Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[winter_bird_22]

On 4/15/2022 at 4:56 PM, Rally-Vincent--- said:

I played a couple of Tales games, starting back on PS2 (can't remember which one), and with each, my interest waned more. The only one I liked Tales of Xilia. I don't think I'll try another.

The only Tales game I ever played(other than two minutes on Tales of Phantasia before I threw up in my mouth and deleted it off my emulator) was Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube, and that was the only Tales game I completed because the story was interesting. Sadly, all Tales games are boring because of their constant skits and the titles I had to get for Symphonia were bad and required you to abstain from doing certain things until way late in the game, like not using healing items until you got to the second half of the game. X(

On 4/24/2022 at 5:05 PM, Cassylvania said:

Anyway, I'm assuming a lot of you have already played this since (a) it's a fairly easy/short/cheap game, and (b) the Hitman series is apparently very popular.

 

Yes, I have the platinum for this because it's a very short game and if you just look at the guide online while playing it, you can pretty much blind run it and clear all the puzzles. The boards were bad as hell, it wasn't like Lara Croft GO which had animations, it was just moving Agent 47 chess piece all over the board to knock other chess pieces off the board. It felt like bad mojo chess and I really hated it.

 

However, while the Hitman series is popular, this game is a terrible rendition of the story of Agent 47 and it never mentioned he did a stint as an Italian Tomato Farmer while confessing his sins... which he ended up compounding when some idiot mafia kidnapped and murdered the priest he was confessing to. If I were Don Giovanni, the last thing I would do would make a priest which a former assassin is praying to have an 'accident.'

 

If I wanted to do something while my other game was AFKing auto-battling, I'd just play Pokemon Shining Pearl.

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #306 - SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom

 

As you guys probably already know by now, two of my favorite things in the world are cartoons and marine biology. Those are both career choices I've wanted to pursue, so I've always felt I had a lot in common with Stephen Hillenberg, the creator of SpongeBob.  Unfortunately, SpongeBob kinda came out at a time when I felt I was getting too old for cartoons (joke's on me -- I watched them more in college than I ever did as a kid) and I sorta have a love/hate relationship with the show because it really did lead to what I consider the downfall of Nickelodeon. Nowadays, it's all they ever show, and the quality really went downhill after the third season. I hate to be "that guy," but this is the first show I think of when I need an example of something that's way past its prime. (Yes, even moreso than The Simpsons.)

 

Similarly, I don't really have any nostalgia for this game, as the original released at a time when I was probably getting into MMOs. This was my first time playing it, so I can't speak to its status as a remaster, but I know it's generally held in high regard. I'm not sure I fully understand why after playing it... Not because it's a bad game or anything, but because I can name several other 3D platformers that released even a few years before this that were significantly better and more memorable. I'm going to assume it's because this is one of the few licensed games out there that actually seems to have some care put into it. How much? I'm not really sure. From what I could tell, most of the original voice cast is here, but the ones who aren't really stick out like a sore thumb (*cough* Mr. Krabbs). It's more distracting than anything. Also, some of the lines that repeat can get pretty annoying. Every time you turn in 10 socks to Patrick, for example, he and SpongeBob exchange the same lines of dialogue. Since it's set up as a joke, it's kinda funny the first time (I guess?), but after 70 or 80 socks, I got sick of hearing it. That talking fish head that appears during every boss battle is REALLY annoying.

 

Gameplay is...fine. It's a collect-a-thon, like Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie (both better games), and you can alternate between playing as SpongeBob and Patrick or Sandy, depending on the stage. They each have slightly different skills and movement abilities, with Sandy clearly being the best because of her Dixie Kong-like lasso twirl. Nice to see that function in the third dimension.

 

Graphics are where I think the game excels, which is what I expect in a remaster. It looks pretty good to me for a game originally made in the early 2000s... But without having played the original, I don't know how much of an improvement it is.

 

Overall, I think this was an average experience. Not something I would've wanted to spend money on, but I got it for free on PS+, so that was nice. I appreciated being able to warp to spatula locations. The game would've been a lot more tedious if you had to walk everywhere.

[realm722]

3 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Unfortunately, SpongeBob kinda came out at a time when I felt I was getting too old for cartoons (joke's on me -- I watched them more in college than I ever did as a kid) and I sorta have a love/hate relationship with the show because it really did lead to what I consider the downfall of Nickelodeon. Nowadays, it's all they ever show, and the quality really went downhill after the third season. I hate to be "that guy," but this is the first show I think of when I need an example of something that's way past its prime. (Yes, even moreso than The Simpsons.)

 

I feel like you're gonna need to be placed into a witness protection program Cassy since this is one of a handful of times in my history of using the internet that I've seen someone not talk positively about SpongeBob lmao. Honestly, I never watched it and when I did I thought the characters were largely annoying. The show has seen a second life of sorts given how insanely popular some memes of screenshots of the show have gone but aside from that I never got much entertainment out of it. Think I'll stay away from the game for now even though I claimed it for free as you did but it seems like it's only really worthy as a game you'll enjoy if you're a fan of the show. 

[YaManSmevz]

4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Platinum #306 - SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom

 

Good shit! Though the little interest I had in playing this just evaporated I think?

 

4 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

 Unfortunately, SpongeBob kinda came out at a time when I felt I was getting too old for cartoons (joke's on me -- I watched them more in college than I ever did as a kid) and I sorta have a love/hate relationship with the show because it really did lead to what I consider the downfall of Nickelodeon. Nowadays, it's all they ever show, and the quality really went downhill after the third season. I hate to be "that guy," but this is the first show I think of when I need an example of something that's way past its prime. (Yes, even moreso than The Simpsons.)

 

I feel that pretty hard. I grew up on Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life so by the time SpongeBob rolled around I just wasn't impressed. It didn't feel like anything new to me, and I wasn't exactly on the hunt for new cartoons at the time either!

 

1 hour ago, realm722 said:

Think I'll stay away from the game for now even though I claimed it for free as you did but it seems like it's only really worthy as a game you'll enjoy if you're a fan of the show. 

 

I claimed it too, but wasn't sure that I'd ever actually download it. Looks like that problem just got solved for me?

[Cassylvania]

On 5/13/2022 at 11:26 PM, realm722 said:

I feel like you're gonna need to be placed into a witness protection program Cassy since this is one of a handful of times in my history of using the internet that I've seen someone not talk positively about SpongeBob lmao. Honestly, I never watched it and when I did I thought the characters were largely annoying. The show has seen a second life of sorts given how insanely popular some memes of screenshots of the show have gone but aside from that I never got much entertainment out of it. Think I'll stay away from the game for now even though I claimed it for free as you did but it seems like it's only really worthy as a game you'll enjoy if you're a fan of the show. 

