Arcesius' Pursuit of Completion

[Arcesius]

15 hours ago, HusKy said:

What other local coop games would you recommend from your list?

So far we have played A Way Out, Overcooked 1 and 2 and Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time.

 

 

Oh, Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time was really fun in coop!

 

There are two obvious choices.... Guacamelee 1 and 2...  Those games are really fun, and hard mode is still easy enough to play in coop with someone that is not that much into video games. Those I would really recommend checking out. 

 

And then there are Gauntlet, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and Magicka 2, which I'm currently playing. Those are all diablo-esque dungeons crawlers without RPG elements, making them super easy to pick up. You cannot really level up, only unlock new gear that doesn't impact the gameplay that much. So you are not constantly managing skill points etc... Perfect for local coop fun. 

Of the three, Gauntlet is the grindiest (if you want the plat), and Magicka 2 the hardest (because of the challenges in Bananas difficulty), but probably also the most fun.  

 

We also played Octodad and Child of Light, but I found both games a bit "meh"... And we wanted to play Divinity 2 together but that one is a huge commitment and my gf doesn't know if she can keep interested in that game for 100+ hours so I might play it with Mori (and Naseem) instead ?

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Arcesius

[HusKy]

16 hours ago, Arcesius said:

- snip -

 

This is a solid list, thank you! I won't be buying anything for now but it's good to know about my options.

 

LiaDST was indeed very good. We had the game at our office before I bought PS4 so it immediatelly came to my mind about 6 months later once I bought one.

[Arcesius]

The last couple of days were more successful gaming-wise than I would have thought... Consequently I'm a bit behind with my reviews, since I managed to finish two games! ? Here comes the first one. 

 

 

 Platinum #56 – Magicka 2

 

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 8/10
• 100% Challenge:  4/10

 

Half asymmetric coop action adventure, half comedy show. That's Magicka 2 in a nutshell. A very fun and colorful game that is best played with friends on the same couch or online. Just make sure nobody gets triggered by team-kills… trust me!    

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

In Magicka 2, you and your fellow wizards embark on a journey through the beautiful world of Midgard. And yes, there are no classes to choose from... you are a wizard and that's that.. You can at least choose the color of your (bath)robe... ?

 

You know how sometimes you start a game and feel completely overwhelmed? Magicka 2 is such a game. During the first 10 minutes, you are bombarded with sooo much information! "You have all these 8 elements at your disposal", "you can charge various combinations of elements to create different spells", "Adding Death or Life to your charge allows you to shoot magic beams", "oh yeah, you can also do AoE attacks", "if you combine certain elements, a new element is created", "you also have a melee weapon that you can imbue with magic", "oh, did I forget to mention magic shields?". Seriously, our group was incredibly confused at the beginning… But in our case it didn't matter. We decided to play through the campaign on Normal, the easiest available difficulty, so that we could easily experiment with different element combinations and learn the game without being overrun and immediately killed by enemies. And you should experiment, as different enemies have different weaknesses and resistances, so that your "favorite spell" might not always do the trick!

 

In addition to all those spells and attacks, there are also certain stronger spells, so-called "Magicks", that are unlocked as you progress through the 9 chapters of the main campaign. Those can be mapped to the D-Pad, and have a cooldown after being cast. The most important one gotta be "Revive", which immediately brings a team-mate back to life.

 

And you'll be constantly reviving your friends (at least if your group plays like mine did ?). But not necessarily because of the enemies, but because of the fact that FRIENDLY FIRE IS ALWAYS ON. That's right, in a game where you are using magic beams, fireballs, AoE attacks, etc… your spells damage both enemy and friend. But that might be one of the best and funniest aspects of the game, as team-kills would often be hilarious The game also isn't too punishing and is very generous with checkpoints, so that dying as a group never felt too frustrating. 

But there is a second advantage to playing in a group… There is one special attack that can be taken advantage of when playing with friends. If a Death and a Life (or Fire and Ice) beam meet... they create a singularity that explodes after a couple of seconds, and is the most damage dealing attack in the game.

 

What about character progression? In that regard this is very similar to games like Gauntlet or Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. There is no loot and as you progress through the campaign, you don't get skill points or level up... But you unlock new robes and staves which all come with certain advantages and disadvantages. Thus, you cannot overlevel yourself, you need to get better at the game instead. But that also means that you won't be stopping after each chapter and leveling up your character for half an hour, trying to decide where to invest your skill points... That makes this game super easy to pick up and also play more casually with people that might not be that much into gaming. 

 

Oh yeah, the game cannot be taken too seriously. The language is made up, but references several European languages, such as Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and French, which had us often laughing out loud whenever we would hear "Baguette" in the middle of all that gibberish ? It is really well made. Jokes are everywhere, from NPC conversations to object descriptions, or even in the loading screen.  I think games like Magicka 2, which are developed to just have a good time in a group, don't need to have a super engaging story and endless cutscenes.

 

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Most of Magicka 2 isn't too challenging. There are three difficulties to choose from: Normal, Hard and Bananas ?, and each difficulty alters different parameters, such as your own max HP and that of all enemies, their HP regeneration per second, inflicted damage, etc… For example, on ?, you only have 50% of the HP you have on Normal, while enemies have 150% health, and friendly fire is cranked up to 300%.

 

Luckily, difficulty related trophies stack, so that in principle only one campaign playthrough and completion of two additional game modes is needed:

 

• Campaign: Regular game mode composed of nine chapters and some interesting boss fights.
   
• Trials: One time-limited trial for each boss and five gauntlets, each with 6 waves of enemies.
   
• Challenges: Two time-limited "kill everything" challenges and three gauntlets of 20 waves of enemies.

 

The Campaign, all Trials and 3/5 of the Challenges can easily be done solo, even on ?, and after our initial coop playthrough on Normal, I actually did do them solo. But two of those 20-waves gauntlets are really difficult to do alone. See, those challenges lock certain Magicks for the entirety of the gauntlet. 

 

You usually have a Fairy with you that revives the entire group once, and the Fairy can be summoned back with the Magick "Revive"… This way it is usually easy to survive anything by cheesing the hell out of the Fairy (just revive it whenever you die). But the hardest challenge locks "Revive", and so the only way to beat the challenge is to… not die. But that is easier said than done, especially in later waves where 20 enemies spawn together, some swarming you, some shooting projectiles from afar. ? A second player can help immensely, otherwise I would need to rate this game around a 7/10 in challenge. 

  

Then there are many miscellaneous trophies, acquired for talking with certain NPCs or killing them, hitting a dude in the face with a giant mushroom ?, finding "John Frost" (he is a "member of the evening watch and gets off at 7 PM"… you may guess what that is referencing ) several times during the campaign, etc… But that can all be done on a custom difficulty, i.e., using custom artifacts which get unlocked by completing challenges, trials and the campaign on the various difficulties. After beating the campaign on ? you have access to an artifact that makes the wizard invincible and increases your fire and death damage to 300%, so getting those trophies is a walk in the park. 

 

Otherwise, there is a small grind at the end… dying a bunch of times, killing yourself and your friends a bunch of times, inflicting a certain amount of damage or healing for some amount of HP… but nothing too serious... It was over quickly. 

 

And even here, in this grind, there is a hidden joke… I was trying to get the trophies for "Die 1000 times" and "Kill yourself 1000 times" simultaneously… by killing myself over and over, obviously. The former is called "Trial and Error", and so I was stumped when suddenly, a trophy pops called "Trying to get 'Trial and Error' ?".

