Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[test-dummy-99]

Looking at your list of Platinums, since you have platted Hollow Knight, I guess you should try getting Deadbolt's Platinum Trophy. It's not as grindy as Hollow Knight's 112% trophy, but one of Deadbolt's trophies can be grindy, because there is one trophy where you have to get 5 Star on all 27 missions of the game.

Edited April 12, 2021 by test-dummy-99

[Cassylvania]

On 4/12/2021 at 5:15 PM, Rally-Vincent--- said:

But C-Dawg, you need to make some time for tactical turn based combat.

 

Finally an opportunity to use "but C-Dawg".

 

But R-Cat, I already have Phantom Doctrine. A game I totally didn't give up on playing after a single sitting.

 

I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to going back to that.

 

On 4/12/2021 at 5:22 PM, test-dummy-99 said:

Looking at your list of Platinums, since you have platted Hollow Knight, I guess you should try getting Deadbolt's Platinum Trophy. It's not as grindy as Hollow Knight's 112% trophy, but one of Deadbolt's trophies can be grindy, because there is one trophy where you have to get 5 Star on all 27 missions of the game.

 

Hm. I didn't particularly like the looks of it when I watched a review, but it might be something to consider if it goes on sale.

 

I wouldn't use Hollow Knight as a benchmark of my skill level, since it's arguably the least deserved platinum in my collection (given how quickly I opted to use the invincibility glitch to beat the final pantheon). But after learning there were glitches to beat Brutal difficulty in the Uncharted trilogy, I don't feel so bad. I did my time.

 

Anyway, you guys didn't think I forgot the 11k trophy and 250 platinum milestones, did you?

 

Platinum #250 - Shantae and the Seven Sirens

 

Well, it would be two milestones, if PSNP considered 11,000 trophies important... (But sure. Let's wait for 15k. Only two years to go.)

 

For fans of Half-Genie Hero, I guess you get more of the same. I thought HGH was fine. It didn't have the challenge of Pirate's Curse, which I still consider to be the best Shantae game, but it had really good visuals and an awesome soundtrack. You get that here, along with more adorable transformations. I think monkey Shantae is still my favorite. They show her in the intro, but she's oddly not an in-game transformation. In fact, she only has four animal transformations in this game. I think she had twelve in HGH. But some of these are replaced with magical dances and cards you can equip to increase Shantae's abilities, so I guess it evens out...

 

Unfortunately, guys, this game is laughably easy. Food items drop frequently, auto potions are dirt cheap, and one of Shantae's dances is a healing move. You don't even need to upgrade your hearts. (There's actually a trophy for beating the game without doing that, but I didn't bother on either playthrough.) There's the usual speedrun, but they're pretty generous this time. I think you have to do it in under 4 hours (6.5 for the 100%), but I did it in just over 3 hours with some backtracking to make my life easier later on (5.5 hours for the 100%). Finding all the heart squids and nuggets is a bit of a pain. There's no way of knowing which ones you've already collected and sometimes it's not clear that something is hidden in an area. I also didn't realize that some items can only be found by smashing the ground as tortoise Shantae...

 

I see no reason to play this one over HGH (or the much better Pirate's Curse), but it's not like you'd be missing out on a lot if you did. This series is very self-aware and pokes fun of itself and its genre a lot. You mostly play these games for the humor and the lovable characters.

 

Well, WayForward has two years to make another Shantae game. Or however long it will take me to double my platinum count.

 

(I was going to post fan art, but after Googling it, I suddenly feel like I need a long shower...)

[AJ_Radio]

Shantae. Now there's a franchise I've been slacking off on for the better part of four - five years.

[Rally-Vincent---]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

 

But R-Cat, I already have Phantom Doctrine. A game I totally didn't give up on playing after a single sitting.

 

I'll just stop recommending games since when I do, it isn't really well received.

[Cassylvania]

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

I'll just stop recommending games since when I do, it isn't really well received.

 

Nah, it suffered the same fate as Sakuna. Just a game I started during a time when I was already playing a lot of grindy games, so it made it difficult to enjoy. I don't remember disliking it. We'll probably get back to it after The Surge (a game I honestly DO dislike, even though it's probably mechanically better than LotF).

 

My tastes are weird sometimes. You would think I'd really like Doraemon, which basically checks every box for what I look for in a game, but it ended up being one of the worst farming sims I've ever played. That doesn't mean some people won't enjoy it. It actually has decent reviews and it looks like the devs care more about their product than the ones touting the Harvest Moon name these days. Phantom Doctrine is just a lot more like Invisible, Inc., which took me a while to get into. You really have to wrap your head around that particular playstyle.

 

I think my problem going into PD was that I was hoping for XCOM, but it ended up being more Mutant: Year Zero (a game that seems to discourage combat). I need to just get over myself.

 

I need to get back to The Surge. I just really don't care for the DLC.

[faint-magician2]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:42 PM, Cassylvania said:

I wouldn't use Hollow Knight as a benchmark of my skill level, since it's arguably the least deserved platinum in my collection (given how quickly I opted to use the invincibility glitch to beat the final pantheon). But after learning there were glitches to beat Brutal difficulty in the Uncharted trilogy, I don't feel so bad. I did my time.

