KYC 777

[DamagingRob]

@Cthulhu I've only played 2 of them. I'd probably give the nod to Transistor over Magrunner. The latter isn't a bad puzzle game, but the story wasn't all that memorable from what I recall. I preferred Bastion's combat over Transistor's, but it's still a very solid game. I need to get Pyre. 

 

Got the Plat for Bloodborne. Do I play Fallout Shelter for 2 days, or start another game?  

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

1 minute ago, DamagingRob said:

@Cthulhu I've only played 2 of them. I'd probably give the nod to Transistor over Magrunner. The latter isn't a bad puzzle game, but the story wasn't all that memorable from what I recall. I preferred Bastion's combat over Transistor's, but it's still a very solid game. I need to get Pyre. 

 

MagRunner is actually the one game I played before (five or six years ago, on X360), thought it was brilliant back then. It's on my KYC list mostly so I can see if it holds up to how I remember it.

 

Transistor should take me less than eight hours to play through story-wise so it's a good contender for a starting game. Done before the weekend so I can hit the ground running.

 

1 minute ago, DamagingRob said:

Got the Plat for Bloodborne. Do I play Fallout Shelter for 2 days, or start another game?  

 

Start another game! Also, well done on Bloodborne. Need to get back to that one now that I have it digitally.

[DamagingRob]

1 hour ago, Cthulhu said:

MagRunner is actually the one game I played before (five or six years ago, on X360), thought it was brilliant back then. It's on my KYC list mostly so I can see if it holds up to how I remember it.

 

Transistor should take me less than eight hours to play through story-wise so it's a good contender for a starting game. Done before the weekend so I can hit the ground running.

I thought it was a cool game, but not as good as Portal in the storytelling department. With possibly bad voice acting? I don't know, it's been awhile.. And yeah, Transistor is pretty short.

 

1 hour ago, Cthulhu said:

Start another game! Also, well done on Bloodborne. Need to get back to that one now that I have it digitally.

I probably should. Two whole days with Fallout Shelter doesn't sound like fun.  And thanks. Some parts of those Chalice dungeons were something else.. 

Edited July 11, 2018 by DamagingRob

[Kevvik]

Game #4: Valhalla Knights 3

 

Initial Impressions

 

Time played: 2 hrs

 

So Valhalla Knights 3 is an RPG. You develop a character, choosing class and appearance. There is a bit of story intro that the Emperor is not the nicest guy, willing to let everyone is his castle die rather than give up but it's clear he considers that a distraction for his enemies so he can track down a bigger prize, a treasure which grants a wish. Thought to be a myth, apparently it's not. Your character shows up at the northern castle near where the treasure is believed to be. It has been taken over by criminals, having reviously been a prison and now ruled by crime families. Power rules everything and so forth. Secretly being spies, you team up with a couple partners and do quests because if a magic tattoo, the Mark of Death, which will painfully kill you if you don't track down the leads to the treasure. You have uncertain motivations as the Emperor's armies pretty much wiped your country off the map.  Everyone else talks but you.

 

Combat is pretty vanilla so far and a bit clunky. Not quite button mashing but not deep so far either. Realtime hack n slash with crappy camera where you can switch between party members, completing your mission or optional sidequests received from a guild in the slums.

 

You buy and sell and there are also places where you can visit girls (basically bawdy houses). I haven't gone down this path yet, trying to get the hang of combat.  So far the game hasn't really caught my attention yet but we'll see where it goes. I think the main negative has been load screens all the time. Change area, load screen. Initiate event, load screen. End event, load screen. I feel like 25% of my play time has been load screens. Exaggerating maybe but not by much. It's really frustrating.

 

We will see how the next few days go but so far I'm more interested in maybe getting some Tomb Raider Anniversary or Until Dawn done than really getting into this. Cue load screen.

