Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[Cassylvania]

Ah, Thanksgiving -- a holiday dedicated to my three favorite things: football, food, and beating the shit out of my family in Mario Kart. They may make fun of me for picking Daisy, but it's her butt they'll be seeing on the way to the finish line.

 

Let's see what picks you guys have for us today.

 

On 11/26/2019 at 1:06 PM, Grotz99 said:

As far as my nominations, Gravity Rush Remastered wins it for best animation for me. I know it's a bigger studio game and this is a remake, but I loved the art style. Otherwise the only Indy game I played which I liked the art in was The Coma: Recut.

 

Worst animation would be The Count Lucanor for me. The 16-bit syle actually wasn't bad, but there were parts where the game would still choke and slow down.

 

Gravity Rush looked REALLY good, from what I remember. I had to look to see when I played it. Has it really been almost four years? Maybe I'll get to the sequel someday...

 

I've decided against The Count Lucanor for the winter event. The graphics...yeah, they don't look great...but it's the performance issues that turn me off. Why is it so hard to make a stable game for these smaller studios? Being able to run the game and save the game are probably not areas where you want to be cutting costs.

 

On 11/27/2019 at 2:31 AM, Arcesius said:

Best Story of 2019: 

 - Pyre

 

This was a close one. But I think I have to give the win to Pyre for many of the same reasons you gave it to DQ XI. The characters are fantastic, all with their quirks and unique characteristics. The way they find together, the way they evolve over the course of the game... I really enjoyed this game more than I would have thought, and I think that's not due to the fantasy-basketball part, but really due to the great story and perfect storytelling.

 

Pyre might have cleaned house for me, had I done these awards in 2018. (In fact, I was looking at my older games, and that stretch from August 2018 to December 2018 may have been the greatest five months of gaming in my life. There were just so many amazing titles I played during that time.)

 

Can't comment on the rest, since I haven't played them, but... Immortal: Unchained? Really? Is that supposed to be like God of Souls?

 

Anyway, had my date with Calendar Man a little early this time (last night) so I could knock out every...single...trophy left in the game. That's right. Nightwing: finished. Catwoman: gone. Riddler: strapped to the electric chair. They say Batman doesn't kill, but I think we can make an exception this one time.

 

Can't officially platinum Arkham City until Christmas, but I see no problem in considering it done. Cosmic Star Heroine too. (Stayed tuned tomorrow for my review on that one.) That means, for all intents and purposes, we're five platinums away from 200. And it's only Thanksgiving. With the long weekend here, we might be able to sneak in one more. I don't really have a particular game in mind, though...

 

...or do I?

[Mori]

2 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Gravity Rush looked REALLY good, from what I remember. I had to look to see when I played it. Has it really been almost four years? Maybe I'll get to the sequel someday... 

 

GR 1 & 2 were my sleeper hits in 2019.

I almost skipped both games, because I didnt want to spent any more money on games I "might" enjoy. I dont think I stuck to that philosophy for long.

Anyway, both games have been on sale several times and I finally decided to buy them a few months ago.

 

Both exceeded my expectations by a lot and I cant recommend them enough. The idea of moving/flying around the world by manipulating gravity works like a charm, the artstyle is beautiful, the OST even more. The gameplay/fighting can get repetitive but never to the extend that it gets annoying.

The second game improved on many levels and was even more pleasant to play. And boy, the turns this game takes were surprising to say the least. I dont want to give anything away, but knowing who worked on the game(s), explains a few things.

It may sound corny, but playing the second game made me feel like the day after Christmas, waking up early and playing the new game(s) I got. I dont know how to put it else.

Edited November 28, 2019 by Mori

[Cassylvania]

17 hours ago, Mori said:

Both exceeded my expectations by a lot and I cant recommend them enough. The idea of moving/flying around the world by manipulating gravity works like a charm, the artstyle is beautiful, the OST even more. The gameplay/fighting can get repetitive but never to the extend that it gets annoying.

 

They also have some of the best trophy images out there. ?

 

Alright. As promised...

 

Platinum #194 - Cosmic Star Heroine

 

 

THIS GAME is the reason I banned current games from participating in the 2019 awards. If I did, it would have EASILY won best soundtrack of the year, while simultaneously edging out The Long Dark for worst story by far. Seriously, everything about this "plot" was laughably bad. I had to convince myself that it was satire because I can't believe real adults worked on this. It's the strangest contrast in quality I've seen in a while too, because the music, animations, and combat were all top-notch. This is the kind of game that, had it come out in the 90's, I would've played over and over again with self-imposed challenges. I opted for a Normal difficulty playthrough, but I think this could be a fun one on Super-Spy.

