Kill Your Completion V

[Kevvik]

Game #9: Guacamelee!

 

Day 1/Initial Impressions

 

Time played: 4.5 hrs

 

So this has been in my backlog for ages but I am finally getting around to it. I also have the PS4 version sitting in backlog and while I won't chase right into it after this, I can definitely see myself replaying this later as I am having a blast!  I had played Severed through during a previous KYC and Drinkbox has shown themselves to be a quality game maker.

 

Guacamelee! is a 2D beat-em-up Metroidvania where you start out as Juan, a big but simple villager. After helping the village priest with some stuff at the church to get ready for the Day of the Dead, you are off to see El Presidente's daughter who is an old friend/love interest when there is an explosion at El Presidente's house. Arriving there, you find a demon is stealing away with your (maybe someday) girlfriend. After being killed trying to stop him, you sort of revive, wander by the Luchadore statue in the town square and are chosen by a magic Luchadore mask to become its new owner. You use your newfound powers to try to rescue the girl and save the world from a demon who wants to merge the land of the dead with the land of the living.

 

This is a fun beat-em-up with some platforming. You expand your combat learning new skills as you progress through the story, some skills also working to destroy obstacles to your exploration. You find chests with money, health and endurance upgrades. Enemies become more complicated, obtain shields and get tougher. Add in the usual boss encounters and you get simple, optionally deep yet incredibly enjoyable combat. There are also a few side missions for extra bonuses.

 

The platforming is serviceable and at times difficult as you throw in a few variables like moving between light/dark worlds, special moves like wall-jumping, walls being present in one world but not the other, enemies which can only be struck while in the appropriate world and jumping puzzles incorporating moving between the two, sometimes mid-jump.

 

I'm loving this though some complex combos seem to be difficult for me. Characters on both sides of the divide are interesting, each with their own motivations. The graphics are really well done as is the music. After having had so little gaming time this week, I really haven't wanted to put this down, just like I always looked for an excuse to do "just a few more rooms" in Severed.  This is going to keep me busy over the next few days.

 

Trophies earned: 25/61 (including DLC), 27% for C rank

Score so far: 8.5/10

[Myu]

19 hours ago, Kevvik said:

 

One reason for the weak little ones giving you so much xp is because they are resistant to your mechs attacks. If you are spamming spells on them, they go down fast but your mechs will only do like 0-2 damage on them. Sort of like metal slimes in Dragon Quest. Find the right attack and they drop fast for ++xp, wrong attack and you can beat on them forever until they flee, leaving you high and dry.

 

I didn't get as far as you when I played earlier this month but so far I would definitely say blue tower would be the best grinding location.

 

That explains so many things! 

As long as the girls can defeat all the enemies in one turn, I leave them on the front but battles in the last dungeon are really something else and I definitely have to use the Guardians now (x3 attack + x6 crit is devastating!). 

[Metal Slime King]

The story in Guacamelee sounds surprising similar to Splatterhouse, though I'm sure they play nothing alike.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #11: Alienation

Final Review

Total playtime: about seven hours and thirty minutes

Trophies: 11/42 for a C rank

 

a twin stick shooter

standard alien war story

but a lot of fun

 

Spoiler

finished the story missions (and the final mission, which somehow doesn't count as a story mission in the trophies) today with @MarkusT1992 and @vin_rob.

 

As I said yesterday, the game has a standard story, it's just a twin stick shooter and it should be pretty forgettable. Yet still... It's a well made twin stick shooter, with good graphics, nice progression and good controls, making it cool to play.

 

I had a lot of fun playing this, and I would advise people to not play this alone but rather together with a few others.

 

What I'm still wondering is, since it's a four player game... How come there are only three character types?

 

Alienation final score:

Next up: Hopefully Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood, if my PSVR order gets delivered tomorrow. 

Edited November 26, 2017 by Cubone

[Kittet3]

Got a little behind on these reviews, but I’ll do Oxenfree today. I’m finishing up playing Faery so I’ll do that review tomorrow and I’ll be back on track.

 

So I didn’t get far in Oxenfree and spent most of my time replaying the first section, getting bored of it, quitting, and then repeating the first three steps. I’m an expert on everything you can do on that boat now.

 

My biggest issue with this game is that everything is so small on the screen. If it was a VITA game, I wouldn’t have so much issue, but it’s not enjoyable to have to sit so close to a television to even get an idea of the environment. I have no idea what any of the other people look like or what they are doing half the time, which is frustrating. The beginning is also very lackluster (I assume it must get better). The text on the screen isn’t the biggest and it’s not in a consistent location, so following along is difficult.

 

That’s really all I have. I played for about 2 hours divided into many different sessions and didn’t get a trophy. I’m thinking I’ll remote play this to my vita sometimes in the future and finish it then.

 

On the plus side, I’m now on my highest trophy streak ever. Also, Faery is turning out to be a much better game, so that review will be more positive.

