Popular Post ImBossy83 Posted July 22, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 22, 2018 Game #VII Final Fantasy VII It's one of those games again that hardly needs an introduction. It's the seventh main entry in the series and the first to go sort of 3D. It's 3D characters in pre rendered 2d images that give the illusion of 3D. Why haven't i played it already? Although i'm one of the 3 people that watched Final Fantasy The Spirit within in the Theatre back in the day's, i started playing the games very late. So about 5 to 6 year's ago i played through Final Fantasy I and VI on my phone. And back then VII simply wasn't available on Android. Impression I know this game is a classic and all but boy the graphics are rough. I loved the old 16-bit graphics and i also enjoyed the graphics of the newer entrie(x and xv) but i still say i would have preferred it to be 16-bit rather than the pseudo 3D look. The Story starts of like most final fantasy games there's a lot to take in. The big domed city and the slums that see no sunlight and so on feel like they are straight out of the robot's series (Caves of steel and others) by Isaac Asimov ( one of my favorite authors). I played for about 4 hours and i got 3 trophies. My completion went to 53.73% (-1,67%) The verdict As i said before it's hard to judge a long RPG based on it's opening hour's. But so far i would rate it as my least favorite Final Fantasy. Granted i only have played five but you got to start somewhere. I see why, at the time, it was revolutionary but i miss the time of 16-bit RPGs. Someday i might come back to the game but maybe i simply wait for the PS4 remake. Since i liked the premise of the story but that's about it so far. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 8 minutes ago, dmland12 said: 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. That is basically what happens whenever a series deviates in some form or another from the "original". Remember DMC? People were going mental because Dante isn't "Dante", neglecting the fact that the actual gameplay is superior than in any of the previous Devil May Cry titles. Same goes for RE5, it was a natural evolution from RE4. Anyone who hates on RE5 at this point, might just as well hate on RE4 as it paved the way for the series to become more action oriented. I even recall people losing their shit about Resident Evil 2 being remade. So many were hating on it from the get-go, then when the E3 trailer went up everyone started drooling all over it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beyondthegrave07 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 4 minutes ago, ImBossy83 said: Game #VII Final Fantasy VII I think a lot of people have issues with the graphics, but I actually like them. As weird as it sounds, to me they looked like toys or dolls, so when I play it, I feel like I'm playing with toys. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImBossy83 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 2 hours ago, Beyondthegrave07 said: I think a lot of people have issues with the graphics, but I actually like them. As weird as it sounds, to me they looked like toys or dolls, so when I play it, I feel like I'm playing with toys. I guess that's the right way to look at it. I don't usually get hung up on graphics too much. I like it when everything looks good but if not and the game is still good i normally don't care. But those early 3D games... I was there when it happened and I loved every bit of it back then. But boy the graphics of early 3D games haven't aged well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon-Archon Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 On 7/20/2018 at 7:07 PM, DamagingRob said: 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. Those bloody pirates again ... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post crimsonidol38 Posted July 23, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2018 Game 7, Review Rainbow Moon (PS Vita) Previous Posts: Day 1 Had no gaming time on Friday and Saturday so I decided to play the game for an additional evening yesterday to reach the minimum time. There's not much to add though. I finished one additional portion of the main quest (getting one item from a dungeon called Thief's Cave), fought against two bosses and I now obtained the ability to use a raft so I can traverse to other sections of the world map. Overall I'm not really enjoying the game as the overall pacing is far too slow to be enjoyable for me. Especially fights with all the standard enemies feel like they are dragging on when watching 10+ enemies doing their moves although they prove no real challenge as it seems to be enough to use the standard attack most of the time. Grid-based fighting systems can be nice and enjoyable, but IMO they fit best for SRPGs as they feel too slow-paced for the amount of normal (random) encounters you normally have in a standard RPG. The game is no total failure expectation-wise but that's solely for the reason that I didn't expect much at the beginning. It's unlikely that I will play much more of this game. Stats: Rating: Total playing time: ~3.5hoursTrophies earned: 6 / 53Completion rate: 8% Rank: D Did the game lower my completion? Yes My ratings: AWESOME!!! Fun to play, sure will continue playing these Good while it lasted, but let us just stay friends, kay? Be glad you weren't deleted already Wait, who are you? I don't know you...oh shit, you are in my trophy list Next one will probably be Life is Strange: Before the Storm. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post xFalionx Posted July 23, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2018 (edited) Game #4: Jak 3 (PS3) Final Review Total playtime: about 18 hours (13 hours and 30 minutes according to ingame timer) Trophies: 47/47 for an S rank Completion: Overall - 61.94% ->61.36% | -0.58% Current - 60.66% -> 61.36% | +0.70% Story: Spoiler ->Story? I don't know what that is but it sure sounds delicious. ->Kinda disappointing. ->Still a better love story than Twilight. ->Actually very interesting. ->What do you mean, "this is it"?. This can't be over already, I need this to continue! So the story was actually more prevalent than I remembered it to be. It is told through GTA like story missions that unlock in sets of a couple at a time, which you can choose the order you want to do them in in order to unlock the next batch of missions, with a couple linear strings of missions every now and then. This entry probably has the most dramatic story as it is the climax to the original Jak trilogy, the first one revolving around Daxter, the second around Jak and the third basically around the fate of the world they inhabit. The story sets off with Jak being banished from Haven city after the events of the second game. He is left out in the desert to die but gets found by Damas, leader of Spargus city, a desert city of exiles like Jak. He has to prove his worth to Damas in order to become a citizen of Spargus. In the meantime the revolutionary team in Haven is trying to get back into contact with Jak in order to get him to help them in their battle