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Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums


Cassylvania

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26 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

It's always impressive to see someone pull off a SL 1 run, like what @Copanele does. But I ain't about that. I'm usually a coward, I overlevel to the point where a lot of enemies become trivial, with only the bosses posing any threat.

Didn't expect to get a Dark Souls shoutout xD but anyway, for a fun non-SL1 run in Soulsborne, the Cosplay Runs are the most fun. Like, pick your favorite character from any other game (Like Toren? idk) and try to get her equipment and as many stats as you want.

 

That's the best I can contribute to this discussion sadly, I am not knowledgeable of the other games you guys are discussing :D 

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16 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

You do realize that Spyro dates back to the late 1990s. The Spyro Re-Ignited Trilogy is a remake of the old trilogy, Spyro himself once being a mascot for Sony before Insomniac switched over to Ratchet & Clank. They tried to make the new trilogy as authentic as they could, because they were appealing to a new generation of gamers while trying to bring back the old veterans who grew up on Spyro.
 

The “lives-system” died when the 1990s ended. More modern games that have incorporated any such systems are generally retro styled and are there mostly for nostalgia. 

 

Yes, I do realize that Spyro is an old-ass game. But I wasn't talking about Spyro specifically. I was responding to the comment where "games nowadays borrow RPG elements and they need to stop that", and Spyro was used as an example that has a lives-system in place and "does this better". 

 

But modern Nintendo games still often use lives, even though these games are not meant to be arcade in nature (the only gameplay-loop where in my opinion it makes sense to have limited lives). Many of those Nintendo games simply make it extremely easy to amass lots and lots of lives, making the entire system really meaningless. 

 

So no, the "lives-system" definitely did not die when the 1990s ended. 

 

 

16 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Your own profile @Arcesius is impressive as well considering the fact you are now a father. A lot of people quit gaming when they have kids, but I’m glad to see you haven’t given up on the hobby you love. 

 

Honestly, my gaming habits did not really change since I became a father. Before my son was born I used to play videogames 1-2 hours before going to bed, and that's what I still do today. My son goes to sleep earlier than we do, and I get some gaming time in most of the days after he's gone to bed. The only exception is when I play some online-game with friends. When we did Vermintide 2, for example, we just played twice a week but then had 5-6 hour sessions to at least get somewhere in that time. Those days yes, I definitely sacrificed some sleep to be able to make some progress in the game. ?

 

But other than that... I still just play 1-2 hors a day, nothing has changed. And nothing should change, really... Sure, priorities definitely shift, but there needs to be space for things you love doing as well. 

 

 

10 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

One could argue that if the game crashes every time I try to go for a trophy, that's also out of my control... (Loophole!)

 

Haha absolutely ? But the thing is... it's not out of your control... You just need to beat the thing without dying ?

 

Btw, what type of console do you have? Baker has come to the conclusion that the console you use might have an impact on the game crashing... A PS4 Slim might for example not be powerful enough to be able to avoid crashing. Would be really great to see if you have the crashing-issues or not. 

 

 

10 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I don't miss timers in video games either. I know they're still used in speedrunning and sections of games where speed is important, but one of the things I didn't like even in the original Super Mario Bros. was that stupid clock in the corner of the screen, no matter how generous it was. I just wanted to take my time and enjoy the world. The life system was annoying for the same reason. I think a big part of it was to artificially extend the life of that video game, because kids would quickly see how short a lot of NES titles were if they had unlimited lives and a more convenient checkpoint system.

 

Absolutely depends on the game for me. In a game like Mario, especially the later Mario games where you can play in couch-coop, I hated being on a timer... There is no reason for a timer being there in the first place. 

 

But I adore speedruns in games. Splasher has a built-in timer similar to the split-software used by speedrunners, and while I loved seeing if I was ahead of my PB in a specific segment, I also noticed that I was checking the timer way too much and consequently playing worse when the numbers turned red... ?

 

And then there are games like Unravel 2 where you need to beat a level in a specific time but there is absolutely no timer available in-game... That was a bit weird. 

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35 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

But modern Nintendo games still often use lives, even though these games are not meant to be arcade in nature (the only gameplay-loop where in my opinion it makes sense to have limited lives). Many of those Nintendo games simply make it extremely easy to amass lots and lots of lives, making the entire system really meaningless. 

 

There's one genre that is in it's golden age right now that still uses lives - Rogue-likes!

 

The only salient difference is, the 'max number' is capped... at 1! ?

