.

 

The so called leaders of America right now have literally no clue how to deal with disasters. The governor in my home state at least has the balls to admit that we should of prepared for disasters like this a very long time ago.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/3/2020 at 9:31 PM, Rune_Crys said:

I just heard that the makers of Cities: Skylines are making a new game on Vita. Don't quote me on that. Also, found out that company's name: Paradox Tectonics?

 

Well, Paradox Interactive is the publisher. Paradox Tectonic is the new studio they opened last year in California. But they're kinda taking over the sim market. They're behind several of the games I've talked about, including Age of Wonders: Planetfall and the upcoming Empire of Sin. They also apparently bought the rights to Prison Architect (another game that likes to drop DLC surprises), so it'll be interesting to see what they do with that.

 

22 hours ago, Spaz said:

The sooner we get out of this C19 virus pandemic, the better.

 

All I know is I lost a job, I'm losing money from having to pay bills on time and I've had to get some friends and family members to help me out. It fucking sucks.

 

I hate the time period we live in.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm fortunate that I found some part-time work, but I don't know how long it's going to last. It takes a special kind of awful for me to already miss the 2010's.

 

Well, yesterday was a Castlevania day. We got a lot done, including a successful Operation: Boned. We still need to do it again for Briste, but most of the other trophies should come in time. And we have plenty of that. We're probably still four to five months away from 10k.

 

Platinum #214 - Demon's Souls

 

I may have talked about this before, but I consider there to be three major stages in my gaming life, which have roughly translated to my childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. When I was a kid, I had an interest in gaming, but I wasn't very good at it. For a multitude of reasons, I only played a few games, and those games were generally casual or games that I'd play casually. Pokemon and Harvest Moon. That was my jam. I'd say that was all the way from the NES to the N64. Even stuff like Ocarina of Time, which is often considered one of the best games of all time, is something I only really played for the horse racing and fishing mini game. I did a lot of platformers or simple RPGs back then, but most of those were either games I'd be chipping away at for years (e.g. Donkey Kong Country 2) or rentals. That was how we did it a lot back in the 90's. You'd go to video store and rent Paperboy for the 87th time. It was usually only good for a few minutes of play after dinner, but it was a lot easier to convince your parents to spend a couple of dollars to keep you quiet for an evening than to shell out $60 for a full game.

 

Gaming for me changed in the early 2000's because I went to high school and college, made new friends, and generally transitioned to more social games, like MMOs. I did WoW and Everquest for a while. Probably moreso Everquest. I was never on the "WoW is too cartoonish!" bus (I mean, look at me -- I'm in my mid-30's and still watch Disney movies regularly), but there was something about the original Everquest that intrigued me. There was this sense of fear and danger. Back in the very beginning, dying in the game meant you could lose potentially everything. You'd have to retrieve your corpse to recover your items. If you couldn't get back there or if you let your body rot, you'd lose anything you had on you. Weapons, gear, gold... It was brutal. And if you died at sea, it was basically game over. You had no chance of surviving a deep dive.

 

I guess that's when I should have known what kind of gamer I'd become. There was this lull, I think, between 2006 and 2009, where I didn't play a lot of games. I moved to EQ2, and it was fun, but the game continued to get easier and focused more on "end game" content, which meant lots of raiding. I was never into that. Early MMOs always put more stress in the opening areas of their games because they were trying to attract new players. If you ask me why the MMO formula didn't last, it's because developers would eventually and inevitably move to only catering those players still playing the game, which would always be a shrinking number. Their "solution" for newer players was just to catch them up to the veterans as quickly as possible. When I quit the MMO scene, you could basically start a character at max level. Like, what the shit?