 

Turns out, that is the one for killing yourself 1000 times, and those kills don't count towards dying 1000 times.

 

 

Hi – la – rious ?

 

 

 

 

The second game I finished is Downwell. ? I'll try to get that review up soon as well! 

[Arcesius]

 Platinum #57 – Downwell

 

 

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 7/10

• 100% Challenge:  6.5/10

 

Fun, simple, and addictive. Downwell is a game that is really easy to fire up and play when time might be limited, but be prepared to lose any sense of time and miss your next appointment. An arcade-style roguelike with simple visuals and mechanics, and one that polarizes in terms of how much of a challenge it is to conquer.

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

When I first saw Downwell on the PS store (for like 5€...) and watched a bit of gameplay, I wasn't really interested in it. Then I started seeing it on quite a few other user profiles on this page and decided to give it a go as well. Basically, you are a dude chilling on a bench that suddenly decides to jump into the nearby well. The goal of the game is to reach the bottom.

Needs to be said that this game was developed with mobile in mind, but it works very well on consoles. Not only the mechanics are very simple, the visual style is as well, maintaining a retro-style look. Everything is held in a black and white tone, with the very contrasting red being used for gems, the in-game currency, and enemies that cannot be stomped on. With this design choice, it is very easy to read the game and react correctly even to enemies and hazards that you encounter for the first time.

 

The game does not only look very simple, it is very simple, and is essentially played with three buttons only. Gravity takes care of downwards movement, so you only need to move right and left, and you are equipped with gun-boots (or gun-gloves if using handstand style, I guess ?) that shoot bullets when you press . But shooting serves a dual purpose. It doesn't only kill enemies, it also slows down your descent! However, simply spamming bullets doesn't work here, as you need to recharge your gun-boots from time to time by either stomping on enemies or landing. Oh, and instead of shooting, you can jump whenever you are standing on a platform. 

You can also perform a wall jump once after having landed and only if you have a full magazine, but holy shit if that wasn't the most annoying mechanic... I would often do this unintentionally which would almost always result in me jumping right into the enemy I was trying to avoid ?

 

Let's talk about the game structure and mechanics. Downwell is a roguelike, thus each descent down the well has a different layout, different enemy placement and different sideroom content and placement. Those are extra rooms that either contain a shop where you can buy health-restoring or max-ammo-increasing items, a pile of gems which can be spent in said shops, or a gun module. The gun modules are either heart shaped and restore one point of health when picked up, or battery shaped, increasing your ammo count. This is genius, since it gives an incentive to pick up even the weapons that you might not like using as much. Even more genius is that whenever you are at full health and pick up a health-restoring item, you fill ¼ of a secondary health bar. Once you've done this four times and that bar is full, your max health increases by one. So there is always an incentive to pick up every gun module you come across. ?

 

There is an additional way to gain more gems and increase both your health and ammo clip based around one of the core gameplay-mechanics of Downwell: The combo system. Killing 8, 15 and 25 enemies without landing grant you +100 gems, +1 max ammo and +1 health, and those rewards are cumulative. This is a really good incentive to play the game the way the developer meant for it to be played. But I suck at this game, so going for combos was never my strategy ?

 

As for the upgrade system... after each of the stages you can chose one of several upgrades, which range from longer i-frames after being hit to getting health back by eating the corpses of your enemies to having projectiles fire upwards whenever you collect gems. Those are obviously also random, but most such upgrades are useful to some extent. Since usually you need to choose one of three available upgrades, you almost never have to choose among upgrades you really don't want.

 

Alright, so you jumped into the well… And even though each individual level is random, your journey will always take you through the same four zones, and each zone has three stages. If you survive the descent, you will then face the boss of the well! ?

 

• Caverns: This is the environment that most resembles a regular well, with rock walls, some wooden planks and stone blocks to land on. Notable enemies here are bats, which start chasing you around, and frogs, which gotta be the most annoying enemies in the game with their unpredictable jumping. This zone is not too bad overall. 
   
• Catacombs: Yeah, so you leave the regular well behind and… you are in the catacombs! Here you'll be chased by ghosts that can clip through platforms, skulls that turn red after being shot (so you better stomp on them instead) and angry... phantoms...? No idea what those enemies are… The gimmick of this zone is that some platforms are fine to stand on, but there are also red platforms that pop spikes after you land on them, so you need to be constantly on the move. On hard mode (yes, there is a hard mode), this is without a doubt the biggest run-killer.
   
• Aquifer: Below the catacombs is an underwater world! Yep, you are now falling through water, wrapped in an oxygen bubble. But that bubble shrinks with time, so you need to keep collecting more oxygen throughout the stage while killing squid, turtles and the stupid piranha fish, which for me were always super difficult to spot for some reason. They are red for crying out loud! ?
   
• Limbo: There are no platforms in this stage. Yup, you need to carefully go down this zone either landing on small household items floating around - tables, TVs, toasters,... - while avoiding or killing tons of enemies. But the lack of platforms is actually a good thing, since it makes it very easy to go for combos of 25 and gives you many chances of healing up to full health before facing the boss... 
   
• Boss: After going through the 12 previous stages, you are greeted by a worm-like creature sleeping down here. This is the final and only boss in Downwell, and if you want to reach the bottom, you need to beat it. The fight itself goes through four phases. You first start the fight in the Caverns, and after dealing enough damage, the worm will retreat with you chasing after it. It then moves to the Catacombs, then Aquafier, and finally Limbo. Besides spawning the enemies of the corresponding zones, the boss only really has two damaging attacks… Some of its teeth will constantly fall from the upper jaw above you, and it will shoot a triple fireball from time to time. 

  All in all, the boss isn't too hard if you really take care of the enemies as they spawn and don't forget to collect oxygen during the Aquifer phase.  

 

 

(Yes, the "vivid" color palette is superior to all the others. Sue me ?)

 

 

 

I just mentioned a color palette... Those are alternative color schemes that do not alter the game in any way other than visually and are unlocked as you keep playing the game and collect gems. You also unlock four different game "styles", which come with advantages and disadvantages. The most useful one is without a doubt Armspin style, which makes that all siderooms contain gun modules (no more useless gem piles), but shops are then very rare. 

 

 

So is the trip down the well worth it? You decide…

 

Spoiler

 

Yep... all the trouble for this cat. At least it's cute ?

 

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Downwell is probably one of the most polarizing games in terms of its challenge. Some find it really easy, but I've also read of some people needing 45 hours to reach the bottom of the well even on normal mode. For me, it was certainly challenging, but doesn't come close to other games on my profile. I didn't even unlock all color palettes before getting the platinum, so I guess it cannot be that bad ?

 

Beating normal mode was quite easy, as was getting all miscellaneous trophies such as never landing for an entire zone, completing a stage without shooting or without killing enemies, landing a combo of 100, etc...

But once you beat normal mode for the first time, you then unlock hard mode. And that can be really challenging. In this mode, each zone has new and more aggressive enemies, and often some twist on the main gimmick of the stage. For example, the second zone is brutally hard, as most of the platforms now are of the type that shoots up spikes. But instead of the spike traps being triggered after landing on the platform, they now extend in a set rhythm, making it very difficult to find safe spots to land on. Paired with the huge amount of annoying enemies roaming around the catacombs, this is without a doubt the zone that will end most of the runs ?

