“What the Hell Is That Still Doing There” Backlog Event Ver. 3.0

[Myu]

 

I decided to go back to this game right after finishing Okami HD since those two come from the same era (the "I just bought a PS3, what are those trophy thingies?" era). This game made me ragequit twice. The first time was because I realized I had messed up along the way and I had to start all over again to try again for True End, and the second time because I was way underleveled and thought I couldn't go and level grind for a bit because every action you take and every event you see costs Limit Points.

When I came back to this game a few days ago, I didn't even know where I had stopped and what I had to do. I made several save files just in case and tried to poke here and there to see if I could trigger an event that would help. I watched a couple of let's play videos and checked at least 3 different guides. I think I was quite lucky to find out that I was indeed on True End Route. I just had to grind some levels, improve my equipment, beat the final boss, finish all the quests (a little less than 400 repetitive and boring quests...) and buy 500 items. And here's my shiny new plat!

 

October 2018: Agarest : Generation of War 2 [5 years, 6 months]

[Phlegeth]

I did a thing.  I went back and cleaned up Kingdom Hearts.  I did all the optional fights and synthesis.  And then finished with a Speedrun and Unchanging Armor.  And that was harder than the Proud run.

 

October 2018:  Kingdom Hearts [10 Months, 1 week]

[MarkusT1992]

I just finished Far Cry Primal and got the platinum + 100% in game completion.

It didn't really feel like a Far Cry game but it still was fun. But it takes a bit long to get all the skill points.

It took 6 months, 2 weeks and 1 day to complete it.

 

October 2018: Far Cry Primal (First trophy: 30.03.2018)

[crimsonidol38]

I'm making some progress in Need for Speed: Most Wanted:

I finished the miles for the cars from 2 of the 3 DLC packs and all that's left to do is get the 200 miles for the five cars from the Movie Legends-DLC and doing the required amount of takedowns to unlock the remaining upgrades and play with specific plates. This evening I should be able to get at least the last trophy for the NFS Heroes-DLC. And as always my favorite tune of the OST finds my driving style:

I crashed my car into the bridge. I don't care, I love it, I don't care...

 

Additionally I decided to put one other game on my "currently working on"-list:
Driver: San Francisco

I played this game during KYC 2 and it was the first and one of the few games that really blew my mind and it's quite a shame that I didn't really continue after the event. I still have quite a bunch of things left in the singleplayer and most of the multiplayer-trophies but I decided to sell my second PS3 by the end of the year and before that I want to get done with the multiplayer in those games I'm really interested in and Driver: SF is one of them. TBH I actually consider Driver to be one of my candidates for plat #200. The other games I currently have in my mind are Nier Automata and Grid Autosport. And although I enjoyed the parts I played of Nier Automata I'm leaning more towards Driver or Grid as racing games are my hobby horse since I can remember and both games would make a nice milestone as I really enjoyed both series since I played the first installments on the PS1.

 

And expect an update about a finished game by the end of the month.

 

Game(s) working on right now

- Driver: San Francisco (First trophy: 4th November 2016, Goal: Plat)

- Grid Autosport (First trophy: 27th August 2017, Goal: 100%)

- Need for Speed: Most Wanted (First trophy: 8th April 2013, Goal: 100%)

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

I've been quiet for a few weeks here, been working on newer games and Switch games.

 

The end is near for Rayman Legends; I'm at less than 100 points to go now (and haven't counted the daily and weekly challenges that will end half an hour from now yet), I'll be able to finish up this week, which feels great.

[Gretchen27]

Everyone who posted above has been updated.

 

@bodigard

Great plat to have, congrats!

 

@Myu

Early PS3 era can be hard to jump back into. But for someone who started with a focus on Vita & then added PS3 you’re definitely narrowing down that PS3 backlog. Keep it up!

 

@Ekenier

That’s a 100+ hr plat, more than just a thing

 

@MarkusT1992

Congrats!

 

@Crimson Idol

I love it – Well, that’s stuck in my head now ?

Considering you’re usually working on a racing game, I’d bet #200 will be Grid or Driver.