 

Same here. If I put Celeste on my roster, don't think I'm the hot s**t because I will use Assist Mode again to beat all of the levels without dying. The only thing that would make me somewhat good there is that you don't have Assist Mode in the PICO-9 mode and those retro levels are pretty frustrating because you have to use the same movement mechanics but there are only ten or so of those retro levels.

 

On 4/16/2021 at 11:42 PM, Cassylvania said:

Platinum #250 - Shantae and the Seven Sirens

 

Well, it would be two milestones, if PSNP considered 11,000 trophies important... (But sure. Let's wait for 15k. Only two years to go.)

 

For fans of Half-Genie Hero, I guess you get more of the same.

 

I loved this game, the only thing I hated about it was the shooting gallery you have to do to get 100% because I suck at shooting galleries. Still, fun title and no stupid DLC. Looking at you, Half-Genie Hero. Also, Risky's Revenge can go burn in hell, or at least the trophy of having to beat the final boss without using potions.

 

Don't get me wrong, Shantae is one of my waifus(hey, I'm a guy, I deserve to fantasize, right? I already have sleep dreams about Futaba Sakura, us making out during a gaming session ) but forcing you to be a speed-runner when you only watch Games Done Quick for time-kills is not making you friends. ?

 

Still, maybe I should dig this out of the muck. I love Shantae's Metroidvania gameplay.

On 4/16/2021 at 11:42 PM, Cassylvania said:

(I was going to post fan art, but after Googling it, I suddenly feel like I need a long shower...)

Yeah, when you wear a costume like Shantae's, you tend to get a lot of Rule 34 hentai.

 

And when you are as huge-busted as Risky Boots... well, I won't even go there. I think WayForward make Risky so endowed just to poke fun at pirate wenches.

 

The hilarious stuff is that there is no romantic sub-text in the series. People ship Shantae with Bolo, since he's the only male character other than Uncle Mimic(and forget him, we don't want a repeat of Mischief Makers ) but WayForward went for the comedy and not really did anything with romance in the series.

Edited April 21, 2021 by faint-magician2

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #251 - Gris

 

There's a difference between a video game about depression and a depressing video game. This is unfortunately the latter. Yes, the visuals are nice and the soundtrack complements it well, but I get a little tired of indie games thinking that a few somber moments and the vaguest of storylines can pass for a low budget title.

 

The problem with Gris is that everything it does has been done better. It's Abzu without the wonder, Journey without the unique experience, Last Day of June without the great puzzles and storytelling. In fact, the closest comparison I can think to make is Rime, which is the very definition of an average indie title. But at least Rime had somewhat of a challenge from what I can remember... Most of Gris is just holding the directional pad in one direction and occasionally pressing jump. The only thing I struggled with was keeping Gris in "box" form, as sometimes she'd transform out of it, even though I was still holding the square button down. Just an all around dull experience, and then they do that thing where they hide collectibles throughout the level, forcing you to either use a guide on your first playthrough (thereby ruining your enjoyment of the game) or play through parts of the game twice. And since the game is ultimately very linear, that will probably ruin your enjoyment too. Why do developers keep doing this? Either make your game fun enough to play through multiple times or stop trying to hide content from your players.

 

I also really hate when a game gives you a double jump but then asks you to play earlier parts of the game without that powerup. I dunno. Just a pet peeve of mine.

 

There are better uses for your money, but if you get it for free or under $5, I guess there are worse ways to spend an evening. Like watching the NFL draft.

[Together_Comic]

The NFL draft is such a weird phenomenon to me. I cant for the life of me figure out why people will sit for literally 5 hours watching it. To each their own I suppose.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/1/2021 at 10:49 PM, Together_Comic said:

The NFL draft is such a weird phenomenon to me. I cant for the life of me figure out why people will sit for literally 5 hours watching it. To each their own I suppose.

 

It's good for background noise, I guess. I'd probably have more of an interest if I actually watched college football and knew who some of these players were. Only watched it this year to see if the Vikings finally decided to address the O-line issue.

 

Anyway, I was busy this weekend. Didn't expect this to happen, but I went on a rampage yesterday...

 

Platinum #252 - The Surge

 

I was nice to Lords of the Fallen. I didn't think it was a good game, but at least I could squint and pretend I was playing Dark Souls. I heard The Surge was Deck13's better attempt at making a clone of the series, so I went into it with a more critical eye. And what I got was one of the worst gaming experiences I've had in a long time. (And yes, I'm including DQH2.)

 

First of all, I hate the setting. That's on me. I've never been into the whole futuristic tech theme. Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne are all set in places that I'd actually want to visit (minus the monsters) or would at least be interested in learning more about. The Surge takes place in a factory, complete with cramped corridors, ugly gray walls, and machines. I don't think I would've liked the world even if it was made by From Software. Even HZD, which was one of the best-looking games I've played on the PS4, was ruined by robots. I just don't find that concept attractive. I play games for the fantasy aspect. I want colorful worlds that let me escape a drab reality.

 

That said, the level design here is terrible. That's on the devs. For a game world that is surprisingly small, you're going to spend a lot of time backtracking -- not because the game necessarily requires it (though it does), but because it's a maze. Even after 50+ hours in the main world, I STILL don't know my way around. My usual strategy of hugging the left wall doesn't work here. You just kinda wander around until the game lets you continue to the next area. Hell, I stumbled into the final boss by accident. Twice. I still don't know how to reach him.

