Kill Your Completion - 6

[MarkusT1992]

Game #3: Color Guardian (Days 3-6)

 

 

It has been a few days since my last update here so let's get started.

 

Though it isn't required to get diamond stars on each level nor is completing the bonus levels I'm still doing it.

So far I got 100% for the first three worlds out of five. That means diamond stars on all 10 regular plus the 3 secret levels and collecting every Toki.

 

As I played the first secret level of the first world I noticed that the are much harder than the regular ones. You need better reflexes to collect every orb, you must change the color/lane more often and do more difficult stuff as a whole. Nothing you can't do with a bit of practice.

Each level has a few checkpoints which help a lot. You don't need to complete a level in one go to get the diamond stars. If you die after you reached a checkpoint, you can just continue from it.

As in most games of this type there are more difficult levels, or even parts in a level, than other.

 

Each world introduced a new mechanic you use. At first you only had your occasionall mushroom to jump, later jellies were introduced to throw you back. In world two were some vents to push you up and windchoppers which let you glide throught the air. World three gave minecart which change the lane by changing to the corresponding color and world four has colored, moving platforms you needt to have the right color for. Then you have some blockades like flowers, gates or goblins you can only get past with the right color.

 

The game has two difficulty settings. I'm playing on normal but you can set it to pro for harder levels. I haven't tried pro mode yet as I want to finish the game on normal first. Maybe I can try it during the event and report on it later.

 

I have a blast playing this game. Althought not rewuired for the platinum, finishing every level with diamond stars is a great feeling. I hope I can do it till the end. Some levels take much longer though. Everytime I replay the levels to collect the Tokis I get throught without problems whereas it takes several minutes to finish the level the first time. That means it's much harder to get three stars than just to finish a level.

It encourages you to play just one more level or try a level just once more. After several tries you suddenly have completed the world.

After playing it I'm glad I got this game from PS+ as I never would have bought it. If you like somewhat challenging games and got it from PS+ you should try this game.

 

Time played: No clue. 4-5 hours maybe. Come on Sony, put a playtime tracker in your next system update.

Tophies: 35/46

Rating:

 

 

On another note: I got the for Rime today. Replaying every level for the collectable was a bit boring but I would still advise to play without a guide first.

Edited March 18, 2018 by MarkusT1992

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #3 - Day #6 - Final Impression

 

 

Time played: a bit over 5 hours

Trophies earned: 2/45

 

 

I ended up not playing as much as I intended, as I wanted to work towards the online contracts in Agents of Mayhem since those are a pain in the ass to get done.

 

Anyway, I enjoyed Exist Archive for the most part. The story has potential and the characters aren't as cringeworthy as they are in a lot of other JRPGs, which is a welcome change really. The music is also pretty good and I dig the aesthetic. I do also enjoy the metroidvania-esque dungeon layout, however the map is just plain bad.

 

What's also bad are the tutorial sections, which don't really explain much of anything. Furthermore the dungeons are a bit too long for my liking. Even though you don't need to fully explore them to finish the individual quests, it still encourages you to do so even if it's just to farm monsters for items/XP.

 

I'm still on Chapter 3 and all my characters are at least level 10, still stuck with the same skills which kinda sucks to be honest. I don't think the amount of SP given for each level up (2), is enough, considering the main skills cost at least 25 to upgrade/evolve or whatever. The combat while interesting and fun overall, also has room for improvement. At least the enemies seem to vary at a reasonable pace so far, which is nice.

 

I can definitely see this game getting somewhat repetitive after a while, especially when going for the plat. Up to this point I'd still consider this to be an enjoyable and good game though. Thus giving it a .

[ladynadiad]

 

Progress so far: Up to Northtown in the Empire, about 6 hours in according to the save menu.  If I remember right this is about halfway

Trophies: 14 out of 38 (D rank)

 

So now I have also experienced my first crash in this game.  Supposedly crashing issues were a lot worse when it came out, but it did get an update and I've only had one.  Thankfully there is an auto save that saves every time you change screen, so little progress was lost.  This game is also very much making me miss instruction manuals and maps that games include, and I bought a physical copy so it's just being cheap.  I had to actually go and dig into the control customization just to figure out how to swap characters after yet another instance of delayed healing spell killing someone, but it was the character I was controlling.  The lack of a world map to look at likely is going to get brutal once I get access to Flammie.

 

Also found out there are some really dumb default settings.  I know at least one other person is playing this one, do yourself a favor and go into the settings and adjust the max item capacity at the start.  For some stupid reason the game defaults to a max of 4 items when the original allowed a max of 9.  You can go up to 12 in this version but have to adjust that in the settings.  I seriously just found this and am shocked that nothing even explains that exists as a setting and I don't tend to go looking around in there much unless the defaults are terrible.  Definitely recommend anyone who plays this check options first and make sure you are okay with the settings.  At minimum, it's a good idea to change to the original soundtrack, because the remastered one is really bad.  I've also heard the Japanese voice acting is better than the English.

