Arcesius' Pursuit of Completion

[Arcesius]

11 hours ago, Copanele said:

OH WOW IT'S VERGIL FROM DEVIL MAY CRY! Why you summoning swords boi?

 

Nah but really  that boss is so goddamn epic, it gets my gaming blood boiling  (anime much I know). They really did a fine job with this game. God bless those quick change scrolls lmao.

 

He is indeed! Very well designed, very fun boss. It sucks that I had to resort to such defensive methods, but the alternative would have been grinding for another build, or summoning. Not a fan of either, and without the buffs, the entire fight would have looked like the final third in the video above, and would have lasted for 15+ minutes.. Worked well this way, was fun regardless... ?

 

What I forgot to mention before... on Dream of the Demon, once an ailment has been applied (Poison, Scorched, you name it...) and it wears off, it is harder to apply it a second time. So even if it would have been possible to poison Yoshitsune once, it would not have been very useful, as it would be nearly impossible to poison him a second time.  

 

The next DLC is coming out this autumn... looking forward to more such awesome bosses! ?

 

 

11 hours ago, Copanele said:

What are the 3 cats doing by the way?

 

They are just adorable.. isn't that enough?

 

Serious anwser.. they do three things for me. First of all, they are a giant PITA for my opponent, as they keep distracting him. More importantly though, they do a fuckton of Ki-damage. The meta for Dream of the Demon seems to be Ki-destruction, but my build wasn't focused around that, so I was doing almost no Ki-damage to Yoshitsune. In the video, you see that throughout the fight I can grapple him a good handfull of times. That's sometimes because of Gust Talisman, which reflects his projectiles back at him, but most of the time it's those three cats draining his Ki. 

 

The other helpful feature is that they boost my Anima regeneration. Anima is needed for example for using Yokai abilities. In my setup above, you will see that I sometimes summon a wheel of fire. That's the Yokai Ability from a Yokai called "Kesha". I equipped her Soul Core and am thus able to use her ability: 

 

 

Now, towards the end of the fight, once the Scampuss (cats) are gone, you notice that I cannot use that ability anymore. That's because it takes a lot of time to gather enough Anima without them. Really helpful little guys. 

 

 

11 hours ago, Grotz99 said:

I haven't gotten around to playing the first Nioh, as it sits on my shelf mocking me, but damn does this make me want to. That last 10% looked like it got a little sketchy compared to the first 90% of what looked like face tanking.

 

If the above looks even remotely appealing.. give it a go. I generally like Soulslike games a lot, but Nioh is without a doubt the most fun of them all for me (Bloodborne comes close). It is the most complex one as well though, just be aware of that... both in terms of combat, as in terms of putting a build together, learning how the smithy works, etc... 

 

If you start it and need some advice or pointers, I'd be glad to help though  

 

The face-tanking above might make it seem like it's an easy game on that difficulty, but trust me, it's not. If you don't spend time thinking about your build, you'll stand no chance. Luckily for me I have meanwhile spent well over 300 hours with both Nioh and Nioh 2, so I knew what I needed to "improvise" to make the fight work...

 

Once my defensive items and such were gone for the last 10%... yeah, needed to take it slow.. You could call that sketchy for sure ?

 

 

10 hours ago, BB-BakkerJ said:

O wow. That looks pretty cool. It looks like Nioh has a much faster battle system compared to any Soulsborne game. Is that true? I tried Bloodborne but it was just too slow for my liking, but I also have Nioh from Ps Plus. I’m going to download it and give it a try.

 

Yes, and no. The fight above is really, REALLY fast, but not all enemies are like that. In general, though, I would say that yes, Nioh allows for the faster combat. But it also depends on your build of course. You could go full tank with heavy armor and an axe, and you will have long wind-ups and slower hits. ?

 

Above.. I am even using high stance all the time... which is the slowest stance. I could hit quicker in low stance, and instead of dodge-rolling I would then be side-stepping. Would make my moves even faster! ?

 

So to summarize... You can play a build that feels as slow as any build in Souls / Bloodborne, but you have plenty of options to be lightning fast while still having a viable build for the highest difficulties. 

