KYC 777

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

6 hours ago, xFalionx said:

Man, where do you people find these games?  

 

Personally, I often check the digital shops of every console I own to check if there's stuff that's flown in under the radar.

 

That's how I found MagRunner back in the day, but also how I found Elite Dangerous, Accounting+, Statik, Octodad, LIMBO, Golf Story, Putty Pals... Actually there's a lot of games I find out about this way.

[voodoo_eyes]

@xFalionx It sure is interesting. In a way it's similar to République, as in that you should try and find all the documents to get the most out of the games' story. It also has the best use of a teleportiation device in a game ever.

Edited July 20, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[crimsonidol38]

Game 7, Day 1

Rainbow Moon (PS Vita)

 

Rainbow Moon was one of my many purchases from 2013 which I solely bought because I either like the genre or it was in a sale and I somehow liked what I was reading about the game. As you see it know, I never played the game until this event and I somehow wished I would have ignored it altogether.

 

But first of all: What is Rainbow Moon? Rainbow Moon is a turn-based (Strategy-). You take control of Baldren, your run of the mill knight who was on his way to an annual duel with a wizard but the wizard somehow pushed Baldren through a portal to another world and now he's finding himself in a now monster-infested land. Baldren tries to find a way back to his own world but therefor he has to run several errands and help the locals against the monsters.

 

Monsters itself can either be triggered by walking into them on the oveworld or by initiating random encounters, which may pop up from time to time in the lower left corner and can be accepted by pressing  . The battle system seems to be similar to most other strategy-based RPGs. Your party and the enemies are placed on an isometric grid and follow a given turn order to perform actions like moving in any direction, attacking, using items, defending, or using special skills. The arenas may have some small obstacles which either hinder you or your enemies from moving in a direction. Unlike many SRPGs there don't seem to be any height differences in the arenas, though. When you defeat an enemy they might drop some loot which you can either pick up during a fight or after it. If you let in stay on the ground during the fight you can also use the loot as an obstacle as enemies can't walk over it. Battle rewards consist of the common experience to level up and you may also get some cash (as loot from the enemies) and some so-called rainbow pearls, which can be seen as an alternative name for skill points as you can use those to improve the character's stats by using them at one specific facility.

Speaking of facilities there are different types of special people you can go to. There's the so-called savage where you can improve your stats, the normal item shop to buy food, herbs, new equipment, and some skills, a blacksmith to improve equipment by combining them with materials, and a healer. Maybe there are also some other ones but that's what I saw in my first one and a half hours.

The only other thing that maybe is worth a mention is that the game has it's own day-night-cycle. Every step you do or action you perform forwards the time, even during battles. During night there will be more enemy encounters and some facilities are closed. During days you may have special interactions with specific locals or additional buffs while fighting against enemies, depending on which day it is. This reminds me a bit of the Seiken Densetsu/Mana-series, as that also had a weekday for each spirit which slightly influenced the surroundings. Oh and there seems to be some kind of hunger-system, which requries your characters to eat in some short intervals or otherwise they might take damage. At last that's what this post says, as there wasn't an ingame tutorial for it yet.  

 

So far I played for about one and a half hour and also got my second party member, the archer Trisha. Surprisingly this, and the other story related trophy which you  gain about 10 minutes before are already uncommon trophies. There's only one ccmmon trophy (for winning your first fight) which seems a bit surprising at first as you can reach this story-trophy in the first hour or so. But honestly I can understand it as this game is a rather dull experience for me. The main reason is probably the fact that the whole game doesn't feel engaging at all. I felt like walking the same way back and forth for several times just to trigger one dialog box after another. Speaking of boxes there's also way to many dialogs you have to confirm. If you get some loot after the battle. and you want to get all of it, you have to select each and every item on it's own. There doesn't seem to be an option to take all of it, or all that still fits in your limited item slots. An NPC gives you a specific item you need? A dialog pops up asking you whether you want the item or not. If you select yes, the normal box pops up where you explicitly have to select the item. Are you really sure that you are sure?  