 

@Kassandra

Reappearing with a yet another name to confuse me. 

Those points take months to earn from daily challenges right? That will be a load off when you finish it.

 

 

As for my own update: I’m still set on completing The Evil Within for Halloween. So far this month I got through the speedrun without too much trouble. What’s left? Akumu mode...Currently, I’m a third of the way through stuck in chp 5. Whenever Joseph decides to stop running all over the place & dying I can move on (been stuck in this chp for 2 days).

 

I get why the mode is infamous. The one hit kill doesn’t bother me, or the increase in traps. What bothers me is the detection in this game. Enemies can swing in your direction & kill you when you are clearly out of their sweep. & Mikami was just being cruel adding end game enemies (Ruvik clones) into early chapters. That one I encountered in the basement area (a small area) with a sealed door & mob of enemies was not even remotely easy to kill. 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

4 hours ago, Gretchen27 said:

 

@Kassandra

Reappearing with a yet another name to confuse me. 

Those points take months to earn from daily challenges right? That will be a load off when you finish it.

 

If anything, I'm very unconfusing - it's one new name each four weeks

 

Yeah I've spent several months booting up Rayman Legends daily, you get points from the main game too but not nearly enough. The game itself is awesome but I'll be glad when I'm done.

[crimsonidol38]

4 hours ago, Gretchen27 said:

@Crimson Idol

I love it – Well, that’s stuck in my head now

Considering you’re usually working on a racing game, I’d bet #200 will be Grid or Driver.

 

It just feels like I'm usually working on racing games but that's actually not the case. It's just that I'm currently in a mood where I don't mind driving the same circuits or interstates for hours and hours. E.g. finishing the main game of Most Wanted years ago took me only 20 hours. Finishing the singleplayer portion of the DLC took me an additional 5 hours for all DLCs and right now the ingame timer shows 59 hours total and I still have about 5 to 8 hours left. Normally I wouldn't even consider doing such mindless things but right now I don't mind.

[crimsonidol38]

 

Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PS3 is now finished trophy-wise.

After a total playtime of 65 hours I popped the last measily  for the DLC which required me to perform 5 slam takedowns. Luckily the trophy is glitched in a positive way so that normal takedowns suffice as doing slam takedowns is kinda hard to pull off when not playing with others. Honestly I don't know if the multiplayer-trophies in the DLC were worth all the effort (about 20 hours of driving in circles alone with at least 3000 miles / 4800 kilometres  ) but still I'm glad that I pulled it through.

 

Now I will try to focus on a few games for Trophobia and the Vita-birthday before going back on another level-grind for either Driver or Grid. Let's see if I will find the motivation to finish any other backlog game, too. 

 

I also decided to trim my list to make it more compact.

Spoiler

Games played through during event
March 2017: Golden Axe [26th May 2013, 100%], Driveclub Bikes [8th December 2015, Plat]
April 2017: Burnout Paradise [28th March 2013, 100%], Modnation Racers Roadtrip [11th May 2013, Plat], flOw [16th December 2013, 100%], Ratchet & Clank: Q-Force [16th April 2016, Plat]
May 2017: Bomberman Ultra [27th April 2013, 100%]
June 2017: Dreamals (1st February 2016, 100%]
August 2017: Doki-Doki Universe [10th November 2016, 100%]
September 2017: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse [1st March 2017, Plat]
January 2018: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime [27th March 2017, Plat]
April 2018: Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed [15th March 2015, 100%]
June 2018: Rayman Legends [6th September 2013, Plat]
July 2018: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 [28th January 2018, 100%]
August 2018: It's Quiz Time [28th November 2017, Plat]
October 2018: Need for Speed: Most Wanted [8th April 2013, Plat]

 

Game(s) working on right now

Driver: San Francisco [4th November 2016, Plat], Grid Autosport [27th August 2017, 100%]

Games on agenda for event

 

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

I got the platinum!

