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Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums


Cassylvania

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3 hours ago, Spaz said:

Your trophy account leads me to believe you don't do anything that poses a challenge, such as Vanquish that I generally regard as difficult due to the challenges. You prefer to play games to relax and have a good time. Which is fine, we all have different priorities.

 

I've played my share of RPGs in my time, I may end up playing more racing games. Monster Energy Supercross I may consider getting, Riptide might be an option.

I got owned by Ruby and Emerald Weapon in FF7, so challenge is a relative term. xD Still, you're right, I am reaching 50 and now that I have blood pressure issues, I can't afford to get overly stressed these days. :( I was only suggesting a genre. But you do you. If you like high-speed racing, go for it. :)

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On 5/14/2020 at 6:19 PM, Cassylvania said:

I will say that I can see why the Telltale formula is getting old for some people, though. I think it's more obvious in TWD than other Telltale games because so many characters are going to die, even if you try to make attempts to save them. That's basically a spoiler to the player because once you know a character could die at a particular point in the game, you know they can no longer be a central character for the rest of the game, as the writers now have to account for that character being both alive and dead. The exception to that, I think, is the last chapter in each of these games, as you can tie a nice bow around any ending the player is going to get.

 

Honestly, they don't even keep the characters alive most of the time - for instance, there was a choice in episode one of season 1 (IIRC) where you can save one or the other, but then the other ends up betraying you next episode and no matter what you do they get kicked out. It kills off characters so rapidly that your choices barely even matter.

 

On 5/14/2020 at 6:19 PM, Cassylvania said:

 

  • I'll need to do some thinking on why the Arkham games were so good and Spider-Man feels so underwhelming for a game that should be a 9/10 or higher in every major gaming category out there. Is it just that it's been done before, because it's PG-13 at best, that Batman's world and rogues' gallery is that much more interesting, or something else?
  • Yeah, the story is definitely good. It has emotion and charm. I think they could have achieved a better result by getting rid of a lot of the side activities and instead focusing on character relationships or Peter's struggles to juggle multiple things at once. Like, what if you had to make a decision between meeting MJ for dinner or stopping a robbery? If you go with MJ, your relationship with her increases, but so does crime in the city, which hurts your reputation. If you stop the robbery, your reputation goes up, but MJ starts giving you the cold shoulder. I think something like that, stretched across the entire game, would be a lot more interesting than bleep de bloops. They could advertise it as, "BE THE SPIDER-MAN YOU WANT TO BE."
  • I'd be the Spider-Man who shags MJ.

 

I feel like a big part of it is just that Spider-Man is an IP game, and one of the best ones out there - if it were a non-Spider-Man game (or if Spider-Man were a new concept) it'd probably get an 8/10, but it has decades of storytelling to build off of, which automatically gives it a boost. It's like how Nintendo's games thrive - if you made a game with Nintendo-esque characters but without the decades of brand recognition, you can make the best game in the world, but it'll still be underwhelming. For instance, a lot of Kart Racers fail because, even though they're great racers, they have no memorable characters.

 

But yeah, they definitely could have spiced up the game more. I feel like it's the epitome of a safe game - it does everything old perfectly well, but it doesn't do much new.

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On 5/15/2020 at 11:59 AM, Grotz99 said:

In any case, I'm looking forward to the 2nd Wolf Among Us, the first was probably my favorite Telltale game.

 

Mine too. In fact, I purposely take at least 24 hours to platinum any new game I start now so that TWAU remains my fastest plat.

 

On 5/15/2020 at 7:06 PM, gruffiiti said:

I just recently played through the entire Clementine Saga and really enjoyed my time with them. The final season may be a little tougher to play on your exercise bike with the introduction of combat. Its not hard but I probably got eaten more times than I should have.

 

GASP! A Telltale game that actually requires work? Say it ain't so.

 

Honestly, I don't even know how good the Telltale games are for multitasking because I kept having to reach for my controller to decisions. I'm thinking a visual novel like Zero Time Dilemma might be easier to do on the bike. I know it probably has some puzzle rooms, but I seem to recall the first two games being about 90% dialogue.

 

I might just start making a list of games that I can play while working out. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner.

 

12 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

I feel like a big part of it is just that Spider-Man is an IP game, and one of the best ones out there - if it were a non-Spider-Man game (or if Spider-Man were a new concept) it'd probably get an 8/10, but it has decades of storytelling to build off of, which automatically gives it a boost. It's like how Nintendo's games thrive - if you made a game with Nintendo-esque characters but without the decades of brand recognition, you can make the best game in the world, but it'll still be underwhelming. For instance, a lot of Kart Racers fail because, even though they're great racers, they have no memorable characters.

 

But yeah, they definitely could have spiced up the game more. I feel like it's the epitome of a safe game - it does everything old perfectly well, but it doesn't do much new.

 

The story really picked up in the second and third act. They kinda did the Spider-Man 3 thing of introducing too many villains at once, but I think it works here. The pacing of the story was exceptionally good. Obviously, they left the door open for a sequel, but what AAA game nowadays doesn't have those?