 

Fortunately, the boss isn't much different on hard mode. The only difference that I could tell was that instead of one salve of fireballs, it now shoots twice in quick succession. Other than that, the stages are the same, the enemies are the same, and I didn't even notice an increase in health (but there might be one, I just didn't notice). The really difficult part is getting there in a good enough shape, and then keeping calm during the long fight. 

 

In total, I reached the boss about four times on hard mode before I could beat it. One of my good runs was really heart-breaking, as I was killed in the last phase only 3 - 4 shots away from victory. I lost all motivation to play this game and needed to take a break for a while. I returned to it two weeks later, and my last run of the evening (my girlfriend was waiting for me to watch something on Netflix) was going really, really badly, but I didn't want to lose time by resetting. I kept taking damage, but thanks to Armspin style (all siderooms give health back or increase your ammo clip, remember?) and the upgrade that regenerates health by eating corpses, I kept gaining the health that I was losing back. And suddenly I was back at the boss! I had only 5 HP, but I knew I had a shot at the platinum. I tried to stay calm, even thought about collecting oxygen during the Aquifer phase (believe me, I had forgotten to do so during a previous attempt… ?) and I managed to beat it! 

 

I was super happy when I managed, but at the same time I couldn't believe how bad my winning run was in the end... It was so bad that I actually recorded it ?

 

All in all, and despite the break I needed to take, I had a really good time with Downwell. If you are looking for a challenge, give this one a go! 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Arcesius

[S_y_n_e_IR_g_Y]

@Arcesius

 

please stop writing these awesome reviews, I can't add new games to my backlog every week. ^^

 

Congratulations to downwell, what's next?

[Arcesius]

On 9/13/2019 at 10:50 AM, S_y_n_e_IR_g_Y said:

@Arcesius

 

please stop writing these awesome reviews, I can't add new games to my backlog every week. ^^

 

Haha sorry but cannot promise that I will ? Thanks though!

I thought that the Downwell one is probably longer than necessary, I'll try to not describe each aspect of every game in the future and keep it more about my experience with the games ?

 

 

Quote

Congratulations to downwell, what's next?

 

Good question... And a good incentive to mention a couple of things that have been on my mind. 

 

 

Game Roadmap: 

 

This is of course subject to change... but just so you get an idea. As always, I need a game for longer sessions (1), a game for short sessions (2), and something for couch / online coop (3). For the next 2-3 games in each category, I was thinking of the following: 

 

1.  Immortal: Unchained --> Final Fantasy VIII Remastered --> Death's Gambit
2. Downwell (done) --> The End is Nigh --> Trials Fusion
3. Helldivers --> Diablo III --> Divinity: Original Sin 2
4. Crypt of the NecroDancer --> .... Who am I kidding.. this isn't going anywere anytime soon ?
    

I could start The End is Nigh right away, but I want to finish Zone 4 and some All Zone Runs on Crypt of the NecroDancer before I do so. Might start this coming weekend with my attempts.

I am already regretting writing this, so please don't hold me to it later: I have this ridiculous thought that I want to make Crypt of the NecroDancer my 100th platinum (sooo... in like 6 years ?), so I should keep playing it from time to time. I guess we'll see how realistic that is when Ive unlocked more characters and are closer to that milestone ?

 

Mori only has one DLC trophy left for Helldivers, but I am still looking at quite the grind. Next up for us will be Diablo III, so if anyone has been thinking about giving this one a go but hasn't yet, feel free to join! I played it on the X360 and it's really fun. We usually talk in German, but English isn't a problem! 

 

Oh, and the last (I think..?) piece of DLC for Overcooked 2 dropped a couple of days ago, so I'll get that done as well. 

 

 

Trophy Checklist:

 

I wrote in the initial post that I might add some quantification to enjoyment / challenge in the future. I think it's time to do so, and that is because every time I finish a game, I need to put it in context and compare it to the other games I've completed. So far, I've only rated the games I also wrote a review for, so getting that context is not always as easy.

 

I need some sort of dynamic system. You know, something like Bloodborne might have been a 6 when I played it but put in context and compared to other games I've played by now, it might as well drop down to a 5. I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out what would work here... 

 

 

PSN Name: 

 

It's storytime! You see, my PSN name is Arcesus7... You wanna know why? Because I'm an idiot, that's why. 

 

If you compare it to my forum name, you'll notice that an "i" is missing. It shoud be Arcesius, but I created my account without knowing that name changes weren't a thing (because how are name and country changes not a thing?!?!) and didn't pay too much attention... Yes, there is a typo in my account name ? Because of course there is.. ? And I have been living with that typo for the last couple of years. Time to change that now that name changes are available!

 

Some background: At the age of 16 a friend and I formed a music band called "Down to Ithaca". Ithaca is the home island of Odysseus, and was ruled by four kings: Arcesius, father of Laertes, father of Odysseus, father of Telemachus. I was the oldest of the five guys in the band, so that's how I got that nickname and have been using it ever since online. What about the fifth guy you ask? Well, he had the longest hair, so he became Penelope, the wife of Odysseus ?

 

Now, Arcesius can also be written Arkeisios, but both names are taken on PSN, and I've been trying to figure out what I wanna do. The straightforward thing would be to just add the "i" to Arcesius7 (as a mathematician, 7 is just my favorite number.. it has no other hidden meaning), but if I'm changing my name, I wanna do it right. I also tried getting used to Arces1us, but that looks weird somehow. Arc3sius looks even weirder.

 

I really don't know what to do. If you have any suggestion that would be really appreciated! ?

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Arcesius

[Briste]

On 9/16/2019 at 5:13 AM, Arcesius said:

It's storytime! You see, my PSN name is Arcesus7... You wanna know why? Because I'm an idiot, that's why. 

 

If you compare it to my forum name, you'll notice that an "i" is missing. It shoud be Arcesius, but I created my account without knowing that name changes weren't a thing (because how are name and country changes not a thing?!?!) and didn't pay too much attention... Yes, there is a typo in my account name  Because of course there is..  And I have been living with that typo for the last couple of years. Time to change that now that name changes are available!

 

Some background: At the age of 16 a friend and I formed a music band called "Down to Ithaca". Ithaca is the home island of Odysseus, and was ruled by four kings: Arcesius, father of Laertes, father of Odysseus, father of Telemachus. I was the oldest of the five guys in the band, so that's how I got that nickname and have been using it ever since online. What about the fifth guy you ask? Well, he had the longest hair, so he became Penelope, the wife of Odysseus 

lol this was really interesting. I loved the Odyssey growing up and actually just finished reading Circe so a lot of this information is pretty fresh in my head. What kind of music did you play and what instrument did you play? My friends and I started a band in middle school, but four of them played the guitar and I played nothing and can't sing...so we only got as far as a band name and album cover. We were Backyard Campers  I think we broke up after 7th grade since no one wanted to learn a different instrument.

 

On 9/16/2019 at 5:13 AM, Arcesius said:

Mori only has one DLC trophy left for Helldivers, but I am still looking at quite the grind. Next up for us will be Diablo III, so if anyone has been thinking about giving this one a go but hasn't yet, feel free to join! I played it on the X360 and it's really fun. We usually talk in German, but English isn't a problem! 

I have Diablo III on my backlog as well. I wasn't planning on playing it soon, but I could! I think our biggest problem would be figuring out a time to play together. I generally can only play after 10:00 pm EST and I doubt you'd be awake. I played it on release on the PC for a while, but lost interest after a bit. I played before they made any major changes and got rid of the RMT auction house so a lot has changed since I played. It was a good game though so I do plan to play it at some point.

