Popular Post Arcesius Posted September 22, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 22, 2021 (edited) On 9/20/2021 at 9:36 PM, KindaSabbath said: Yeah, I agree with you but I think people make it more frustrating than it needs to be. As you found for yourself, the Eva 8 shotgun completely negates the need to ADS, which makes it very easy to maintain your speed. It also has enough magazine capacity to take care of all targets without reloading, if you throw some well placed grenades. Just so you have an idea about my expertise in FPS-territory.. I needed to look up what the fuck that means ? Quote Hope you enjoy your time with the campaign. If I post anything more on the game, it won't be until after you're done with it. Is it weird that I enjoyed doing the Gauntlet more than I'm enjoying playing through the campaign? ? I'm having fun, don't get me wrong! But this genre definitely isn't one I'm comfortable with... Still, I'm glad to give it a try On 9/20/2021 at 11:30 PM, DrunkenEngineer said: Nice work! I'll admit I'm one of those "this is a really hard trophy" types for "Becomes the Master", but in my defense this is one of the first games I cleaned up at the end of 2020 when I committed to trophy hunting. I'm sure if I had to tackle it again, fresh, it wouldn't be near as rough. Hey, I'm in no position to claim otherwise! At least not objectively. It was just surprising to me is all. I read so many posts where this trophy was mentioned, I went in expecting to have more trouble with it than I did... Then again, I love speedruns and time attacks, maybe that helped RAD The Pitch In a world ravaged by radiation, you come forward as a volunteer to venture out into the unknown, willingly subjecting yourself to strange mutations, on a quest to unveil the dark secrets of the past… The Best RAD is – if nothing else – a stylish game through and through. Inspired by the neon-synth aesthetics that were popular in the 80s, RADs world is vibrant and colorful, filled with bizarre creatures and strange monsters. And together with the contrasting colors, much of the fauna and flora glow, which is fitting for one of the main topics of this game: RADiation. Accompanying these visuals is a fitting soundtrack filled with synthetic pieces that I didn’t particularly care for, but that I can appreciate as it fits the overall theme that RAD is going for. In addition, also the narrations are styled through. From the subtle and not so subtle jokes and pointers found in the rare occasions where dialogue happens, to the narrator changing its way of screaming / growling / stating “Pause” whenever you bring up the pause menu, or commenting on you picking up cash by stating “Baby needs a new pair of shoes”, or “Cha-chiiing” or “Legal Tender”… It’s something that – surprisingly – I never got tired of, and was always looking forward to for some reason Now, there is always something that needs to make gameplay varied when talking about a rogue-like/lite. In the case of RAD, Mutations take on that role. There are two types of mutations: Exo-mutations act as your active powers. You mutate by leveling up (by absorbing radiation by killing monsters, for example), at which point you either gain a new mutation (up to a maximum of three), or level up one of your mutations to make it stronger / different. You might grow a Snake-Head with which you can poison your enemies… And when this mutation is leveled up, it can either evolve to a Snake-Bite with a larger range, or to a poison-spit. The second type of mutations are – you guessed it – Endo-Mutations. These are basically passive abilities, such as not taking damage from ground fire or toxic pools, to running faster, to being so bodacious that shopkeepers gift you with health drinks. These mutations keep the game fresh (for a while at least), and are also visually very nicely implemented The Worst The game becomes very repetitive, very quickly. Since you will be playing this game a while (if you want to go for the plat, that is), you will also soon start to notice that the levels, of which there are only six (three worlds with two levels each), are not as varied as they seem initially. The layout is always one of a possible handful of different layouts, sometimes with some lightning- or fire-storm added, or with low visibility… to try to hide that you are running the same (or similar) level than you already did plenty of times before. But eventually you’ll just start recognizing the layout even if the game tries to make you feel like every run is new also from a geographical perspective. Now, World 1 and 2 are at least fun to go through. World 3 is just painful. It consists of floating islands which are connected by “launching-platforms”, but there is no way to tell where you’ll land… One such platform might launch you aaaaaall the way across the level. I disliked that World already on my first run, and it never became any more fun. Furthermore… There are only 8 endings total… And even those are pretty weak, but ok, they are part of the plot. So you are basically done after 8 runs, since there is no other incentive to keep going other than to try to discover every single item, every single mutation, fight every single boss… Which is exactly what you need to do for the plat. And let me tell you, it is a fucking pain. Some items are tied to specific mutations, so you need to get lucky enough to get the correct mutation and then hope that the item you need drops (or do Devolution runs with the correct mutation, which is what I did)… A rogue-like that is lacking in replayability... you don't see that very often! One further such aspect if the lack of boss variety. You will be fighting a random boss on 1-2 and 2-2, with the boss on 3-2 always being the same final boss. On paper, there are 10 bosses that you can fight… which sounds like quite a few! But… they are just reskins. There are four unique bosses… that’s it. And they are all pushovers, too Which brings me to my last point. RAD is a very, very easy for a rogue-lite. And this actually hurts the game. It really is difficult to die unless you are actively trying to. Enemies are locked into an attack animation for an eternity, so you can just roll out of the way and punish. And with the exception of World 3, you will never be fighting more than 3-4 enemies at the same time. With the excess of healing items available, you should never have any issues… Which in turns makes the game pretty tame. The Challenge As mentioned above, RAD is not a game that will offer any sort of challenge. Even when playing with Quirks active (game modifiers, some pretty fun, some rather obsolete) you should have no trouble finishing a run. Instead, RAD resorts to being grindy. And I mean REAL grindy. It is no exaggeration that you can spend upwards of 100 hours to earn the plat, and when I started getting bored after 10-15, I started to worry… ?I couldn’t see myself playing this game for so long. So I started experimenting...and luckily, my experiments were successful I figured out how to force the game to cycle through possible tasks (which, again, are given at random by NPCs out in the word.. which also appear at random), which cut down the platinum time from 100 to 50 hours. I was SO GLAD when I found out that it worked… Believe me Edited September 22, 2021 by Arcesius 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Dubz Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Excellent review my man, I say you hit the nail right on the head with that one! A game that starts off fun and intriguing, but soon enough starts to overstay its welcome ? I don't know if future players will realize how much they need to thank you, for figuring out the method to cut down on what could easily be another 40-50 hours of grinding towards the end! I was very happy to add that to the guide, bravo my dude ??? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 Firstly, really nice write up for RAD dude! Even with all of the negatives you've stated, I still may give it a shot in the future - now that you have greatly reduced the amount of time it will take to grind out the completion. I don't think I'd even consider it, if it was still in the region of 100hrs (with only the first 10-15 being fun ?) - amazing work! 18 hours ago, Arcesius said: Just so you have an idea about my expertise in FPS-territory.. I needed to look up what the fuck that means So sorry hahahaha. That did make me chuckle though! ?? 18 hours ago, Arcesius said: Is it weird that I enjoyed doing the Gauntlet more than I'm enjoying playing through the campaign? I'm having fun, don't get me wrong! But this genre definitely isn't one I'm comfortable with... Still, I'm glad to give it a try I don't really want to answer this question until you've wrapped it up - and posted your thoughts. As someone who has definitely played too many FPS games, I'm much more interested in hearing your take on the game, so I'm very conscious to keep my mouth shut on it, for the time being. I will say that the Gauntlet was the biggest draw for me as I love time trials. I'd say they're my favourite type of trophy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrooba Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 (edited) On 22/09/2021 at 11:08 PM, Arcesius said: Is it weird that I enjoyed doing the Gauntlet more than I'm enjoying playing through the campaign? I'm having fun, don't get me wrong! But this genre definitely isn't one I'm comfortable with... Still, I'm glad to give it a try I also find it to be one of the best parts of the game as well. In the midst of the DDoS attacks, I'd sometimes boot up the game just to do the Gauntlet! ? I've probably already mentioned this a trillion times now, but it really does remind me of the Half-Life games where you could manipulate the physics to pull off crazy stunts; it's that, but personified in one intentional arena, I love it. It's also the best showcase for the gameplay as well, apart from the titans of course. Also, well done with Rad! It's good to see you've alleviated the grind! Those things can take ages, and I can empathize having done some arduous grinds in the past too, well done! ? On 23/09/2021 at 6:01 PM, KindaSabbath said: As someone who has definitely played too many FPS games, Seeing as you have a liking towards FPS games, I gotta ask; do you reckon you'll do MW1 and 2 remastered? They don't have any online trophies, just the campaigns. I'm not proud to say this, but the missions Takedown and The Hornet's Nest on veteran difficulty were absolutely BRUTAL to me... ? I swear, the enemies have ultra instinct on veteran!!!!!!! You take one step forward and everybody within the entire solar system has their sights aimed at you with robotic precision, or at least that's what it felt like! I've yet to play MW1 but I'm eager to see how the Mile High Club will be... Edited September 25, 2021 by Shrooba 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 23 hours ago, Shrooba said: Seeing as you have a liking towards FPS games, I gotta ask; do you reckon you'll do MW1 and 2 remastered? They don't have any online trophies, just the campaigns. I'm not proud to say this, but the missions Takedown and The Hornet's Nest on veteran difficulty were absolutely BRUTAL to me... I swear, the enemies have ultra instinct on veteran!!!!!!! You take one step forward and everybody within the entire solar system has their sights aimed at you with robotic precision, or at least that's what it felt like! I've yet to play MW1 but I'm eager to see how the Mile High Club will be... I'll definitely get around to them at some point. Quite fancy the time trials in each game and Mile High Club on veteran. I'd like to complete most of the "difficult" shooters, that could be a cool little side project. Problem is, I don't think there is that many of them, is there? Atleast not that I'm aware of. Feel free to @ me with a response in my checklist, don't want to waffle on about myself too much in Arcs house ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 2 hours ago, KindaSabbath said: I'd like to complete most of the "difficult" shooters, that could be a cool little side project. Problem is, I don't think there is that many of them, is there? Atleast not that I'm aware of. Could I perhaps interest you in Black Ops 4 my dear sir? I’m still looking for someone to play and complete the Blackout trophies with. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arcesius Posted September 28, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 28, 2021 (edited) Alright guys.. don't get mad with me. It's time for my Titanfall 2 review, and I tried to keep everything as fair as possible ? Spoilers: I do believe that TF2 is a good game. It's just a game in a specific genre that doesn't appeal to me. I hope to clarify why in the review. Titanfall 2 The Pitch Promoted from a regular rifleman to a pilot due to the harshness of war, only the strong bond with your new Titan can help you finish the inherited mission of foiling interstellar domination. The Best From the first slight inclination of the analogue stick, it is very clear that Titanfall 2 has a tight, responsive and satisfying movement. This is probably Titanfall's strongest gameplay aspect, with levels designed specifically to make you feel like a badass. This could be literally a parcour-only game and I would have enjoyed it probably even more ? The Gauntlet is the perfect introduction to the game's mechanics, and breezing through any level chaining wallrides, double jumps and slides really feels amazing. The addition of Titans to break up the regular pistol-gameplay also adds a ton of variety during combat, especially with all the different Titan-loadouts that can be found throughout the game. Some of them were pretty fun to use, especially the Ronin one (see.. I just like melee much more ) I was also surprised by the introduction of the "time manipulating" device.. I wasn't expecting it, but thought it was pretty well implemented. Since it was only introduced for a single chapter, it didn't get boring, either. Overall, Titanfall 2 was a rather short (sub 10 hours) experience that, despite what I'm about to talk about, was probably the perfect FPS to get my toes wet with. Why I don't play these games As you probably noticed, I renamed this section. I feel like it would be unfair to the game to write all I'm about to write under "The Worst", since all the points I'm about to make are highly subjective and do not have anything to say about the quality of the game. But playing Titanfall 2, I realized why I never really got into this genre, and why it's still one that's just not for me. First things first… It has absolutely nothing to do with the first person view. Hell, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is