 

 

After a lot of fun in 100%ing the main game, and a lot of daily challenges for the final level of awesomeness, I finally got the Rayman Legends platinum - today, October 19th 2018, while I got the first trophy October 20th 2014, I did not notice this until just after synching my profile here for the platinum.

 

It's one of the best platforming games of the past years and I recommend it to anyone who is not against playing platformers.

 

@Gretchen27, here's my new line. You can also remove Rayman Legends from my 'currently' list, and I'll be working on newer games for a while but I might just sneak something in.

October 2018: Rayman Legends (October 2014, platinum)

[kingofbattle8174]

And I managed to squeeze one title in before the end of the month. Tokyo Xanadu. Coming in at 3 playthroughs, about 125 hrs and taking 8 months 1 week and two days. Not bad for a game I originally borrowed from the library and eventually bought to complete. 

[vin_rob]

On 15-10-2018 at 9:36 AM, Kassandra said:

I've been quiet for a few weeks here, been working on newer games and Switch games.

 

The end is near for Rayman Legends; I'm at less than 100 points to go now (and haven't counted the daily and weekly challenges that will end half an hour from now yet), I'll be able to finish up this week, which feels great.

 

Good luck!! I've been there, that grind.... 

 

I've got 2 updates from myself. 

 

I got the platinum for Tomb Raider the Definitive Edition. Took me a mere 2 years and 6 months.

And I got 100% on Journey in 2 years and a month

[Myu]

@Gretchen27 I'm saving up some Vita games for the 7th anniversary event in February.

I want to keep working on my PS3 backlog but I still haven't decided between Tales of Symphonia / Tales of Symphonia 2 / Arslan Senki. I'm probably going to try my luck with Arslan Senki, realize how shitty I am at this game and switch for one of the Tales of games.

Edited October 22, 2018 by Myu

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

In a surprise twist, I finished a second game this month. Felt like upping the trophy count on some older games for a change so I got some random stuff in Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, fed the final Jeffs in Life Goes On and then I went on to The Last Tinker, which is a dull game and has stupid collectables which is why it took me so long to get the 100%, even though I was only two hours or so away from the final 40% in trophy weight.

 

@Gretchen27, here's my new line.

October 2018: Rayman Legends (October 2014, platinum), The Last Tinker: City Of Colors (December 2014, 100%)

[Gretchen27]

On 10/19/2018 at 2:07 AM, Crimson Idol said:

 

Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PS3 is now finished trophy-wise.

After a total playtime of 65 hours I popped the last measily  for the DLC which required me to perform 5 slam takedowns. Luckily the trophy is glitched in a positive way so that normal takedowns suffice as doing slam takedowns is kinda hard to pull off when not playing with others. Honestly I don't know if the multiplayer-trophies in the DLC were worth all the effort (about 20 hours of driving in circles alone with at least 3000 miles / 4800 kilometres  ) but still I'm glad that I pulled it through.

 

Alright, congrats on getting 100% in NFS

The DLC sounds like it pads for time (it probably wasn’t that much of a hassle when it first came out & people were playing), you stuck with it though. Also, looks like you & Myu are both really close for oldest game of the month.

 

On 10/19/2018 at 7:13 AM, Kassandra said:

I got the platinum!

 

 

So close to the same date... Regardless, it’s still an impressive & well-earned plat.

Congrats on knocking out two games this month!

 

On 10/19/2018 at 10:13 PM, kingofbattle8174 said:

And I managed to squeeze one title in before the end of the month. Tokyo Xanadu. Coming in at 3 playthroughs, about 125 hrs and taking 8 months 1 week and two days. Not bad for a game I originally borrowed from the library and eventually bought to complete. 

 

Nice work on a long plat!

 

On 10/21/2018 at 0:01 PM, vin_rob said:

I got the platinum for Tomb Raider the Definitive Edition. Took me a mere 2 years and 6 months.

And I got 100% on Journey in 2 years and a month

 

Another two game month. Awesome ?

 

On 10/22/2018 at 5:41 PM, Myu said:

@Gretchen27 I'm saving up some Vita games for the 7th anniversary event in February.