Edited by DrBloodmoney
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3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

But I adore speedruns in games. Splasher has a built-in timer similar to the split-software used by speedrunners, and while I loved seeing if I was ahead of my PB in a specific segment, I also noticed that I was checking the timer way too much and consequently playing worse when the numbers turned red... 1f605.png

 

If a game developer makes a trophy to speedrun, I always wonder how much they really care about their game. "Yes, we made a game, and now we want you to skip all the hard work that went into it for a trophy." I hate speedrun trophies.

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2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

There's one genre that is in it's golden age right now that still uses lives - Rogue-likes!

 

The only salient difference is, the 'max number' is capped... at 1! 1f602.png

 

Haha absolutely! ? And coincidentally, the currently very popular sub-genre that is the "rogue-lite" is filled with innovative games that borrow RPG elements and add those to rogue-inspired games... Such as... Fury Unleashed, Remnant: From the Ashes, to some extent Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, etc... all excellent games that are somewhat hybrids, and in my opinion, this trend should continue! 

 

Hell, I just recently bought The Metronomicon, which is supposed to be a Rhythm-game with RPG elements, and I couldn't be more excited to try it out!

 

6 minutes ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

If a game developer makes a trophy to speedrun, I always wonder how much they really care about their game. "Yes, we made a game, and now we want you to skip all the hard work that went into it for a trophy." I hate speedrun trophies.

 

I would usually agree with you, but this game specifically is designed to be speedrun. It is a platformer that is not really about precision, and so completing its levels without having any sort of time-constraint would... not be too exciting. There are many games with an out-of-place speedrun trophy, but that's not the case here... I believe there are 9 trophies in Splasher that have to do with speedrunning, and after having completed the game I can confidentally say that it is very much designed to be played that way. 

 

Time Attacks for each of the individual levels, and three full-game speedruns with varying conditions are required for the plat. If you are interested in learning anything about this game, I have a review in my checklist (including a playlist of all time attacks of the individual levels). 

 

And yes, it is probably the hardest game I've completed to date. Not because it's designed badly, or its trophy-list is out of place... Quite the opposite. The trophy list goes hand-in-hand with the gameplay, but the times to beat are just really, really tight. 

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4 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Yes, I do realize that Spyro is an old-ass game. But I wasn't talking about Spyro specifically. I was responding to the comment where "games nowadays borrow RPG elements and they need to stop that", and Spyro was used as an example that has a lives-system in place and "does this better". 

 

But modern Nintendo games still often use lives, even though these games are not meant to be arcade in nature (the only gameplay-loop where in my opinion it makes sense to have limited lives). Many of those Nintendo games simply make it extremely easy to amass lots and lots of lives, making the entire system really meaningless. 

 

So no, the "lives-system" definitely did not die when the 1990s ended. 


The “lives system” is a very old game mechanic dating all the way back to Atari. However, it didn’t deter me from enjoying the Crash N’Sane Trilogy and Spyro Re-Ignited Trilogy. 
 

Nintendo in many respects I feel is a bit behind the times. None of their systems are all that powerful, but they still have an old core audience, and they have always appealed to children. What I will say for them is they have maintained their old school roots while attracting new generations. New Super Mario was one of many games that still used a “lives system” with the main intent to appeal to a new generation of gamers. 
 

Since the Wii, Nintendo has basically been on their own. 

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21 hours ago, Copanele said:

Didn't expect to get a Dark Souls shoutout xD but anyway, for a fun non-SL1 run in Soulsborne, the Cosplay Runs are the most fun. Like, pick your favorite character from any other game (Like Toren? idk) and try to get her equipment and as many stats as you want.

 

That's actually what I was thinking too. Cosplay as someone, figure out the bare minimum I would need stat-wise to wear the necessary equipment, and then try not to level beyond that. Toren Souls could work. I'd have to look through the wiki to remind myself what armor and weapons are in the game.

 

11 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Btw, what type of console do you have? Baker has come to the conclusion that the console you use might have an impact on the game crashing... A PS4 Slim might for example not be powerful enough to be able to avoid crashing. Would be really great to see if you have the crashing-issues or not.

 

I think it's a PS4 Slim. I haven't tried it on my PS5 yet. Ys: Origins is the only game I didn't transfer over the save file for. I have to go out of town for a week this month, so I was thinking of bringing my PS4 to the hotel with me and grinding out the remaining trophies, even if I'm unable to do Boss Rush.