on two different fronts. While the story of this game is fairly serious, Daxter's comedy keeps the game lighthearted. Gameplay: Spoiler ->I've played VNs with better gameplay than this... ->It might not be fun but at least there's something to do in this game. ->It's alright. ->Hey, this is actually kinda fun. ->More addictive than heroin. To even get close do describing the gameplay one could say this game is a 3D platformer meets GTA meets racing game meets minigame collection. The base gameplay is that of a 3D platformer with added guns. The story is told in GTA style missions and there's even little minimap icons corresponding to each mission-giver. Then there's a bunch of different race variations within story and bonus missions. Besides races, these missions can also be minigames reaching from gun courses to Pacman. While the controls felt clunky at the beginning, after getting used to them over the course of a couple hours, they now feel good and responsive. The same goes for the combat. While I had trouble initially, it got a lot better when I unlocked more guns to play with. Especially the eco powers unlocked very early into the game helped out a lot with combat and some of the later weapon variations were very fun to use. Speaking of which, the guns in this game are interesting. You have four base guns with two additional modifications each that can reach from slight difference to basically a new weapon. The base weapons resemble a close range wide spray shotgun, a single shot rifle, a machine pistol and a homing plasma orb gun. Especially the first modification of the rifle is fun to use as it makes the shots bounce off walls and targets, letting you transform the battlefield into a laser show. The races take place in many different ways using four different types of vehicles: There are bird-like creatures that can be ridden and control similar to a regular player but faster, there's the hover board, which is also fast and can perform some tricks like high jumps and grinding. Then there are desert cars that look like they were taken straight out of Mad Max and are prone to roll over, and finally there are hover cars which are fast but fragile but they are much easier to drive than in the second game. There's normal races in the desert, ring races which require you to hit certain rings in very short time spans and races where you have to follow something around the map. The variety of minigames just serve to spice up the already varied gameplay even further and all in all, the game never gets boring as you keep doing different things all the time. To catch a break from that there are also side missions which include repeating each of the minigames and getting better scores, all kinds of races, finding a hidden precursor orb in a short time frame, or doing other things in order to gain more out of the 600 collectible precursor orbs. With these you can unlock weapon upgrades, new cars, little visual gimmicks like large head mode and even cheats like infinite ammo. I also tried the recently found debug mode to do a couple shenanigans like fly around Haven City once I got my platinum trophy. Visuals: Spoiler ->"Bold and Brash"? More like "Belongs in the Trash"... ->At least I can look at it without risk of spontaneous eye-bleeding. ->The looks aren't everything, right? ->A joy to look at. ->Picasso would be jealous. So this section made me question my new review format as it's very hard to rate a game like this in terms of visuals. It was a beautiful game on the PS2 and the artstyle has helped it to survive the tides of time. It still looks like a PS2 game and compared to the PS3's capabilities, it's a joke. In the end I went with a gold rating, as the game would easily been a platinum rating back in the PS2 days, as the graphics were great for the time, the environment provides enough variety to keep the visuals from getting boring while still keeping up the main themes. The game features two main locations. The first of which is the desert, a large free roam area to drive around in containing Spargus City, the second is Haven city which has changed a lot from how it was int he second game, with many quarters now being in ruins. My only gripe would be the sandstorms in the desert which make it nearly impossible to see at certain times, especially when it's night in the game and everything is dark as well. Audio: Spoiler ->Sounds like a dying animal. ->Bearable. ->I've heard worse. ->Brb, gotta update my playlist. ->You will remember me,~ remember me for centuries.~ Solid sound design. The music is actually very good but there's nothing that's truly memorable. I think this is pretty much the standard for most games as I'm giving out yet another gold rating for audio. This track is from one of the missions in the first third of the game where you venture into the nest of alien-like creatures called metalheads and it shows the more dramatic tone of the third game really well. Of course there's also a lot of calm tracks but I just really like this track, that's why I picked it. Spoiler Difficulty: Spoiler ->My cat beat this while I was asleep. ->"Hard"? There is no "Hard". ->Mildly challenging. ->Apocalyptic. ->You think Dark Souls is hard? Grow some balls, little boy. The difficulty is pretty much what you expect from the PS2 era, where we've gone away from games based on arcade games, designed to pull your change out of your pockets mainly with difficulty and where the game wouldn't just beat the level for you if you failed a couple of times like modern Mario games. The difficulty of the story is at times not that high, at others you'll frustratingly be stuck at a single mission, retrying for the 8th time in a row. It is a lot better than the random difficulty spikes of the second game, though, and nothing is too frustrating. When it comes to the platinum trophy, there are basically three ways to obtain it with varying difficulty. The easiest method is the recently found debug mode which lets you level select the final boss, which isn't very hard at all, autopopping all other story trophies in the progress. Then just press + on your second controller and you're done. Ding. Plat. That version comes with the unending mental torment of having basically cheated trophies, though, so beware. Then there's the method of beating the game and using the orb glitch to get a couple orbs that you don't want to unlock the regular way. Doing things the regular way will probably have you failing at Pacman so many times that it stopped being fun hours ago, so I'd say doing as many side missions as you feel comfortable with and then glitching the couple remaining orbs is the most fun way of getting the plat. Grind: Spoiler ->404, grind not found. ->Hey, there's a leveling system! ->It's getting repetitive now. ->Typical JRPG. ->Why does the guide say the plat takes 300 hours when I beat the story in 10? Oh, that's why... The only grind in this game would come from doing the orb glitch but that's completely your choice. Value/€: Spoiler ->This game costs HOW much?! ->Isn't that a bit too much? ->Fair price. ->Hey, that's actually pretty cheap. ->I enjoyed every single