 

Trophies earned: 5/27, 7% for D rank

Score so far: 4/10

 

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Kevvik

[eigen-space]

First Impressions

Syberia

Current Time Played: ~1.5 Hours
Current Game Completion: 9% for E Rank (2/13)

 

Syberia is a graphic adventure game where the main character, Kate, must complete her job as some kind of corporate lawyer and sign a contract for a family-owned European toy maker to hand over their company to a large toy manufacturer. Before Kate can get everything in writing, the owner dies and reveals that her brother, who was long thought to be dead, is alive and the heir. Kate now is on a mission to find this mystery brother with barely any facts to go on-- she just knows that he is in Siberia.

I got this game when it (and its sequel) became available for free on PS+. It had been sitting in my wishlist for a while, so I was glad that I hadn't purchased it yet. I actually thought this was going to be more like a point-and-click (which I love), but the game play still works for me... when it works.
This game seems to be plagued by a lot of lag or frame drops or.... I don't really know what's wrong with it technically, all I know is that it almost feels like it freezes at times before you start to move again. It certainly dampens the experience.

But apart from the issues with movement, I think the game is pretty good so far. The story is intriguing with just enough mystery. The opening scene to the game was fantastic and really pulled me in. The use of automatons so far is pretty neat-- always down for games with automatons. Definitely gives the game a steampunk-esque vibe without being over the top.

The puzzles in this game aren't terribly difficult, which is a shame. I was hoping for a little bit of a challenge, but the most challenging thing is remembering to check everywhere before moving on (and if you're a seasoned point-and-click gamer like myself, this is just second nature) or getting lucky by taking the correct path the first time (even if you don't, you only need to backtrack two or three minutes at most). The game gives you the ability to play on Easy, Normal, or Difficult.... and I started out on Difficult.... still no challenge (apparently the only thing that changes is that you're not given clues?). 

 

The voice acting cast is pretty good. Definitely enjoying Kate's voice-- expressive without being annoying or overly emotive, like a regular person, which is a breath of fresh air after having to deal with the extreme voices of the Danganronpa 2 cast.

 

This game's main "difficultly" will be the speed run. You need to finish the game on Difficult in less than 6 hours... hopefully I can do that while playing blind (only thing I've looked up are the missables).

 

Anyway... it's good so far. I'm hoping it will get better! There seems to be development with some of the relationships in Kate's life (mother, boss, friend, boyfriend) so maybe that'll play out in an interesting manner.

Starting Completion: 92.16%
Last Reported Completion: 91.83%
Current Completion: 91.57 (-0.59 / -0.26)

[Myu]

18 hours ago, eigen-space said:

 

The first time around it dragged toward the end... this second time is boring me to tears.

I feel like they went a little more wild with the cast, which is maybe why they felt unsympathetic... like the first game, everyone has their personalities, but they weren't overbearing. This game they picked personalities but hyperbolized them.

I do think the puzzles are sightly improved. I had every murder solved before even going into the class trial in the first game... this one, not so much. Though I hate the truth sword and logic drive mini-games...

 

I absolutely loved the first Danganronpa, the second one was a little less interesting and the third one, well, I still haven't finished the story... Such a shame for so much potential!

 

Day 9 - Legend of Heroes : Trails of Cold Steel

 

 

First, I'd like to say that I didn't give this game justice because I only played the required 3 hours and I didn't see enough to really have an opinion. I didn't want to go too far into the story, I want to come back to it later and enjoy it properly.

 

Anyway, The Legend of Heroes : Trails of Cold Steel is a JRPG. You're Rean Schwarzer, a young man coming to Thors Military Academy to hone his skills. Social classes seem to be pretty important too, commoners have to wear a green uniform while nobles get a white one. Their dorms are also separated. Rean is a commoner but he was given a red uniform to wear at the entrance ceremony. With 8 other teenagers, he is to enter a special class, Class VII (classes stop at V and there's no Class VI though...). Right after the entrance ceremony, their new instructor leads them to an old mansion for an « orienteering exercice ». Basically, they get thrown into a dungeon and have to fight their way to come back to the surface.