 

Don't play this for the story. Not even ironically. It doesn't get better, the characters aren't worth getting invested in (except Lauren -- she's pretty cool), and the dialogue isn't worth reading. But if you want a retro-style game with a fairly unique turn-based combat system...you could probably do worse. (You could also do better. Play Chrono Trigger instead.)

 

The game is glitchy too. It froze on me a few times and I ended up having to beat several bosses (including the last one) more than once because trophies wouldn't pop. Be liberal with your backup saves.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Cassylvania

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats on another plat! You are getting close to the magic 200. Anything special planned? 

[det_gittes]

1 hour ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Congrats on another plat! You are getting close to the magic 200. Anything special planned? 

Look at Cassy's profile and you'll know the answer

[Mori]

2 hours ago, det_gittes said:

Look at Cassy's profile and you'll know the answer

 

 

 

and suddenly it will be #199 quickly followed up by My Name Is Mayo.

That's how I would do it.  

[Cassylvania]

I think they're on to me...

 

I mean, I have no clue what you guys are talking about it. It's just me and my girl Ryza, building our secret hideout. Ain't nothing else to see here.

 

Yes, guys, that's right. I've finally begun Atelier Ryza, keeping my promise of playing five games in this series this year (and making it one of only three 2019 releases for me to buy). So far, it's...what you'd expect from an Atelier game, for better or worse. I just got to the part where I get to build my own atelier (with blackjack and hookers), which is actually a new concept for me with these kinds of games. Reminds me of when I was a kid and we'd build non-regulation structures in the woods to play in. How I never got tetanus is beyond me.

 

Now, where were we...?

 

Best Setting of 2019

 

I'm not sure what my intention was when I created this category. How is this different than animation? I guess, for the purposes of making this interesting, let's say this refers to which game had the most appealing place to live in. You know, like if you could live in a video game world, which world would you pick? For me, I guess my top picks would be... *after ten minutes of looking over the games* ...shit, this is a terrible category. Most of these places are filled with death and monsters. Just...

 

 

The Long Dark, Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland, and (surprise) Shadow of the Tomb Raider would also make the list, but it's hard to beat the beauty in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. I spent a good chunk of time at the beginning of the game just jumping around in the lush grass. If it wasn't for the creatures that wanted to wear my insides for a hat, I think this is where I'd build my summer home.

 

 

Worst Setting of 2019

 

So, on the flip side, this would have to be the ugliest, most hideous place I'd want to live. You would think this would be an easier one to determine, but I don't want you to think I'm just going to pick a game that has bad graphics, nor do I want to pick a game that would be a terrible place to live but has good graphics for what it's supposed to be (like Resident Evil 7 or Little Nightmares). Here is a game that is repulsive, no matter how you look at it...

 

 

That's Plague Road, and it is one of the most unappealing experiences you can have on the PS4. Everything is a sickening shade of green. I guess it's because the area is supposed to be full of disease, but it's not even nice to look at. Notice how much more vomit-inducing these greens are than the DQ11 picture above.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Cassylvania

[RuneEyesDragon]

On 11/28/2019 at 1:17 PM, Mori said:

I almost skipped both games, because I didnt want to spent any more money on games I "might" enjoy. I dont think I stuck to that philosophy for long.

 

Yeah, been there, done that, got the Gigantimax Butterfree. I told myself not to buy Pokemon Sword, but I couldn't help it. I played through Shield to the eighth gym and felt like I could do better. I was going to buy Pokemon Sword first but I got a crazy idea about unicorns that I regret. Anyways, Pokemon Sword is like Monster Hunter World except with a kid-friendly vibe, you can try to fight the max raid Pokemon again and pray you don't get the Wobbuffet and Magikarp trainer. I know I should be inviting other players to do 5-star max raids because it takes longer than three turns to complete them but...

 

I'm putting down serious gaming for a while. Started playing Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair on another account, get 30 bees and I really wasted my sleep schedule. This game is a decent sequel to the original game and a nod to Donkey Kong Country with an overhead overworld. It even takes Breath of the Wild's page and lets you try to beat the final dungeon before you do any work and even gives you a reward for it... if you're insane.

[Cassylvania]

Well, guys. You got me. I started Hollow Knight, after dropping clues I was going to do that for #200 all year (you know, like my avatar). The music and graphics are every bit as good as I hoped. Sometimes when I start playing games like this, I think to myself, "Why do I even bother with anything else?" Well, I think it's because you sometimes need to take the good with the bad. Take last night, for example. Rather than watching what ended up being a good Patriots/Texans games (unless you're @Briste), I opted for The Tuxedo, a 2002 action "comedy" with Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Was it a good Jackie Chan movie? Of course not. Was it even a good movie? That's debatable. But it got me to laugh a few times -- like four, to be exact, which is remarkable for Hollywood -- and it made me appreciate the stuff that he's done with Chris Tucker and Owen Wilson all the more. I think what I really liked about this movie is that Jackie's character is not supposed to know martial arts (the tux gives him the powers), so he has to act like he's surprised by the amazing moves he's pulling off. That can't be easy.

