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Darling Baphomet

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Platinum #104: Dirt 5

1Lfbd787.png

 

If you hadn't heard, Dirt 5 got a free week from the first to the fifth; having wanted to try it for a bit, I figured I'd give it a go, and was pleasantly surprised by one of the best arcade racers I'd played in a while. It's absolutely gorgeous, the gameplay is solid; being hard to handle in places but never too much so like some of its cousin games. The game's an easy enough plat, taking ~15 hours to finish the campaign, then a while more to grind miles (for the 10k miles trophy which was luckily reduced to 1k.)

The game has a "story" to its campaign through podcasts, wherein you're mentored by a chill, race for fun legend called AJ and work your way up to defeating the sullen, "racing is serious business" Durand. The characters are a bit stereotypical, but the intermissions on the campaign screen to listen to podcasts was a nice change of pace. The campaign itself was pretty solid, but unfortunately by the end I was getting pretty tired of the tracks. I had considered buying the DLC for this game, but since the DLC campaigns all use levels from the base game, I'd really just be paying for a few shitty cars and... trophies. I mean, isn't that essentially what the new campaigns are? Since they don't give you anything new, they're just an in-game incentive to replay the levels you already own.

The car selection was fairly weak in this game too; they have a bunch of vehicle classes but about a half dozen per class, and the price differences are low enough that it's pretty easy to get the best cars in every class, with no reason whatsoever to touch the mid rank cars.

Anyway, thanks for the free plat, Codemasters! I can't wait for the absolute hell that is going to be the Grid plat, with its un-nerfed 20k mile trophy.

 

Speaking of which... new games. GRID, Heart & Slash, Rock of Ages 3, Sundered, My Memory of Us, 2064: Read Only Memories, and Zombie Driver Immortal Edition - the PS3 version was given away on PS+ a few years ago, and apparently that entitles me to the recently released PS4 port. Cool!

 

Also got The Long Journey Home up to 80%, putting me in the top 5 for completion on this site. Unfortunately one of the trophies is being iffy; the other glitched trophy popped for me and I am now the fourth owner of it, but the other one has had only one achiever on the site, which does not bode well. I will continue to try runs until I get the remaining trophies besides it, and then if that fails, I may try to do a series of story mode runs with no fails, in case failing glitches out the stats; which seems to be the case, because I'm fairly certain I've run into every alien species on successful runs so far.

 

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

Big Pharma

Civilization 6

Stellaris

YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

The Long Journey Home

Do Not Feed The Monkeys

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

Darksiders Genesis

Remnant: From the Ashes

The Forest

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Masters of Anima

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Life Is Strange 2

Generation Zero

Cars 3: Driven to Win

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Civilization VI

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

Underhero

The Flame and the Flood

Nier: Automata

 

Recent Purchases - last 4-5 months

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

 

Neglected Games - 2020

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Wishlist

Cosmic Star Heroine

Trailmakers

Steven Universe: Save the Light

Night in the Woods

Journey to the Savage Planet

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Dead Cells

Astroneer

Bug Fables

Ghost of Tsushima

Immortal Redneck

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

No Straight Roads

Paper Beast

Rock of Ages 3

Superliminal

The End is Nigh

The Magic Circle: Gold Edition

The Wonderful 101: Remastered

The Pathless

The Walking Dead: Sinners and Saints

They Are Billions

Time Carnage

Tokyo Chronos

Wintermoor Tactics Club

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been slacking on updates due to a mix of ADHD and just general fatigue, so here's a smidgen of platinums. Also bought Megaman 11 since I've been listening to the Protomen constantly, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider since it's no longer on PS Now.

 

Platinum #105: Monster Jam Steel Titans

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So... this game. At the core you'd think it has the fundamentals of a good racing game; the graphics are good, the controls are reasonable, and the initial selection of tracks is fairly diverse. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up to that initial promise due to a mix of terrible physics - I really cannot stress just how bad they are; for example, I won one stunt event because I fell over and, while trying to get myself up, ended up spinning wildly for a half minute and racking up enough stunt points to win the event. Your truck will sometimes just randomly do wheelies. Sometimes it just seems to fall over for no reason. Hit a rock? Breakdancing time!

And then there's the track selection; the first cup gives you a fun little selection of outdoor tracks that feature parts of the open world map (not sure why this game needed one). Then the rest of the game purely consists of stadium events. The stadiums aren't large, either - this isn't Trackmania United's glorious stadium - and you end up having to play hundreds of events which are either 1v1 laps around a tiny circle and stunt events (which, due to the terrible physics, kinda suck). By the end of the game I was just letting myself fail the 1v1 ladder events since I could make up the points in the much easier stunt events.

So yeah. Apparently they're making a sequel to this game - if they fix the terrible physics, and if it has a better track selection, I may try it, because as I said, the foundation isn't bad, and I would love to play a, uh... less un-fun version of this game.

 

Platinum #106: Do Not Feed The Monkeys

1L80ed8d.png

 

This is a lovely little indie game about people watching, of a sort. Not so much sitting on a bench in a public park, though, so much as surveillance. The game's morally questionable from the start and outright grotesque in some of the things you can do (and must do, for trophies) - my least proud moment was giving an alcoholic alcohol, leading to their death, because it would give me a friendly little cash bonus.

There are opportunities for good throughout as well, although playing the game efficiently sometimes means passing up those opportunities for more lucrative ones. At the core it's a resource management game, you see - you must balance work, sleep, and eating with being able to spy on people at the right times, so as not to miss important events. At the start the resource management aspects are challenging, but on subsequent playthroughs it gets fairly easy.

Overall this is one of the most unique games I've played, and I'm sure I'll never play anything quite like it again - highly recommend, especially if you can get it on sale, although the game can sometimes be fairly buggy, which is my only complaint with it.

 

Platinum #107: The Sinking City

1L56b075.png

 

Another fun little investigative game from Frogwares - the Sinking City is a major departure from their previous, fairly linear Sherlock Holmes games, as it's a (relatively) open world investigative game where you're free to pursue main cases and side cases at your leisure, in a very atmospheric Lovecraftian setting. This game released within a year of Call of Cthulhu, so I think it's fair to compare the two - The Sinking City is much more a true investigation game than Call of Cthulhu, which is more of an on rails adventure game with investigative elements. The Sinking City actually forces you to examine clues to figure out street addresses and navigate the sometimes very confusing city yourself. The one downside is that it's not quite as scary as Call of Cthulhu; by early-mid game the monsters no longer scared me, and losing sanity quickly loses its punch once you get used to its effects.

This game is an extremely ambitious one for the relatively small studio that is Frogwares, so I'm willing to forgive some of its flaws, but it is fundamentally a very flawed game - I have a laundry list of issues, such as the slow movement speed, the number of collectathon side quests (which, combined with the slow movement speed, really aren't worth doing), how confusing the city can be sometimes - the game has a handy system of marking quest houses with signs, but not all houses have this, so sometimes you're forced to just run around, bumping into doors until you find which one is the right one, since almost every instruction in the game is to some effect of "On so and so street, between this street and that street".

The combat is fairly solid, while nothing unique; by mid game you should have more than enough resources to survive every encounter, and even the toughest encounters can be easily dealt with with a grenade or two.

The investigation part of this game and main story are where it really shines, and it will be what keeps you playing - the characters are pretty solid, as is the story, although it does have the Telltale tendency of giving you choices and then immediately remedying them useless with character deaths. Needing to figure out directions on your own and carefully comb each location for evidence definitely gives it a more authentic investigative feel than any other game I've played.

 

Platinum #108: Cars 3: Driven to Win

1L2e8013.png

 

Cars 3 is a very solid arcade racer - very refreshing after having to deal with Monster Jam: Steel Titans. It has just about everything you could expect from a 'kart' racer - tight controls, drifting, stunts, and weapons. Chaining boosts is satisfying, as is maximizing tricks and finding shortcuts on levels. The track selection is also pretty solid, having ~20 or so tracks. My biggest complaint is that, at the end of every level they have commentary, and at the start only one commentary guest is available, and she is extremely annoying - luckily you soon unlock new guests, so you don't have to listen to variations of "I predicted this" / "the statistics are never wrong" after every single match.