I want to keep working on my PS3 backlog but I still haven't decided between Tales of Symphonia / Tales of Symphonia 2 / Arslan Senki. I'm probably going to try my luck with Arslan Senki, realize how shitty I am at this game and switch for one of the Tales of games.

 

No worries, perhaps come February you’ll have a good number of games to cross off for both events. Hope Arslan is enjoyable (& easy) ?

[Kevvik]

I had joined the initial incarnation of this and just never really got into it.  Looking in though, I think I will join back up and get back into the swing of things.

 

Current list of 6 months+ where Platinum/100% will be the goal

Spoiler

LittleBigPlanet (first trophy 31 Oct 2008 - TEN YEARS!!!) 

Batman: Arkham Asylum (first trophy 29 Aug 2009)

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (first trophy 27 Jan 2010)

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (first trophy 20 Feb 2010)

Demon's Souls (first trophy 28 Feb 2010

Mini Ninjas  (first trophy 5 Jun 2010)

LittleBigPlanet 2 (first trophy 30 Jun 2011 - don't own DLC - plat is goal)

Rayman Origins (first trophy 21 Jan 2013)

Batman: Arkham City (first trophy 1 Aug 2013)

Bioshock Infinite (first trophy 14 Sep 2013)

Puppeteer (first trophy 9 Nov 2013)

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One (first trophy 23 Dec 2013)

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (first trophy 21 Sep 2014)

Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz (first trophy 9 Aug 2015)

Toukiden: The Age of Demons (first trophy 30 Aug 2015)

Shadow of the Colossus (first trophy 3 Sep 2015)

Silent Hill: Book of Memories (first trophy 27 Nov 2015)

Grow Home (first trophy 13 Feb 2016 - no plat)

Lemmings Touch (first trophy 19 Mar 2016)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (first trophy 22 Apr 2016)

Knytt Underground (first trophy 27 Oct 2016 - no plat)

Alice: Madness Returns (first trophy 25 Dec 2016)

Color Guardians (first trophy 18 Jan 2017)

Starwhal (first trophy 13 Feb 2017)

TorqueL (first trophy 1 Mar 2017 - no plat)

Rise of the Tomb Raider (first trophy 4 Mar 2017)

Okami HD (first trophy 28 Mar 2017)

Final Fantasy X HD (first trophy 23 Apr 2017)

Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy (first trophy 2 Jun 2017)

Rise of the Kasai (first trophy 17 Jul 2017)

Hitman: Absolution (first trophy 21 Jul 2017)

Dust: An Elysian Tail (first trophy 29 Jul 2017)

Way of the Samurai 3 (first trophy 10 Nov 2017)

Dark Cloud 2 (first trophy 13 Nov 2017)

Ys Origin (first trophy 15 Nov 2017)

The Last Guardian (first trophy 19 Nov 2017)

Guacamelee! (first trophy 25 Nov 2017 - don't own DLC - plat is goal)

Deception IV: Blood Ties (first trophy 28 Nov 2017)

Dragon Quest Builders (first trophy 10 Mar 2018)

Sundered (first trophy 17 Mar 2018)

Amnesia Collection (first trophy 19 Mar 2018)

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae (first trophy 22 Mar 2018)

I Am Setsuna (first trophy 28 Mar 2018)

 

List of 6 months+ where completing the main game will be the goal

Spoiler

Ghostbusters: The Video Game (first trophy 19 July 2009 - multiplayer is toast)

Comet Crash (first trophy 7 Jun 2011 - don't own DLC)

The Lord of the Rings Conquest (first trophy 30 Jul 2013 - multiplayer is toast)

Stealth Inc (first trophy 16 Jan 2014 - don't own DLC)

 

List of 6 months+ where I won't be going back to them...

Spoiler

Super Stardust HD (first trophy 27 Jul 2011)

Scott Pilgrim vs the World (first trophy 30 Jul 2011)

Luftrausers (first trophy 25 Jul 2015)

 

We'll see where things go.  New KYC event starts next week but we'll see if I can knock at least 1 off before Christmas...