one of the 500 hours I spent playing this and it was only five bucks. As part of the cheap Jak and Daxter HD Trilogy, the price is phenomenal. Being a trilogy, the prices are often discounted and all three included games are great classics. In all three games you get around 40-60 hours of gameplay and an interesting storyline to carry you through. Overall: Spoiler ->In the trash it goes... ->Forgettable. ->It was fun while it lasted. ->Memorable. ->Where has this been all my life? I never knew I needed this so much. I had lots of fun with this game. While I had pretty high expectations, the game managed to surpass the standard of my childhood memories. Now that I've one and a half days left before my next game is due, Tales of Hearts R, I think I'll give Jak 2 another go on my PSVita. I've always been avoiding it due to the difficulty plaguing my childhood but now that the third game has gotten me into it again, I think I'm ready for the challenge. Seems like my completion is still wrecked from Lost Planet 3, even though I went ahead and autopopped my MotorStorm RC trophies on the Vita in order to keep it from replacing my fastest platinum, Jak 1, when I get it ready for the PSVita anniversary... Edited July 23, 2018 by xFalionx 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post PerryToxteth Posted July 23, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 23, 2018 KYC Game No. 4 Puzzle Showdown 4K Playing Time: 2 hours Trophies Earned: 14/17 81% C ranking Final Review: So my final two games for this event needed to be super short, as I had very short windows for gaming time. Don't feel too bad for me, I am currently sitting on my hotel lanai on the Big Island of Hawaii. Usually takes me a few days to get on the correct time so I'm enjoying Kona coffee in the early morning hours as I write this. Evidently, other people have the same jet lag malady, as this place is busier than a commuter rail station. I digress... Since I played Puzzle Showdown 4K last week, I've been trying to figure out where this game falls on the Trophy Raid/ Legitimate Game spectrum. And though it's enticing to the Trophy Whores, with an 81% plat completion rate and a handful of people finishing it in under an hour, I feel this game can be considered legitimate. It sets out what it aims to do - an enjoyment of doing puzzles. I will admit, I am a bit perplexed at the electronic jigsaw puzzle industry. Why not just open a box and do a real one? It's certainly more enjoyable and better conversation amongst fellow puzzlers, albeit you do have to flip the pieces over. In this game, you can choose how easy your puzzle can be, based on size (15-510 pieces), hints - where the controller will vibrate when piece is in correct spot, and piece orientation ( so you don't have to rotate it). There's also a scoring system I don't quite understand, but it's not hard to achieve high points as the game delivers a number of trophies based on scoring. My PS4 was ringing like a slot machine with all the trophies I was earning on a few puzzles. My two complaints are the screen size and the picture choices for some of the puzzles. Even though I have a 55-inch screen, it was painful to the eyes to complete the 510- piece puzzle with how small the pieces are. That's because a full 30-40% of the game screen is devoted to needless background. Instead of the actual puzzle taking up the whole screen, you get an ugly pink border that eats up screen. My second complaint is that although there are probably 100 pictures for the puzzle options, many are just stupid for puzzle purposes. I mean, look at this ridiculous thing: Only for a jigsaw masochist There is one speedrun involving finishing a 510-piece puzzle in under three hours. I polished it off in just over two hours so it's pretty lenient, and you can make it as easy as you want with hints and no rotation. I did it with no rotation because many of the puzzles involve lots of sky. Finally, what might be the neatest aspect of the game is multiplayer (nothing online, just a 2nd controller). I have yet to convince my wife to try this, but it looks like fun. You accumulate points by putting pieces in quickly, making rows, no errors, etc. You can even steal pieces from the other player for big points. In conclusion, this game delivered more than expected. It did what the devs set out to do, and it's not glitchy or laggy. True, you can grab an easy platinum, but it's not gratuitously shameful like My Name is Mayo. I will rank this as Sufficient in my Sweet/Sufficient/ Stupid ratings. Next Up: NBA 2K 18 Prelude - Dear Esther was supposed to be my final game but I've done so much damn walking in Walden trying to unlock the 50-miler trophy that I can't imagine starting up another wanderer. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myu Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 On 22/07/2018 at 11:31 AM, Metal Slime King said: 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. I may add LBP to my to-do list then It's a nice change of pace from JRPGs and dungeon crawlers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Slime King Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 (edited) @Myu Be wary if you're concerned about completion, sadly now the LBP series has a bunch of delisted dlc for most versions that would make completion for fresh starters a near-impossibility, thanks Disney. I think the only unaffected game in the series is 3 which is the worst of the bunch. Edited July 24, 2018 by Metal Slime King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kevvik Posted July 24, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2018 Still running behind... Game #7: Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom Initial/Day 3 Impressions Time played: ~4 hrs? This entry in the Adventure Time game series is an homage (or ripoff, your choice) of the early Legend of Zelda games, a 2d hack and slash/puzzler. You play as Finn, a humanoid kid who walks around with a pillowcase hood and his best dog-like buddy Jake, who, in this incarnation, doubles as your shield. You find yourself in a mysterious land, work your way to the castle and get sent on a mission to find three missing princesses who have been kidnapped and placed in other castles around the land. Armed with your grass sword, you beat up enemies, find stores to spend coins you find by slashing down bushes, find hidden health upgrades and other collectibles after you find items that give you new abilities. All familiar tropes but the game clearly loves the genre that it is sending up. It doesn't do anything new but the self-awareness is entertaining. I don't think a love of the Adventure Time series is needed to appreciate the humor the game puts forward. The action moves pretty smoothly and the controls are serviceable if not perfectly tight. The boss-like battle I had at the end of the first castle was cool, being more than just hack and slash, learning how they attack and figuring out how to counter it. I wandered the countryside a bit looking for hidden spots and collectibles and have now reached and entered the second castle. This has been a fun little piece of