 

Or generic 3D platformers. It's just too mediocre to recommend when I can name several other games just like it that are better.

 

On 5/14/2022 at 0:41 AM, YaManSmevz said:

I feel that pretty hard. I grew up on Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life so by the time SpongeBob rolled around I just wasn't impressed. It didn't feel like anything new to me, and I wasn't exactly on the hunt for new cartoons at the time either!

 

I actually think the first few seasons were great, but modern SpongeBob is a whole lot of stupid and Squidward torture porn. It was much better before the characters became parodies of themselves, which is the downfall of a lot of shows.

 

You might even say SpongeBob is on...

 

Platinum #307 - Death's Door

 

I know we're not rating platinum images, but that may be one of the best ones yet. Someone make that a milestone.

 

Let's get the meme out of the way right now. If you ever find yourself thinking that Dark Souls was not one of the most influential games of the past ten years, realize that games like this would simply not exist if FromSoftware hadn't done their thing back in 2011. Taking a more 3D/isometric approach, this Souls-like has you playing as...Crow (?) on a quest to collect three Giant Souls and open the titular Death's Door. There's a story here that involves you working for the Reaping Commission and interacting with fellow reapers of questionable allegiance, but it's as vague as you'd expect from a game like this. What I didn't expect was the humor, which is so well integrated and timed that I legitimately laughed out loud several times. That's the charm that is missing from a lot of games.

 

Combat is Souls-inspired, with the usual melee attack, ranged attack, and dodge roll. There's a trophy that requires playing the entire game with the weakest melee weapon (the umbrella), so you're probably going to want to focus on ranged attacks. You'll start out with only arrows, but eventually you get fire, bombs, and a grappling hook, which you'll also need to solve basic  puzzles and navigate the world. What's unique about the combat is that you regenerate spell points (or whatever they're called) by performing melee attacks, so you can't just stand back and fire projectiles endlessly, nor are you at risk of running out of ammunition without any way to refill mid-battle. I kinda like this system because it forces you into close range combat. You also have no way of regenerating health, so it's surprisingly hard to cheese enemies...

 

I found the game fairly difficult, but only like a 4 out of 10. It would probably be significantly easier with a stronger melee weapon. If you don't want to be Mary Poppins, I guess you could save the umbrella for your second playthrough, but I see no reason to play through the game twice. Your only advantage the second time around would be some advanced knowledge of the bosses, whose patterns you're already going to have memorized after the first three or four deaths. None of them are particularly hard, but the "optional" bosses can be.

 

Lot of collectibles here, but the game has some...convenient ways of tracking them, I guess. You got fast travel, an NPC who gives you hints, and a trowel that glows blue when orcs seeds are nearby.

 

I like the graphics and music.

 

A bit of a short review, but I don't think there's a lot more to say. This is actually a very solid game all around. You can tell a lot of care went into it, it doesn't overstay its welcome, and it's just engaging enough to keep your interest without feeling taxing, which is a balance I'm finding very few games can achieve these days. Very easy recommendation.

 

Now if only I got to make an eating crow joke...

[AJ_Radio]

The problem with Spongebob is he's still everywhere now. Everyone in America has forgotten about Doug, Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power, Cat Dog, etc etc etc. Nickelodeon even had live action game shows!

 

Anyone remember GUTS?

 

All the little kids I know in my life just know Spongebob because he's the only thing left from Nickelodeon who is still..... semi watchable. After Nick Studio 10 I was done with Nickelodeon. It's just an embarrassment and a hollow shell of what it used to be. Even the shows aimed at toddlers like Blue's Clues were multitudes better than the stuff Nickelodeon has now.

 

Thankfully, you can watch GUTS from all those years ago on Paramount Plus, which is a streaming service I've been getting into lately.

[winter_bird_22]

On 5/13/2022 at 10:26 PM, realm722 said:

I feel like you're gonna need to be placed into a witness protection program Cassy since this is one of a handful of times in my history of using the internet that I've seen someone not talk positively about SpongeBob lmao. Honestly, I never watched it and when I did I thought the characters were largely annoying. The show has seen a second life of sorts given how insanely popular some memes of screenshots of the show have gone but aside from that I never got much entertainment out of it. Think I'll stay away from the game for now even though I claimed it for free as you did but it seems like it's only really worthy as a game you'll enjoy if you're a fan of the show. 

 

I have to agree. I only saw, I think, one episode of SpongeBob where he was roped into testing Sandy's device and he was running around trying to attend Patrick's birthday party and get to his job with Mr. Krabbs and the idea was this was supposed to be a moral fable about people not being everywhere at once... and then Sandy's device is revealed to be a cloning device so SpongeBob COULD be everywhere at once.

 

However I've seen the sponge be used in so many meme pics that it's hilarious.

 

To be honest, after the horror episode of Ren and Stimpy where Ren brainwashes Stimpy to be happy, I am glad Nickoolodeon is dying because I miss the old days of Pinwheel from 9 AM to 3 PM on weekdays for the little toddlers to watch and then the more adult Tomorrow People, Double Dare and You Can't Do That On Television for school kids to watch while doing their homework after coming home from school and then Nick at Nite showing reruns of old black and white shows.

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #308 - Songbird Symphony

 

Another game that's for the birds.

 

I first heard about Songbird Symphony from @realm722. I had to go back and re-read his review, which was less positive than I remembered. I guess I bought the game because it's always on sale for dirt cheap. For what it's worth, I actually agree with him on his two major points. I don't have much to add, so I guess I'll just reiterate those points.

 

First, the best part of this game is the story. That should be surprising when you consider the game is 50% platformer and 50% rhythm mini-games. You play as Birb (no, I'm not joking) on a quest to find your real parents. It plays out like a grand adventure where you make friends, take on bullies, and otherwise interact with a variety of colorful characters -- all of which are species of birds. I'd say it's mostly kid-friendly, but there is a bit of a twist that I didn't see coming, if only because it didn't fit the tone of the rest of the game. I have no problem with that.

 

The second major point realm made is that the gameplay is somewhat lacking (I'm paraphrasing here). There are no enemies or fall damage. Your only skills are jumping and gliding. You can't die and you can't lose any of the "boss" fights. This is weird because the boss fights play out like an epic rap battle, but your opponent gets served no matter how poorly you perform. (This is good because I'm absolute trash at rhythm games but bad because there's literally no challenge.) The only time when your skill actually matters is when you're doing basic puzzles in the overworld, but they're all fairly easy (just moving boxes around) and occasionally playing three or four notes in rhythm in order to activate a switch or platform. Far be it from me to ask a rhythm game to be more challenging, but this was like playing Celeste without the option to turn Assist Mode off.