 

I've mostly been focused on clean-up. I'm at the grinding/DLC stage of Spider-Man, near the end of Subnautica, and I've been chipping away at Plague Inc when I can't think of a better use of my time. Might finally be ready to tackle Persona 5 Royal. It's weird, but I actually had a dream the other night that I was in the game. That's...not the first time I've had a video game-related dream, but usually it's something I'm playing at the time or, you know, played at some point in the past. Have you guys ever experienced something like that before?

 

I don't know if I had ever any MMO dreams, but I remember sometimes that my alarm would go off in the morning and I'd try to "log out" of myself, as if I had the option to go back to sleep and only get up when I feel like playing the game of life. I don't get that much anymore. Sometimes when I'm trophy hunting all evening, though, I'll turn off the console and start trophy hunting in my dreams. I hate that because I usually end up in some nightmare where I mess up something critical or I start a game that I have no intention of finishing. I can't be alone in that.

Edited by Cassylvania
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3 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

The story really picked up in the second and third act. They kinda did the Spider-Man 3 thing of introducing too many villains at once, but I think it works here. The pacing of the story was exceptionally good. Obviously, they left the door open for a sequel, but what AAA game nowadays doesn't have those?

 

I've mostly been focused on clean-up. I'm at the grinding/DLC stage of Spider-Man, near the end of Subnautica, and I've been chipping away at Plague Inc when I can't think of a better use of my time. Might finally be ready to tackle Persona 5 Royal. It's weird, but I actually had a dream the other night that I was in the game. That's...not the first time I've had a video game-related dream, but usually it's something I'm playing at the time or, you know, played at some point in the past. Have you guys ever experienced something like that before?

 

I never bothered playing the DLC - by the end of Spider-Man I was honestly frustrated with the combat and I heard the DLCs were even harder in that regard. I'm considering picking up the GOTY and revisiting it at some point, though. I've also just started Subnautica a few days ago, since it was on sale, and my partner highly recommended it. Gorgeous game so far, although between it and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, it means I'm playing two survival games at once, which is much more than I usually play at all.

 

I've definitely had a lot of video game dreams - one of the earliest dreams I remember is grinding on a skateboard on railings falling down while fighting a Half-Life esque boss. I also used to see things as a kid, and one time I saw a Half-Life zombie outside, so that was fun. I can't say I usually get specific video game dreams nowadays, though - they're usually a mishmash of weird fantasy settings, like that time I was in an anime-esque country and had to protect a sky whale god from terrorists. I actually just had a dream where I was playing a very weird Mortal Kombat game last night.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I start a game that I have no intention of finishing. I can't be alone in that.

Well, I have that experience in real life: I just had to delete Miles and Kilo on my Vita. That game made me realize how terrible I am at trying to beat time attacks with platformers that sometimes have this mechanic where you walk your dog and have to have him do a homing attack, like Sonic Heroes. It's painful because sometimes Kilo will hit the enemy and drop down instead of landing on the platform you need to get S-Rank. And don't get me started on the final level, which is a cliche "ran away from the wall of lava." Died ways too many times on that one. You get a special fruit if you die too many times, but it invaldiates your rank if you pick it up as it makes you invincible. *sigh*

 

Better luck next time. Sorry I ranted about a game but just wanted to state that I have no intention of trying to get any more trophies. One requires you to skip on water for the entire level and the game sometimes eats my inputs and Miles sinks. :(

 

Speaking of video game dreams, I just woke up from one where I went AFK from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix's very first segment(the Dive into the Heart) and when I came back, it said I failed the event and Sora was all sad-looking. Ugh! ?

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On 5/19/2020 at 2:31 PM, Darling Baphomet said:

I've definitely had a lot of video game dreams - one of the earliest dreams I remember is grinding on a skateboard on railings falling down while fighting a Half-Life esque boss. I also used to see things as a kid, and one time I saw a Half-Life zombie outside, so that was fun. I can't say I usually get specific video game dreams nowadays, though - they're usually a mishmash of weird fantasy settings, like that time I was in an anime-esque country and had to protect a sky whale god from terrorists. I actually just had a dream where I was playing a very weird Mortal Kombat game last night.

 

Mortal Kombat is one of the last games I'd want to imagine myself in. ?

 

On 5/19/2020 at 3:45 PM, Rune_Crys said:

Speaking of video game dreams, I just woke up from one where I went AFK from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix's very first segment(the Dive into the Heart) and when I came back, it said I failed the event and Sora was all sad-looking. Ugh! 1f613.png

 

You mean that was your dream, or you woke up to discover you had failed? I don't think I've ever fallen asleep playing a video game, which is really surprising since it's almost always the thing I'm doing right before bed. Although...when I was little, I used to play Game Boy games in bed, and I'd hold the console above my head while I was on my back. That may explain my fear of dozing off.

 

Anyway, we got a HUGE holiday weekend ahead of us. For gaming, I mean. I'm going to shoot to finish all three nerdy science games I got going...and maybe even start two new ones. One of them will be Persona 5 Royal, if I can find a long enough time session to begin it. I never like starting a new game like that unless I have at least 10 hours of quality alone time. Can you imagine playing Skyrim for the first time if you're trying to squeeze it in between dinner and racquetball with your neighbor? Also... I know I swore I would never do this, but...yeah, I'm going to play The Last of Us. Again. Blame it on me being somewhat interested in how this whole debacle with TLOU2 turns out. At least I don't have to pay for it.