nostalgic gaming with just the right tone of parodying humor. I look forward to coming back to this after the event. Trophies earned: 14/36, 31% for C rank Score so far: 7/10 Completion rate: 79.68% (-1.11% for the event) Next up (currently playing): Game #8: Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myu Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 8 hours ago, Metal Slime King said: @Myu Be wary if you're concerned about completion, sadly now the LBP series has a bunch of delisted dlc for most versions that would make completion for fresh starters a near-impossibility, thanks Disney. I think the only unaffected game in the series is 3 which is the worst of the bunch. Thanks for the heads up! I really hate it when plats are unachievable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Slime King Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 @Myu As far as I know, all the platinums are achievable, the unavailable DLC cause the 100%'s to be unachievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lars Posted July 24, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2018 Because of some private issues i hadn't found the time to write a post here everyday. I did reach my 6 hours of playtime easily in Assassin's Creed Origins and i'm now playing The Witcher 3. This game actually surprised me, i was a bit sceptic at first because of the change of location (no massive city or water areas) and because of the change in combat and introduction of RPG elements. It does work for me, i really enjoy it. First the story, so far it surprised me, the only thing i always find difficult with stories is that loads of characters are introduced in the beginning of which some have no clear connection to my main character, also it is not really explained what makes my character so special from other NPC's. What the story does do so well is immediately make clear why my character is on a mission, i won't spoil it here but it becomes clear very early in the game, also the game introduces you to your wife who is in danger. I like it when these tough characters suddenly seem to have a heart, i also think it makes you as a player more willingly to fulfill the missions you are given. I always find that stories are weaker when you are just fighting against someone, a game gets better for me when i have people to fight for. That's also why the story of Wolfenstein: The New Order surprised me in a positive way because of the introducion of a girlfriend. I think that it makes the game better but that is just personal opinion. Progression wise i just completed the prologue, i only got 3 trophies but that is just the OCD part in me because i have done loads of side quests so far. The world is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion. People criticise Ubisoft games very often for their lack of depth and just because they have to much quantity over quality. One thing you have to give them credit for is their world building ability, every Ubisoft sandbox you see is big but also is always in exotic beautiful locations and really well made. Think about the Far Cry games and older AC titles. The worlds are very well build. Same counts for this one, the first city you arrive in is called Siwa and it gives a good introduction about what the game is, it is literally a sandbox with beautiful locations in there, i have already made at least 10 pictures and i'm still in the beginning of the game, i've just arrived in Alexandria. But i expect more and more of these breathtaking locations to show up the further i get in the game. One thing i don't like about this game though is that there is not enough to loot in the sandbox, so far i could only find loot in (hostile) locations. For example in Alexandria there are so many houses you can enter and none of them had lootable chests or urns, only places with a question mark have that, at least that's what i experienced. The gameplay is fun as well, i like the new combat style because it makes combat more fun, varied and fair. There are way more weapons in the game, and i find it more fun to battle enemies and animals. The first time i fought a crocodile felt really cool. The same goes for the bases you have to do, stealth is a fun option but i always found the old combat to be not fun at all. Stealth was a decent option but normal combat wasn't fun. Now it is more fun. Because of the different enemy levels the combat becomes more tactical and also more difficult. And because the RPG system i will get more and more skills to make combat more varied and more tactical. The owl also helps with this, you have an owl that you can change camera view to and mark enemies and treasures in the air, which gives a great tactical advantage. It can be tricky though because you never can be sure that you have tagged every enemy in the neighbourhood. But this is definitely a game that you can visit if you like fun combat, a beautiful world and so far a good story. I enjoyed my time with this one and i will definitely return to this game. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post xFalionx Posted July 24, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2018 Bonusgame #1: Jak 2 (PSVita) Final Review Total playtime: about 10 hours (5 hours and 30 minutes according to ingame timer) Trophies: 17/41 for a B rank Completion: Overall - 61.94% ->60.92% | -1.02% Current - 61.36% -> 60.92% | -0.44% Story: Spoiler ->Story? I don't know what that is but it sure sounds delicious. ->Kinda disappointing. ->Still a better love story than Twilight. ->Actually very interesting. ->What do you mean, "this is it"?. This can't be over already, I need this to continue! While the scope of this story is not as huge and important as the saving the world theme of the third game's story, the story of this game is just as good. The game starts off with Jak and his team heading through the mysterious precursor portal they found in game one. They arrive in the dystopian Haven city under the oppressive rule of baron Praxis, a terrible ruler who would do anything to keep his reign over the city, only to be greeted by a group of soldiers who arrest Jak. Two years later Daxter breaks Jak, who was used as a scientific experiment and was injected with dark eco, a dangerous substance that turned Daxter into the ottsel he is now, out of the laboratory where he is held. Through his abuse Jak has gained uncontrollable dark eco powers which transform his body into a twisted form whenever he collects enough dark eco to trigger this effect. Together with Daxter he now tries to get his revenge on baron Praxis, who subjected him to this torture in order to make Jak a weapon to use against the Metalheads, vicious but intelligent creatures that threaten the safety of the city. On his revenge trip Jak will learn about the nature of the world behind the portal while helping an underground organization with the goal to find the true ruler of Haven city and dethrone Praxis. Gameplay: Spoiler ->I've played VNs with better gameplay than this... ->It might not be fun but at least there's something to do in this game. ->It's alright. ->Hey, this is actually kinda