 

Anyway. I picked up Demon's Souls in 2009. I don't know why. Maybe somebody told me about it or I read a review online, but I played that game for weeks and felt like I wasn't making any progress. I liked it, but it was hard, and this was at a time where I didn't go running to the internet every time I got in trouble. I eventually stopped playing and let the game sit on my shelf. But it got to me, you know? It was a curious thing. I had stopped playing a lot of games in my life because they were too hard, but they were also bad games. There was nothing bad about Demon's Souls. I was frustrated, but not with the game or the controls or the camera. I was mad at myself and actual entities in the game. The fuckin' Maneater had broken me. I had gotten so accustomed to games just giving me what I want if I throw enough time or money at them, but then this asshole boss comes along and tells me that I have to earn it. 

 

So, you know what I did? I started over. I deleted my first character, which was a Royal, and started over as a Knight. Eventually, something inside of me clicked. I've had feelings like that before. I took French in high school and I had trouble learning the language because I was always translating from English to French or vice versa in my head. But then one day, I just suddenly stopped doing that. I was speaking French. It didn't last (I barely remember anything about that class), but for a few brief moments, I was communicating in a totally different language.

 

Well, I spoke French all over Demon's Souls. I got back to the Maneater and finally killed him. I even got through 5-2, which had given me fits before. When I killed the Dirty Colossus (probably the most nervous I've been fighting a boss, despite the fact that I had just opened a shortcut back to him), I felt INVINCIBLE. I had mastered something that had spent the past few months besting me. I went charging forward into Astraea's chamber, ready to kill everyone inside, and then she said something that stopped me in my tracks. "Hey, asshole -- haven't you done enough evil?" I got actual goosebumps from this because I realized I had gone from a weakling to a monster. Not my character. Me. I had struggled with the game for so long that it had consumed me and I was ecstatic that I had just killed something that had prevented me from achieving what I wanted. I know it's not a true fourth wall break, and other games have done similar things, but what I felt in that moment has never been matched in thirty-some years of gaming. That was the moment that I knew I'd never look at video games the same.

 

Yeah, I know it's corny, but shut up. I am who I am because Maiden Astraea called me out on it. There's a very good argument to be made that this is the most influential game in my life.

 

What's funny is I went through something similar with Dark Souls. I picked it up in 2011 and couldn't get anywhere. I don't even think I found the Undead Burg. I ended up trading it in at GameStop (this was back when I did stuff like that) for a used copy of Demon's Souls. I'm not even joking. I even remember the lady at the cash register asking me what was wrong with Dark Souls and I just said, "Eh, I prefer the original."

 

Hey, I can't ALWAYS be right...

 

Anyway, I did my usual thing of fucking up a speedrun to the point that I had to do a second playthrough anyway. Turns out you're supposed to NOT kill the Maiden in Black at the end to get her soul, which you need for a spell. Who would've thunk? Good thing NG+ only takes a couple hours, which is honestly longer than it took me to get the PBS. (I timed it. It took exactly 100 minutes.) My playtime ended up being around 24 hours, but I was idle for some of that. I think I only died to one boss, which was the Storm King. I actually ended up being unable to cheese the first Maneater because I was out of arrows, so I went toe-to-toe with both of them. Probably the first time I've ever won that way.

 

So, yeah. This current stage of my gaming life began with Demon's Souls, which is why I wanted to go back and finish it one more time. I'm glad I did, but it really just makes me long for a remaster. Or Dark Souls 4. Or Bloodborne 2. Or Sekiro 2.

 

OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Cassylvania

[Rune_Crys]

32 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

Well, yesterday was a Castlevania day.

Speaking of that, I have Castlevania Requiem in my backlog. Need to get on that. Great job on the next platinum! I don't think I could ever do a Souls game.

 

I was one of those rental freaks too. Rentals were how I ended up finding Disgaea 2 and falling in love with Disgaea, a ratty copy of Disgaea 2 was in the used section of the Blockbuster's buy shelf. Before then, I played a lot of Genesis and Super Nintendo games. Final Fantasy 2(US, aka Final Fantasy IV) was my first Super Nintendo RPG but I was a RPG fan after playing Dragon Warrior IV on the NES. One time I rented Phantasy Star IV only to find that I couldn't save the game. So I ended up spenidng 48 hours straight, no sleep and only little food, and played nothing but that game until I beat it. Yeah, I was crazy especially since Phantasy Star IV was insanely hard and easy to get a Game Over in.