 

I know one person has said the game still crashes on PS5 and Baker has said the game sometimes crashes even when you don't die. I'm curious if it's random or tied to specific bosses.

 

Lot of stuff to catch up on in this thread, but I just wanted to say that I finished A Hat in Time's DLC, which had loads of speedrunning and one of the most annoying challenges I've ever seen in a platformer: beating parts of the main game without jumping. You only have to collect four time pieces that way, but one of them HAS to be Train Rush, which is timed and also damn near impossible if you don't learn a few "tricks" that somehow don't count as jumping, such as cancelling out of the Ice Hat or storing a jump while diving forward. Still, fun DLC and significantly harder than the main game. I'd like to see AHiT 2.

 

I'd also like to see House Flipper's DLC go on sale so I can finish that off too.

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23 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Up to 72 Death Wish stamps now. Not sure how I would've gotten this far without Peace and Tranquility mode.

I looked it up and that's amazing that they have a "Cosmic Rosalina" thing if you keep failing at a mission. I guess the devs realized how stubborn some people are. :D

 

I actually have three games on my old libraries that I don't have faith in the DLC for - A Hat In Time, Shantae: Half Genie Hero and Kingdom Hearts III. I might plat those games and leave them incomplete forever because my chances at getting the DLC trophies (that aren't easy) are next to none. F**k fighting the New Organization VIII in Re:Mind. ?

 

For the last ten platinums I have to #200 I am going to have them be long RPGs. But I just got 98% on FFVII and wanted to wait until I get 190 platinums first. Working on Dark Cloud 2 now and then FFVIII and so on.

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On 1.8.2021 at 7:01 PM, Arcesius said:

Btw, what type of console do you have? Baker has come to the conclusion that the console you use might have an impact on the game crashing... A PS4 Slim might for example not be powerful enough to be able to avoid crashing. Would be really great to see if you have the crashing-issues or not. 

 

I played it on a PS4 Pro and it crashed, so I don't quite agree with the theory of horse power preventing crashes. We came to the conclusion that it's the first two big bug bosses that can always cause crashes (Mr. Poison Bubbles and Mr. Centipede). I wiped on other bosses for more than an hour (because I didn't practice whatsoever before jumping into Boss Rush, be smarter than me) and nothing happened. The first ones felt like a coin toss at the worst time, every death to those could have caused a crash.

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10 minutes ago, Jens said:

I played it on a PS4 Pro and it crashed, so I don't quite agree with the theory of horse power preventing crashes. We came to the conclusion that it's the first two big bug bosses that can always cause crashes (Mr. Poison Bubbles and Mr. Centipede). I wiped on other bosses for more than an hour (because I didn't practice whatsoever before jumping into Boss Rush, be smarter than me) and nothing happened. The first ones felt like a coin toss at the worst time, every death to those could have caused a crash.


Interesting.


I had it crash once after 10 seconds into the Epona fight. ? The best I did was getting to Pictimos without dying. Lost, and then it immediately crashed in the continuation screen. Which is where over 90% of my crashes happen. Most of the time my first death is at Nygtilger, and most of my crashes did happen there. ? I always feel I have to pull off a no death run to complete this garbage. 

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33 minutes ago, Baker said:

I had it crash once after 10 seconds into the Epona fight. 1f602.png The best I did was getting to Pictimos without dying. Lost, and then it immediately crashed in the continuation screen. Which is where over 90% of my crashes happen. Most of the time my first death is at Nygtilger, and most of my crashes did happen there. 1f914.png I always feel I have to pull off a no death run to complete this garbage. 

Yeah it always crashed on me when hitting Retry, it never crashed mid-fight for me. The Quicksand Flower and Driller Mantis cooked me many, many times and absolutely nothing happened. Without that I wouldn't have the platinum today, trust me. Which was a blessing and a curse because I wanted to accept death after trying for so long :P

 

So my only piece of advice always has been "Git gud at the first three bosses, after that you can retry till the cows come home", but apparently I was lucky when I look at your report. Those crashes are really the shittiest kind of riddle...

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40 minutes ago, Jens said:

Yeah it always crashed on me when hitting Retry, it never crashed mid-fight for me. The Quicksand Flower and Driller Mantis cooked me many, many times and absolutely nothing happened. Without that I wouldn't have the platinum today, trust me. Which was a blessing and a curse because I wanted to accept death after trying for so long :P

 

So my only piece of advice always has been "Git gud at the first three bosses, after that you can retry till the cows come home", but apparently I was lucky when I look at your report. Those crashes are really the shittiest kind of riddle...