[Metal Slime King]

Game #8 - Strike Vector EX

I guess this would be an arcade flight game. It's not a simple shooter where you're stuck to a path through a level and it's not a full blown flight simulator where you have to watch your fuel and altimeter. You freely navigate your futuristic fighter ship around these giant floating mining ships and try to shoot down enemy fighters, as far as I've gotten in the game that seems to be about it. The graphics are alright, the large ships you're flying through and around and very detailed and interesting. The music leaves a lot to be desired, it's bland and repetitive. The ship controls well and I had little problem navigating. The story so far is really bad and the characters are paper thin.

 

Story chat:

Spoiler

The game starts with you assuming the role of clean-cut Johnny Goodguy. You grew up as a miner but now 'the company' has drafted you to fly a fighter and fight pirates. You're talked through the training level by Punk Girl, who is 'too cool for school' and servers as your wingman. So you shoot down some pirates, then you're challenged to a one-on-one duel by Capt'n Gruff Old Guy which you win, but then you get story-flanked and are given the choice to switch sides or die. So now you and Punk Girl are pirates. Capt'n Gruff is your new bff and you're his right hand man. You go on another mission to shoot down some other pirates. The next mission Capt'n Gruff loans you and Punk Girl out to some lady who is a Commander of some sort. At the first sign of you talking to Commander Lady, Punk Girl goes into a jealous rage, blows up some innocent miners and abandons the squad. That's pretty much where I'm at.

 

I'm giving this game a (+). The controls are decent. While the story is dumb, I like the general aesthetic of space cowboy. Man and machine on the wild frontier. The difficulty ramps up pretty quick but to be fair this isn't really my genre. If you want the plat (which of course you do) then there's going to be some MP grinding involved. Reach Lv45 and a bunch of unique kills. Progress for me on this one looks like it's going to be slow or non-existent. If you're looking for a free flight dogfighting game then this may be the only game in town. I don't know, I certainly haven't played all the games and I haven't been searching for games like this.

Edited December 11, 2017 by mking_63

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #9 - Final Impressions

 

 

Well, I finished my first playthrough of this game, and am not going to do the 2nd one just yet, which is why I'll be starting with my final game later today instead of tomorrow.

 

Anyway, Death of the Outsider was enjoyable until the end. The  main story missions area great and so are side and optional missions. It helps that the gameplay feels smooth, for the most part at least.A minor issue comes with one of the special abilities. In this case "displace", which essentially is a teleport. Getting to the right spot however is a bit fiddly. The ability sort of creates an ghostly image of yourself at the location where you're going to get teleported, but occasionally you can't tell if that spot puts you on top of a lamp post or if it sets you up for a free fall.

 

The locations and characters look pretty good, but neither look amazing. There are also graphical bugs that stand out quite a bit. There's bar in the game in which several people are doing random crap. One of them is holding a glass, while also holding a sword in the same hand, taking sips from the glass and almost decapitating himself in the process. Then there's another one that is sweeping the floor with a broom, out of which a sword sticks out to the side. Kind of odd those didn't get fixed

 

One thing I'm not too fond of, is that apparently "contracts" (side missions) , for which there is a trophy to complete all of, have to be all finished while progressing naturally through the story. I missed one of those and tried to wrap it up through mission select, didn't count for that trophy. There's also no new game+, which kind of makes the upgrades you bought and items you collected pointless to some extent.

 

Overall a good game, with minor annoyances .

 

 

Time played: 12h

Trophies earned 27/31

[Kittet3]

I’m not much for lore, but I’ll give the basics of the game. In this game, you are a faery that was awakened because the mothertree is in trouble. This game really made me wish there were more fairy games. The maps are these lovely nature maps and you fly around the nooks and crannies. It’s a basic turn-based RPG fighting style and most of the game is quest-based for different people.

 

What I really liked about this game is how it did immersion. There’s no mini-map, besides a general map in your inventory. This gets annoying at first, but it really helps make it feel less like a ‘go here and here and here’ type game and more like an explorative game. To complete quests, you have to pay attention and ask the right people. For example, for a quest for finding missing pages, you had to ask several townspeople. They would give you clues about who the right person to ask is, but your quest log won’t hold your hand and update with the clues, you have to listen and figure it out. There are also different ways to finish quests: usually a longer way and a shorter way that includes a lot of fighting.

The flying is also really nicely done. Instead of ‘flying’ along a path, the game allows you to fly everywhere. The levels are designed cleverly enough that you don’t get stuck anywhere and encourages exploration. However, because of these, each level space is relatively small.

 

For the okay, there are only 8 different sets (of 5 items) of clothing for you to find. Each set has its own abilities, but you get a bonus for having a full set. This does encourage exploration, but it’s not for people that like building their character a certain way or mixing and matching the best gear. To make up for it, every time you level up you can mutate a portion of your character to have a special power or ability, which has a lot more options.

 

For the awful, these character designs are really a shame. I can count the ribs on my male fairy partner. My female fairy doesn’t appear to be wearing much at all, it appears her top is painted on and she has a very short skirt. What’s worse is that, when I fly, I get a beautiful shot up my fairy’s skirt and can see a good portion of bare bottom. It’s really a shame because the game has a good creation mechanic at the beginning and, because they limited the number of clothes, they took the time to style each one to your character when you're wearing it, which is a nice dressing mechanic.