 

And all those problems people complained about in Lords of the Fallen? You know, every enemy model looking the same, taking random damage from enemies, combat being dull and repetitive, poor camera tracking, no clear indication of what you're supposed to do next... Yeah, they're all present here. Just what exactly was "improved"? Let's just take these one at a time.

1. Every enemy looks the same. There are melee enemies, which are robots, and ranged enemies, who are drones. Those are the only two enemy types in the entire game. There are a total of FIVE bosses in the entire game (I'm not even kidding), and two of those are basically beefed-up versions of your standard robot enemies. The other bosses are actually kinda fun, but they're ruined by the fact that...
2. You take random damage from enemies. I don't know. Maybe my reflexes are slow, but I had a hard time telling when some enemies were attacking. This is ESPECIALLY true on the third boss. And this wouldn't be such a big deal if every attack didn't drain half your health, but they do. Even trash mobs can take you down in a few hits. At least when I die in Dark Souls, I have some idea of what happened and what I could have done to prevent it. Here, I don't even know if I was doing the combat right.
3. Combat is dull and repetitive. In LotF, it was the overhead slash. Here, it's the slide attack. There's no reason to do anything else. Slide in, get off one or two hits (preferably with the twin rigs since they hit the fastest), and back away. Don't bother blocking. I don't think it works. The game gives you a tutorial on how to duck under and jump over some attacks, which sounds cool in theory, but there's no benefit in doing so from what I can tell. It's kinda like parrying in Dark Souls, except that actually has a purpose.
4. Poor camera tracking. Most prevalent in boss fights. I dunno. PAX has a tendency to jump into walls, giving you no room to fight, and the third boss requires you to target the right area in order to give you the best proper camera view. I've never seen something like that in a game before. Standard enemies aren't so bad, but the targeting in this game is really annoying.
5. No clear indication of what to do next. Granted, I stopped paying attention to the plot very early on. Maybe the game explains precisely where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do. Mostly, you just wander around aimlessly until you find something big and mean that wants you dead. It ended up making this one of the most frustrating games I've played recently because I'd often play in 2-3 hour spurts and feel like I was getting nowhere because I kept navigating through the same corridors again and again. It's mostly Central Production B where you'll experience this. The rest of the game is fairly linear. (Not really.)

I forgave these things in LotF because, again, it was close enough to something that I loved that I felt I could overlook them, but this game felt like a step backwards in every way. It was not fun to play, it was not engaging, and the only edge I can give it over LotF is that the story wasn't laughably bad. (Although I would argue that gave LotF some charm, which The Surge was sorely lacking...)

 

The trophies here are junk, as you'd expect. Plenty of missables and you're pretty much forced into playing most of NG+. Lots of collectibles and grinding too. The DLCs are...OK. I actually liked the first one, if only because it was a breath of fresh air. The second one is annoying and repetitive, but it does give you the best feature in the entire game: a sort of fast travel system that only works once you're near the very end of the game. Hooray?

 

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this game to my worst enemy. 1/10. May very well be my least favorite game on the console.

 

(I had more written up, but I got dizzy last night while watching a movie -- probably from playing this game all day -- and it got erased when I shut down my computer.)

Edited May 4, 2021 by Cassylvania

[realm722]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:03 PM, Cassylvania said:

First of all, I hate the setting. That's on me. I've never been into the whole futuristic tech theme. Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne are all set in places that I'd actually want to visit (minus the monsters) or would at least be interested in learning more about. The Surge takes place in a factory, complete with cramped corridors, ugly gray walls, and machines. I don't think I would've liked the world even if it was made by From Software. Even HZD, which was one of the best-looking games I've played on the PS4, was ruined by robots. I just don't find that concept attractive. I play games for the fantasy aspect. I want colorful worlds that let me escape a drab reality.

 

Woof... that's about as harsh a review I've heard regarding The Surge. I thought the general consensus was "eh, it's not the greatest of the Dark Souls-inspired games but if you're really starving it may satisfy your thirst" but damn Cassy. Honestly, setting is a gigantic factory for whether or not you're going to get into a game. Even if the concept is done well vs. done poorly, if ya don't like deserts, it doesn't matter if the game is designed by Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and CD Projekt Red combined - you prolly won't enjoy a game based in the Sahara. I'm surprised to see you didn't care for HZD's settings due to the robots. I thought it worked beautifully, 'specially with all the animals you fight since it's not like the entire world is robotic - so many of the landscapes are flushed with color and while I didn't care as much for the under-ground tunnel segments - the game is utterly jaw-dropping even now as you mentioned. 

 

On the bright side - it seems you've slain a number of the games you had from awhile ago when you had like 7-8 unfinished! Sparklite should be a cake-walk for you, Saints Row I'm imaging is just taking your time due to the sheer number of trophies and then we have... Phantom Doctrine (oh no) and Ys Origin (oh no oh no oh no). 