Another thing that may influence my opinion is the comic-artstyle of the game, which I don't like at all and reminds me too much of all those F2P-games for smartphones and browser,. But maybe this association seems to be rather fitting as the game offers various DLCs for the in-game currency and those rainbow pearls which ease the early game grind to make some progress. As the version I bought way back also come with one of those DLCs I nstalled it and it at least gave me the possibility to make the normal fights a bit less dull as I don't have to heal myself constantly. Overall the game seems to focus way too much on these grinds as there are trophies for eaching specific levels for skills, killing any type of monster at least 300 times, crafting so-and-so many times, reaching specific levels etc. Oh well... Maybe I should have chosen another game.  

 

[Beyondthegrave07]

@Crimson Idol FINALLY, Someone who seems to share my opinion on Rainbow moon! I love trying new RPGs, but this one is the dullest one I've ever played. No tutorial and I never found a way to skip the enemies turn... Which is REALLY annoying once you get in a fight with 16 enemies. I remember spending 45 minutes in one fight and then died! That was kind of the final straw for me. I really wanted to like the game, I really did. But in the end the game just bored me to tears.

 

Hopefully, it gets better for you, but I think it got worse as I played.

[voodoo_eyes]

@Crimson Idol @Beyondthegrave07 I didn't enjoy Rainbow Moon all that much either. I might be misremembering things, but I don't think you were able to turn your character during battles without using action points (or whatever it's called in this game), were you? What I know for sure is that I did not like the battle system at all and navigating through dark caves(dungeons felt so out of place and annoying.

Edited July 20, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[crimsonidol38]

@Beyondthegrave07 Thanks for the warning that there will be battles with up to 16 enemies. I was already annoyed of the ones where I had 8 to 10 enemies and wait for their useless move as they weren't able to walk over the loot. Skipping all animations and enemy moves would surely help to speed the game up. But at least you aren't really forced to enter random battles, that's a plus at least.

 

@voodoo_eyes Don't know if it applies to all characters but I'm able to turn the archer when I want to perform an attack. But didn't found an option or button to turn around the character without performing an action yet. Will check later though as the main has a rather good move for early game but it's restricted to the space he looks at. And somehow most enemies seem to walk the wrong direction so I can't use that move. 

[DamagingRob]

Day 1- One Piece: Unlimited World Red

 

I haven't even hit the 2 hour mark yet, but still have a decent amount of stuff to say already. Story seems to be separate from the series (which is what I'd heard), so you just really have to know who the Straw Hats are to enjoy it. New big bad pirate is stirring up trouble, and everyone except Luffy gets kidnapped.

 

The characters are as funny as ever, with the first enemy you fight being something Luffy wants to eat for dinner. And it's a big, red dragon. @Dragon-Archon may want to avoid running into him.  And then you fight a pirate boss and save Zoro and Franky. But we're still missing a large part of the crew, so not done yet. 

 

Fighting is something like a musou game. Bunch of enemies that you beat up with combos, executed by pressing button combinations of  and . As you rack up hits, a special bar fills for powerful special attacks. And  prompts pop up often, which allow you to counter enemy attacks if pressed fast enough. 

 

There's a hub area where you can buy and store items, save your game, and pick up quests. Quests start as soon as you accept one, taking you to whatever area the quest is at. I took on a stronger version of that dragon, and nearly got wiped out.  Luffy actually did die, and I had to finish the fight with Zoro and Franky. I could have probably saved Luffy, if I'd known how this all worked beforehand. But it looks like the characters you aren't controlling take no damage, so you just have to switch to someone else when their health gets low. 

 

As you defeat enemies and complete quests, you'll gain XP and level up. Which makes you stronger, I assume. You also equip "words," which boost your attack or other things. And items are found in many destructible objects on maps, or from fallen enemies. Which are used to upgrade things in the hub. 

 

There's also fishing and "bug" catching. I say "bug" because I haven't caught a bug yet. A rat and a demonic-looking squirrel, but no insects. And something I'm unable to catch at my current level, which looks like a lizard or salamander. But hard to say until I catch it, because the rat and squirrel looked nothing like a rat and squirrel. Both minigames involve pressing buttons that appear on the screen, in a sort of rhythm game fashion. 

 

You can kind of tell this is a Vita port, by the way.. The cutscenes look fine, but the graphics otherwise leave something to be desired. 

 

And that's about all I have to say, so far. The little bit of story I saw had me laughing out loud, but I'm not sure if the gameplay will be as enjoyable. I'll keep playing to find out. 

 

Time played: About an hour and 45 minutes.  