 

It’s also really weird that there is no voice-acting, but yet their mouths move as if they are speaking. For how long the trophy guide says this game is, I’m really hoping for more exciting mechanics down the road.

 

In conclusion, I recommend this game just for the level design and flying mechanic alone. It’s a not too complex RPG. I also want more fairy games now.

 

Gameplay: 6/10

[Kevvik]

Game #9: Guacamelee!

 

Day 3 Impressions

 

Time played: 11 hrs

 

This game has been great fun! The combat is challenging, the platforming at times even more so. I've been working my way through the areas, beating up bosses and dead things as well as backtracking to pick up collectibles for money, strength and endurance boosts. I've got all the extra abilities, the last being Goat Run and Goat Fly allowing me to speed up flat walls and fly across chasms by boosting off flat walls. This allows you to explore areas you couldn't previously reach. Did I mention you can turn yourself into a chicken to get through tiny openings?

 

Overall, this is just a great game. I've got the final map to go through though I may explore to try to get all the collectibles before going into it and after the final boss. There will also be another run through for me later for hard mode. That might be a real challenge for me as I'm not the greatest at the combat (my fault not the game's).  Looking forward to finishing up and maybe tagging the DLC at a later date.

 

Trophies earned: 40/48 (+0/13 DLC), 46% for B rank

Score thus far: 8.5/10

Completion Rate: 78.70% (-2.78% for the event)

 

Next up: Deception IV: Blood Ties. (Last one) I'm a little nervous as the middle of the week has not been kind to my gaming time but hopefully I can get a few hours into it.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Kevvik

[Metal Slime King]

Game #9 - Knack

Knack is a unique action platformer where you play a sentient golem comprised of a collection of ancient relics from a long forgotten civilization. As you find relics in a level not only do you regain any lost health but you also accumulate mass and strength. Sometimes you get absolutely huge. It seems to be the main gimmick of the game. You'll always be the size the game wants you to be though so sometimes the game just barfs relics at you before a big encounter. Sometimes you have to spend relics to power a device so you shrink down. Usually at the end of a level you'll just forfeit all your relics for no discernible reason so that you start the next level in you're puny default state.

 

The graphics are very well done. All of the human characters are presented in a cartoonish style but it fits the tone of the game nicely. Combat is simple but effective. You can attack, jump and jump attack. You can also dodge with the right analog stick which is important for avoiding attacks and getting in striking range. Jump attacks are also very useful for interrupting enemy attacks and getting in close for a finishing combo. The camera is fixed and rotates around you at set points through the level. There are some annoying parts where you're moving towards the screen and enemies can pop up unexpectedly in that view. There's a heavy focus on collectibles if you are trying for the plat and they are implemented oddly. There are chests hidden behind breakable walls in the levels but when you find one, instead of being a set thing you randomly get one of the many components required to build special power-ups or unlock alternate forms. Of course you need all the things to unlock all the trophies so you're looking at numerous playthoughs to collect them all. If you have psn friends who have played the game and have opened the chest you just opened then you can choose what they rolled over what you rolled if it's more beneficial.

 

I'm going to give Knack a (). It's a very fun game that controls well. It's interesting and colourful. There are times where you might have to fight with the camera and the collectibles appear to be a bit of a grind. Overall I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for some fun platforming action.

 

Edit

I got the plat in Knack after numerous playthroughs and am downgrading my score to a () due to unnecessary grinding and the pointlessly restrictive save file system. When you open a treasure chest you get random loot which could be a gadget part or a crystal. You won't get duplicate gadget parts which is good but you will get duplicate crystals beyond what is required to unlock the different coloured Knacks and the diamonds are quite rare so eventually you will only need diamonds and you will keep getting trash crystals. I went through normal difficulty at first without getting any diamonds so then I switched over to easy to quickly get through levels and collect loot. When I got to a level where there was a chest close to the start I would restart the game if it wasn't a diamond and I eventually farmed diamonds this way over 2.5 passes through the game. This was when I found out that if you wanted to change difficulty or what flavour of Knack you were playing as you had to start a fresh file that didn't have any of the gadgets unlocked. This just seemed like such an arbitrary limitation to having fun with the game. You can select difficulty and Knacks in Chapter Select but that only lets you play through an individual level and doesn't contain any chests. The simple combat mechanics in Knack don't really hold up to the multiple playthroughs required to plat so what was a fun game on the first playthrough quickly wore out it's welcome. I did like that the hardest difficulty didn't simply make the enemies damage sponges and actually upped the challenge of the platforming sections in areas. After finishing this game I might eventually get Knack 2 but I'm in no hurry, I could wait a long, long time to see if it shows up on PS+.

Edited December 11, 2017 by mking_63

[dizzyshadow]

I lost a few days gaming time last week for various reasons so i have had to shorten my final 3 PS4 games to only 2 days each.

