Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[AJ_Radio]

How were Dark Souls II and III Cassy?

[Cassylvania]

1 minute ago, Spaz said:

How were Dark Souls II and III Cassy?

 

A lot of people hate on DS2 because it was made by FromSoft's B-team, but I liked it. The biggest complaints seem to be that the world feels less organic than DS1, and most of the bosses are dudes in armor. But the mechanics, gameplay, and graphics are on par with DS1, so it really just feels like more of the same to me. In the case of a Souls games, that's never a bad thing.

 

In fact, I'd say the same thing about DS3. The games all felt so similar that they're practically inseparable in my head. Whenever somebody asks me about one of them, I have to Google a list of bosses in that game, because it's really the only way I can tell them apart. The one major difference that comes to mind is that DS3 was the 2016 equivalent of Resident Evil Revelations -- i.e. the game that almost made me quit gaming. It wasn't that it was bad (or too grindy/time-consuming, as was the case with RER), but the Dancer of the Boreal Valley was just too hard. It was the only time in any Souls game -- Demon's and Bloodborne included -- that I simply couldn't do it. It's strange too, I guess, because she's rarely ever included on a top 10 or even top 25 list of hardest Souls bosses, but the execution it requires to beat her, mixed with my low HP at the time, made it a slaughterhouse...and I was the pig. I think it took me eight months to finally beat her.

 

To this day, I don't know why I hit a wall there. But I guess everybody has their bane. Superman has kryptonite, Batman has the Joker (or, uh, Bane), and I have the dual-wielding sword bitch.

 

All three games come highly recommended.

 

Anyway, I'd like to introduce you guys to the rest of my team in God Smores. We now have a chick with blue hair (Blue), a guy with emo hair (Emo), and a mysterious swordsman with a checkered past and a scar across his face (Cliche). Wait, scratch that last one. I thought he was about to join my team and somebody else did instead. But I don't want to throw out any spoilers, so we'll just call her...um...Waifu 2. Yes, that won't spoil anything.

 

And I do believe, with that, we have completed chapter 3 and are nearly at the end of the game! I was about as instrument to our success as a fork to eating soup.

[AJ_Radio]

8 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

 

A lot of people hate on DS2 because it was made by FromSoft's B-team, but I liked it. The biggest complaints seem to be that the world feels less organic than DS1, and most of the bosses are dudes in armor. But the mechanics, gameplay, and graphics are on par with DS1, so it really just feels like more of the same to me. In the case of a Souls games, that's never a bad thing.

 

In fact, I'd say the same thing about DS3. The games all felt so similar that they're practically inseparable in my head. Whenever somebody asks me about one of them, I have to Google a list of bosses in that game, because it's really the only way I can tell them apart. The one major difference that comes to mind is that DS3 was the 2016 equivalent of Resident Evil Revelations -- i.e. the game that almost made me quit gaming. It wasn't that it was bad (or too grindy/time-consuming, as was the case with RER), but the Dancer of the Boreal Valley was just too hard. It was the only time in any Souls game -- Demon's and Bloodborne included -- that I simply couldn't do it. It's strange too, I guess, because she's rarely ever included on a top 10 or even top 25 list of hardest Souls bosses, but the execution it requires to beat her, mixed with my low HP at the time, made it a slaughterhouse...and I was the pig. I think it took me eight months to finally beat her.

 

To this day, I don't know why I hit a wall there. But I guess everybody has their bane. Superman has kryptonite, Batman has the Joker (or, uh, Bane), and I have the dual-wielding sword bitch.

 

All three games come highly recommended.

 

Anyway, I'd like to introduce you guys to the rest of my team in God Smores. We now have a chick with blue hair (Blue), a guy with emo hair (Emo), and a mysterious swordsman with a checkered past and a scar across his face (Cliche). Wait, scratch that last one. I thought he was about to join my team and somebody else did instead. But I don't want to throw out any spoilers, so we'll just call her...um...Waifu 2. Yes, that won't spoil anything.

 

And I do believe, with that, we have completed chapter 3 and are nearly at the end of the game! I was about as instrument to our success as a fork to eating soup.

 

Nice to hear your thoughts.

 

I bought Dark Souls a few years back but just never got round to playing through it. I may play it this summer after I finish The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

 

Yeah, Witcher 3. Could take me a solid 150 - 200 hours or so depending on how much side content I want to do.

 

It's very, very difficult for me to play a game beyond 50 hours or so. That's when I start to play other games.

 

So what was so terrible and awful about Resident Evil Revelations?

[Cassylvania]

10 minutes ago, Spaz said:

So what was so terrible and awful about Resident Evil Revelations?

 

Raid Mode. Basically, they broke the main campaign down into twenty sections or levels, and you're required to play through each of them on three difficulties (easy, medium, and hard) and to get S rank on all of them. So, that's sixty levels right there. But then there's also the ghost ship level, which is actually the entire game all over again, except it's like a speedrun. And there are two variations of that. But don't worry -- you won't be able to do the harder variation right away. Instead, you'll have to keep grinding those stages over and over again for levels and weapons.

 

Still not enough for you? We got you covered! While you're grinding out those stages, how about you do it at a lower level than is recommended, kill every enemy in the stage, and do it all without taking any damage? Wait, you thought that was optional? Oh, haha -- no, that's required for the bonuses. You'll need 150 of those if you wish to see your precious platinum.