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

10 hours ago, Gretchen27 said:

 

So close to the same date... Regardless, it’s still an impressive & well-earned plat.

Congrats on knocking out two games this month!

 

Well, if you think about it, if I had waited one day then it would have taken me one day more than four years, while now it's exactly four years, or as close to it without going over.

 

Anyways Hitman 2 releases in two weeks so I'm preparing by playing some more of the previous game, might just be able to add one or two 100%ed DLCs to this month.

[crimsonidol38]

12 hours ago, Gretchen27 said:

Alright, congrats on getting 100% in NFS

The DLC sounds like it pads for time (it probably wasn’t that much of a hassle when it first came out & people were playing), you stuck with it though. Also, looks like you & Myu are both really close for oldest game of the month.

 

It's actually less efficient to go for the miles while playing with others but it's surely more fun. I was quite surprised when I saw the ingame-timer as I knew it would take quite some hours per DLC but seeing the overall time still surprised me.

 

BTW: How is it going with Akumu-mode? Were you able to make any progress or did you take a break by playing Harvest Moon solely?  

[Myu]

12 hours ago, Gretchen27 said:

No worries, perhaps come February you’ll have a good number of games to cross off for both events. Hope Arslan is enjoyable (& easy) 

 

I feel like it would be kinda cheating because these games' plats are being held back on purpose

Arslan is surprisingly easier than I thought. Got the "S rank on all missions" trophy yesterday. Unlocking all the limited skill cards might end up being more challenging though and there's an RNG trophy too. But so far so good

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Finished another DLC episode!

 

 

 

Less than two weeks until HITMAN 2, so I decided to do some more on the previous HITMAN. Basically, I just did the main missions once and I restarted them all for an extra trophy, but that still leaves me for each location with all opportunities except the one or two I already did, getting mastery through completing challenges, and doing at least one escalation contract to the fifth level (which also helps with the mastery).

 

On Sunday, I started on the remaining stuff for the Paris DLC, which I finished up yesterday. I also did the remaining stuff for the The Icon DLC but as it's bundled with A House Built On Sand (which I have done nothing out of yet) trophy-wise, I can't count it here yet.

 

I really enjoy the game having so many options to complete a contract. I waited for the game to be cheap because I figured I wouldn't make use of all that extra content, but I seem to be evolving to buying less new games for PS4 and instead just doing more in what I already have. HITMAN 2 will be the last big new game for PS4 I'll buy in a while, as I don't have any interest in Red Dead Redemption II (maybe some time, if it's cheap) with its Rockstar patented multiplayer catching whales schemes (seriously, would it kill them to just do a single player game with a cool physical collector's edition instead of laying all DLC and CE focus on stuff you can buy for the multiplayer?), and there doesn't seem to be anything else coming out that I want but can't get on the Switch with the same graphics.

 

@Gretchen27, here's my new line.

October 2018: Rayman Legends (October 2014, platinum), The Last Tinker: City Of Colors (December 2014, 100%), HITMAN (July 2017, Paric DLC 100%)

[Psy-Tychist]

Not really playing any games which are over 6 months old at the moment.

Recently played Knack 2 with my other half, Battle Chasers because I wanted to play an RPG and Hollow Knight because I wanted to be one of the top 10 to finish the game.

 

Finished the story portion of Knack 2, have a full NG+ run in Battle Chasers for the Plat and failed miserably to complete Hollow Knight 112% (currently at 108%).

[vin_rob]

Ok, in the end, I actually did finish another game this month...

 

Dishonored Definitive Edition, it only took me 1 year and 4 months. 

[Myu]

Just got the plat for Arslan Senki

 

 

November 2018: Arslan : the Warriors of Legend [1 year, 3 months]

 

I bought this game because I loved the anime even if musou games are really not my favourite genre. I liked playing as characters I appreciate a lot but it got grindy real fast

I first played Arslan as part of a KYC event and I had trouble finding some kind of motivation to finish it. I'm glad this backlog event exists. I hope to get under 500 unearned trophies and get my completion rate to 90% one day

[Gretchen27]

Managed to complete The Evil Within [2 years, 10 months]! To date this has got to be the most difficult I’ve ever earned (proudest as well) & I’ve got a lot to say about the journey. Heavy spoilers & commentary to follow if anyone was looking to avoid those at this point.