first person, and it's probably my favorite game of all time (or very high up there). I also lied previously when I said I haven't played an FPS since Halo.. I played Bioshock Remastered, I just didn't remember ?! Though that game was from the perspective of the plot brilliant, but dated in terms of gameplay… It didn't have a too lasting impact on me, so that's probably why I forgot about it. However, while I can see myself playing Bioshock 2 / Infinite… I don't think I'd pick up Titanfall 3 or anything similar. So, why is that? Where is the main difference between these two games? I think it's mostly (but not only) due to the setting. You see, this over-militarized, rank-based hierarchical war games do not appeal to me in the slightest as a setting. I understand and I see that there is a fleshed-out single player campaign telling a coherent story in Titanfall 2. It's not one of the half-assed attempts at adding some sort of plot on top of brainless shooting. And I appreciate that. But it's just not for me. And that has consequences when it comes to enjoyment. Now, is it me, or is there always something called the "Ark" in a game like this? More generally… As soon as every sentence is filled with stuff such as "Captain", "IMC", "Ark", "Frontier", etc… plus all the military jargon, I stop listening. This in turns also means that I cannot really get invested in the game. You might be saying "dude, it's a shooter… forget getting invested and just shoot stuff". But that's just not me… --- Spoiler-warning! --- For Titanfall 2 specifically this also means that moments that are supposed to make the player feel... something… you know, BT being destroyed after spending much of the game bonding with it, just to be replaced later by a new machine with the same "memories", just wasn't impactful in the slightest. I didn't care for BT. I didn't care for anyone I met. Hell, I didn't care for Jack Cooper, and I WAS Jack Cooper. I didn't care for my home planet, or the universe... I was just following along, shooting supposedly "bad guys" but with no real motivation to do so (as a player, not as an in-game character). In terms of gameplay, there are also several aspects that don't appeal to me. Not having any interest for the military setting also means that I have no idea what the weapons are all about. They are pretty much interchangeable to me. Give me Dual-Swords vs. Spears vs. Tonfas and I'm all in and can tell you why I prefer which one over the others and get all excited. Give me "R-201" vs. "V-47" vs. "Rampage LMG" and I am already bored reading the names. ? It's also not really fun to me to be thrown into an area and have enemies coming from all possible places. Or wait, it can be fun when done correctly. But with the lack of proper peripheral sound in this game, and enemies shooting from hidden, really far away places made certain sections a chore to get through. I believe that some people (many people in fact) enjoy those types of scenarios… It's just not for me. So yeah. Give me an FPS game with the movement of Titanfall 2 and the setting and topics touched upon by Bioshock and I'll play that without hesitation. Give me another military shooter and I'll tell you to go play it yourself ? The Challenge There are two things in this game that can – depending on what you are used to playing – give you some trouble. The most obvious one is the Gauntlet. Also responsible for the "…Becomes the Master" trophy, which sparked countless Shareplay-Sessions, forum threads and youtube comments asking for tips and help. I thought about playing through the game before tackling this challenge to get used to the mechanics, but after giving it a go right at the start of the game, I noticed that it was within my reach if I just kept at it. And indeed, this turned out to be way less trouble than I had anticipated. Still, this challenge was truly fun to go for. I'll accept a time-attack type of challenge any day! The second challenge is playing through the campaign on Master (the highest) difficulty. And while veterans might find such a playthrough to be a walk in the park, I honestly had quite some trouble with certain scenarios. The only way to really get through some sections was to abuse the invisibility cloak and just run past the hundredths of enemies hiding, waiting to kill me in 2-3 shots. However, there are also some sections where this is not an option, such as sections where you are fighting within your Titan against hordes of enemy Titans and foot soldiers out in the open, or the boss fight against Viper or Slone with the other support Titans scorching your ass. Despite having to play through the campaign on Master, I'd say that Titanfall 2 is probably a rather easy game for veterans of the genre, and even only moderately challenging for noobs such as myself. Alright guys, I hope you understand where I'm coming from.... I fired up Sine Mora EX over the weekend (one of the games I was afraid to start.. remember?) and after finishing the Prologue, I decided to play Trials of the Blood Dragon instead. I had been warned multiple times, and the game is indeed as bad as I was told. I have to get A+ on one more level and I'll be done with this garbage. Truth be told though... I can already say that it will NOT dethrone Injustice: Gods Among Us as the worst game I've played... Sure, it's gimmicky AF and has little to do with Trials... But Injustice had 240 gimmicky missions that had little to do with a fighting game...Trials of the Blood Dragon only has 27 ? Edited September 28, 2021 by Arcesius 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 (edited) Man I've been holding this in for aaaaggeesss. Titanfall 2 - overrated as fuck. Great gameplay, I will say that though... all I need really... Remember I said the story in Vanquish was utter nonsense? Bear in mind it's still one of my favourite shooters - Well it's a better story than Titanfall 2, because you can skip it. To be fair though, that's definitely a me problem. I play games in this genre mainly for the gameplay and rarely expect anything special in the story department. I do explain my gripes with Titanfall 2 in my write-up. There are many areas that I feel Titanfall 2 excells, however, definitely not the story - which is where I had heard this one was strong. Great write-up though, as always! I wanted to message you and say use the Ronin loadout ? but then I thought to myself "He's definitely already using the Ronin loadout" Apologies - I hit submit reply on this one before I had finished typing. Which probably made my comment come across extremely harsh ?... it takes me an age to edit my posts. Edited September 28, 2021 by KindaSabbath 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Together_Comic Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Arcesius said: Alright guys.. don't get mad with me. It's time for my Titanfall 2 review, and I tried to keep everything as fair as possible Spoilers: I do believe that TF2 is a good game. It's just a game in a specific genre that doesn't appeal to me. I hope to clarify why in the review. You basically echoed my feelings about the game throughout your review. Jack is fun to move, the modules are kinda interesting, the plot isn't terrible and obviously some effort was put in, but its just not my genre. 2 hours ago, Arcesius said: I don't think I'd pick up Titanfall 3 or anything similar. Maybe if it was free on PS+ like Titanfall 2? Otherwise I'd probably agree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