The trophy is definitely a bit of a grind since you have to complete every level under every mode, and most of the cup series as well, but nothing too bad; by the end I was just watching Sherlock while finishing up remaining levels on easy.

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

Big Pharma

Civilization 6

Stellaris

YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

The Long Journey Home

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

Darksiders Genesis

Remnant: From the Ashes

The Forest

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Masters of Anima

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Life Is Strange 2

Generation Zero

Cars 3: Driven to Win

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Civilization VI

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

Underhero

The Flame and the Flood

Nier: Automata

 

Recent Purchases - last 4-5 months

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

 

Neglected Games - 2020

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Wishlist

Cosmic Star Heroine

Trailmakers

Steven Universe: Save the Light

Night in the Woods

Journey to the Savage Planet

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Dead Cells

Astroneer

Bug Fables

Ghost of Tsushima

Immortal Redneck

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

No Straight Roads

Paper Beast

Rock of Ages 3

Superliminal

The End is Nigh

The Magic Circle: Gold Edition

The Wonderful 101: Remastered

The Pathless

The Walking Dead: Sinners and Saints

They Are Billions

Time Carnage

Tokyo Chronos

Wintermoor Tactics Club

 

 

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38 minutes ago, Darling Baphomet said:

Platinum #107: The Sinking City

1L56b075.png

 

Another fun little investigative game from Frogwares - the Sinking City is a major departure from their previous, fairly linear Sherlock Holmes games, as it's a (relatively) open world investigative game where you're free to pursue main cases and side cases at your leisure, in a very atmospheric Lovecraftian setting. This game released within a year of Call of Cthulhu, so I think it's fair to compare the two - The Sinking City is much more a true investigation game than Call of Cthulhu, which is more of an on rails adventure game with investigative elements. The Sinking City actually forces you to examine clues to figure out street addresses and navigate the sometimes very confusing city yourself. The one downside is that it's not quite as scary as Call of Cthulhu; by early-mid game the monsters no longer scared me, and losing sanity quickly loses its punch once you get used to its effects.

This game is an extremely ambitious one for the relatively small studio that is Frogwares, so I'm willing to forgive some of its flaws, but it is fundamentally a very flawed game - I have a laundry list of issues, such as the slow movement speed, the number of collectathon side quests (which, combined with the slow movement speed, really aren't worth doing), how confusing the city can be sometimes - the game has a handy system of marking quest houses with signs, but not all houses have this, so sometimes you're forced to just run around, bumping into doors until you find which one is the right one, since almost every instruction in the game is to some effect of "On so and so street, between this street and that street".

The combat is fairly solid, while nothing unique; by mid game you should have more than enough resources to survive every encounter, and even the toughest encounters can be easily dealt with with a grenade or two.

The investigation part of this game and main story are where it really shines, and it will be what keeps you playing - the characters are pretty solid, as is the story, although it does have the Telltale tendency of giving you choices and then immediately remedying them useless with character deaths. Needing to figure out directions on your own and carefully comb each location for evidence definitely gives it a more authentic investigative feel than any other game I've played.

 

Been waiting for someone to check out and review this game. It has been on my wishlist for a while now and the PS4 version goes on sale every now and then, but I'm curious if the PS5 version fixed some issues, which hasn't gone on sale yet. I really liked the Sherlock games this team made, I would prefer if they stuck to that style. Still sounds like something I want to play even with its flaws since I am a fan of that type of genre.

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5 minutes ago, Grotz99 said:

Been waiting for someone to check out and review this game. It has been on my wishlist for a while now and the PS4 version goes on sale every now and then, but I'm curious if the PS5 version fixed some issues, which hasn't gone on sale yet. I really liked the Sherlock games this team made, I would prefer if they stuck to that style. Still sounds like something I want to play even with its flaws since I am a fan of that type of genre.

 

Worth noting that there's a legal dispute between the publisher and the developer; the PS5 one is the one actually supporting the developers, and it has a DLC that the PS4 version doesn't. I didn't know this when I picked up the PS4 one on sale. I would imagine the loading times at the very least are better on PS5, but I doubt the game has been improved much besides that.

 

Unfortunately it seems like they'll continue with this style of game since their next game, Sherlock: Chapter One is also going to feature combat and be open world. Hopefully it improves on the format, though.

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2 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

Platinum #106: Do Not Feed The Monkeys

1L80ed8d.png

 

This is a lovely little indie game about people watching, of a sort. Not so much sitting on a bench in a public park, though, so much as surveillance. The game's morally questionable from the start and outright grotesque in some of the things you can do (and must do, for trophies) - my least proud moment was giving an alcoholic alcohol, leading to their death, because it would give me a friendly little cash bonus.

There are opportunities for good throughout as well, although playing the game efficiently sometimes means passing up those opportunities for more lucrative ones. At the core it's a resource management game, you see - you must balance work, sleep, and eating with being able to spy on people at the right times, so as not to miss important events. At the start the resource management aspects are challenging, but on subsequent playthroughs it gets fairly easy.

Overall this is one of the most unique games I've played, and I'm sure I'll never play anything quite like it again - highly recommend, especially if you can get it on sale, although the game can sometimes be fairly buggy, which is my only complaint with it.

 

I'm so happy someone who frequently makes posts around here did a little review on this game! It also caught my eye awhile back while browsing through a sale, but due to how unique it was and the fact I prolly wasn't gonna get around to it for awhile I held off on purchasing it. If I may ask - did you have a good aid for trophies aside from the one on here? Did a bit of digging and it seems more niche, the fact it has a 23% plat rate suggests it shouldn't be too challenging. 

 

Also apart from DNFTM - I just wanted to say awesome job with this thread of yours. I really dig all someone who has a unique taste in games as opposed to the usual Playstation staples (which are good too in their own right but you know what I mean). Would you ever consider putting together a brief list on your main posts cataloguing perhaps your 10-20 favorite games you've conquered? 

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3 hours ago, realm722 said:

I'm so happy someone who frequently makes posts around here did a little review on this game! It also caught my eye awhile back while browsing through a sale, but due to how unique it was and the fact I prolly wasn't gonna get around to it for awhile I held off on purchasing it. If I may ask - did you have a good aid for trophies aside from the one on here? Did a bit of digging and it seems more niche, the fact it has a 23% plat rate suggests it shouldn't be too challenging. 

 

Also apart from DNFTM - I just wanted to say awesome job with this thread of yours. I really dig all someone who has a unique taste in games as opposed to the usual Playstation staples (which are good too in their own right but you know what I mean). Would you ever consider putting together a brief list on your main posts cataloguing perhaps your 10-20 favorite games you've conquered? 

 

It's not that bad but it does take like 6+ playthroughs to nab everything and a little bit of RNG. Luckily the playthroughs aren't that long. The trophy guide has most things you need but I would recommend checking out the DNFTM wiki for tips because it has helpful information as well.

 

And thank you! I suppose I do have a bit of an eccentric taste in games given that Battleborn is my proudest platinum. That's a good idea as well; I may look into doing something like that in the future. At the moment my trophy cabinet on my PSNP profile has some of the games which I've found most rewarding to platinum, although I haven't updated it in a little bit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Platinum #109: It Takes Two

1Ld160be.png

 

From the makers of A Way Out, a game which is, in every way a superior co-op experience - almost a perfect co-op experience, really; I can't think of a game off hand that does co-op better than It Takes Two. The game's a massive improvement over A Way Out, in terms of length, story, and in gameplay; it has bright, colorful environments, fun minigames, constant gimmicks that change up the gameplay, and the writing is a major improvement over the discount B movie action of A Way Out.