 

What do you guys got going on this weekend? New games, more of the same, outdoor activities? Who's going to play MANEATER?

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Wait, you havent played TLoU yet? How dare you? :D

 

Maneater looks fun, but wont buy it til its on sale.

Gaming wise, I plan to continue Monster Hunter World and also finish the Bioshock series before TLoU2 releases.

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1 hour ago, Cassylvania said:

Also... I know I swore I would never do this, but...yeah, I'm going to play The Last of Us. Again. Blame it on me being somewhat interested in how this whole debacle with TLOU2 turns out. At least I don't have to pay for it.

 

TLOU is a game I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope TLOU 2-related stuff comes in spoiler tags in this thread if someone wants to diuscuss it. I managed to avoid spoilers - and also the leaks - until now. I even only one-sentence status updates here since I saw the word "leaked".

 

1 hour ago, Cassylvania said:

What do you guys got going on this weekend? New games, more of the same, outdoor activities? Who's going to play MANEATER?

 

I reached Trails of Cold Steel 3, that's what's gonna keep me occupied for the newt two weeks. In general, people say that the third is the best of the series, but until now, for me, the first one was more fun.

 

Are you considering Maneater? I can't really imagine what to do as a shark besides swimming and eating.

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2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

What do you guys got going on this weekend? New games, more of the same, outdoor activities? Who's going to play MANEATER?

 

No gaming for me.. I'm out of town, so no access to videogames until Sunday... It's particularly painful since I had to stop playing Nioh 2 right by the shrine before the Endboss ? I really want to finish the game and get to the post-game content... Soon!

 

Maneater.. really hasn't been on my radar ? Doesn't look like a game for me ?

 

2 hours ago, Mori said:

Wait, you havent played TLoU yet? How dare you? :D

 

I haven't either... ? (I understand if you don't wanna continue our coop campaign.. )

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4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

What do you guys got going on this weekend? New games, more of the same, outdoor activities? Who's going to play MANEATER?

 

I'll be waiting for a sale, but the moment it hits 20 or 25 I'm grabbing it. It looks great. I've already spend something like 200$ in the last month though, so I have to watch my budget... take care of the games I already have for a month or two.

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1 hour ago, Arcesius said:

I haven't either... 1f636.png (I understand if you don't wanna continue our coop campaign.. )

 

How dare you? :o

 

Now I feel awful.. nothing would stop me from playing COOP games with you. <3:D

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5 hours ago, Mori said:

Wait, you havent played TLoU yet? How dare you? :D

 

Not on this account. I platinumed it before, but I don't think I've played any of the DLC. I just sometimes get the itch for a third-person shooter, and I guess I forgot I had RE2 on my list...

 

4 hours ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

Are you considering Maneater? I can't really imagine what to do as a shark besides swimming and eating.

 

Tempted to. I don't really understand it, but that's never stopped me from playing something before.

 

Like this one...

 

Platinum #216 - Subnautica

https://i.psnprofiles.com/games/758562/trophies/1L8177cf.png

 

As you guys know, I went to graduate school for marine science, so I've always had a fascination with ocean-based games. Abzu was good, but it was too safe. I don't even think you could die in that game. Here, everything wants to eat you. Think Alien: Isolation, but underwater.

 

That said, I've come to the realization that I would be a terrible Twitch streamer. I missed some key areas in the game (as the world is rather large and you don't have to go everywhere to get the platinum), so I watched a few videos to see what else is out there. One of the videos I watched was a reaction of players encountering a reaper for the first time. Let's compare their reactions to my own...

  • Streamer #1 - *girly scream*
  • Streamer #2 - OMG OMG OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
  • Streamer #3 - HOLY FU--!
  • Me - ... *glares at the screen* ... ... ... You done yet?

Yes, guys. I have ice in my veins. I don't know if it's because of my dissociation when it comes to video games, but it's hard for me to be afraid of something unless I know it means I'm about to lose a lot of progress. Eternal Darkness. Now THERE is a game that terrified me. Throw in all the jump scares you want, but make me think my save file is being deleted? I shit my pants. Make me start questioning whether that noise came from the game or the room next to me? Yeah, that'll do it. Eternal Darkness broke the fourth wall and made me question my own reality.

 

I would call Subnautica unsettling. It's not scary, but it uses terror in a very unique way. I think I talked before about elevators in video games. They're probably the most visibly uncomfortable device that I think can be put into a horror game. You're trapped in a confined area with no perception of the outside world. I think a lot of people would say claustrophobia is one of their greatest fears, but I would argue the opposite is true for me. Nothing is scarier than nothingness. Case in point: the Four Kings in Dark Souls. You fall into a dark abyss and land in an area with no perception of where you are or how far the darkness stretches. When the boss appears, you start running towards him, but you have no idea how far away he is until you're standing right next to him. It's like you've lost your senses and, by extension, your grip on reality. That's why I fear the ocean. You don't know what's down there. You don't know how far it goes. And the deeper you go, the more you lose yourself. Subnautica captures that perfectly.

