Kill Your Completion - 6

[CJ_Mystery]

I was just saying that I thought the title of the event was Kill Your Completion, but then again I feel this event is designed more to making you try out new games even if they make your completion drop. I was joking about the whole idea, mind you. I know it's really difficult to drop to below 10% of your initial completion unless you start up a bunch of games with 0% trophy completion. (And even then you could just delete those trophy lists since the PS4 lets you remove trophy lists that have no trophies on them.)

[ladynadiad]

5 minutes ago, CJ_Mystery said:

I was just saying that I thought the title of the event was Kill Your Completion, but then again I feel this event is designed more to making you try out new games even if they make your completion drop. I was joking about the whole idea, mind you. I know it's really difficult to drop to below 10% of your initial completion unless you start up a bunch of games with 0% trophy completion. (And even then you could just delete those trophy lists since the PS4 lets you remove trophy lists that have no trophies on them.)

 

0%s don't count against your overall completion.  Your overall completion only includes games with at least 1 trophy earned in them.  It used to count those, but that was changed some time ago.

[MidnightDragon]

Well, started up another game that dropped it below 82%, but that's also sort to make up for the fact I didn't really get anything done in The Flame in the Flood.

 

Will be starting my fifth and final title on Monday. Will give my review on the 31st.

[Jaguargenie]

Initial Impressions

Game 5

 

I played this one last on purpose. From everything I heard, I wanted to play this without interruption from other games. Amazed doesn't describe. I am utterly, completely blown away.

A few quibbles: The combat is a bit repetitive. Its very simple, but can be engrossing if you let it. There is a bit of a frame rate stutter when entering new areas. You can tell the game is loading up in some places. That's it. That's literally all I can find wrong. This thing is a masterpiece.

 

It might be the most beautiful game I have ever played. I am playing on a G1 PS4. I just played Horizon a few months ago. This is gorgeous.

 

The highlight is the sound design though. Play this with headphones and it will be the coolest, creepiest, most engrossing audio gaming experience you have ever had. I can't say enough about it. I am about 50% through it and I love it so much.

 

I will be much more thorough in my full review, but right now, I wanted to get initial thoughts posted since I'm a bit behind on the posts.

 

Next: Final review for game 4 to follow shortly...

[Jaguargenie]

Final Review

Game #4

 

Dying Light is like if Dead Island and Mirrors Edge got together and made a love child. This is what you would get.

 

I am of two minds on this game. From my previous summation, I loved Dead Island and hated Mirrors Edge (sorry). I typically hate first person platforming in all forms. This is all Mirrors Edge is. On the other hand, I loved Dead Island because you ran around, collect junk, turned it into awesome weapons, and proceeded to beat zombies to undeath with them.

 

The game is incredibly hard and unforgiving. I have only gotten to about level 8 because everytime I try and fight something it kills me. Every weapon I create sucks and deals seemingly no damage. To top it off, every time you die, you LOSE XP! On the other hand, the game uses a parkour system for running around the city that is actually really responsive and quite a bit of fun. So my parkour skill is significantly higher than my combat skill, which is probably not helping matters much. There is also a day/night cycle which further complicates matters. At night, a new type of zombie comes out, that is fast, follows you anywhere you go, and can one shot kill you if you aren't at full health. The plus side is that at night, you gain double xp for everything you do, and can't lose xp when you die. So there's that.

 

There are various locations scattered around the map. Some are safe houses you have to liberate, others are settlements you can visit, and others are random encounters that pop up when you are close. There isn't really ever a moment when you have nothing to do. But again, you have to fight to level up your power skill, and I die, all the time. I am feeling very boxed in right now. Missions mostly consist of 'Go to point A, retrieve item X, go to point B, use item X after killing zombie, return to camp.'

 

What a terribly written review this is turning out to be. It just shows how conflicted I am about this game. So let's break it down here. Parkour = awesome. Combat = punishing and hard. Missions = kinda repetitive. Dying = frustrating and makes you feel like a failure. Am I having fun? Surprisingly yes (for the most part). I am still so early in this game and making such little progress that it hasn't gotten old yet. I can see that it might, but right now, I'm enjoying it.

 

Play time: about 9 hours

Trophies: 9/69 for E ranking and 11%

Completion %: 74.68 (-1.01)

Personal Rating: B-

Chance I platinum: 5/10. This plat is a bit of a grind so it depends on how close I get after I beat it.