Trophy progress: 5/57 for 7% and an E rank.

Edited July 20, 2018 by DamagingRob

[Beyondthegrave07]

4 hours ago, Crimson Idol said:

@Beyondthegrave07 Thanks for the warning that there will be battles with up to 16 enemies. I was already annoyed of the ones where I had 8 to 10 enemies and wait for their useless move as they weren't able to walk over the loot. Skipping all animations and enemy moves would surely help to speed the game up. But at least you aren't really forced to enter random battles, that's a plus at least.

 

@voodoo_eyes Don't know if it applies to all characters but I'm able to turn the archer when I want to perform an attack. But didn't found an option or button to turn around the character without performing an action yet. Will check later though as the main has a rather good move for early game but it's restricted to the space he looks at. And somehow most enemies seem to walk the wrong direction so I can't use that move. 

Yeah, it'll get really bad if you don't increase your speed/agility. Enemies could take multiple turns before you get to go. Lots of waiting for sure.

[Metal Slime King]

Game #4 - Bard's Gold ()

Bard's Gold? More like a silver, at best. This is a simple little dungeon crawling action game where your adventurer (who is presumably a bard but doesn't really show that by doing anything bard-like, he could've pulled out a lute or something for an idle animation but nope) goes through a series of rooms throwing knives (or other purchasable weapons) at enemies, finding the key and proceeding to the next level. There seems to be 4 worlds, each I would assume consisting of 6 regular levels followed by a boss encounter. I'm currently working on the 2nd world. After you clear a world you can begin subsequent runs at the start of any world you've reached. It has rogue-like elements. You collect gems which can be used in stores found in the levels to buy upgrades that last for the duration of your current life or when you die you can spend any remaining gems from a run on permanent upgrades to give you an advantage in subsequent runs. The rooms aren't randomly generated but are chosen from a limited pool of possible rooms which is good because a lot of the challenge is from instant death traps and you can start to recognize threats and memorize areas to get further in the levels.

 

The game controls alright and plays well enough but there's no real narrative and you're not given any instruction or context for what you're doing. When I first started playing I was wondering if the game was even possible until I realized there was a double jump that you need to get anywhere. The rooms in the first world kind of have a medieval castle theme to them but I found a lot of the background objects looked like they should've been foreground platforms you could jump on. Then you get to the second world and you're in some Desert Temple looking area with scorpions and there's really no reasoning behind the contrast beyond "You are in a video game and this is the next world". For a game with Bard in the title, the music is just bland background filler. I'd say this game is a poor man's (way easier) Rogue Legacy but in Rogue Legacy there's actually something of a story going on and the different areas are contextually connected to each other and the music is better, it's just a way better yet similar game.

 

Bard's Gold is pretty cheap regularly and goes on sale for like a buck pretty frequently and for that price offers some decent platforming and is alright fun but I can't imagine anyone getting seriously hyped over it.

[eigen-space]

After a day and a half of trying to get Faery: Legends of Avalon to install, I gave up. Downloaded it 4x, and each time it ended up with an error saying it couldn't open it.

So instead I played Syberia II.

 

Game Completion: 100% (13/13 for S Rank)

Time Spent: ~5 Hours

 

This game felt wayyyyyyy easier than the first Syberia game despite that it's more rare.
You didn't visit as many places, so it didn't seem as "epic", and the puzzles didn't seem that difficult. Though the trophy lists are fairly similar (trophies for story completion, talking to everyone, getting each item, and a speedrun), this one seemed much easier. The missables didn't seem as missable in this game.
Though there are some parts that still had the same graphics glitches as the first game, this game was better for the most part. Usually the problems occurred when the Youki follows Kate around.

 

Speaking of the Youki, I kind of want one. I mean, IT'S SO CUTE OMG.

?

 

Starting Completion: 92.16%
Last Reported Completion: 92.47%
Current Completion: 92.56% (+0.40 / +0.09)

 

[xFalionx]

Game #4: Jak 3 (PS3)

1st day

Total playtime: about 30 minutes

 

I only played this for half an hour because I was really tired yesterday but today is my first day off, so I'll be able to go all out for the rest of the event.  