 

I actually have the reverse case of acrophobia too. I'm not afraid of heights. I don't LOVE the idea of suddenly losing my balance and falling to my death, but the simple act of being at the top of a very tall building doesn't frighten me. You know what does? Looking up at that building from below. When I've been in a big city like NYC, I have to keep my eyes level or on the ground. If I look up, I get hit with vertigo. I feel like it's crashing down on me. What's REALLY scary is that sometimes I'll be outside -- in the middle of an open field, say -- and the same thing will happen with the sky. It happens if I start thinking of the sky as a physical entity, like a roof or a dome. It freaks me out, but it happens so rarely that I don't think it's even worth mentioning, except while we're on the topic of irrational fears.

 

But is it irrational? I think it's perfectly rational to be afraid of something you can't comprehend. The ocean is fuckin' horrifying. I mean, holy shit, guys. Do you know what's down there? Because I don't. I studied it (and so have a lot of people), and most of it is still a mystery. Oh, and you know how you feel nervous when you're playing a video game and you're worried that something might creep up on you from behind?  Now try it in with a Z-axis. Try watching your back AND your feet AND what's above your head. And when you're at the surface, try not to imagine what is beneath. Because it could grab you. It doesn't in this game, but it could. At any moment, something could appear (or not appear, which is just as scary) and take you away. That's why I think this is a game you absolutely MUST play without any prior knowledge. Don't even read this. What are you doing? You're depriving yourself of the experience by reading every word I type. Stop it.

 

Anyway, this is easily a 9/10 game, but you should know that I consider a 9/10 worse than an 8/10 because there's something holding it back from being perfect. It's almost like I feel I have to justify why it's not a 10. That's easy for this game. There are a ton of performance issues and a disappointing end-game. Maybe it's better on PC, but I saw things that didn't render properly, frame rate drops, graphical glitches, and UI problems. One of the more annoying things that happened is that my tools would randomly disappear from the hot bar or suddenly stop working. I can forgive it for being an indie game that spent a lot of time in early access, but when the main focus of your game is on immersion...yeah, that's a problem. I didn't even bother building the grand base I wanted to because some of the assets would flicker and fish would randomly swim through your base.

 

The difficulty is also a problem in this game. You can play on one of three modes for trophies. In the first, permadeath is enabled. In the second, you have to eat and drink to stay alive, but you're revived at your nearest (I think?) base if you die. In the third, you only have to worry about maintaining your health and oxygen. This...is a problem. Forget permadeath. You're not going to play on that. The second seems like the best option, but here's the issue. Why waste your limited resources eating or drinking if you're just going to be revived anyway? Unless you're out on a long voyage, you might as well stay in your base until your character starves to death. Once I realized that, the game started becoming a lot less fun because I had to make the choice between burning through my resources (and wasting time having to farm more) or sitting around doing nothing (except wasting time) every time my character got hungry. Which is often. Seriously, why does EVERY survival game make you eat so much? I shouldn't have to ask this all the time. You should be able to go a week without food and a couple days at least without water. Why can't there be other repercussion for going a long period of time without sustenance? Maybe you can't carry as much or swim as fast. Maybe you begin to hallucinate. I love this genre, but I think food and water would better be served as bonuses to your character's stats rather than something that has to be tended to every day.

 

So, after playing for eight hours on the standard difficulty, I started a new game and played on easy. Not having to worry about stuffing your face every five minutes is the best way to play this game. My favorite part was about 10-15 hours in, where I had a tiny base in a kelp forest and I was just starting to find new modes of transportation. The early and mid-game are great for discovery because you're always finding new ways to make simple tasks easier or uncovering new areas to explore. It's when you reach the later stages of the game that some of the cracks start to show. It gets tedious having to farm for the same resources all the time or having to run back and forth between lockers to craft something. The performance issues really become noticeable when you reach the deeper parts of the ocean. Navigating some of the more advanced submersibles is a pain. If I had to think of another comparison for this game, I'd say No Man's Sky, but I mean that in a good way. For all the flack that game got at release, I still think it was good it was good for 20 hours. And since Subnautica is priced much better than NMS was at release... Yeah, highly recommended.

 

Lastly, the elephant in the room. The whale in the water. The porcupine in the sponge cake. You can use a dev console command to pop all the trophies. Should you? Is it morally right? Well... I think it's fine. I mean, don't boot up the game for the first time, unlock the console command, and immediately pop every trophy. That's scummy. But if you can at least get up to the part where you build a Cyclops for the first time, I think you'll have seen the best parts the game has to offer. From there, it's up to you.

 

I hear they're coming out with a sequel or potentially DLC with something called Subnautica: Below Zero. If this combines water with snow, which you already know I love... I'm totally there.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me... Somebody put Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix and I'm not going to let their efforts go in vain.

Edited by Cassylvania
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Congrats on the Subnautica trophy! I've been playing that on and off and, god, is it a gorgeous game - I'm not sure I've ever seen underwater gameplay done better - but it definitely has issues. Still, I'm not usually into survival games, but it and Ancestors: A Humankind Odyssey might be changing that. I'm not going to be using the dev console, personally - while I have used similar exploits in the past (skipping Bioshock's hard playthrough and that one dlc level in Metro: Last Light which was disgustingly difficult), Subnautica isn't a game I want to miss. I want to experience all of it, and experience earning its trophies as well.