 

The trophies are simple, the music is catchy, and I like the pixelated graphics. It's a cute game, which is usually enough for me to give it a recommendation and I think I will here. I can appreciate a relaxing game every now and then.

[realm722]

16 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I first heard about Songbird Symphony from @realm722. I had to go back and re-read his review, which was less positive than I remembered. I guess I bought the game because it's always on sale for dirt cheap. For what it's worth, I actually agree with him on his two major points. I don't have much to add, so I guess I'll just reiterate those points.

 

Ayyyy the rare time I end up helping you uncover a game! I also had to go back a re-read my review to remember how I felt lol. I think my tone was just about right with how I felt. I enjoyed all of the story beats but the fact the game didn't even require you to earn B-ranks on all the songs just to make you put in a little bit of effort was a shame. Nonetheless, a leisure experience is also cool and the game is cute and fuffy enough that it I didn't mind it being such a cakewalk. 

 

I also see you started that Friends of Mineral Town. ? Any early vibes you'd like to unveil given I believe it's a pretty lengthy plat? (I've had a farming sim itch for a lil while now)

 

[Cassylvania]

49 minutes ago, realm722 said:

I also see you started that Friends of Mineral Town.  Any early vibes you'd like to unveil given I believe it's a pretty lengthy plat? (I've had a farming sim itch for a lil while now)

 

You could do better (which is painful to say because Harvest Moon is one of my favorite game series and FoMT is one of the best games in that series). The problem here is that you need to get to year 4 to grow the best crops and year 5 to get a trophy, but you're likely to run out of things to do by year 2...especially if you've played the game before or abuse the horse derby. Basically, a typical day in the game for me now is to tend to my animals, throw a flower in the river for the Harvest Goddess, and go to bed. There's no reason to grow crops anymore because I have all the money I need, and there's no reason to go into town because the townspeople already love me. A lot of farming sims suffer from a bottleneck problem and here it's getting animals to like you.

 

If you really want a farming sim, play My Time at Portia, Kitaria Fables, Graveyard Keeper, or Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, all of which are shorter and have combat/RPG elements that break up the monotony.

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #309 - N.E.R.O.

 

First, a little background. This is one of the oldest games in my backlog. I bought it way back in 2016 when walking sims were a relatively new genre to me. I've done several of them already (e.g. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Gone Home, Firewatch, and What Remains of Edith Finch) and probably enjoy them more than the average person. While some people see them as boring, I see them as stories being presented in a unique way. Until now. This game was awful.

 

Let's just break it down. This is a walking sim, so there are really only three aspects of the game we need to cover: the story, the graphics, and the gameplay. You could argue audio too, I suppose, but it's very minimal here. It's not like Firewatch where the majority of the story is revealed through spoken dialogue. Instead, you get floating passages of text (similar to Edith Finch, but nowhere near as immersive) and an occasional voiceover when you reach certain areas or complete certain puzzles. I'm not going to argue whether the story was good or not. It's there, and I'm sure some people will enjoy it, but it was not presented in an interesting or engaging way. The fact I remember more about Edith Finch, despite having played the game almost three YEARS ago, should be telling. Part of the problem is N.E.R.O. is mostly linear, but there are often branching paths, and that can make it hard to find all the text and make sure you're reading it in the proper order (if there is a proper order -- I don't know what the devs intended). The other problem is the story starts out rather vague and expects you to piece things together. For example, many of the passages have a symbol that you eventually associate with a particular character, and you learn more about those characters as the game progresses. This can work, but only if the player cares to do that. It's like watching a movie with subtitles. I can mindlessly watch anything if it requires no extra work on my part, but a movie that requires watching and reading has to hold my interest. N.E.R.O. did not.

 

The graphics are fine. I'm going to give the developers the benefit of the doubt and say making the game too dark to see was a creative decision, but I wasn't "blown away" by them like a lot of reviewers claim. (This is one of the few games I actually had to read reviews about after I finished the game because I wanted to see if other people had the same complaints as me.) The coolest thing was probably the giant jellyfish in the sky.

 

Gameplay is where this game falls flat. You can only do three things: walk, turn, and shoot balls of energy. They're all painfully slow. (I guess you can technically tell your companion where to stand, but it doesn't work half the time, it's only used for a few puzzles, and the jackass is constantly getting in your way.) The "puzzles," by the way, are terrible. Most of them are either stupidly easy or awkward and clunky. Some are both. And much like your companion getting in the way, these puzzles don't really add anything. They're just there to waste your time. This game feels like it's a constant detriment to itself, like a snake eating its own tail. You have a decent story that isn't being told properly, a beautiful world that you can't even see, and a poor attempt at making a "game" out of it getting in the way of it all. This was a disappointment and I wasn't even expecting much.

 

I do not recommend this game to anybody.

 

P.S. The game crashed on me four times.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

What can $2.19 get you on the PS Store? Let's find out...

 

Platinum #310 - Figment

 

Consider this part 2 from my last review. Figment does what N.E.R.O. don't.

 

Figment begins with a traumatic event. Is it a spoiler to say what it is when it happens in the first ten seconds of the game? I don't think it is, but it doesn't matter because you don't play as the person involved in the traumatic event. Instead, you play as the personification of "courage" in that person's mind. Meet Dusty. Dusty old bones full of green dust used to be an adventurer like you, but now he's content to spend his days sitting in a rocking chair and knocking back a cold one. That is, until a fuckin' nightmare shows up and steals his scrapbook of memories. Now, he must venture through the mind and fight back against the feelings of dread and despair!

 

OK, if this all sounds too surreal to you, let me just say this game does the concept wonderfully. Dusty is old. He's tired. He's jaded. Life has beaten him down and he's not really needed anymore. The best comparison I can think to make here is Disney/Pixar's Inside Out, which has us witnessing the metaphysical representation of emotions in a pre-teen girl. Some people have said they couldn't make a sequel to that movie, that there wouldn't be anywhere else to go with the emotions. Well, that's just stupid because emotions stay with us even as we get older, and Figment is a great demonstration of how an adult mind might function. For a lot of adults, courage isn't needed. There's safety in a stable job and a mundane life. There's comfort there too. Every kid dreams of being an astronaut or an explorer, but very few of us get to live that life. As we get older, we lose that sense of adventure. We become like Dusty, content but unfulfilled, living vicariously through pictures and memories. And while that may sound depressing, this game presents itself in a very fun and creative way. It's night and day compared to N.E.R.O. and I'm excited to talk more about it.