 

While I haven't spent much time with this game yet, I'm already pretty certain about a couple of things. For one, the combat is much more clunky than I remember it and the same goes for the platforming, though I'll probably get used to it. I was also surprised by the diversity of the gameplay. In this half hour there have been a tutorial fight, a platforming segment, a random mission that had me ride a bird through town, chasing little lizard thingies, there has been a race in the desert, a face button pressing minigame, a bunch of story cutscenes and some collectible collecting. That's one hell of a healthy blend of gameplay diversity for 30 minutes.

 

The story picks up after the end of Jak 2 and you end up exiled from Haven city, left to die in the desert until someone finds you and lets you show your worth in a town of exiles. Overall, there was quite a bit more storytelling than I thought.

 

The biggest shock came from the visuals, though. Apparently it's been quite a while since I saw my last PS2 game and I must have gotten very used to those crazy PS3 graphics in the meantime. The game looks basically just like a PS2 game, I guess it's "HD" now but I really can't tell a difference.  The cartoony artstyle does help it quite a bit but it didn't keep nowhere nearly as well as the Ratchet and Clank games or the first Jak and Daxter game due to those games being brighter and bit less realistic in terms of graphics. I don't think it's anything I wouldn't be able to get used to after the initial shock.

 

Anyways, so far I'm having a great time. I'm curious if I'll even notice the point where my game used to crash back in the day as it's just been so long that my memories of the game are fairly vague.

[Beyondthegrave07]

I started Watch_Dogs 2 last night and I ran into an installation issue so I was barely able to play anything. I ended up deleting it and redownloading it with the internet off and was able to continue the game. I'm going to try to turn on the internet and see if I can play with the internet on.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #7 - Mages of Mystralia - Final Impression

 

Time played: a bit over 5 hours

Trophies earned: 10/31

 

Plot is a bit meh. Essentially your character is a girl who burned down a stable or cottage or whatever and as a result you're given a choice to become a mage or be imprisoned. I bet all pyromaniacs would love to be given that choice.

 

Anyway, the game is mostly played at and angled top-down view with fixed camera. As it is the case in most games a fixed camera will give you problems at some point. Like not being able to see quest items or chests unless you're positioned in a specific way.

 

There's also been the occasional hiccup with the sound effects and music. Not sure what causes it, but it eventually fixed itself after a while. Graphically the game looks good enough, although the characters look a bit blurry.

 

Regarding the gameplay itself it's a bit hit and miss. You explore various areas with several paths out of which a lot are blocked off until you find the necessary spell to get past them. That's where the problem begins, since you need to find them in chests, which are often locked behind puzzles it can be a bit of a pain to find them and results in having to backtrack a lot. The puzzles themselves are also often linked of having the right spell or rather spell combination in order to solve them. That's the gimmick of this game, the spellcrafting. You have four base spells that you basically start out with. THere's a melee attack, a ranged attack, a defensive spell and one that creates a path of ice that you can walk over to cross ponds and rivers. All of these can get additional features that you add by placing runes into the spell. Eventually you'll be able to cast a fireball that shoots out 3 instead of just 1, or you can add an explosive effect to activate far away triggers to open doors. The more runes you put into a spell the more mana it costs. You can create several variations of the same spell and then cycle through them, because you'll constantly need specific runes for the various puzzles. That makes the game become a little fiddly and you'll be spending some time trying out new runes and adding/removing them to figure out how they work. The idea itself is cool, but the implementation isn't the best.

 

The aiming (which can't really be called that to be honest), is exceptionally imprecise. It's mostly fine for general combat, but as soon as you need to be more accurate for some timed puzzles it all goes to shit.

 

Each area has a boss fight that are all set up in the same way. Every 30% it goes into a different phase with the patterns being mostly the same. Some of them summon adds or add puzzle elements. The last one I defeated drained mana with each hit, which makes the fight a pain, as you can't do anything without mana.

 

 

This one ended up falling a bit below my expectations It feels to me like it lacks some polish overall and there's too much trial and error for my liking.

 

[Kevvik]

Wow, crazy time the last little while so I'll try to catch up.

 

Game #6: LEGO Marvel's Avengers

 

Initial/Day 3 Impressions

 

Time played: ~2 hrs  (I didn't get up to the 3 hr recommendation, too much RL going on and gone out of the house a lot.  Did a little Vita while I was gone but nothing much.)