 

Also, No Man's Sky was a great game. I almost wish I hadn't platinumed it as quickly as I did, or that it was a longer plat, because I want to get back into it with PSVR, but it's difficult to motivate myself. Oh well. I'll probably start playing it again once I finish my current batch of PSVR titles.

 

I've been meaning to watch ATLA too, I might be able to convince my partner to watch it with me once I get them through She-Ra. It seems like a classic show and I've been exposed to a lot of the fandom through friends.

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On 5/22/2020 at 11:14 PM, Darling Baphomet said:

Also, No Man's Sky was a great game. I almost wish I hadn't platinumed it as quickly as I did, or that it was a longer plat, because I want to get back into it with PSVR, but it's difficult to motivate myself. Oh well. I'll probably start playing it again once I finish my current batch of PSVR titles.

 

Well, you do have to finish up the DLC trophies. I had to collect those warp cells on my own, but you could make use of the taxi services, which should help to motivate you.

 

I wish there were more games like NMS. And by that, I mean games that I can kinda enter a zen state and just tune out the rest of the world while I play. It was so cathartic just wandering around and chipping away at trophy requirements while listening to music or watching TV. Maybe I'll look into Astroneer. Or some other survival game. I do need a cooking game for this event...

 

Don't Starve is, you know, kinda on the nose.

 

On 5/22/2020 at 11:14 PM, Darling Baphomet said:

I've been meaning to watch ATLA too, I might be able to convince my partner to watch it with me once I get them through She-Ra. It seems like a classic show and I've been exposed to a lot of the fandom through friends.

 

It's so great. It's obviously intended for a younger audience, but the writing and animation are on par with adult shows. Wish they had a PS4 game set in that universe. I know we have that Legend of Korra game, but I think that's been delisted.

 

On 5/23/2020 at 3:03 AM, Rune_Crys said:

That was my dream. Congrats on your next platinum. Almost at 110 platinums myself.

 

Wow, you're already halfway up to me. I might get to 220 this month. Spider-Man is basically done, but I'd like to finish the last DLC mission first. Plague Inc is...eh, it could take a while. There are a lot of Official scenarios that you have to get three "stars" in (pretty sure they're not called stars), and then there are some annoying trophies that require random events occurring or having to carefully follow a guide. I don't know how people would platinum that game without a walkthrough.

 

Started The Last of Us multiplayer last night. I got about halfway through the first story, so I figure it's going to take three or four Saturdays to get the whole thing done. The game itself...well, I'm going to play through it once on Normal and then I guess there's a way to skip right to Grounded+ for the rest of the difficulty-based trophies. That should take me a good month.

 

Hope everybody has a good (and especially safe) Memorial Day. I'm going to try to enjoy some of this nice weather, but as far away from other human beings as I can.

 

You know, like most holidays.

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6 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

 

Well, you do have to finish up the DLC trophies. I had to collect those warp cells on my own, but you could make use of the taxi services, which should help to motivate you.

 

I wish there were more games like NMS. And by that, I mean games that I can kinda enter a zen state and just tune out the rest of the world while I play. It was so cathartic just wandering around and chipping away at trophy requirements while listening to music or watching TV. Maybe I'll look into Astroneer. Or some other survival game. I do need a cooking game for this event...

 

Oh, shit! I didn't know that Astroneer was on PS4. I'm keeping it on my wishlist - not buying any more games for the foreseeable future, but maybe when I get my second stimulus check...

 

But yeah, DLC trophies are probably the way to go for that. I've never put much work into DLC trophies, but after collecting all of Rage 2's (except the nightmare ones, but maybe I'll deal with that later) I may start.

 

6 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

It's so great. It's obviously intended for a younger audience, but the writing and animation are on par with adult shows. Wish they had a PS4 game set in that universe. I know we have that Legend of Korra game, but I think that's been delisted.

 

That's how I've felt about She-Ra - it's a very silly show at first, and always has its silly moments, but then it starts to get really deep into trauma and abuse and all that in a way I almost never see shows do, and which I can personally relate to. I'm really excited to finally see ATLA, but I end up having so little watching time we're only very slowly getting through our shows.

 

6 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Started The Last of Us multiplayer last night. I got about halfway through the first story, so I figure it's going to take three or four Saturdays to get the whole thing done. The game itself...well, I'm going to play through it once on Normal and then I guess there's a way to skip right to Grounded+ for the rest of the difficulty-based trophies. That should take me a good month.

 

How is the multiplayer? I've considered platinuming it - I got halfway through a playthrough on the hard mode needed for a trophy but never finished it, but I'm considering trying to plat it before TLOU 2 comes out. Considering pre-ordering the second, but I'll more likely just wait until I see what the review scores are like - although I'm sure they'll be in the mid 80s at the lowest.

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7 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I've been meaning to watch ATLA too, I might be able to convince my partner to watch it with me once I get them through She-Ra. It seems like a classic show and I've been exposed to a lot of the fandom through friends.