Alright thanks. I was planning on starting to practice again tomorrow. I’ll make sure to put some extra effort into Mr. Poison Bubbles and Mr. Centipede. Love the nicknames you have given these bosses. ?

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On 8/2/2021 at 0:05 AM, Cassylvania said:
On 8/1/2021 at 1:52 AM, Copanele said:

Didn't expect to get a Dark Souls shoutout xD but anyway, for a fun non-SL1 run in Soulsborne, the Cosplay Runs are the most fun. Like, pick your favorite character from any other game (Like Toren? idk) and try to get her equipment and as many stats as you want.

 

That's actually what I was thinking too. Cosplay as someone, figure out the bare minimum I would need stat-wise to wear the necessary equipment, and then try not to level beyond that. Toren Souls could work. I'd have to look through the wiki to remind myself what armor and weapons are in the game.

I love doing in FFXIV: I'm already figuring out what equipment I need to buy to glam to my Dragoon class to make a cute little Lalafell look like the cussin' chain-smoking spear master Cid Highwind from FFVII. (My old name was Cici and the text was so tiny it looked like Cid so I got confused thinking that Mr. Garlond was being addressed. xD)

 

Or glam my Machinist (when he hits Level 50 and can wear Ironworks Gear of Aiming) to look like Maxmillion from Dark Cloud 2 - I've been playing that game a lot to get the trophies for it, it's still Ultra Rare despite it having been on PS4 for years. I guess people don't like that game except me...

Edited by winter_bird_22
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14 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Definite recommendation here and this game is usually on sale for like $5. I don't think you're going to find a better game for that price. Do it -- FOR THE SHOGUN!

 

Just added it to my wishlist on PlatPrices! I knew I had seen it a few times on sale for $5 but without many reviews on it I never even considered touching it. One of the things I've noticed is the longer you trophy hunt, the shorter your list gets for buying games for super cheap during the mega-sales. A lot of the time entire pages will have games already listed in my "Library" and it's slim pickings unless you want to fork out $20+ for a relatively new game released in the last 1-2 years. To also see this crack the top list of your favorite games on the front page gives me confidence you're leading me to a hidden gem. :D

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7 hours ago, realm722 said:

Just added it to my wishlist on PlatPrices! I knew I had seen it a few times on sale for $5 but without many reviews on it I never even considered touching it. One of the things I've noticed is the longer you trophy hunt, the shorter your list gets for buying games for super cheap during the mega-sales. A lot of the time entire pages will have games already listed in my "Library" and it's slim pickings unless you want to fork out $20+ for a relatively new game released in the last 1-2 years. To also see this crack the top list of your favorite games on the front page gives me confidence you're leading me to a hidden gem. :D

 

I avoided it for so long for the same reason. I think another big part of it was that I wasn't sure how an RTS would play on console. I'm not quite sure other people will like it as much as me, and I can definitely see where some people would get frustrated, but I think the difficulty is done just right. It's the fact that the game practically encourages you to save scum that makes save scumming seem less tedious than it would be in other games. It's kinda like Invisible, Inc. in that sense, where you see where you made a mistake and you want to try to correct it. Having to redo entire sections of the game would be too much. But tweaking your strategy just a little to get by... I don't know, it's a neat take on the genre.

 

Let's discuss another $5 game, shall we?

 

Platinum #266 - Deiland

https://i.psnprofiles.com/games/779693/trophies/1L1eddd8.png

 

By far, without a doubt, without even considering the rest of the games on my list, this is the worst farming simulator I have ever played. Every decision that was made in the execution of this game is bewildering to me. I wanted my 300th completed game to be something good, but I was so sick of looking at this game on my list that I had to get it over with. I do not recommend this game, I do not think it's worth playing at any price, and I think this will go down as one of the most shameful platinums I will ever own. I am going to rip this game a new one.

 

First -- and this is the only good thing I'll say about this game -- it looks gorgeous. The colors are vibrant and the sky is beautiful. This is a world I would love exploring, if not for one thing: it makes me want to vomit. I don't know whose creative design decision this was, but the game plays like Super Mario Galaxy, where you're on a rotating planet and objects just "pop" out of the horizon as you move towards it. It was so nauseating at first that I actually had to stop playing. I think I eventually got used to it, but I found myself mostly just staying in one area in the game.