 

I like the story so far. There are some tensions in the team, especially between « peasants » and nobles. The battle system is turn-based and simple to understand. The music is nice too.

 

I only have two complaints with the game. I really don't like the dub so I've muted the voices to enjoy the story. Also, loading times are pretty long for a Vita game.

 

I've already started my next game, Hakuoki : Kyoto Winds and it's already a big disappointment.

 

Current completion rate : 84.74% (-2.84% since the beginning of the event)

 

[voodoo_eyes]

@eigen-space as a point-and-click afficionado myself, I ran into the same issues as you. I also recall her getting stuck in the environment constantly and some of the point-and-clicky actions being a bit imprecise. The speedrun isn't all that difficult either as the time given is more than enough (I also believe pausing will stop the timer for it, but I'm not entirely sure about that).

[crimsonidol38]

Random rant:
Yay, seems like the used PS3 Slim I bought last year (mainly to self-boost some of those online trophies in various games I have) and which I promoted to my main PS3 a few months ago has a faulty drive as it has more and more reading errors. First it refused to rwad the disc for GoW 3 (seems to be a typical problem as it's a daul-layer disc) and now it also has reading errors for other discs like Grid Autosport. Seems like I will have to spend a few days for swapping the hard drive back to my Super Slim and reinstalling everything.

#RantOver

 

Game 4, Day 1

Sundered (PS4)

 

Sundered is an action-adventure/metroidvania by the devs from Jotun, a game which some may remember from the various posts in KYC 4. In the game you take control of Eshe, a warrior who ends up in an eldritch-like setting and who meets up with a magical sword with a rather strange name to remember as it was based on some geometrical figures. The sword gives Eshe the task to find some so-called Elder Shards. The only explanation given to Eshe is that she will be able to escape from this place once she collects them all. The story itself is told in some kind of gibberish  so you have to rely on the subtitles.

 

As expected from an action-adventure it's no simple task where you just walk straight to the shards, collect them and bring them back. Instead, you will find various enemies which try to kill you. They may either resemble the tentacle from Day of the Tentacle (but in a more aggrsssive form), disc-like enemies which will be homing for your current location or electrified worms which can jump up and down. At the start you are only able to kill those enemies with basic slashes by pressing   or by activating some finisher-moves by pressing but for those you have to charge up one of the various energy bars (don't know which, though...). There's also the possibility to use some spare potions by pressing or evading attacks by pressing . At first you will only be attacked by a small amount of foes but as you progress through the caverns and buildings of the world, more and more enemies will come towards you. The catch is: You can't kill them and explore the place calmly afterwards, but instead the game will trigger random spawns which come in from time to time. And this has one specific purpose: The game wants to see you die.

 

The reason for this is that after you die you will return to the shelter aka starting place where you were able to pick up the sword. There you are able to invest the smaller shards which you collected by either killing enemies or destroying various objects into different skill improvements or equip some perks which you may find. Most of the improvements seem to be of the type more health, better attack/defense, higher drop rates or longer duration for some secondary abilities. Perks seem to go in the same direction. You can also decide to return to the shelter by selecting an option in the pause menu.

 

But before you will return to the shelter you have to endure the long loading time. It may take up to 30 seconds before you are able to move to the shelter as one of the game's core feature is a partially procedurally-generated world. The game overall features three main areas (with each one having one boss) and each of those areas consists of some fixed places but there are also the various interconnections between those fixed places which are slightly altered in each playthrough. At least this is what the game advertises but as I'm more or less in the starting area I didn't see a different in those interconnections..