I remember watching He-Man and She-Ra when I was younger, and yeah, after one of those episodes, I saw that She-Ra has a mature plot style. I remember when She-Ra was introduced at the end of a season of He-Man, where he ended up on Etheria and found his long-lost sister serving Skeletor's old master. Man, those were the days of old cartoons. I have a friend who is writing webcomics based off of Saturday Morning cartoons. He has one called Rebusquest where the hero has to collect pieces for rebuses every episode and solve the rebus to solve the episode's problem. One 'episode' had him and his sidekick(who was both allergic to peanuts and lactose intolerant but drinks peanut-butter milkshakes. ^_^

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On 5/24/2020 at 2:47 PM, Rune_Crys said:

I remember watching He-Man and She-Ra when I was younger, and yeah, after one of those episodes, I saw that She-Ra has a mature plot style. I remember when She-Ra was introduced at the end of a season of He-Man, where he ended up on Etheria and found his long-lost sister serving Skeletor's old master. Man, those were the days of old cartoons. I have a friend who is writing webcomics based off of Saturday Morning cartoons. He has one called Rebusquest where the hero has to collect pieces for rebuses every episode and solve the rebus to solve the episode's problem. One 'episode' had him and his sidekick(who was both allergic to peanuts and lactose intolerant but drinks peanut-butter milkshakes. ^_^

 

You're apparently a lot older than me. He-Man was around in 1983 - 1985, one of the definitive 1980s cartoons along with Transformers and Thundercats.

 

I learned about the cartoon on an old website called Retrojunk.com, basically a website for 1980s - 1990s memories and memorabilia. 80s cartoons had the best intros, they really knew how to draw kids in.

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1 hour ago, Spaz said:

You're apparently a lot older than me.

I turn 48 this year. I was born in December 1972, so yeah, I did watch a lot of the early cartoons. I was watching Nickelodeon back when it was a poor company and every weekday had Pinwheel, a twelve-hour skit fest with muppet-puppets and mini-cartoons for kids. They forgot that kids wouldn't be watching Pinwheel because they would be at school during the hours it aired. It was also where I enjoyed Reading Rainbow. :)

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28 minutes ago, Rune_Crys said:

I turn 48 this year. I was born in December 1972, so yeah, I did watch a lot of the early cartoons. I was watching Nickelodeon back when it was a poor company and every weekday had Pinwheel, a twelve-hour skit fest with muppet-puppets and mini-cartoons for kids. They forgot that kids wouldn't be watching Pinwheel because they would be at school during the hours it aired. It was also where I enjoyed Reading Rainbow. :)

 

You're almost as old as Queen Latifah. You're the same age as Cameron Diaz, star of There's Something About Mary (Ben Stiller) and of course the Shrek movies with Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy.

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On 5/24/2020 at 5:20 PM, Darling Baphomet said:

How is the multiplayer? I've considered platinuming it - I got halfway through a playthrough on the hard mode needed for a trophy but never finished it, but I'm considering trying to plat it before TLOU 2 comes out. Considering pre-ordering the second, but I'll more likely just wait until I see what the review scores are like - although I'm sure they'll be in the mid 80s at the lowest.

 

I actually don't hate the multiplayer in TLOU. It's slower and more team-oriented than what other third-person shooters are like. The problem is you have to do 168 matches to get the platinum (two journeys of 84 matches each) AND there's the potential to screw up and have to start over from the very beginning. They give you a little wiggle room, but I don't like when a game threatens to waste my time.

 

If you're going to platinum it, now's a good time to get the multiplayer stuff out of the way. You can join our Saturday boosting sessions. We had two groups (about twenty people total) working on it all evening. You just gotta put up with wait times and randoms entering your game if somebody gets disconnected or you have an odd number of players. I'd say I only got about four hours of actual playtime in (I was basically a replacement for a replacement and we had a lot of downtime because players kept leaving), but I managed to do 43 matches. I'm hoping to finish the first journey this weekend.

 

Platinum #217 - Marvel's Spider-Man

https://i.psnprofiles.com/games/8c6109/trophies/1La2014d.png

 

I'm probably the last person in the world to play this game, so we're going to make this one quick.

 

First, I have no idea how the platinum is at 48.6% rarity. No matter how good the game is, it's a AAA title with some of the most mind-numbingly boring grinding I've ever seen. Let me put it this way. I've played through a lot of Arkham games. If we consider multiple accounts, multiple playthroughs, and multiple games in the series, I've probably "played" at least a dozen Arkham games. I still think that combat is fantastic. Hell, I just spent all of last year playing through a TON of Arkham City combat and predator challenges. If they announced Arkham Knight Rises 2: Revenge of the Joker on the PS5, I'd put in my pre-order tomorrow. Why, then, does Spider-Man's combat feel so stale in comparison? Why did I get so bored with it, when it obviously draws inspiration from the Arkham games?