 

You play as...I don't know. Deiland. You're the only inhabitant on this tiny planet in the middle of space. You have a house, three small plots of land on which to grow crops, a small lake for fishing, and a mine (which you have to unlock, but that's not really a spoiler because who cares). The main objective of the game is to plant crops and wait for them to grow. You can water them, which speeds up the process, or you can just put your controller down for a few minutes and do something more productive with your life. There is a bit of a neat mechanic where you can rotate your planet manually when it rains so that the rain clouds cover your crops, but it's not necessary. You can also plant trees and raspberry bushes (which produce what the game calls "blueberries," which tells you how much effort went into quality control). You can craft some basic items in your house, and the majority of the game is spent unlocking new recipes and completing quests.

 

Quests from whom, you ask? Aren't you alone on this island? Well, no, because that could actually make this a fun survival game. Instead, you're visited SERIOUSLY LIKE EVERY FIVE MINUTES by one of several annoying characters. You have to tell them where to land their ship, wait for it to happen, and then you're basically stuck with them for the next 60 seconds. There's a chef, a wizard, a pirate... You can buy or sell items and, if you're lucky, they'll give you a quest to get this game over with more quickly. The quest is always to bring them some item that you likely haven't unlocked yet, so you need to wait for the right quest to show up so you get the recipe you need to complete the other quest you're working on. Eventually, you'll have about ten characters giving you quests, so it just becomes tedious. The pirate and cat lady (also called Yuki, soiling the name forever) are probably the worst. The pirate is just a straight-up asshole and will fight you sometimes. (The combat in this game is shit, by the way. But we'll get to that later.) The cat lady stows away on other people's ship and will make a beeline for your base and steal your food if you don't stop her. What's annoying is when the two work in tandem, because the pirate will loudly announce that he sees your mine cart is full and he'll unload it for you, but the text box that appears will prevent your character from moving, allowing Yuki to slip by. And no, that's not genius deception on the developer's part. That's bad programming.

 

So, OK. The characters suck. You could skip through the dialogue and still enjoy the game, right? After all, the scenery is pretty and the music is relaxing. But wait -- I forgot to mention that each character has their own soundtrack. Yes, that's right -- as soon as they land, the peaceful melody of chirping crickets is shattered by carnival music or a bombastic pirate theme. It's so grating on the ears. If you could just ignore the ships, it'd be fine, but you HAVE to let them land if you want to continue with the game. That means every few minutes, you're back to hearing that godawful loop.

 

But fine. If I punched you in the face for a full minute and then stopped for five minutes, those five minutes would feel pretty good, right? Well, now we come to the real crux of the game. The combat. I don't NEED combat in my farming or survival games, but it's often a nice addition. I look at something like My Time at Portia as a shining example of combat done right. It was basic, but you could dodge, attack, and level up your character using some light RPG elements. In this game, you stand still and swing your hammer or axe or hoe or whatever you have equipped. The enemy gets knocked back a few feet and then moves slowly towards you so you can do it again. Sometimes you miss. That's about it. If you take any damage at all, you can just open your inventory and eat some food to gain back your HP, Skyrim-style. It's not like you're ever going to run out of blueberries. You gain experience by doing practically anything in the game, and you can technically level up your character by "sleeping" when you gain enough experience, but I just poured all my skills into Agility because it claimed it made him run faster. I didn't notice a difference. Your only other options are Strength or Intelligence, which level up your combat ability, but I question why the combat would need to be made any easier. I didn't die a single time. I don't even know what happens if you do.

 

So, how does combat come into play? Well, at a rate EVEN FASTER than the weirdos showing up on your planet, enemies will just pop up out of nowhere and you have will to IMMEDIATELY fight them. Don't even think about fishing or mining or crafting because Deiland says, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" Imagine if you were playing a game and then every two minutes a bird came by and shit all over your screen and you had to get out of your chair and clean it. That's what it feels like. It's not fun, it doesn't give you any more experience than you'd get spamming the X button next to the rock behind your house, and it's just the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. It also has its own soundtrack, which is EVEN WORSE THAN THE CARNIVAL MUSIC. I wanted to kill the enemies just to stop the music. The main theme in the game is the ONLY good one and it's CONSTANTLY being interrupted.