 

This is AFTER you've already played through the game twice, mind you.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

Well, I've gotten to the grindy part of God Smores. You see, each stage has six treasures on it. Three of these treasures are in chests that are in plain sight, but the other three are hidden around the stage and can only be found by using the "Search" command. Which searches a single tile. Which is dumb. There are items and skills that search a wider area, but you still have the traverse the entire map, checking every nook and cranny blindly. I say, to hell with that. Grab yourself a walkthrough and a beer, and tell those collectibles where they can shove it. Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

I've chosen Waifu, Booger, Bunny, Bear, and Blue as my final five. Mostly because everybody else is already maxed out. The other annoying thing about treasure hunting is that you still have to deal with enemies on the map. They're not a big deal to kill (usually), but it does waste time. Plus, the battle is over as soon as the last enemy is dead (or the boss, as I just found out), which means you gotta keep at least one alive until you've gathered up all of the treasures. I've been using Waifu and Booger to kill enemies, Bunny and Bear to run, jump, and shadow skip across the map in search of goodies, and Blue to...blow bubbles. Seriously. That's her main attack.

 

So, let's see... 27 maps...times six treasures per map... That's, like...EIGHT HUNDRED TREASURES I gotta find. Damn.

 

Somebody check my math.

[Jens]

[...]

Edited September 27, 2019 by Jens

[Briste]

So this is kind of off topic, but got me thinking and I wanted to ask you guys. When I was driving home from work yesterday, Metallica's song 'One' came on the radio. I haven't heard this song in a couple of years and while i was listening, I started having flashbacks to playing Final Fantasy II on the SNES when I was in 6th grade. I discovered Metallica that year and at the time the ...And Justice for All CD was my favorite. I remembered that I used to turn the volume down on my TV and ...And Justice for All became the soundtrack for FFII (SNES).

 

I was driving and suddenly was remembering traveling up the Tower of Zot and walking on the moon searching for Bahamut. I started to think if there were any other games that I played where a song or CD would trigger a similar memory. The only one I could think of off hand was with Cassylvania's Symphony of the NIght. I was heavy into Alice in Chains when I played that game and the CD Best of the Box became the soundtrack. The song 'Lips of an Angel' gets me thinking of Final Fantasy VII, but for a different reason. Someone made a pretty good youtube music video of that song to clips from the Final Fantasy 7 movies so that link is not from actual game play.

 

I've played those games with their original scores and they were all great in their own right, but I was wondering if any of you have any songs that trigger memories of specific games.

 

On a side note, I was a man possessed last night in Dark Souls and in just 45 minutes I beat, Seath, Moonbutterfly and Sif and upgraded the weapons associated. I only have two weapons left which I'll need to get in NG++. All I have left for this play-through is Four Kings, Bed of Chaos and Gwyn. I may actually get this game done this weekend

 

[Cassylvania]

On 4/11/2018 at 7:43 AM, Jens said:

Does it at least serve any reasonable ingame purpose or is it just dumb trophy-filler?

 

Well, the treasures are items and gear that you can use for your characters, so they're useful in theory. The problem is, on the easiest difficulty, I've only had to use consumables for a handful of battles (namely, one), and upgrades aren't really necessary. Thus, it's just a chore -- made even worse by the fact that the game doesn't keep track of what treasures you've found, AND the treasure chests are replenished after each battle.

 

Not the best programming I've seen.

 

On 4/11/2018 at 10:25 AM, Br1ste said:

I've played those games with their original scores and they were all great in their own right, but I was wondering if any of you have any songs that trigger memories of specific games.

 

Hm. You're actually playing the game that I associate with most songs I listen to. While I like the soundtrack in Dark Souls (or the lack thereof), I've always found it more fitting to play really epic music when you're facing a boss on that attempt when you just KNOW you're going to win.

 

Other than that, I been listening to a lot of 90's music lately (as you know), and much of it reminds me of games I used to play when i was a kid. Well, not just games, but that whole period of my life. It's strange because I've grown to like a lot of music that I wasn't fond of back then, like the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls. I wonder if it has anything to do with it being so much better than what's played on the radio today.

[Briste]

On 4/12/2018 at 1:33 PM, Cassylvania said:

It's strange because I've grown to like a lot of music that I wasn't fond of back then, like the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.

The same thing has happened to me. I was mostly into alternative rock with a hint of thrash metal (Metallica, STP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc) back then and really hated everything else (Dave Matthews Band, N'Sync, Dr. Dre, etc). Now I find I like all of that stuff. I think I hated it at the time more on principal than me not actually liking it. All the 'preppy' kids were into DMB and N'Sync were studio creations and Dr. Dre was for people that wore their pants too low. I never even really listened to that kind of music and didn't like it based on the people who I thought were listening to it. It wasn't until college when I met a more diverse group of people that I was actually really exposed to these styles of music and learned I actually liked most of it and was treating it unfairly due to my own prejudice. This musical epiphany actually helped me to go into most situations with an open mind, since not everything I had heard or been told to believe turned out to be true. I still can't get into country...but I have at least given it a try!