det_gittes Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 3 hours ago, Arcesius said: I decided to play Trials of the Blood Dragon instead. I had been warned multiple times, and the game is indeed as bad as I was told. I have to get A+ on one more level and I'll be done with this garbage. I'm still curious to read your review, even though "garbage" quite explicitly hints at the final verdict ? At least it didn't take you much time! I actually caved in and also got it recently, but time will tell whether I will actually play it or not 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iker_01 Posted September 28, 2021 Share Posted September 28, 2021 4 hours ago, Arcesius said: So yeah. Give me an FPS game with the movement of Titanfall 2 and the setting and topics touched upon by Bioshock and I'll play that without hesitation. Give me another military shooter and I'll tell you to go play it yourself While I do play military shooters every now and then, what you wrote pretty much echoes what I feel about them. I really liked Titanfall 2 despite its plot, so I'd probably play a Titanfall 3. Don't think I'll add another CoD or Battlefield to my list, though. Btw, I really enjoy your thread (and threads such as this). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 17 hours ago, Arcesius said: Titanfall 2 The Pitch Promoted from a regular rifleman to a pilot due to the harshness of war, only the strong bond with your new Titan can help you finish the inherited mission of foiling interstellar domination. I reckon that was a really good assessment of Titanfall 2 from a non-FPS fan, mate. I haven't played it yet - had it sitting in my download list since it's PS+ offering, and sometimes think about it, but haven't got around to it yet, and to be honest, a lot of the reason for that are a lot of the points you bring up about the genre in general. I think I come from a slightly different angle, in the sense that I was once very much an FPS shooter guy (the number of hours I sunk into the Timesplitters franchise on PS2 would likely give my Hitman hours a run for their money!) but I only ever had one foot in the 'military fetish' FPS genre. Ive done a CoD and a Battlefield here and there, and enjoyed them, but the same issue you outline above - the lack of personal knowledge / fetishisation of gun types and military weaponry means I have a little more trouble with caring about that side of the genre. Really, I need the strong narrative hook that an FPS Immersive Sim like Bioshock or Prey offers, or a more narrative-focussed FPS game like The Darkness or Syndicate where weaponry etc. is sci-fi and in-fiction to keep me on the edge of my seat. Having said that - the fact that this was neither a blubbering, sycophantic love-fest of a write up, nor a condemnation and literary shitting-upon has actually made me potentially more interested in giving Titanfall 2 a go... so... thanks? ? But seriously - great write up as usual, and congrats on what I hear is a pretty difficult platinum - (even if you rate it on the easy side) ?? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 20 hours ago, KindaSabbath said: Man I've been holding this in for aaaaggeesss. Titanfall 2 - overrated as fuck. Great gameplay, I will say that though... all I need really... Remember I said the story in Vanquish was utter nonsense? Bear in mind it's still one of my favourite shooters - Well it's a better story than Titanfall 2, because you can skip it. To be fair though, that's definitely a me problem. I play games in this genre mainly for the gameplay and rarely expect anything special in the story department. I do explain my gripes with Titanfall 2 in my write-up. There are many areas that I feel Titanfall 2 excells, however, definitely not the story - which is where I had heard this one was strong. Right! Well I can't really argue with the overrated argument, since I felt similarly. But I didn't want to use those words since they'd have come from someone that usually doesn't play these games, so I felt like it would be unfair. I could imagine that many think highly of TF2's story because, compared to what usually games in this genre have to offer in terms of plot is.. rather weak or even absent (excluding the Wolf games, as you guys have told me). I have no idea though, you are the better judge here But yeah, I would much rather play Mirror's Edge (which has similar kind of movement) and hot have to hear about all the intergalactic problems ? 20 hours ago, KindaSabbath said: I wanted to message you and say use the Ronin loadout but then I thought to myself "He's definitely already using the Ronin loadout" Hahaha, you know it! After I got this one, I only swaped to the others for a quick core-kill for the trophies... The Ronin was immediately my favorite loadout ? 20 hours ago, Together_Comic said: You basically echoed my feelings about the game throughout your review. Jack is fun to move, the modules are kinda interesting, the plot isn't terrible and obviously some effort was put in, but its just not my genre. Maybe if it was free on PS+ like Titanfall 2? Otherwise I'd probably agree. Maybe. That's also why I played TF2 as my choice for an FPS, I would probably not have bought it otherwise. But yeah I agree, everything is kinda good, but nothing is outstanding (other than the movement). It's not the game's fault though, I wanted to be clear about that. It's personal (lack of) interest... 19 hours ago, det_gittes said: I'm still curious to read your review, even though "garbage" quite explicitly hints at the final verdict At least it didn't take you much time! I actually caved in and also got it recently, but time will tell whether I will actually play it or not Haha I will try to write a proper review instead of simply posting this: ? Will hopefully get to it in the next couple of days I wouldn't hurry though.. Or, you know.. you could get it over with and then get back to the actually amazing Trials games to clean the sour taste left in your mouth ? 17 hours ago, Iker_01 said: While I do play military shooters every now and then, what you wrote pretty much echoes what I feel about them. I really liked Titanfall 2 despite its plot, so I'd probably play a Titanfall 3. Don't think I'll add another CoD or Battlefield to my list, though. Btw, I really enjoy your thread (and threads such as this). Yeah I can imagine that for someone that enjoys the genre for its gameplay, TF2 must feel amazing to play thanks to the really well implemented movement. Hell, I'd be lying if I wrote that I didn't enjoy the game! That's not at all the case. But yeah, usually with games that have some sort of plot, I have some kind of expectations... That were not met here Also, thanks for the nice words! Appreciate it 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Ive done a CoD and a Battlefield here and there, and enjoyed them, but the same issue you outline above - the lack of personal knowledge / fetishisation of gun types and military weaponry means I have a little more trouble with caring about that side of the genre. Really, I need the strong narrative hook that an FPS Immersive Sim like Bioshock or Prey offers, or a more narrative-focussed FPS game like The Darkness or Syndicate where weaponry etc. is sci-fi and