 

I played the game for about an hour yesterday before I decided that I wasn't really in the mood for it. The main reason for this is that some of the enemies feel rather cheap. Like I already mentioned there's some type of floating enemy which will be homing for your current location. After evading their attacks they are stunned for a short amount of time where you can attack them freely. But the problem is that there's not only this one enemy but there's a whole bunch of them or even various types of enemies at the same time. One rather annoying enemy is a robot which has the ability to aim towards you through the walls and shoot at you from quite a distance. You have some preparation time to evade that attack but you have to coordinate it with all the other enemies around you which may lead to some cheap deaths as you just get overwhelmed. The only benefit is that you aren't really losing anything. The only downside is that you have to traverse the caverns again and endure the loading times.

When it comes to progression I'm not really far into the game. I was able to find the first few abilities like a double jump or a small shield which seems to be activated automatically. I was also able to kill the first mini boss which was a larger version of that homing enemy and who also spawned at least ten smaller versions at one point. I barely survived that but I somehow managed it and so I was able to collect the first splinter of one of those Elder Shards. After that I was able to progress in another direction (thanks to the double jump), only to get executed by a horde of tentacles and bouncing electric worms. After that I decided to call it a day.

 

As I only spend about an hour it's a bit unfair to make up a decision yet but so far I'm not really enjoying it.

 

[Lars]

#Game 1: God of War

i didn't even need to play it this much to be able to see that this game is absolutely brilliant.

The combat is fun, although i'm still in the very beginning, i just finished the prologue.

This means that the only combat i experienced is without any upgrades to the weapon or anything like that. But still, 2 boss battles before the game even started, one of which could have been a final boss fight in any other game. The surroundings look amazing, the world is big and is beautiful. Graphics are great.

The only thing i would have liked to see is a bit more background story, i know very little about the God of War franchise but if i remember correctly it was always in a different area and mythology.

i would have liked to know why he moved, he got a wife and a kid. Just some more introduction to set up the story better.

 

This is a set up for an amazing experience i feel. I'm already looking forward to going back to this one in the near future, but this week i also want to play game 2 because i'm a bit behind on schedule. That game is Life is Strange. I may be able to finish that one during the event. Then i would have to combine this event with finishing of Blur as my 150th platinum.

 

I may want to play this game more during the event to give a more extended review, because i always want to explore as much as possible of the map i still have played the game for 2-3 hours. Next week my holiday starts off so i can play the games for a more extended time.

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

So, my starting stats for the event. Feast your eyes on my trophy list, I'm probably making it private again in between KYC777 and KYC L8.

 

 

KYC7 Starting Stats:

Completion percentage: 49,64%

Trophies won: 7.098

Unearned trophies: 5.702

Games played: 376

 

 

7 hours ago, Lars said:

#Game 1: God of War

i didn't even need to play it this much to be able to see that this game is absolutely brilliant.

 

Hope you'll find it brilliant by the end. Personally, I thought it was very overrated, mediocre at best and a step back in everything compared to GOW2-GOW3 except for graphics and Kratos' voice actor.

[Toogie53]

Trophies: 9/38 (14%) - Base Game w/o DLC

Time Spent: 3 hours

Rating: 9/10

 

This game is Resident Evil 7. I've been excited for this game every since I saw a trailer. I downloaded a demo and thought it was excellent. I'm not sure why it took me so long to actually purchase it. But I'm happy to have it now. My wife and I like to watch scary movies together; occasionally she will watch me play a scary game. Less frequently, she'll get some wild hair and insist we go buy a scary game. I think this is her way of being supportive of my gaming hobby. Long story, short, the last time this happened was in mid-June and this is the game we picked up. I'm trying to do an initial blind playthrough with my wife watching. So I am going through it a slower pace than I would otherwise. I was able to put a couple of hours into it last weekend. Last night, I got an hour more or so in. It has met my expectations, and I played the demo previously, so I feel like this is enough to put up my review for this event. 