 

 PS4 Game 3- World to the West

 

I picked this up because i enjoyed Teslagrad when it was free on PS Plus last year, i heard this was set in the same world so i thought i'd give it a try. There are various nods to the earlier game, however the gameplay is quite different, it reminds me a lot of earlier Zelda games, think four swords, link to the past or minish cap, you play as 4 different characters who each have different skills, you switch between them as the story progresses, sometimes having control of 1 sometimes 2 (i suspect later in the game you may get control of all of them at the same time) game play involves exploring various areas/dungeons to find items that unlock new abilities and allow you to reach new areas. It really does follow the Zelda formula.

 

The four characters are quite different, there is a teslamancer who can control magnetism, an adventure with a scarf that can mind control wild creatures, a slave boy with a spade & my personal favourite Lord Clonnington a big strong man type who like punching his enemies in the face. The different skills mean they can reach different areas in different ways and while you may be able to get one character where you need them you often have to find a completely different route for another character. 

 

Like Teslagrad it seems like the trophies are linked to collectables so despite being quite a way through the game, i've only unlocked 1, i have seen a few of the other collectables but haven't been able to reach them due to not having the correct skill or character available at that moment. It feels like at the end of the game there will be quite a bit of searching and exploring to find the remaining ones. 

 

If i had any complaints its a bit light on story (although better than Teslagrad which i found completely incomprehensible) and at times it can be a bit unclear what you are supposed to do next. But they really are minor niggles and didn't impact my enjoyment.

 

I wasn't expecting much here but i must say this really is a little gem, i can't recommend this highly enough, it maybe not quite up to the standard of a Zelda game, but it might be as close as we get on Playstation. So if you are a fan then its well worth giving this a try.

 

Trophies 1/37

Completion 51.51%

Future plans:  will likely be the first thing i go back to after the month is over. 

 

next up: should have been the crew, but I didn't realise that you need to online to play even the single player and therefore i need to download the update, which given the size i wouldn't have been able to do within the 2 days available, but that gives me a chance to sub in a new game Cat Quest.

[dizzyshadow]

Vita Game 4: Grand Kingdom

 

I came into this hoping for something similar to Fire Emblem, which ranks as one of my favourite series of all time, it wasn't really what i expected at all, Grand Kingdom is probably closer to a JRPG than an SRPG, However the battle are handled differently to how i have seen turned based games before, when it is you turn you get to move your character around the battlefield and chosse you action, this allows you to get behind characters for attack bonuses and does lead to some alternatives. Its also very open world after a quick tutorial it pretty much leaves you to decide how you want to proceed, you can rush through the story or explore the various other battle modes, however the game also tries to force you to be online for a lot of the functionality to work, which isn't good for me as my vita gaming time comes during my commute when i don't have wifi access,so a lot of the functionality wasn't available to me. 

 

there may be a decent game here but all in all it seemed a pretty mediocre game to me and was one that i tried to avoid playing. I was glad when it was time to put this away. 

 

Trophies 5/46

Completion :51.51%

Future Plans: in no hurry to go back to this.

 

Next Up : Zero Time Dilemma

 

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #10 - First Impressions

 

 

This game looks quite impressive, during gameplay as well as during the cutscenes. The gameplay is fun so far, even though it's based on mostly fetch-quests. Hopefully that'll change further down the line. Some quests can be done during the day others only at night.

 

The combat feels smooth and fluid, which is great. There's different weapon types and elemental spells to use, which enemies can either be resistant or vulnerable to. You get to latch yourself onto specific objects in the environment to regenerate HP and MP and prepare the next attack. You gave a party of 4, but only really control the main protagonist while being also able to give orders to the remaining 3 NPCs.

 

The day and night cycle also has some effect on the gameplay. One of the differences is that you'll have to drive the car ( it's used for traveling from point A to point B ) at night, while during the day you can use the autopilot. The game is also constantly warning you to rest during the night instead of going out questing. I tried once to get some progress done at night and boy was that a mistake. I was level 6 at the time and decided to go for one quest that was reasonably close to the quest giver. Turns out it sure is dangerous trying to get anything done at night, as I was suddenly surrounded by one level 15 and two level 30 enemies. You can imagine that that went horribly wrong. Lesson learned I guess.

 

Anyway, there's a lot of content in this game and I doubt I'll even leave the first area before this event comes to an end.

 

 

PS: Got the plat for Death of the Outsider , so that's another one down.

[jasondm300]

Coming down to the home stretch

 

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

4/40 Trophies 5%

Rating E

3 hours

 

Fair warning, I have never read the manga or watched the anime.  I picked this up due to my love of Warriors style games, and this one was really average.  You play as Guts, a warrior with a massive sword, who makes a living as a mercenary.  While out after a successful fight, he is confronted by the Band of the Hawk and their leader Griffith.  Guts is defeated and his bet was that he would become a member.  I played through the main story through the fight with Zod.  The gameplay is really standard Musou type game, but one of the blandest I have played.  I was hoping for something different, like how Dragon Quest Heroes had a tower defense style level design or Attack on Titan's movement gear.  I may go back at some point, but I have at least a half a dozen other warriors games that I personally believe are better

 

Rime

9/32 Trophies 16%

Rating E

4 hours

 

Rime is puzzle adventure game that is really reminiscent of Ico or Toren to me.  You play as a young boy solving puzzles to enter and climb a tower.  I'm really not getting the story as there is no dialog or verbal story telling anywhere.  There are some keyholes that tell visually what the story is, but due to only finding a few, the whole story hasn't been told yet.  The game is pretty easy for the main puzzles, but there are a lot of collectibles, which kind of hampers on the experience. It does look really pretty, and a complete style change from the last Tequila Works game I played this KYC, Deadlight.  This is probably going to be the 3rd game from this event I will actually complete, with Root Letter already done and Ratchet and Clank I'll finish after the event.  