Enemies in general are quicker, with shorter wind-up animations, so you gotta react quickly. However, the above Boss makes other enemies look like sloths in comparison  

 

Lemme know what you think once you try it out! 

[ZoutjeNL]

Wow that build looks awesome! I still need to tackle Nioh 2 DLC way of the Demon is definitely no joke so well done  I wonder what we will see in the next DLC. I am not really looking forward to farm a ton to get a desired build so we will see what I will end up with. I really enjoy the Glaive so wondering if there is a build around which doesn't require a ton of farming. 

[AJ_Radio]

I feel like Nioh and Nioh 2 were meant to be played in co-op. 
 

Every Dark Souls game and practically all From Software game, while you can be carried in all of them, can easily be done solo. Once you get past the difficulty curve they aren’t that hard as long as you do your research. I definitely think the difficulty is hugely exaggerated. Of course doing them solo is going to take you longer. 
 

Nioh on the other hand seems to go above and beyond what Dark Souls set and challenge the player to where builds mean do or die. I imagine the vast majority of players in Nioh 2 got co-op because I feel the game was intentionally designed to be played that way. 

[Arcesius]

On 9/14/2020 at 3:16 AM, Spaz said:

I feel like Nioh and Nioh 2 were meant to be played in co-op. 
 

Nioh on the other hand seems to go above and beyond what Dark Souls set and challenge the player to where builds mean do or die. I imagine the vast majority of players in Nioh 2 got co-op because I feel the game was intentionally designed to be played that way. 

 

Hmm, I actually don't think that's the case... Mainly for two reasons. The way coop works in this game is really convoluted. But anyways, once you figure it out there are still two issues

• Summoning a player costs a certain ressource (Ochoco Cups). Those need to be farmed by summoning and killing revenants from their grave, you don't simply get these cups by playing through the game normally. 
• Most importantly, you can only summon someone that has already completed the mission you want to play in coop! 

I think the second part shows that these games are not necessarily meant to be played in coop. You cannot just play through the game with a friend. You can only get help from people that have already cleared the mission you want help for. It is a way to make the game easier for some, but it is not the standard way to play the game. 

 

In any case, you are right that the game is more challenging than the souls games, and builds mean EVERYTHING on NG++ and above, but not on NG or NG+. The first playthrough I would say is about the same level of challenge than your regular Souls game, maybe with a bit of a steeper difficulty curve to overcome because of all the different mechanics there are to learn. But if you want to do NG++ then yes, you need to spend time with the game. Which I think is a fair requirement... You don't have to do anything in NG++ for the plat, and I think it is fantastic that anyone can enjoy the game without spending hours and hours learning the mechanics, but there is still something in the game for players that like min-maxing. 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah... we finished the first Trine, and I FINALLY started Nex Machina  I'm really liking it so far! I did one Arcade Run directly on Experienced difficulty, and already did most of the Misc trophy-tasks as well. I will do the Gold Medals in the arena next to get used to the individual worlds, and will then tackle the Experienced Arcade Run without continues... Should be a decent challenge! This game can become really hectic ?

 

The review for Trine should follow soon as well  

[AJ_Radio]

17 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

Hmm, I actually don't think that's the case... Mainly for two reasons. The way coop works in this game is really convoluted. But anyways, once you figure it out there are still two issues

• Summoning a player costs a certain ressource (Ochoco Cups). Those need to be farmed by summoning and killing revenants from their grave, you don't simply get these cups by playing through the game normally. 
• Most importantly, you can only summon someone that has already completed the mission you want to play in coop! 

I think the second part shows that these games are not necessarily meant to be played in coop. You cannot just play through the game with a friend. You can only get help from people that have already cleared the mission you want help for. It is a way to make the game easier for some, but it is not the standard way to play the game. 

 

In any case, you are right that the game is more challenging than the souls games, and builds mean EVERYTHING on NG++ and above, but not on NG or NG+. The first playthrough I would say is about the same level of challenge than your regular Souls game, maybe with a bit of a steeper difficulty curve to overcome because of all the different mechanics there are to learn. But if you want to do NG++ then yes, you need to spend time with the game. Which I think is a fair requirement... You don't have to do anything in NG++ for the plat, and I think it is fantastic that anyone can enjoy the game without spending hours and hours learning the mechanics, but there is still something in the game for players that like min-maxing.