[MarkusT1992]

Game #4: The Surge (Days 3-6)

 

 

I haven't played this game as much as I wanted but I can tell a bit more about my progress.

After continuing from where I left, I cleared the first area. I'm in the second now. Both areas are more or less open in the sense that you can decide where to go first but in the end have a way you have to go.

In the first area are some places left I couldn't get to. For one I need more energy to open a door and in the other was some toxic mist which damaged me. Speaking of doors and energy: By spending your junk to rais your max energy you can unlck new areas. For some doors you need a specific amount to open them. There are also doors you need a high enought security level to open, which I might get later in the game.

 

The first boss was a giant robot from which I only reached to his feet. After figuring out how to fight him it wasn't that hard. I died only three or four times. After the boss was a train station to reach the next area of the game. There I got a drone which can attack and help in battle. I also found the first other humans who both don't know what happened. Just that some crazy guys came and everything went down.

 

The mechanic to get new armor blueprints from enemies by targeting specific parts is a nice addition to this type of games. After getting the blueprint you still need to get materials to craft the parts by attacking the specific parts and cutting them off. That means you can just attack the unarmored parts to kill the enemies faster when you want to caft new armor.

Weapon wise I use a fast one handed one. I also tried slower weapons but they are really slow even for me. In Dark Souls I normally play with greatswords.

I also know what happens when your time is over after your death. Your chunk disappears but not at once. It's still pretty fast thought and I don't know if you can still collect it or not as it happend during the boss fight and I had no time to collect my junk. The disappearing junk adds a bit more tension after deaths as you need to decide whether to run through the enemies or fighting them. The longer the way the harder to get them back. For that the game has a lot of shortcuts to your medbay thought.

 

All in all this one is a decent Souls like game. It takes all the important parts of Dark Souls and adds some new things to the mix. In my opinion it's better than Deck 13's first ty in in this genre, Lords of the Fallen, but not as good as Dark Souls. I don't know when I will come back to this game. I recently continued with Dark Souls 3 and am probably finishing that one first.

Nontheless this is a good game from what I have played.

 

Time played: ~4h

Trophies: 10/57

Rating:

 

I also finished my second game from this event, Color Guardians. It was challenging till the end and fun. So mch that I completed it with 100% even though it's not needed for the platinum trophy. And because of that my completion is highter than at the start of the event by 0,21%. I doubt that my last game will bring me down a lot. I might start a bonus game to get under my starting completion

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Day #1 - Preview

Gravity Rush 2

 

 

 

Basically I'll be jumping into the second one, without having completed the first. Which is something that doesn't really bother me at all.I played the first one for a couple of hours a few years ago. I didn't get too much into it, but what I played I enjoyed, even though the controls felt a bit weird.

 

I'm expecting more of the same, but refined in every regard. In other words, smoother combat, tighter controls and visually at least maintaining the same level of quality.

[Kevvik]

No more playing really today what with the wife's birthday. Spent about 10 min completing another section in Talos Principle via remote play because I just had no interest in Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae today. Got one more trophy. No change to my rating on either game at this point.

 

Completion rate: 78.52% (-1.98% for the event)

 

Next up: Game #9: A Rose in the Twilight

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Kevvik

[ladynadiad]

Progress: Middle of chapter 2

Trophies: 5 out of 52 (E rank)

 

Of note, I'm playing the Vita version, not the PS4 ex+ version.  As far as I know most of the added content in the PS4 version is fanservicey stuff so I felt it didn't really outweigh the advantages of playing this game on a system I can play at work.

 

So first off it bears mentioning that Tokyo Xanadu is by Nihon Falcom, the developer of the Ys series and the Legend of Heroes series.  This is worth a mention because Tokyo Xanadu pretty much has a playstyle more like Ys, but the overall framework of how chapters run and the game's look is more like Trails of Cold Steel.  The fact that I'm saying the playstyle is like Ys is pretty much me saying this is actually a well made action RPG because just like the Ys games, Tokyo Xanadu has very fast paced and smooth combat.  It's also pretty unique for Falcom because it actually takes place in a modern real life setting, though there are definitely fantasy elements.

 

Pretty much the game starts off with you playing as a boy name Kou Tokisaka.  He's a second year student in high school who works various part time jobs.  He's just getting off work from one of his jobs and happens upon a girl from his school being followed by some weird guys and follows them to make sure she's all right.  He then ends up in some weird place and she fights off a bunch of monsters.  She wipes his memory of what happened and he somehow gets home.