 

I don't know how I'd fix this game. I think it's broken beyond fixing. These same people made Summer in Mara, which got much worse reviews, so now I'm terrified to begin that. I feel like they have some very talented artists, but I don't know that they have much of a clue about what they're doing when it comes to game design or progression. I'm actually pissed this game is as bad as it is. I need to vent. I was going to say before in my Shadow Tactics review that games like that are the reason I made this thread. I would've been lying. It's shit like this that gets me so worked up. I want a good farming sim. I crave it. I want a world I can explore. If I wanted assholes showing up on my lawn and playing their loud music, I'd move back into the city. I AM A GRUMPY OLD FART AND I WANT MY SPACE. GIVE ME MY SPACE. DAMN THIS GAME AND DAMN DEILAND.

 

MORE LIKE DIE LAND.

 

Deiland" Has Been Made Free On Steam To Help With Quarantines

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I have to say I admire your perseverance to get thru some of these games. Stuff like The Surge that you said you greatly disliked in your review I would of put off for a long time. But you manage to push yourself thru them even if they give you a miserable time.

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On 8/1/2021 at 3:08 PM, Rally-Vincent--- said:

If a game developer makes a trophy to speedrun, I always wonder how much they really care about their game. "Yes, we made a game, and now we want you to skip all the hard work that went into it for a trophy." I hate speedrun trophies.

 

I like the Shantae games, and they have not only a speedrun trophy, but a 100% speedrun trophy. Of course, some of the games make this easier on you but having a mode where you start with all the upgrades so you skip cutscenes that were in the first game. These modes, however, require you to do the game normally for one run, so WayForward is not allowing you to skip all the hard work off the bat, they want you to know how to go through the dungeons in Shantae's world before you start breaking the game.

 

Also in addendum to my last post, I forgot I had FOUR games which I won't get 100% in after the platinum because the DLC sucks: Ni no Kuni 2. When they added the "Hard and Extreme" mode DLC and realized to unlock those uber mode you have to battle Ratimus AGAIN only he one-shots you if you fail to dodge his sword, I said "NOOOOPE! NO WAY, COMPRADE!" ?

 

Great game, horrible DLC. I would probably only explore the other two packs if the game got a PC or Switch port. Speaking of NnK, I am going to put a date to grind the original Ni No Kuni's remaster. Yeah, I could cop out with PS Now and stream the PS3 version, but I already got the first trophy so I have to commit to aeons of Platoon gambling. :(

 

At least it should be less painful than trying to get a (censored) Bandit Slingshot for Xiao. Big Chest spawns SUCK.

 

Also, thanks for your review of Deiland. I was tempted to buy this but now I will stay far away. Shame, the title card look gorgeous.

Edited by winter_bird_22
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On 8/8/2021 at 5:43 PM, AJ_Radio said:

I have to say I admire your perseverance to get thru some of these games. Stuff like The Surge that you said you greatly disliked in your review I would of put off for a long time. But you manage to push yourself thru them even if they give you a miserable time.

 

It helps that a lot of the games I consider "bad" are just boring. Boring games are the easiest for me to play most days because they require the least amount of concentration, so I can just pop in a movie or put on some music and relax. It's actually the really good, narrative-driven games that are the hardest for me to get into because I have to be willing to devote all of my attention to one screen. So, while I think Deiland is a terrible game with some of the worst design I've seen, playing it was an excuse to do something more productive with my time (if you assume the alternative is a game that would get my undivided attention).

 

On 8/10/2021 at 10:19 AM, winter_bird_22 said:

Also, thanks for your review of Deiland. I was tempted to buy this but now I will stay far away. Shame, the title card look gorgeous.

 

You might like it. I know I said the game is unfixable, but I think removing the random enemy spawns and moving the camera back to alleviate some of the motion sickness would go a long way.

 

Platinum #267 - Stranded Deep

https://i.psnprofiles.com/games/5eb1b0/trophies/1L375034.png

 

This is probably a game I was going to buy eventually, so I feel like I lucked out getting it for free on PS+ back in May. I'm going to try to not let that influence my review. I like to judge every game based on its value, which means factoring in whether or not I think it's worth your time.