 

My updated order of how much I personally liked the games from the event

 

1. Root Letter

2. Ratchet and Clank

3. Wild Arms 3

4. Rime

5. Deadlight

6. Mega Man Legacy Collection 2

7. Infamous: Second Son

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. Mark McMorris Infinite air

[PerryToxteth]

Game No. 8

Steep

Final Review

 

 

Trophies Earned: 14/42 21% C ranking

Time Played: 4 hours

Overview: Many have tried but few have succeeded in making a good ski/board winter sports game. The last one I can think of that was worthwhile was Nagano Olympics on PS1. Curling was actually the best sport in that game, but the skiing wasn't bad. When Ubisoft announced  this title, I was interested from the get-go as I trust Ubi for making a full, complete and exciting game. I know people like to use Ubisoft as their favorite punching bag, but I like and trust them, considering they are responsible for some of my favorite games ( AC series, Far Cry series, The Crew, Watch Dogs).

  So did Ubi pull of making a good winter sports game? Well, kinda. 

After playing for four hours, for every good thing I liked, I seemed to find something else that annoyed me. Examples:

Gameplay

?- There's tons of challenges in four disciplines. Snowboarding gets the focus, but you can also ski, wingsuit and paraglide. Challenges have a wide variety, including racing, tricks, timed runs, A to B, etc. As you explore the terrain, more challenges pop up.

?- After a very quick tutorial, the game opens up the mountain to you, but with no guide as what to do. Is there a story mode? Is there a goal I'm to be working at? If I level up my guy, does he get better? None of those questions get answered immediately and I still am unsure what ultimate task I am working towards. 

Mechanics

?- The skiing/snowboarding mechanics work really well. It's by no means clunky, and that's usually where these games suffer. Smooth lines are easy to maintain and maneuvers that are obvious to real life skiers, are actually incorporated into the game. Buttons are pretty simple, even for doing tricks. 

?- As easy as it is to control your dude, it's frustrating you can't look around. Left stick is the control, but oddly, the right stick is not your sight. It's used to brake. So the only way to adjust the camera is to ski in that direction. It was a bad choice by the devs. The camera oddity is even worse when you play the wingsuit challenges. Again, you can't look around with right stick (!), which makes flying through checkpoints at high speed even harder bc the only way to see where to go is to fly in that direction. The wingsuit in Just Cause 3 was far easier to control than in this game, not a good thing for Steep, in that is a primary focus for challenges. 

Graphics/Sound

?- The game looks incredible. The mountains, the terrain, the varieties of snow/ice. The sounds of skiing are there too with clanging poles, sliding over ice. As it is Ubisoft, it's a huge environment to explore.

?- It's an online game, meaning you have to be connected at all times, and other people will be in your game at all times (just like The Crew). That tends to be annoying when you spawn to a start point, and there are three other characters in the EXACT same spot. Yep, a skier with six arms, three heads, six skis, etc. You think it would be an easy fix. And, when you start doing a challenge, people will pop in and out of your game. It's distracting and it makes some challneges way more tough. There are some where you need to follow an AI guy, but with other players zooming in and out, it's hard to keep track of who you are supposed to follow. 

Also, the game overwhelms you with costume choices. They look good, but do people really spend hours of gaming accessorizing their snowboarding character? You can unlock hundreds of goggles, hats, coats, gloves, scarves, jackets, etc., etc. And the soundtrack is abysmal. I know I'm not the demographic for this genre, but the soundtrack reverts to a few specific techno songs that auto-tune the same line over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... 

Trophies: Ubisoft is pretty good at making trophy lists. They usually run the gamut of gameplay and bc their environments are so big, they often reward the explorers with trophies. There are a few tough trophies that are based on gold medalling challenges, and these will be the sticking point for the platinum. 

Final Thoughts: It was a decent effort Ubi. It's not the easiest genre to make games for. In the end, I will come back to this one. It is fun, although by no means perfect. It's deficiencies don't deter gaming enjoyment though. .

 

KYCV Statistics 

Pre-KYC numbers are in ().

Games Completed - Played 88/60    (79/60)

Trophies Earned - 2916                      (2809)

Unearned - 543                                  (330)

Trophy Rarity - 44.15                       (43.51)

Completion % - 82.00                      (88.68)

Down - 6.68%

 

Next Up - Need For Speed (PS4)

 

 

[DamagingRob]

Knack- Final Review

 

I wasn't feeling so hot Sunday, so that's why I didn't have a Day 1 review for Knack. But I managed to complete a playthrough in 3 days. So here's my review of it.