 

If you're a fan of the Resident Evil series, you might know that they kind of lost their way by trying to one-up the game before which was one-upping the game before that. They lost the formula that made them so good to begin with and started making hyper stylized shooters that just happened to revolve around zombies. It was a more than welcome relief when I said that they were going back to basics. With this game, they succeed with that by putting you into a creepy location by yourself and letting you baste in it while they spin a dark tale of mystery and horror. You play a dude named Ethan. Your fiance went for a trip back home before the wedding and then disappeared for about three years. One day, he gets an email that gives an address and just says, "Come and get me." You show up to a creepy farm or plantation home in Louisiana. You have to explore the grounds and find a way into the home. Everything looks abandoned and nasty and moldy etc. We were making jokes about how the fiance can just stay missing because we'd never go in there in real life. Throughout my time with it, the game has stayed intriguing, creepy, scary, and exciting the whole time. I think my wife has screamed at least once per hour. 

 

Graphically, the game looks great, fantastic even. My one minor quibble is people's hair is a bit strange. They try to give it that disheveled, sweaty kind of look with loose hairs and stuff. It just looks odd to me as it shifts across someones face. Not sure what exactly throws me off. Maybe because of how it moves, or its shadow, or that it is kind of clumpy. But I'm really nit-picking here. It looks so good in general. The music and sound are really well done. This is what gets my wife's nerves up so well. The sound helps that tension just build and build until she's just begging for the next scare to happen so she can feel some relief when its over. Gameplay-wise it looks and controls like a first-person shooter. However, the action is slower, more infrequent. You're not running around a house blasting the bad guys constantly. You are solving puzzles, finding keys, picking up items, inspecting them to find additional clues, combining things together to make different items, etc. It is more about exploration and atmosphere. However, when something jumps out at you, you do need to aim and shoot just like you would in a FPS. Like old school Resident Evil games you can only save at certain points, so it gets more and more tense as you venture further and further away from your last save. I know some people just aren't into horror, but if you are I can't recommend this enough. This has got me really, really excited for the remake of Resident Evil 2 now. That was the first horror game my wife and I ever played together; and probably my favorite Resi game before this current experience with RE7. 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Toogie53

[vin_rob]

On 5-7-2018 at 6:07 PM, PerryToxteth said:

KYC 777 Game No. 1

Battle of the Bulge

 

 

 

You just made me buy this game

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

Game #1: Transistor

First day
Total playtime: about an hour

 

 

I think it's already safe to say I won't be a huge fan of this game. Glad I'm trying something a bit more out of my comfort zone though.

 

The game is kind of a hack and slash game, with the twist that you can take a "turn": freeze time, plan your actions and then rapidly execute them.

 

There's a neo-noir story with as of now nany unknowns, it feels a bit "we need a story for our game but let's not make too much effort".

 

Gameplay is pretty well designed though, and objectively speaking it's not a bad game. 

 

Sorry for the shortness of this review, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to make more of an effort with later games.

[vin_rob]

A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV

 

 

So A king’s tale is more of a platformer then a normal final fantasy JRPG.
Your father will tell a “bedtime “story to Noctis.

So here is where the playing will commence, you play as the father trough some missions with some tutorials in there as well. You learn how to do some “cool” combo’s.  And wait are those the parents of your companions in FF XV? I think they are. You can do special link attacks with them if your combo is high enough.

There are a view missions non to hard I played in on the “hardest” difficulty there was. Normal -.-‘ For 1 of the trophies I actually had to die on purpose..

After the main story there is a dream battle mode or something like that. These are battle’s with enemy’s with a special requirement what can earn you a star.

There is a star for every dream battle.

 

I had fun with the game, got all trophies for it.
100% no platinum.

 

Completion after the game 63.14%

Edited July 11, 2018 by vin_rob

[eigen-space]

12 hours ago, voodoo_eyes said:

@eigen-space as a point-and-click afficionado myself, I ran into the same issues as you. I also recall her getting stuck in the environment constantly and some of the point-and-clicky actions being a bit imprecise. The speedrun isn't all that difficult either as the time given is more than enough (I also believe pausing will stop the timer for it, but I'm not entirely sure about that).