 

If you have played a console LEGO game, you pretty much know what you are getting into.  This one surrounds superheroes yet again.  Marvel Super Heroes was really well done and ultimately, I expect the same from this.  In story mode, you run/platform around an area as a fixed character that can switch between another (and usually at least a third) in order to advance through the area.  On the way, you collect studs (the game currency), try to find mini-kits (10 per level) and rescue Stan Lee from somewhere within the level.  Different characters have different abilities and can activate different switches/sensors.  While you can complete the level with the characters given in story mode, you can't find all the stuff.  A replay in free play mode (unlocked after completion of the level in story) allows you to use other characters which are required to track down the other mini-kits/rescue Stan.  It's fun platforming/beat-em-up joy.

 

The story as is it so far is kind of convoluted.  You break into a castle, beat up bad guys and try to get an artifact.  You hand it off to SHIELD where Loki (god of mischief and Marvel bad guy) steals it.  Flashback to Captain America in World War II and run a level there.  There's also a city hub where you can grab side missions to unlock gold bricks (collectible), find red bricks (cheat unlockers) and otherwise have a bunch of superhero fun.  The stories in LEGO games are generally serviceable, following a movie theme usually, but its about collecting studs and bricks and other collectibles. Studs help you unlock other characters as well.  There's always a lot to do in LEGO games and this appears to be no exception.

 

I tend to play these sporadically because I enjoy them and don't want to get bored.  Every now and then, they add new mechanics.  This one has a team-up move that I haven't really done anything with yet so can't really address.  Overall, it's a LEGO game which I like but some people don't.  There's a bunch of DLC for this game so my CR took a bigger hit than usual.  I'm having fun and hope I have time to get back to this soon.

 

Trophies earned: 4/71, 4% for E rank

Score so far: 7/10 

Completion Rate: 79.82% (-0.97% for the event)

 

Back later for a Day 3 review of Game #7: Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom  Switched this up as I just wasn't going to have the console time with a house full of kids/guests the past few days.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #8 - Shantae Half.Genie Hero - Preview

 

 

Never played any of the Shantae games before, so this will be a new experience. I know that it's a platformer and have seen several speedruns of the games during the various Games Done Quick events over the years.

 

Expectations:

As most know by now, I'm not the biggest fan of platformers. Nevertheless this series looks like it could be quite enjoyable. It helps that it's more of a side-scrolling action-platformer, which I'm more likely to get into. Apparently there are a few speedrun related trophies, which I intend to leave for a second playthrough. I'll just e doing a normal run through the fame this time round, without giving too much thought about the trophies.

[Beyondthegrave07]

@voodoo_eyes I'm interested to see how you like the game. I always thought I'd like a game like this, but never picked it up. To me, it feels like 2D platformers are coming back with recent successes such as Celeste, Sonic Mania, and Hollow Knight. I kind of like them just for the personal nostalgia of the old Sega Genesis games that I played where nearly every game was 2D and a lot of those were platforming games.

[Myu]

Game 6

Tearaway

 

 

 

This is such a fun game !

 

Tearaway is a platform adventure game in a world made of paper. The game starts with two people complaining about the lack of originality in their world of stories. They want to send a messenger to I don't know where. Honestly, I spent the first minutes moving the Vita around and getting very distracted every time my face was on the screen.

Your character is an Atoi, a little messenger with an enveloppe for a head.

 

It's been a while since I had to use so many of the vita functions in a game ! You can help your character by placing your fingers on the rear pad to target the enemies. Your messenger also obtains a camera at some point and you have to take pictures to give some items their color back or to take pics of creatures.

 

This game is really refreshing. You have to take your time to explore every corner. You can collect confetti to buy things to customize your character or lenses and backgrounds for your camera.

 

So far, it's not very difficult and it's a good way to relax. I spent so much time creating a pretty crown for the King Squirrel but it still ended up quite meh.

 

You can also unlock IRL papercraft models to download on their website and I really like the idea!

 

Completion rate : 83.72% (-3.86% since the beginning of the event)

[dmland12]

Game #7: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Trophies: 12/56 (17%)

Completion: 92.54% (-0.83%, -3.73% from start)

 

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a sci-fi shooter/RPG.  Everyone seems to hate this game, so I was expecting something pretty bad, but I've got to say I really don't get the hate.  Maybe it's because I haven't played the other Mass Effect games.  I wonder if this is one of those situations where people were anticipating something for a while and this just didn't match the direction they were hoping the series would go.