 

So I got the Platinum for Dark Souls last night! I felt kind of dirty about it since I beat Gwyn the second time on an accidental terrain exploit I stumbled into. I was going to attempt tanking him with Havel's Gear and Iron Skin and just wail on him with a 2 handed great axe. I stayed right near the fog door and he did his initial jump into me which I blocked and countered...then he kind of did a jump strafe to the side, where he was up against the wall next to the fog gate. That terrain was elevated just high enough where all of his sword swings and body grabs were going over my head, meanwhile I was able to whack his ankles with my axe. I ended up beating him and only getting hit on that initial onslaught since all of his attacks missed me. Not sure how easy that would be to duplicate but considering what a pain in the ass he was for me the first go around, I wasn't going to complain...but it still was kind of a cheesy way to beat him. After that, it was just a matter of getting to the giant blacksmith which I was able to do relatively painlessly

 

Next up on the docket is going to be the FFXV DLC's to 100%. I'm hoping I can get most of that done in the next week since I pre-ordered God of War 4 that is coming out next week and I'm completely buying into the hype. According to the critics, it's going to be the greatest game ever created. Obviously it is going to be a little disappointing since I don't know how anything could live up to that hype...but I'm all in nevertheless! After GoW4 I'll be cycling back to Dark Souls 2 and the rest of the series.

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

[Avalynch]

Been lurking for a while, don't post very often. Definitely haven't read EVERY single post here... or maybe I have...

 

Reached level 50 on TERA, it's not very difficult as long as you grind the minigame "Kuma's Royale", which is about giant blue babies, sumo wrestling other giant red babies, and also trying to kill another giant...er(?) blue/red baby! The minigame gives you Exp scaling with your level, right now the main quest would give me 20k-40k~ exp, and this minigame gives me 24 MILLION exp every time I earn a win.

 

Finished up all routes on Psycho Pass: Mandatory Happiness, finished 3 routes without a guide, but got very frustrated because choices you made 3 hours ago could lead you into a dead end, game over ending, and I was repeatedly getting the exact same endings despite my playthroughs being completely different. Now time to tackle more of that fun minigame I'll probably have to play 1000 times!

 

These trophies look good for some milestones, but I have no idea what the gameplay is like yet.

 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophy/7512-death-road-to-canada/24-anime-syndrome

 

https://psnprofiles.com/trophy/7512-death-road-to-canada/1-canada-champ

 

Back to lurking!

[Cassylvania]

@Br1ste Nice job! Remember: cheese is good for you. It's not your fault the developers overlooked something. If they want to leave bugs and glitches in their game, it's your right to take advantage of them. I'd expect nothing less!

 

Also, I remember that NG++ run to reach the giant blacksmith being truly epic. No longer are you struggling to beat bosses or dying to every little thing in your way. Instead, YOU are now the demon, and the enemies should be running from YOU. I don't think I even bothered to stop at a bonfire on my way to Anor Londo.

 

I look forward to doing that again in the remastered version. (And I hope you eventually pick it up to and play through again as a different build!)

 

As for me, you're probably thinking Booger and Waifu is a harder game than I've been giving it credit for, since I still don't have that platinum. Well, you're wrong. So, so wrong. It's actually SO easy that I haven't been able to stand playing more than an hour or so each day. Each map only takes about ten minutes to complete if you're trying to collect all of the treasures, so I've just been doing three or four maps each day. I finally finished all twenty-seven maps last night. Now, you could make it easier on yourself by collecting the treasures your first time through each area (you know, during the main campaign), but it's probably easier to wait until the end, because you'll be a higher level and can more easily keep track of which treasures you've collected and which you're still missing.

 

Oh, and Ava just posted something while I'm tying this, so I guess I'll reply to that!

 

@Avalynch TERA looks interesting. I'm not sure it's my kind of game (what do you mean it's exactly my kind of game?), but I like that you can solo your way to level 50. I'll probably stay clear for now just in case they add some ridiculous DLC trophies, but we'll keep an eye on it. Only one eye, though. We gotta keep another eye on God of War. The fourth one, I think. Not the trilogy. Or the stand alone games. Or the game that I'm playing now that you would think is God of War but is actually God Wars and also has a subtitle just like every other game in modern times even though there were no prequels to this game that I know of and I can't imagine them making a sequel either and I'm not even bother to put any punctuation in this sentence and hey I could be a game reviewer 7.8 too much water well I'm not very good at that nevermind.

 

BLECH.

 

Expect a new platinum today.

[Cassylvania]

Platinum #107 - God Wars: Future Past

 

The Adventures of Booger and Waifu have come to an end! For some reason, the boss' final form was about ten times easier than the first form. (And, yes, I did have to do both battles manually, as the AI doesn't use items.) Hilariously, though, you can see by my time stamps that some of the trophies I saved for last were among the easiest in the game, such as shopping for the first time. That's just to show you how easy this game was. And yet, for what it lacked in difficulty, it made up for in time. Gotta love the JRPG grind.

 

A word of advice for those of you who want to attempt this auto-platinum: use the Japanese voice overs. It doesn't matter if you can't speak the language. Just do it.

 

Your ears will thank you.

[Avalynch]

Adding to my previous post, currently level 62 in TERA Kuma's Royale now gives me 600 million exp per win, instead of 24 million. Current quests still give me only 20 - 40 thousand exp, so it's kinda amazing. Glad the trophy didn't glitch like some others talked about. Congrats on the long, and grueling plat Cass! What's wrong with le engrish voices? Writing this on my PS4 now instead of PC trying to keep it short because lack of keyboard. XD.

[Cassylvania]

4 hours ago, Avalynch said:

Adding to my previous post, currently level 62 in TERA Kuma's Royale now gives me 600 million exp per win, instead of 24 million. Current quests still give me only 20 - 40 thousand exp, so it's kinda amazing. Glad the trophy didn't glitch like some others talked about. Congrats on the long, and grueling plat Cass! What's wrong with le engrish voices? Writing this on my PS4 now instead of PC trying to keep it short because lack of keyboard. XD.