 

I haven't found that she gets stuck per se, but sometimes it feels like she should be moving forward but it's not a valid "path", or exiting to a different screen requires a very precise exit point.

 

I hope the pause button works on the speed run.... otherwise I wasted time while eating dinner and writing my review

[voodoo_eyes]

11 minutes ago, eigen-space said:

 

I haven't found that she gets stuck per se, but sometimes it feels like she should be moving forward but it's not a valid "path", or exiting to a different screen requires a very precise exit point.

 

I hope the pause button works on the speed run.... otherwise I wasted time while eating dinner and writing my review

 

Well, I've go good news for you then. The guide on .org says it pauses the timer .

[Myu]

1 hour ago, vin_rob said:

A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV

 

 

So A king’s tale is more of a platformer then a normal final fantasy JRPG.
Your father will tell a “bedtime “story to Noctis.

So here is where the playing will commence, you play as the father trough some missions with some tutorials in there as well. You learn how to do some “cool” combo’s.  And wait are those the parents of your companions in FF XV? I think they are. You can do special link attacks with them if your combo is high enough.

There are a view missions non to hard I played in on the “hardest” difficulty there was. Normal -.-‘ For 1 of the trophies I actually had to die on purpose..

After the main story there is a dream battle mode or something like that. These are battle’s with enemy’s with a special requirement what can earn you a star.

There is a star for every dream battle.

 

I had fun with the game, got all trophies for it.
100% no platinum.

 

Completion after the game 63.14%

 

It's actually a bedtime story about the king, Noctis' father, and his retinue kicking ass when they were younger. There's even young Cid in there

I was fairly disappointed with this game, didn't even finish the dream battles because I got bored to death. I'll have to get back to it eventually.

[Metal Slime King]

8 hours ago, vin_rob said:

A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV

 

I had fun with this game and appreciated that they gave it away for free to everyone after it was a promo drop for FF15 pre-orders (?). Think my biggest gripe is that I wish it was named Final Fantasy XV: A King's Tale so that it would sort beside FFXV. Minor I know but come on Square, you guys should know better then anybody that there's a large overlap between RPG fans and OCD people.

 

Let's not even open the can of worms that is the fact that roman numerals don't hold the correct ordinance when sorted alphabetically. Looking at you FF IX!

Edited July 12, 2018 by Metal Slime King

[eigen-space]

Game Complete

Syberia

Current Time Played: < 6 Hours
Current Game Completion: 10% (13/13)

 

I honestly thought that I took longer than 6 hours on this play through... mainly because I kept falling asleep for mini-naps and forgot to pause once or twice. Not that the game is boring, I'm just really tired today. I was definitely surprised when the less-than-6-hours "speed run" trophy popped.

 

The story continued to impress, though the game's technical issues definitely showed up more often as I was playing today. Definitely walked through some walls that I wasn't able to walk back out of... and the cut scenes, which visually looked nice, felt like I was watching Netflix on a dial-up connection.

 

There is a plot point toward the end where I'm like, "What the eff were you thinking, Kate?"

Spoiler

You seriously didn't foresee the underground mole man trying to imprison the songstress and then try to blow you up? Honestly.....

 

And the game also felt like it ended a bit abruptly. I understand that the sequel picks up where this game left off, but the ending to this one felt a little rushed.

 

Overall Difficulty - 1.5/10

Enjoyment - 7.5/10

 

Starting Completion: 92.16%
Last Reported Completion: 91.57%
Current Completion: 91.97% (-0.19 / +0.40)

[crimsonidol38]

Game 4, Day 2

Sundered (PS4)

 

A surprise post for the second day. Main reason is: I want to vent my frustration. On the one hand I somehow enjoy the game's basic premise but on the other hand I totally hate some of the gameplay decisions.

 

After dying thanks to a whole bunch of those electric bouncy worms on the end of day 1, I decided to travel to a different direction. After stumbling through a few caverns and fighting the common hordes I reached a section where I could enter one of the two other main areas which turned out to be a in dark red color tone and contains various enemies that tend to shriek while attacking (which is rather annoying tbh).After getting overwhelmed by a bunch of them I was back to the shelter, once again.