 

But really, the slowness of combat is still annoying the heck out of me.  At the same time, if the combat was actually good, this game would be a complete breeze.  The poor combat is actually offset decently well by the battles being mostly easy.  The slowness is getting worse as I get further because monsters spam magic like crazy now, and that can interrupt your moves and also stops you from being able to act until the magic animations are done, and they aren't quick.  From the looks of things, it's likely going to be 30-40 hours to plat and actually not impossible that I could plat it before the month is over, though that depends on how much time I'll have to play.  I honestly think the only reason why this game has a rare plat is because of how frustrating the slowness of battles is, and also supposedly farming for drops from monsters for the armor and weapon orbs needed for some trophies is a bit annoying, though it's nothing compared to some of the farming needed for FF plats.

 

Anyway, this probably will be my last review because I doubt there is anything that is going to change my view of this game being a poor remaster.  At least my next two games are going to be good action RPGs.

 

Games played: 92

Games completed: 76

Completion: 87.13% (-1.74%)

Unearned Trophies: 330

 

Trophies for this event:  100/270

[MarkusT1992]

@ladynadiad The original version only allowed 4 of each item, not 9.

In my opinion an option to raise the item limit is a bad decision.

[ladynadiad]

2 minutes ago, MarkusT1992 said:

@ladynadiad The original version only allowed 4 of each item, not 9.

In my opinion an option to raise the item limit is a bad decision.

 

Honestly, with how shoddy the combat is, you pretty much need it.  I've had so many wasted spells because of how long it takes enemies to die  Had characters die because my healing was delayed and not the enemy's attacks, etc.  But I did think it was 9, maybe I'm mixing it up with FFA then.

 

And with a trophy for raising magic levels to 8, I definitely want more faerie walnuts around so I can consistently use magic and not have to save grinding for the sprite's magic until the end, though the girl can be saved for later since it's best to just spam it like crazy in the wind palace anyhow if you want to gain levels quickly.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #4 - Day #1 - Preview

 

 

Next up for me is a "tactical shooter", in which I'm curious to see how the tactical part fits into an open-world game. What I understand as tactical shooter is more along the lines of closed environment, breaching a building and giving instructions to squad members, like the Rainbow Six Vegas games. I hope it's not just having a bunch of squad members tag along getting in your way. From what I understand, the online is mostly optional, which suits me just fine.

 

This being a Ubisoft game, I expect (and it also has already been confirmed to me) a shitload of collectibles and a map filled with icons.

 

 

Since I'm currently also going through the Death Mode in Sound Shapes, I expect this game to relieve me of all the frustration of said mode.

[MarkusT1992]

2 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

 

Honestly, with how shoddy the combat is, you pretty much need it.  I've had so many wasted spells because of how long it takes enemies to die  Had characters die because my healing was delayed and not the enemy's attacks, etc.  But I did think it was 9, maybe I'm mixing it up with FFA then.

 

And with a trophy for raising magic levels to 8, I definitely want more faerie walnuts around so I can consistently use magic and not have to save grinding for the sprite's magic until the end, though the girl can be saved for later since it's best to just spam it like crazy in the wind palace anyhow if you want to gain levels quickly.

I haven't played the Remaster yet so no clue how neccessary more items are.

Having only 4 in the SNES version made it a bit more challenging.

 

For grinding reasons it is helpfull to have more recovery items but I think I will play with 4 when I finally start this game.

[Kevvik]

Game #6: Sundered

 

Day 3 Impressions

 

Time played: 3.5 hrs

 

Not much change to my opinion on this game. I played for another hour today and opened up some more space in the level as I unlocked my leaping ability (double jump) just before stopping playing. Maybe I'm just not feeling this game right now and it will feel different coming back to it later. I found a second mini boss and got my ass handed to me but the sensation is the same. Mixing a mini boss in with a horde is fine but when the controls don't feel tight enough, sometimes death feels cheap. Then of course, you have the load times (today was almost a minute each time) and work your way back to the boss only to have another cheap feeling death.

 

I will likely come back to this at some point and maybe my opinion will change. This feels like a bit of a missed opportunity but right now I'm a bit disappointed.

 

Trophies earned: 4/21, 6% for E rank

Score: 4.5/10

Completion Rate: 79.13% (-1.37% for the event)

 

Next up: Game #7: Amnesia Collection

 

[Myu]

 

I had A LOT of free time this week and I was able to play this game for more than 30 hours.

I agree with everything @ladynadiad and @voodoo_eyes said about this game.