Spoiler

When I bought a PS4 I also picked up a few games to start out with (besides those from PS+). Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection was bundled with my system; so I purchased Final Fantasy Type 0 HD, The Order: 1886, & The Evil Within (TEW). That last choice was a toss-up because I was intent on going with a Resident Evil game. I’ve never played one before, but new system time for a new genre. But I didn’t know which one to get. I could have gone with the latest release at the time or a remake, none of them felt like a good place to start. So I went with TEW instead so I wouldn’t have to worry about previous plot history, characters, concepts, & so forth. & now with the completion of TEW, I have finished all of the original games I bought with my PS4! That’s something I can’t say for the other systems yet: PS3 (Little Big Planet & James Bond: Bloodstone) & PSV (Final Fantasy X-2 HD).

 

The games fairly open to how you can approach a section. You could kite enemies into a group & try to use explosives to get them all in one go. Or you can sneak kill in most sections (the very long method). You can kite a single enemy & dispatch them that way. & there’s a lot of fights you can avoid all together by running past or using the environmental traps/bombs to your advantage. I think that really helps to keep the gameplay fresh. Ammo is scarce & there’s no way you can stick with just one method to get by. My initial play-through I used the firearms heavily & tried to avoid the crossbow. But in later plays that became the weapon of choice. My Akumu run pistol ammo was always full (as useless as that gun is), & trap parts were scarce because I wouldn’t even attempt to disarm the bombs.

 

For my initial play-through I did a survival run with no upgrades. That felt like a close enough ‘hard mode’ challenge to gauge how I’d fair in Akumu. Not well if I went by this run. But I can always chalk that up to learning a new game. All those little details like how weapons work, what you can interact with, how the environment & enemies work. It was a long run (18:37:49) & unfortunately I did not screenshot my death count but I think it was just under 200. Most of the time I would try to run through an area see all the enemies that were around, die, & then waste time crouching slowly to stealth kill enemies. Only that usually failed halfway through & I’d either die & start the process over or waste all my ammo to clear the field.

 

Noteworthy bosses: Laura & the Keeper.

 

Laura: that four armed-slipper wearing-grudge look alike- of a girl that Ruvik calls a sister.

You might be wondering why I brought up she’s wearing slippers (or they could be sneakers). Simple, I saw a lot of them during my first play-through. Laura is a one hit kill boss no matter the difficulty. If she catches you then she’ll drag your feet out from under you & smash your face in. & during my second maddening battle in that basement area of Chapter 10 I died more times then I care to admit. Laura would catch me, drag me to the ground (where I would get a nice view of those dirty slippers) before she smashed my head in. Small details stick with you after a while. Akumu was funny enough vastly easier. Laura was faster than usual but I had my method down. The bear traps killed me a few times & lighting the body she spawned from no longer seemed to affect her, but I got by.

 

I’ve got to give props to the design of this boss though, she does her job perfectly well. She freaks me the hell out. Fast crawling creatures are inherently creepy, adding an extra set of arms for a spiderlike crawl doesn’t deter from the creepiness. The teleporting movement just compounds all that. Every time you try & hurt her she disappears for just a half second to reappear a good distance closer to your position. & the grudge look is classic at this point. Got a dark haired female? Cover her face with her hair.

The sounds though are great. That sigh breathing she has really makes you want to look behind you (because it’s always the same sound level even if she’s down the hall). & if you hit her with flames then you get this horrible screeching that peters out into pained screaming. Like I said, every aspect of her design fits right in with a horror game for a creature I would never want to encounter.