 

I might go back into GameFly to rent some cheap Vita LEGO games. I rented Criminal Girls on Vita from GameFly and boy was that painful and too erotic for me at the time. Still, I had platinumed it on an older account so it wasn't too bad. Shame that you can't rent locally anymore but I guess now that we have GameFly, people don't want to drive to stores, especially now that The Virus is making game stores a bad investment.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Rune_Crys

[Rune_Crys]

39 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

Early MMOs always put more stress in the opening areas of their games because they were trying to attract new players. If you ask me why the MMO formula didn't last, it's because developers would eventually and inevitably move to only catering those players still playing the game, which would always be a shrinking number. Their "solution" for newer players was just to catch them up to the veterans as quickly as possible. When I quit the MMO scene, you could basically start a character at max level. Like, what the shit?

Yeah, I played the MMO Wizard101 in iterations, but eventually I got really sick of it. Now that Wizard101 is revamping the first area(Wizard City) with more story and more hand-holding, which isn't really what the vets care about. Everyone is just into PvP and not really into questing I had to play on two accounts at once to get anything done, which makes for great fanfic but horrible gaming experiences. KingsIsle is now getting more into its mobile games so they are starting to give more ridiculous updates to their MMOs and eventually will just be bleeding vets dry of their real money like all of the big names and giving drip-feed content.

 

i also played MapleStory but I got sick of it too because it tried to be a traditional RPG with grinding enemies for experience, and that meant nobody did the quests. I feel the quests in MMO are more important than the grinding but when you an just kill Golem to Level 30, Crabs to Level 50 and Dinos to Level 70, the game gets really really boring. While MapleStory doesn't let you start at Max Level, they have events that give you three levels for every level up, which means you'll reach Level 200 in 66 levels. I don't mind EXP boosts, but not free levels.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/5/2020 at 0:48 AM, Rune_Crys said:

Speaking of that, I have Castlevania Requiem in my backlog. Need to get on that. Great job on the next platinum! I don't think I could ever do a Souls game.

 

They're not so bad. You get the impression from poor reviewers that anything "hard" is like Dark Souls, but they're very teachable games. In fact, you learn everything you need to know within the first ten minutes of the game. It's only when you refuse to learn from your mistakes that you have a bad time.

 

Now for the Dark Souls of simulation games...

 

Platinum #215 - Two Point Hospital

 

This might surprise you, but this is probably one of the most time-consuming plats I've ever done. You essentially get the platinum from getting three stars on all 21 levels, but each level could take you a full evening, and it's entirely possible to have to restart a level because you just aren't turning a profit. Once your balance goes into the negative, you can't buy anything, so you're forced to watch your machines catch fire and your untrained workers stand around helplessly. It can be very frustrating to get to two stars and then watch all your efforts go to waste.

 

But first, how do you get three stars? That depends on the level. Each star requires you to complete a set of tasks. Some of these come naturally over time, such as curing a certain number of patients, but others are tricky and sometimes conflicting, such as keeping your staff happy while also making money. Probably the most annoying task is having a high cure rate. When you're asked to cure 90% of your patients but most of the illnesses you're seeing only have a 75% chance of success, that's a problem. In these cases, I found it easiest to close all my treatment facilities but the ones with the highest chance of success (usually the ward) and carefully monitoring each patient. Similarly, because you need to complete ALL the tasks at the same time (yeah, it's not enough to reach 90% once -- you must do it in combination with everything else), increasing staff morale isn't too bad because you can essentially complete everything else and then maximize their salaries. That would screw you over if you're on your first or second star, but if it's all you need to beat the level, who cares?

 

And that mindset there is how you have to play the game. This is not a simulator, like the back of the box calls it. This is a strategy game. You have to micromanage EVERYTHING, even the things you don't think matter. For example, every room has a minimum size, but sometimes a bigger room is more efficient. The ward needs to be at least four boxes long and three boxes wide, but I found 5x4 more efficient because it can fit more beds. Making it too big, though, would take up space that could be used for something else. If patients have to walk all the way across the room to sit in a chair or use a machine, it's going to anger the people waiting in line and they might literally rage quit. So, it's up to you to figure out the most efficient way to run your hospital.