 

I know very little of Nioh and Nioh 2 myself, I don't plan to play these games for a long time anyway. I was just curious in how other people looked at them, especially if they finished them.

 

Many people have said getting the 100 percent in Nioh is quite challenging. You also stated that people who cheesed their way through the first game are getting wrecked in Nioh 2, because they don't know what to do.

 

So I can guess this is a more complex game than the Souls titles? Nioh 2 has a ridiculously high percentage rate for it's platinum, much higher than Bloodborne which I didn't find that hard at all. Did everything solo in Bloodborne and got it all done in just over a week because I loved it. For the Nioh games it sounds like I'm going to struggle for the better part of a month or two.

 

Then again you can make the argument that comparing Nioh to Dark Souls is like comparing apples to oranges. Both have their own design and style, and both weren't exactly meant to be played in the same fashion.

 

I was never a min-max player, I don't find that to be all that enjoyable.

[Arcesius]

  Platinum #73 – Trine: Enchanted Edition

 

 

 

The Pitch

Chance wanted Zoya, Pontius and Amadeus to meet in the Astral Academy and have their souls bond… and it's now up to them to combine their unique abilities both for puzzle solving and defeating hordes of undead enemies if they want to free themselves of the Trine's effect!  

 

 

100% Enjoyment 

 

100% Challenge

 

 

The Best:

Trine is a puzzle-platformer, and I am really happy to state that the puzzles are probably among the better parts of the game. There are three unique characters available, each with their unique abilities, strengths and weaknesses:

• Pontius, the Knight: He is the fighter, equipped with a shield to keep away enemies and block their incoming attacks, and a sword to dispatch them quickly. And while useful in battle, he has no puzzle-solving skills (although once you get the dash-ability, he can clear pretty wide gaps as well…). However, he can use his shield to reflect trap-projectiles, protecting his two companions! 
   
• Amadeus, the Wizard: Amadeus is pretty much Pontius' opposite. He is extremely useful (and crucial) for puzzle solving, being able to create cubes and platforms, move objects out of the way, etc… but is pretty useless in battle. Sure, he can grab his own crates and smash enemies with them, but is pretty slow in doing so and is hence easily killed.
   
• Zoya, the Assassin: This third character is both good in combat, as Zoya can take down enemies from a distance with her bow, and can also easily clear gaps with her grappling hook. Zoya doesn't really have abilities that help her team-mates solve puzzles, however, but it makes sense given that she is a solitary thief.

 

 

 

Now, playing solo, you can always only have one character on screen, and change them on the fly with the tap of a button. It's an alright system, but the game is still way better when all three characters can work together ?

 

 

The Worst:

There are a few things that could have been better and have hopefully been corrected in the more recent entries to this series... The game is a bit rough around the edges, let's put it that way ?

 

For one, the physics and collision detection in this game are, at times, messed up. This is most noticeable when enemies try to jump on platforms while chasing you… they will often just not even touch the platform, float-mid air, do janky movements and, sometimes, fall back down.

This also translates to your own platforming... Trine is a puzzle-PLATFORMER, but the platforming is anything but precise here. Sometimes you will attempt to jump on a platform, only for your character to weirdly slip off the edge for no reason. Trying to double-jump up a high wall does sometimes work, sometimes it doesn't. I have honestly no idea whether it should work more often and is just messed up, or if It shouldn't even be a thing and it just sometimes just works by chance ??

 

What's also a bit disappointing are the enemies... there is almost no enemy variety, which is a shame. And it is one thing to have the same minions throughout the game (in later stages, you get the same enemies but with armor… yay! ?) There are like three bosses in this game, and it would have been great if they at least were unique… but nope, not even three unique bosses were possible... Not that the fighting aspect of this game is great anyways, but still. 

 

Lastly… balance. Zoya, as you can maybe derive from the above description, is extremely OP. The Wizard is pretty fragile in battle, but crucial for puzzle solving. The Knight is good in battle, but not very good outside of it. Zoya is just imba, and can pretty much go anywhere and kill anything on her own. I'm not necessarily complaining here, but she doesn't seem to be properly balanced, that's all.