 

However, despite her efforts he ends up remembering and a friend of his ends up in a similar situation and he goes after her.  He then finds out he is able to beat these monsters as well.  So pretty much the game goes between Kou's normal high school life of hanging out with friends and working part time jobs and then saving people from these monsters in a strange place called the Eclipse.  In this sense this game has a lot in common with the Persona series, but is an action RPG instead of a turn based RPG.

 

So far the story isn't anything special, but the characters are neat, the setting is interesting and the gameplay is solid and fun.  It has everything needed to make for an interesting game and I'm sure the plot will pick up some more soon enough.   The overall concept of a second world full of monsters that exists alongside our world and the two of them connect when people feel strong negative emotions is interesting and I do want to see more of what they have in store in this plot.  I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves JRPGs, and especially to anyone who has played Ys or Trails and enjoyed those games.

 

Games played: 93

Games completed: 78

Completion: 87.13% (-1.74%)

Unearned Trophies: 352

 

Trophies for this event:  129/270

[CJ_Mystery]

Final Game, Day 1

 

I saved this game for last because of reasons. First off, it is the sequel to a game I got my #48 platinum on, Dark Cloud. However, unlike that game, the combat is more streamlined and you are put right into the action amid a cutscene orgy. They even give your first trophy for getting through the first half of the intro! As such I am going to be very vague about my time with this unlike my last game.

 

A little history with this game: I actually played this the first time before I played the original Dark Cloud the first time. This game is amazing in its graphics and music. A few things about what will be going on in my session with this game:

1. I will be leaving all of the "kill enemies with items only" missions until the end of Chapter 7, just before I fight the final boss rush. This is because I am going to hoard every attack item(which you throw from the shortcuts) and bomb to ensure I have max everything so I can kill everything on each of those levels with only attack items. Running out of bombs in those levels means you have to void the mission medal by killing something with another attack or having to use Escape Powder to flee, and some of those levels will have flying enemies like bats that normal bombs and attack stones cannot hit, so you need Improved Bombs or Final Bombs, both of them being very expensive to buy and difficult to craft.
2. Why don't I save the Medal Head trophy for Chapter 8? Because once you fight the final boss rush in Chapter 7, which is supposedly the main story's ending, the Chapter 7 dungeon is gone for good. You cannot return to it. This means you lose the chance to complete any missions on that dungeon forever. (You also lose all of the future worlds, so you cannot go back to the rebuilt future areas(like Sindain in the future) once you hit Chapter 8 as they are removed from your fast travel, but that's less of a loss unless you desperately needed Gold Paint or some rare crystal.) This means that you need to clear all of the medal missions in Chapter 7's dungeon before you fight the final boss rush(the medals you earn there still count for the Medal Head trophy even after the dungeon vanishes).
3. I must also save the "kill everything with monster" medal missions for Chapter 8 because the only monster you want to use in this game is Holy Gemron as the Gemron badge is the only monster transformation which has a ranged attack and you want to stay far away from the enemies in the final dungeon as even the Holy Gemron is weak-sauce in defense and will die quickly against the buff enemies in the final dungeon, and if it dies, you're forced to flee or void the trophy unless you have Revival Powder. Also, spam my PM box to remind me never to break-synth the Diamond I get from Donny or don't grab it from him until Chapter 7!!!!! This is because, until you hit Chapter 8 and can BUY them, you only get THREE DIAMONDS and you NEED THREE DIAMONDS for a monster capsule to get a card badge. I ended up being unable to get the trophy for all the monster badges because I was a fool and synthed the Diamond I got from Donny right away.

All in all, this will be a fun ride.

Trophy Completion: 1% (1 out of 36)

[DamagingRob]

World of Final Fantasy- Final Review

 

So, haven't encountered much new since Day 1. Just more of the same, really. But I did forget to mention some things. By holding R1, you can speed up battles. This is an absolute godsend, as the game would be way too slow paced, otherwise. Makes battles fly by. 

 

If you happen to die in battle, you're simply returned to the hub world, instead of being given a Game Over screen (but you have to trek back through the dungeon you were in). This makes it very beginner friendly, and probably the most kid-friendly Final Fantasy I've played with the less serious story. Although, there are still some fights where this won't happen, and dying will result in a Game Over. So, definitely make use of those save points! 