That being said, the story is... weird. Like, I'm not sure what the moral of this game is. If you torture two soon to be divorcees long enough, they'll trauma bond and fall in love again? While the actual quality of the writing is decent and fits with the overall surrealism of the setting, I have no fucking clue what the point of the story was. Combine this with some bizarre bits of darkness such as being able to kill yourself by sticking a nail in a power socket at the start of the game (there is literally no point to that, it's a special animation you can do solely to kill yourself), as well as some morally gruesome shit later on, and this game's writing is, again... weird. That's the best way I can put it. At times it goes for wholesomeness, at times for very serious shit, at times for extreme edginess; regardless, it's a very well put together experience, and will most certainly be a pleasant experience to play with a friend or loved one, as long as you don't practice any of Dr. Hakoom's very questionable couple's therapy.

The trophies are pretty straight forward; there's a few level interactions per area that you need to do, and minigames to collect along the way. It's not a hard platinum at all, pretty much one playthrough and a brief cleanup.

Anyway, very fun game; if you consider that it's only 20$ per person with the friend pass (unless your friend wants trophies), and can get a friend to split it with you, it's very easily worth the price, and will probably be the best co-op experience you have.

 

Platinum #110: Darksiders Genesis

1Lcb5dbe.png

 

First, and hopefully not the last, Darksiders plat! I've had quite a bit of experience with this series, starting both 1 and 2 (although never finishing either, which I hope to remedy), but seeing Genesis on PS Now, and knowing that it was multiplayer, I finally managed to get through my first complete Darksiders game with a friend. Darksiders Genesis is quite a far cry from the others; while it has some of the 'collect special equipment to proceed' sorts of puzzles, it is for the most part a Diablo-esque game, and one with very spongey enemies, at that - which is my only real complaint with the game, that and it gets a bit repetitive; but the combat is tight and the skills and weapons are fun to use.

It is, however, a little bit buggy at times, especially the co-op; sometimes I would have to try and load in multiple times and just get a black screen; it's definitely not a perfectly polished game, although neither were the other Darksiders games, to be fair. Collecting equipment and minmaxing stats is a fun addition, and Strife is a very fun character to play, as is War, although a bit more sluggish.

The platinum is pretty straightforward; beat the game on max difficulty, survive for like an hour in arena (recommend putting on a show while doing this, it's boring), collect every creature core.

 

Platinum #111: Life is Strange 2

 

No plat image for this since it's white on a transparent background. Sorry, folks!

Anyway, here's Life is Strange 2, the sequel to that one hipster game about lesbians in a town full of shitty people. Remember that? Well, Life is Strange 2 isn't that. Life is Strange 2 introduces a bunch of changes from the first; for one thing, it's a linear journey across the country, with gaps that span weeks between episodes; for another, it isn't you controlling your powers - rather, you are the mentor to him - for another, side characters don't really matter in this game; they could easily have gone a TWD approach and killed every side character by the end of each episode, and it wouldn't have significantly affected the proceeding episodes.

Overall... this isn't the game that Life is Strange 1 is; granted, it's been a while, so my memory of 1 is hazy, but it was sometimes hard to connect with 2. The long montages and gaps of time, the non-existent side characters, and the frankly annoying bickering between brothers for most of the game just made the game harder to relate to, and not being able to use powers yourself made the game a lot less interesting. Max's time travel was cool, and it made for neat puzzles and interactions, like Chloe testing Max's time travel abilities. But here, not only do you not control the character with the powers, but the powers themselves are kinda... basic. Like, once you've lifted one rock, you've lifted them all.

Then there's the politics. Oh boy. The politics. [Long sigh to be placed here.] The game, from the get go, is political. It's filled with depictions of racist violence; the main characters' dad is shot by a cop; this is a game that is banging pots together screaming, "racism exists! Systemic violence exists!", but when you ask it for more, you realize it really has nothing to say. This is a game about a teenager and a kid on the run, constantly facing violence, barely surviving - and yet stealing food to survive has the same effects within the game's moral system as senseless violence. Surely this would be a game to examine the limits of conventional morality, right? But no, instead we get the typical "lawful good versus chaotic evil" morality scale, with not a drop of nuance to be found; even as you're constantly placed in extremely uncomfortably racist scenarios, it seems to have no good reason for displaying them except to make you aware of racism's existence; shock value, maybe? Life is Strange is very much a hipster franchise, and Life is Strange 2 is hipster activism. It preaches an empty gospel.

 

Still, I enjoyed the game, and it had a few good songs; solid 7-7.5 out of 10, in my opinion, and of course the plat wasn't particularly challenging.

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

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Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

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Big Pharma

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Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

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Remnant: From the Ashes

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

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Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Civilization VI

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

Underhero

The Flame and the Flood

Nier: Automata

 

Recent Purchases - last 4-5 months

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

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Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

 

Neglected Games - 2020

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Wishlist

Cosmic Star Heroine

Trailmakers

Steven Universe: Save the Light

Night in the Woods

Journey to the Savage Planet

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Dead Cells

Astroneer

Bug Fables

Ghost of Tsushima

Immortal Redneck

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

No Straight Roads

Paper Beast

Rock of Ages 3

Superliminal

The End is Nigh

The Magic Circle: Gold Edition

The Wonderful 101: Remastered

The Pathless

The Walking Dead: Sinners and Saints

They Are Billions

Time Carnage

Tokyo Chronos

Wintermoor Tactics Club

 

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On 26.04.2021 at 1:50 PM, Darling Baphomet said:

this is a game that is banging pots together screaming, "racism exists! Systemic violence exists!", but when you ask it for more, you realize it really has nothing to say.

 

This is exactly what I hear about LIS2 all the time. Sounds like they tried to cover a serious topic, but in the end, the result is as simple as "Bad people are bad, good people are good, don't be bad".

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Been a rough few weeks, doing better than I was though. Currently working through Dishonored: Death of the Outsider to round out my Dishonored collection, Ray's The Dead, an... extremely janky, but charming indie game I got on sale, and Marvel's Avengers - the campaign isn't bad so far, we'll see how bad the post-game grind is. I intend to play more TLJH at some point, maybe while watching Sherlock, but I have no idea how to approach the glitched trophy; I may have to go for a full wipe if it doesn't unlock. Looking forward to the release of the Mass Effect remaster in ten days; should really get through that comic collection I bought a while back before it releases.

 

Finally done with playing easy(ish) games for a while though, since the MVPP competition was a mess; at least it was a pretty good selection of games overall (well, maybe not Monster Jam: Steel Titans... what a mess of a racing game that was). I'd been leading for most of the event, but then mid month my ability to focus on games got pretty bad and I dropped off right in the last five days or so. Trophy hunting competitions are always extremely stressful when I do them seriously; I don't think I'm very good at sticking myself to a schedule.

 

Also, my backlog is a complete fucking mess and I'm really going to have to rearrange it at some point. Or do something. At least it's a reminder of the games I have awaiting me.

 

Platinum #112: My Memory of Us

1Lb0d6f2.png

 

Here's a cute little Limbo-esque platformer I picked up for a few dollars. It's a child-friendly retelling of WW2 and it serves that purpose fairly well; the art style is gorgeous, the switching between two main characters is pretty interesting, and it's narrated by Patrick Stewart, which is lovely.

The actual gameplay, though... well, it's... it's something. It's extremely clumsy and often feels like driving a tank; you have to manually climb down every ledge, and if you get too close your character plays an annoying animation, for one. There's also a 'hold hands' mechanic so that you don't have to retrace your steps with both characters, which would be very annoying, but that doesn't work while climbing up / down things. Some of the minigames are questionable as well. But gameplay aside, this is very much an artistic game, and the controls are passable enough to tell its story. I wouldn't recommend it at full price, as it's very short and, as I said, clumsy, but it's worth it if you can pick it up for a few dollars.