 

The first Keeper is another boss fight I really like. It does give me a headache though. I had to learn the hard way the Keeper constantly respawns & whenever he does the screen gets like an out of sync kind of scratched disc vibe. & you get these dull flashes, queue instant headache. But I can’t help but appreciate the design. Most games you could be in a boss fight for an hour if you’re decent at avoiding damage & taking pot shots. The Keeper battle has a bit of a time constraint in the form of a basement flooded with toxic fumes. You need to close three valves to open up a path out. But each valve takes time to close & the Keeper does not stay dead for long. & you don’t want to take too much time kiting him around because you have a set time before you die from the toxic fumes. It’s a pretty nerve wracking hurried fight that took me many attempts to clear on Survivor. By Akumu I did it first try, easy.

 

My favorite level that I didn’t get to enjoy until the Keeper DLC was the mansion level (Chapter 9 I think). I would have loved to take my time & explore all the rooms but alas, Ruvik. In the whole game this is the only chapter he will continually spawn in randomly & personally try to kill you, making taking your time a gamble with few checkpoints. Honestly, I considered playing Benny Hill every time he showed up as I ran up & down the main stairway to avoid him.

 

I did the collectible/chapter specific run a couple years ago. & it was probably my favorite of the four play-throughs. Between the clear bonus weapons & getting to go back to see all the obvious stuff I missed on a casual play-through was fun. Clear time: 8:56:53

 

& also my favorite trophy of the game was earned: Bathed in Flames (aka kill Luara).

My reasons for this should be obvious as noted above. Thank you RPGs, saved the ammo just for her.

 

The speed run was nerve racking to say the least. Constantly trying to mentally keep track of my time & remember what comes next. Basically there was a ton of restarting the game; not just loading the save file, but closing out the game since I wasn’t sure if deaths & loading times added to the timer. Better safe than sorry. Seraphim17’s guide was immensely helpful to watch beforehand (& his commentary is quite enjoyable as well). I did the run on a NG+ (fully upgraded) so I cleared it with ample time to spare. Clear time: 3:10:45

 

Akumu mode if you had doubts, is all it’s cracked up to be. The enemies are not only stronger, they detect better, aim better, there’s more of them, & worst of all some of them are different. End game enemies started appearing in Chapter 3, & I felt the tougher enemies (ones with dynamite & guns) appeared more times than regular ones. Thankfully I didn’t have to fight my way through blind. Again, I made use of Seraphim17’& Jigsaw_Killer (that guy breezes through it like it was casual) video guides. Chapter 6 & 11 were the absolute toughest to get through.

 

Technical issues should have their own section, really just to highlight how pivotal they play in the game’s difficulty. & I call them issues because they’re too inconsistent in occurring to be part of the game design. The main one that bothered me was shooting. I could be standing still aiming at an enemy center mass (even with wavering) the shot should hit. & sometimes the shot would go high over their shoulder, or who knows where. & this would happen for enemies almost directly in front of me or a good distance away. This was most noticeably a problem with the gondola segment in Chapter 11 where one bullet should knock an enemy off the ledge. Once you get to that section, chances are your ammo is depleted so every shot needs to hit.

Another problem with the guns was the ability to stagger an enemy. Now I can see why aiming for the legs with a handgun could easily be my error & it turns out I’m just missing. But when you can’t stagger enemies with the shotgun aimed directly at their legs, that can’t just be me. That’s really frustrating when a fat enemy is running at you, or one with dynamite, or a Ruvik clone. You can’t depend on it to do what it’s supposed to do.

 

A somewhat annoying, yet funny problem I found was the animation reset when deactivating bear traps. You have to be crouched to safely disarm them (no issue there). After that though, Sebastian will stand up & then crouch back down. Doesn’t matter if you were crouching the whole time or just crouched to reach the trap. He will always stand back up. & that can alert enemies if I was behind a fence or on the other side of some waist high obstacle. The funny part I was getting at is during this maze section (waist high) with a spinning blade in the middle. Do you already see where I’m going with this? Because I didn’t, a handful of times & I believe in every one of my play-throughs. I’d go to disable a bear trap I’d come across while crouching through the maze, Sebastian would stand up when done & promptly lose his head.