 

Knack is about a war between humans and goblins. And Knack is a creature created by Dr. Vargas, who found a way to bind ancient relics together and give them a consciousness. At first, it seems like Knack will be used solely to fight the goblins, but a certain human wants to use him as a key to unlock a door that holds a great power. A colorful cast of characters, good voice acting, and pretty graphics make it an entertaining story.

 

Gameplay is fairly simple. You can jump and double jump with , attack enemies with , and dodge their attacks with the right analog stick. Doing so makes Knack dash in whatever direction it's tilted. You also have special attacks, which I barely used (takes a long time to recharge the energy, so I played it very conservatively. Probably overdid it :/). These are activated by pressing  and then , , or . Knack will fire a powerful projectile with one, turn himself into a tornado with another, and I'm not sure about the third. 

 

Knack has many different forms he can take, which don't change much except his appearance. Metal, wood, ice, etc. But he becomes bigger, and is capable of taking out enemies faster. A separate health bar will also appear for them, and ice seems to slowly melt when out in the sunlight. Knack can also become bigger with a normal health bar that expands as he does, by collecting more relics. At times, it's like playing as Godzilla with the sheer size he grows to. Lol. 

 

Another of Knack's many forms is the Stealth Knack. This one is used to get past lasers, that would otherwise destroy you when touched. But it's also very ineffective in combat; a single hit from an enemy causes the form to shatter into pieces, which is an instant death. 

 

I have no complaints with the general gameplay or story, so that's good. But what I don't care for, is the thing that is such a hot topic right now: loot boxes. Sure, there are no microtransactions in this game, but they're still annoying. To unlock all the gadgets/Knack forms for New Game+ playthroughs, you are required to find chests scattered throughout the levels. There are only 68 in total. There are a lot more parts and crystals than that needed to unlock them all, so you have to do multiple playthroughs. And when you get down to needing a handful, that's where the real "fun" begins. Since the chests give you random items, and ones you have already collected enough of, you have to rely on chance. And will probably be quitting and restarting the game many times, trying to farm them all.

 

Now, the good thing is, any friends that have played Knack will have their items displayed, so you'll have more to choose from. But I still have not once seen a Diamond, so those will most likely have to be farmed..

 

Other than that annoyance, I still found this to be a really enjoyable game to simply play through. If you don't care so much about trophies, the loot box aspect may not even bother you. But I need to unlock Diamond Knack before trying to beat it on Hard and Very Hard, I think. Which means I will now have to grind, until I reach that point. Then play through it 2 more times.  So yeah.. Overall though, I give it a . 

 

Time played: 10-15 hours. 

Trophy Progress: 17/42 for 27% and a B rank. 

Did it lower my completion? Yep. Now just under 89%. ? Maybe in a couple months, I'll be back over 90. If I'm lucky. 

[dizzyshadow]

PS4 Game 4: Cat Quest

 

 

When my wife saw this on Amazon she thought it was a joke game, she mentioned it to me, but after a bit of research i discovered it was actually really well liked on Steam, so I thought it would give it a go. 

 

You play as a cat who trying to rescue his sister from an evil mage who has summoned dragons to take over the world, now it turns out you just so happen to be a dragonblood a cat who cat fight dragons, who all vanished long ago, so its up to you to save the world. 

 

The game is essentially RPG lite, it has all the elements of an RPG but its done in a very casual way, its the sort of game that would feel at home on an ipad or on the big fish games website, However despite the casual elements and the simple game play it does still take itself seriously and it actually plays very well. 

 

Sure its over simplified but all the elements of an good RPG are there, the gameplay lots of go here do that quests, kill lots of monsters, clear out dungeon basically everything you would do in a normal RPG. Combat basically boils down to hit enemy a few time then roll away before it can attack you and rinse repeat. However there are actually some good ideas as well, for example when you receive a duplicate item instead of giving you a second one it automatically upgrades the one you have to a higher level. Also you play on the map, so there is no pausing to see where you are you just zoom out, it works really well. 

 

But most it importantly it feels fun, it plays quick and smooth, you always know what to do next and the difficulty curve is very forgiving, there are lots of cat puns and dragons, what more could you ask for really. I'm struggling to think of any negatives, but it likely won't be for everyone given the casual nature. But its another game I'd highly recommend.

 

Trophies: 13/23

Completion: 51.29%

Future plans: that's  now 3 games i want to play as soon more of as the month is over, will be interesting to see which i pick.

 

Next up: Far Cry 4

[MarkusT1992]

Game #9: Alienation (Day 1-3)

 

 

@Cubone, @vin_rob and I played  around 8 hours during the weekend and finished the story.

 

During our playthrough I couldn't pay attention to to story. I don't know more than Billy wrote in his review. An alien race called Xenos came to earth and you have to kill them.

You can play as one of three classes. Each class is supposed to take the role of a typical mmo party. You have the tank, the DD and the healer.