 

Let's hope I can fake it just as easily when I sweep all of the bosses in Hollow Knight on my first try! I mean, I did that to the Fat Knight. How much harder can the later ones be?

 

I'll still need two more games to finish off the year. I think we'll do one more shortie sometime this week and then see how much progress I make in Ryza/HK/Mutant. If I'm not wrapped up by Christmas, we'll tackle another shortie. Otherwise, we'll play a game to fill the time before the end of the year.

 

23 hours ago, RuneEyesDragon said:

I'm putting down serious gaming for a while. Started playing Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair on another account, get 30 bees and I really wasted my sleep schedule. This game is a decent sequel to the original game and a nod to Donkey Kong Country with an overhead overworld. It even takes Breath of the Wild's page and lets you try to beat the final dungeon before you do any work and even gives you a reward for it... if you're insane.

 

Isn't there a trophy for doing that? That sounds like a pain. I wanted to get to Yooka-Laylee 2 (that's what I'll be calling it) this year, but there's a bit too much on my plate at the moment. I do think next year, though, I'm going to start focusing only on the games I REALLY want to play. I got my backlog down to 69 (hehe...) games, and I think I could take it down further, if I'm willing to pass on mediocre-looking stuff like Lords of the Fallen and The Surge. I mean, after all... Elden Ring will be out next year. Right?

 

...Right?

[Inuty]

The Surge wasnt bad. I Liked the Game

[Arcesius]

Hmm, so DQ wins a second "positive" award... I certainly underestimated that game ? 

 

I had a bit more trouble finding something suitable for this category, but let's see...

 

Best Setting of 2019: 

 - Magicka 2

 

Yeah, I just don't play that many "happy" games as turns out... Here there are lots of enemies out to get you, but it is also a place full of partys and interesting and funny people. Everything is full of color and life... Also it just wins because all other games I've played this year have terrible places to live in ? 

 

 

Worst Setting of 2019: 

 - Limbo

For some reason I cannot copy the thumbnail. But in any case, get me out of here.... Everything is dark, there are parasitic worms everywhere that want to eat your brain, everything wants to kill you. No thanks, I'm out. 

 

 

On 12/2/2019 at 7:36 PM, Cassylvania said:

Well, guys. You got me. I started Hollow Knight, after dropping clues I was going to do that for #200 all year (you know, like my avatar).

 

 

I already thought I was missing something ? The others were so sure of what you were going to do, and I just saw the two trophies in your cabinet and couldn't make any sense of them ? To be fair, you were already rocking that avatar when I started following this thread ?

But hey, perfect pick for sure! It took me roughly 70h to get the plat, so I hope you have time on your hands if you want to get it done this month! ?

 

If I may, I will pass on the advice I got from a wise man (It was @Mori) when I started Hollow Knight..."I strongly advise to not use a guide til you'll reach the final boss. Figuring out where to go and whats next on your to-do list is half the fun."

 

Man was he right... Enjoy this fantastic game! ?

 

 

Oh, and The Surge was actually alright.. certainly better than LotF. I hear that The Surge 2 is not only alright but actually really good, too! 

 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Arcesius
I only played FFXV DLC in 2019... Completed the game way earlier.

[Psy-Tychist]

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Let's hope I can fake it just as easily when I sweep all of the bosses in Hollow Knight on my first try! I mean, I did that to the Fat Knight. How much harder can the later ones be?

 

How I love the optimism.

[Cassylvania]

10 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Hmm, so DQ wins a second "positive" award... I certainly underestimated that game  

 

Well, it certainly won't be winning best soundtrack. ? Didn't hate it as much as some people, but that overworld music drove me nuts.

 

10 hours ago, Arcesius said:

But hey, perfect pick for sure! It took me roughly 70h to get the plat, so I hope you have time on your hands if you want to get it done this month! 

 

There's a good chance I won't be done this month. With the holidays and a number of difficult games on tap, I'd be lucky to even get to 197 plats. Fortunately, the holiday event isn't officially over until January 12, so we have a little buffer if we need it.

 

Shall we do another round?