in-fiction to keep me on the edge of my seat. Exactly how I feel as well. And it's weird to me as well, since most of the games I play have absolutely no need for a plot and are 100% gameplay based... BUT, when a game comes along that actually tries to tell a story.. I kinda start caring about that aspect of the game as well. Only that in this case I couldn't really care, and this led to an overall worse experience. I mentioned Mirror's Edge above... The plot in that game is a bit shit as well. But at least the story-bits don't include terminology and topics that are as alien to me as what Titanfall 2 deals with. That in turns resulted in me not wanting to skip the story necessarily, since I still enjoyed following along. In TF2, I started to get bored with every cutscene / moment of story progression. I'm not sure if that makes sense ? but it really is how I feel about all this. 4 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Having said that - the fact that this was neither a blubbering, sycophantic love-fest of a write up, nor a condemnation and literary shitting-upon has actually made me potentially more interested in giving Titanfall 2 a go... so... thanks? But seriously - great write up as usual, and congrats on what I hear is a pretty difficult platinum - (even if you rate it on the easy side) Haha, I'm sure you'll enjoy it At least your comment also shows that I managed to bring my point and feelings accross... I think TF2 is a good game, but I'm indifferent about it ? As for the difficulty... any post you read about it will state that the plat is only difficult because of the Gauntlet. Even the guide-writer here on PSNP stated that if he were to rate the difficulty based on that trophy alone, he would put the game at a8-9/10, which I find is ridiculous. So when you hear that this is a pretty difficult platinum... this mostly refers to the Gauntlet... And that was not too much trouble, surprisingly ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrooba Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Awesome review on TF2! (Not Team Fortress 2, the other TF2 ?) I can see why you're not a fan of the story, it does indeed follow the same military tropes as other FPS games, and I definitely get the personal bond with BT being lost due to the reasons you mentioned. Crazy that the game came out nearly a half-decade ago at this point! All that matters is that you like the Gauntlet; you're a man of culture if you can appreciate that. ? I actually would love some kind of platformer spinoff where they use these controls; the double jumping, the wall running, that'd be so awesome. Good luck with Sine Mora EX, by the way! It's awesome to see you start that, best of luck man! It'll also be a nice change of pace after Trials of the Blood Dragon, which seems to be the sore thumb of the series! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 19 hours ago, Arcesius said: Right! Well I can't really argue with the overrated argument, since I felt similarly. But I didn't want to use those words since they'd have come from someone that usually doesn't play these games, so I felt like it would be unfair. I probably should of specified - Overrated is purely how I feel about the story - In my opinion, it's generic and bland. It's hard to not feel like the overall challenge of the game is overrated, too, which is difficult to talk about because difficulty is so subjective and I wouldn't want to disrespect those that had trouble with the Gauntlet or the AI on Master. Maybe a better word for TF2 would just be underwhelming. That said - you handled it excellently in your review and were able to say all of the above very tastefully. 19 hours ago, Arcesius said: I could imagine that many think highly of TF2's story because, compared to what usually games in this genre have to offer in terms of plot is.. rather weak or even absent (excluding the Wolf games, as you guys have told me). I have no idea though, you are the better judge here In my opinion - Wolfenstein is the gold standard when it comes to single player shooters. Which shows it can be done! But then again, there's no focus on multiplayer at all in these games, unlike 90% of games in the genre. 19 hours ago, Arcesius said: Hahaha, you know it! After I got this one, I only swaped to the others for a quick core-kill for the trophies... The Ronin was immediately my favorite loadout Would love to see some gameplay of you going balls to the wall in the Ronin loadout! 19 hours ago, Arcesius said: I would much rather play Mirror's Edge (which has similar kind of movement) and hot have to hear about all the intergalactic problems I haven't played a Mirrors Edge game but honestly, this is the big issue for me with TF2 - you have to endure "all the intergalactic problems" - which if you don't care for them (which I did not), it just breaks any hope of immersion. Shame because the gameplay is a whole lot of fun! 20 hours ago, Arcesius said: Even the guide-writer here on PSNP stated that if he were to rate the difficulty based on that trophy alone, he would put the game at a8-9/10 That is ridiculous. Even Vanquish is not a 9/10... Tactical Challenge 6 requires a whole lot more than the 33 seconds of moving quick with decent aim, than that of the Gauntlet. Subjective I guess, but still, it is no where near a 9. 20 hours ago, Arcesius said: Haha I will try to write a proper review instead of simply posting this: ??? - I'm so looking forward to this one! Hope you're having a blast with Sine Mora dude! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancashireLad87 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 With regards to Titanfall 2, I think it's a decent challenge to beat the required time. Not sure how long you spent on the become the master trophy but it took me just shy off 2 hours. I almost had it after 1.5 hours but I missed a target :(. It's definitely not the 'hardest' game in it's genre but to say it's easy I feel is misleading. I know some good trophy hunters on my friend's list who struggled with this challenge who aren't bad at the genre by any means. Congrats with the platinum trophy though, I enjoyed my time with Titanfall 2 but I'm the opposite to you, I'd rather play T2 than Mirror's Edge. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenEngineer Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 I have to agree with you and Sabbath about the overrated nature of Titanfall 2. The main draw is that it’s a AAA produced linear shooter with no microtransactions or other CODness that you just don’t see. So of course it sold like shit and we’ll never get a sequel. You don’t sound opposed to the mechanics of the genre, but rather the tone and setting of this story. Have you considered the Metro 2033 series of games? Linear, narrative driven FPS games with no “hoo-rah” military setting. Just the end of the world 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 46 minutes ago, DrunkenEngineer said: You don’t sound opposed to the mechanics of the genre, but rather the tone and setting of this story. Have you considered the Metro 2033 series of games? Linear, narrative driven FPS games with no “hoo-rah” military setting. Just the end of the world I second this one - great shout man! ... Whilst they're a little lacking in their FPS mechanics (they might seem a bit unrefined and clunky compared to Titanfall,) they more