 

Platinum #113: Remnant: From the Ashes

1L7168c4.png

 

I'd seen this game on sale a few times but had been scared off by Steam reviews calling it repetitive; it was only at a friend's insistence that I actually downloaded it when it became a PS+ game. And honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised. I spent the first few hours bitching about how repetitive it was, as Earth very much failed to provide much variety, but after leaving it I actually started to enjoy myself, especially once we started getting good weapons and being able to experiment with builds. Speaking of which, for the love of god, do not try to do a melee build in this game. You'll be tempted by all the melee rings you get, but melee is completely fucking worthless. Almost every boss is either untouchable or lethal at short range. After fighting one too many bosses that made me aware of just how cripplingly useless my melee build was for everything but mobs, we ended up taking a week or so long hiatus before finally returning while waiting for Generation Zero to update.

Then I had to completely overhaul my setup; I couldn't undo my points spent in melee, but I at least could upgrade a non-melee armor set and started using the beam rifle, which later became my favorite weapon and melted enemies in combination with the fire mod & a DPS build.

Anyway, once you leave Earth, the game gets good. The second area, a post-apocalyptic looking desert, is fairly unique in how it's set up, with the only weak area after that being the swamp, which was definitely unfinished in the base game and they dedicated an entire DLC to expanding; which may or may not be worth it if you want a roguelike-esque survival mode and more detail in that area. The other DLC, Subject 2923, is absolutely worth it and I highly recommend getting it, as it adds two fleshed out areas to the game.

One thing I will note is that the game has a tendency to be an absolute asshole about missing things, with there being a few armor sets that you get one chance to acquire with no hint that they're missable, and have to reroll the world to have another chance at getting. Both of Subject 2923's armor sets do this, so if you want to avoid missing them on your first run, as we did, I recommend google.

Anyway, the game is fun. It's clearly designed for multiplayer, so I don't recommend soloing it, but as far as souls-esque games go, this is the first one I've ever finished (it's not that hard once you get a good build), and it's damn fun with a friend. It's sometimes buggy and weird, but for the most part we didn't have any major issues. The gear system allows for a lot of build customization, there's tons of traits to unlock, a huge variety of weapons and weapon mods, and the boss selection is pretty good as well. The settings are interesting as well, some parts have a Destiny-esque feel, and there's a fair amount of lore if you feel like looking into it, although the story is not groundbreaking.

 

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

The Long Journey Home

Ray's The Dead

Marvel's Avengers

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

 

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

The Flame and the Flood

Big Pharma

Civilization VI

Stellaris

 

Recent Purchases - 2020

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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10 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

 

 

Platinum #113: Remnant: From the Ashes

1L7168c4.png

 

Just talked my friend into playing this coop after reading your take on it since we have been looking for something after Demons Souls. Watching the trailers, I didn't really see anyone use melee, which must be a telling sign to not use it.

Edited by Grotz99
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20 minutes ago, Grotz99 said:

Just talked my friend into playing this coop after reading your take on it since we have been looking for something after Demons Souls. Watching the trailers, I didn't really see anyone use melee, which must be a telling sign to not use it.

 

If you're looking for a follow up to Demon's Souls, definitely start the game on hard, since normal is probably less punishing than you're used to.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Platinum #114: Mass Effect

1Lfcaae0.png

 

Ah, Mass Effect 1. The first Mass Effect game I played as a kid (for obvious reasons) and my entry to the series. Its writing and worldbuilding is the best among the trilogy, however it's bogged down by questionable gameplay which ensured that my younger self eventually just began skipping it for the more fluid ME2 and ME3.

Playing this game again, I can't tell if I just have better taste or if the remaster is actually pretty good; they've certainly changed the gameplay up a bit by removing weapons restrictions, thus meaning your Sentinel won't be forced to use a pistol for the entirety of their run. The Mako has been changed as well, although it remains a pain to navigate the frankly ridiculous terrain of the side mission planets - the side missions themselves as well are extremely generic. The balancing has been slightly improved, and the game made easier, but overall the balance is all over the place, with one fight not even taking out your shields and the other insta killing you. Not gameplay related, but they also vastly improved the character creator, allowing you to make ME3 characters in ME1, which is a huge improvement. Anyway, overall I greatly enjoyed my replay of the iconic first game in the series; enough so that I don't think I'll avoid it like I did originally (although I may avoid the terrible side missions.)

The story is very solid, and it does a fantastic job of setting up a galaxy (and incredible antagonists) for the more character focused ME2 and ME3 to explore; the character selection is also very good, as it introduces the franchise's (in my opinion) most iconic characters; Liara, Tali, Garrus, and Wrex. The locations are iconic, and the pacing is tense throughout. The trophies have also been made a lot more unreasonable - as opposed to playing the majority of the game with every squadmate (necessitating at least three playthroughs), you now only need five with each, a number easily achievable just running around the Citadel doing side quests. The most annoying trophy is collecting all codex entries, as the Prothean one can only be obtained before the first mission, during the briefing, by asking about the Protheans, and nowhere else.

Also, gay blue space lady good.

 

qPUrqV4.png

 

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

The Long Journey Home

Ray's The Dead

Marvel's Avengers

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

 

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

The Flame and the Flood

Big Pharma

Civilization VI

Stellaris

 

Recent Purchases - 2020

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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The original Mass Effect in many ways for me didn't age well at all. Mass Effect 2 was for many of us the prime of the Mass Effect franchise. Awesome story telling, characters you can care for and relate to, a universe that was both captivating and stimulating.

 

Mass Effect 3 of course, you already know what happened in 2012.

 

I don't know, might pick up this collection after all. Wasn't going to grab it on the PS3 because of the DLC and I'm trying to phase out that console for good. Regardless, definitely worth an experience that I think any gamer should go out and play.

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2 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

The original Mass Effect in many ways for me didn't age well at all. Mass Effect 2 was for many of us the prime of the Mass Effect franchise. Awesome story telling, characters you can care for and relate to, a universe that was both captivating and stimulating.

 

Mass Effect 3 of course, you already know what happened in 2012.

 

I don't know, might pick up this collection after all. Wasn't going to grab it on the PS3 because of the DLC and I'm trying to phase out that console for good. Regardless, definitely worth an experience that I think any gamer should go out and play.

 

The remastered trilogy fixes up the gameplay a bit, but it's still very much the same game. ME2 is generally seen as the apex of the franchise, although I have some issues with it because it takes away from the broader plot; instead of fighting the Reapers you're basically on an all-star side quest against an underling race. It is fun though, and has better character building than 1.

 

Mass Effect 3 is still good overall even with the disappointing ending, I think; at the very least it doesn't have the absurd censorship that ME2 had as a reaction to Fox News' outrage.

 

And yeah I'd recommend getting the collection since it comes with all DLC, and would be cheaper (and look better!) than buying the original games + all the ME3 DLC, which never goes on sale, on PS3.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So in the last ~week I've platinumed both Mass Effect 2 and 3. Fantastic series, and I might try to finally platinum Andromeda now that I have the motivation from completing the OT, although Andromeda is a shaky game compared to those. Will probably hold off on playing the blue space wife simulator again until I get a PS5 for that 4k and 60fps space flea action. Also worth noting the two games have put 2021 as my best platinum year. Spoiler warning for the descriptions below, especially for Mass Effect 3!

 

Platinum #115: Mass Effect 2

1Lfe6d43.png

 

Ah, Mass Effect 2. Simultaneously the black sheep of the series while also being the best of it. You know the reapers? Those guys the whole series is about fighting? Yeah, fuck that, we're not doing that. We're going to do eight recruitment missions, twelve loyalty missions, and we're also going to fight an obligatory villain species.