[Cassylvania]

13 minutes ago, realm722 said:

Woof... that's about as harsh a review I've heard regarding The Surge. I thought the general consensus was "eh, it's not the greatest of the Dark Souls-inspired games but if you're really starving it may satisfy your thirst" but damn Cassy. Honestly, setting is a gigantic factory for whether or not you're going to get into a game. Even if the concept is done well vs. done poorly, if ya don't like deserts, it doesn't matter if the game is designed by Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and CD Projekt Red combined - you prolly won't enjoy a game based in the Sahara. I'm surprised to see you didn't care for HZD's settings due to the robots. I thought it worked beautifully, 'specially with all the animals you fight since it's not like the entire world is robotic - so many of the landscapes are flushed with color and while I didn't care as much for the under-ground tunnel segments - the game is utterly jaw-dropping even now as you mentioned. 

 

I should rephrase that. I liked HZD's setting, despite the robotic element. It's the same way I felt about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I would've enjoyed the world just as much if not more if the enemies were mutants, aliens, or just hideously deformed animals.

 

18 minutes ago, realm722 said:

On the bright side - it seems you've slain a number of the games you had from awhile ago when you had like 7-8 unfinished! Sparklite should be a cake-walk for you, Saints Row I'm imaging is just taking your time due to the sheer number of trophies and then we have... Phantom Doctrine (oh no) and Ys Origin (oh no oh no oh no). 

 

It helps that I've been too lazy to start anything new.

 

Saints Row 3 had a glitch where trophies weren't popping for some people. I actually had that happen to me in one of the DLCs, but I turned off the game before it could autosave. I think they fixed it in the most recent patch. I'm not sure. I'll be pissed if I don't get the trophy for completing all the challenges, though, since that's what's taking the majority of the time...

 

I bought the new DLCs for Two Point Hospital and A Hat in Time. I actually enjoyed those games, so I don't mind the hit to my wallet (even if AHiT is the only one priced correctly). Some of the trophies are pretty tough. TPH is ridiculous. I don't like when it turns into a horde mode game. AHiT...I dunno. The new level was fine. Not sure how I feel about Death Wish. I like challenges, but it's been three years since I finished it. Would've rather seen a sequel by now.

 

We'll get back to Phantom Doctrine soon. I think I'll like the game more now that I've finished a lot of the garbage on my profile.

 

No comment on Ys.

 

As for the other one...

 

Platinum #253 - Sparklite

 

Hey, it's a game about robots that I like.

 

Sparklite is a roguelite (see what they did there?) clearly inspired by 2D Zelda games. You play as Ada, who is basically the girl from Iconoclasts if she had red hair, and your goal is to stop the evil Baron and his four titans from taking over your world or something. It's not important. The game is actually pretty hard in the beginning, so you can expect to die a lot. And when you die, the world is remade (e.g. procedurally generated), but it actually makes sense in the context of the game, which I always appreciate. Not sure The Surge had a reason for coming back to life all the time...

 

The procedural generation is kinda pointless, though, since there's only so many "screens" you can expect to see in each biome, and the overall theme (forest to the east, bog to the south, desert to the west, and tundra to the north) remains the same every time. If anything, it just gives the game enough variety to keep you entertained for the 2-3 sittings it will take you to finish everything. I can respect that.

 

You get gadgets that can help you solve very basic puzzles and aid you in combat, but it's the patches that help you advance further in the game. These can make you stronger, have more health, or display certain locations on the map. Eventually, you can combine these to form even more powerful patches, but you need Sparklite, which is the currency in the game (and fortunately the only thing not lost when you die). By the end, you'll be strong enough to take on anything, but the final boss was still a pain...

 

This game was alright. In the pixelated, young-girl-hits-enemies-with-a-wrench genre, I'd give Iconoclasts the edge just because I prefer platformers, but it's still a 6 or 7 out of 10. I don't know why I'm doing a numeric system now. It's worth about $5 and it's a 10 hour game. Take that for what you will.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go bash my head through a wall.

[AJ_Radio]

14 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

I should rephrase that. I liked HZD's setting, despite the robotic element. It's the same way I felt about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I would've enjoyed the world just as much if not more if the enemies were mutants, aliens, or just hideously deformed animals.

 

I'm going to assume you played Enslaved: Odyssey to the West on your old account, because it's nowhere to be found on your current one. This was one of the games I bought during the panic when we thought PS3/Vita stores will be shutting down, but thankfully Sony has prolonged that by going back on their initial decision. Will be one of the last few games I will be playing before I say goodbye for good on the PS3. My PS4 backlog has steadily increased in the past two years, but I've kept my PS3/Vita to around a little over a dozen games combined.

 

The game looks rather dated on the edges but I should have some fun with it.

[Darling Baphomet]

11 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

I should rephrase that. I liked HZD's setting, despite the robotic element. It's the same way I felt about Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I would've enjoyed the world just as much if not more if the enemies were mutants, aliens, or just hideously deformed animals.

 

I like sci-fi, but I can kinda agree with this. HZD was pretty generic at points, especially the underground bunker things that were super repetitive. Despite being probably my favorite PS exclusive, at points it definitely felt like there was a disconnect between the robots and the rest of the setting. Like someone was just like, "hey dudes, what if tribal survival game but robot dinosaurs???"

 

16 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

The procedural generation is kinda pointless, though, since there's only so many "screens" you can expect to see in each biome, and the overall theme (forest to the east, bog to the south, desert to the west, and tundra to the north) remains the same every time. If anything, it just gives the game enough variety to keep you entertained for the 2-3 sittings it will take you to finish everything. I can respect that.