than make up for that with the atmosphere and all round tone and aesthetic, so as DrunkenEngineer said these might appeal to you too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Dubz Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Agreed with you Arc that the military-type aspects a lot of FPS use are a bit of a turnoff for me too! Hence why I haven't played COD as much in recent times. Have you ever looked into the Fallout series? They had a few good ones and it's more of an interesting post-apocalyptic setting. More of a huge open world theme tho, so not sure how that would sit with you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 11 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: Have you considered the Metro 2033 series of games? Linear, narrative driven FPS games with no “hoo-rah” military setting. Just the end of the world 10 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I second this one - great shout man! ... Whilst they're a little lacking in their FPS mechanics (they might seem a bit unrefined and clunky compared to Titanfall,) they more than make up for that with the atmosphere and all round tone and aesthetic, so as DrunkenEngineer said these might appeal to you too. Thirded! I love the Metro games - every one has a great story, oodles of atmosphere, and more interconnected survival systems than you can shake a stick at! Also, genuinely one of the few series I can think of, that gets better with every subsequent game, yet never loses the core tenants that made the first one great! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arcesius Posted October 1, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) 23 hours ago, KindaSabbath said: I haven't played a Mirrors Edge game but honestly, this is the big issue for me with TF2 - you have to endure "all the intergalactic problems" - which if you don't care for them (which I did not), it just breaks any hope of immersion. Shame because the gameplay is a whole lot of fun! Oh man, I played the shit out of the first Mirror's Edge on the X360... Such a fantastic game. It has a little bit of gunplay here and there, but the main focus is moving like a parcour-badass, be it jumping from highscraper to highscraper, or finding a fast route through confined, narrow spaces... It's a great concept, and very well implemented. The best thing? It's full of time attacks of course... something that I know we both enjoy ? Unfortunately it's only available on PS3, otherwise it'd be on my profile for sure. but I might pick up the sequel at some point Cannot comment on the quality of that one though, haven't played it so hopefully it doesn't disappoint if I end up picking it up! 18 hours ago, LancashireLad87 said: With regards to Titanfall 2, I think it's a decent challenge to beat the required time. Not sure how long you spent on the become the master trophy but it took me just shy off 2 hours. I almost had it after 1.5 hours but I missed a target :(. It's definitely not the 'hardest' game in it's genre but to say it's easy I feel is misleading. I know some good trophy hunters on my friend's list who struggled with this challenge who aren't bad at the genre by any means. I have to agree with @KindaSabbath here... I wouldn't want to call this game "easy" and state this as an objective opinion, that would be disrespectuf to others. Difficulty is very subjective, and in this case there are two factors I can think of that made this game seem easy for me personally: I adore time-attack type of challenges. I'm used to grinding for better times in games, looking for ways to improve my time by small amounts from run to run, and executing a newly found time-saver. So once I got used to the movement of TF2, it didn't take too long to get the time down for the Gauntlet. The biggest issue for me was that the first grenade sometimes missed one of the soldiers for some reason. I'm used to playing games that throw multiple challenges at you that potentially require many hours of practice each. In comparison, TF2 has only one single challenge that only took me an hour to succeed at. So yeah, my rating definitely is very subjective. If I were to write a guide for this game and had to give it a "difficulty rating" that applies to the majority of people, I'd probably rate it a 5-6/10. But to me personally this felt easier, even though I never play these types of games, and in this checklist I obviously rate the games subjectively. 11 hours ago, DrunkenEngineer said: You don’t sound opposed to the mechanics of the genre, but rather the tone and setting of this story. Have you considered the Metro 2033 series of games? Linear, narrative driven FPS games with no “hoo-rah” military setting. Just the end of the world 11 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I second this one - great shout man! ... Whilst they're a little lacking in their FPS mechanics (they might seem a bit unrefined and clunky compared to Titanfall,) they more than make up for that with the atmosphere and all round tone and aesthetic, so as DrunkenEngineer said these might appeal to you too. 11 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Thirded! I love the Metro games - every one has a great story, oodles of atmosphere, and more interconnected survival systems than you can shake a stick at! Also, genuinely one of the few series I can think of, that gets better with every subsequent game, yet never loses the core tenants that made the first one great! 6 hours ago, Joe Dubz said: Have you ever looked into the Fallout series? They had a few good ones and it's more of an interesting post-apocalyptic setting. More of a huge open world theme tho, so not sure how that would sit with you! For sure, I didn't dislike the mechanics at all! Hell, I can't even say that I dislike playing with ranged weapons in general. For example, Remnant: From the Ashes... I loved that game (it's a TPS but still). The difference is that its setting, a weird, fantasy-like setting, is much more appealing to me. Even the weapons felt much more varied. Instead of having 300 LMGs to choose from, you have unique weapons that also feel unique to use. And you just choose a weapon you like and stick to it. So thanks for the suggestions! I know fairly little about both series, but I'll definitely do some research On 9/29/2021 at 3:00 PM, Shrooba said: Good luck with Sine Mora EX, by the way! It's awesome to see you start that, best of luck man! It'll also be a nice change of pace after Trials of the Blood Dragon, which seems to be the sore thumb of the series! Quote - I'm so looking forward to this one! Hope you're having a blast with Sine Mora dude! Thanks guys! I've played for about 2.5 hours so far and... this game will require quite a bit of practice ? I knew why I was scared of this game, and I think it was justified! That being said... it seems to be a great game and I'm enjoying my time with it so far. Then again, after TofBD the bar is pretty low ? Edited October 1, 2021 by Arcesius 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KindaSabbath Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, Arcesius said: Oh man, I played the shit out of the first Mirror's Edge on the X360... Such a fantastic game. It has a little bit of gunplay here and there, but the main focus is moving like a parcour-badass, be it jumping from highscraper to highscraper, or finding a fast route