 

In any case, with low expectations, this game was a lot of fun.  It's made by Bioware and is very similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition, just in space and with guns instead of swords.  That's good.  I liked DA:I and I like space, so no problem.  Of the games I've played in this event so far, this is the one I'm having the most trouble setting aside after 3 days.  It probably won't be able to maintain that with the games I have lined up for #9 and #10, but still...

 

So what's the game about?  Humans as well as other humanoid aliens have launched a very ambitious project: settling a new galaxy, Andromeda.  They planned it out in great detail, found the perfect section of the galaxy to settle with planets that were just right and sent a lot of skilled people/aliens.  And then naturally once you get there everything goes wrong.  The perfect planets that you were supposed to settle are complete hellholes.  Some of the ships that were sent are missing.  There's some nasty aliens after you.  The people that were supposed to be in charge pretty much all die upon arrival.  The people/aliens that are left can't get along.  Oh, and you stumble into a role where you have to fix it all.  Congratulations Inquisitior Pathfinder. 

 

The game plays similarly to Dragon Age: Inquisition.  You have some worlds you can explore, some main missions to complete and a lot of side quests that you can do as well.  In between, you can do a lot of talking with your companions/crew as well as other people etc. that you've met.  There's also romances.  ?

 

If you're interested in seeing some gameplay:

 

 

[voodoo_eyes]

19 hours ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

@voodoo_eyes I'm interested to see how you like the game. I always thought I'd like a game like this, but never picked it up. To me, it feels like 2D platformers are coming back with recent successes such as Celeste, Sonic Mania, and Hollow Knight. I kind of like them just for the personal nostalgia of the old Sega Genesis games that I played where nearly every game was 2D and a lot of those were platforming games.

 

I do agree that nostalgia probably gives the decisive nudge there. One of my favourite platformers is still Super Mario World. I hated all the 3D Mario games that I've tried, and in general I'm not a fan of most 3D platformers. They all tend to have issues with the camera and to this day the games of that genre haven't figured out how to do it right. Although the R&C reboot came pretty close.

 

Having a soft spot for metroidvania games also makes it more likely for me to enjoy 2D platformers.  Gutted that Hollow Knight won't ever come to PS4, but at least there's Dead Cells coming soon.

 

Side note: I think it would be cool, if Ubisoft got off their asses and made a new 2D Prince of Persia.

Edited July 22, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[Metal Slime King]

1 hour ago, Myu said:

Tearaway

 

Completed this game around a month ago and really enjoyed it! I thought they did as well of a job of utilizing the Vita's functionality as Little Big Planet Vita which isn't surprising since it's by the same devs. One of the things that really stood out to me while playing was that while both LBP and Tearaway put a lot of emphasis on creativity, LBP also puts a lot of emphasis on sharing whereas Tearaway is more of a personalized experience between the player and the game.

 

Game #5 - Extreme Exorcism (first draft)

 

Figured I'd squeeze in two more tiny games for this event's 7th iteration. Extreme Exorcism was in last month's PS+. It's a pretty hectic little 8-bit retro deathmatch game between you and a bunch of ghosts (or 4p couch co-op). You spawn in a one screen arena with an increasing number of ghosts and a bunch of weapon spawn. Obviously the idea is to pick up a weapon and bust ghosts, there is one ghost wearing a crown, he's actually the only one you have to kill to end the round. Interestingly the ghosts themselves don't hurt you but they can also pick up weapons and attack you. If you grabbed it on PS+ and maybe want to check it out, there's probably going to be a lot of playtime before you'll pick up your first trophy so you can check it out without committing it to your profile.

 

One thing that caught my attention was the cool music in this game, it really stood out. Check out these spooky beats!

Particularly the 3rd track. It's a playlist link so you can click next / back to check out all 3 tracks.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Metal Slime King

[vin_rob]

On 16-7-2018 at 11:53 PM, Myu said:

Day 15 - Game 5

Tokyo Xanadu

 

 

Tokisaka Kou is a high school student with a part-time job in one of the bars of the entertainment districts of Tokyo. Right after his shift is over and he's ready to go home, he notices Hiiragi Asuka, one of his female classmates, quietly strolling down the street. Two guys with ill-intent spot her too and decide to follow her. Kou goes after them and, right before he steps up, a red portal door appears out of nowhere. Hiiragi doesn't seem too surprised but Kou certainly is when he ends up in a weird dungeon-like place.