[AnEldritchThing]

@Arcesius

 

Congrats on Downwell, you madman. Still one of those games I feel like I will never get a hang of. Digging the mini-reviews!

[Arcesius]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:43 PM, Briste said:

lol this was really interesting. I loved the Odyssey growing up and actually just finished reading Circe so a lot of this information is pretty fresh in my head. What kind of music did you play and what instrument did you play? My friends and I started a band in middle school, but four of them played the guitar and I played nothing and can't sing...so we only got as far as a band name and album cover. We were Backyard Campers  I think we broke up after 7th grade since no one wanted to learn a different instrument.

 

What exactly did you do then? ? That's a unique composition of instruments, that's for sure ?

 

When we started we were influenced by bands like Nirvana, Green Day and such... A bit later we used to listen to a lot of Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin when we were not playing. And as our music taste shifted a bit, so did our style... In the end, I think I'd classify our music as "progressive rock" or "progressive metal". 

 

Myself I play the drums, and I've always been fascinated by polyrhythmic music... Now that I'm back from Finland, I started playing with the same friend I started the band with (he plays the guitar), but just the two of us, and so far we mostly play covers just to have a good time. In case you know some of these bands: Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, Porcupine Tree,... that kind of stuff. ?

 

 

On 9/17/2019 at 10:43 PM, Briste said:

I have Diablo III on my backlog as well. I wasn't planning on playing it soon, but I could! I think our biggest problem would be figuring out a time to play together. I generally can only play after 10:00 pm EST and I doubt you'd be awake. I played it on release on the PC for a while, but lost interest after a bit. I played before they made any major changes and got rid of the RMT auction house so a lot has changed since I played. It was a good game though so I do plan to play it at some point.

 

Oh man it would be great for sure! But 10pm EST is like 4am where I'm at... ? So that doesn't sound too promising ?

It's still gonna be a while before we can start though, so I'll get back to you, maybe we can find some suitable slot on weekends or so ?

 

 

15 hours ago, GameMatter said:

@Arcesius

 

Congrats on Downwell, you madman. Still one of those games I feel like I will never get a hang of. Digging the mini-reviews!

 

Thanks man! I was really happy to pull it off. But it's funny how luck also plays a big role in this game. I've had way better runs that weren't successful, and one of my shittiest runs (I'm not exaggerating, I have video proof ?) was the winning run... I'll take it, I guess! ?

 

Also glad to see you referring to my reviews as "mini" ? I thought they might be a bit too long, but I really enjoy writing them. 

[AnEldritchThing]

3 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Also glad to see you referring to my reviews as "mini"  I thought they might be a bit too long, but I really enjoy writing them. 

 

Oh no, these are not long. I think they are clear, mentally digestible nuggets on what you thought on the game.

 

Mine on the blog on the other hand always feel like long, rambling essays to me. ?

Edited September 19, 2019 by GameMatter

[KN_Kirai]

On 16/9/2019 at 11:13 AM, Arcesius said:

Now, Arcesius can also be written Arkeisios, but both names are taken on PSN, and I've been trying to figure out what I wanna do. The straightforward thing would be to just add the "i" to Arcesius7 (as a mathematician, 7 is just my favorite number.. it has no other hidden meaning), but if I'm changing my name, I wanna do it right. I also tried getting used to Arces1us, but that looks weird somehow. Arc3sius looks even weirder.

 

I really don't know what to do. If you have any suggestion that would be really appreciated! ?

 

 

I would go with Arcesius7, which is neater than having a number in the middle of the name in my opinion; it also dipends on what you want it to be and what you mean by "doing it right" ?

Arkeisios sounds cool as well, though I wouldn't know how to pronounce it in greek ?

 

To be honest though, the first time I read your PSN name I thought it was a misspelling of Arceus, the pokemon.

 

On 16/9/2019 at 11:13 AM, Arcesius said:

as a mathematician, 7 is just my favorite number.. it has no other hidden meaning

 

So you're a mathematician? I guess being a completionist is partly due to that (I should somewhat know, I'm an engineer myself...) ?

Edited September 19, 2019 by KN_Kirai

[Cassylvania]

2 hours ago, KN_Kirai said:

To be honest though, the first time I read your PSN name I thought it was a misspelling of Arceus, the pokemon.

 

So did I. ?

 

I'd go with Arcesius7 too. In the words of Weird Al Yankovic, "Never write words using numbers, unless you're seven...or your name is Prince." But Arces1us isn't the worst thing ever. Drawing attention to your previous mistake with another blatant typo could be funny.

[Briste]

8 hours ago, Arcesius said:

What exactly did you do then?  That's a unique composition of instruments, that's for sure 

Moral support? lol I was going to be the singer since I didn't play an instrument...I would say I was the David Lee Roth of the group...but without the charisma. It was more just middle school kids trying to be distracted during class and study hall. We never did anything

 

8 hours ago, Arcesius said:

When we started we were influenced by bands like Nirvana, Green Day and such... A bit later we used to listen to a lot of Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin when we were not playing. And as our music taste shifted a bit, so did our style... In the end, I think I'd classify our music as "progressive rock" or "progressive metal". 

 

Some of my favorite bands! Green Day put on the best concert I've ever been to. Dark Side of the Moon was on repeat in my CD player for several weeks when I was in High School and Led Zeppelin is the only band that can turn The Lord of the Rings into an awesome rock song. If we had actually made music...our influences would have been similar. We listened to Alice in Chains, Metallica, Megadeth, Rancid, NOFX and countless others. Some of my friends ended up becoming good musicians...nobody in a real band though.

 

8 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Oh man it would be great for sure! But 10pm EST is like 4am where I'm at...  So that doesn't sound too promising 

It's still gonna be a while before we can start though, so I'll get back to you, maybe we can find some suitable slot on weekends or so 

On Saturdays and Sundays I usually get to play for a couple hours around 1 pm EST while my kids are napping, so I could try to sync up with you guys then if you're playing at that time.

 

5 hours ago, KN_Kirai said:

I would go with Arcesius7, which is neater than having a number in the middle of the name in my opinion; it also dipends on what you want it to be and what you mean by "doing it right"

I would go with this option too. It is the easiest for continuity purposes as well. I hate the 1 in the middle of Br1ste...unfortunately the person with Briste as a PSN name has two games with a grand total of eight trophies blocking my ability to use that one ? That person hasn't played since 2012 either lol I'm hoping one day they purge accounts that haven't been used in like 10 years or something.

[Arcesius]

20 hours ago, KN_Kirai said:

To be honest though, the first time I read your PSN name I thought it was a misspelling of Arceus, the pokemon.

17 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

So did I. 

 

Ah come on!! That makes the mistake even worse! ?? I haven't played a Pokemon game since Emerald, so I didn't even know Arceus was a thing until you brought it up ? Damn, the name change needs to happen sooner than later! 

 

 

20 hours ago, KN_Kirai said:

I would go with Arcesius7, which is neater than having a number in the middle of the name in my opinion; it also dipends on what you want it to be and what you mean by "doing it right"

Arkeisios sounds cool as well, though I wouldn't know how to pronounce it in greek

Quote

I'd go with Arcesius7 too. In the words of Weird Al Yankovic, "Never write words using numbers, unless you're seven...or your name is Prince." But Arces1us isn't the worst thing ever. Drawing attention to your previous mistake with another blatant typo could be funny.