 

It's just...not very good. Waifu's voice actress is fine, but the rest are cringeworthy. (And this is coming from someone who played RE1 not too long ago.)

 

That's expected with anime, though. English dubs just aren't usually that great.

 

Anyway, I'm going to let you and the others tear up the gaming world this week. I need a little break from the PS4. When I return, we have a few major goals, which will include beginning Life is Strange: BtS, tackling Batsman's combat challenges, and trying out Shantae's newest DLC. We also have the 5k milestone coming up. I know we have roughly a couple hundred trophies to go, but it's never too early to start planning for the future! Or should I say the FUTURE PAST?

 

Because that's the subtitle for Booger and Waifu.

 

Which isn't even their real names.

[Cassylvania]

WHAT UP, IT'S CASHIE.

 

Well, after letting my PS4 play itself for the past two weeks, I've decided to embark on a brand new adventure. This one hits a little closer to home. I've been watching the PS store for a while now and they finally put the two classic Harvest Moon games on sale for a reasonable price ($6 a piece). As someone who primarily played Nintendo growing up, I have to admit that I'm not really familiar with A Wonderful Life or Save the Homeland, which means we'll get to experience them together. For my first game in the series, I've decided to start with AWL, because it has more players. No, really. That's my only reason.

 

Now, as in tradition with HM games, we'll be naming our main character Jack, our dog Pooch, our farm the Latte Farm, and every animal will be named after a brand of food (e.g. cows will be chocolate bars, chickens will be candies, etc.). I've been doing this since I was about twelve years old, so we can't deviate now. It's the law of the land.

 

What's great about HM games is that they're very relaxing and feed the OCD side of me, which will help me get mentally prepared for the Arkham Knight challenges that lie ahead. And if we REALLY want to test the waters, Light of Hope (the newest "Harvest Moon" game) is set to be released at the end of May for the PS4, so it could help us get prepared for that as well. Does it look good? Well, no, but behind every successful farm...is a shitload of weeds. We just gotta pick through them!

 

WE'RE NOW A FARMING PATCH! (Have we actually come full circle?)

[Briste]

Hope you had a relaxing week! It's been a quiet week on my end as well. School vacation week so been busy with the family. Also was at a different location for work this week and didn't really have access to the internet so I'm glad to see I didn't miss too much here.

 

What time I did have this week I spent on the multiplayer DLC trophies on FFXV...which are horrible. After each successful mission, your group camps out together and someone prepares food for you. Depending on who does the cooking, it gives you different stat boosts. Unfortunately, you can't pick who cooks and it is completely random. I was looking for a crafting boost to upgrade my weapons since I was pretty under-leveled for the final boss. I spent about four hours doing the quickest mission possible to hopefully get that particular cook to show up and he never did...I ended up saying screw it and went in with pretty non-optimal gear. It took three tries, but I was able to beat him. I have two more missions to do which should be about an hour and then I'm done with the multiplayer DLC.

 

I just got the text alert that my GOW 4 game has arrived  That will be my sole focus for the next week or so. It seems like a pretty easy Platinum based on the game page here, but I'm going to see Super Troopers 2 on Saturday night and then I am going to see Infinity Wars on Thursday night at a midnight showing so I have plenty of distractions. I took Friday off of work so I'll probably get pretty far in GOW then.

 

I've heard of Harvest Moon, but I've never played a HM game and really have no idea what it is about. It's not what I was expecting based on the trophy list. I really shouldn't be surprised since the word Harvest is in the title...but I was. It's starting to feel like spring out here so I think you picked a well themed game for that. Happy farming!

[Avalynch]

My sister wants to get Stardew Valley, so I might be farming a bit too! Never played any Harvest Moon game, closest game I've played would probably be Animal Crossing. Got the plats for Psycho Pass Mandatory Happiness, and Final Fantasy VII. Don't know why, but I wanted those 2 games, and Batman to be back-to-back plats because of the white backgrounds in the game images. Surprisingly Psycho Pass was much more of a grind than FFVII. Now wondering which game I want to focus on more, Bloodborne, Outlast, Amnesia, or Destroy All Humans 1 / 2.

[Cassylvania]

 @Br1ste I'll be interested to know if GoW4 lives up to the "BEST GAME EVER" hype. That's a series that I'm still on the fence about beginning again. I think I've played the first two, but not the third one, which I think was remastered for the PS4. But unless they remaster all of them, I probably won't even bother.

 

Same with Mass Effect. Played the first two, liked them, but not going to play the new one unless they remaster the whole trilogy. That's the only way I can keep my backlog from overflowing.

 

@Avalynch Stardew Valley is pretty great. In fact, it's probably a better Harvest Moon game than the last several real Harvest Moon games. I've played it on and off for the past couple of years on my PC, but...well, you know, I'm not much of a PC gamer. Games were meant to be played with your butt on the couch (or an old beanbag chair) and a controller in your hand. I haven't bothered much with the Stardew Valley achievements, but there are definitely some long/hard ones on there. It could easily be an 8/10 difficulty, 100+ hour game, but I haven't looked it up.

 

Animal Crossing is pretty similar to the Harvest Moon series. I always kinda wish they combined the two, since AC is a little more procedurally generated, while HM has more structure and story. Don't Starve is a good compromise between the two, but obviously that's much more of a high stress kind of game.

 

The basic idea in most HM games is that your father or grandfather just passed away and he wants you to take over his rundown farm. You spend the first couple of years clearing out weeds and rubble, cultivating the land, making friends with the townsfolk, and basically developing a daily routine that can help turn a profit -- whether it be through crops, livestock, fishing, mining, or some combination of those things. Along the way, there are all sorts of cutscenes you might encounter, with the people you make friends with or the guy/girl you're trying to woo.