Okay, let's check the sections you already traveled through to see if there's a new door you are able to open. The good thing is that the game highlights sections you can travel too as those passages tend to blink while looking at the map. Everything was fine until those laser-shooting dudes and those flying homing enemies showed up again. Turns out that they were a more enhanced version as the laser-enemies were able to unleash a shock wave when you were near them and the flying enemies were only stunned after they tried to go for you two times. I somehow managed to tackle them all but decided to invest the smaller shards into some more attack power and health.

 

Afterwards I went to the section where I died on day 1 and it turns out that there was another base where I had to activate some kind of power source so I could process further. As you may expect, this also activated new enemies. This time it was some kind of flying mecha that takes up about 1/6 of the screen size and which, no real surprise, can also fly through walls. They are rather slow though so there's a good amount of time to evade their attacks. While stumbling through the base I also triggered a second mini boss which had the nasty ability to turn himself invisible. That wouldn't be the problem if it wasn't for the two mechas who also spawned as the game may also spawn random enemy hordes while fighting a (mini-)boss. Why for fuck's sake? 

Again I survived that encounter and soon after I found another ability, a rather big gun/cannon which only seems to have one rather slow, charged shot. But if it hits, most of the major enemies (like those laser-ones) are instantly killed.   Yay, finally something else besides those rather lousy finishers and mashing the attack button for up to ten times before one basic enemy is down. The luck wasn't on my side though as I died shortly after as I had barely any health left to make it towards the first real boss (Dominion) and died while making my way through a laser-infested section.

 

Like initially mentioned I really hate some of the gameplay mechanics. If you travel through a (new) section and random enemies start to pop up every one and half minute or so can really get on your nerves as the fights take a rather long time due to your poor attack power at the beginning. Hitting one basic enemy up to 10 times while 5 or more of them approach is annoying as hell. Luckily I found a perk that gives me the ability to ignore the enemies' shield so they take a few hits less than before. I also really dislike the fact that parts of the areas are generated new every time you return to the shelter. So far there was little to no variety and the only differences I noticed were the fact that some traps were rearranged. The fact that some parts are generated also makes the environment look rather uninspiring as many corridors look very similar. There are barely places that stand out besides the places where you can pick up abilities or the ones which have a fixed layout.

On the other hand I have to say that I really like the small progress you make. Once you have a few upgrades it's easier to handle the hordes that killed you before (just to barely survive the next new enemy). This is clearly an advantage over other games with rogue-like elements (I look at you, Swords of Ditto Shitto). So far I'm really on the fence about this game... 

 

[vin_rob]

14 hours ago, Myu said:

 

It's actually a bedtime story about the king, Noctis' father, and his retinue kicking ass when they were younger. There's even young Cid in there

I was fairly disappointed with this game, didn't even finish the dream battles because I got bored to death. I'll have to get back to it eventually.

I'm sorry i didn't specify that IT was so. My bad can you forgive me? 

 

Yeah it was pretty anoying at the end but i forced myself in the end lol.. 

 

13 hours ago, Metal Slime King said:

 

I had fun with this game and appreciated that they gave it away for free to everyone after it was a promo drop for FF15 pre-orders (?). Think my biggest gripe is that I wish it was named Final Fantasy XV: A King's Tale so that it would sort beside FFXV. Minor I know but come on Square, you guys should know better then anybody that there's a large overlap between RPG fans and OCD people.

 

Let's not even open the can of worms that is the fact that roman numerals don't hold the correct ordinance when sorted alphabetically. Looking at you FF IX!

Yeah when i heard there was a bonus only game stop users hot i was anoyed.. and when it was free got it waited a while befor I started to play lol. 

 

Lol feels like you have something against roman numerals

[Myu]

30 minutes ago, vin_rob said:

I'm sorry i didn't specify that IT was so. My bad can you forgive me?