 

Best Voice Acting of 2019

 

No new nominations this time around. King's Quest, Forgotton Anne, South Park: The Fractured But Hole, and Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age were all spectacular in the VA department. If I spoke Japanese, the Atelier games might have made an appearance, but the English dubs make me cringe. They didn't even bother with those in Lulua and Ryza. Also, Sekiro had that dude shouting his name at you on horseback, which was cool. I always like to know who I'm fighting before they impale me. But the four nominations I listed were good from beginning to end. King's Quest had the legendary Christopher Lloyd, Forgotton Anne both looked and sounded like a Disney movie, South Park had basically the entire cast from the show, and DQ11...okay, some of the English dubs were sketchy (not sure what was going on with Erik's accent), but they grew on me. How do I pick just one from these?

 

 

Growing up, King's Quest was like the Resident Evil of point-and-clicks: a great series that was marred by hilariously bad voice acting. If you haven't listened to it, do yourself a favor and check out ANY audio clip from KQ5 (preferably one with the owl). Well, they decided to go in the opposite direction with this remake by hiring actual voice actors, like Fred Tatasciore, Michael-Leon Wooley, Tom Kenny, and the aforementioned Christopher Lloyd as old man Graham. They even have that guy who's in everything but I always forget his name. You know, Rex from Toy Story. Yeah, Wallace Shawn. Thanks, iMDb.

 

This one wins because it's the only game I played this year where I didn't even consider putting on some background noise. It's that good.

 

Worst Voice Acting of 2019

 

 

It wasn't really that bad, but who else am I going to give this to? It's practically a meme at this point.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Grotz99]

I keep hearing good things about the DQ games, maybe I should give them a try sometime?

 

Best Voice Acting of 2019

 

This is going to be a tough one. Games that come to mind for this past year quickly are Red Dead Redemption 2, Detroit, The Council, Until Dawn and Yakuza 0 (although I haven't completed this yet and it is in Japanese with English subs, but the voices are still great). Detroit is basically just live action movements and voices put into an 3D animated form, didn't look like there was much more than their normal voices being used, but I guess that could be said about others as well, like Until Dawn. 

 

Going to have to give it to Red Dead Redemption 2. Most of this is probably because the main character (Arthur Morgan) wasn't annoying to listen to for 60+ hours and made you proud to play him with that voice. Also, Dutch's voice is so damn inspiring and does well for his role. There are other characters who have great voice acting, but I don't want to spam the thread.

 

Worst Voice Acting of 2019

 

This one is really tough so I need to cheat a little and probably give it to the Sly Cooper series I played on PS3. Not saying it's necessarily bad, but wasn't great (except for Bently).

[Cassylvania]

8 hours ago, Grotz99 said:

I keep hearing good things about the DQ games, maybe I should give them a try sometime?

 

DQ11 is the only game in the main series I've played, but it's definitely worth a try if you like JRPGs. DQ Builders is FANTASTIC...but they really, really hurt that game by putting in a time limit for the trophies. DQ Heroes is good...but I can see why some people wouldn't like it. I'm on the fence about playing DQ Heroes 2. I heard it's like a 200+ hour platinum, which isn't beyond me, but that's definitely pushing my limits. I need to check how much of that is a mindless grind. If I can do other stuff while I play, that may be perfect for repeat movie marathons or TV show binge sessions. Kinda like what I'm doing in Ryza right now. She and her buddies are wailing on stegosauruses while I'm typing this.

 

RDR2 looks pretty great. I'm not really into that style of game, but the setting is wonderful. I wish they had more games with that western theme. The only one I've ever played is Lucky Luke on the original PlayStation, which was a decent enough platformer for its time, but not anything memorable.

 

I'm a bit at a loss of what to play next. I need something short obviously, but I don't want to buy anything new. The only sub-10 hour platinums I have (that survived The Great Purge of 2019) are Teslagrad, Beholder, Hitman GO, and Manual Samuel. If I'm willing to go up to 15 hours, we have Oxenfree, Typoman, Bastion, God of War (PS3), Lumo, Xenon Valkyrie+, and Transistor. And the problem is we really have to do two of them this month, to have any chance of reaching 200 plats. The good news is I bailed on the 2020 ABC event, so it's not like I need to save any of these games for letters next year. I'd say Lumo, GoW, and Bastion are probably out, due to difficulty, and I'm not sure what Xenon entails. I want to do Transistor, but after Bastion. Manual Samuel looks like something I'm either going to love or absolutely hate. I also have an emergency game I picked up on a Black Friday sale, but I know nothing about it. It could be a 10 hour plat or a 30.

 

You know what's another game that needs to come out? Shantae 5. What is taking so long on that? It's been out on iOS since September.

 

Ryza needs to level faster. This is taking forever...

[Grotz99]

17 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

RDR2 looks pretty great. I'm not really into that style of game, but the setting is wonderful. I wish they had more games with that western theme. The only one I've ever played is Lucky Luke on the original PlayStation, which was a decent enough platformer for its time, but not anything memorable.