Apparently I had the DD in our playthrough althought the DPS of the others primary weapons were higher than mine.

 

To accomplish your goal you have a primary weapon, depending on your class, a secondary weapon, a heavy weapon and an explosive or boomerang. Each weapon is available in different rarities ranging from normal to legandary. The higher the rarity, the better the values of the weapon. The weapons also have a level depending on your own level. The same here: The higher the better.

A good thing is that every player gets his own loot. No need to fight over a weapon. That's a feature every loot based multiplayer game should have.

You can improve your weapons by inserting cores in them. Not all weapons have sochets though. The cores increase one value depending on the color it has.

 

Beneath your weapons you have a few skills you can learn. There are active and passive skills, Each class has it's own active skills but I think the passive ones are the same for all classes.

I had an air strike and an invisible skill. Both are usefull to avoid a larg coud of enemies.

 

Speaking of enemies there is a fair amount of different types. You have your normal cannon fodder type of enemies and the stronger ones. They alll use different types of attacks and look different.

 

I can recommend this game to everyone who wants to have some fun with others. After the weekend I played a bit solo and it's much more difficulte. It seems that the enemies don't scale with the amount of players. You can also set your mission to open. That allows other players to join your game even if you are right at the end of a mission. At the end of a mission each player gets his own chest with loot before evacuated by a chopper.

 

Time played: 8h in coop, about 1,5h in solo

Trophies: 17/42 (16 base game/1 DLC) for 28%

Rating:   if played in coop, otherwise.

 

[Metal Slime King]

Well I fired up my PS3 for the first time since I got my PS4 in April, in order to play some Castlevania - Mirror of Fate and yeah it was a little difficult to go back. I still have so many games to play on PS3 though. So many. Anyways I got into it for a bit and it was pretty interesting. It kind of has the same vibe as Strider, 3D graphics locked to a 2D plane. The camera has a bad habit of jostling around whenever you're jumping. The combat is definitely more complicated than any other 2D Castlevania, borrowing more from the Lord of Shadows games, with light and heavy attacks that can be strung together into combos. Not surprisingly it's a Metroidvania type game where areas can be further explored after you've earned certain abilities. It looks like there are 3 unique phases to the game where you play as different characters; Simon and Trevor Belmont and Alucard. I'll have to put some more time into it tomorrow and see how much progress I make.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

6 hours ago, MarkusT1992 said:

Apparently I had the DD in our playthrough althought the DPS of the others primary weapons were higher than mine.

 

I thought the tank was the damage dealer and the saboteur was supposed to be the sneak... Then again you never did use your invisibility upgrade

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Well, I got my PSVR headset yesterday and I had an hour or two to game, so you know what that means...

 

 

 

 Bonus Game - Spider-Man: Homecoming VR

First day
Total playtime: about ten minutes

 

 

Decided to break in my PSVR set by playing this short no-trophies commercial for the latest Spider-Man movie. It's fun while it lasts but it takes quite a few bits from the Batman: Arkham VR demo so if you have Arkham VR then I'd say the only reason to play Homecoming VR is if you're a Spidey fan.

 

 

Game #12 - Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood

First day
Total playtime: about twenty minutes

 

 

Decided make sure I played this within the event (you asked, @mking_63!). I played the first level, which was pretty cool.

 

It's basically a standard on-rails shooter, while literally being on rails (a carnival ride). This will never be my favourite VR game regardless of how the later levels go but hey, it was on PS+, and it's good enough that I'm not complaining.

 

The idea is that you're on a carnival ride in a creepy deserted carnival, shooting boxes and vases and the likes, until Clownface from Until Dawn puts you on a different track route, where you get real guns and have to shoot creepier stuff, including a different type of horror clown which keep popping up and running/walking towards you.

 

I'm glad that the game doesn't try to be as relentlessly scary as Until Dawn and more goes for a classic type of uncomfortability. I'm not in VR to be scared, per se.

 

The game does the movement pretty well. Most happens in front of you and it takes a while before your cart gets into any real turns/slides.

 

 

Game #13 - Farpoint

First day
Total playtime: about forty minutes

 

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

This game was the high point of my day. It just looks so gorgeous, from the intro, to the actual walking on the planet. The intri made me sad that Elite Dangerous still hasn't got a VR update on PS4, I would rebuy the game instantly.

 

The story is pretty standard and sci-fi nuts shouldn't be surprised at any point (as far as I played, which is the first chapter), but that's nit what matters here. What matters is that you're walking on an alien planet, which looks amazing, even if it's mostly rock and sand.

 

Movement goes well. You can basically walk forward all the time with a few side steps, turning is turned off automatically. I switched it to smooth turning, but it's good that I seldom have to turn, this game is not bad at all on the stomach, contrasting earlier reports I got from people playing the first chapter.

 

A very weird and powerful moment for me was when I realised that when I was aiming, not only was I looking through the sight of a gun... I was actually closing my non-dominant eye so I could aim better. See, this is why VR is awesome, it's the little things. Like looking behind you in the toy room of Playroom VR and seeing *spoiler*.