Quote

I would go with this option too. It is the easiest for continuity purposes as well. I hate the 1 in the middle of Br1ste...

 

Alright, that's what I was leaning towards as well... ? I could get used to Arces1us, but I'd rather not. Cassy is right here, that would really be putting a giant glowing arrow pointing to my previous mistake ?

 

Now I just need to decide whether it should be Arcesius7 or Arcesius-7. I have to say I like Arkeisios as well, but I have never used that form in the past... let's not start now. ?

 

 

Quote

So you're a mathematician? I guess being a completionist is partly due to that (I should somewhat know, I'm an engineer myself...)

 

Did you notice we have equally many plats? ?

 

But yeah, I'm a mathematician  What is your engineering field? I wrote my dissertation on algebraic methods for wireless communications, so worked with many electrical / communication engineers and computer scientists. Interesting stuff for sure! 

 

I have no doubt that my completionist tendency has a lot to do with the part of me that wanted to pursue maths in the first place. The advantage is that it is not a chore to aim for that 100%... It's something I really enjoy ?

 

 

15 hours ago, Briste said:

Some of my favorite bands! Green Day put on the best concert I've ever been to. Dark Side of the Moon was on repeat in my CD player for several weeks when I was in High School and Led Zeppelin is the only band that can turn The Lord of the Rings into an awesome rock song. If we had actually made music...our influences would have been similar. We listened to Alice in Chains, Metallica, Megadeth, Rancid, NOFX and countless others. Some of my friends ended up becoming good musicians...nobody in a real band though.

 

Oh man, I see we pretty much share the same taste in music... Metallica and Megadeth still show up in my playlists from time to time, but otherwise I find myself listening to more progressive music nowadays. Many bands are too obscure to be well known worldwide (have a listen at Twelve Foot Ninja... ), others are huge over there in the US but less well known here (Animals as Leaders, for example).  

 

 

Quote

On Saturdays and Sundays I usually get to play for a couple hours around 1 pm EST while my kids are napping, so I could try to sync up with you guys then if you're playing at that time.

 

That sounds promising! We need to level up 6 characters for the plat anyways, so worst case we could play at least one or two characters with you whenever we find time on weekends, if that is something you would be ok with. ?

 

Edited September 20, 2019 by Arcesius

[KN_Kirai]

15 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Ah come on!! That makes the mistake even worse!  I haven't played a Pokemon game since Emerald, so I didn't even know Arceus was a thing until you brought it up  Damn, the name change needs to happen sooner than later!

 

? Well, since Arceus is pretty much the god of the Pokemon universe, I think you're better off with a name that resembles that instead of some of the other ones ?

 

 

15 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Did you notice we have equally many plats? 

 

But yeah, I'm a mathematician  What is your engineering field? I wrote my dissertation on algebraic methods for wireless communications, so worked with many electrical / communication engineers and computer scientists. Interesting stuff for sure! 

 

I have no doubt that my completionist tendency has a lot to do with the part of me that wanted to pursue maths in the first place. The advantage is that it is not a chore to aim for that 100%... It's something I really enjoy 

 

I honestly didn't notice that, what are the odds? ?

 

I graduated as an electronic engineer, and now I work as a PLC programmer, so pretty much digital electronics. There's little maths involved in my everyday work, but I've always preferred that over other subjects and that is part of the reason why I chose to study engineering, the other one being physics and that's also why I love Steins;Gate (which you totally can't figure out by looking at my trophy list or profile ?).

[Briste]

On 9/20/2019 at 4:40 AM, Arcesius said:

That sounds promising! We need to level up 6 characters for the plat anyways, so worst case we could play at least one or two characters with you whenever we find time on weekends, if that is something you would be ok with. 

I'd be down to try that  I'm almost finished with my extra casual Return to Arkham City playthrough so I could use a new casual game. Let me know when you plan to get started and I'll make sure to get it installed.

[Arcesius]

On 9/25/2019 at 7:36 PM, Briste said:

I'd be down to try that  I'm almost finished with my extra casual Return to Arkham City playthrough so I could use a new casual game. Let me know when you plan to get started and I'll make sure to get it installed.

 

Will do! But probably not before the second half of October. I have some holidays coming and will be gone for a bit over a week

 

 

 

So, funny story (maybe...?). Maybe you noticed that I finally changed my PSN ID... It's now Arcesius-7, although I actually wanted to go with Arcesius7... 

 

Yesterday I get a message on PSN from someone outside of my friends list, complimenting my profile and asking if I'd be upset if he creates an account similiar to mine. Obviously I wouldn't be upset, I mean why would I! (If you are reading this, really, no worries).

But I had this feeling that I had waited a bit too long with changing my ID, and when I went and checked, I noticed that Arcesius7 had just been freshly created... ?

 

To be on the safe side I then just changed mine to my new ID with the "-". Quite happy with the change though ?

 

Apparently that messed up my ghosts in Trackmania Turbo, so sadly @BB-BakkerJ won't get satisfaction from beating my times from now on ? Hadn't thought about that, but if that's the worst implication of my ID change, then great! 

 

Now, if only they would allow to change countries.... ?

Edited September 27, 2019 by Arcesius

[Baker]

Yeah it’s a shame I can’t drive against your ghosts. We were equally matched so far. After 50 tracks it was 25-25 ?. It’s really helpfull when choosing driving lines and know where you can improve. I still have @dertswa687o‘s ghosts and I saw @Floriiss started the game too, ofcourse he’s going to platinum it so that’s more ghosts I could use.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by BB-BakkerJ

[DENNIS330bmw]

Really nice checklist of games and fluid to read your reviews. Mfg ? 

[Arcesius]

On 2.10.2019 at 11:01 PM, DENNIS330bmw said:

Really nice checklist of games and fluid to read your reviews. Mfg ? 

 

Thanks! Always trying to be concise while writing about all aspects of a game that I thought were particularly important

 

 

Soo... I just came back from a bit over a week in Italy (finally some extended holidays...), so I didn't really keep up with what has been going on here and have some catching up to do

Before I left, I managed to get the platinum in Immortal: Unchained, but the devs went a bit overboard with free DLC, and I needed to finish NG+, NG++, NG+++ and NG++++ for the respective trophies... Managed to do that as well, but I'm still looking at two more playthroughs as "The Cursed One", which could be pretty challenging, let's see... 

 

This is the first time I had issues with how DLC rarity is calculated. I mean, the NG+ trophies were added  to the game for free, so it seems weird that the rarity for completing NG+ is higher than the one for completing the game... But I guess the issue has been discussed (and ignored) to death, so let's not go there... ?

 

I'll try to get the game to 100% this weekend and should then hopefully have my review up next week!

 

(Spoiler alert: The game is very mediocre.)

[Arcesius]

 Platinum #58 – Immortal: Unchained

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 5/10

• 100% Challenge:  5/10

 

Lemme start by quoting Polygon:

 

"Like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Nioh, Remnant: [From the Ashes] mixes punishing difficulty, pattern recognition, and complex combat that benefits from trial and error. But it trades out the long swords, katanas, transforming chain-whips, and melee combat of its predecessors for guns and ranged combat.

 

It’s a fantastic addition to the genre."

 

Wait… That is the wrong game! ?  But the quote pretty much describes both games anyways, only that Immortal: Unchained (henceforth IU) did this an entire year before Remnant… It seems like IU flew somewhat under the radar, and now Remnant is getting credit for "bringing something new to the genre"? That doesn't seem fair... ?