 

Which brings me to one of my complaints. You only get one save? Like, what were the developers smoking? With games like these, I usually have numerous saves. You never know what can happen. Seems like a really odd thing for it to be this way. 

 

Some Mirages can be a real pain in the ass to catch. You'll need a certain ability, be able to do major damage, or run around getting into fights until you find a rare one. And every single time you catch one, it's Level 1.. This has led to me not changing my team much since the start. But the game is easy enough, that I guess that doesn't matter. 

 

The good news is, every Mirage in your party gets XP, even if they're not fighting. So, you can put a low level one in reserve, and have it gain some levels pretty quickly. 

 

Anyways, the game has been pretty fun, despite the negatives. Hearing music and seeing characters from past Final Fantasies just makes me want to go play some of those, though. And for the most part, I'm fine with the voices. But Vivi... I don't know, his just sounds wrong. :/ But I also don't know when the last time I played a JRPG with so much voiced dialogue was. Literally every NPC line is voiced.

 

Graphics are decent for what it is. A lot of the Summons are cool to look at. Sephiroth is weird, though. He's the only one that disables the fast forward option. You can guess who I won't be using.

 

This one is probably going to be tied with Mass Effect: Andromeda, and get a rating. It's fun, but not the best Final Fantasy I've played. And Star Ocean 5 is still my favorite from this event. 

 

Time played: 28 and a half hours. 

Trophy progress: 16/49 for 24% and a D rank. 

Did it lower my completion? Yes. 

 

I also started NBA Live 18, after getting kinda tired of WoFF after 4 days. I'm not going to do a use in depth review for it, but it's not bad. What is bad, is possible glitched trophies.. Was attempting Clutch for a couple of hours last night, and it refuses to pop. :/ In a Discord group with the guide writers, so maybe I'll ask them if they know what could be the problem. 

 

But you level up while playing games, and spend skill points to make your created player better. And buy loot box accessories with points earned. All there is to it, really. If you don't like basketball, I doubt it will make you like it.

[CJ_Mystery]

2 hours ago, Jaco said:

If you happen to die in battle, you're simply returned to the hub world, instead of being given a Game Over screen

You CAN get a Game Over. Did you see areas with glowing red swords around the arena? Well, the game clearly tells you that those are thresholds, and if you die in THOSE(mainly major boss battles), you DO get a Game Over.

Spoiler

They explain it as Tama using her power to rescue the heroes and the thresholds are powerful evil energy fields that prevent her from using her power to save you. Which doesn't explain why Faris and Syldra have one.

2 hours ago, Jaco said:

Some Mirages can be a real pain in the ass to catch.

Not as bad as the capture of familiars in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. I found out that the Jack of Trades merit award doesn't give a 20% boost to the hearts, it's 20% of the base capture rate, so you only get a 0.8% boost to capturing a familiar. ?

 

I plan to start playing World of Final Fantasy myself sometime before June. I really want it to be one of my major milestones.

Edited March 25, 2018 by CJ_Mystery

[DamagingRob]

44 minutes ago, CJ_Mystery said:

You CAN get a Game Over. Did you see areas with glowing red swords around the arena? Well, the game clearly tells you that those are thresholds, and if you die in THOSE(mainly major boss battles), you DO get a Game Over.

I mentioned that in the very same paragraph.

3 hours ago, Jaco said:

Although, there are still some fights where this won't happen, and dying will result in a Game Over.

 

45 minutes ago, CJ_Mystery said:

Not as bad as the capture of familiars in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Perhaps not. But doesn't change the fact some are annoying. Died to that stupid Flan Princess numerous times, trying to catch it..

[MarkusT1992]

Game #5: What Remains of Edith Finch

 

 

I already finished my last game for this event.

What Remains of Edith Finch is a heavy story driven adventure/walking sim. As that is I try to not spoil the story in my review. Only this much: You return to your childhood house at the age of 17 after ineriting it. With a key you got from your mother you want to discover what happened to all the family members.

The game leads you through the house where you find leters, diarys or other writen things of all the family members, which let you experince the last moments before their deaths.

Why are the all dead you ask? That's because of a supposedly family curse.

That's all what you do in this game. Bit by bit you learn about all your family members by playing all their last moments. Every part is unique in gameplay an story telling, which made this game really great.