Mass Effect 2 is very much not 1; while Mass Effect 1 was a fairly mediocre game gameplay wise with fantastic worldbuilding and decent characters, Mass Effect 2 is a game with average worldbuilding, but great gameplay and a fantastic crew of characters. It's essentially the space friends simulator of the franchise, and is considered the best of the series by a lot of people. It introduces a lot of really solid characters to the franchise - Legion, Thane, Zaeed, and Mordin, to name a few - and has as many squadmates than ME1 and ME3 combined. It also provides three hub worlds; Omega, the Citadel and Illium, as opposed to ME1 and ME3 only having the Citadel. The combat is massively overhauled from ME1; it's now a cover shooter with very different gunplay for every weapon and every class feeling unique. The ability to customize your character with bonus powers is also greatly appreciated. The side missions, while short, are all much more engaging than ME1's "climb up the side of a mountain, fall in hole, reload save" adventures.

One major downside to ME2 is that due to some conservative backlash to ME1's sex scenes and space lesbians, ME2 almost completely lacks gay romance options - the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC lets you hold hands with Liara, but it's really not the best of the franchise in terms of romance. A number of characters - Jack, Jacob, and potentially even Tali, were meant to have gay romance options but had them cut out. The game is also, as mentioned before, basically one huge side quest - the struggle against the Collectors really doesn't have much to do with the reaper threat of ME1, and doesn't do much to set up ME3 (although the Arrival DLC does tie into it.)

 

Platinum #116: Mass Effect 3

1L3706ba.png

 

Ah, Mass Effect 3. In some ways simultaneously the best and worst of the series. The gameplay is as tight as it's ever been; gone are the days of running out of stamina after sprinting for a few seconds, and the combat is fine tuned and precise. The character selection, while much smaller than ME2's, is solid; save for Vega and EDI (sorta) it's four franchise veterans, as well as Javik, the best DLC squadmate of the series. The DLC selection of ME3 is overall the best of the series; Leviathan is a fantastic story installment, Citadel DLC pure fanservice (and I loved every minute of it), Javik a fantastic character with a lot to say about the Protheans, and even Omega, the worst of the DLC offerings, is several missions long and features two new companions, as well as the strongest biotic ability in the game.

The story of the main game, though? That's where we start to falter. Mass Effect 3 is a game of absolute desperation. When the game starts, you're fucked. The galaxy's fucked. And so the notorious deus ex machina ending was almost a certainty; Mass Effect 2 did not provide plot threads for a realistic victory against the reapers, and so the game gives you the sense of a last minute victory.

That being said, the main missions of the game? The strongest of the series. From the start of the game, the missions are much more cinematic and engaging than any of the previous games' - Rannoch and Tuchanka come to mind, with glorious, cinematic battles; Thessia as well finally gives us a look at the Asari homeworld, although hardly in its glory. The problem is that the finale? The finale sucks. The mission leading up to it simply does not feel like a finale, lacking in the flare of previous missions and most certainly lacking the feeling of finality of the ME2 suicide mission, and then once you get to the actual finale, you're presented with three space magic choices that are a complete tonal shift from the rest of the game. Especially Synthesis. Dude. What the fuck. And then there's the refusal ending, which was basically Bioware's edgy "fuck you" to the backlash over the shitty ending. (Although I will say that I somewhat like the control ending, both because of the idea of AI god Shepard and because I headcanon Shepard as eventually getting an EDI-esque robot body.)

Anyway, the Legendary Edition provides this flawed gem in its single most complete iteration; although it should be noted for the best version of the destroy ending (the most popular ending) you need a ridiculously high war asset score, essentially a completionist run; the current guesstimate is 7800. Bioware claimed to have rebalanced the game for the lack of multiplayer, but they actually made it much harder. Guess Bioware really wants Shepard gone.

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

The Long Journey Home

Ray's The Dead

Marvel's Avengers

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

 

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

The Flame and the Flood

Big Pharma

Civilization VI

Stellaris

 

Recent Purchases - 2020

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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  • 2 weeks later...

Platinum #117: Journey to the Savage Planet

1L3c49d4.png

 

Ah, the sweet taste of Wonton Fecal Surprise flavored Grob. Journey to the Savage Planet is a humorous first person Metroidvania (you could call it a shooter, but there's only one gun and it's... not great) wherein you're an explorer sent out by some megacorporation to survey a planet for its future usage. The game is very much a corporate dystopia. Sort of. It's kind of a corporate dystopia by proxy. Every once in a while, when you hit an important mile marker, you unlock new live action ads for ridiculous products, and they're generally pretty hilarious. The primary part of the game is running around weird ass planets, getting shit on by goldfish bird things, and hear your AI companion thing be a smart ass about everything.

The game is fully playable in co-op, which is how I experienced it; there's also trophies for playing it in co-op, although you only have to get up to the first world boss in co-op and then you can do the rest solo; there's unfortunately some annoying trophies which can be only earned clientside, which necessitated playing the game twice with my co-op partner, so that may be the smartest route.

The game accomplishes what it sets out to be - a colorful Metroidvania where you kick cute birds into the void and throw poop at enemies. It is unfortunately bogged down by a few frustrating design decisions, like the aforementioned host-only trophies, the fact that zooming in with the scanner is serverside, making it almost unusable, and some annoying enemies which are extremely difficult to dodge with latency. But for the most part, it's a fun game. A solid 8/10, and definitely worth the 12$ or so I played out of it; got my dollar for hour value at the very least, with the added bonus of delicious Cucumber Shit Water.

The DLC is also pretty solid, although I wouldn't get it off sale; if playing the game on co-op, only the host has to have it, which makes it a much easier purchase.

 

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

The Long Journey Home

Ray's The Dead

Marvel's Avengers

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Trailmakers

Holy Potatoes?! A Weapon Shop?

Lair of the Clockwork God

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

The Flame and the Flood

Big Pharma

Civilization VI

Stellaris

 

Recent Purchases - 2020

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been a bit; been working on Going Under and a few other indie games on and off, as well as my first playthrough of Divinity 2, which I will probably make an attempt to platinum. Also started clearing black series rally tracks in Trackmania Turbo; currently on 185.

 

Platinum #118: Lair of the Clockwork God

1L4306a4.png

 

When I first passed by Lair of the Clockwork God, I wrote it off as a weird indie game and didn't even give it the cursory steam review checking. On my second pass through the sale I said, "why not?" and checked it out - only to discover that it's a successor to the Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman, Please! point and click games of my youth. It's a point and click / platformer hybrid with great sprite work, a lot of meta-fuckery, and a vulgar ass sense of humor, which is just about all you could want for a game you spend 6$ for.
The game is solid, overall; it's satire from the ground up; you start the game with one character explaining that he's now too hip for point and click games, and as such is now a platformer, while the other obstinately refuses to so much as jump - and such the dynamic is introduced; one character interacts with everything and combines items while the other jumps around like an asshole, standing on buttons and so on and so forth. The story very quickly goes batshit, but essentially you're tasked with teaching a robot emotions, providing a bunch of emotion themed levels with varied themes. These are all pretty good and well designed, and it makes for a good amount of gameplay variety, although some of the end game levels get a bit on the short side. The game also features a very short, parody visual novel which is essential to experience the full game.
In terms of gameplay, it's as tight as it needs to be. The platforming as Dan can be a bit rough at times but is overall pretty solid, and serves as a series of fun intermissions to walking around as Ben and interacting with everything. The adventure game mechanics can fall into "interact with everything using everything" sometimes, but I only had to look up hints once or twice. The game's hilarity and story alone make the game worthwhile, but the platforming is a nice touch. One thing I will say is if you start this game, make sure to take care of the invisible wall trophy or else you'll have to start a new playthrough just for it.

 

 

CURRENT BACKLOG:

Spoiler

 

Key: games in blue I'm playing on and off, not actively platinuming. Games in red are suspended. Games in black I'm playing with the intention of platinuming. Games in green I finished, but without doing all the trophies.