 

 

The Challenge:  

There is nothing challenging about Trine. Most of the trophies come through natural play, with half of them being tied to collectibles, and some misc tasks that are pretty easy and quick to get out of the way.  

 

Then there is a trophy for completing the game on Hard (I believe this just gives enemies more health…), with Hardcore mode enabled. Hardcore mode makes it so that each checkpoint can only be activated once, and if all three characters die, you need to start the chapter from the beginning.

 

But even this mode is fairly easy, especially if you don't need to go out of your way for collectibles and attempt it only after all characters are fully upgraded. Health Upgrades and one free Revival per chapter make the fighting sections easier, and Amadeus' Floating Platform really reeks of cheese and makes most puzzle sections trivial. ?

Unfortunately, while playing through the game for this trophy, some of the chapters only registered for the host (Mori), so Koro and myself needed to replay a handful of chapters solo for the trophy to pop. After having played through the game once blind, then again once on hard / hardcore, and then having to do some chapters for the missed collectibles, and some chapters for hard / hardcore to register… the game got a bit tiring. One playthrough would have been enough ?

 

 

 

Overall, Trine was, for once, a relaxing game ?. However, it got a bit tiring after having to play it twice fully with some added chapter select. I believe that the game is best experienced in 3-player coop, as the unique characters really complement each other.

 

Nothing spectacular, but a good time regardless… Apparently Trine 2 is a bit more challenging, so let's see how our three heroes fare on their next adventure!

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

Yeah it's a quite alright indie game, nothing too taxing.

 

I have Trine 2: Complete Story as well, which a lot of people have said is rather easy despite it's ultra rare platinum. Nex Machina on the other hand looks quite challenging. Let me know how that game goes for you.

[Arcesius]

Dammit guys, I'm again one review behind! I finished Nex Machina, but before getting to that review, let's wrap up Trine 2, shall we... 

 

 

  Platinum #74 – Trine 2: Complete Story

 

 

 

The Pitch
The heroic trio is once more recruited by the Trine and sent on an important quest to set a hostage free, imprisoned by her jealous sister and guarded by a dragon and an army of Goblins that took over the kingdom.

 

 

100% Enjoyment 

 

100% Challenge

 

 

The Best:
Having just recently played the first Trine, it is directly noticeable that Trine 2 improves upon its predecessor in many ways. The game looks gorgeous and takes place in varied and unique environments, from enchanted forests, to underground mines, to the belly of an enormous creature, … You never know what you will see next (kinda like Dark Souls 2 ).

 

And with the new environments, there comes a new bestiary. Instead of the undistinguishable Skeletons from the first game, you are fighting Goblins now. And while there are only a handful of unique variations of enemies, they are all distinct enough to keep things interesting, both visually, and mechanically.

 

As for gameplay, Zoya, Pontius and Amadeus are back, but have now new abilities to play around with. Gone is the weird "trinket" system from the first game, where you could equip each character with up to 9 trinkets, and left is only a streamlined and very reduced skill-tree. Zoya is still Imba AF though ?. She now has the ability to create an anti-gravity bubble... For puzzle solving, together with Amadeus' planks it lets you pretty much cheese everything. In combat, it can't be penetrated by fire, making the more difficult encounters against dragons, or even the base game boss pretty trivial. But also Pontius has a more useful moveset than in the first game, especially his Shield-gliding is pretty neat.

 

 

The Worst:
And while the game improved upon many things, there are still several issues present in this sequel. The hitboxes / hit detection is still messed up, which unfortunately results in unprecise platforming. And that's really a shame, since the platforming is what makes this game fun for me (well, it's definitely not the combat… ?).

 

Then there are the collectibles. This time around, they are blue glowing fragments scattered throughout the levels. And they are EVERYWHERE. In some levels, there are up to 175 of these orbs, and often they are hidden somewhere at the top of some random building, close to the edge of the screen, or barely visible melting with the bright-colored background.
We once more did our first playthrough blind, and finished quite a few levels with only 1-2 orbs missing. I cannot tell you how much of a pain it is to look for the one or two orbs that you didn't find, given that the levels are waaaaaaaay longer than in the first game, and finding the one orb you missed out of 150+, even following a video-guide, isn't the easiest thing to do. ?