Not for nothing has this game won several awards for its narrative.

 

Once I started playing I couldn't stop. I wanted to see what happens next and because this game is pretty short I finished it quite fast.

In my opinion everyone should give this game a try. For me it has one of the best stories I have eperience in recent time. Even when you don't like walking sims this could be for you. It feels very different to game like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture or The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

 

Time played: Maybe 2h 30min

Trophies: 9/9

Rating:

 

 

I'm pretty sure I will add at least one bonus game for the event, might even do two for the last few days. I haven't decided on the game(s) though.

Somehow this event didn't lower my completion at all.

[ladynadiad]

1 hour ago, CJ_Mystery said:

Not as bad as the capture of familiars in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. I found out that the Jack of Trades merit award doesn't give a 20% boost to the hearts, it's 20% of the base capture rate, so you only get a 0.8% boost to capturing a familiar.

 

You do know the trophy for taming them also counts ones you get from metamorphosis too, right?  That fact alone makes the trophy not that bad since you can easily level up familiars for that while farming stuff for the alchemy trophy (and you'll likely capture plenty during that).

[Psy-Tychist]

Ok, I'm a little behind with my reviews but I've been travelling meeting friends.

 

Will catch up soon.

[CJ_Mystery]

2 hours ago, ladynadiad said:

You do know the trophy for taming them also counts ones you get from metamorphosis too, right?  That fact alone makes the trophy not that bad since you can easily level up familiars for that while farming stuff for the alchemy trophy (and you'll likely capture plenty during that).

 

Yes, I know that, but metamorphosis is ALSO difficult. To metamorphosis a familiar to its second form you need one of the Drop items which are only found as monster drops or steals or by sidequests. To metamorphosis a familiar to one of its final forms, you need the Jumbo Drops, which either require stealing them from rare golden enemies post-game, buying them in the casino(which requires 3000 chips for each) or alchemizing them... which consumes one of your more difficult to get regular Drops! If you find the higher forms, it's better to try to catch them to save Drops, money and time. I managed to capture the Turbandit and all of its forms during the story.

 

Note: If you intend to metamorphosis all of your forms, you'll need to tame TWO first form familiars and have TWO Jumbo Drops and two regular Drops. That is a lot of drops.

Edited March 26, 2018 by CJ_Mystery

[Arctic Cress]

 

Game #4: Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment

 

It seems to be a trend of mine doing games out of order (since I said I'd do Tales of Hearts R here), though the original order I posted had this in fourth anyway, so might as well. (The only thing I switched from the original was swapping Exist Archive and Psycho-Pass to lineup with everyone else). I think I might want to play Tales of Hearts R when the month is over, so I swapped it back into the last slot and started this instead. This game is also on my Weeblympics list as well so I was going to start it eventually anyway.

 

I have never actually watched any of Sword Art Online and have been warned to stay clear of it anyway, but I do know the basic storyline of the game and some of the characters. If the opening cutscenes in Arc Sophia are representative of the series, then I think it's a good thing to stay away from it. Anyway, you play as Kirito, the main character of the novels and anime, who gets whisked off to another area within the game called the Hollow Area, where he meets a girl named Philia, who is exploring the land for treasure as well. After finding a teleport stone and entering the control sphere in the middle of the Hollow Area, he gets back to Arc Sophia to continue with the quest he was already on - get to the 100th level of Aincrad and finish the game (this follows the main storyline of the anime if I am correct). Basically, you're allowed to switch between the two arcs whenever needed. The trophy guide on PSNProfiles recommends you do the Hollow Arc first, and then continue with the other arc when finished because Philia has events in the other arc and cannot leave the Hollow Area until it's finished. That's what I've been doing, completing some random quests with Philia on the way to the first boss there. I have died a few times by taking on too many enemies or dying from poison after a fight, so it's been very slow progress. Thankfully the game autosaves so very little progress is lost. (I don't know if there's a manual save? I couldn't find one.)

 

The basic game is a simple action RPG. You have an attack button, special attack button, parry button, and other commands are mapped to the L and R buttons + another button, which can be awkward at times. Another character will usually be accompanying you and will shout out certain commands depending on the flow of battle, such as using a skill or switching who is tanking the enemies. It's pretty standard, though I tend to attract too many enemies often and get myself killed, so I just have to... not do that. I'll get the hang of it at some point. You start at level 100 (but most of the mobs start in the 90s) and all possible partners are in the 90s as well. They'll also level up, as Philia has done a few times already. There's a trophy for hitting level 150 and I doubt I'll be anywhere close to that with how it's going so far, so I'm expecting a long grind when I go back to finish this. (Then again, given the trophy rarity and the fact that it literally has a trophy named "This game is not for fun" I was expecting it anyway.)