 

Maybe because it's so damn repetitive. There are crimes EVERYWHERE, but only about four or five unique ones. There's a person trapped in a trunk. Free him and then get ambushed by some thugs. Somebody is robbing a store. Oh, look -- it looks like the same store as the last one that was robbed. Here's a car chase. Hope you like the animations because you'll be doing those same button prompts every time. But you know what I really hated? The warehouses. It was just wave after wave of enemies. It'd be okay if you did it once or twice, but I ended up having to drop the game down to its lowest difficulty because I was so bored of spamming buttons. I think it could've been better if you were somehow rewarded by using stealth. Why even bother having stealth as a mechanic if you're just going to make the player engage in combat anyway? I think if you are skilled enough to take out the first wave of enemies without being spotted, there should be no reinforcements or at least a smaller number in subsequent waves. The way it is now, you're only wasting your time if you're trying to use stealth, and you guys know how I feel about that.

 

I just wanted to get that off my chest. The game is great. Like I said before, if I rated games like a traditional journalist, it'd get a 9/10 in every major category. It's just one of those bizarre games that would still average out to a 7 to me. I know that doesn't make sense mathematically, but I think it could be better. It's too formulaic. It's too safe. There's something here, but I think it's being held back by trying to make this game too much like EVERY OTHER GAME OUT THERE. Stop it, devs. You're better than this.

 

Finally, the characters. This is a story-driven game after all, so what do I think about the cast? Peter, boring but the voicework and delivery are perfect. MJ, annoying but shaggable. Miles, horribly underused and I hate what he was regulated to in the DLC. Yuri, probably unnecessary and ruined by the DLC. Aunt May...you know, I liked her. She's the only good guy I didn't want to punch. The villains, all forgettable except Doc Ock, who was very good (and coincidentally what I used to call my advisor in graduate school, as he was a marine biologist). Jameson, BY FAR the best character in the game. His broadcasts had me in tears. I wish he had a bigger role, but maybe they're saving that for the sequel.

 

I'd recommend this game, but obviously you've all played it already. I still need to do my Ultimate NG+ playthrough for the 100%. I...am not looking forward to that.

Edited by Cassylvania
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2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

MJ, annoying but shaggable.

 

"Annoying but shaggable?" Never thought I'd hear a term like THAT in my lifetime. xD (And yes, I know what shagging is, I read a riff on a bad Harry Potter slashfic with Ron slashing with Uncle Vernon to undo a deadly curse put on Harry that would have killed him two months otherwise.)

 

I agree that some games don't deserve their rarity. Take Kingdom Hearts III, it's a popular game but it only has 21.5% of the people who... *recalls cooking minigame* nevermind, I see why nobody wants to platinum Kingdom Hearts III, which I just did recently. :(

 

Congrats on the plat, though. I too would rate Kingdom Hearts 3 with 10/10 on everything but minigames, which would get a 4/10. Bistro is not as bad as Ice Cream Beat, however. (Yes, I will have to start Birth by Sleep Final Mix someday.)

 

Oh, and not everyone has played that game you platted. I am not even touching it, mainly because I am not very fond of superhero franchises... fortunately that doesn't extend to the LEGO games but I prefer the LEGO Batman games to the LEGO Marvel games, and I have to platinum LEGO Marvel Avengers(and watch all the cutscenes once because you can't skip them the first time) to get the story mode done. :(

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2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

 

Platinum #217 - Marvel's Spider-Man


Maybe because it's so damn repetitive. There are crimes EVERYWHERE, but only about four or five unique ones. There's a person trapped in a trunk. Free him and then get ambushed by some thugs. Somebody is robbing a store. Oh, look -- it looks like the same store as the last one that was robbed. Here's a car chase. Hope you like the animations because you'll be doing those same button prompts every time. But you know what I really hated? The warehouses. It was just wave after wave of enemies. It'd be okay if you did it once or twice, but I ended up having to drop the game down to its lowest difficulty because I was so bored of spamming buttons. I think it could've been better if you were somehow rewarded by using stealth. Why even bother having stealth as a mechanic if you're just going to make the player engage in combat anyway? I think if you are skilled enough to take out the first wave of enemies without being spotted, there should be no reinforcements or at least a smaller number in subsequent waves. The way it is now, you're only wasting your time if you're trying to use stealth, and you guys know how I feel about that.

 

I just wanted to get that off my chest. The game is great. Like I said before, if I rated games like a traditional journalist, it'd get a 9/10 in every major category. It's just one of those bizarre games that would still average out to a 7 to me. I know that doesn't make sense mathematically, but I think it could be better. It's too formulaic. It's too safe. There's something here, but I think it's being held back by trying to make this game too much like EVERY OTHER GAME OUT THERE. Stop it, devs. You're better than this.

 

Finally, the characters. This is a story-driven game after all, so what do I think about the cast? Peter, boring but the voicework and delivery are perfect. MJ, annoying but shaggable. Miles, horribly underused and I hate what he was regulated to in the DLC. Yuri, probably unnecessary and ruined by the DLC. Aunt May...you know, I liked her. She's the only good guy I didn't want to punch. The villains, all forgettable except Doc Ock, who was very good (and coincidentally what I used to call my advisor in graduate school, as he was a marine biologist). Jameson, BY FAR the best character in the game. His broadcasts had me in tears. I wish he had a bigger role, but maybe they're saving that for the sequel.

 

I'd recommend this game, but obviously you've all played it already. I still need to do my Ultimate NG+ playthrough for the 100%. I...am not looking forward to that.