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

I was interested in playing this game despite the few and mediocre reviews it has gotten. I've heard the usual stuff about the game not running smoothly, about the occasional glitch, the crashes… But I mean, I endured the technical mess that is Darksiders III and still managed to have my fun with it, so still decided to give IU a go. I won't lie, I experienced all of those things, and suffered more crashes than I'm comfortable with, but technically IU wasn't that bad overall. 

If not technically, Is it otherwise the worst game ever? No, not by a longshot. But it might be the weakest soulslike I've played to date. And yes, I've played Lords of the Fallen, even its piece of shit DLC… I stand by my statement. ?

 

You start the game as usual, by picking one of a handful of classes that all seem to be more or less the same, and then jump into some sort of tutorial. You pick up a primary and secondary ranged weapon, as well as a melee weapon (you will never, and I really mean NEVER end up using melee attacks whatsoever…), kill some enemies, learn how to reload, kill your first boss, die a bunch of times… the usual stuff. And then you reach your "main hub". Already in these first few moments it is very clear that the tone of the game is quite different than in any other such title. And I don't mean that in a good way. The environments are very pale, very sterile, very boring, and remain that way all the way to the end of the game. It might have to do with the futuristic sci-fi setting, but for having such a badass character with bionic implants, tattoos, etc, the environments could have used more variety and attention to detail as well.  

 

The game structure is directly copied from the first Dark Souls. You are first tasked with activating three Nexus Orbs on three different planets (equivalent to ringing the two bells in DS), then some previously locked doors open up and you are sent on your way to retrieve three Beast Hearts (hmmm… what could be the equivalent in DS?) in any order you want.

 

But remember how the second half of Dark Souls is weak because all areas are more or less equally challenging, so whatever you leave for later is unfortunately a walk in the park? Well, IU doesn't have that problem, since all three areas you have to visit vary in difficulty. Which is even worse, since you only get the illusion that you are free to get the hearts in whatever order you want, but in practice there is a natural order to the areas, and you might end up having a very bad time if you deviate from it. I learned that the hard way on my initial playthrough. ?

 

There is one particular planet, Apexion, which is designed very poorly. You know, some like to throw the term "trial and error" in the room when talking about soulslike games, but there is actually none of that in the ones that are well designed. Sure, you might get ambushed if you are not careful, you might get surprised if you go AFK (or AFC..?), but usually you can enter any area for the first time, and if you are attentive and careful enough, you can survive it. Not so in Apexion.

The devs decided that it was a good idea to introduce enemies that spawn in front of you and out of thin air, immediately shoot a sticky grenade at you, and teleport away, all in less than two seconds. No time to react, and the grenade can one-shot you if you don't roll at the same time it explodes. And often there will be multiple such enemies spawning in at once, breaking you camera with their constant teleportation and making certain rooms really nothing more than simple trial and error chambers. In my opinion, this is very bad and frustrating design. Oh, and the enemy placements change in NG+, so time to learn all the enemy spawns again! 

 

Alright, so you progress through the story and the game communicates through gameplay and environmental design how it should be played. Defeating bosses - which honestly are really fun to fight and often pretty varied -  give you some of the most powerful weapons, which have the tendency to be "energy" based (there are physical, energy, fire, cold and acid weapons…). You'll also start encountering more and more enemies that can only be damaged with energy weapons, so naturally you use your limited resources to improve those awesome weapons and commit to your build. 

Furthermore, the level layouts also invite to use ranged combat from mid to long distance, so that's what you'll resort to in most situations. There are too many enemies to really get too close, and too many pits and holes and narrow corridors to properly dodge when fighting at close range. 

And then all of a sudden you face the most bullshit boss this game has to offer. Aras, that's his name, is (almost) immune to energy damage, has a protection shield in a 2 meter (~6 feet) radius around him, and teleports constantly, breaking your camera. The consequence? The weapons you spent all your resources leveling up are useless now, the way you learned to approach combat in this game is useless as well, since you need to be up in his face if you want to deal any damage… Well tough luck!

What is the point of this boss other than representing a giant middle finger up your nose? ? 

 

And that's not the only time I think the devs wanted to boast about their game being "difficult" (which it isn't, and if it was, then for the wrong reasons). Whenever you are killed I think something like 100 times, you'll see a special game over animation that looks something like this:

 

 

 

Yes, that's a pair of "Thug Life" glasses. Well, fuck you too ?

 

 

Alright, but not everything is bad here… Although there is still one negative point I have to mention. The NPCs, OMFG the NPCs… This must be the most monotonous voice acting I've come across in any video game I've ever played. Imagine having amnesia, not knowing how you got to a planet covered in snow, wondering what happened to your friends and family… and still having less emotion in your voice than Stephen Hawkins. Holy shit it's so incredibly bad I couldn't believe it. I swear I don't know what the sidequests are about, since I couldn't bare paying attention to what I was being told. ?

 

But other than that (what is there left?), this game ain't that bad. It doesn't do anything particularly well, but it mostly does an OK job at being fun for a while. I certainly had a good time with IU whenever I wasn't feeling frustrated by its cheap mechanics, but it is not a game I'd recommend playing, especially if you are a completionist (we'll talk about that in a moment). It's just… very mediocre. No wonder it didn't get much attention. And hey, I still gave it a 5/10 in enjoyment.  

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Overall, getting this game to 100% requires a bit of time and resistance to boredom, but there isn't anything that is particularly challenging. There are over 200 collectibles to look out for (together with those from the paid DLC), but luckily those carry over to NG+, and three missable sidequests.

 

So why are there only eight people (myself included) that have this game at 100%?

 

There are quite a few topics now in this forum about adding NG+ trophies to games. Days Gone did that, as did Horizon: Zero Dawn, Marvel's Spiderman, etc… It seems to be a trend, and personally I really don't care that much. But these devs went a bit overboard with that. They added NG+ with a free update at some point with the following trophies:

• Complete NG+
• Complete NG++
• Complete NG+++
• Complete NG++++

So five total playthroughs. BUT WAIT! They then released a new free update that introduced a new character class, "The Cursed One" (only for hardcore players, as the warning reads when you choose this class) that came with new trophies:

• Complete the Game as The Cursed One
• Get all Curses as The Cursed One.

What's "hardcore" (ugh ?) about this character is that whenever you beat a mandatory boss, you need to choose one of two curses that sticks with you for the reminder of the game. There is one where you lose 15 HP each second that you are standing still (horrible for Sniper Builds ?), one where every time you consume an item there is a chance to be left with 1 HP, one where the cost of upgrading weapons is increased, etc… you get the idea. Now, to get all curses you need to play through the game, and then play through NG+, this time choosing the second curse after each boss. 

 

That brings us to a total of seven playthroughs. SEVEN! And it's not like anything interesting happens in NG+ and above… Enemy placement is a bit different, but that's it. So yeah, the first two playthroughs are enjoyable, but it soon becomes a bit repetitive. 

 

But it's how it is, so I tried to make the best of this and started speedrunning the game. I found some fast routes and sequence breaks, and created a really OP build that could even one-shot most of the bosses and would almost never run out of ammo. The downside was that I would die in one or two shots from almost any basic enemy as well. 

At least it made each playthrough a lot quicker... 