 

So, first, you're joined on your adventure by your birdlike companion Piper. I'm not sure what emotion she's supposed to represent, but I'm going to assume it's optimism because she's unusually upbeat. Makes for a good contrast with Dusty. You also encounter three nightmares: the thief who stole your scrapbook, a plague monster who throws fart bombs at you (I'm not joking), and a spider queen. These monsters taunt you by singing throughout the game and during the boss fights and it's amazing. Reminds me of the Great Mighty Poo in Conker's Bad Fur Day. (I'm sure it's only a coincidence that this game also has a shit-tosser.) But really, all the music is great here. I know I often play games on mute, but this is definitely one you're going to want to listen to. Dusty and Piper have some good interactions too.

 

The graphics remind me of a children's storybook. I'm assuming they took a lot of inspiration from Salvador Dali. The game is essentially split into two worlds, with one world being more creative and fun (representing the right side of the brain) and the other more logical and analytical (representing the left side of the brain). Both have puzzles and light combat. The puzzles are...well, much more imaginative than N.E.R.O., but nothing too difficult. You're mostly flipping switches and moving objects. There were a couple puzzles that I felt were a bit too involved, but this is a short game in a small world, so I didn't mind a bit of padding.

 

The combat is simple. You have a sword that you can swing or hold for a charged attack. You can also dodge roll. (And before you think I'm going to compare it to Dark Souls, I'm not. This game copied Dark Souls in a totally different way by putting in Snuggly the Crow.) If you die, you don't get sent too far back, and they are generous with the health drops. Most of my deaths were on purpose because I wanted to hear the boss' song again.

 

This is another one of those games that doesn't seem to have a target audience. If I've been making it sound like this is a kids' game, that's because that was my first impression too, but then the characters started saying "damn" (three times), "bastards," and heavily implied "shit." Fitting with the game's tone, I think this is intended for a slightly older crowd who wants to experience childlike wonder again. That didn't bother me, but I imagine it hurt the game's sales.

 

You're probably looking at a 5-6 hour game here with maybe an hour's worth of clean-up. I wouldn't recommend a guide except for the two missable trophies, which are both combat-related and pretty easy to get in the second world. Would I recommend the game? I mean, for one-tenth of the price as what N.E.R.O. retails for, I don't see how you could pass it up. It's a fun, short platinum, which I know is like the holy grail on this site.

[AJ_Radio]

You got around to N.E.R.O. very late. 
 

I just rented this game from GameFly when I was still paying a subscription for it. 

Followed a YouTuber named @Stay-Pationt, who quit YouTube five years ago and whom made a trophy guide for the entire game. Followed it start to finish. 
 

All I have to say is N.E.R.O. basically helped me stay away from the walking simulator genre. Since 2018 I have played maybe one or two games in that genre. 
 

Just like with Japanese visual novels, walking simulators really aren’t for me.

[Cassylvania]

On 5/29/2022 at 6:17 PM, AJ_Radio said:

All I have to say is N.E.R.O. basically helped me stay away from the walking simulator genre. Since 2018 I have played maybe one or two games in that genre. 
 

Just like with Japanese visual novels, walking simulators really aren’t for me.

 

I like the genre, if it's done right. I know Gone Home is a bit controversial, but both Edith Finch and Firewatch were some of most memorable games I've played. They just rely heavily on the story and the emotional investment of the person playing.

 

But you know what my favorite kind of sim is?

 

Platinum #311 - Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

 

I'll spare you the nostalgia trip this time. You all know Harvest Moon is my favorite video game series. Instead, we're just going to focus on all the reasons this game pisses me off.

 

Let's start with ranching. There are four types of animals you can raise in FoMT: chickens, rabbits, cows, and alpacas. The only two that really matter are cows and chickens (mainly because of the trophies associated with them). I don't mind the chickens so much in this. At least you don't have to pick them up and put them down somewhere else every time you want to gather an egg. If anything, they're probably the best animal to raise because they're cheap, easy to reproduce, don't require planting grass, and will give you an egg daily, which is great for gifting to townspeople. Sure, the cows will give you milk daily, but you know the problem with them? THEY GET IN YOUR FUCKIN' WAY. Seriously. You don't know annoyance in a video game until you're trying to navigate a barn full of cows. They'll block your path, block the equipment, block other cows, and even block the entrance. Worst of all, if you get the brilliant idea to ring the bell to let your cows out, you better get the fuck out of their way. If you're standing at the entrance or try to exit the barn at the same time as the cows, they'll spawn on top of you and trap you there. It's worse than the knockback in retro platformers. At least that would kill you or let you regain control after a brief second. Here, you can't do anything but wait for the cows to wander off.

 

I never quite figured out a good method for taking care of the animals. You do want to let them out to graze, but they're easier to corral in the barn and time doesn't pass indoors. It's probably more efficient to keep your animals inside and use fodder or chicken feed to keep them happy. Unlike the original, animals can't die in this, so you don't have to worry about them starving or getting sick if they're caught outside in the rain. In fact, if it's raining, they'll just refuse to go out. If you forget to feed them, they just don't give you any products the next day. It's a fair compromise, I suppose, and it means you can more or less ignore your animals if you have other tasks you want to focus on.

 

There's also the farming aspect. There are four seasons in the game, each season is 30 days, and every crop is limited to a particular season. (You can't grow anything in winter and there is no greenhouse, so you might as well sleep through it.) What you grow is ultimately up to you, but it's probably a good idea to plant a few of everything. You need to ship one of every crop for a trophy, and you'll need plenty of crops to make all the recipes in the game. Don't worry about maximizing your profits. Like with most farming sims, there are more efficient ways of making money than growing crops.

 

The other two main activities are fishing and mining. I suppose you could forage too. Fishing is...very basic. You just press the button when you get a bite. Like with crops, there are different fish in each season and you need to upgrade your rod to catch better fish. In fact, you need to upgrade ALL of your tools (several times), so you might as well do a little bit of everything. Mining might be the most efficient way of making money in the early game (since it takes place indoors and you're only really limited by your stamina), but I prefer foraging because you can run into townspeople and talk to them or give them the crap you're foraging. That's the easiest way to make friends. It's also where my next annoyance begins.

 

The townspeople in Mineral Town are boring. I don't remember this being an issue for me when I was younger, but some of the these characters have about as much personality as a Pokemon NPC. They're basically given one personality trait and that's their entire character. They also have very limited dialogue options outside of cutscenes. If it wasn't for the character portraits (which were wonderfully done, don't get me wrong), they would be almost lifeless. I also think they could've added a few more portraits for each character. I don't think there are enough to convey the wide range of emotions I'd expect in what could honestly be considered a dating sim. My wife, for example, would often say, "I'm living the dream <3," but her portrait would show her arms folded and her eyes rolling. I'm getting mixed signals here.