 

One of the reasons Harvest Moon is probably my favorite game series of all-time is that it strikes the perfect balance between being a free-roaming game (like Minecraft or The Sims) and being a story-based game (like most others). There's no right or wrong way to play it, but there's still a world around you that is impacted by the decisions you make. You can make friends, you can make rivals, and you can farm as much or as little as you want. And the ever-changing worlds keeps you on your toes. You might wake up one day and it's raining, so your usual routine of watering your crops changes. Maybe you use that extra time in the morning to go to the mine. Or maybe you pick some flowers to give to that redhead on the next farm before that jackass Cliff steals her away from you. Or maybe you just go hit up the bar and get drunk, because Karen is better anyway.

 

Unfortunately, HM:AWL has not aged well. The graphics are not very good, the controls are clunky, and farming is almost pointless. It didn't take me long to realize I was better off buying animals and foraging for plants to make money. Your character gets tired too easily to waste time watering crops, and most of the trophies require befriending the townspeople, so your time is better spent talking to them and giving them presents. There's also this REALLY annoying mini-game called Territory Control that you have to win at like ten times. You only get one chance per day, and I lost at it four days in a row. Fortunately, I think I got the hang of it now.

 

I also had a little scare with my PS4 yesterday. It shut off and refused to turn back on. I think I told you before that it had been sounding like a jet engine before. Well, I finally mustered up the courage to open up the damn thing (the warranty is expired anyway), and it was filled with dust. I got a can of aerosol and sprayed it, and it seems to work now. Just going to keep an eye on it tonight...

[CJ_Mystery]

On 4/16/2018 at 7:13 PM, Cassylvania said:

trying out Shantae's newest DLC

Having just platinumed Shantae for PS4, I can definitely say that the costume pack DLC is definitely worth the money. I just completed the Officer Mode run (one the regular game clear) and will probably go for the remaining win screens later since I've already done a speed-run of the original story to get the last trophies for the platinum. Good luck and and have a good rest.

30 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

Stardew Valley is pretty great. In fact, it's probably a better Harvest Moon game than the last several real Harvest Moon games. I've played it on and off for the past couple of years on my PC, but...well, you know, I'm not much of a PC gamer. Games were meant to be played with your butt on the couch (or an old beanbag chair) and a controller in your hand. I haven't bothered much with the Stardew Valley achievements, but there are definitely some long/hard ones on there. It could easily be an 8/10 difficulty, 100+ hour game, but I haven't looked it up.

I might look into that game in the coming months if it's good. I get a little wary about time-management games like Harvest Moon but I am willing to try out something new.

32 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

I also had a little scare with my PS4 yesterday. It shut off and refused to turn back on. I think I told you before that it had been sounding like a jet engine before. Well, I finally mustered up the courage to open up the damn thing (the warranty is expired anyway), and it was filled with dust. I got a can of aerosol and sprayed it, and it seems to work now. Just going to keep an eye on it tonight...

My PS4 is filled with dirt in the cracks but I haven't had it die on me or sound funny yet. Maybe because I never let it near dusty places. Sorry to hear your PS4 is dying. You might want to look on Amazon for a replacement just in case.

[Cassylvania]

On 4/20/2018 at 5:52 PM, CJ_Mystery said:

My PS4 is filled with dirt in the cracks but I haven't had it die on me or sound funny yet. Maybe because I never let it near dusty places. Sorry to hear your PS4 is dying. You might want to look on Amazon for a replacement just in case.

 

It seems to be okay. Cleaning it out seems to have quieted it down quite a bit...even if it is still too loud for running what is essentially a PS2 game.

 

I didn't do any hardcore gaming this weekend. I got through two years of Harvest Moon, which go by pretty quick, since each year is only four months (seasons), and each month (season) is ten days. There's not much to do each day other than care for my animals and wait for fruit to fall from my trees (so much easier than actually planting crops), so each day really only takes about two or three minutes. The game, however, appears to be six years long, and it goes through most of Jack's adult life...which is a bit different than the HM games I'm used to. Normally, you have a bit more control of when major life-changing moments happen, but this game seems to force you into one of those at the end of each year. For example, at the end of year 1, my main character decided to marry the bartender Muffy, even though I was having second thoughts by the way she treated my dog. Also, we had a little baby named Jeffy.

 

In year two, I had to care for Jeffy, while listening to Muffy nag about her bad back, and I knocked off some of the more annoying trophies. Unfortunately, there's still quite a bit more to do before I can essentially sleep through the rest of the game. The main challenges now are to befriend the rest of the townsfolk (some of them are annoying to track down, while others require more bribing and blackmail to get them to like me), plant money trees (semi-literally...because banana trees seem to be the best way to make a profit), and get those stupid elves to trigger the "nice" cutscenes, which I knew going into this was going to be a pain. (Like I said before, HM games are usually very cutscene-oriented, but how to trigger these cutscenes is anybody's guess.)

 

The best thing about year three is that little Jeffy is no longer a baby. I'm hoping he'll actually help out around the farm. Ideally, he'll feed the animals and/or take them in the barn when it rains, since that's really the only reason I ever need to leave the house.

 

Yes, that's right. I'm asking yet another game to play itself.

 

Don't act so surprised.