 

So, for those of you who didn't grab this game when it was free, Stranded Deep is a survival game set in the tropics. That's also the extent of the plot. I'm OK with a bare bones story. I didn't think The Long Dark needed one. Subnautica barely had one and that was fine. In fact, the intro of this game basically plays out exactly like the intro in Subnautica, except you're on a plane instead of a submarine. Spoiler (not really): you crash and now have to try to survive in a desolate environment. The tutorial teaches you the basics (and neglects to mention that you can eat a coconut by hitting it enough times with a tool, which would have saved me a lot of early game frustration), but there's a lot less direction than the other two games I mentioned. I think Stranded Deep wants you to die a lot. You can only save at a shelter or with a sleeping bag, which is fair. You're not required to sleep at all. I actually found it easier just to stay awake the whole time, as the only penalty is that you eventually become unable to sprint, which isn't a big deal because none of the islands are very big anyway.


The game's world is partially procedurally-generated. There are 25 "squares" on a 5x5 grid. Each square has exactly one island, right in the middle, except for three that contain a sea monster and one that contains a cruise ship that serves as the end game. You always start on the center island. When you start a new game, you can actually see the locations on a map and you can reroll as many times as you like to get a good layout. Now, my first major disappointment with the game is that the randomly generated islands...aren't really that unique at all. They're given cool names on the map screen like "Great Bottomless Atoll" and "Charming Secret Corner," but they all basically looked the same. Every island has palm trees, bushes, maybe a few big rocks, and there might be a shipwreck or two, but there is nothing really to set one island apart for any other. I was hoping for an island with some caves and maybe another that was a thick jungle. You do have the option to create your own island and insert it into the game world whenever you want (which is useful for getting supplies), but it's very limited. Basically, you just choose the amount of resources you want on that island and its overall size. You can't directly control its shape or terrain. It's also buggy, much like the rest of the game, and you have to be careful that you don't overwrite an island that you might need to go back to.

 

The first thing I do when playing any survival game is check out the hunger and thirst meter. As expected, your character in Stranded Deep needs to consume about 8000 calories a day. I get that "survival" is your premise, but it doesn't have to be the entire focus of your gameplay. Nobody plays Minecraft because they like eating chicken all the time. You can have crafting, base-building, exploration, combat, sight-seeing -- all things that are present in Stranded Deep, and all things that are more interesting than worrying about topping off your intake meters all the time. At least you're EVENTUALLY able to get to a point where you're mostly self-sufficient. Fish are plentiful. Stills collect a good amount of rainwater. Coconuts are a good source of food and water and supposedly respawn, but they never did for me. You can also grow crops, but I didn't do much of that outside of the one or two trophies that required it.

 

For the most part, I spent the game on the move. I had a base near the center island that I would return to after hunting down and killing each of the three sea monsters, which is the main objective of the game. They're all janky fights and they can all be cheesed by standing in places where you can't be hit, which I would advise. I don't have many stories to share, but one of the better ones was when I was chasing down the monster eel. There's a trophy in the game called Two of each, which requires having two of each animal on your raft and sailing into a storm. There seems to be a lot of discrepancy out there over which animals are actually necessary for the trophy and I had an awful time getting the night snakes to spawn, so I spent the better part of the game with a bunch of dead pig carcasses in my raft. Well, I managed to kill the eel, but a heavy storm kicked in. When I tried to get back on my raft, it capsized and I watched in horror as all my little piggies and four chests full of loot began to sink the bottom of the ocean floor. I made a mad scramble to save them. There was even a moment when I was diving straight down and could imagine me extending my hand to grab one of the little piggy's foot, but I had to let him go. My raft was sailing away without me. I climbed back on (pretty sure it was still capsized at the time) and rode the storm to the nearest island, heartbroken. I didn't even get the chance to eat that little guy. Sure, I could have restarted from a few minutes before that fight and not lost all of my supplies, but why would I want to give up the most memorable moment in the entire game?
 

The controls aren't great. I didn't like navigating some of the menus. You don't have a ton of inventory space. You can "use" items that are on the ground, which is useful, and there's a quick craft menu that I kept forgetting existed until I finally started forcing myself to use it, but much of the game is spent on organization and inventory management. There are naturally better options for this on PC. On console, I just piled things on the ground. There's a trophy for crafting every item in the game, so I had a small area on the beach of my base island where I'd throw all the items and resources I was done with. It was filled with garbage by the end. Most of the islands were polluted with empty coconut shells and fallen trees. I didn't grow anything. I probably killed entire ecosystems. I definitely defiled some graves. And let's not forget there are now three less majestic beasts in the world. I'm basically the worst thing to ever happen to this little set of islands.
 