 

Like with other HM games, you befriend townspeople by talking to them and giving them things they like. One nice thing is if you give someone something they don't like, they'll forgive you the first time. Do it again and you'll piss them off. I found eggs and flowers were enough to make most people happy, and they're easy enough to find. I probably put too much emphasis on making friends early in the game because it's actually very easy and doesn't take very long to do. If I were going to play this again, I'd probably make it a low priority. Unfortunately, you do need to date every single eligible bachelor/bachelorette before getting married for a trophy, and you do need to make friends with a lot of random people for recipes. The most annoying one is the Harvest Goddess, though. This bitch wants 300 gifts for a trophy. That means ten straight months of leaving your farm, walking to the river, and throwing a random gift at her. Early on, it's not so bad because you get useful stuff from her (like an elevator that lets you skip to lower floors in the mines once you reach them), but 300 days is way too much. The only consolation is that Ran and Popuri (aka the best two girls in the game) also go to the river every morning, so you can dish out gifts to everybody. (You can also wait around for Brandon or walk west to see Jennifer. These are two new characters in the game. They both suck.)

 

One thing I used to love about other HM games is that the town would evolve over time. People would get older, some would die off or move away, and others would get married -- maybe even to the guy or girl of your choice if you didn't act quick enough. Here, there are six bachelors and six bachelorettes, but you're the only character who can get married. This is such a disappointment. I want the kind of relationship Rick and Kai have. Those two fuckin' hate each other because Kai has the hots for Rick's sister, but Rick doesn't think Kai is good enough for her because he's a lazy beach bum. I know the game is called "Friends" of Mineral Town, but it's nice to hate someone every now and then. (You know, besides the Harvest Goddess.)

 

I don't want to talk too much about the changes in the characters from the original. I was fine with them. It's a little weird seeing Gray without his iconic cap, but I thought they did a great job on the artwork and the reimaginings. I particularly liked Harris' new moustache. I just wish there was that much personality in their dialogue.

 

I think that's about it on the gameplay, guys. A typical day in this game is to wake up, tend to your animals and crops, and then spend the rest of the day either gathering resources or talking to the townspeople. There are festivals occasionally, but they're very poorly done. Unless you're going for trophies, you might as well skip most of them. Except the horse derby. This is how you break the game. Bet everything on a horse (doesn't have to be your own) and save scum until you win. Take your earnings, buy all the dresses you can, and then sell them to Huang for a ridiculous profit. The only thing that sucks is having to sell them one at a time. But once you have a few million Gs, you no longer have to worry about making money.

 

This game has a lot of minor things that annoy me too. You can walk over crops, which is a HUGE advantage over other games in the series, but watering is annoying, takes too long, and uses up too much stamina. You can get the harvest elves to do farm chores for you, which would be nice, but there are two major problems with this. First, you have to be friends with them. This doesn't take long, BUT they lose friendship as they're working for you. From a real life standpoint, this makes sense. If I want to Tom Sawyer my friends into helping me out, they'd probably expect compensation at some point. But the bigger problem is that the maximum time you can hire them for is seven days. That means every seven days, you need to visit the elves, select which chore you want them to help you with, and then select the number of days. You have to do with with each elf. There are seven of them. I'll let you do the math. Moreover, if you want to be truly efficient here, you'd stagger them out so that they aren't all resting on the eighth day. That means making two visits per week. (Fortunately, you can find a teleportation stone at the bottom of one of the mines that will DRASTICALLY cut done on your foot time.)

 

Weeds are annoying, grass overtakes your farm, and I'm not sure how you build an effective fence. You can put down logs to use as posts, but they get destroyed over time and need replaced. I like that you can select an item while running, but you can't switch tools without your character stopping to pose with it. Your wife is strategically designed to block your path if you try to use the kitchen or cabinet as soon as you wake up. (You can make it if you're quick, but if you hesitate for even a split second, she'll walk straight up and force you to go around.) In fact, most of the pathing in this game is aggravating. I've already talked about the cows, but characters will get in your way too. Your horse will block the way to the barn, your pets will wander through your crops and get lost, and your chickens and rabbits will cluster together. And because of the way events and holidays work, even the game's mechanics can block your progress. If you need something on a Sunday, for example, but this coming Sunday also happens to be a festival -- well, you're probably going to have to wait another week. And if there's a blizzard or typhoon that day? LOL.

 

At the very least, cutscenes are a lot easier to trigger than Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. You'll probably need a guide, though, because some of the heart events require very specific conditions to get them to trigger (for example, visiting a certain house between 9 and 11 AM on a sunny Tuesday). 

 

Eight characters isn't enough for animal names. My "theme" in this game was coming up with names longer than that and settling for only the first eight letters, so I ended up with a cow named Cowabung, a sheep named Mrs. Woo, and another sheep named Lambchop. (OK, that one fit.) I always name my chickens some variation of "Nugget" (Nuggs, Mr. Nugg, Nuggo, Nuggy, etc.).

 

Your child is useless.

 

But if all those sound like minor complaints, I really just want to bitch about the trophies. What masochist came up with these? There are a lot of BAD trophies in this game, but three take the cake: (1) the aforementioned 300 gifts to the Harvest Goddess, (2) catching every fish, and (3) cooking and eating every recipe. Without a guide, you'd never catch all the fish. It's not particularly hard, but much like the heart event cutscenes, you need it to be the right season, right spot, and sometimes even the right time of day to even have a chance of catching the fish you want. You also need the right level of charge. There are also several Guardian fish that can only be caught once and require even MORE specific conditions, such as shipping 200 fish or knowing all three fish recipes. My favorite is needing to catch five other Guardian fish first. These are very rare catches even if the conditions are met, and they'll often get away before you can reel them in. Of course, I can't complain too much because obviously we have access to guides, but you have to remember that this is a series I used to play before the internet.

 

It's the recipes that suck the most. I don't know how many there are. Four million? I thought Marenian Tavern Story was bad. Here, the problem starts with needing to LEARN all the recipes first. You learn a lot of recipes by befriending people and cooking other recipes, but some require fishing or mining. Do yourself a favor and check off each recipe as you learn it AND as you make it AND as you eat it. That last one is important. It's not enough just to make the recipe -- you have to gobble it down too. This might seem redundant (and it is), but it's actually more annoying than you think because sometimes a recipe is an ingredient in another recipe, meaning that you have to make two. I'd hate to be the person who accidentally uses an ingredient that they didn't eat yet and then gets to the end of the list and the trophy doesn't pop.