 

Unfortunately, that also leads to the biggest drawback of the game. You end up doing things not because you WANT to do them but because you'd be intentionally handicapping yourself by doing it any other way. For example, what do you want your General Practitioner's Office to look like? You could put in a couch and some plants and a couple cute paintings, but no. That would be inefficient. Instead, I hope you like Medicine Cabinets and Gold Star Awards because we're going to plaster those bitches everywhere. Medicine Cabinets give you a boost to your diagnosis and treatment power and the Gold Star Awards are the most cost-effective way to increase your room prestige, which you want maxed out, so why wouldn't you use them? This leads to some ugly, cramped, and unimaginative room designs. In fact, once you figure out the most efficient layout for each room, you're essentially going to be remaking that same room on every map. That might be OK if the game let you save designs, but it doesn't. The closest it comes is letting you "copy" a room if it's on the same map.

 

The humor is the best thing about the game. Every illness is silly or a pun, such as Mock Star (where the patient thinks they're Freddie Mercury) or Lightheadedness (where they have a light bulb for a head), and the "cures" for them are fun watch. My usual strategy was to have one building dedicated entirely for treatments that require a doctor, another building for treatments that require a nurse, and a third building (preferably between them) for advanced diagnostics and wards. My main building would house the GP Offices and a psychiatrist or two. You can't "assign" a staff member to a specific room, but you can control what duties they perform. That helps when you're trying to specialize.

 

The music is very catchy. I turned off the DJ and commercials because why, but it's great background noise. It's a shame there aren't more tracks because I think it's on an hour long loop and that isn't nearly long enough for a game that's going to take 100+ hours to beat. Maybe. This is one of those games that I feel I could do much faster now that I understand the mechanics, but there's still a lot of waiting. Even on max speed, sometimes you know you "won" a level, but you have to wait for certain criteria to be filled. I wouldn't say it's a game that plays itself, but I feel like every level has a point that you reach where you're either making more money than you could possibly spend or you know it's time to restart. I had very few levels where I struggled up to the last minute. Maybe the bullshit gimmicky ones. And oh boy, those are something else... The last level alone took me 12+ hours.

 

So, would I recommend this game? I think that depends if you're a casual gamer or a hardcore trophy hunter. If you're a casual gamer, this is great. From my understanding, you only need to get one star to move on to the next level, and that's usually not hard. Most levels introduce some new concept or challenge that keeps things fresh, and I think you could have a lot of fun in the sandbox mode. The problem for trophy hunters, though, is that most of the fun is sucked out of the game because you spend the majority of the time trying to figure out ways to manipulate the game's mechanics to work in your favor. (For example, if you get a request that asks you to keep 70% of your hospital cool, you could place AC units down until you get to 70%, delete one, and wait for the request to appear again for some easy reputation or money.) For me, though, I love figuring out ways to outsmart games, so this was like an unintentional puzzle that I enjoyed solving.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Cassylvania

[Berendsapje]

This is my first look at your checklist, and I have to say, wow. I think it's time to change the title.

[Together_Comic]

3 hours ago, Berendsapje said:

This is my first look at your checklist, and I have to say, wow. I think it's time to change the title.

 

But what is a Cassylvania? A miserable little pile of platinums.  But enough talk! Have at you!

[Berendsapje]

18 minutes ago, Together_Comic said:

 

But what is a Cassylvania? A miserable little pile of platinums.  But enough talk! Have at you!

OHHHHHHHH, now I get it.

[Rune_Crys]

She had rotating titles last year until she settled on this one, and it fits her username. Speaking of Castlevania... (yeah, now that I've platinumed FF7, I really need to check into Castlevania Requiem. But not yet. I am still detoxing from farming Magic Pots. ?)