 

I've also taken a look at some of the missions added in the 1.01 patch (by accident, before I looked at what I should have been doing in the guide). Not sure what to do there yet, but it's somewhat outside my level so I'll go back at a later date.

 

Psycho-Pass Mandatory Happiness: 18/36 (45%)
New Little King's Story: 6/50 (8%)
Exist Archive: 2/45 (2%)
Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment: 1/54 (1%)

Starting completion: 70.23%
Current completion: 68.97%
Difference: -1.26%

 

Amazing that not getting trophies in anything for a while keeps the completion low (lol). The rest of the trophies that I still need in Persona 5 are all endgame stuff, so it's not a surprise that I have none of them done at this time. That will probably change by the next game, but whatever. Tales of Hearts R is the only game left to play, so I will see if it was worth waiting this long to play, if I should have played it sooner, or if it wasn't worth it at all! I tend to like most Tales games so it's definitely one I would have checked out eventually.

[ladynadiad]

 

Progress: Beginning of chapter 4

Trophies earned: 8 out of 52 (D rank)

 

Well, the story is picking up a bit more, though it's still a bit early to figure out what the overarching plot is besides let's kill some monsters and all.  But I have to admit, some of the concepts behind what they can do have been pretty neat.  Chapter 3's plot was definitely not something I'd normally see in a JRPG, so it's really taking great advantage of the modern setting.

 

Spoiler

Pretty much I thought the concept of the monsters being able to take control of what amounts to a cellphone app that tells fortunes to twist it into telling bad fortunes that come true was a neat twist.  And then when the app's creator tried to hack into the server its on, it erased itself from that server and moved to another one.  It's a nice spin that plays on some of the fears we have of our modern wireless devices being able to be messed with and cause harm because that's pretty much what happened here.

 

I'm definitely really enjoying this game a lot and it's looking to be one of the better games I played this event.  Still don't have the whole party assembled though, I know I have two party members left, but I've at least met all the party members at this point now.

 

Anyway, since this game is very much a need a guide for all the missables sort of game I'm going to be also playing Exist Archive again until The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 arrives.

 

Games played: 93

Games completed: 78

Completion: 87.19% (-1.68%)

Unearned Trophies: 349

 

Trophies for this event:  132/270

[Metal Slime King]

Bombing Busters (Rating: ?)

Bombing Busters is a blatant Bomberman rip-off currently being offered for free on NA PS+ but I wouldn't recommend picking it up unless you're particularly hard up for a free game. For anyone unfamiliar with Bomberman your character navigates a grid like arena from an overhead perspective and there are piles of debris and enemies to clear out with bombs. Randomly, there are power-ups hidden under the debris that make your bombs stronger, allows you to drop more bombs at once and other misc. effects. Typically arenas start to have gimmicks (like teleport pads) as you move on in levels. Since this game is a rip-off it functions identically but it has some issues. Unlike Bomberman any power-ups you gain don't carry over to the next level. By the second world (5 worlds with 5 levels + a boss each) every enemy will actively avoid your bombs and default bombs take a long time to detonate. You get 5 minutes to clear a level but in order to get 3 stars (required on each level for a trophy) you have to clear the level in under 2 minutes which seems tied to whether you get remote detonators (hit to immediately detonate placed bombs) early enough in a level. Save me RNGesus! Some of the level gimmicks are overly obnoxious like the gusts of winds on world 3 that interfere with you, in fact the game in general quickly becomes more obnoxious than fun.

 

The graphics are simple, cartoonish and functional. The menus are clunky but control-wise the game works properly. I gave the full game a chance but ended up turning the music off quickly as it was just the Tetris theme on repeat. Maybe they ripped off other tunes for different levels but I'll never know. Your character is a robot given instructions by a cartoonish Dr. Evil (forgot the real name, Warren or Warrick, it doesn't matter) who delivers an obnoxious one liner every time you kill an enemy ("I love death!"). Fortunately this is a separate audio track which can be disabled without totally muting the sound otherwise this game would be intolerable. As it is, the game is barely tolerable in short bursts and I don't know if I'll ever bother to 100% it.