fun. ->More addictive than heroin. The gameplay is a lot less varied than that of the third game but it still has enough variation to keep the experience from getting stale. While you won't be racing or playing weird minigames as often as in Jak 3, the GTA style story missions have you visit enough different areas and do enough different tasks to be entertaining. This can also be taken as a good aspect, since you spend more time with platforming and fighting than miscellaneous things that don't really fit the genre of the game. The weapons are a clear downgrade from the third game but that is to be anticipated, as features like these usually get more interesting in later entries of a franchise, especially since this is the first game that introduces firearms. They are just the basic versions of the four weapons that I listed in my Jak 3 review and you unlock them surprisingly late in the game. Besides that there are still a few races and race-like missions in the game. Sadly, getting around in Haven city is really annoying and the story missions regularly send you from one end of the city to the other, only to drive right back where you came from to do the task the mission-giver told you to do. All in all, the gameplay is not bad at all but leaves some things to be wished for that will mostly be addressed in the sequel. Visuals: Spoiler ->"Bold and Brash"? More like "Belongs in the Trash"... ->At least I can look at it without risk of spontaneous eye-bleeding. ->The looks aren't everything, right? ->A joy to look at. ->Picasso would be jealous. There is only one big area to traverse, Haven city. The city is, however, split into many different sections with a very different atmosphere to each of them. You have slums ranging from wooden hut constructions on a lake to dirt houses, a sort of industrial district, a large park, a very posh looking rich district and more. Other than that, there are many smaller areas outside of the city, which are visited multiple times throughout the story. These all look fairly unique. The quality of the graphics seems as the third part, even though there is much more going on because the streets are still crowded in citizens and soldiers. Audio: Spoiler ->Sounds like a dying animal. ->Bearable. ->I've heard worse. ->Brb, gotta update my playlist. ->You will remember me,~ remember me for centuries.~ I like the soundtrack of this game even better than that of Jak 3. It's great at setting the right atmosphere and all the details of environmental noises and soldiers really make it stand out. This track plays while you're traversing Haven city. You'll be hearing it a lot in this game and that's pretty great in my opinion, because it perfectly betrays the dark atmosphere of the oppressed city. Coupled with all the random snippets of soldier transmissions that you hear wherever you go, this really makes for a great atmosphere. There's even an adjusted version of this theme that plays whenever you get in a hover car. That version feels faster and it's a pretty cool effect. Spoiler Difficulty: Spoiler ->My cat beat this while I was asleep. ->"Hard"? There is no "Hard". ->Mildly challenging. ->Apocalyptic. ->You think Dark Souls is hard? Grow some balls, little boy. I was tempted to give this one a platinum, mostly because it's so incredibly infuriating, but the game actually isn't that difficult. While it is quite a bit harder than Jak 3 in terms of pure difficulty, what makes the game feel so god damn difficult are two things: a lack of checkpoints in the worst situations and random difficulty spikes that feel like walls. The game tends to give you checkpoints in places where you can easily recover in a minute or two if you rush it, then there's missions that have you escort someone for five to ten minutes without any checkpoints at all. Dying at the last minute is just the most frustrating feeling in those situations. If one of those checkpointless missions then turns out to be one of those random difficulty spikes you're in for one hell of a world of fun. The side missions also seem harder than those in Jak 3, so good luck if you're in for the platinum trophy and you don't want to use the orb glitch. Grind: Spoiler ->404, grind not found. ->Hey, there's a leveling system! ->It's getting repetitive now. ->Typical JRPG. ->Why does the guide say the plat takes 300 hours when I beat the story in 10? Oh, that's why... No grinds except for the orb glitch and metal head skull gems if you cheated the story trophies using the debug mode but that's your fault for cheating if you choose to do so. So far it seems that you can get the 510 required gems or at least very close to that number while doing the story missions without any additional grinding. I already have more than 250 at around 40% progress in the story. Value/€: Spoiler ->This game costs HOW much?! ->Isn't that a bit too much? ->Fair price. ->Hey, that's actually pretty cheap. ->I enjoyed every single one of the 500 hours I spent playing this and it was only five bucks. Pretty much the same as with Jak 3. Get it as part of the trilogy and enjoy all three games for a great price. While this game is probably the least fun to play out of the three it's still a great game and worth the money you pay for it. Overall: Spoiler ->In the trash it goes... ->Forgettable. ->It was fun while it lasted. ->Memorable. ->Where has this been all my life? I never knew I needed this so much. Oh boy... I wish this game had more checkpoints. This game had so much potential to be the best in the series but it's just a frustrating mess at times. Outside of these times it is still a great game that tries to tell an interesting story but for now I've got enough. That's in part due to the enormous heat where I'm at as well as a glitched mission, in which a kid you're supposed to protect should get into a car that you then drive to a given destination. What happens is that that damn kid takes his goddamn time walking there at the pace of someone without legs, crawling on their hands, and then he just does not get into the car. Just stands there while the goddamn guards attack us both. Since Google can't come up with anything either I'm gonna take a break from this game now and pick it up again at a later time. Also, if you want to get any of these games, especially if you want the second or the third Jak game, do yourself a favor and don't even consider getting the Vita version. The port of the first game is choppy, the port of the second game is borderline unplayable with likely less than 10 FPS at certain parts like boss fights and between 20 and 30 FPS the rest of the time. A game this hard becomes a true nightmare if it's played at such a bad performance. Then there's the button mapping for L2 and R2. Especially in the second game the dark eco form is an important tactical asset and can only rarely be used. I've yet to use it once at the right time because I keep hitting L2 accidentally because of my finger placement and not only wasting it but also alarming the whole city to come after me in the process. The third game seems to be alright but I've heard many rumors about terrible vehicle controls because the Vita's analog sticks just don't work as intended for this game. I think if I played it on PS3 it would have been much more enjoyable as the Vita port is just terrible for all three games but it's the worst for this game. This gold rating goes to the PS3 version of the game and doesn't incorporate the issues of the Vita port. The Vita port itself would probably get somewhere between bronze and silver in my ratings, just because of all of these faults ruining the fun and increasing the difficulty of an already hard game. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to Tales of Hearts R tomorrow. I could really use some some good old RPG relaxation just about now. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post voodoo_eyes Posted July 24, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 24, 2018 Game #8 - Shantae Half.Genie Hero - Final Impression Time played: about 2h 30m Trophies earned: 8/65 A very colourful 2D side-scrolling platformer, with fitting lively music. I've gotten maybe about a third through the game so far. While the levels are usually separated in segments of 3 (so you basically get 2 saves during each level), they are not really that long. Dying will set you back to the beginning of the segment though, and that's something that happened a lot. In the levels you'll have to defeat/avoid enemies, while also platforming. Some of these platforming sections are timed and were excessively annoying, mainly because some bird enemies thought it was a good time to throw bombs as well. Which brings me to a minor annoyance, which is having to go through some unskippable cutscenes over and over and over. There seem to be a bunch of secrets throughout the levels out of which I barely found any so far. Some of them can only be reached later on when you get specific transformations. So far I've found the monkey, crab and vase transformations. Thing is the only form in which you can attack is the base form, as such the other transformations are very situational. To deal more damage you can break vases in the levels to get gems, which you can then exchange at the shop to buy upgrades. The game is fun, but sometimes the hit boxes feel a bit off. Currently at a boss fight with only a sliver of health left and always get hit during one of the phases even though I know the attack didn't actually touch the character. I didn't play as much of it as I had planned, because I wanted to wrap up the plat for Need for Speed. I'll definitely keep playing it throughout and after the event though. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eigen-space Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) Atelier Shallie Plus: The Alchemists of the Dusk Sea Game Completion: 19% (11/39 for D Rank) Time Spent: ~12 Hours My third Atelier game in the last two months..... Atelier Shallie is about two alchemists who both share the same nickname: Shallie. Shallistera is the raven-haired alchemist from a far away land that is suffering from drought, like most of the other towns in the world. Shallote is an aloof city girl who is trying to get everyone to take her seriously. You have the option of playing as either character, and actually have to do two full play throughs (one with each character) in order to get the platinum. Your goal with either character is to figure out the reasons why the world is drying up, but each character has their own minor goals along the way as well. I played the original version of Atelier Shallie several years ago on my old account, and I nearly threw my PS3 out the window when I ran into a game-breaking bug. I vowed never to touch Shallie again due to the bug (don't worry if you have the original PS3 game-- they released a patch so that this bug no longer exists) as well as a kind of crappy story (granted, I never finished the game so I didn't get to fully experience it). It is also the first Atelier game I've played where there are no time restrictions, which is something I actually enjoyed with the Arland and other two Dusk Atelier games. But because of the lovely Atelier Project Platinum, I decided it was time to come back to this game.... and I must admit, it's not terrible. As far as Atelier games go, it still isn't one of my favorites... but it isn't dead last anymore either-- it inches just above Atelier Firis. Perhaps it'll rise just a little higher after I finish the game, but we'll see. I do appreciate the reappearance of many Ayesha and Escha & Logy characters, however it makes it difficult to really focus on any of the new relationships. In the plus version, there's about a dozen playable characters, with only 6 being allowed in your party at any time. As you can imagine, with this many playable characters (and even more named NPCs), there's not enough time to get to know all of them well. Synthesis is a little different in this game, relying on chaining, which actually isn't well explained so I don't understand it myself That being said, synthesizing the best items and equipment isn't necessarily as important in this game as it is in other titles. I have only upgraded weaponry once, and all other weapons/armor/accessories are what have been picked up from shops, treasure chests, or battles. The attack and healing items that I use in battle are also not fully optimized. I haven't had trouble with any of the battles so far, and I'm playing on the highest difficulty (gives more money, more experience, and some items with rare qualities). There aren't any trophies dependent on battle difficulty, and you can change it at any time during the game. Anyway, the game is decent, and I feel that people who aren't fans of the time limits will like this game more than I did. Not a good starting point, though, as you do need some of the backstory from the first two Dusk games for things to make sense. Additionally, this is my first use of the PlayStation TV I got for Christmas. It was a bit of a hassle to setup, but now I'm really enjoying it. Sometimes playing video games makes me a little nauseated, and Shallie was doing that for me (you only get minimal control of your cameras so the angles can get funky)... putting it on the larger TV screen minimized some of that nausea. Starting Completion: 92.16%Last Reported Completion: 92.56%Current Completion: 91.63% (-0.53 / -0.93) Edited July 25, 2018 by eigen-space 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post dmland12 Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 Game #8: Bound Trophies: 17/27 (46%) Completion: 92.09% (-0.45%, -4.18% from start) Bound is another game I got from PS Plus (Nov 2017). It's an artsy 3D platformer with PSVR support. I don't have the VR headset, so I won't be commenting on that aspect. In Bound you play as a young woman that's reflecting on her childhood and trying to overcome her bad memories and fears. With the power of dance. There's only 6 real levels and the platforming is generally not very difficult. At least, if you're just playing through the story and taking the normal route. One interesting thing about the game is that it encourages speedrunning (with trophies and there's also a leaderboard and speedrunning menu with