10 minutes in and I already had a major feeling of deja-vu. I immediately thought of Persona 5 but then I took control of Kou and I realized : Trails of Cold Steel! And it's made by the same company! There's even the same « active voice » system that allows the characters to chat while you're exploring.

 

Then Kou chases after Hiiragi and find her surrounded by demon-like creatures. Far from being a damsel in distress, she pulls out her phone and uses it to summon a sword to kick everyone's ass. When the fight is over Hirragi dials something else on her phone and puts Kou to sleep, making him forget what just happened.

 

School life goes on until Kou starts remembering little bits and pieces here and there.

There's Free Time between school and Kou's part-time job, just like in the Persona games. Reading books and newspapers improves your stats, you can talk to lots of students and unlock more info about them. You can also use Kou's phone to get voicemails with the NiAr social network system.

 

I really like the chara design even if it is still very stereotypical. The music is ok so far but nothing too crazy. A nice thing that was added to this game is the name of the voice actors with each character introduction.

 

I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this game a lot.

 

Current completion rate : 84.08% (-3.5% since the beginning of the event).

 

I just bought this game this sale.. Think I'm glad I bought it.. Think I'll give this more prio now

[vin_rob]

On 20-7-2018 at 7:07 PM, DamagingRob said:

Day 1- One Piece: Unlimited World Red

 

I haven't even hit the 2 hour mark yet, but still have a decent amount of stuff to say already. Story seems to be separate from the series (which is what I'd heard), so you just really have to know who the Straw Hats are to enjoy it. New big bad pirate is stirring up trouble, and everyone except Luffy gets kidnapped.

 

The characters are as funny as ever, with the first enemy you fight being something Luffy wants to eat for dinner. And it's a big, red dragon. @Dragon-Archon may want to avoid running into him.  And then you fight a pirate boss and save Zoro and Franky. But we're still missing a large part of the crew, so not done yet. 

 

Fighting is something like a musou game. Bunch of enemies that you beat up with combos, executed by pressing button combinations of  and . As you rack up hits, a special bar fills for powerful special attacks. And  prompts pop up often, which allow you to counter enemy attacks if pressed fast enough. 

 

There's a hub area where you can buy and store items, save your game, and pick up quests. Quests start as soon as you accept one, taking you to whatever area the quest is at. I took on a stronger version of that dragon, and nearly got wiped out.  Luffy actually did die, and I had to finish the fight with Zoro and Franky. I could have probably saved Luffy, if I'd known how this all worked beforehand. But it looks like the characters you aren't controlling take no damage, so you just have to switch to someone else when their health gets low. 

 

As you defeat enemies and complete quests, you'll gain XP and level up. Which makes you stronger, I assume. You also equip "words," which boost your attack or other things. And items are found in many destructible objects on maps, or from fallen enemies. Which are used to upgrade things in the hub. 

 

There's also fishing and "bug" catching. I say "bug" because I haven't caught a bug yet. A rat and a demonic-looking squirrel, but no insects. And something I'm unable to catch at my current level, which looks like a lizard or salamander. But hard to say until I catch it, because the rat and squirrel looked nothing like a rat and squirrel. Both minigames involve pressing buttons that appear on the screen, in a sort of rhythm game fashion. 

 

You can kind of tell this is a Vita port, by the way.. The cutscenes look fine, but the graphics otherwise leave something to be desired. 

 

And that's about all I have to say, so far. The little bit of story I saw had me laughing out loud, but I'm not sure if the gameplay will be as enjoyable. I'll keep playing to find out. 

 

Time played: About an hour and 45 minutes.  

Trophy progress: 5/57 for 7% and an E rank.

 

Hmm after your review I think I should go back to this game... since I've played a view hours in a past KYC event.. 

 

1 hour ago, dmland12 said:

Game #7: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Trophies: 12/56 (17%)

Completion: 92.54% (-0.83%, -3.73% from start)

 

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a sci-fi shooter/RPG.  Everyone seems to hate this game, so I was expecting something pretty bad, but I've got to say I really don't get the hate.  Maybe it's because I haven't played the other Mass Effect games.  I wonder if this is one of those situations where people were anticipating something for a while and this just didn't match the direction they were hoping the series would go.