 

I'm very glad I bought this game and I definitely want to play more. Considering I'm me and Farpoint is a first person shooter, that's really saying something.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Cubone
outlining

[jasondm300]

Quick thought on Risen 3:

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.  This combat sucks.  How can you make pirates so lame? Going to be happy to put this crap away.

 

[DamagingRob]

Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force- Day 1

 

Fang is the worst protag ever. But in a good way. Lol. His desire to wish for all the delicious food he could ever ask for, gets him to pull up a sword like he was King Arthur. In doing so, he becomes partnered with a fairy named Eryn. She tells him to get his wish, he first has to find the Furies and use them to release the goddess. He'd rather just sleep and eat, but wants to make that wish.. So, begrudgingly, we set off to collect Furies. 

 

Along the way, we meet up with some more like-minded individuals and team up with them. There's probably going to be a conflict of interests when they get to the wishing part, though.. Tiara wants world peace, and I don't know what Harley wants yet. To "study" Eryn, I guess? Tiara seems to enjoy being yelled at, and Harley will attempt to take off her clothes when it starts getting hot. Yep. This game is going to have some fanservice. Much more mild than Gal*Gun, though (so far). 

 

Gameplay is pretty similar to the Neptunia games. You pick a dungeon to enter from a world map, and it's usually not very long. Enemies are visible on the field, and you can try to hit them for preemptive battles. Then it's attack, use a skill/item, defend, or try to flee. As you take and give damage, though, a bar starts to fill. Once full, you can select Fairize, which transforms your character. And then they can do more powerful attacks. Pretty much the same as CPU forms in Neptunia. 

 

As you collect Furies in dungeons, you use them on either the vile god or the goddess back in town, and remove swords from their petrified bodies. This will determine what story path you go down. Obviously, freeing the vile god would be bad, and the goddess good. You'll have to fight after doing so, and remove the sword if successful. Plus, whatever Fury you used will have a skill added to their card. You can equip the different Furies to have said skills become active. 

 

Also in town you can talk to NPCs, accept quests, and buy items from the Shop. Other than that, there's not much more to say. But it's been a fairly simple and enjoyable JRPG, so far. The game rattled off tutorial after tutorial, though, so it could get more complicated on my Hard playthrough. :/

 

Time played: 4 hours. 

Trophy progress: 3/30 for 4% and an E rank. 

[MarkusT1992]

12 hours ago, Cubone said:

 

I thought the tank was the damage dealer and the saboteur was supposed to be the sneak... Then again you never did use your invisibility upgrade

Normaly the tank is supposed to tank damage so the others don't die, which you did pretty good according to the damage taken statistic after each mission I guess you had much more health than we had.

Later in the game I actually used my invisibility but only to escape a group of enemies who would have killed me otherwise. Plus my airstrike did a massive amount of damage.

[Kevvik]

Game 10: Deception IV: Blood Ties

 

Day 1+ Impressions

 

Time played: 2 hrs

 

So, to start with, I'm a fan of the old PS1 Deception games so my opinion may be jaded but stuff like this is just plain fun.

 

Storyline: the devil got sealed away by 12 saints like 3000 years ago when he was doing a bunch of really bad stuff in the world. They broke the seal into 12 pieces to keep it from being put back together and letting the devil back out. Fast forward to now, medieval times, the devil's daughter and her 3 demon advisors are hunting down the seal pieces so they can free him. You kill the descendants of the saints by planting traps for them as they chase you around rooms in a castle trying to "kill the witch". Straight forward?

 

Your demon advisors reward you with different types of experience depending on the traps or combo of traps you use to kill your victims. The rewards are for being elaborate, sadistic or humiliating. This helps unlock other traps and abilities. In addition to the traps you have which can be deployed on the grid of the room you are in, each room also has other structures within the room that you can use to your advantage (statue swords, stone pillars and other things which you can use to inflict fatal beatings).  Enemies have different attack methods (swords, bows) as well as their own abilities and resistances to certain types of traps.

 

I've only played through Chapter 1 so far and killed 7 people. It's fun trying to come up with combinations to run your traps through.  There are also challenges that your advisor may give to you (catch an enemy in a bear trap for example) which give you small bonuses.

 

While ive been enjoying this a lot, a negative for the game is that you seem only to be able to save at the end of a chapter. Playing on the vita, I've been able to just sleep it but this would be less impressive if I had it on console or playing through PSNow. Chapter 1 which gives you a walkthrough of sorts with your advisors, before making you kill your enemies again on your own, involved 2-3 enemies in each of 3 scenarios which was time consuming as I tried to meet challenges at the same time as getting good combos. Plus, timing the triggering of traps can be tricky when your enemy is moving around, especially for moving traps. Cheeky buggers just don't stand still and die (not without help anyway)!

 

Anyway, really rocking on this but wish I had more time to really get into it. Oh well, it's the last game of the month so I can keep going with it next month or while away on vacation with just my Vita (and wife) with me.

 

Trophies earned: 4/41, 5% for D rank

Score so far: 8/10

 

Hopefully I will get up to 3 hours on this and get a few more trophies before event's end.