 

But the true king of annoyances, the recipe that stands above all others to make this platinum TRULY infuriating, is Autumn Sun. This ass of a recipe requires the extremely rare "X" version of a bunch of animal products, including egg, mayonnaise, milk, cheese, and the crème de la crème wool/yarn. The first four aren't so bad because you can cook them using the inferior version of each product. You cannot cook wool. If you learn nothing else from me, let it be that. To get Wool (X), you need to first have a sheep that can produce Wool (P). This requires letting the sheep graze for 1000 in-game hours and winning the Fluffy Festival, which is only held once per year in Autumn. You now have a 0.4% chance of getting Wool (X) every time you shear your sheep. So...get ready to save scum. A lot. And then get ready to do it a second time because you need another to make Yarn (X).

 

I should point out that Milk (G) can be annoying to make too because you need a cow that has won the cow festival and has a high heart level but has NOT grazed for 1000 hours -- or she'll only produce Milk (P) and very rarely Milk (X). Another reason to keep your cows inside, I guess.

 

Recommend to fans of the series and people who don't mind a grind. Probably good for someone who's never played a farming sim before, but only if you want to play casually. This is a hard "no" if you want the platinum.

 

Guess now we wait for Pioneers of Olive Town to be released.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Cassylvania

[realm722]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Platinum #311 - Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

 

  Good lord... well, you did a fantastic job of warding me off this game lmao. So many hyper-specific details of annoyances with each minuscule aspect of the game. Props for remembering each of them and the fact that despite all of that you're 100% down to play Pioneers of Olive Town is precisely why you're the best to do it ?

[Rally-Vincent---]

Would probably be easier just to tend to some fields in real life than playing harvest games.

[winter_bird_22]

On 5/20/2022 at 6:14 PM, Cassylvania said:

There's no reason to grow crops anymore because I have all the money I need, and there's no reason to go into town because the townspeople already love me. A lot of farming sims suffer from a bottleneck problem and here it's getting animals to like you.

There's no option to get married in that game? I know every Harvest Moon I know of, and Stardew Valley which borrows heavily from that series, lets you romance a character(of the opposite gender, I'd love to see a Stardew Valley 2 where you could have same-sex marriage, but I know it would get shut down by the ESRB ASAP ) and get married to them and even have a couple of kids(thought the maker of Stardew Valley dropped the ball in not having your kids grow up from babies, it would be neat to see them wandering around the farm petting your cat or dog and helping harvest the crops ).

 

Why don't I play it? The stupid arcade game. You know which one I speak of.

 

Also, I'm sure you are aware I have had many old accounts(and just started a new one which will only have platinums of games I enjoyed playing and took a bit of time and effort. I'm already at 5 with Cat Quest, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Reverie for the PS4, and Dragon Quest Builders) and I platinum N.E.R.O. and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture on my first few accounts. After that, I got so bored of them, and the fact that you have to play the game on a Thursday to get one trophy in N.E.R.O. immediately shut me off of that game for good. Rapture was kicked from my list of future accounts for the fact that it was so easy to miss collectibles because you had to center the camera so that the game registered those maps and TVs as being collected.

Edited June 10, 2022 by winter_bird_22

[winter_bird_22]

On 6/5/2022 at 6:32 PM, Cassylvania said:

My wife, for example,

Oops, didn't see this. Sorry!

[winter_bird_22]

On 6/5/2022 at 6:32 PM, Cassylvania said:

To get Wool (X), you need to first have a sheep that can produce Wool (P). This requires letting the sheep graze for 1000 in-game hours and winning the Fluffy Festival, which is only held once per year in Autumn. You now have a 0.4% chance of getting Wool (X) every time you shear your sheep. So...get ready to save scum. A lot. And then get ready to do it a second time because you need another to make Yarn (X).

You're talking a guy who had to breed and race Chocobos in FFVII to get the Gold Chocobo to get Thordain and his Heaven's Ward to rain down destruction on every boss in the game after he got to Disc 2, and the guy who is just gonna use the god mode to have Yuffie All Creation the LIVING F'K out of Ruby Weapon to get the desert rose to get that damn chocobo. ;p

 

Don't talk to me about having to breed animals a zillion times and then get them to win a contest. I'd rather win the damn Lucarionite from Alicia in Omega Ruby than have to do any more breeding of chocobos.

[Cassylvania]

2 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

There's no option to get married in that game? I know every Harvest Moon I know of, and Stardew Valley which borrows heavily from that series, lets you romance a character(of the opposite gender, I'd love to see a Stardew Valley 2 where you could have same-sex marriage, but I know it would get shut down by the ESRB ASAP ) and get married to them and even have a couple of kids(thought the maker of Stardew Valley dropped the ball in not having your kids grow up from babies, it would be neat to see them wandering around the farm petting your cat or dog and helping harvest the crops ).

 

You can get married in SoS:FoMT. The problem is that you're the only one who can get married, so you don't have an actual rival. But if you want same-sex marriage, it has that. In fact, it's encouraged because there's a trophy for dating every available character.

 

2 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

Also, I'm sure you are aware I have had many old accounts(and just started a new one which will only have platinums of games I enjoyed playing and took a bit of time and effort. I'm already at 5 with Cat Quest, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Reverie for the PS4, and Dragon Quest Builders) and I platinum N.E.R.O. and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture on my first few accounts. After that, I got so bored of them, and the fact that you have to play the game on a Thursday to get one trophy in N.E.R.O. immediately shut me off of that game for good. Rapture was kicked from my list of future accounts for the fact that it was so easy to miss collectibles because you had to center the camera so that the game registered those maps and TVs as being collected.

 

I'm not sure why you need a new account for that. At some point, you're probably going to play something new that you may or may not like. You can tell by my reviews that I have lots of games I regret playing, despite generally going into most games thinking I'm going to have a good time.

 

Will this be a good segue into my next review? Let's find out.

 

Platinum #312 - Kaze and the Wild Masks

 

So, those of you who have been stalking my account for a while may have noticed me start this game last year, earn a respectable number of trophies, and then seemingly abandon the game. I suspect some of you even checked out the PSNP trophy guide to see what kind of game this is. If you had, you would've seen it's a 4/10 difficulty, 12 hour game. The platinum rarity is 35%. It's rocking "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam. So, what gives? Is somebody lying, or is this game just the victim of the Genshin Impact rabbit hole?