 

After a while, it gets repetitive. The same maps are used over and over. Sometimes, I think it's a good thing because the maps are huge. Some of them took me more than 1h30 to get to the boss. The fact that you have to 100% the maps to get several trophies makes it even longer because you have to get really close to some of the corners to get them to appear on your mini-map. But most of the time, I don't want to go back to the same dungeon I've just cleared or I just speed-run through it.

 

Putting all your SP in class upgrades is essential to keep up with bosses. After giving me a certain number of Essence Crystals, I got the Learning ability which gives your character an opportunity to pass learned skills around at the end of a battle. There's probably not enough SP for Kanata to learn everything on his own.

 

I've also unlocked Greed Mode which allows you to move faster in dungeons, attract enemies and get chain encounters more easily. This way, grinding for levels in not really a problem anymore.

 

So far I'm still enjoying the game.

 

A little bonus :

They don't seem too affected by their sudden teleportation to a foreign planet.

 



 

New trophies earned : x 10, x 1

 

Total Completion % : 86.90% ( - 1.61% since the beginning of the event)

 

Play Time : about 30 hours

 

Next game : Tales of Berseria! (Let's hope this one is better than Zesteria!)

 

 

 

[PerryToxteth]

Game No. 3

Game of Thrones (Telltales)

 

Trophies Earned: 8/49 E ranking

Playing Time: 3 hours

 

Final Thoughts: Good thing I'm only doing five games this month. Last week was way too busy and I didn't even get to this game until Day 4 of the allotted time.

  Let me preface this by stating that I have not seen a single episode of Game of Thrones on HBO, nor have I ever read one of the books from the saga. I have had a few people highly recommend the TV show, I have had a few people tell me it's terrible, and I have had many friends get into it but bow out in the later seasons. I've even had one person tell me "It's a great show if you're into killing and rape." Uh, those aren't my normal leisure time passions but thanks, I guess. 

   I barely had enough time to get three hours into this Telltales game but at least I managed to complete Chapter 1. And I will have to say it's intriguing, though I'm not sold just yet. I'll keep the story to a minimum for spoiler reasons, but the setting is a northern, forested climate with various "houses" which are factions competing against one another. Your house is the Forrester house and your one precious commodity is Ironwood. In the Telltales game, you are a variety of characters in the Forrester house. A lowly but up-and-coming squire, a handmaiden attached to a royal house in a far land, and an adolescent Lord who is similar to an adolescent Edward II (prefers the lute over the sword).

   Like any Telltales game, it is completely story-driven and is dialogue-heavy, with you making choices in your character's conversations. The squire options were pretty straight-forward but the handmaiden's were a bit more involved, as she is involved in diplomacy on behalf of her house. It's the typical medieval dialogue so often used in period movies of saying just enough to appease the audience, but not saying too much to reveal your poker hand. The young Earl also has some interesting decisions to make.

  And I also pretty much suck at making decisions. Seems anything I choose to say blows up in my face. Nobody is happy with what I tell them. I even quit and reloaded one part to come away with a different outcome, but no luck. Then I realized, maybe ANY answer is going to be bad, because the game is trying to keep with the TV script and Season 1 is grim. Again, haven't seen the show, but can someone answer me this?

Spoiler

Does Ethan really die in Season 1? Or do I just make really bad decisions in this game? 

 

  So far the story is pretty good but gets a bit confusing with all the characters and whose house they belong to, or who is at war with whom. And it's really hard trying to figure out the hierarchy of the realm. There's a king that's discussed, but then there might be another King over him, I just can't keep it all straight, but I'm also only one chapter into the game. I'm not a Dungeons & Dragons type of guy so this really isn't my forte (although oddly, I did enjoy the LOTR books and movies). One dotard at work told me I would just love Game of Thrones because it is "pretty much historically accurate." There are fire-breathing dragons in this series, right??? So far, haven't come across one of those but for now, I'll give this game a  rating.

 

KYC6 Statistics 

Pre-KYC numbers are in ().

Games Completed - Played 95/68.  ( 92/68)

Trophies Earned - 3255                      (3207)

Unearned - 548                                  (459)

Completion % - 84.53.                     (86.04)

Down - 1.51%

 

Next Up: Virginia

 

 

 

 

[Metal Slime King]

Grand Kingdom (Rating: )

This was a weird Strategy RPG game that I had a hard time getting in to at all and I'll probably never touch again, well maybe, we'll see but probably not. You play as a mute, faceless protagonist (immersion!) with your cut-scene buddy Flint. The two of you are mercenaries in an age of mercenaries on a square-ish map that is conveniently sectioned off into 4 warring Kingdoms. The game starts with a cut scene battle where you win but your superiors surrender so you and Flint decide to join the mercenary guild you just defeated.The Guild won't let you in without an introduction level first of course. This was where it got weird for me, you move a unit of 4 mercenaries (represented as a chess piece) around an overhead map and engage or avoid enemy units. There is no connection between the units and your character or Flint, the units for the first mission are loaners from the guild, afterwards you buy mercenaries to fill your unit from the guild. When you encounter enemies you enter a 2D side view battlefield. There are 3 lanes running across the battlefield that you move guys around and attack enemies. When you're in range of an enemy you can trigger an ability that does damage based on mashing a button to get multiple hits or hitting the button in sync with a moving gauge. Some attacks are AoE and can hit multiple enemies or your own guys if you're not careful. I didn't mind the combat, I just had a hard time getting past the game's presentation.