Edited October 16, 2019 by Arcesius

[Arcesius]

I always need forever with my games, but I again managed to complete two close to each other... But before we dive into the review, some very quick updates! ?
 

• I purchased Alienation and added it to the backlog. Also, the ongoing VR-sale isn't overwhelming, but I wanted to get something as my PSVR has been in the drawer for months now, so I purchased Superhot VR... I hear good things about that one! 
• Badland is now on my wishlist... Seems to be more fun than I thought, and since the platinum is now proven to be obtainable, it sparked my interest again ? 
• I've decided to wait with Final Fantasy VIII until it goes on sale. Instead I will probably follow up Immortal: Unchained with Death's Gambit or Pier Solar (which I haven't purchased yet, but it has never been offered on a sale). 
• Helldivers will be followed up with Diablo III and Divinity 2! 

 

I also now linked each game from the first post with its corresponding review in this thread. Of course only those that I've reviewed ?

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

 

I started playing again now that I finished Helldivers, but haven't had much time for it yet. The next thing I need to do is finishing the fourth zone with Cadence. Unlike the previous zones, however, there are two bosses waiting at the end of the zone, which need to be fought consecutively. 

 

I reached the first one, Dead Ringer, lost to it but unlocked it for practice in the lobby. Once I had it down I went back to attempt the zone, and when I reached it again I was able to defeat it with no issues. Then I faced the last boss, The NecroDancer himself. Here you are controlling two characters at once, so suffices to say that I didn't beat him on my first attempt... ? But hey, at least I also unlocked him now for practice! Will do that next and then hopefully beat the zone ?

 

 

Alright, time for the next write-up! 

 

 Platinum #59 – Helldivers

 

 

• 100% Enjoyment: 7/10

• 100% Challenge:  4/10

 

"Prosperity, liberty and democracy - Our way of life. But it doesn't come free, it is every man, woman and child's duty to protect our home, our culture, and our families. Why not make the most important decision of your life. Make the safety of your family a personal responsibility. And prove that you have the strength and courage to be free. Join the HELLDIVERS! Travel the galaxy, visit the capitals, meet unusual people and represent the federation. Secure the resources we need to preserve our way of life and create a future for Super Earth. Spread managed democracy throughout the galaxy. Become more than you are. Become a Hero. Become, a Legend!"

   ~Broadcast narrator.   

 

 

100% Enjoyment

 

Helldivers is a top-down sci-fi shooter by the same developers that brought us Gauntlet and Magicka. And like the previous titles, this is a game meant to be played in coop, and is infinitely more fun that way. There is a very basic command-system to communicate with random players (which, if enabled, can simply join your ongoing session), but I played Helldivers mostly in 2-player coop with @Mori. I seriously said "sorry" more often than I'd like to admit, as friendly fire is always on and the game can get quite hectic, so shooting your partner "by accident" (?) can happen quite easily

 

Anyways, Helldivers doesn't try to be this deep, meaningful game. There is no story apart from the basic premise of spreading managed democracy, there are no cutscenes for a change of pace, no NPCs apart from the basic dudes on your ship… You start the game, choose a mission, decide on your gear, and off you go. Ten seconds later you are dropped into unknown territory and are already killing disgusting extraterrestrial bugs. And yeah, it's really over the top. Your character will be constantly shouting stuff like

• How 'bout a nice cup of Liber-Tea???
• Freedom never sleeps!
• Say hello to democracy!
• How'd you like the taste of freedom?
• FREEEEEEDOOOOOOM (not unlike Mel Gibson in Braveheart ?)

while killing huge hordes of enemies. It's hilarious how ridiculous it is, and I would still find myself laughing even after many many hours with this game.

 

And there really isn't more to the main concept. There are three species that can be fought:

• Illuminati: Probably the easiest enemies to fight. At higher difficulties they start using attacks that can confuse your character, reversing your inputs on the controller. But taking a shield with you goes a long way, and since none of the Illuminati forces are armored, they can be easily taken out with normal weaponry. 
   
   
• Bugs: These will try to overwhelm you with their numbers, but most bugs are rather weak and easy to dispatch. The bulkier enemies are rather slow, but can hardly be harmed with regular weapons. Simply take a missile launcher or grenades with you and you're golden!
   
   
• Cyborgs: Definitely my least favorite enemies. In the harder difficulties you'll often encounter tank-scouts and other heavily armored enemies, against which normal weaponry isn't effective at all. For these enemies you really need to rely on anti-tank equipment, and we would usually avoid fighting against cyborgs.
   

 

Now, provided that all races are alive (the goal of winning a war is to eliminate each of the three species), you decide against which species to fight and can then choose a planet between level 1 and 15 (pre-DLC the maximum difficulty was level 12). Each such planet yields a reward, which initially is new equipment and later extra XP, and consists of 2-3 missions. Each such mission consists of a handful of objectives that need to be completed, for example:

• Escort survivors to a bunker without them getting killed on the way.
• Assasinate a special target (usually a stronger enemy)
• Repair some artillery by collecting three missiles and entering different button-combinations.

etc...

 

And enemies keep spawning, constantly, you can never kill everything, you're always outnumbered. So you need to keep moving from objective to objective, and you need to communicate with your team in order to do so effectively (as the players share the same screen).

Once all objectives have been completed or failed, you'll be able to go to the extraction point and call the shuttle, which will then take 1.5 minutes to arrive… This of course alerts more enemies, often making this last phase of the mission a chaotic attempt at surviving until the shuttle arrives. It really is heartbreaking to fail the mission at this stage…

 

It is definitely noticeable how much better one gets at this game. At the beginning we would struggle to do level 7 missions, and would either require help from random players, or simply do lower level planets.

But I very distinctively remember one night where we were simply chatting and chatting and suddenly noticed that we were doing a level 12 planet just by the way, without paying too much attention… ? Close to getting the platinum we were then doing mostly level 13 planets, as they were still a bit challenging and fun, but not too stressful. Just the perfect balance.

 

Definitely a game that I can recommend if you have a coop partner, and a game that is really well suited for short gaming sessions or for something in between. A mission from a level 12 planet might take around 10-15 minutes, so one such planet can be done in less than an hour. ?

 

 

100% Challenge

 

Helldivers is more grindy than challenging… Props to the following three trophies:

• Reach rank 25: This requires ~800 XP and should take roughly 50-60 hours if you mostly play high level planets.
• Kill 100k enemies: They went a bit overboard with this trophy… You'll usually finish a mission with around 150 kills if you play against the bugs, and less against the other species… Getting to 100k takes freaking forever, but luckily kills can be farmed AFK ?
• Fully upgrade all (non-DLC) stratagems: This is a DLC trophy which requires using research points to upgrade your gear. Each level up gives a research point, as do 10 samples, which are a sort of collectable that can be picked up during missions (roughly 20 for a level 12 mission, 7 for a level 3). You need 164 research points total, or 1640 samples… But this wasn't that bad. It took me ~6h of farming after reaching rank 25 to get this done.

 

Other than the grind, the Enemy Master (DLC) introduced a boss for each species that can pose some challenge if tackled alone or inexperienced, but they can all be cheesed pretty heavily once you know how they work.  

There are also trophies which rely on the community, which luckily is still pretty active. You need to at least win one war for the platinum, but during the past two months that I've been playing this game we won four wars total, so that one wasn't an issue at all…

 

Most other miscellaneous trophies should come naturally, and can otherwise be set up pretty easily ?