a timer). There's ways to cut off a lot of time in each level, and you'll need to do that if you want to get the various speedrunning trophies. Some of the levels end up playing very differently. And unlike following the normal path there's generally a few difficult jumps that you'll need to do. Overall, I'm kind of lukewarm on this one. I can appreciate what it's going for with the main game and the speedrunning and trophies do add some additional depth and challenge for me. I'm not sure what's missing. Here's some of my gameplay, sucessfully going after one of the speedrun trophies: 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post voodoo_eyes Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 Game #9 - South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Preview Used to like the show back in the day (it's probably still ongoing, I guess). I also enjoyed the The Stick of Truth for the most part. I managed to fail twice in getting all the collectibles and at this point I just can't be bothered to go through the whole game again. Instead I'll try out the newest one. Expectations: More of the same, I guess. I mean, same art style and humour. With a few tweaks here and there to make the game better than it's predecessor. I already know that it's grid-based this time around and I'm not sure what to think of it until I try it. I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it though. @eigen-space Atelier Shallie and "the ruler of the depths" trophy drove me insane. I played through the game blind at the time, lost against the boss and apparently he disappears, if you can't defeat him. So you had to give it a try on new game plus. I spent so much time farming levels and ingredients for gear on my 2nd run through the game, just to get to the area where he was supposed to spawn, and he didn't show up. That was the last time I touched that game. Couldn't even be bothered to finish the 2nd playthrough. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eigen-space Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 @voodoo_eyes, is that the one that runs back and forth to bulldoze the entire party? I'm surprised he didn't appear again.... Atelier games, from my experience, tend not to glitch on events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voodoo_eyes Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, eigen-space said: @voodoo_eyes, is that the one that runs back and forth to bulldoze the entire party? I'm surprised he didn't appear again.... Atelier games, from my experience, tend not to glitch on events. I honestly can't remember it's attacks, as it's been a good 3 years since I played it. I think it was some kind of reddish feline holding a weapon who appeared fairly late in the game. I don't know why I couldn't get him to spawn again and back then there was basically no information about that game, let alone a guide. It is what it is... By now I sold the game and would only pick it up again, if it ever shows up on PS+ and we all know the odds of that happening . Edited July 25, 2018 by voodoo_eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Beyondthegrave07 Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 Game #4 Watch_Dogs 2 Final Review Time played: 15 hours Trophies earned: 32/56 - C Completion Percentage since the beginning: ?0.67 I am really conflicted on this game. We didn't exactly get off on the right foot from the beginning because the game glitched on me where I could not continue the story after the first mission due to some "Global Installation" B.S. that would just get stuck at 78%. I found a solution to the issue after about 20-30 minutes of research, but it made me essentially redownload the game which takes roughly 1 hour. I was annoyed beyond belief with this because I don't get a lot of time to play these days and this is just an epic waste of time IMO. Anyways, let's actually talk about the game itself. If you have played Assassin's Creed and loved it. You will most likely love this. This game feels like a nerdy, hipster, version of Assassin's Creed with updated technology. You sneak around, use gadgets, and kill your enemies with hacking (or guns as a last resort). The game also has a touch of Grand Theft Auto with the game's great customization, multiple side events, police chases, and sandbox world. The game also has a touch of Batman Arkham IMO with all the cool nifty gadgets you can use to take out your enemies. You also kind of get that analytical feel to the game that you can use to approach the Batman Arkham games. So, right now, the game sounds pretty appealing to most. It feels like a modern Assassin's Creed and has inspired elements from GTA and Batman. Sounds for a pretty good mix right? Yeah, for the most part the gameplay is excellent; If I was basing this rating solely on gameplay, I would give it 4 or 5 stars. However, I have qualms with other things that are not just download-glitch related. First off, the story is super cringe-worthy. It's about a bunch of millenials going after big companies who are greedy and corrupt using their hacking skills and video presentations and art. The group needs "followers" to increase their influence and increasing the range of their hacking ability to take down the biggest, baddest, company of them all. Blume. Blume keeps data on everyone and uses this data to manipulate people to do as they please and to exert control upon the world. However, your cringe, little group of nerds are willing to go the distance and take down the Blume with their own influence... an organization called DedSec. The writing is really bad, and the voice acting is meh. The missions to take down these big companies all feel the same too which makes this story less interesting and more of a yawnfest. You sneak in, steal data to use against them, and sneak out. The end. Every single story mission I've done has come to this and it makes the story feel monotonous and like it's not really going anywhere. The multiplayer (yes, it does have multiplayer trophies) is actually really fun. You can run around with a friend and goof around or you can put a bounty on yourself and have other hackers hunt you down (or vise versa). You can also play games to steal information from them which is like a game of hide and seek and can be fun too. You can make it so that random events come up like this while you are moving around from story mission to story mission, so it's likely that you could get all the trophies with a half-assed attempt whenever they come up (at least, that's what happened for me). Last thing I just want to briefly touch on is the music in the game. I'm going to be honest here and say it's pretty bad. It has a few good tracks in it and has variety, but the depth is so thin and unmemorable. I've played this game for 15 hours and have yet to hear any tracks that are really recognizable and makes you want to put your shades on and drive or to not leave your vehicle until the song is done playing (if you catch my drift). Overall, if you think a nerdy Assassin's Creed with an incredible uninspiring story sounds like your cup of tea, then grab this game. Otherwise, it might