[Briste]

On 4/20/2018 at 5:24 PM, Cassylvania said:

 I'll be interested to know if GoW4 lives up to the "BEST GAME EVER" hype. That's a series that I'm still on the fence about beginning again. I think I've played the first two, but not the third one, which I think was remastered for the PS4. But unless they remaster all of them, I probably won't even bother.

 

Same with Mass Effect. Played the first two, liked them, but not going to play the new one unless they remaster the whole trilogy. That's the only way I can keep my backlog from overflowing.

I'm about three or four hours in and I have to say the game is pretty sweet so far. It is nothing like the previous GoW games and is pretty much a complete reboot as far as game mechanics go. I liked the hack and slash of the previous games, but this is a nice change. My only teeny gripe so far is the position of the camera. It is over the right shoulder similar to The Last of Us, however in TLoU, the combat is more stealth so it's not a problem since you have a pretty good idea where the enemies are. In this game there is much more combat and enemies appearing at random. At times it feels like you are wearing an eye patch on your left eye since your peripheral vision is a little blocked by Kratos. I haven't mastered the 'quick turn' button yet, so I'm doing quite a bit of spinning to get my bearings on who is coming at me. I would have preferred the camera a bit further back similar to in the Souls series...but for the most part it's fine. I feel like there is a lot of TLoU influence in the game. I can see some Skyrim in it. I can also see some Horizon Zero Dawn in it, however they were being developed at the same time so I doubt there was much direct influence. I still haven't hit the meat of the story yet and everything has been fantastic. There is a lot of new things for the series and there is definitely a lot to like. I can't wait until Friday when I have some extended time to sit and play.

 

On 4/20/2018 at 5:24 PM, Cassylvania said:

I also had a little scare with my PS4 yesterday. It shut off and refused to turn back on. I think I told you before that it had been sounding like a jet engine before. Well, I finally mustered up the courage to open up the damn thing (the warranty is expired anyway), and it was filled with dust. I got a can of aerosol and sprayed it, and it seems to work now. Just going to keep an eye on it tonight...

Uggh, this is my worst nightmare lol I'm glad to see you seem to have got it under control.

 

12 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

For example, at the end of year 1, my main character decided to marry the bartender Muffy, even though I was having second thoughts by the way she treated my dog. Also, we had a little baby named Jeffy.

I'm not sure if this is more your sense of humor coming through or game play...but this game sounds pretty funny. it's kind of a bummer you finish games much quicker than I because you make the games sound (when they're good) interesting and worth a play...however I feel like I'll never get to half of them. On that note...I know a couple of months ago you mentioned feeling stuck in the 9000 range for Country Rank. You've made some pretty good headway and are in now in the 7500 range, even with taking it easy for the last week or so...great job! We're getting awful close to summer though...when do you think you'll bite that bullet and finish up Batman?

 

edit...the movie review that no one asked for with Super Troopers 2. The crowd on Saturday was what I expected...people around my age who saw the first one. The original is 17 years old now (god damn I'm old...) and I figured the first Super Troopers is similar to high school kids now what Animal House was to me as a kid...a comedy for old people. When I bought my popcorn and soda, I asked the kid if people were ordering liter cola from him and he looked at me like I had nine heads. He was like "What the hell are you talking about?" I explained to him that it was a pretty big joke in the first movie and I was wondering if anyone was trying to be funny at the concession stand. He was like "Naw dude...you're old." Fair enough kid behind the register...fair enough.

 

The movie itself was ok. The story format was almost a carbon copy of the first movie...so if you liked the first one...you'll get enough laughs from this one but there was nothing really new introduced. There wasn't any really "meow" bit moments or "stinks like sex in here" lines...but it was still pretty good. There was one joke that I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the theater who got. Brian Cox plays Captain O'Hagen again and in the very beginning of the movie, he calls Mac and Mac goes "oh, hey Uncle Argyle." Brian Cox played Uncle Argyle in Braveheart. I was giggling since it was such a random thing to do...but I doubt anyone else in the theater knew that reference so I was the only one giggling lol. Overall I would say you could probably wait until this one comes out and rent it.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Br1ste

[Cassylvania]

7 hours ago, Br1ste said:

I'm about three or four hours in and I have to say the game is pretty sweet so far. It is nothing like the previous GoW games and is pretty much a complete reboot as far as game mechanics go. I liked the hack and slash of the previous games, but this is a nice change. My only teeny gripe so far is the position of the camera. It is over the right shoulder similar to The Last of Us, however in TLoU, the combat is more stealth so it's not a problem since you have a pretty good idea where the enemies are. In this game there is much more combat and enemies appearing at random. At times it feels like you are wearing an eye patch on your left eye since your peripheral vision is a little blocked by Kratos. I haven't mastered the 'quick turn' button yet, so I'm doing quite a bit of spinning to get my bearings on who is coming at me. I would have preferred the camera a bit further back similar to in the Souls series...but for the most part it's fine. I feel like there is a lot of TLoU influence in the game. I can see some Skyrim in it. I can also see some Horizon Zero Dawn in it, however they were being developed at the same time so I doubt there was much direct influence. I still haven't hit the meat of the story yet and everything has been fantastic. There is a lot of new things for the series and there is definitely a lot to like. I can't wait until Friday when I have some extended time to sit and play.

 

It actually sounds a lot like RE Revelations, with the camera issue and the quick turn button. I hope that isn't something that's going to catch on, because it feels so unnatural to press a button for a 180-degree turn when you have two perfectly good analog sticks to work with.

 

I could forgive that in some games, but not third-person action.