 

It is a pretty good game, definitely get distracted with side stuff though while playing through. Getting the platinum is a pain though since half the trophies are grinding out MP. 

[Rally-Vincent---]

Unrelated to awards - I just found out Phoenix Point is going to get a PS4 release in 2020.

[AnEldritchThing]

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

Unrelated to awards - I just found out Phoenix Point is going to get a PS4 release in 2020.

 

Pretty excited for that. XCOM never failed to devour my life when one of them gets released and Phoenix Point looks really cool.

[realm722]

On 8/12/2019 at 3:47 PM, Cassylvania said:

 

Platinum #180 - Invisible, Inc.

 

Fun game, but utterly broken. I didn't even bother using Cloaking Rig III in Expert Plus OR zero rewinds. (Hell, I couldn't even find a Cloaking Rig I.) In fact, my ego was SO big by this point in the game that I didn't even recruit more agents. It was Internationale/Derek/Nika on Expert Plus (eh, Nika was on my way to the exit) and Internationale/Prism on zero rewinds. Why Prism? I wanted a challenge. I got no such thing.

 

I'd certainly recommend this game to anybody who enjoys tactical RPGs, but you're likely going to get sick of it by the time the platinum rolls around. Nine playthroughs is a lot. I think you could do it in as little as five, but you really need to master the mechanics before you're ready to play with daddy's toys. There are so many ways you can abuse the AI. Sprint, Flash Grenade, Ping, opening/closing doors, dragging a KO'd guard on top of another KO'd guard to pin them both at once, Derek's ridiculously OP Transport Beacon... Oh, and my personal favorite: getting two guards to face each other at a choke point, allowing the guard on the right to notice something to the left while simultaneously allowing the guard on the left to notice something to the right, and then laughing at how the AI is too stupid to get out of its own way, forcing them into a Mexican standoff. ?

 

Anyway, this game just utterly dominates my Rarest Trophies cabinet now, with thirteen trophies that are rarer than getting to the center of the universe in No Man's Sky (on Permadeath). That's crazy.

 

 

Cassy for whatever reason I find myself frequenting your profile here and there just to go back through your old posts and see how you felt about a game. This game is available for $5 right now on sale and the art looked interesting to me - but the sheer rarity's scared me off. It's almost Super Meat Boy levels. You're the 43rd fastest to achieve it and still one of the most recent. I'd love to dive in due to all the delicious ultra rare gold trophies but I think I'm leaning towards holding off for now. Cheers!

[Cassylvania]

 

1 hour ago, realm722 said:

Cassy for whatever reason I find myself frequenting your profile here and there just to go back through your old posts and see how you felt about a game. This game is available for $5 right now on sale and the art looked interesting to me - but the sheer rarity's scared me off. It's almost Super Meat Boy levels. You're the 43rd fastest to achieve it and still one of the most recent. I'd love to dive in due to all the delicious ultra rare gold trophies but I think I'm leaning towards holding off for now. Cheers!

 

Don't be put off by the rarity. It's not that hard of a game. In fact, it's rather broken. If you search my posts, you'll see I listed a series of augments/items you can get for your agents that trivialize any challenge the game could offer. I guarantee you that the majority of people who got the platinum abused the same mechanics.

 

I wouldn't play it for the art, though. Klei has done some fantastic work in their past games (e.g. Don't Starve, Mark of the Ninja), but outside of a few short cutscenes and mostly static portraits, the artwork in Invisible, Inc. is very minimal. It's a shame too, because I feel they could've done a lot more with it.

 

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

Cassy for whatever reason I find myself frequenting your profile here and there just to go back through your old posts and see how you felt about a game. This game is available for $5 right now on sale and the art looked interesting to me - but the sheer rarity's scared me off. It's almost Super Meat Boy levels. You're the 43rd fastest to achieve it and still one of the most recent. I'd love to dive in due to all the delicious ultra rare gold trophies but I think I'm leaning towards holding off for now. Cheers!

 

I've never heard of this game. Then I Googled it. Now I'm throwing money at my computer screen. I don't think it's making the game come to PS4 any faster, but it can't hurt.

 

Alas, though, I'm not going to get my hopes up. We got too much to finish this year before we can even think about 2020. Let's start with this...

 

Platinum #195 - Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout

 

It's Weasel Stomping Day!

 

Goofy name aside (I don't know what "Ever Darkness" is, nor do I think it was ever mentioned in the game), this was probably the most approachable Atelier to date. I know it's become a running gag by this point, but THIS is the game I'd start with if you're at all interested in the series. Unlike the last four games I've played (and the Dusk/Mysterious trilogies), Ryza seems to exist outside the other Atelier universes, so you don't have to worry about being confused about what's going on. (Well, you will be. But not because you missed out on the previous games.)