 

Well, let's start by telling you what Kaze is. Kaze is...actually the name of the main character for once (I think). The game doesn't have much in the way of dialogue or story. In fact, the only plot you get is a few still images at the start of the game, after each boss fight, and at the end of the game. And before you think I'm complaining -- no, I'm fine with that. The entire plot of Donkey Kong Country was that some anthropomorphic crocodile stole a bunch of DK's bananas. And DKC is definitely the best comparison to make because this game takes a lot of its cues from that. (More specifically, DKC2 -- the best game in the series and one that I've talked about ad nauseam before.) Here, the plot is more that your friend has been cursed and you must save him, but the story will always take the backseat to gameplay when it comes to 2D platformers.

 

What are the DKC games known for? Beautiful animations? Check. Responsive controls? Check. Great music? Check. Platforming sections that will piss you off and make you throw your controller? Check. The only thing they didn't seem to copy was that you only have access to one playable character. Well, if you're going to copy the DKC formula and only select one Kong to play as, they sure as hell picked the right one. Dixie Kong's midair hair twirl is arguably the greatest platforming skill in video game history. Being able to slow your descent and correct your landing is a godsend in games are fast-paced and require so much vertical and horizontal accuracy. I used to fight with my siblings over who got to play as Tails, but nobody was taking Dixie away from me.

 

So, how do you make a game starring Dixie Kong without having the rights to the character? Well, turn her into a rabbit and give her an even goofier name, I guess. Kaze handles really well. Instead of ponytails, she uses her ears to hover. Physically, it makes no sense. On the ground, it gives her a slight speed boost and knocks out some enemies, but you're generally going to be using it in the air. She also has a plunging attack. I found it less useful, but the variety of movement options makes the controls feel super tight.

 

There are also four "masks" (wild ones, I guess) that transform Kaze into a different creature. This is similar to the animal buddies in DKC. The bird mask lets Kaze fly and shoot eggs (i.e. Squawks), the shark mask lets Kaze swim and do a torpedo attack underwater (i.e. Enguarde), the tiger mask lets Kaze do a dash attack in midair and cling to walls (okay, that's original), and the dragon mask turns the game into an auto runner (like most mobile games these days). Not every level has one of these, but it's a nice way to switch up the gameplay. I personally liked the auto runner sections. She gets a double jump and a dive bomb attack, so you need to be quick on your feet because you'll often take damage or die if you use the wrong skill at the wrong time.

 

One thing I want to stress is how well designed each level is. This isn't the kind of game where you say, "That was bullshit! I didn't see that coming." There are very few sections in this game where you're making blind jumps. It's more about quick reactions. The camera pans at just the right speed and angle that you can almost always see at least something of what's up ahead, whether it be an enemy, an obstacle, a safe place to land, or a bonus area/collectible.

 

Now, there are four worlds in this game and each world has about six or seven levels, with one bonus level and one boss fight. I think the worlds are supposed to be "themed," but they didn't do a great job at that. You could take almost any level and plug it into any world and it'd make just as much sense. For example, they'll have a volcano level in the same world as a desert level in the same world as a spooky jelly dungeon level. I'm guessing they just made every level first and then placed them based on difficulty.

 

Like DLC, there are collectibles in every level and you need them all for the platinum. In every level, there are the letters K-A-Z-E, two bonus areas, and 100 purple crystals (technically more, but you need at least 100). The letters are usually easy to find, but sometimes out of your way to collect. The bonus areas are harder to find and require completing a short timed gauntlet, such as a tricky platforming section or something in line with the level's main theme. The purple crystals are all over the place and will often indicate a path you should follow, similar to bananas in DKC or gold coins in Mario. Some crystals are stuck underground and need to be smashed or twirled over to collect.

 

You don't have to 100% the level in one go. Any letters you collect or bonus areas you complete will be saved, so long as you finish the stage. Only the purple crystals reset. But you also need to complete every stage without taking any damage and you need to beat the gold medal time in each stage. For the most part, you should just attempt those at the same time. It's usually harder to beat the level without getting hit, and attempting the time trial removes any checkpoints, so you aren't forced to quit out of the level every time you take damage but already activated a checkpoint. I usually found myself finishing most levels about five seconds under the gold medal time. Only one of them required the boost you get from the grounded ear twirl. One of the bonus stages was pretty tight too. A lot of stages are pointless to have a time trial in because they're auto scrollers.

 

And that's Kaze for you, guys. A solid retro platformer. I enjoyed it. So, why the delayed plat?

 

Well... the difficulty, honestly. My 100% playthrough has a playtime of 17 hours. I have a second playthrough (required speedrun) that's under 2 hours. That ~19 hours felt more like 40. I don't know what it was when I was playing this back in November, but I struggled hard with some of these levels. The nice thing is most of them are only 2-3 minutes long. The not-so-nice thing is that the checkpoints aren't always very generous and they're useless when it comes to beating the stage quickly and without getting hit. Enemy placements and rotations are often deliberately designed to fuck you over. I've avoided my obligatory Dark Souls reference until now, but that's exactly what it feels like. You'll want to make a jump because your momentum is carrying you, but a corn on the cob with teeth will be standing right in front of where you land. However, sometimes you just get in the zone. That's how it is with this game. You do a stage enough times and your muscle memory kicks in. When you stop hesitating and just GO, things line up perfectly. I imagine this kind of game is a speedrunner's wet dream.

 

Yes, I'm going to recommend this game. It's not innovative or revolutionary, but it checks all the right boxes and does what it sets out to do very well. If you like retro platformers, you'll like this. If you're tired of that genre or feel like your reflexes have slowed down in the past thirty years...well, this probably won't change your mind, but I certainly liked it more than that SpongeBob game.

 

Oh, and if you like furries, you'll definitely like this.

[Mesopithecus]

14 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

There's no option to get married in that game? I know every Harvest Moon I know of, and Stardew Valley which borrows heavily from that series, lets you romance a character(of the opposite gender, I'd love to see a Stardew Valley 2 where you could have same-sex marriage, but I know it would get shut down by the ESRB ASAP ) and get married to them and even have a couple of kids(thought the maker of Stardew Valley dropped the ball in not having your kids grow up from babies, it would be neat to see them wandering around the farm petting your cat or dog and helping harvest the crops ).

 

Why don't I play it? The stupid arcade game. You know which one I speak of.

 

 

You can have a same-sex marriage in Stardew Valley - my female character is married to Abigail and we have two babies, children in the game do grow up from babies they just never go past the toddler stage. 

[AJ_Radio]

9 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I’m not sure why you need a new account for that. At some point, you're probably going to play something new that you may or may not like. You can tell by my reviews that I have lots of games I regret playing, despite generally going into most games thinking I'm going to have a good time.