 

Currently Playing

Singleplayer

The Long Journey Home

Ray's The Dead

Marvel's Avengers

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

 

Multiplayer

Star Wars Squadrons

Fallout 76

Streets of Rogue

Outward

Doom Eternal

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

Predator: Hunting Grounds

The Mean Greens

The Forest

Generation Zero

 

Oh my god, there's more?! - February 2021+

Patapon Remastered

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2

Deponia Doomsday

Chaos in Deponia

Scribblenauts Mega Pack

Dragons Crown Pro

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner: MARS (no, I am not typing that properly, do not ask)

The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition

Night in the Woods

Hyper Light Drifter

Super Time Force Ultra

Party Hard 2

Outcast: Second Contact

Heart & Slash

My Memory Of Us

Sundered

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break

Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

2064: Read Only Memories

GRID

Megaman 11

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Trailmakers

Holy Potatoes?! A Weapon Shop?

Lair of the Clockwork God

 

New Arrivals - December 2020 - January 2021

Void Bastards

Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Last of Us Part 2

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Nier: Automata

Cat Quest

The Flame and the Flood

Big Pharma

Civilization VI

Stellaris

 

Recent Purchases - 2020

Amplitude

Long Journey Home 

Celeste

Jurassic World Evolution

Nex Machina

Medusa and Her Lover

Frostpunk

Moonlighter

Pixel Ripped 1995

A Fisherman's Tale

Ghost Giant

Fury Unleashed

Felix The Reaper

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Rad

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

Far Cry 3

Far Cry Primal

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Count Lucanor

Odin Sphere Leifthraiser

Batman: The Enemy Within

World War Z

Crash N-Sane Trilogy

Team Sonic Racing

Subnautica

Blood & Truth

Flockers

We Happy Few

The Council

Devil May Cry 5

Call of Cthulhu

The Crew 2

Death Stranding

8 Bit Invaders

8 Bit Armies

Superhot VR

Alien: Isolation

Hollow Knight

Alienation

Star Wars Battlefront 1

8-Bit Invaders

Overcooked 2

 

Castaways - Before 2020 / Unknown

Ni No Kuni 2 - Revenant Kingdom

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

.Hack G.U. Trilogy

L.A. Noire

Everspace

Metro Exodus

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Days Gone

Mercenary Kings

Slime Rancher

Bow to Blood - PSVR

Falcon Age - PSVR

Legend of Kay Anniversary

Eve: Valkyrie Warzone - PSVR

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Last Guardian

Oxenfree

Shadow Warrior 2

Get Even

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Until Dawn

Beholder: Complete Edition

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Wasteland 2

Super Cloudbuilt

Forgotten Anne

Enter the Gungeon

Nuclear Throne

Fairy Fency F: Advent Dark Force

Sprint Vector - PSVR

Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Destroy All Humans! 2

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Along Together - PSVR

Prey

Battlefield 1

Battlefield V

Fat Princess Adventures

Shadow of the Colossus

The Witcher 3

Blood Bowl 2

Doom

Uncharted 1

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 3

Need for Speed

Need for Speed Rivals

Steep

Citizens of Space

Human Fall Flat

Lego Worlds

Mothergunship

A Hat in Time

The Technomancer

Red Faction

Rogue Legacy

Don't Starve Together

Knack

Darkest Dungeon

Moss - PSVR

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition

Disgaea 5

The Talos Principle

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders 2

Fe

Final Fantasy XV

Dangerous Golf

Dying Light

Murdered: Soul Suspect

For The King

Grip: Combat Racing

Tiny Metal

Megalith - PSVR

Pyre

Shadow Warrior

Valley

Birthdays The Beginnings

 

PS+

Concrete Genie

Nioh

XCOM 2 

Rime

The Banner Sage 

Amnesia Collection

Grand Kingdom

The Witness

Bound

Invisible Inc 

Cities Skylines

Dead By Daylight

Firewall: Zero Hour - PSVR

Lords of the Fallen

Worms Battlegrounds

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Owlboy

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Strike Vector EX

Mafia 3

Sonic Forces

The Deadly Tower of Monsters

Portal Knights

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Killing Floor 2

Darksiders 3

Detroit: Become Human

Bulletstorm Full Clip Edition

Rocket League

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Horizon Chase Turbo

 

PS Now

Little Nightmares

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Slime-San

N.E.R.O.

Darksiders Genesis

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

8-Bit Armies

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Console Edition

Surviving Mars

Shadwen

Styx: Master of Shadows

 

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  • 6 months later...
10 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

119: Going Under

 

Going Under is a lovely little roguelike that satirizes startup culture, down to the hideous noodle people. You play as an intern who is roped into combing corrupted dungeons consisting of failed startups, so as to retrieve dangerous artifacts from them. The combat is satisfying, as you can use virtually any object as a weapon - potted cacti, laptops, you name it - and the perks are diverse and fun to use. The game does show a lack of variety which is common in many roguelikes, however it had more than enough content to keep me entertained during my journey to its platinum. Also, the music is pretty good. Definitely one of the more memorable roguelikes I've played.

 

120: Slay the Spire

 

As far as I can tell, Slay the Spire is pretty much the prototype of the deck building roguelike, and it is widely applauded for good reason. Before Slay the Spire came to PS Now, I had never been particularly fond of card games, and I had no particular interest in challenging that apathy. The combination of cards and roguelike gameplay intrigued me, though, and so I devoted a hundred hours of my life to it.

Suffice to say, it's a good game. You have four characters, each of which have unique playstyles and cards available to them, and unlock more cards and artifacts by playing the game. You get to choose between branching paths of encounters, and are thus allowed to strategize to a degree as to what opportunities you face, which adds an extra layer of strategy on top of having to learn to manage your deck. The game is not initially that difficult, but as you begin to climb ascension levels you increasingly need to be able to put together overpowered decks - and good god, do some of them get overpowered, whether it's stacking your armor to 999 or allowing yourself infinite moves in a turn. It's a minmaxers dream.

 

So happy to have you back! Lemme say that I enjoy whenever I get to read someone's opinion of Going Under since it completely floored me and ended up being my 2nd favorite game I played in all of 2021. I felt it was one of the very roguelikes where I genuinely cared for elements outside of the gameplay since the dialogue was generally stellar and perfectly mocked the plague that can be many start-ups tryna be "fun" and "a family". I'm also glad to read you enjoyed Slay the Spire. I too had never played card games before dabbling but it completely engrossed me for the month I played it in March 2020 during the start of the pandemic. It's crazy how much your depth and knowledge, once you keep playing, will have you go from wiping in the very 1st area to clearing ascension level after ascension level. 

 

I've also had Ghostrunner & Ikenfell on my radar for a while now so I'll be scooping them up once I'm happy with their sale price. 

 

I noticed you and I have quite a lot of games in common and I wonder if you like myself scout each sale that comes out and comb through it finding some of the less popular AAA titles to dabble in. I bought Civilization 6 a while back but have held off due to the extensive DLCs. Dogurai is one I got for a $1. If I may make some recommendations, I think if you enjoy roguelikes (and are willing to play and git gud at a difficult one) both Dead Cells and Enter the Gungeon are phenomenal. I'd also say Spiritfarer (if gameplay isn't too important for you, there's a lot to love here), and finally giving The Banner Saga a proper shot as I see you maybe opened it up ages ago on your account but didn't pop a single trophy. 

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13 minutes ago, realm722 said:

So happy to have you back! Lemme say that I enjoy whenever I get to read someone's opinion of Going Under since it completely floored me and ended up being my 2nd favorite game I played in all of 2021.

 

Going Under was really an underrated game. Apparently it had had more future content planned which had to be cut due to the game's poor performance, which is sad, although it does have a fair bit of content as is. There's no roguelike I've played that's quite like it, and that's largely aided by the unique art style and setting, which includes some rather endearing characters.