 

Finished up with Bombing Busters yesterday and I certainly didn't encounter anything to improve my initial rating, in fact I'm dropping it down to a ? as it feels as if the developers are actively trolling the players who unwittingly buy their game. There are "Pro-tips" posted on screen between each level and half of them boil down to "Lololol, you mad bro?". After finishing the game the only form of conclusion was a static screen ("Congartulations, Your a weiner!!") that hardly even references their flimsy attempt at a narrative. I knew I didn't care about their story but at least they could've pretended to care about it. I think the biggest flaw with the game itself was the implementation of randomized elements. In each stage and in the boss fights there are set elements and randomized elements but usually when a game includes randomized elements there are checks to exclude unwinnable states but not in this game.Once I was actually killed by an enemy that spawned next to me before my character could move. The most important skill to develop in this game is to quickly recognize an unfavourable state and immediately reset. On beating a boss I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment for fully recognizing his pattern, I've had the pattern a while ago. I just felt luck for this being the first run I didn't get immediately ganked by a random element throughout the fight.

 

I didn't do very well in leaderboard for fastest completion time as I've been bouncing around between a lot of games this month (obviously) but if there was a leaderboard for fastest time from beating to deleting a game I feel like I would've been a real contender.

 

Completion: (7 out of 13 trophies) 36%

Completion: (13 out of 13 trophies) 100%, no Plat.

Edited April 1, 2018 by mking_63

[DamagingRob]

Dreamfall Chapters- Day 1

 

So yeah, while I played the previous game, it's been far too long. I remember Zoë, but that's about it. No idea who the guy you play as is. But so far, it's really good. 

 

You start off playing as Zoë, but your real body is in a coma. And your... spirit, I guess? It's in another realm. And you help people wake up, that appear to be trapped in it from using a device to enter it too much and became addicted. The possible horrors of using VR? ;P But she is needed in the world she came from, and is forced to wake up. 

 

You then play as a guy in prison, who is soon to be executed. When a riot starts, and a strange man appears to help you escape. At the end, sacrificing his life to use some kind of black magic to warp you to safety. 

 

After this, it's back to playing as Zoë. Who is no longer in a coma, but remembers nothing about her time in the other world. So, she's just living her life, pretty much. Goes to see a therapist, in hopes of triggering the memories she has forgotten. Lives with her boyfriend, and goes to work. Until she runs into a little girl she helped awaken from her dream state, who thanks for Zoë saving her. 

 

After that, came a very bizarre sequence where you play as a baby. You had to bust out of your crib, sneak past your dad, and get your strange-looking mom to open a door for you. I don't know what any of it had to do with the game's story, but I may find out later. And then it switched back to the guy, and I decided to quit for the night. 

 

As an adventure game, the story is usually the main reason to play it. There's not a whole lot of actual gameplay. You run around, talk to people, pick up and use items, etc. But the world is pretty neat. It's futuristic with hover cars and stuff. And a fairly large map, that you may get lost in. Thankfully, there's an in game map, as well as machines scattered about, that will show you where on the map something is. With some silly dialogue to boot. 

 

There is a lot of funny dialogue in this game. The whole "Shit-bot" scetch was a laugh riot. You were tasked with taking a robot for a walk, and seeing how it performed at various things. He failed miserably at every turn, and was only good at welding. Kinda have to see it. 

 

At certain points in the game, where a big decision has to be made, you can press  to see what percentages of people chose this or that. And at the end of a chapter, it will show how your choices lined up with the majority of players. You can also read journal entries and character files by pressing the touchpad. 

 

Not really much else to say. Don't even know how much, if anything, I can add to a final review, as outside of more story spoilage, that's pretty much gonna be it. But I am having a good time with it, and will be taking my time going through it. Which is to say, I'll be talking to everyone and clicking on things for additional dialogue.

 

Time played: 3-4 hours? Always hard to guess when there's no playtime indicator.. 

Trophy progress: 6/46 for 10% and an E rank. 

 

I also ended up playing some more NBA Live 18, afterwards, and got that trophy I was having trouble with on the first attempt. Did nothing different, and the bar wasn't even green when I shot. But it popped, so I'm not going to complain.