Oh, and since there are no trinkets anymore, chests now contain… paintings? Books? They don't do shit, so finding a chest this time around is kinda "meh, whatever".

 

And then there are the still present issues of online coop… As was already the case with the first game, some collectibles only count for the host. Luckily they were not too many, and most were in the same level, so that wasn't too frustrating. However, more infuriating was finding out that completing a level on Hard & Hardcore would only register for the host. Whyyyyyy?? This is a game made for coop, for crying out loud! At least make sure the coop-features work properly! ?

 

Unfortunately, I have read that some of these coop-issues are also present in Trine 3 and 4… Ugh. ?

 

 

The Challenge:  
Let's talk about the challenge. As the only game in the series, this is actually a UR platinum… And I don't really know why. ?

Finishing the game casually, and getting the miscellaneous trophies is very easy. Also completing a level with each character solo, and a level without taking damage shouldn't give anyone too much trouble.

 

Then of course there are the collectibles, which are a fucking pain, as mentioned above. But during clean-up we noticed that you can enable "levitation"… what does that do? Well, we could all three stand on a plank created by Amadeus, and we would just fly through the stages as if we were on a flying carpet ? Finding collectibles close to the top-edge of the screen was less of a pain this way, but still tedious AF. Still, nothing hard yet.

 

Now, completing each stage on Hard & Hardcore… One life per character / checkpoint, and can only activate each checkpoint once… sounds pretty hard, especially since the levels are so much longer than in the first game, and one single arrow can outright kill you… I did this solo because of what I mentioned above (a stage clear only registering for the host), but I gotta say it was way less difficult than I'd have thought…

• Puzzles: use Zoya's anti-gravity bubble and Amadeus' planks to block projectiles and create floating paths. Ah, well-matured cheese ?
• Fights: use Zoya's anti-gravity bubble to slow down enemies whenever needed, stand at a distance and grab enemies with Amadeus. You can use the environment to kill enemies, no need to engage in close-quarters combat.
  Against mini-bosses / bosses… Just use the bubble, and spam fire-arrows. Dragons can't do shit since the bubble blocks fire, and the other mini-bosses are so slow withing the bubble that you'd need to have the reaction time of a comatose turtle to get hit by them.

Then't it's just a matter of not dying of boredom, and the plat should unlock pretty quickly ?

 

I think I speak for the three of us when I say… It's gonna be a while before we return to Trine 3 / 4 ?

 

 

 

 

As for other games... I will be tackling the new Nioh 2 DLC next before starting The End is Nigh, a pretty obscure platformer by Edmund McMillen, who also designed Super Meat Boy.

 

Furthermore, you might have noticed that I started Warhammer: Vermintide 2... That will be a brutal game to complete, but we have a great team  (@Mori, @Koro249 and @Floriiss) so I'm confident that we will succeed!  Second session tonight! 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by Arcesius

[Copanele]

Congrats! So basically you played Trine 2 : Zoya's Bizarre adventure  

Also waiting to see what you will think of the new Nioh 2 DLC and its claw weapons

[Koro249]

Great review as always.

I fully agree with you but I actually didn't yet have the motivation to complete the hardcore run as its still so easy to die from all sorts of hazards in these looooong ass levels and its just frustrating to replay it all... Especially if you die to the games stupid hitboxes or bugs instead of your own mistake. I'm now slowly working my way through, doing 1 or 2 levels a day ?.

 

Really iterested in what you think about The End is Nigh as I love McMillens work and I've also been looking at the game for a while now.

 

And I'm really looking forward to diving into the world of Vermintide 2. This will be a huge project but we will nail it as we always do ?

Edited October 15, 2020 by Koro249

[ZoutjeNL]

Great review and well done on Trine! I'm not big into puzzle games, but I decided to complete both trine 1 and 2. I didn't really like it that much and with all the issues in co-op like you mentioned I don't see me playing the games ever again. I also heard that Trine 3 is rushed and not even complete. 