through confined, narrow spaces... It's a great concept, and very well implemented. The best thing? It's full of time attacks of course... something that I know we both enjoy Unfortunately it's only available on PS3, otherwise it'd be on my profile for sure. but I might pick up the sequel at some point Cannot comment on the quality of that one though, haven't played it so hopefully it doesn't disappoint if I end up picking it up! Ahh, shame there's no PS4 remaster! There's certainly enough games that have one... I will check out the sequel! Sounds awesome! As for Sine Mora, glad you're enjoying it after that abomination of a game that you've just finished ? Looking forward to updates regarding this one, though. I have my eye on it as a potential for Tier 2 in UR Clean Up. I don't think I've played anything like it in some time after looking at the gameplay. I've been feeling something fast paced with lots of carnage ? I'm sure like many games before it - you will body this one in no time! Edited October 1, 2021 by KindaSabbath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arcesius Posted October 7, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 7, 2021 I was dreading this review... Then again, @rjkclarke mentioned recently how checklists have only added to his backlog... Well, today I think your backlog / wallet is safe! ? Buckle up guys... This ain't gonna be pretty! Trials of the Blood Dragon The Pitch I can't pitch this game. If you want to experience first-hand how a crossover between two highly rated franchises can result in a complete and absolute failure, then play Trials of the Blood Dragon. Otherwise, stay the fuck away from this game. The Best I would love to start this review by stating that the best part about Trials of the Blood Dragon (henceforth TotBD) is that it's more Trials. Unfortunately, and as we shall see in the next section, that's not really the case. Instead, if there is one positive to mention about this game, it's that it actually has a great premise, and lots of good ideas can be found while progressing through the game. The implementation of those ideas is another story though. You see, TotBD is, as the name suggests, a crossover between my all-time favorite Trials franchise, and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the stand-alone expansion to Far Cry 3 of which I know absolutely nothing about. However, while TotBD picks up the plot where Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon leaves it, knowing anything about the story is irrelevant to the point I want to make. The Trials franchise is known for the crisp, responsive, satisfying, skill- and physics-based movement that WANTS to be mastered. That's what these games are all about. Improving little by little with tons of practice so that you can eventually overcome challenges with relative ease that seemed impossible at first. Now imagine the same studio creating a game that combines that aspect of Trials and, in addition, throws an over-the-top plot into the mix (Vietnam War 4 is ongoing, fight the communists, etc, etc…) and adds new gameplay sections on-foot, using grappling hooks, a bit of gunplay here and there… This actually sounds amazing on paper, doesn't it? Especially if you can expect the same level of satisfaction from the new gameplay mechanics as well. Keep the Trials formula intact and what makes those games amazing, and instead of having gimmicky challenges and squirrel collectibles… mix up the gameplay with interesting, story driven sections with different, but still GREAT gameplay. In addition, the game retains the 80s Neon Style from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, which is awesome! Now, on top of that... Imagine a game full of time-attacks… ? In TotBD, the main goal is to beat each of the 27 stages as quickly as possible. Since each fault results in a penalty, you don't only need to be quick, you need to be flawless. Trials is a game made for this type of challenge, so this sounds fitting, and overall like a great time! And what I just described in this last paragraph, the idea on paper, the "draft" that was probably in everybody's head over at RedLynx, the time-attacks... those things are the best and only good things about TotBD. And with that… let's get to the meat of this review ? The Worst I believe that the first thing to get right when planning a crossover such as this one, is to find a good balance between the two games... A balance so that neither of the involved franchises takes too much space. This in turns requires that the game also feels like you are playing something you are familiar with, if you play the spin-off after having played the games it's trying to combine. And this is what TotBD absolutely doesn't do well, and why it fails miserably as an experiment. Let me start with the side of the coin I'm less familiar with. From what I've read, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a game filled with jokes, a game that doesn't take itself too seriously, but one that scored highly because, among other things, it tells a story worth listening to despite the lack of seriousness. Not so in TotBD. For starters, the two characters you play as are freaking irritating. And the plot, while somewhat there and somewhat coherent, seems to only be an excuse to constantly throw out 80s references. There is no soul to the story, nothing likeable about the characters, and nothing is funny enough to even bring out a smile. Instead, most moments are just cringy AF and make your eyes go full rotation in their sockets ? But hey, I haven't played Far Cry, so what do I know, right? Well, I have played the other Trials games available on playstation… And while maybe… MAYBE the game manages to encapsulate the "Blood Dragon" feeling (I wouldn't know), it 100% fails miserably to be ANYTHING like Trials. For starters, you are stuck with two bikes and two bikes only, with each of the two playable characters (with cannot be chosen freely... each track features one or both characters) having one fixed bike they can use. They… are both shit. Slayter is stuck with a bike that resembles the Baggie / Squid from Fusion and Rising, respectively, i.e. the beginner bike that you will never use in those games once you've unlocked ANY other option. Roxanne, on the other hand, rides a BMX bike that doesn't feel anything like the BMX options from the other two games. Even if the main focus of the game were to ride a bike, the available options are of such poor quality that they rob the game of much needed satisfaction. Hand in hand with the above goes the track design. Since the choice of bikes is limited to two beginner bikes with low mobility, the tracks can never become too difficult. In fact, no single bike track in the game surpasses "Medium" difficulty in Trials-nomenclature. That's not to say that the tracks are not imaginative... On the contrary! There are some tracks that are actually rather promising! But then are butchered by introducing other gameplay mechanics that I will get to momentarily. Riding those tracks really makes you wonder how the released game is in the state it is, and what it could have been... ? In any case, the meat of any Trials game are the challenging tracks. The easy and medium tracks are a necessity for beginners, for learning the basics of the game and improving little by little. But the goal is always to master the