 

Lastly, let’s talk detection in this game. Sometimes it could be generous, letting you burn multiple enemies somewhat close together with a single match. Other times you were lucky enough to burn the downed enemy you were actually going for. I had plenty of times where I would drop a match & the enemy would have some kind of temporary invincibility, standing up & wasting the match. Other times they would catch on fire, but the other enemy they were literally on top of or next to wouldn’t. Chapter 6 in the burning building with the endless horde of enemies, I could shoot a red barrel, kick it toward an enemy & they could run right into it without catching fire. I’ve had times I’d be on one side of the burning barrel with an enemy reaching over the barrel without catching fire. There were times I could shoot the barrel from across the room & catch myself on fire, but not the haunted right next to the barrel.

 

All gripes aside, I found the game fantastic. Exactly what I was looking for. I liked the cast of characters, I felt the bosses were varied, & overall the game can be pretty rewarding. If you’re looking for survival horror I’d highly recommend TEW.

 

Well, that went longer then I thought it would…It’s a really hard game though. The best piece of advice I could give is to just love the game. Because you will die, you will get stuck on a section for hours, most likely at an impossibly ridiculous checkpoint & if you let that bother you then you’ll never finish this. I genuinely enjoyed this game, even with the difficult parts. Because largely I felt I could manage a section with what I could find or already had on hand. You have to be able to adapt your strategy on the fly with the resources available. All in all TEW is a great game with a few technical problems here & there (but what game doesn’t). & now I can move on to The Evil Within 2 (yes, I’m crazy enough to play through a madman’s nightmare one more time).

 

I’ll be going through updating & responding to everyone tonight or tomorrow morning. Hope you all enjoyed Halloween! 

[Gretchen27]

Monthly Summary:

October

 

Games Completed by Participant:

BillyHorrible: 3 games 

bodigard: 1 game 

Crimson Idol: 1 game

Gretchen27: 1 game

kingofbattle8174: 1 game

MarkusT1992: 1 game

Myu: 2 games

REAPER4536: 1 game

Vermachtnis: 1 game

vin_rob: 3 games

Total: 15 games (+3)

 

Oldest Game(s) Completed: Need for Speed: Most Wanted [5 years, 6 months] Crimson Idol 
                                                 Agarest: Generation of War 2  [5 years, 6 months] Myu

 

Rarest Platinum: The Evil Within (3.89%) Gretchen27

 

Rarest 100%: Journey (7.71%) vin_rob

 

Active check for @Aexuz @EPICRAGE @f1-owner2011 @xEl_Cidx
Haven’t seen an update from you in a while. Drop in & let us know how it’s going 

@Kevvik
Glad to have you back for the event. Best of luck with your backlog!

 

@Crimson Idol
I didn’t know NFS kept an in game timer. Come to think of it Rivals may have had one & I just forgot about it. 

 

Akumu mode is done! I ended up turning off my online status & disabling game invites because friends usually want me to log into Borderlands or GTA whenever they see I’m online. I just couldn’t have any distractions or change games in case I forgot the controls. But I played it for an hour or so almost every night. I’d occasionally switch to Harvest Moon just for something vastly different ?

 

@Myu
Well if it was already a game that was 6 months old when you started I don’t see a problem with it. I’ll count FFX for myself come February since it’s already a few years old. 

 

Congrats on completing Arslan early for November! Yeah, this event is the inverse of KYC ?You’re getting close to 90%, it’ll be here sooner than you think. 500 unearned trophies on the other hand will be a long road. Keep plugging away!

 

@Kassandra

You’ve gone back to Hitman, nice! The Halloween pack is free on the PS store for the rest of the week if I’m not mistaken. I don’t know if it’s still accessible afterwards, but I just thought I’d mention it. 

What do you think of the multiplayer ghost mode for Hitman 2? & who knows, maybe there will be a good sale for Red Dead Redemption II early next year. 

 

@Psy-Tychist
Are you counting story completion for Knack 2 as your game of the month? Just checking since I don’t think you’ve done that before, but you’re more than welcome to. 

 

@vin_rob
Correction on my part: a three game month!