 

That being said the game looks and plays fine. The music is adequately orchestral and fitting with the theme. If I were just rating the games on my personal preference alone and not trying to evaluate them I'd have given this game a . If you really like Strategy games (which aren't a really over saturated market on console) and aren't put off by the weird narrative structure then you could have fun with this game. I would definitely recommend watching some gameplay footage on Youtube first because if you're looking for something that plays like a Final Fantasy Tactics you are probably going to be disappointed.

 

Completion: (5 out of 46 trophies) 7%, forever.

[Metal Slime King]

@PerryToxteth I only watched GoT sporadically and I stopped watching altogether but I'm 99% sure that the characters you play as in the Telltales game are not in the show or the books. Some of the shows major characters are in the game, I noticed that the game characters modelled after real people had a weird, vacant marionette look to them that the characters unique to the game didn't have. See if that helps you guess which characters are from the show and which are just in the game.

[dizzyshadow]

Game 6 : Madden 18

 

So its back for the 29th time, the annual update of the Madden series Surely everyone knows but just in case, this is EA sports American Football franchise (note i'm from the UK so its american football as football is a different game where you actually use your feet). I was a regular player of this series many years ago, but recently i haven't invested much time in it I think Madden 11 was the last one i played at any length.

 

To be honest not much has changed in that time, core gameplay is very similar, graphics look better, there is now the ultimate team mode (which gives EA even more of your cash) and its still impossible to play defence (for me at least). There are also the traditional new features which show up every year to give them something to sell about the game and invariably don't work and hence are dropped from the following years game. This years new feature is a horrible new throwing method which i couldn't get to grips with at all, but luckily its not compulsory so you can still use standard methods. I assume this won't be present in next years version.

 

All this performs pretty much as you expect i can't fault it but there is nothing there to get me excited either, you already know whether or not it will be of interest to you. 

 

The main reason i came back this year is i heard they had added a story mode and i was keen to see how story mode could work in a sports game. Called Longshot the story is about 4 hours long and it features Devon Wade (pictured right) and his attempt to get drafted into the NFL. Now this is a great story, it turn the game into pretty much a move inter-spaced with small elements of madden gameplay. This isn't a fairytale story Devon is "longshot" to be drafted and he signs up to a reality show following his progress where he gets help from a former NFL coach. How you play has a impact on the outcome and it not a guaranteed happy ending. I really enjoyed this, so much so that i couldn't go to bed until it was finished (for which i'm paying the price today). If you don't have an interest in the sport this is unlikely to be of that much interest to you, but for anyone with an understanding of the game i'd encourage you to give this a try.

 

And as a bonus it features the greatest quarterback ever to play the game, and no i don't mean the one on the cover of game and as a double bonus there is a country music theme song, which has been going round in my head all day " he's a long shot, he's a long shot" is pretty much all i can remember. 

 

I really hope this is something they try again and expand into other sports franchises.

 

 

Playtime: 6 hours

Trophies: 25/41

Rating: 

Completion: 52.91% (-0.19%)

 

Next Up : The Witch & The Hundred knight

[DamagingRob]

Mass Effect: Andromeda- Final Review

 

This game is a lot of fun. But it does still have some issues.. For one, loading times upon startup are atrocious, so playing it in short bursts (or going back and forth between single and multiplayer) could get annoying. The game crashed once. Hoping it doesn't do so again, but something to take note of. And at one point I couldn't turn in a completed mission. What I think happened was enemies got glitched inside of a building. I could see red dots, indicating there were a couple. But couldn't get to them. And this was preventing me from talking to the guy. Had to leave the planet and come back to fix (quitting and reloading the game didn't work).

 

And I have come to find out at least one trophy is glitched: Jack of All Trades. It's something real simple to do, but won't pop with the latest patch. Really glad I have a physical copy, or I would be screwed (until they patch it again, if they ever do). I also didn't get Explorer until I completed 5 Strike Team missions. Not sure if that was a glitch, or the ones from the multiplayer menu don't count for this trophy (which wouldn't make a lot of sense, as they counted for Unwavering). 