tracks labeled Hard or Extreme (or Ninja). The exclusion of such tracks from TotBD is baffling, to say the least. With nothing to master, and since the story clearly is not the main focus of the game, the motivation for the existence of this garbage is further questioned. Oh wait! There actually are 6 Extreme tracks, which are unlocked after finding 5 keys scattered throughout the levels! Spoilers: They are not what you think they are… Yep, that's right… And the above screenshots bring me to the next issue with this game: The gimmicky gameplay elements and mechanics that "break up" the riding sections or, sometimes, even make up entire levels. Besides riding on your beginners bike, you'll also be doing the following things: Grappling Hook: Many levels feature "green" surfaces where you can use your grappling hook to swing across a gap. This is not the worst idea, but there are certain levels where this mechanic is grossly overused. The physics while hanging from the rope also feel weird, to say the least. You can literally swing upwards without requiring momentum, which feels odd, especially for a physics-based game. This mechanic is also used in the hardest level to get an A+ rank on due to how inconsistent the swings are. The rope can and will also just detach randomly, resulting in faults that are out of your control. Mine Cart: Luckily you'll only find yourself riding this atrocity of a vehicle in two levels. The first time I encountered one was also the first time I screamed at my TV. Holy shit, riding this heavy ass "vehicle" was such a massive pain in the ass. The level in question also additionally features grappling hooks, and the heavy controls of the cart made the landings very painful and unpredictable at times. I got so upset with this level... Landing perfectly (in my opinion) while leaning back as much as possible just for the cart to say "fuck you" and simply get stuck and fall over. What a piece of trash. Jet Pack: Did you like the Afterburner challenges in Fusion? Well, be prepared to complete entire levels using those mechanics! Only that now, you need to be really, and I mean REALLY fast if you want to make that A+ grade. Platforming: This is probably the worst mechanic of them all. You would think that making somewhat decent platforming controls shouldn't be THAT bad. And sure, proper pure platformers do this beautifully, and it's a science of its own. You have a pre-jump animation into a jump that uses proper acceleration and deceleration to feel "real" or at least satisfying. Depending on what you are trying to do the character / jump can feel more or less floaty, with the height of the apex calculated to feel perfect to the player, and the character eventually lands again with some sort of animation to complete the motion ?In TotBD, there is none of that. The character feels like a stiff but weightless sack of potatoes, and controls just like that. There is no "omph" behind the movement, behind the jump. No sense of "effort", if you know what I mean. The hitboxes of both the player and the platforms are unforgiving, weird and inconsistent, and more often than you'd expect the character will lag behind your button press and simply not jump, or decide that this time around it only wants to jump half the height. It's inconsistent, it's non-intuitive, and I am honestly not exaggerating when I say that I've never played anything that felt worse to control than the platforming sections in this game. And that's very surprising, given that this was developed by a company that knows their shit when it comes to satisfying movement. It's really incomprehensible, and it left me speechless. Ride / Walk & Shoot: As if it wasn't enough, you'll also be shooting either while on foot, or while riding a bike. It's as fun as it sounds. Honestly… After playing this game… The Unicorn-levels in Fusion don't look that bad anymore ? To finish this section off… While I saw the names of my friends riding along with me (which helped in knowing whether I was on-pace for the A+ rank), there are no replays in this game. This might sound like it's not a big deal, but replays are an integral part of the Trials franchise. You learn a lot by watching how other players overcome specific obstacles, or how they save seconds in certain sections. The absence of any sort of replay feature is.. well, I would say surprising, but have you read the above? The Challenge Despite TotBD being the easiest Trials game by far, I can imagine that is anything but easy for someone that comes without prior Trials experience. The game is all about time attacks, and the times that need to be beaten are very strict and unforgiving, no joke. Anyone with Trials experience should be able to beat 90% of the times with little effort, unless they have trouble with the on-foot sections, the jet pack, or uncooperative grappling hook physics. That's not to say that all tracks are a piece of cake. There were a couple of tracks that took a while to nail down. But, as you could guess, they mostly feature sections heavy on the gimmicky shit mentioned above. Especially Track #24, Clubbed to Death, a track which is 80% hanging from your grappling hook, took 2-3 hours to finally get my last A+ rank, which in turn allowed me to immediately delete this garbage from my PS5. However, if you don't know what you are doing with your bike, you are in for a hard time. I seriously can't imagine how frustrating it must be to learn the basics of Trials with this game. And while I don't recommend this game to anyone, I especially advise Trials-newcomers to avoid this one (at least until they have learned the basics of the game). Everything else is on the easy side. Even the extreme levels, for which you only need an A-rating, are much easier to complete than some of the early time attacks. P.S. Let me be honest here. Had I not been warned beforehand, I would probably have been extremely disappointed and, I'm sure, frustrated. However, I knew that this game was going to be shit and, more importantly, nothing like Trials. I think knowing this was very important, or otherwise I would have hated the game even more. This is also the first game I've ever played where I knew that it would be garbage. I usually try to play games I think I will enjoy, but this time around the idea of playing all games available on my system of choice from one of my meanwhile favorite franchises was stronger than the knowledge that I was in for a bad time. I regret nothing! At least it was a short game 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Dubz Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Yikes, sounds like Trials of the Blood Dragon should be avoided like the COVID plague... If I ever decide to jump into this series, I am definitely going to avoid this one! Ah well, now that you conquered that shitty game, you can focus on something actually fun!! Excellent write up man, even if the game was straight garbage ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) So… I know nothing of Trials as a series, but I think I get it… …If I understand correctly, the difference between a regular Trials game, and Trials of the Blood Dragon is about the same as the difference between a delicious Full English Breakfast… and throwing up in England. ? Edited October 7, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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