 

Honestly, I feel like most roguelikes these days really don't have enough content to justify being roguelikes. It was a fun gimmick when it first started being a thing, but the random generation combined with not having enough content to truly feel random eventually makes every roguelike start to feel same-y. Like your average indie developer simply doesn't have the budget to implement RNG level mechanics well.

 

There's a few games that do things different enough that the roguelike sameyness isn't too bad, e.g. I adored the Swords of Ditto and didn't find it repetitive even when it was blatantly so, but for the most part it's just a bunch of roguelikes where in a few hours you've experienced most of the level variety available. Then, of course, there's the Binding of Isaac, which has a distinct advantage, because it has had... three DLCs and a remake to stockpile content? Yeah.

[AJ_Radio]

39 minutes ago, Darling Baphomet said:

Honestly, I feel like most roguelikes these days really don't have enough content to justify being roguelikes. It was a fun gimmick when it first started being a thing, but the random generation combined with not having enough content to truly feel random eventually makes every roguelike start to feel same-y. Like your average indie developer simply doesn't have the budget to implement RNG level mechanics well.

 

There's a few games that do things different enough that the roguelike sameyness isn't too bad, e.g. I adored the Swords of Ditto and didn't find it repetitive even when it was blatantly so, but for the most part it's just a bunch of roguelikes where in a few hours you've experienced most of the level variety available. Then, of course, there's the Binding of Isaac, which has a distinct advantage, because it has had... three DLCs and a remake to stockpile content? Yeah.

 

The only roguelike I've done for trophies is Rogue Legacy. Fun and enjoyable little indie game.

 

Yeah it was a fun gimmick. It was the same thing with Shovel Knight, an 8-bit inspired platformer that practically came out of nowhere in 2013 - 2014 borrowing heavily from Super Mario Bros 3 and the NES era Castlevania and Mega Man games. Today a lot of retro, nostalgia inspired shoestring budget indies are made just for the hell of it because there's a group of old timers out there that still play NES and SNES games.

 

The Binding of Isaac is extremely time consuming on top of being difficult. I have the game on Steam, but I don't know if I'm going to play it for trophies because that is a serious time commitment I will have to make to 100 percent it. It's extremely fun and addicting, but trophies might ruin my immersion and enjoyment of the game.

Edited May 6, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[Cassylvania]

On 5/5/2021 at 9:52 PM, AJ_Radio said:

I'm going to assume you played Enslaved: Odyssey to the West on your old account, because it's nowhere to be found on your current one. This was one of the games I bought during the panic when we thought PS3/Vita stores will be shutting down, but thankfully Sony has prolonged that by going back on their initial decision. Will be one of the last few games I will be playing before I say goodbye for good on the PS3. My PS4 backlog has steadily increased in the past two years, but I've kept my PS3/Vita to around a little over a dozen games combined.

 

It was the last game I played on my old account. Probably one of my favorites too. I thought about playing it again, but only if it got a remaster.

 

Speaking of which...

 

Platinum #254 - Saints Row: The Third Remastered

 

I'm already on record of saying I prefer the Saints Row series to GTA. That said, I've played every GTA game except the newest one (which is I assume is the best) and only SR3 and SR4 (despite hearing SR2 is the best). I don't know if I have a leg to stand on here, but I do like how the SR games I've played embrace the absurdness of the sandbox genre. That probably puts me in the minority, since I know a lot of people complained about SR4 and Deep Silver was saying they might retcon the entire game for the inevitable sequel. Personally, I wish more games (especially ones about murder and violence) would stop taking themselves so seriously.

 

The game is fine. I wasn't impressed by the remastering. Textures seem blocky and the lighting is not very good. I felt like I was playing a PS3 game the entire time. I'd say skip it unless you never played the original.

 

Anyway, I feel like we're finally starting to turn the corner on these games. I won't be starting another long game until we have everything under control.

[Jens]

Gotta love it when playing games starts feeling like putting out a bush fire for weeks, we've all been there

[AJ_Radio]

On 5/11/2021 at 7:18 PM, Cassylvania said:

It was the last game I played on my old account. Probably one of my favorites too. I thought about playing it again, but only if it got a remaster.

 

I'd much rather play it on the PS4, don't get me wrong. But if this game is on PS Now, which I really don't know if it is or not, that's an option. Having to stream the games for the PS4 is the real killer for me. A mistake Sony made all those years ago when they made the PS3 console itself difficult to program and code for.

 

On 5/11/2021 at 7:18 PM, Cassylvania said:

 

Platinum #254 - Saints Row: The Third Remastered

 

I'm already on record of saying I prefer the Saints Row series to GTA. That said, I've played every GTA game except the newest one (which is I assume is the best) and only SR3 and SR4 (despite hearing SR2 is the best). I don't know if I have a leg to stand on here, but I do like how the SR games I've played embrace the absurdness of the sandbox genre. That probably puts me in the minority, since I know a lot of people complained about SR4 and Deep Silver was saying they might retcon the entire game for the inevitable sequel. Personally, I wish more games (especially ones about murder and violence) would stop taking themselves so seriously.

 

The game is fine. I wasn't impressed by the remastering. Textures seem blocky and the lighting is not very good. I felt like I was playing a PS3 game the entire time. I'd say skip it unless you never played the original.

 

Anyway, I feel like we're finally starting to turn the corner on these games. I won't be starting another long game until we have everything under control.