 

So, what's the plot this time around? Pretty simple, actually. Ryza is a young girl who lives on an island. One day, she comes across a guy who throws a bomb at a weasel, decides she wants to do that too, and she becomes an alchemist. The only problem is that her mother doesn't approve of her performing witchcraft in her room, so Ryza steals a boat with her friends and builds her own secret clubhouse on the mainland. This is actually pretty cool because the clubhouse serves as your "home base" throughout the game, and it's more developed than you might expect (but not as much as it could be, which is unfortunate). You can decorate the clubhouse, plant a garden, have a couple pets (one which Ryza threatens to eat and the other which she beats up), and of course craft. The crafting system in this game is MUCH better than past titles, and I didn't have to grind or farm too much at the end. The game does give you the option to select your difficulty, so I'd say just play on Easy and don't worry about transferring all the best traits to every item. I was able to do everything but the final boss and post-game bosses with subpar gear, and even those weren't bad.

 

If you haven't played an Atelier game before, the way they basically work is you pick your three favorite waifus and run around beating up on the local wildlife and ravaging precious materials from the earth. In past games, you had to rotate your team because maxing out everybody's friendship was important for character flags and endings. Here, it doesn't matter, so feel free to roll with Ryza, Klaudia, and Lila. I opted for Lent over Lila because Lila's boobs are ridiculous, but maybe it's Klaudia I should've replaced, because she died in every battle that mattered. There are only six characters to choose from, but I like how the group picture on the menu screen changes every time you get a new member. Little things like that make me smile.

 

The trophies aren't bad either. I don't think any are missable, but having to farm for gems or constantly restore bottles could be a pain if you don't look up recipe codes online. Might also be annoying if you get stuck on the final boss because you never figured out the combat system. It's weird because it happens in real time, but it's turn-based, but you can only play as one character at a time, so you're either frantically swapping between all three characters (if you're skilled) or watching the AI do everything (if you're me). I think the game is supposed to be punishing you by having your partners only perform basic attacks when it's their turn...but you're playing on Easy, so you really don't care.

 

It's occurred to me that I haven't been posting artwork after every new plat. Let's correct that now, shall we?

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

Well, it ended up being a more productive weekend than I expected. I got a little further in Hollow Knight. If I had a complaint about this game, it's that I don't really like how your character gets briefly stun-locked while hitting an enemy or being hit by an enemy. I don't see the point of that, other than to make combat and platforming more frustrating. For example, since a lot of enemies are airborne, I'd like to smack them while I'm ascending to a higher position, but it always ends up with me getting pushed backwards and falling. That's the kind of shit I'd expect from Ninja Gaiden. The only difference here is that enemies don't die in one hit, so it goes something like: jump to the right, hit the enemy in the air, fall to the left, and repeat until the enemy is dead. I don't know if that's good game design, but I do have a stronger weapon now and I see that equipping various charms can switch up the gameplay, so I'm hoping there's an easy solution.

 

I'm also not a huge fan of the maze-like design. I know that this is a common thing in Metroidvania games, but items and upgrades are directly tied to Geo, which is the only currency in the game -- and is lost forever if you die twice, Dark Souls-style. However, unlike Dark Souls, where you can easily farm enemies for souls, the primary sources of Geo seem to be one-time appearances, such as chests, quest rewards, and bosses. This is a problem because you can find yourself losing hundreds or thousands of Geo if you can't find a shopkeeper to blow it all on. I know there's a bank somewhere, but it'd be like if Firelink Shrine was the only place you could go in Dark Souls to do anything.

 

Those are just some minor gripes. I spent the majority of my weekend tackling a game I forgot I even bought.

 

Platinum #196 - Goodbye Deponia

 

A few years ago, I saw a Nickelodeon Halloween special called Fun Size, starring then-Victorious actress Victoria Justice. You might think my reasons for watching something like that as a grown adult are suspect, but it ended up being an eye-opening experience. You see, neither the writers, actors, or producers seemed to realize they were supposed to be making a kids’ movie -- or that it was going to air on a kids’ network. There's one scene where Victoria and her friends are in their car at a fast food restaurant, and there's a giant animatronic chicken on top of a sign in front of them. Some bullies appear, their car gets knocked into the sign, and the chicken falls. You immediately roll your eyes and think, "Oh, the chicken is going to land on their car. Ha, ha. Slapstick humor." But instead, the chicken lands behind them, is somehow still able to move, and starts humping the car. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. It was crude, unexpected, inappropriate, and probably got them some angry phone calls from parents. But the whole movie was like that. It got me thinking: who was the target audience here? It couldn’t be kids. It couldn’t be adults either. Somewhere, between the Rocko’s and the Ren & Stimpys of the world, you have this bizarre sort of entertainment that feels like it was specifically made for me.