 

7 hours ago, Br1ste said:

I'm not sure if this is more your sense of humor coming through or game play...but this game sounds pretty funny. it's kind of a bummer you finish games much quicker than I because you make the games sound (when they're good) interesting and worth a play...however I feel like I'll never get to half of them. On that note...I know a couple of months ago you mentioned feeling stuck in the 9000 range for Country Rank. You've made some pretty good headway and are in now in the 7500 range, even with taking it easy for the last week or so...great job! We're getting awful close to summer though...when do you think you'll bite that bullet and finish up Batman?

 

Three things. First, I wouldn't recommend Harvest Moon: AWL. It's probably the weakest HM game I've played. If you were ever going to try one, I'd suggest one of the earlier Gameboy ones (like Mineral Town) or HM64, which is probably my favorite game ever. I don't know that HM64 would hold up in today's world, but it was the perfect game for its time. And what I mean by that is that it was the kind of game you could play for a few hours or a few days or a few weeks, and you would never run out of things to do. There was just the right amount of townspeople and events and surprises that the gameplay never got stale, even though you were essentially doing the same tasks over and over every day. Unfortunately, in today's world of guides and walkthroughs, a lot of that mystery is lost. Especially on a site like this, where everybody is so obsessed with trophies and completion percentage and getting things "right" the first time, it'd be hard to appreciate the game for what it once was. For the time, though, it was so much fun to pick the game up, explore a little bit, and then trigger some scene you had never seen before. It was like getting a trophy, but you never knew it was coming!

 

Second, I noticed that about my ranking too. I thought I had plateaued, but I guess I'm still moving on up. I think there's a big dead zone around 5k trophies. Like -- and I haven't looked in a while -- but I think just getting to around 6k puts you in the top 3000 in the country. Makes me wonder where I'd be if I hadn't spent years creating new accounts before I settled on this one.

 

Third, I plan on getting to Bats this week. I still can't believe I did waves three and four in Crime Alley without getting hit on like my second try. They didn't count because I got hit in round two, but I didn't actually expect I'd do it without a lot of practice first. Next time, I'm not taking any chances.

 

8 hours ago, Br1ste said:

The movie itself was ok. The story format was almost a carbon copy of the first movie...so if you liked the first one...you'll get enough laughs from this one but there was nothing really new introduced. There wasn't any really "meow" bit moments or "stinks like sex in here" lines...but it was still pretty good. There was one joke that I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the theater who got. Brian Cox plays Captain O'Hagen again and in the very beginning of the movie, he calls Mac and Mac goes "oh, hey Uncle Argyle." Brian Cox played Uncle Argyle in Braveheart. I was giggling since it was such a random thing to do...but I doubt anyone else in the theater knew that reference so I was the only one giggling lol. Overall I would say you could probably wait until this one comes out and rent it.

 

I've seen the first Super Troopers, but I honestly don't remember it. Maybe I'll check this one out when it comes to DVD or Netflix.

 

Speaking of Netflix, I'm still pissed at them for removing King of the Hill. Pretty sure they got rid of Bob's Burgers too. I know I should be over that now, but I've really been itching for another KotH marathon. I used to love to just let that show play all the time. Like, I'd come home from school or work, put it on the big TV, and let it stream the entire evening. If company came over or if I was just by myself, it didn't matter. KotH was on. Never had the volume very loud (usually the lowest setting), but I found it to be the perfect show to leave on as background noise.

 

Football comes in a close second.

[Cassylvania]

Yuck. HM:AWL has turned into a trophy triggering nightmare for me.

 

I have about ten townspeople who refuse to be my friend. (By that, I mean they won't give me the gift I need for their corresponding trophy.) A few of them, I'm locked out of until I can purchase the large field, but I can't purchase the large field until Takakura brings a Tartan home, and I have no idea how to get him to do that. The guide seems to suggest that he'll just do it, but I'm pretty sure he either needs to be my friend, or I need to ask him to buy something in town, or I need to ask him to sell something in town, or some combination of these things. It doesn't help that there's no way of knowing when somebody reaches "friend" status. If there was, maybe I wouldn't have had to give fifty gallons of milk to that quack doctor with one eye. But he won't give me his present either!

 

To make matters worse, I can't get the next "nice" scene to trigger, my cow won't give S-grade milk (even though I've been taking excellent care of her), and that fat merchant who comes to town every now and then isn't selling a goat anymore. I need all of these things for trophies. Plus, I need that large field to grow my banana trees.

 

What a mess.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

Well, things haven't improved. I'm on Year 5, buying a whole barnyard full of cows didn't trigger the nice scene, Tartan is nowhere to be found (even though I've given Takakura everything my farm has ever grown), and I've given up any hope of completing the game on this playthrough. I went ahead and sold all of my animals, chopped down all of my trees, let all of my crops rot, and I'm sleeping through the next two years like some kind of deranged hermit. I do have a backup save that I made at the end of Year 1, but I'm likely going to have to start the game from scratch to get the remaining trophies.

 

The ONLY good thing from all of this is that I at least got Record Keeping out of the way. That trophy required befriending like eight or nine townspeople that I can just ignore on my next playthrough. Unfortunately, I'll still have to befriend a bunch of people to collect all of the tools, I'll still need to make a fortune to buy all of the buildings, and I still have no idea how to get those nice scenes to trigger. I've exhausted every topic and guide on the internet. Nothing works.

 

Come on, Bats. Let's beat the shit out of some hooligans. I need it now more than ever.

 

---

 

LATER THAT NIGHT...

 

Good news, bad news, and oh boy news.