[CJ_Mystery]

Final Game, Day 2: Dark Cloud 2

 

I am pretty much going to keep it simple for the rest of the month. I cleared the first half of the first area and beat the first boss. The invention and crafting additions to Dark Cloud 2 are amazing, and I found a wonderful trophy guide on this site for the game. I took pictures of everything I could and got to Photography Level 2 as well as the second trophy, which was for crafting your first item(the energy pack for Steve the Ridepod, who is going to be the MVP of my Platinum Quest of this game ). Will clear the rest of Chapter 1 tomorrow because it's now 5 PM and I need to get back to platinuming Ni no Kuni.

 

Trophy Completion: 2% (2/31)

Edited March 26, 2018 by CJ_Mystery

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #5 - Day #2 - First Impression

Gravity Rush 2

 

Time played: a bit over an hour

Trophies earned: 2/48

 

All I did so far was basically the tutorial  As such I'm not really sure what to think about this. It feels like the original in pretty much every aspect so far. Art style seems similar, mechanics are the same and the controls are still clunky. For some reason they implemented (optional) motion controls, which I don't intend to use ever. Well, at least the DLC is apparently free.

 

One thing I can most definitely say already, is that the visual presentation in Gravity Rush 2 is what I've been expecting from JRPGs.

 

 

Other than that I've been going back to Agents of Mayhem. Finally got the only contracts done, of which I needed 27 for it to register the "15"... Now all I need for tje plat is gather 150 collectibles in a game that doesn't have a ninimap and shows them in similar fashion to Infamous 2 . I honestly would love to know who the brilliant mind behind that decision was.

Edited March 27, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[Kevvik]

Game #9: A Rose in the Twilight

 

Initial Impressions

 

Time played: 1.5 hrs

 

This is a pretty neat game.  This is a puzzle game of sorts where you play Rose, a child who awakens in the bowels of a gothic dungeon after a few drops of blood land on your head from above (whose blood, don't know yet).  As you traverse through rooms in the dungeon, you discover both the ability to absorb a small amount of blood that you come across and stores in a white rose which you carry.  Certain white coloured objects can have the blood transferred to them, making them mobile and red.  Red objects can have the blood removed from them, making them stationary even if they are in mid-air.  You also come across dead bodies.  If you absorb the blood that pools beside them, you obtain a memory, slowly moving forward the past and giving you an idea how things came to this point.  Blood can only be absorbed from one object. Until you put it into something else, you can't absorb any more.  So you basically have 1 unit of blood to work with.

 

You eventually come across a giant helical rock which, on transferring blood to it, brings it to life with arms and legs.  At first you run frightened from it until it saves you from a cage trap (well, you save yourself as you can now switch between Rose and Giant).  It now can be employed to work through the puzzles allowing you to advance through rooms.  Giant can carry Rose or other red items and throw either as well.  This helps remove obstacles from your path or help Rose go over obstacles or reach higher areas.  The rooms become more complex as you proceed in addition to trying to find bodies to obtain more memories.  There is also a checkpoint system where you can intentionally die and return if you are stuck or at times, when you need to give your own blood in a location, you get reborn at the checkpoint with your actions intact.

 

The rooms are starting to get a bit more challenging and taking more time to get through.  Bodies with memories are getting to be more work to get to as well.  From a trophy perspective, there are several speed-run trophies, one which is less time than what I have already put in to the point so far so this might be difficult if it is a start to finish run.  Still not quite sure how this works.  If it is like Dokuro, where the times for rooms are cumulative then I might be able to manage it by redoing some (most) rooms. Did I mention you can go back to previous rooms?  I did that to see if Giant would come with me and he did.  I was also able to find a blood memory in one of the earlier rooms.  We'll see about the speed-run once I find a way to see my time.

 

The graphics are on par with other NIS games like Yomawari for those who have played it.  The controls seems fairly tight but there have been a couple times where my jump when walking to the edge hasn't gone off in time and I've fallen but since there are trophies for dying a certain number of times so that helps there, I guess.  Every now and then, I forget which button I'm pushing and Giant throws Rose instead of putting her down but that's my fault.

 

I'm enjoying this a fair bit as puzzle games appeal to me and am looking forward to see where the story actually goes.

 

Trophies earned: 4/29, 6% for E rank

Score so far: 8/10

Edited March 27, 2018 by Kevvik

[CJ_Mystery]

I downloaded a theme for Rose in the Twilight when I had linked my Vita to my old account and it looks dope. Good luck on your play!