 

Why do I bring this up? Well, because I don’t know what age group the writers of Deponia were targeting either. The art style would make you think children, but this is South Park-levels of wrong when it comes to how Rufus treats people. He gets a kid to stick a prong into an electrical outlet, tries to catch a baby using a snare trap, and gets people to eat stuff that’s only slightly less disgusting than what Cartman does to Scott Tenorman. I have to think this was intended for people who grew up on these kinds of games in the 80's and 90's, and I love them for that.

 

If I haven’t recommended this series before, I will do so now. My only complaint is missable trophies. I don’t understand why these exist in a point-and-click. If you don’t want people using a guide (which you shouldn’t, in a puzzle-based adventure game), DON’T PUT MISSABLE TROPHIES IN THE GAME. Seriously, what the fuck? This is a dying genre and you’re going to encourage people to look up the answers? The ONLY way you should miss an achievement in a game like this is if you purposely skip a puzzle, and it should come with a warning. It’s just stupid, and it ended up costing me an extra hour of loading up earlier saves to use items on their (un)intended targets. I can't even imagine doing the entire game blind. The puzzles, sure -- I didn't need help with any of those -- but you're screwed if you want to collect all the achievements or platypus eggs on your own.

 

In any case, I'll have to think about whether I want to play Deponia 4 or something else as my last new game this year. I just don't want anything else hard. Struggling through DuckCOM and Hollow Knight for the next three weeks may break me.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

Well, guys. I had thought we could celebrate hitting 200 platinums and 100% completion at the same time, but Minecraft and Shovel Knight had other ideas. There's no way I'm going to find time to clear both of those AND five more plats by the end of the month. I guess we'll just have to settle for something just shy of perfection.

 

Which is probably for the best. I see no reason to rush Hollow Knight, and I'm not sure I have the sanity to do everything DuckCOM is asking of me under such a tight time constraint. Yes, it's a short game (I finally beat it today), but it's tedious and RING-dependent. The load times are also obnoxious.

 

I always feel weird posting three times in a row, so I'll just give you all my updates for the week and ask what everybody is playing now.

1. The Vikings are doing everything I could ask. The problem is the rest of the league is letting me down. Teams like the Giants and Redskins (really, the entire NFC East) are constantly losing games that I really need them to win to feel comfortable about my team's chances of making the playoffs. Yes, 9-4 is good -- and yes, there's still a good chance of winning the North -- but the Rams and Bears are getting annoyingly close. I'd like for someone to finish them off once and for all. But who do they play this weekend? The Cowboys and Packers. Disgusting.
2. I watched some ten hour movie on Netflix called The Irishman, which is probably worth seeing (might as well have called it Goodfellas 2), and something called Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which people told me was sooo good. Well, you know what I think? I think it was fuckin' amazing. Like, holy shit. I was put off by the low frame animation for all of twenty seconds before I really started to dig it. I finished it a couple of nights ago and then booted it up again the next day to watch it a second time. I cannot believe this came out of Hollywood. You know, the same place that gave us THE EMOJI MOVIE. They didn't even have to make a decent film. It's Spider-Man. It would've sold if they cast Nicolas Cage as...wait, I can't use that joke... Anyway, I know I'm late to this party. But if you haven't seen the movie yet -- even if  you don't usually care for superhero stuff, like me -- it's definitely one you want to watch. I might even say it's the best movie I've seen since 2016's Moana.
3. Despite the warnings telling me not to, I've decided to play Hollow Knight with a map. I'm putting this as #3 because nobody will read this far down.
4. We'll get back to the awards later this week. I'm having trouble with Best Soundtrack because...you know, I usually play games on mute...and sounds are a lot harder to look up or remember than visuals or story.
5. I've been hearing mixed opinions about Phoenix Point. Has anyone tried it yet for PC? Is it just polish that's needed, or is it a fundamentally flawed game?
6. Speaking of fundamentally flawed games... WHY IS POKEMON SHIELD SO EASY!? Most of us have been playing these games for 20+ years... At the very least, just put in a Hard difficulty, like EVERY OTHER GAME TO COME OUT IN THE PAST TWO DECADES.

Okay. What is everybody playing now?

Edited December 11, 2019 by Cassylvania

[VigilantCrow]

5 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

 

1. I've been hearing mixed opinions about Phoenix Point. Has anyone tried it yet for PC? Is it just polish that's needed, or is it a fundamentally flawed game?