 

In any case, with low expectations, this game was a lot of fun.  It's made by Bioware and is very similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition, just in space and with guns instead of swords.  That's good.  I liked DA:I and I like space, so no problem.  Of the games I've played in this event so far, this is the one I'm having the most trouble setting aside after 3 days.  It probably won't be able to maintain that with the games I have lined up for #9 and #10, but still...

 

So what's the game about?  Humans as well as other humanoid aliens have launched a very ambitious project: settling a new galaxy, Andromeda.  They planned it out in great detail, found the perfect section of the galaxy to settle with planets that were just right and sent a lot of skilled people/aliens.  And then naturally once you get there everything goes wrong.  The perfect planets that you were supposed to settle are complete hellholes.  Some of the ships that were sent are missing.  There's some nasty aliens after you.  The people that were supposed to be in charge pretty much all die upon arrival.  The people/aliens that are left can't get along.  Oh, and you stumble into a role where you have to fix it all.  Congratulations Inquisitior Pathfinder. 

 

The game plays similarly to Dragon Age: Inquisition.  You have some worlds you can explore, some main missions to complete and a lot of side quests that you can do as well.  In between, you can do a lot of talking with your companions/crew as well as other people etc. that you've met.  There's also romances.  ?

 

If you're interested in seeing some gameplay:

 

 

 

I think people didn't really like the game was that they had hoped for a better story and at the start there were loads of bugs, and the facial expressions weren't that good.. 

Still I liked the game and I've played the previous ones 

[voodoo_eyes]

2 hours ago, vin_rob said:

I think people didn't really like the game was that they had hoped for a better story and at the start there were loads of bugs, and the facial expressions weren't that good.. 

Still I liked the game and I've played the previous ones 

 

I believe it had a lot to do with them releasing and unfinished and unpolished product. The game just wasn't ready for release, but they pushed it anyway. It's a shame to see how negative of and impact EA has had over the Bioware studio over the recent years. Not like that's anything new, as EA has a history of running studios into the ground. Dead Space series died when they pushed for online and microtransactions which lead inevitably to the closing of the studio. Same is likely to happen with Bioware, if Anthem flops when it releases next year. EA is basically shutting down any franchise that can't be merged with some form of microtransaction bullshit. It won't be long before EA consists of only sports titles and the Battlefield series. Oh yeah I almost forgot, there's always Command & Conquer Rivals... lol. They weren't even able to let that franchise die with some dignity.

Edited July 22, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[DamagingRob]

@dmland12 I played Andromeda in the previous KYC, and had roughly the same opinion. And I actually have played the original trilogy (on Xbox). So yeah, I don't really get all the hate either. 

 

4 hours ago, vin_rob said:

Hmm after your review I think I should go back to this game... since I've played a view hours in a past KYC event.. 

I have quite a few games from past KYC events I should get back to, as well.. But don't know if or when I will. 

[dmland12]

4 hours ago, vin_rob said:

I think people didn't really like the game was that they had hoped for a better story and at the start there were loads of bugs, and the facial expressions weren't that good.. 

Still I liked the game and I've played the previous ones 

 

1 hour ago, voodoo_eyes said:

I believe it had a lot to do with them releasing and unfinished and unpolished product. The game just wasn't ready for release, but they pushed it anyway. It's a shame to see how negative of and impact EA has had over the Bioware studio over the recent years. Not like that's anything new, as EA has a history of running studios into the ground. Dead Space series died when they pushed for online and microtransactions which lead inevitably to the closing of the studio. Same is likely to happen with Bioware, if Anthem flops when it releases next year. EA is basically shutting down any franchise that can't be merged with some form of microtransaction bullshit. It won't be long before EA consists of only sports titles and the Battlefield series. Oh yeah I almost forgot, there's always Command & Conquer Rivals... lol. They weren't even able to let that franchise die with some dignity.

 

Yeah, I suppose it could have been a poor release.  But, some people out there really seem to have an axe to grind over this game.

 

Just now, DamagingRob said:

@dmland12 I played Andromeda in the previous KYC, and had roughly the same opinion. And I actually have played the original trilogy (on Xbox). So yeah, I don't really get all the hate either. 

 

Good to know I'm not the only one!