That’s true, but you also have the choice to walk away from the games if you don’t like them. Even games that were critically acclaimed and recommended. 
 

Being a completionist however, you may end up actually really enjoying the games, or hating yourself until the game is finally done. I’ve had several instances of games that gave me bad first impressions. Upon playing them past the entry point, I ended up immersed and satisfied.

[winter_bird_22]

2 hours ago, Mesopithecus said:

You can have a same-sex marriage in Stardew Valley - my female character is married to Abigail and we have two babies, children in the game do grow up from babies they just never go past the toddler stage. 

That's what I was talking about. I would like to see Stardew kids get out of diapers and become kid-stage and walk around in overalls and stuff. They could go the way of The Sims Medieval (which will piss off a lot of people as EA decided to drop it from their store so you can't get it unless you go to Ebay and even then you can't run it on today's computers which is stupid), in which you can make babies, but they never enter puberty unless the parent which has a class dies (which only happens by feeding them to the Beast or killing in a duel, because everyone is ageless since Maxis decided to make it a fantasy game and save money not programming in time progression ;p) so they could just have your Stardew Kids age up to kids and never become adults. Although I'm sure Cassy doesn't like that because Harvest Moon had actually time progression where kids grew up.

 

(Glad to hear there are same sex marriages. Then again, someone did a Sims 4 story which was basically a Sims 4 retelling of Stardew Valley and one of the couples was two gay guys. )

 

Even then, I am still not touching this game, not only for the damn arcade game, but because I have trouble micromanaging. I constantly use motive cheats on The Sims 4 so I would just kill my save file if any of my crops die.

[winter_bird_22]

2 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

(1) That’s true, but you also have the choice to walk away from the games if you don’t like them. Even games that were critically acclaimed and recommended. 
 

(2) Being a completionist however, you may end up actually really enjoying the games, or hating yourself until the game is finally done. I’ve had several instances of games that gave me bad first impressions. Upon playing them past the entry point, I ended up immersed and satisfied.

 

(1) I know that and I have messed around with non-connected burner accounts to try out games. I made one to test out FFX remastered and while it was not too bad in the first part, the dread of having to dodge 200 lightning bolts turned me off again so luckily I didn't have any trophies to deal with. Burner accounts are basically the taste-testers of your main account. If you run into total hot garbage like, speaking, Starbucks 2000* which is a DOOM-clone where you shoot Starbucks girls who are spouting valley-girl speak with lasers and you got disgusted by the fact that you had to kill 6000 of these stereotyped tropes to get a trophy, you could delete the game and it would not reflect on your account as a diseased tumor which you could never remove because PSN won't let you delete trophy lists. (Yes, I said diseased tumor but that's because I am a completionist and I will get flak for that, so forgive me.)

 

* Also, Starbucks 2000 does not exist, it is a meme I used to protect the names of any actual games. (The meme came from watching a video of someone playing Pokemon Omega Ruby and giving the female rival, May, a valley-girl voice and being obsessed with Starbucks. I know Starbucks is the AAA coffee shop but I don't get the trope, but it was funny so I used it. )

 

(2) I do concur that one should not judge a book by its cover. I once thought Pokemon looked like horse-dookey when the original Red and Blue came out. A year later, when I accidentally saw the anime episode showing Ash getting bodied by Brock and then getting the Boulderbadge(which was the first episode of Pokemon I ever saw, and it was the fifth episode so I missed the whole thing about Ash catching Pidgeotto in Viridian Forest), I decided to try Pokemon Red. Needless to say, I now own almost every main game in the series and have Legends Arceus on my Switch Lite. That sort of proves your point.

 

If you are worried you will hate a game or want to see if a game is doable, that's what the burner accounts are for, they are blank non-network accounts that, due to the way the PS4 runs, lets you play any game you bought on other accounts. Before that, doing some research in the trophy lists is also a good idea.

[AJ_Radio]

11 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

(1) I know that and I have messed around with non-connected burner accounts to try out games. I made one to test out FFX remastered and while it was not too bad in the first part, the dread of having to dodge 200 lightning bolts turned me off again so luckily I didn't have any trophies to deal with. Burner accounts are basically the taste-testers of your main account. If you run into total hot garbage like, speaking, Starbucks 2000* which is a DOOM-clone where you shoot Starbucks girls who are spouting valley-girl speak with lasers and you got disgusted by the fact that you had to kill 6000 of these stereotyped tropes to get a trophy, you could delete the game and it would not reflect on your account as a diseased tumor which you could never remove because PSN won't let you delete trophy lists. (Yes, I said diseased tumor but that's because I am a completionist and I will get flak for that, so forgive me.)

 

* Also, Starbucks 2000 does not exist, it is a meme I used to protect the names of any actual games. (The meme came from watching a video of someone playing Pokemon Omega Ruby and giving the female rival, May, a valley-girl voice and being obsessed with Starbucks. I know Starbucks is the AAA coffee shop but I don't get the trope, but it was funny so I used it. )

 

I believe you can run a script for that one particular task/trophy, although I can't confirm this.

 

I have a "burner account" so to speak. Look up Gibberaphobia on PSNP. Has a bunch of unfinished games with only one completed.

 

Regardless of how bad Starbucks 2000 sounds, it probably ain't as bad as Orc Slayer, or even Albedo: Eyes From Outer Space. Both are utter garbage, and I did both specifically for the easy trophies. So I'm definitely guilty of gaining easy trophies every now and then instead of buying a game because I was genuinely interested in it.

 

Starbucks is a shit corporation. Hope it eventually goes out of business sooner rather than later.

 

11 hours ago, winter_bird_22 said:

(2) I do concur that one should not judge a book by its cover. I once thought Pokemon looked like horse-dookey when the original Red and Blue came out. A year later, when I accidentally saw the anime episode showing Ash getting bodied by Brock and then getting the Boulderbadge(which was the first episode of Pokemon I ever saw, and it was the fifth episode so I missed the whole thing about Ash catching Pidgeotto in Viridian Forest), I decided to try Pokemon Red. Needless to say, I now own almost every main game in the series and have Legends Arceus on my Switch Lite. That sort of proves your point.

 

 

If you are worried you will hate a game or want to see if a game is doable, that's what the burner accounts are for, they are blank non-network accounts that, due to the way the PS4 runs, lets you play any game you bought on other accounts. Before that, doing some research in the trophy lists is also a good idea.

 

I do this all the time. That's why I still have a 97 percent completion rate. Otherwise I'd be sitting at 70 - 80 percent completion.