 

All that aside, the game is still really fun and addictive. You have your ship, where you can talk to and get to know your crew (maybe even get romantically involved with them). From there, you can fly to various galaxies, and land on some of the planets. Most can just be examined, with just one per galaxy that can actually be landed on and explored. I've only been to four different worlds in my 24 hours of playtime, as there is just so much to do on them. 

 

There are 2 different kinds of worlds. You have your hub worlds, where you won't be fighting any enemies, and aren't nearly as big. But have plenty of people/aliens to talk to and sidequests to pick up. And the other kind, which are freaking massive! Takes so long to explore them fully, even with the vehicle you're given. Which is why I'm not even done with the second one yet. :/ 

 

You can send NPCs out on Strike Team missions, or participate in Apex missions. Then there's all kinds of crafting and research stuff, that I haven't really done much with. There's so much to do in this game, it's not even funny. At 24 hours played, my save file is only showing 30% completion. This is going to be a fairly long one. 

 

Apex missions are the multiplayer portion of the game. And are basically co-op survival. You fight 7 waves of enemies, while trying to stay alive. If you die, a teammate can revive you, or you can revive yourself with a revival item (assuming you have one). After winning or losing, you'll get XP and credits to spend on... loot boxes. You never know what you'll get, which kind of sucks. But whatever I got seemed good enough to carry me through Gold missions at Levels 7-15. Really helps to have a full team that know what they're doing, though. And when leveling up, you can spend skill points on abilities just like the campaign. I liked this multiplayer, and had a good time with it. 

 

So yeah, I'm really not understanding the harsh criticism this game received. Having a good time with it, thus far. I would probably put it above Titan Souls, but below Star Ocean 5. So, that would make it a . 

 

Time played: Probably around 30 hours with multiplayer time. 

Trophy progress: 19/56 for 34% and a C rank. 

Did it lower my completion? Yes.

[dizzyshadow]

1 hour ago, PerryToxteth said:

 

  And I also pretty much suck at making decisions. Seems anything I choose to say blows up in my face. Nobody is happy with what I tell them. I even quit and reloaded one part to come away with a different outcome, but no luck. Then I realized, maybe ANY answer is going to be bad, because the game is trying to keep with the TV script and Season 1 is grim. Again, haven't seen the show, but can someone answer me this?

  Reveal hidden contents

Does Ethan really die in Season 1? Or do I just make really bad decisions in this game? 

 

  So far the story is pretty good but gets a bit confusing with all the characters and whose house they belong to, or who is at war with whom. And it's really hard trying to figure out the hierarchy of the realm.

 

There are a lot of points like that in the game, its not about tying in with the TV series, the game skirts around what is shown in TV (it sits around season 3 or 4 or the TV show) but never directly impacts on it, its just its not a fairy tale story where you get happy endings all the time, lots of bad things happen no matter what decisions you make,I don't think you can avoid the event you mention no matter what you do. The lack of happy endings is pretty much the ethos of the whole series.

 

I can see how the story would be  confusing if you haven't watched the TV series i think they pretty much assume you know the characters from the show, but MKing is right none of the main characters (the Forrester's or the Whitehill's) from the game appear in the TV series.

 

Lastly i'd highly recommend the TV series, i'd avoided it for years but we binged the whole 7 series in January and i loved very minute, can't wait for season 8. But you'll know very quickly whether you'll like it or not. I played the game right after finishing series 7 & the game was good but not a patch on the TV show. 

[ladynadiad]

1 hour ago, PerryToxteth said:

  Hide contents

Does Ethan really die in Season 1? Or do I just make really bad decisions in this game? 

 

 

Like others have said, it just doesn't really cover the events of the game.  The game focuses on their own characters and makes a side story about a House and how they are effected by the various events going on in the series.  All you need to know the game does tell you.  The main thing is that the situation for House Forester is very tenuous because their enemies are in power now.  The people you play as won't necessarily know everything either and have to make decisions as best as they can with their limited understanding.  What this game does is let you be in the shoes of some people in this harsh world and see how you would fare in it.  I also had never read the books or watched the TV show before playing this game and really enjoyed it.  I think people like us are more likely to enjoy it because we have no expectations.  I admit, I'd be interested in playing the game again now that I have seen up to season 5 in the series because I know I'd make some different choices now that I understand some of the characters better,

[CJ_Mystery]

Game #4, Day #1:

 

This is the Vita version because it was cheaper than the PS4 version. I would have done PS4 because SoM was on console but after seeing the forest for the trees(no pun intended) I was glad I only paid $29.99 for the Vita version. First off, I was smart to get the Vita version as I was able to start playing while going on my usual food run to the grocery megamart. Second, I saw where @ladynadiad and others were having problems with.