 

I used to think the Saints Row games were a cheap imitation. They are obviously American influenced, given all the references to American pop culture, but so does GTA. I remember the early Saints Row games feeling like a clone of GTA, but with the third game they really started branching into their own.

 

Personally I prefer Saints Row IV and Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. Using superpowers and causing havoc and destruction at times was just too much fun. Even the collectibles weren't that bad since you can just run all over the map.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/12/2021 at 10:59 PM, AJ_Radio said:

Personally I prefer Saints Row IV and Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell. Using superpowers and causing havoc and destruction at times was just too much fun. Even the collectibles weren't that bad since you can just run all over the map.

 

Yeah... After playing SR4, I found it hard to go back to something like GTA. It just seemed so much more restrictive. And Gat Out of Hell had that hilarious musical number that's probably been my favorite thing in any of these games.

 

Platinum #255 - Ikenfell

 

 

I've been pretty sour lately in some of my reviews. I don't know if that's come across that way, but I've been thinking this is shaping up to be one of my worst years of gaming ever. If we ignore Slay the Spire and Sakuna, which I technically began last year, the only game I can think of that has truly stood out was Children of Morta (and maybe Obra Dinn). The rest have been average or worse, which is not really what I was hoping for after a mediocre end to 2020.

 

And then this little gem came along. I guess I saw it on sale. Maybe I saw a review. But I kinda went into it blind, knowing it was a fairly short indie title with a neat combat system, and what I got was a game that absolutely oozes with charm. And since this is the kind of game I know none of you will have heard of it, I guess it's time to write an actual review.

 

Let's pretend I'm a professional for once and actually discuss every aspect of the game, starting with the story.

 

So, you play as Maritte (a non-witch) on a quest to find your little sister Safia (an actual witch), who is attending a school for witches. It's basically Hogwarts, guys. The school is doing the thing magical schools do best -- falling apart -- and it's up to you to figure out the mystery of what's going on and save your sister before the whole world is destroyed. I'm not going to pretend like any of that is remarkable or original, but you're joined by a group of characters who each have their own inner demons they must face, and it's their individual stories that really drive the plot forward. Even the characters you don't play as, like Oxley and Bax, feel fleshed out for a game that seems to pride itself on being simplistic (in its length, story, and 8-bit art style). It reminds me of something like Super Mario RPG, where even the background characters are memorable years later (and it's still the most expressive we've ever seen Mario). They also clearly took inspiration from other Mario games, but we'll get to that in a bit.

 

I liked all the characters. I should point out there's clearly some LGBTQ+ stuff going on here, as every character is presented as being either gay or non-binary, but they do it in a respectful way. It was just a little jarring for me because I didn't realize that's what they were doing at first, so when they started using pronouns like "ze" and "zir," I just assumed that character had a French accent. This makes it hard for me to choose a waifu (but let's not kid ourselves: it's Gilda), so we'll just move on.

 

Combat is tactical turn-based, similar to something like XCOM (!) in its design, but more akin to Paper Mario in its execution. In each battle, you can have up to three characters on a 3x12 grid. Characters take turns based on speed and each attack or ability has a certain range, which means movement and placement of your characters is critical to success. For example, Ima has a regeneration spell, but it only affects the target square and any adjacent squares (so if any enemies are there, they will be buffed too). Mariette gets an ability to push back an enemy (potentially damaging an enemy or triggering a trap further back in the same row), but she can only use it when standing exactly two or three spaces away, with no characters in between. Friendly fire exists. The Super Mario RPG aspect comes into play in that every attack or ability can fail, hit, or become a critical hit depending on your timing. This can get frustrating. You have audio and visual clues that let you know when you need to hit the X button, but there were some attacks (such as Ima's Sentinel ability) that I never got to work. That one in particular has two button presses that, if missed, cause the ability to completely fail. Other ones, such as Maritte's starting Ignite ability, are very easy to time.

 

If you're bad with timing, there's an option to have every attack hit (at the cost of never getting a critical, I assume), but I never used it. I found the combat very fair and only died on a couple of bosses. (There's even a win-the-game button, similar to Celeste's Assist Mode. Trophy hunters rejoice.)

 

I only used the win-the-game button near the very end, when I was lost in the Spelltower and got sick of refighting the same enemies, but I encourage you to play the whole game without it. The combat is pretty fun, even if it can get tedious. My team was almost exclusively Maritte, Ima, and Gilda.

 

The music is great. Arguably the best thing about the game. There are a few boss themes I particularly liked, even if they come out of nowhere and completely messed up my timing.

 

You're probably looking at a 20 hour platinum here. The trophy list is very generic. You're basically getting a trophy for killing each boss, which are spaced about an hour apart for most of the game. The rest is going to be for collectibles and optional bosses, which you're going to use a guide for (although you might find most of them on your own). Nothing is missable, which is always appreciated, and I imagine you could speed run the game pretty quickly if you just used Victory Mode the entire time. But don't. This is a decent game and you should be in no rush to get back to The Surges of the world. Going to recommend this one with a warning of caution if you're getting tired of retro revivals.