 

I feel like I annoyed you there, if that's the case I apologize.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #4 - Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth - Final Impression

Time played: 7-8 hours

Trophies earned: 8/57

 

 

I'll probably still play a little bit of this tonight after dinner, but it's unlikely that I'll get another trophy. Mainly because I'll have to farm wins in the training mode before continuing the story.

 

Anyway, I'm enjoying this game for the most part. It is way too text-heavy for my liking though.Initially I let the dialogues run through normally, but soon realised that they are never-ending. Furthermore it felt like they had way too much filler nonsense. I've been skipping most dialogues for the most part as a result, and still spent a good 2-3 hours doing so. As for the "adult" segments, the lewdness has been kept to a minimum so far.

 

Now that my major gripe is out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. As most, if not all tactical-rpgs the combat is turn-based an held on a grid layout. You can zoom in and out and turn the camera to your liking. You can also turn-off the grid and choose how the game is presented to you (they give you the Utawarerumono or the traditional version). Not sure what the difference is, as I just picked the game specific version and stuck with it as it's solid.

 

Combat is fun, but requires some getting used to as positioning is extremely important. In this game more so than other titles in this genre. This is because of the skills you'll be using during the battles. It's not just the basic "you have to be close to the enemies in order to hit them, but to be able to use specific skills you'll need to be at a specific spot sometimes even further away from the enemies in order to hit them. New skills are learned by leveling and have different types of activation. Some are just click enemy or ally to activate (attack/heal/buff/debuff), while others need to be charged and released at a specific time or you might not get the full attack sequence out of it and also get your chance to crit negated. Critical attacks are again timing-based (similar to SP Stick of Truth).

 

The story missions have you fight with specific characters, but once you beat the missions you can replay it in free battle mode. There you can pick and choose from 10-15 available characters. The only restrictions being that some of the characters are mandatory and that there is a maximum number of characters that can take part in the mission.

 

The training mode I mentioned earlier (aka Mock Battles) have two groups of the playable characters fight against each other in a 4 vs 4 battle. XP gained will be kept and if the team you control wins you also get BP (which essentially are upgrade point). This mode has one problem though... all the characters on either side are random. This can lead to you or the CPU getting an unbeatable team and just stomping the opposition into the ground.

 

I think there are another 1 or 2 modes, which I haven't unlocked yet. As such that's pretty much it about this game.

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by voodoo_eyes

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

 

Game #1: Transistor

Final Review

Total playtime: about five and a half hours

Trophies: 14/34 for an A rank

 

slick combat gameplay

plot could have gotten more work

not great, not awful

 

Spoiler

Yup yup yup, I'm doing final reviews in haiku again!

 

I finished up Transistor today. My initial opinion remains: it's not a bad game, just not for me. The combat gameplay is decent, but the story is boring to me, it's too much "we need something emotional and deep" with somehow at the same time saying too much and saying too little about it.

 

There's probably enough people out there who love Transistor, but from me it gets a big "mèh". I didn't hate playing it and I might even go for the platinum, but I'll have forgotten all about it in a few months or possibly even weeks.

 

Transistor final score:

Gameplay is very tight and graphics look good, but an uninteresting disjointed story that seems to be there just so the game can be more artsy keeps it from being truly enjoyable.

 

Next up:

Don't know yet. SOMA? Valley? Haven't installed the PS3 games yet.

[vin_rob]

8 hours ago, Myu said:

 

I feel like I annoyed you there, if that's the case I apologize.

Oh lol no you didn't sorry i replied on my phone. Since i hate how my phone does the keyboard thingie i Just keep my native language as keyboard so I get autocorrects non stop. I actually menth it if you could forgive me for not specify that lol. 

 

I also wrote the review when i was supposed to be asleep for a while.. like i should be doing right at this moment

 

Still in the train tho ?

 

But you don't have to apologize don't worry ?