 

PRO-TIP: Go into settings before you start the game and drop voice-over volume to 0%. That way you can pretend they saved money on voice acting. I did this so I could avoid having to listen to the voices. I did check the voices out on a Let's Play later and I was grateful I shut off voice-over sound as the voice acting was not the best. It was like they phoned it in and that's a crying shame as the voices themselves had potential.

 

Then I got to the combat and saw what people whined about - enemies don't die right away because of the damage delay. I don't remember much from the original but I am sure that delay existed there. On the bright side, you can stun lock enemies until they do their death animation. On the bad side, you have to be even more critical of your health because that Candy might have not healed me before Mantis Ant used another set of Gnome-type spells and taken out Randi's health. Having been a fan of the original game, I am used to the awkward damage delay but I can see where newcomers might rage-quit. They should have not hoped that the nostalgic factor would redeem the combat.

 

You can change the names as the dialogue don't refer to the names of the characters. Knowing how impossible it is to voice a conversation involving the character's name(Dragon Quest VIII either omitted the name or used "guv" which really sounded awkward coming from Jessica's mouth), I appreciate that.

 

So far I haven't gotten very far, just got to Pandora for the first time after sealing the Mana Seed of Water and getting ambushed and rescued from goblins. I know you can negate that cutscene by going to Pandora beforehand but I like it. Also, they added a cutscene when you rest at the inn the first time after meeting Luka, which is a nice touch.

 

One thing I don't like was the trophy list - the trophy names were lazy and uninspired, they just cut-and-paste the trophy description onto the titles. I mock Artifex Mundi and some companies for just titling their Platinum Trophy "Platinum (Trophy)" but this is the worst trophy list titling ever.

 

Trophy Completion: 1% (Just got the first trophy for beating Mantis Ant)

[ladynadiad]

@CJ_Mystery - Only reason why I got the PS4 version is because it's the only version with a physical copy.  I prefer a physical copy when I can get one, especially on Vita where I only have a 4GB memory card and some games won't even fit.

 

I honestly don't recall the delays being quite this bad in the original.  It's to the point that I can't tell what damage was done by which character because it delays so much so it can be quite a bit of time before you catch on that you aren't damaging the monster with a certain type of attack.  Also, it seems you miss a ton more than in the original.  Killing a Nitro Pumpkin was a complete nightmare because it casts wall on itself, you can't remove wall from it and physical attacks nearly always miss.  Now I know removing wall was possible in the original, because I'm following a SNES guide that specifically says to use dispel magic to remove wall as a boss strategy.

 

Another thing you'll want to watch out for is you can't heal a character under a status effect right away.  You can use cure water, it does heal, but the character's HP won't go up until the status effect wears off.   Of course monsters can keep attacking the affected character and kill them in the meantime.  That is seriously complete BS.

[MidnightDragon]

Well, we have company tonight and nobody bothered to tell me, so will be starting The Flame in the Flood either late tonight or tomorrow. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by MidnightDragon

[voodoo_eyes]

6 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

And I also pretty much suck at making decisions. Seems anything I choose to say blows up in my face. Nobody is happy with what I tell them. I even quit and reloaded one part to come away with a different outcome, but no luck.

 

 

This is one of the reasons why I disliked it the most from all the Telltale games. Even though the choices in all of them don't tend to change the outcome too much. In this one it was like a slap across the face. I still believe that the Game of Thrones one was rushed out of the gate, which also explains the stuttering and performance issues (not as noticeable on the PS4), apart from it still running on an outdated engine.

 

This game constantly gave me reactions on things I "picked" as a choice that made no sense. Often the choices would say one thing and then when it was outspoken the character said something entirely different. I mean, if it's meant for you to always say something the riles everyone up, then there's not much of a choice really.

 

 

PS: Watched the documentary that you suggested to me (The Vietnam War). One of the best docus I've seen!

 

PSS: Currently watching Ghost Recon WIldands installing. Thought I had already installed it several weeks ago and it also had already downloaded a ton of patches recently. Guess I had to boot up the game for it to install properly ..

Edited March 19, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[Arctic Cress]

 

Game #3: Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky

 

Played this for another few hours today and it just got too repetitive enough to continue. Since I'm the 5th person to play this game in this topic I will keep this relatively short.

 

I'm in chapter 3, where almost everyone seemed to stop. I do like what I've played so far, though I feel the battles have been getting very repetitive as I've progressed. Everything pretty much dies in the first turn except boss fights, so sometimes I've been wondering if looking at every side path has made me overleveled or something. Even if they don't, they usually attack Kanata so he just counters them and kills them. Speaking of the side paths, I try to map as much as I can every time I enter a dungeon, and it's sort of annoying that there's areas I can't reach on the first time through. I know I'll have to return to some of these areas to finish them off. There's not too much excitement in the dungeons either, the enemies on the map are just blobs and the dungeon backgrounds themselves are pretty bland.