 

As far as price goes...you know, I'd get it on sale because even though it's probably worth full price, it feels like a budget title. I chalk that up to the pixelated graphics, which I personally liked, but it has that homebrew feel that can make it seem like you're playing a cheap knockoff of a better game. It's similar to Undertale in that way. As a $10 game, Undertale is great. As a $20 game...ehhh.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Cassylvania

[Rally-Vincent---]

7 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I've been pretty sour lately in some of my reviews. I don't know if that's come across that way, but I've been thinking this is shaping up to be one of my worst years of gaming ever.

 

Only ever so slightly...

 

7 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

And then this little gem came along. I guess I saw it on sale. Maybe I saw a review. But I kinda went into it blind, knowing it was a fairly short indie title with a neat combat system, and what I got was a game that absolutely oozes with charm. And since this is the kind of game I know none of you will have heard of it, I guess it's time to write an actual review.

 

Downloaded. Let's see what this is about then... in about how-long-is-my-backlog days. My profile doesn't show all the games since I didn't earn a trophy in over 4 days. No 0% games updates.

[winter_bird_22]

On 5/5/2021 at 4:27 PM, realm722 said:

if ya don't like deserts, it doesn't matter if the game is designed by Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and CD Projekt Red combined - you prolly won't enjoy a game based in the Sahara.

Same. Even if Square-Enix had not lost big money on patching their take on Marvel's Avengers group, I will never touch it. The only Marvel tie-in I played was the LEGO Marvel games and it was only because I was starved for EZPZ games before the Indiepocalypse which flood the PSN store with horrible horrible half-assed stuff like SNAKE BOAT.

 

I had played LEGO Avengers because I had been forced to watch the actual Age of Ultron movie and that movie was pretty good. LEGO Avengers is a dumb LEGO game that rips off the movie and has to cut out the best parts - like the scene where Scarlet Witch rips out Ultron's core during a cutscene because it wouldn't fly in a LEGO game as LEGO Is G-rated.

 

I don't care if the men behind Final Fantasy XIV made the Avengers game, I am not playing it because I did not get exposed to Marvel comics much as a kid and I was more into mystery novels and Encyclopedia Brown at that age. To those who love Spiderman or the Hulk, kudos to you, you are giving those companies your respect by playing their games. Sadly, to paraphrase a monster in Dragon Quest Builders 2, another of Square-Enix's properties, not even Square-Enix is immune to failure so that only ruined the experience more. Also, I don't play third-person action much.

Edited May 20, 2021 by winter_bird_22

[winter_bird_22]

On 5/14/2021 at 9:28 PM, Cassylvania said:

And then this little gem came along. I guess I saw it on sale.

Let me recommend a game on sale now on PSN: Newt One. I bought it to make it my 90th platinum on an impulse - Jak 2 with debug menu was supposed to be #90 but I miscalculated my gaming list so I was down one game - and I love every minute of it. It's very simple, four areas with six stages that you 100% by touching everything to make it colorful again, and you get items like drums and a wand in Stage 3 that makes the process so much quicker. All of the collectibles are easy to spot and you only need to get all of the notes, 100% Colorify everything, and rescue all of the parrots(there is one in each stage) and then free some elders by running into crystals. You can fall off the stage but you don't suffer anything but a quick respawn for doing so, and it's trial and error. There is a lot of platforming but you can find wings in some stages that boost your jump and let you glide slowly. It's a very fun game and it's on sale for $2.99 on the PSN store.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/20/2021 at 0:01 AM, winter_bird_22 said:

Let me recommend a game on sale now on PSN: Newt One. I bought it to make it my 90th platinum on an impulse - Jak 2 with debug menu was supposed to be #90 but I miscalculated my gaming list so I was down one game - and I love every minute of it. It's very simple, four areas with six stages that you 100% by touching everything to make it colorful again, and you get items like drums and a wand in Stage 3 that makes the process so much quicker. All of the collectibles are easy to spot and you only need to get all of the notes, 100% Colorify everything, and rescue all of the parrots(there is one in each stage) and then free some elders by running into crystals. You can fall off the stage but you don't suffer anything but a quick respawn for doing so, and it's trial and error. There is a lot of platforming but you can find wings in some stages that boost your jump and let you glide slowly. It's a very fun game and it's on sale for $2.99 on the PSN store.

 

I'll keep an eye on it. Don't mind a few sub-$5 games every now and then.

 

Platinum #256 - Nelke & The Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World

 

 

Long enough title?

 

That's right, guys -- another Atelier game for you to not read my review on! This time, I'm going to say this is probably NOT the Atelier game you want to start with if you're new to the series, as this game manages to incorporate characters and ideas from every other Atelier game while having none of the gameplay you're used to. Basically, most Atelier games have you play as one (or two) underage girls (because Japan) and you do a combination of gathering ingredients, battling monsters, and leveling up your alchemy in order to complete a series of tasks in a (usually) tight timeframe. That's...technically what you're doing here, but Nelke is a little more hands-off than you might be used to. I don't know that we're in game-that-plays-itself territory, but we're close.

 

This is the part where I admit I skipped most of the dialogue, so we're going to go with my own interpretation of the plot. *ahem* You play as Nelke von Germanlastname, a noble tasked with building a thriving city from scratch. This is a lot of work, so you primarily play the role of delegator, deciding how your citizens (all familiar faces from the older games in the series) should best utilize their time and resources. In the beginning, you only have a few helpers, but you eventually get up to like 100, so there's a lot of micromanagement. Some characters are better at certain tasks than others, but if you're familiar with the series, you'll sorta have a good idea of where you should put them (e.g. Hagel in a weapon shop, Tiffani in a general store, etc.). If they're not working in your city, you can send them out to gather resources between "turns" (more on that in a second), but they don't earn friendship this way. Guess they don't like you sending them into the wilderness with monsters.