 

16 minutes ago, realm722 said:

I noticed you and I have quite a lot of games in common and I wonder if you like myself scout each sale that comes out and comb through it finding some of the less popular AAA titles to dabble in. I bought Civilization 6 a while back but have held off due to the extensive DLCs. Dogurai is one I got for a $1. If I may make some recommendations, I think if you enjoy roguelikes (and are willing to play and git gud at a difficult one) both Dead Cells and Enter the Gungeon are phenomenal. I'd also say Spiritfarer (if gameplay isn't too important for you, there's a lot to love here), and finally giving The Banner Saga a proper shot as I see you maybe opened it up ages ago on your account but didn't pop a single trophy. 

 

Yeah, you got me - I'm an obsessive sale browser, and I enjoy finding new obscure indie games to play (at a reasonable price.) Civilization 6 is fun, but I would definitely recommend getting the DLC packs when they're on sale - they are a bit pricey, but if you like the base game, they add a lot to it. I didn't expect to like the New Frontier Pass, however the added game modes (especially heroes and secret societies) are surprisingly fun and I pick them almost every game.

 

Dead Cells has been on my 'to play' list for a while, but I unfortunately missed it when it was on PS Now due to not realizing it was a timed addition, and the base game does not seem to get many good sales. Enter the Gungeon and the Banner Saga are definitely on my to play list, as I've heard a lot of good things about them, they're just some of those games that slipped away from me and into backlog limbo. Spiritfarer is also a game I've had my eye on for a bit - its themes of death seem reminiscent of Outer Wilds - and I'm planning on renting it in the future.

 

Since you seem to be into roguelikes, have you played the Swords of Ditto? While I was initially scared off by the average review scores - it appears they had a massive update post-release which massively overhauled the game - it turned out to be one of my favorite roguelikes of all time, essentially being randomly generated Legend of Zelda-esque romps with a charming art style and great music.

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144: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - 37.85%

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Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a good game, even if it struggles with being a good game. It's a very cinematic, vaguely choice based (people have compared it to Mass Effect, but it's more like a Telltale series) game following the titular Guardians of the Galaxy. All things considered it's a very well put together game - the visuals are spectacular, the plot is constantly moving, and the levels all look very different from eachother. The writing is pretty good, and it maintains a coherent narrative. The combat is alright enough. This is a game I could most certainly recommend that everybody play once.

But once I finished it, I didn't have much reason to replay it aside from trophy cleanup. As I rapidly discovered, the choices you're presented with are for the most part not particularly meaningful, typically paying off with things like slightly better odds in a battle, or rockets in the brief dogfight sections, and one or two dialogue mentions. The dialogue is still great, yeah - but it's not like Mass Effect where you're going to constantly be discovering new dialogue, making new choices, and achieving different endings - for the most part, you're just railroaded along a single, admittedly spectacular narrative path.

As I mentioned previously, the combat is alright enough. It's solid. It moves the game forward. Besides that, you're running around levels solving extremely basic puzzles (Drax, go move this box here!). Unfortunately, neither the box moving puzzles or extremely bullet spongey enemies make for satisfying gameplay segments, and as such replaying the game becomes more of a chore than anything else, given that you no longer have any significant narrative progress to make.

But again, as said, this is a game I can easily recommend everyone play once. The characters exhibit real growth, the graphics are gorgeous, the soundtrack contains an abundance of classic rock, and the boss battles are - hold on, let me put on my gamer hat - epic.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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145: Terminator: Resistance - 53.36%

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Terminator: Resistance is basically the complete opposite of my last platinum, Guardians of the Galaxy. GotG is a high budget, narrative driven adventure that takes you from one colorful alien locale to the next; a marvel (heh) of a character driven story paired with gameplay that is just enough and no more. Terminator: Resistance is a low budget - frankly quite janky - FPS game with Fallout elements, where just about every level wears the same shades of post-apocalyptic blue, a plot and cast that are fairly average, and surprisingly engaging gameplay.

I can't tell you that I think Terminator: Resistance is an objectively fantastic game, but I can tell you that I had a fuck load of fun playing it. The combat is solid for a cover shooter, the Fallout elements (namely hacking, lockpicking, crafting, and sorta-story-affecting side quests) fit in very well, and the levels are diverse enough to keep you interested, alternating between pit stops at home, free roam missions where you're able to chase down secrets and do side quests, and linear missions filled with dramatic firefights. The free roam missions in particular are where the game shines - you can sneak around Terminators to hack turrets that'll rapidly dispose of them, crawl around enemies in vents, scavenge for hidden caches, and take down a side quest or two in between pursuing main mission objectives. The formula might become stale in a longer game, but Terminator: Resistance does not outstay its welcome - quite the opposite. It is short and sweet, as so many good things are.

The story, as mentioned, is somewhat average, but it does enough to keep the plot moving, and is aided by accompanying one of the few good games the Terminator franchise has received. The characters are enough to get the job done, but won't have you writing home about the narrative. What the game does get right is its pacing - whether it's sneaking through a hospital filled with Terminators early in the game, or escorting a hacked HK Tank in an assault on Skynet, you never feel like you're just doing busywork.

Difficulty wise, the game is simultaneously fairly brutal while also being surprisingly easy. In the early game on hard, I found myself simply sneaking up to turrets and letting them lay waste to everything in front of me, although due to my character being a glass cannon, I found myself rapidly running out of medkits. The game rewards strategic play, although by the end you're finally powerful enough to just storm through most things. Apparently the original release of the game was a tad too easy, but they made changes to the difficulty with the enhanced addition, and I found its difficulty quite adequate.

In addition, the game received a solid DLC offering a month or two ago, called Annihilation Line - this greatly improves upon the base game. In the intro alone, the main character gets more character development than he did in all of the main campaign, and you spend all of the DLC in the company of a team consisting of Kyle Reese and two new characters, who actually give you some convincing character development, and whose company makes the DLC feel a lot more engaged than the (mostly) solitary romps of the main campaign. Besides that, the game is much of the same - you get a few new enemies to fight, some new locales (one of which is actually red! What will technology accomplish next?), and an actual decent plot. It won't make you love the game if you hated it, but it is a lovely four hour treat if you enjoyed it.

The enhanced edition also comes with 'infiltrator mode', a somewhat random game mode where you play a Terminator and must clear activities on a free roam map composed of multiple maps from the campaign put together. You get a few cool new guns to play with, and it's a worthwhile, if short addition to the game.

 

Damn it, now I need to rewatch the Terminator movies.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention, the music for this game is fucking fantastic. And oh-so Terminator-esque.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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Been replaying Horizon Zero Dawn again - absolutely gorgeous game per the usual, although I wish they'd add native 4K for the PS5. I'm not sure what it is, but I have been noticing weird distortions around the edges of characters and such sometimes - perhaps an artifact from the upscaling process? Also, ghosting, which I don't recall on my base PS4. Looking forward to Forbidden West, although I think I'll give it a month or two, first of all to let it get a few patches, and secondly because I doubt Gamefly will be in stock for a while. Unfortunately I wasted my game lock on Dying Light 2, which I cancelled since they backpedaled on cross platform play and I was going to rent it to play with a friend. Alas.

 

Oops, I thought I'd already done a write up for Metamorphosis. So I'll take care of that.

 

146: Metamorphosis - 46.00%

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Here's another addition to my list of "weird indie games nobody's heard of" - Metamorphosis. In this game, you are a man who is turned into a bug. I did not know much else about this game when I bought it, as I saw it on sale for 7$ and figured I'd stream it for a friend who is rather fond of bugs and bug-related media. For the price, I'd say it was worth it.

So, apparently this game is Kafka-esque. I'll be frank with you - I have no fucking clue what that means. But that's something people keep saying, so I'm going to assume it means something, and if you know what it means you may appreciate that tidbit. In Metamorphosis, you are, again, a man who is transformed into a bug. There are many natural evolutions to this premise, however Metamorphosis deftly sidesteps all of them in favor of a bizarre plot involving magic desks filled with mushrooms, paperwork you must chase down and sign (as a bug, no less), and strange, metaphysical organizations. I'm not going to say the story is amazing, because it's more just . . . strange.