 

MY FRIEND YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!!! (get it it's a hollow knight joke now that I've played it heh)

 

I completed Spider-Man in January 2019 and came back for all the DLC in April 2019. In my review, I gave it a 7.75/10 which means I did enjoy it - but I also said it's a good polished title... I should have expanded upon and said "it's a little bit too polished for my liking". That may sound weird - but you expressed it fantastically. I adore the Arkham franchise. Arkham City and Arkham Knight rank as 8+'s compared to this game for me. Granted - to be fair, that was their 2nd and 3rd opportunities at making a super hero game whereas this was Spider-Man's 1st in the series (and even though there's a lot that 100% feels too "safe", I'd still say it's better than Asylum) BUT - of course, Spider-Man has a template/model to follow whereas Arkham was by themselves. 

 

It just feels like a game that there isn't too much you can say is truly awful or exceedingly bad but I don't quite have the same highs from it as I do an Arkham game. Given I played City/Knight twice for the New Game+ trophies I remember getting to segments and thinking "woohoo this is a great stretch" whereas I dunno if Spider-Man's peaks reach that high... I'm still optimistic about this franchise though. How they build from here with the 2nd iteration is gonna be pivotal for Insomniac - having as big a leap as Asylum ---> City is asking for a lot, but I think with some tweaking they can take that next leap. 

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10 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Yuri, probably unnecessary and ruined by the DLC. 

 

100% Agree.  I really do like Yuri, and her turn is a great story to tell, but if you were going to do it as DLC, it should have been the main focus of said DLC not some side arc that doesn't really get the time and space that it needs to work. 

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12 hours ago, Rune_Crys said:

"Annoying but shaggable?" Never thought I'd hear a term like THAT in my lifetime. xD (And yes, I know what shagging is, I read a riff on a bad Harry Potter slashfic with Ron slashing with Uncle Vernon to undo a deadly curse put on Harry that would have killed him two months otherwise.)

 

I...uh...well, damn. Rule 34 strikes again.

 

12 hours ago, realm722 said:

It just feels like a game that there isn't too much you can say is truly awful or exceedingly bad but I don't quite have the same highs from it as I do an Arkham game. Given I played City/Knight twice for the New Game+ trophies I remember getting to segments and thinking "woohoo this is a great stretch" whereas I dunno if Spider-Man's peaks reach that high... I'm still optimistic about this franchise though. How they build from here with the 2nd iteration is gonna be pivotal for Insomniac - having as big a leap as Asylum ---> City is asking for a lot, but I think with some tweaking they can take that next leap. 

 

Yeah, I can't think of any part of Spider-Man that makes me excited to play it again. Even the story, which was good, isn't at the level that I'm going to watch the cinematics a second time. That's very different than Arkham City, where I've watched most of those cutscenes three or four times. That could just be because Mark Hamill is amazing, but even the non-Joker scenes are worth revisiting.

 

3 hours ago, Together_Comic said:

100% Agree.  I really do like Yuri, and her turn is a great story to tell, but if you were going to do it as DLC, it should have been the main focus of said DLC not some side arc that doesn't really get the time and space that it needs to work. 

 

That's exactly how I felt. I hate to keep making that comparison to Spider-Man 3, but it's so obvious to me when writers are just trying to shove content into a story because they can. Personally, I would've saved the Yuri arc for the sequel. (Miles' "training" too.) The only DLC that I thought was good was the one with Black Cat, and that's because it told a self-contained story that didn't piss all over the main game.

 

I'm not even sure where they go from here. The ending was set up nicely for a sequel, but I think the DLC stole some of its thunder. (Oh, who am I kidding? We're going to get Spider-Man 2 with Green Goblin, Spider-Man 3 with Venom, and then we'll get a prequel game with Uncle Ben and Peter and MJ meeting for the first time.)

 

ANYWAY, you would think that'd make my backlog smaller, but I still have two trophies left and I started My Time at Portia. A game that isn't even on my list. It looks like it could take me a long time, so I'm not going to add it for the event, but I've really enjoyed the first 10-12 hours. It's probably the closest thing to the spirit of the original Harvest Moon games that I've seen in a while. (We don't discuss Light of Hope here.) The only thing I don't like is that I can't downgrade my house. I don't think you can in most farming sims, but I was sad that I can't go back to my rickety little cabin. Especially since the second tier house is ridiculously big and takes up too much valuable farming space. If there's one thing I've learned from Two Point Hospital, it's that every inch matters!

 

Oh, and I don't think you're punished for staying up late. The game forces you to go to bed at 3 AM, but I don't see any downsides. You still wake up at 7 AM with full HP and stamina. And yes, I said HP. There is a light RPG element here and I love it. It's already surpassed Graveyard Keeper and Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles for my favorite farming sim on the PS4. (Stardew Valley is still the standard, though.)

 

This has got me thinking about other farming sims. Deiland is always on sale on the PS store. Forager is too. Doreamon (Story of Seasons) comes out in September. Still waiting on Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. Marenian Tavern Story looks good. I don't know, guys. Maybe I should just retire from open world games and go back to my comfort zone. There's enough stuff to keep me occupied here for years.

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