 

The game is broken up into turns, and each turn has two parts. I think of those parts as "week" and "weekend," but the game calls them something else. Forget the game. My way is better. During the week, you work on your city. This can involve crafting new buildings or assigning personnel or tasks to your existing buildings. Don't get too OCD about it. You might be tempted to min/max, but it's not necessary, and you always have the option of moving buildings freely (as long as they remain in the same district). Speaking of, the game gets really confusing when it starts referring to things as "sectors," "towns," and "districts." From what I understand, "districts" are supposed to be parts of your "town," but "districts" can become "towns" themselves (and eventually "cities"), and I think "sectors" are supposed to be the individual squares that make up your "districts," but some buildings and decorative items add a bonus to "all sectors," and it's never clear if they mean all sectors in that district or all sectors in your town... Chalk that up to bad translation.

 

Anyway, you'll probably be tempted to have one district for ateliers, another for general stores, another for weapon stores, and so on, but the game doesn't really give you the freedom to do that in the beginning when you only have access to one or two districts, and the trophies don't want you doing that at all... Chalk that up to bad foresight.

 

During the weekend, you decide how you want to spend your time. Think Persona 5. You can visit a friend, which takes a set amount of time, or battle monsters/gather resources. If you spend too much time talking to people, you won't get the experience and items you need to craft items. But you need to make friends to gain access to better things, such as landmarks for your town, and to make your townspeople more efficient at their tasks. I found I could visit two or three people per week and still have enough time to complete an investigation if I run through most of it. (You can choose to walk or run. Running prevents you from gathering resources and also attracts monsters, but it gets you through the area more quickly.) Battles are more or less automatic in this game. You can control who to bring with you and occasionally use items or skills, but I never found it necessary (outside of the trophies that require it). Just use Lydie and Suelle. They'll keep your party alive.

 

And that's basically it. You alternate between weeks and weekdays, slowly building up your economy and making friends, while trying to complete a series of tasks that the game throws at you. There's a LOT of dialogue here, and I'm sure somebody with more patience and less cynicism than me would enjoy it. (Although I will admit I got a little giddy whenever somebody showed up from the previous games that I remembered. I guess I'm more attached to these little dorks than I let on.) 

 

I won't recommend this game. This is such a niche series, and this is the most divisive game amongst the fans that I've seen... I think it's because it's really unlike the others, even if it tries to incorporate every major character from every game in the series since Rorona (which I don't even think is canonically possible). This makes choosing my waifu impossible. I mean, it'd be like asking me to pick my favorite character in the entire series. I don't even think my favorite is IN this game. Maybe someday I'll rank them on a tier list. Wouldn't that be exciting?

 

I wouldn't put Nelke in my top 5, either as a waifu or as an Atelier game. I probably liked it more than most people would because I'm partial to city sims, but it's a weird take on the genre. Only hardcore fans need apply.

 

 

Hell, Firis is my favorite.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Cassylvania

[winter_bird_22]

Never got into the Atelier series. I bought one game and then threw it away because I was too scared of the time management. (And me who had double platinumed Persona 5 Royal ) Alchemy used to be my jam but now not really. Chalk that up to me entering middle age and being less interested in challenging myself. *sigh*

 

3 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

That's right, guys -- another Atelier game for you to not read my review on!

 

Nonsense. I read all your reviews. It helps me decide whether a game is worth two sh**s.

[Together_Comic]

10 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

That's right, guys -- another Atelier game for you to not read my review on!

 

6 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

Nonsense. I read all your reviews. It helps me decide whether a game is worth two sh**s.

 

Same, tbh, I enjoy it during my morning tea. Occasionally Cassy convinces me to spend yet more money on games I wont get to for a year and it's great.

[Cassylvania]

8 hours ago, Together_Comic said:

Same, tbh, I enjoy it during my morning tea. Occasionally Cassy convinces me to spend yet more money on games I wont get to for a year and it's great.

 

I just assumed Atelier reviews were the equivalent of Peggy episodes in King of the Hill (aka insta-skips). ?

 

We're down to just needing Ryza 2 and the Dusk trilogy to finish up the series. I'll probably do Ayesha next. The problem is figuring out whether I should overpay for the digital version, overpay for the physical version, wait for a sale that will never happen, or play the entire game in Japanese with the version I currently own. Alternatively, I guess I could play the PS3 version of PS Now, but my internet connection isn't very good...

 

Oh, I bought a PS5, by the way. Did I forget to mention that? They went on sale one day and I got lucky enough to get one. Actually played Nelke on it as my first PS5 game, even though I have it for PS4. At least I know it works. It transferred all my save data from the PS4 to the PS5, which is a nice feature... Just took a few hours.

 

I don't know what my first actual PS5 game will be. Ryza 2 is the current forerunner. Demon's Souls is another obvious choice. Might just go with the Astro Playroom game that came with the system because I'm a cheap bastard. $70 for a game is a bit ridiculous and will greatly affect my reviews...

 

I expect to play a lot more indie games in the future.