For the most part this game could be called a "walking simulator", although there is a small amount of platforming and a fair amount of climbing on walls and interacting with objects. You also see your bug legs (well, one pair) in front of you which adapt rather well to terrain, which is a nice touch. The game has voiced dialogue, but for the most part it's a bizarre, twisted bug-speak, save for the times you are navigating levels with humans within them advancing the plot - and by advancing the plot, I mean repeating the same conversation endlessly. I'll be frank - it's fairly irritating. The bug to bug dialogue is well enough made, but the passive aggressive arguments between humans while you crawl around sound like you set two chat bots off at eachother. The objectives can be a bit obtuse at times, although there is a bird's eye view map that is generally informative. The environments are probably the highlight of this game, ranging from bizarre and mystical to rather beautiful, if shoddy, demonstrations of bug civilization.

Overall, it's a pretty solid several hour romp, if a strange one, and with a bit of a paltry selection of endings. Not quite Ikenfell or Lair of the Clockwork God, but, eh - you're alright.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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147: Lost in Random - 26.90%

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Lost in Random is a quaint but charming indie game wherein you play a sister paired with a dice familiar, trekking across the various cities of a dice themed world. It is stylish, the story is engaging and rather original, and the combat is rather novel. I bought it on sale for 12$, which is a very fair price for the game. If you're at all interested in it, now's the time to dish out those dollars.

The combat involves you collecting crystals? Shards? I don't know - and then throwing your dice familiar in order to play and choose cards to use in real time combat. These range from bombs you place on the battlefield, powerups, weapons, and healing abilities. It is a very solid basis for a game - unfortunately it does not quite build on that foundation as much as it could. The card variety is not incredible, and by a bit past the midpoint I had every card available to me. Power creep also phases out some cards - the game has five weapons - three melee weapons and two varieties of bow, but by the end I was only using three, and two of them were bows. The game introduces board games in the second world, which are elaborate combat encounters where you must roll the dice to move the playing piece forwards to achieve various objectives while fending off enemies. It is an interesting concept, but feels a little underdeveloped - and is never seen again after the fourth world, despite there being a card specifically designed to give an advantage in board games. The combat is generally entertaining, especially once you find your flow and build a good deck, but you can't shake the feeling that, again, though the foundation is solid, the house could use some prettying up.

So the combat is decent. It moves the plot along. And that brings us to the plot, which is really the primary reason you'll be playing this game. It is quite good. The game's story is essentially a dark fairy tale, with the aesthetic and oddity to back it up. The closest comparison I could make would be to Alice: Madness Returns, although the world isn't quite that edgy. The game manages to keep you on your toes throughout, with the story following a number of twists and turns which are unexpected but not at all contrived. There's a genuinely interesting world on display in Lost in Random, and the locales burst with character and life.

Well . . . most of the locales burst with character and life. The last two worlds feel a bit plain compared to the rest, both in terms of content and design. This is most strongly seen in the loss of board games, and in the simplification of side quests. Oh yes, there's side quests. In the earlier worlds, these were still relatively straightforward - go to this place, talk to this person, beat this combat encounter; but in the later worlds you end up with a lot of sidequests which involve nothing more than a conversation with the quest giver. Whereas worlds two to four have you darting back and forth doing sidequests, talking to people, and focusing on your main objective, the fifth and sixth are very linear levels, with seemingly much less care put into them - although frankly, the sidequests were not the highlight of the game, so a break of linearity is appreciated by that point. The feeling of sameness isn't helped by the very generous reuse of character models, which starts to wear on you later in the game, and takes away from some of the environmental diversity the various cities offer.

 

Hm, that sure is a lot of nitpicking for a game I considered quite good. I suppose it's the things a game does wrong that stick out the most. All things considered, the game is a solid 7-8/10. All things considered, it's a charming romp through a colorful (but dark) fantasy world, with an engaging story and with a combat system I highly doubt you've seen before. The atmosphere alone makes it a worthy game, and I wish most games had as much character as this one does at its best.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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Double feature! Admittedly a hesitant one, as these days I try to avoid games with platinum rarities above 70% (although I have another one in the backlog - curse you, PSN sales!), but Teacup was far too wholesome to resist. And also I mentioned considering buying it to a friend, and she ended up buying it, so it would have been awkward not to at that point. I have a few <6% platinums in the works that should even things out considerably, though.

 

It is a shame how many good games end up having disappointingly easy platinums. There's been quite a few promising indies that I've turned down because of exceedingly high rarities. Of course, some of them, like Teacup and the Gardens Between (the previously mentioned backlog'd ezpz) are simply not meant to be complicated games, and their lists reflect that. Hell, even a lot of major titles (looking at you, Rift Apart) have extremely easy trophy lists that take much of the achievement (so to speak) out of earning a platinum. Me, I think 10-25% is my sweet spot, although I do have a decent number of <10% platinums.

 

148: Teacup - 86.93%

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Teacup is a lovely little game wherein you play a frog who wants to have a tea party, but is out of tea, and must thus collect some. There are no particular twists, turns, or dramatic revelations in this story, just a frog talking to people and doing mini games, depicted with lovely music and charming art.

The game itself is something of a point and click game, I think? Only it's more like a point and click styled walking / dialogue simulator with occasional short minigames. There will be no ludicrous combinations of items, such as trying to use your bladder on Dan. It is a relaxing game, and its complexity (or rather, the lack thereof) only reinforces that. It's chipper, gentle, and honestly refreshing compared to most of the other things I've played. It's also not particularly long; the platinum sits at 86%, and for good reason - as far as I can tell, all the trophies relate to story progression, and the game took me around one and a half hours to beat.

There's really not too much more to say about this game - if you like the idea of playing a frog preparing for a tea party, this will probably be a game you enjoy. I found it sentimental and touching, personally.

 

149: Speed Limit - 10.74%

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Here's a surprisingly good indie game I picked up for a few bucks - Speed Limit! (Also a contender for my 'unknown indies' collection, given it has under 500 PSNP owners.) The game is more or less equivalent to an action movie. There's no plot - after an intro that lasts all of ten seconds, you're given a gun and left to fend for yourself. It's fast paced, frantic, and the music slaps. It also changes genres every two levels, which is a pretty neat gimmick.

The genre changes are really the main sell of this game - for the first five to ten minutes you'll be playing a platformer, then you're top down driving a car, and next you're on a helicopter dodging cars in a manner reminiscent of Horizon Chase Turbo. The individual genres are not the pinnacles of their genre in terms of gameplay, but they get the job done competently, and you'll have switched genres before you can find anything to complain about. Even after having played the game fairly exhaustively, I find most of the levels very solid - my biggest complaint about the game is the two helicopter levels, which were slow and a bit unwieldy, but they weren't necessarily bad. Maybe a 6/10, while I would go so far as to say its better levels perform in 8/10 territory.

It's not really a long game, which is my biggest issue with the game. My speedrun of the entire game took only a bit under 21 minutes (9 minutes under the 30 required for the speedrun trophy, I must add), although of course on your first few playthroughs you'll be dying a hell of a lot more than I did. Much of it is similar to Hotline Miami's sort of 'die die again' combat - not quite as hard, but you'll be reloading from checkpoints quite a bit before you figure out your shit.

I should note the game has... crashing problems. It is not an incredibly long game, but I had half a dozen (or more - I lost count) crashes in my time with it. Dying in the motorcycle levels was the biggest culprit. Said levels are the only true 3D parts of the game, so perhaps the complexity has something to do with it. This interrupted my first attempt at looping the game twice, which was frustrating. With that said, the game isn't particularly long, and unless you crash during your speedrun or loop playthroughs, you won't lose much of note.

Edited by Darling Baphomet
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