 

The skill system definitely looks like it has some interesting things in it. I haven't done much in there yet, but I've thrown some points towards a better drop rate and some extra guard skills for everyone (like the counter skill that I mentioned earlier). Some of the skills that others have mentioned in their reviews of this seem to be more useful to purchase once I have the chance, so I'll try to see if I can get those.

 

Given the low trophy %s and the fact that I only have two of them (didn't expect more once I actually looked at the trophy list itself) means I've barely scratched the surface. I'll have to come back at a later date, but it's time to move on to another game.

 

Psycho-Pass Mandatory Happiness: 18/36 (45%)
New Little King's Story: 6/50 (8%)
Exist Archive: 2/45 (2%)

Starting completion: 70.23%
Current completion: 69.29%
Difference: -0.94%

 

Psycho-Pass continues to be played. It is about as repetitive, but the fact that you can skip through (most) previously readable text makes it a non-issue. I think I will finish it before the month is over. I'm also going through my second playthrough of Persona 5 to get that platinum. (Getting both done adds another 1,250 Sony Rewards points from the gold and platinum trophy targets, so there's some extra motivation involved there.) The completion does keep going down though, which is what's supposed to happen.

 

Next will be Tales of Hearts R. That's the other physical copy I have other than Exist Archive, so time to swap cartridges again.

[Kevvik]

Game #7: Amnesia Collection

 

Initial Impressions

 

Time played: 2.5 hrs

 

Amnesia Collection is a set of 3 games in the Amnesia universe (no, not the so-so VN with a couple paths of incredibly questionable taste, not that I'm trying to start that discussion again). No, this is a 1st person puzzle/adventure/survival horror. At least Amnesia: The Dark Descent is which is the first of the three games that I have started playing.  After a highly successful PC release, the set were released on console and so far, I think it's awesome.

 

You play Daniel, a young man from London who wakes at Brennenburg Castle knowing only his name and that he is from Mayfair. You begin wandering the castle and find a note from yourself laying out that you need to find and kill someone and by the way, his shadow is roaming the castle after you and no matter what you do, you can't stop it.

 

You need to complete some physics based puzzles but the real challenge is maintaining both your health and your sanity. While unseen things attack you and cause some damage, early on this seems manageable. Your sanity decreases when seeing strange things happen or if you spend too much time in the dark. This can be relieved with your lantern (and its finite oil supply), finding light coming in from outside or using found tinder boxes to light candles, sconces and candlabras. Standing in light, however, makes you more visible to monsters.

 

The first stretch isn't too bad as it is more about exploration than survival. Finding tinderboxes is also crucial for a trophy down the road so I look around a lot.  Notes from your diary and from other characters begin fleshing out a story that feels very Lovecraftian and this only adds to the atmosphere.

 

Yes, let's talk about how this game looks, sounds and feels. Current horror movies with their half-hearted atmosphere and jump scares could take serious notes off this game. The graphics are great, laying out the gothic castle with tremendous success. The soft, controlled sound effects add to the dread and all combine to create an incredibly tense atmosphere which is amplified if you can play in a darkened room. I don't use headphones but I expect that would heighten the tension further. I love games like this and Amnesia succeeds on all fronts. 

 

A later stage as I move forward had me trying to move through an area being stalked by an invisible foe. I could see its location from its steps in the knee-deep water covering the floor. While I managed to stay out of the water on boxes, it had difficulty tracking me. As soon as I went into the water, it was after me in a flash making the journey incredibly tense and yes, I died a few times trying to get through this. Loved it.

 

The next couple of days are busy again (go figure) but I hope to be able to keep going on it. I don't want to start either Justine or A Machine for Pigs and spoil story for this one so we'll see how it plays out. This is an experience I am enjoying a lot.

 

Trophies earned: 3/22, 5% for D rank

Score so far: 8.5/10

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by Kevvik

[Hemiak]

Game 3 - Shantae:Riskys Revenge DC

2 hours played - 1/13 trophies 

 

Well with one thing or another I only got about two hours with this game but I feel like that was enough to call this one. Riskys Revenge directors cut is a re-released version from... Somewhere else.

 

You play as Shantae, a half genie (no idea how that works) who is the protector of a small village. Her uncle is a treasure hunter who specializes in finding rare items. Every year they do a big reveal of a new item he has found. During the gathering this year, Risky Boots shows up. Risky is a sky pirate with purple skin and a very revealing top. O.o  She steals the item and escapes, causing the mayor to fire Shantae. Some more plot is revealed and Shantae sets off the thwart Risky's nefarious plans. 