be worth picking up in a sale. I'll give it 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐✴️✴️ Conflicted 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ImBossy83 Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 Game #8 Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Kingdom Hearts is a 3D action RPG with platforming elements where you fight with and against Disney characters. It's a re-release of a re-relase of a PS2 game. The whole series has plenty of spin-offs and two main line games. If you buy the PS4 version you get 4 possible Platinum trophies and a ton of play time as each of these game will require quite some dedication. Why haven't i played it already? I actually started playing the game before the event started and played for about an hour but i didn't get any trophies. Impression It's a delight. I was actually surprised since i played the game before for about an hour and was a bit underwhelmed back then. But when i started playing again and made my way to the first world it was almost a bit magical when the first characters from Alice in wonderland appeared in 3D in this game and interacted with me. I played for about 6 hours and i got 2 trophies. My completion went to 53.56% (-1,84%) The verdict I really liked the experience I've gotten out of this. Sure the game has aged but the basics still hold up. This game gets a top spot for after the event. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DamagingRob Posted July 25, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) Final review- One Piece: Unlimited World Red Just kill me. Please. Here we go.. See if I can even remember everything from the past five days. So, after I got through another story mission or two, I had access to the full roster. A total of nine different pirates you can mix and match up to 3 of (everyone shown in the above image). All with their own moves and special attacks, some of which can actually heal themselves and teammates. I ended up mostly using Sanji and the girls. Sanji, because he's probably become my favorite member of the One Piece crew, ever since a certain someone started voicing him in the Funimation dub (he also voices my current avatar ). I used to be more of a Zoro fan. Plus, Sanji is one of those guys with a healing ability. Nami ended up always coming along due to her XP increase ability. And Robin? Yeah, I don't really have a good reason for choosing her... Moving on. I covered most of the battle system already, but something new did come up. And that was a list of a commands that appear on your screen. Performing all of them will give you a temporary power up called Rush Mode. Kinda neat, but also became more trouble to pull off than they were worth.. There are a ton of things to do in town once you've expanded it, including some minigames you can mess with. Collecting balloons, walking blind and getting as close to the plank as you can without going over, and a matching game. There was one more, but I don't remember what it was. Lol. Other stuff includes a museum, where you can place captured fish, bugs, and animals. Which in turn makes you money. Various crafting shops for materials, healing items, and food. Food permanently increases your stats, like HP and strength. And there's the inn where you can "rest" and save your game. Seems to be the only way to do so in the story. The coliseum has an autosave feature, for whatever reason. The story is not as original as I first thought, having you face familiar faces from the series. But it delivered a pretty satisfying final act. Unfortunately, that is where the fun ended... I had a feeling it would turn into a mindless slog, but it's also been really frustrating. I'm either missing something obvious, or this is nowhere near as easy as the trophy guide suggests. Difficult mode was a pain in the ass, so I started doing quests to level up my characters. Problem is, those are about as big of a pain in the ass.. The coliseum is, in fact, a mindless slog. That took me about 7 and a half hours of just fighting fight after fight after fight, to get the points needed to rank up. Having them reset as part of the story at one point, because that's sure to motivate a player.. But other than some items added to your story mode inventory, you don't get anything for doing it. So it didn't really help my story mode struggles. But you do get to play as many other characters from the series in that mode, instead of just the Straw Hats. In conclusion, it's not a bad game to just play through. And not overly long, either. Took me ~14 hours, and could probably be done in less with less messing around with side stuff. But I would say be ready for pain, if you go for the Plat. Might be better to just pull out after beating it. I'm now at 31 and a half hours played, and the end is not in sight.. At best, this was a , but has probably sunk to a . And likely the game I least look forward to resuming. Time played: 31 and a half hours. Trophy progress: 40/57 for 64% and an A rank. Edited July 25, 2018 by DamagingRob 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eigen-space Posted July 26, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 26, 2018 First Impressions Hatoful Boyfriend Game Completion: 10% (2/17 for E Rank) Time Spent: ~2 Hours Hatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel where you play as a human girl attending high school at an institution where all your classmates are literally birds. Throughout the school year, you will interact with and grow fond of/fall in love with some of your classmates. It's not so strange considering these birds are very human-like-- they speak in human languages, mop the floors, hold down jobs at cafes, and even run 3-legged races in gym class. The only thing that makes them seem like birds are their actual physical forms. Pro-Tip #1 - Don't tell your significant other you're playing this game. My (non-gamer) husband asked me what I was playing, and so I gave him the run down of this game. Nonjudgmental, he only raised an eyebrow at the premise for a brief second. However, when we started making out, he asked me to coo for him... so I stopped making out with him, leaving him alone on the couch while he made "sexy" bird calls in attempts to lure me back. Nope. Pro-Tip #2 - Don't go into this game thinking it's just going to be a bunch of campy fun. I mean, it IS a lot of campy fun with plenty of bird puns and WTF scenarios like this: However, this game has a lot of dark and/or sad twists. Both endings that I have played have been rather sad. And there are hints that something nefarious is going on, making me want to press on with the story rather than get any sleep tonight. So far, I'm very pleased with this game and would recommend it. I'm not even mad that I missed this on PS+ and had to pay money for it because the people involved with this game deserve to get paid for it. Anyway... time for another couple routes before bed! Starting Completion: 92.16%Last Reported Completion: 91.63%Current Completion: 91.32% (-0.84 / -0.31) 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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