Hard to recommend a survival game. Yes, it's my favorite genre, but it's also niche. It's better than Deiland, but so is a root canal. It's nowhere near as good as The Long Dark, but it has its moments. I feel like the rafting in the game is very good. Some of my favorite moments were just sailing from island to island. Unlike most games, where that would be a loading screen, you can actually look around and even walk, if you're careful not to fall over. I would usually set the rudder so I'm facing the right direction and then crouch down on the bow of the raft. It's kinda neat to imagine the wind whipping your face and it doesn't matter what time of day it is. I think if you can get past the wonky physics and the repetitive nature of the mid-game, this probably isn't a bad choice. There are enough things to do to get the platinum that I don't feel like I ever got frustrated or bored, and I managed to beat the game at exactly day 50.

 

I also made a cool map to keep track of my islands. I should probably scan that and show it to you guys sometime.

Edited by Cassylvania
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2 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

It helps that a lot of the games I consider "bad" are just boring. Boring games are the easiest for me to play most days because they require the least amount of concentration, so I can just pop in a movie or put on some music and relax. It's actually the really good, narrative-driven games that are the hardest for me to get into because I have to be willing to devote all of my attention to one screen. So, while I think Deiland is a terrible game with some of the worst design I've seen, playing it was an excuse to do something more productive with my time (if you assume the alternative is a game that would get my undivided attention).

 

JRPGs are one of my greatest weaknesses. Would love to have one or two on my profile, but the sheer time commitment is what's throwing me off. I don't want to throw myself into the fray by doing stuff like Final Fantasy X, because that is just far too long. I'm not a college kid anymore. I simply don't have the time and devotion anymore like I used to. My reflexes have also gotten worse, I can't react that quickly. So it's going to be a real challenge pushing myself thru difficult games like Nex Machina, where timing and precision are everything.

 

Everyone says Red Dead Redemption 2 is an awesome game. One of the best, most memorable stories in a western game. But do I really want to devote 100 - 200 plus hours into it? I don't know.

 

If I don't like something as much as I anticipated, I generally put it off for a month or so while I play other games. Unravel was enjoyable, but it wasn't as grand as people made it out to be.

 

I find myself watching shows like Mad Men and doing the binge sessions on Netflix more and more as I get older. Gaming I still love, and that will probably never truly go away, but it's not the 'One All, End All' thing like it was when I was a kid.

 

Maintaining and securing a completionist trophy profile is hard work. It's difficult for me to stay above 97 percent completion, and I still have stuff that is going to take a long time for me to get around to and finish. Your trophy reviews give me good insight, and are often an alternate way of looking at games like The Surge, which many people did enjoy, but you didn't. Offering a different side is usually a good thing.

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The trouble with JRPG is not the story length. It's the artificial grind for the Platinum. Without farming items or stats, many JRPGs would be of similar length as w western story based game.

 

6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I think sometimes people overestimate the time on things ike JRPGs, because the actual story takes a lot longer than many other genres, without really considering the fact that very few of them (not all, I grant you, but the majority) only require one playthrough.

 

There are enough games, though, that require a full second playthrough for the "true ending".

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7 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

 

I think sometimes people overestimate the time on things ike JRPGs, because the actual story takes a lot longer than many other genres, without really considering the fact that very few of them (not all, I grant you, but the majority) only require one playthrough.


I don’t know which JRPG’s you played but I can’t see this being true at all. ?

 

I’m currently playing my 10th JRPG in 2021 and not a single one of them can be done in one playthrough. The majority of JRPG’s definitely require multiple playthroughs. 

 

I do agree the time you have to invest is overestimated. I think most people think of a JRPG as a 100+ hour game. But even with multiple playthroughs it’s often easy to stay under 100 hours.

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6 minutes ago, Baker said:


I don’t know which JRPG’s you played but I can’t see this being true at all. 1f602.png

 

I’m currently playing my 10th JRPG in 2021 and not a single one of them can be done in one playthrough. The majority of JRPG’s definitely require multiple playthroughs. 

 

I do agree the time you have to invest is overestimated. I think most people think of a JRPG as a 100+ hour game. But even with multiple playthroughs it’s often easy to stay under 100 hours.

 

Fair enough - I defer to your knowledge on the subject, which certainly eclipses mine - granted, most of my JRPG experience is FF / Ni No Kuni, Persona etc. - I haven’t delved into some of the other big franchises.

 

I still think often the genre seems to be considered synonymous with extreme length though, whereas something like rogue-likes or arcade style run-based games aren’t as much - yet those can absolutely chew through your time something rotten without you even realising ?

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