Edited October 22, 2019 by Arcesius

[Baker]

19 hours ago, Arcesius said:

 

• I purchased Alienation and added it to the backlog. Also, the ongoing VR-sale isn't overwhelming, but I wanted to get something as my PSVR has been in the drawer for months now, so I purchased Superhot VR... I hear good things about that one! 
• Badland is now on my wishlist... Seems to be more fun than I thought, and since the platinum is now proven to be obtainable, it sparked my interest again  
• I've decided to wait with Final Fantasy VIII until it goes on sale. Instead I will probably follow up Immortal: Unchained with Death's Gambit or Pier Solar (which I haven't purchased yet, but it has never been offered on a sale). 
• Helldivers will be followed up with Diablo III and Divinity 2! 

 

I’m ready to start Alienation as soon as the next Ps Plus lineup hits if that suits you. If not, no worries as I have plenty of other games in my backlog still to complete.

 

Pier Solar is worth the €13. It’s such a fun little old school JRPG. Be aware of probably the hardest JRPG minigame I’ve ever played with the Eternal Slip. It’s on par with the Jump Rope minigame of FFIX and took me many hours of practice. But no doubt you can do it... ?

[Arcesius]

Update

 

Well, it looks like I won't be getting a new game completed any time soon... I'm actively playing three games at the moment, making slow progress in all of them. And a fourth game is likely to be started soon as well. 

So, since I won't be writing a review for a while, I thought it'd be a great time for some small update!  

 

 

Diablo III

Ah, Diablo... How many hours must I have spent on Diablo II back in the day... Then Diablo III came out, but I only played it on the X360 and in local-coop, so it was never the same. This is the next game I'm playing with @Mori, and so far we have completed the first two acts. I'm playing as the Necromancer, while he destroys everything with his Barbarian. And the game is just as fun as I remember it to be. When I'm not playing Diablo, I want to play Diablo. It's just so great for mindless fun, without having to think too much, without having to be too careful. Just plain, simple fun.  

 

However, I remember it being a tad more difficult... We are playing on the highest available difficulty mode and there is no challenge whatsoever. My character gains so much "Life per second" that no pack of enemies is capable of dealing any damage... I needed to heal exactly once so far, and that was during the fight against Belial because I was standing still in a pool of poison while he was bashing my head in. And the next difficulty tear is unlocked after completing Act IV... Well, we would level up even faster if that was already unlocked, but we are already level 46 at the end of Act 2... ?

 

P.S. @Briste, we just haven't found the time to play on weekends so far, otherwise I would have asked you if you have time to join.. Haven't forgotten about that!  

 

 

Death's Gambit

In contrast to Eitr, a game that was announced years ago and nobody knows what happened to it, Death's Gambit actually released last year, but was a mess at launch. Gamebreaking glitches, crashes, buggy trophies.. it received very negative reviews because of it's quality, and what it does well wasn't discussed as much. 

But, I wanted to play this game, so I waited until now, where the bugs are fixed, where the trophies pop... and I'm glad I've started it. For those of you that don't know this one, it is a pixelart 2D soulslike metroidvania (as bad as it sounds, at least one knows immediately and exactly what it is and how it plays ?), and so far it has made a very good first impression. 

 

I have only played for a little bit and have beaten three of the many bosses this game features. All were pretty great, to be honest! Once you beat those, you can challenge them to a "rematch". Those "heroic" bosses are stronger, so I am waiting until the endgame to tackle them. 

 

There is one trophy that I'm worried about though, "The Perfect Run"... It reads: Kill the final boss without quitting the game and in under 4 hours from starting the game and without leveling up. 

 

Well, that should be fun.. ?

 

 

Crypt of the NecroDancer

This game... is just fantastic. There is no other way to put it. 

I returned to NecroDancer after some months trying to finish up other things.. at the time I was playing Trackmania Turbo and playing this as well was just too much. But man, I cannot see myself taking a break like that anytime soon! It is just so addictive, so innovative, so different from anything else I've ever played... It's just a great game! ? And I cannot for the life of me stop humming the music... ?

 

So, how far am I? Well, put together I've played about 12-15 hours so far. I started by playing the individual zones, of which Zone 4 was the hardest to do. Once I was done with those, I did an All Zones run with Bard, which is the easiest character in the game. With him, you don't need to move to the beat, and enemies move after you. Bard is great for taking it slow and learning the enemy patterns, but completing a run with him is also super easy. 

Once I was done with Bard I decided to tackle Cadence next. She isn't the easiest character, even though she is the main protagonist of the game, but after a couple of attempts, I also cleared her.  

I've read about some people needing 60+ hours before they got their first clear on Cadence, so I guess I can be happy with my progress ?

 

I am now currently practicing Melody, which is a very interesting character. She has a golden Lute as her weapon, which damages all squares around Melody when she moves. Hence, enemies cannot be attacked directly, but instead you need to move next to them. It completely changes the approach, and it is super fun! 

 

Before I start my next game (Superhot VR? Badland? Trials Fusion? The End is Nigh?) I want to finish a run with her, and also with Eli, Dorian and Dove. That would cover the first two steps described in the trophy guide  Oh, and I should start attempting the Daily Challenge as well... 

 

 

 

 

By the way, I also signed up for the "Ultra Rare Cleanup 2020" event. I usually only participate in events if I can join with games I anyways want to play, and this one is just perfect for my backlog

I joined with 9 games so far, but I'm hoping that The End is Nigh will be UR soon. It only has 13 platinum achievers so far, but also only 235 or so owners ? Go buy that game! It's cheap! ?

 

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Arcesius

[Copanele]

29 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Death's Gambit

In contrast to Eitr, a game that was announced years ago and nobody knows what happened to it, Death's Gambit actually released last year, but was a mess at launch. Gamebreaking glitches, crashes, buggy trophies.. it received very negative reviews because of it's quality, and what it does well wasn't discussed as much. 

But, I wanted to play this game, so I waited until now, where the bugs are fixed, where the trophies pop... and I'm glad I've started it. For those of you that don't know this one, it is a pixelart 2D soulslike metroidvania (as bad as it sounds, at least one knows immediately and exactly what it is and how it plays ), and so far it has made a very good first impression. 

 

I have only played for a little bit and have beaten three of the many bosses this game features. All were pretty great, to be honest! Once you beat those, you can challenge them to a "rematch". Those "heroic" bosses are stronger, so I am waiting until the endgame to tackle them. 

 

There is one trophy that I'm worried about though, "The Perfect Run"... It reads: Kill the final boss without quitting the game and in under 4 hours from starting the game and without leveling up. 

 

Well, that should be fun.. 

Oh dear someone else knows about Eitr!!! God I am waiting for that game for too long ( and they keep releasing small bits and pieces of information but nothing concrete. Still losing it every time I am hearing that "theme"they released). The moment it hits the shelves I am getting it, as long as it doesn't cost $60 or something similar.

Anyway, I also preordered Death Gambit and played it day 1...what a mess it was, literally made me throw the controller with all the crap it had. But now that it's fixed I guess it's playable? Heard they will release a massive DLC with some improvements and areas. Curious how your playthrough will go the more you advance in the game.

 

Also best of luck on the Ultra Rare Cleanup...that is a good occasion to attempt some tough as nails games!

 

(P.S. Diablo 3 is pretty awesome, not gonna lie,gotta finish that one too, but a remaster of Diablo 2 on PS4 would be a wet dream let's be honest :3 I am missing the "Stay awhile and listen" line )