 

The game looks and plays like an old 16 bit (SNES/Genesis) game. You can run around, duck, jump, or walk by holding a button. Attack sibsisrs of hitting square to whip her hair at enemies. You can also equip one spell at a time to use with R1. Killed enemies and broken objects drop gems, hearts, and magic refills. 

 

The game is basically a Metroidvania, where you explore, get new abilities, and explore new areas. There are octopus statuses scattered throughout the map you can use to warp around, and an old guy wandering the wilderness who will save your game for you. You can buy a map in the city which shows you where to find important stuff, even if you haven't discovered it yet. This is good because the main mechanic of us in jump pads to move one screen forward or backwards towards the screen means you might not realize there is a 2nd way to leave an area unless you look for it. 

 

So far the game is OK. The combat and platforming is stiff but serviceable. The writing is good and amusing. The graphics are OK, but that's about the least important part for me. What's wierd is the cut scenes, which consist of the character's busts popping up during their dialog, look great and crisp. It's kind of wierd that the actual game uses the old style graphics but the cut scenes are current.  I spent much or the first hour just exploring and trying things out, during the 2nd I completed a quest, then entered and completed the 1st dungeon. I'll go back and finish this eventually but I'm on no hurry. 

 

 

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #4 - Day #2 - First Impression

 

 

Time played: about 2 hours

Trophies earned: 4/58

 

 

My first thought was that this could just as well have been called Far Cry 5 with better customization, all they had to do was get rid of the daft AI team members. The map is massive, separated in various different sectors In each of them there's a boss to defeat, a bunch of main and side missions to do and collectibles to gather. The collectibles aren't shown on the map until you gather intel, which is done by either interrogating civilians / enemy lieutenants or hacking computers. There are supposedly over 400 collectibles, so that's a step up from Agents of Mayhem already, which only has 350...

 

I only completed one main mission so far, the rest of the time I've been driving around doing side missions and collecting stuff. Went to an outpost that had a collectible I wanted to get, trying a non-stealth approach. That ended up being a mistake, as the area got swarmed by enemies coming in by trucks and helicopters. No matter how many I killed, more would show up. This went on for a good half hour, until my character got killed. Lesson learned  I guess... seems like the only feasible approach is always stealth.

 

The tactical aspect is very limited so far, as well as clunky. Most of the abilities are locked until you get enough skill points to unlock them, and even then you can't unlock the abilities right away as you also need to gather materials.

[Jaguargenie]

22 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

Game No. 3

Game of Thrones (Telltales)

 

Trophies Earned: 8/49 E ranking

Playing Time: 3 hours

 

Final Thoughts: Good thing I'm only doing five games this month. Last week was way too busy and I didn't even get to this game until Day 4 of the allotted time.

  Let me preface this by stating that I have not seen a single episode of Game of Thrones on HBO, nor have I ever read one of the books from the saga. I have had a few people highly recommend the TV show, I have had a few people tell me it's terrible, and I have had many friends get into it but bow out in the later seasons. I've even had one person tell me "It's a great show if you're into killing and rape." Uh, those aren't my normal leisure time passions but thanks, I guess. 

   I barely had enough time to get three hours into this Telltales game but at least I managed to complete Chapter 1. And I will have to say it's intriguing, though I'm not sold just yet. I'll keep the story to a minimum for spoiler reasons, but the setting is a northern, forested climate with various "houses" which are factions competing against one another. Your house is the Forrester house and your one precious commodity is Ironwood. In the Telltales game, you are a variety of characters in the Forrester house. A lowly but up-and-coming squire, a handmaiden attached to a royal house in a far land, and an adolescent Lord who is similar to an adolescent Edward II (prefers the lute over the sword).

   Like any Telltales game, it is completely story-driven and is dialogue-heavy, with you making choices in your character's conversations. The squire options were pretty straight-forward but the handmaiden's were a bit more involved, as she is involved in diplomacy on behalf of her house. It's the typical medieval dialogue so often used in period movies of saying just enough to appease the audience, but not saying too much to reveal your poker hand. The young Earl also has some interesting decisions to make.

  And I also pretty much suck at making decisions. Seems anything I choose to say blows up in my face. Nobody is happy with what I tell them. I even quit and reloaded one part to come away with a different outcome, but no luck. Then I realized, maybe ANY answer is going to be bad, because the game is trying to keep with the TV script and Season 1 is grim. Again, haven't seen the show, but can someone answer me this?

 

 

Your review is hilarious. I watch this show against my will w my wife. There are 7 seasons. I enjoyed 2 of them. The rest run the gamut between meh and argh!

As for the telltale game, I haven't played, but it sounds like you are describing a House affiliated with the Starks of the North. As a rule of thumb, nothing every goes right, EVER for a Stark or a friend of a Stark. So you probably aren't going to have any luck no matter what choice you make. Have fun! Lol. 

Edited March 20, 2018 by Jaguargenie