 

The good news is I got the cow nice scene to trigger. I'm not even sure how. I was on the first day of Year 6, walked out of my house, and there the elves were, fawning over the cow I affectionately named AAAAAAAA and never once spoke to, brushed, or milked. Apparently my cow wasn't the nice they were looking for, but the other scenes all triggered on cue, and I had my trophy before the year was over. Which was also the last year of the game. Which brings us to the bad news.

 

I suppose I should have expected this from the game's title -- and the fact that your main character gets visibly and progressively older each year (it's actually every "few years," according to the game's dialogue) -- but the ending wasn't a happy one. I won't spoil anything, but it's pretty obvious, I suppose. At least little Jeffy grew up to be a fine young man. Even if the kid was a douche during his teenage years.

 

There is a Year 7, where Jack is young again. I think it's a clone of Year 3, because he's married to Muffy and Jeffy is still a kid. I'm going to try to get the Tartan scene to trigger, since I'm fairly confident the problem is that it's only available during select years (maybe only Year 2), but that's just my shoddy guesswork. This game is a bigger mystery than the television executives who kept Two and a Half Men on the air for twelve seasons.

 

You may have also noticed that I did not, in fact, beat up hooligans as Batman, but rather started a new game where I get to crush my enemies with my bare hands and drink the blood from their skulls. At least, I think that's what vikings do. I don't know. They certainly don't play good football when it's expected of them. (More on the draft later.)

 

For now, The Banner Saga looks like an interesting game. It's like Oregon Trail meets Fire Emblem. I wasn't really going to start something new, but I purchased this a while back, and it's supposedly a fairly short (16-20 hour) kind of game. Hard, too, which is just my thing. I like when a game can be difficult without being a 100+ hour slugfest. That's slugfest because I feel like I'm making about as much progress as a slug. And it gives me something to do while I ponder what's next.

 

Honestly, I'm thinking about picking up either Ni No Koons 2 or Dad of War. I'll obviously keep working on the games I got going (and we got LiS:BtS coming up too), but it's been a while since my last major AAA title. Like, outside of HZD, I haven't done much of that since last summer.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Cassylvania

[Briste]

@Cassylvania Happy Saturday! HM sounds interesting to say the least and incredibly random. I feel like the randomness would aggravate me so it may not be one that's in my future but I'm glad to hear you got some of those trophies out of the way. I checked the trophy page for Banner Saga and that seems right up my alley. If the page banner is any indication of the graphics, it has a very 1977 "The Hobbit" look to it and if it comes with a chance of dying to Cholera on the Oregon trail then sign me up! I'm hoping you enjoy it and give it a good review.

 

While I'm excited to see what your new game is...I'm a little sad that Batman is getting shoved back into a locker. I feel like that game is the lima beans on your dinner plate for you. Having done it, I can't deny that those trophies are annoying as hell...but you'll feel awesome when you finally get past it. You're sooo close to getting dessert and just need to hold your nose and power through! I bet you could get it done in a weekend np. A few of them you have left are easy like the stopping Penguin and two 'Matter of Family' trophies. Looking at my trophies, I got those three combat ones you have left on the same day and it took me about eight hours. Based on the times stamps, it looks like I completed them on my day off from the Casino when I was doing overnights so was able to dedicate the time in one day. I remember being frustrated and annoyed with all the close calls and I was a little rusty since there was a two week break in between me getting the Platinum and the DLC being released. I am hardly a pro at those games and considering some of the difficult games you've done, I bet you could get it done in a similar amount of time. That 'A' game is getting mighty far down your list

 

If you do decide to go with Dad of War...you won't be disappointed. I haven't had a ton of time to play consecutively, but I'm making great headway. The story is quite good and the combat is getting better as I get more proficient (I'm liking bare hands the most so far). I could be a little further, but I went and saw Infinity Wars the other night so that took about three hours away. No spoilers on the movie, but WOW! and yet not quite as WOW! at the same time because it can't be that WOW! I'm going to a comedy show tonight to see Anthony Jeselnik so that will be another abbreviated night of play...but tomorrow my wife is going to visit a friend who just had a baby so provided my kids naps cooperate...I should get a good session in.

 

I am currently conflicted about whether to explore the areas I've discovered or to continue the story and come back. I generally like to explore everything as I go...but I'm quite interested in the story and there are some roadblocks preventing you from exploring areas completely until you get to certain parts of the main story so I may continue down the main path for now.

 

NFL aside...I don't know anything about the college prospects outside of the radio/TV hype, but I have been semi-paying attention to the draft so far. Nothing sexy about what the Patriots or Vikings have done so far but have you been keeping any kind of tabs?

 

On 4/23/2018 at 6:44 PM, Cassylvania said:

Speaking of Netflix, I'm still pissed at them for removing King of the Hill. Pretty sure they got rid of Bob's Burgers too. I know I should be over that now, but I've really been itching for another KotH marathon. I used to love to just let that show play all the time. Like, I'd come home from school or work, put it on the big TV, and let it stream the entire evening. If company came over or if I was just by myself, it didn't matter. KotH was on. Never had the volume very loud (usually the lowest setting), but I found it to be the perfect show to leave on as background noise.

I used to do the same thing with South Park, The Simpsons and Family Guy, but I have been doing that more with movies I've seen a million times recently. I tend to do this more than listening to music. When I was younger, I used to have a CD or something playing on my stereo when I was doing stuff, but now it has morphed into TV. Not sure why, especially since my whole library of songs is portable with my iPod...but here we are.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Br1ste