I've played it on PC for about 10 hours and haven't had any game breaking issues. It definitely could use some polishing, especially with character limbs, sometimes disappearing during actions.

It's not as good as XCOM, but I'd rank it in the genre's top ten games.

 

Check out ChristopherOdd's Youtube Channel if you need a more visual assessment of the game. He's done a playthrough, if you're interested in seeing how combat works and how indepth the strategy is, on the higher difficulty levels.

 

 

[starcrunch061]

On 11/22/2019 at 10:27 PM, Cassylvania said:

I don't even know the main characters' names, come to think of it. I just got used to calling the guy Baloo, because he's hairy and flies a sea plane. Poorly.

 

Man, I need to visit this thread more often. I'm still laughing at this.

[Together_Comic]

8 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Well, guys. I had thought we could celebrate hitting 200 platinums and 100% completion at the same time, but Minecraft and Shovel Knight had other ideas. There's no way I'm going to find time to clear both of those AND five more plats by the end of the month. I guess we'll just have to settle for something just shy of perfection.

 

Which is probably for the best. I see no reason to rush Hollow Knight, and I'm not sure I have the sanity to do everything DuckCOM is asking of me under such a tight time constraint. Yes, it's a short game (I finally beat it today), but it's tedious and RING-dependent. The load times are also obnoxious.

 

I always feel weird posting three times in a row, so I'll just give you all my updates for the week and ask what everybody is playing now.

1. The Vikings are doing everything I could ask. The problem is the rest of the league is letting me down. Teams like the Giants and Redskins (really, the entire NFC East) are constantly losing games that I really need them to win to feel comfortable about my team's chances of making the playoffs. Yes, 9-4 is good -- and yes, there's still a good chance of winning the North -- but the Rams and Bears are getting annoyingly close. I'd like for someone to finish them off once and for all. But who do they play this weekend? The Cowboys and Packers. Disgusting.
2. I watched some ten hour movie on Netflix called The Irishman, which is probably worth seeing (might as well have called it Goodfellas 2), and something called Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which people told me was sooo good. Well, you know what I think? I think it was fuckin' amazing. Like, holy shit. I was put off by the low frame animation for all of twenty seconds before I really started to dig it. I finished it a couple of nights ago and then booted it up again the next day to watch it a second time. I cannot believe this came out of Hollywood. You know, the same place that gave us THE EMOJI MOVIE. They didn't even have to make a decent film. It's Spider-Man. It would've sold if they cast Nicolas Cage as...wait, I can't use that joke... Anyway, I know I'm late to this party. But if you haven't seen the movie yet -- even if  you don't usually care for superhero stuff, like me -- it's definitely one you want to watch. I might even say it's the best movie I've seen since 2016's Moana.
3. Despite the warnings telling me not to, I've decided to play Hollow Knight with a map. I'm putting this as #4 because nobody will read this far down.
4. We'll get back to the awards later this week. I'm having trouble with Best Soundtrack because...you know, I usually play games on mute...and sounds are a lot harder to look up or remember than visuals or story.
5. I've been hearing mixed opinions about Phoenix Point. Has anyone tried it yet for PC? Is it just polish that's needed, or is it a fundamentally flawed game?
6. Speaking of fundamentally flawed games... WHY IS POKEMON SHIELD SO EASY!? Most of us have been playing these games for 20+ years... At the very least, just put in a Hard difficulty, like EVERY OTHER GAME TO COME OUT IN THE PAST TWO DECADES.

Okay. What is everybody playing now?

 

1. The NFC is a rough place to try and make the playoffs (unless you are the NFC east, but I won't beat that dead horse).  For your Vikings, Chicago vs Green Bay is an interesting match up.  On one hand it would be nice if the bears beat the packers as it would help if the Vikings have aspirations for a home playoff game.  Though a Chicago loss would go a long way towards securing a playoff spot in general should things not go perfectly for the boys in purple.  Idk. Going to be an interesting finish.  

 

2. Pat Mcafee the ex-colts punter has a really interesting interview with Michael Franzese, about the Mob if you are interested in such things.  Otherwise Into the Spiderverse is way better than I was expecting it to be. 

 

3. I did read that far, you aren't slick ?, also maybe a miscount or a joke that went "whoosh" for me. 

 

4. Playing games on mute is an interesting idea, any reason you do that?

 

5. No idea.  Will leave for the better educated. 

 

6. I know right, poor Aerodactyl died for this  

 

Still playing Final Fantasy 15 (my lord this game has a lot of DLCs, but I guess it could be worse since Im enjoying it... mostly) and grinding out Superbeat Xonic on the side.  Rhythm games boys and girls, not even once (he says as he looks at his backlog and sees 2 or 3 more rhythm games that he wants to play).