 

Looking forward to your experience with the latest Nioh 2 DLC! Still need to tackle both DLC. But The Witcher 3 needs to be platted first for my #50 milestone

[Copanele]

@Arcesius I saw some claws gameplay yesterday from a friend who is nuts about this game...man oh MAN if you have the time please try them and tell me how they feel  because from what I have seen they are the most fun stuff to try in these types of games. Going Fist of the North Star in Nioh looks so satisfying.

[AJ_Radio]

Nioh 2 already got more damn DLC?

 

If the game is already hard for filthy Soulsborne casuals like myself, it will be a LONG time before I'll ever get around to Nioh and Nioh 2 and finish them.

 

Good job on getting Trine 2: Complete Story and Nex Machina done. Looking forward to your review on Nex Machina, wonder how "doable" it will be for a guy like me. Between Nex Machina, Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition, Matterfall and Alienation, I'm not sure which one is the best. Still need to go back and wrap up some of the Resogun DLC.

[Copanele]

1 minute ago, Spaz said:

Nioh 2 already got more damn DLC?

 

If the game is already hard for filthy Soulsborne casuals like myself, it will be a LONG time before I'll ever get around to Nioh and Nioh 2 and finish them.

 

It's DLC 2 out of 3 even  they will release a third one too. And yeaaaah they are tough. Actual tough.

[AJ_Radio]

2 minutes ago, Copanele said:

It's DLC 2 out of 3 even  they will release a third one too. And yeaaaah they are tough. Actual tough.

 

And the trophy percentages are even more skewed than they are in the From Software games.

[ZoutjeNL]

One annoyance is that the difficulty is always in the DLC, why is the plat always so easy in comparison and makes the DLC the real challenge? I hate to see this trend usually within games these days. Either way, I am interested to see what the fist will do with the new DLC like Copanele mentioned that could be really kickass.

[Arcesius]

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

@Arcesius I saw some claws gameplay yesterday from a friend who is nuts about this game...man oh MAN if you have the time please try them and tell me how they feel  because from what I have seen they are the most fun stuff to try in these types of games. Going Fist of the North Star in Nioh looks so satisfying.

 

Well, as usual, you need to get the Mystic Art with the new weapon, so I will be playing Wolverine whether I like it or not ? But I always dual-wield, so dual-fists should fit my playstyle just fine... I dunno if I want to grind to put a DotD together for the new weapon though... I currently have +18 divine gear, and it would take quite a while to put together a decent claw build... But I might do DotD with my current Dual Sword build and play some NG with claws  

 

Will definitely let you know what I think about it! 

 

 

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

Nioh 2 already got more damn DLC?

 

If the game is already hard for filthy Soulsborne casuals like myself, it will be a LONG time before I'll ever get around to Nioh and Nioh 2 and finish them.

 

Yeah, same as Nioh, there are 3 DLCs planned. I got the Season Pass though... I usually don't get games on release, or pay full price for them.. with Nioh 2, I just got the Digital Deluxe Edition pre-launch, I just love the game so much ?

 

And it's definitely worth it... By the time I'm done with DLC3 I will have spent ~200h with Nioh 2 I estimate, so it was definitely worth paying full price... And the game has no performance issues or anything like that, no bugs (that I encountered).... it was really polished from the start. 

 

Can definitely recommend both games, but they are a time investment, that's for sure. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

Good job on getting Trine 2: Complete Story and Nex Machina done. Looking forward to your review on Nex Machina, wonder how "doable" it will be for a guy like me. Between Nex Machina, Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition, Matterfall and Alienation, I'm not sure which one is the best. Still need to go back and wrap up some of the Resogun DLC.

 

I should have the review up next week. It is definitely doable. I am putting together a guide and I would rate it 7/10 and around 30 hours for the plat, give or take. It is around the same difficulty as Furi I'd say, only that you cannot save-scum since it's an Arcade game (maybe a bit easier..?)

 

Note that Furi would be way harder than Nex Machina if you couldn't save-scum. But using saves, I'd put both games around the same difficulty. 

 

I will pick up Matterfall next time it goes on sale. I played Alienation with @BB-BakkerJ and I thought it was a ton of fun, so can definitely recommend that one, at least if you can play it in coop. But I still think Nex Machina is even better  

 

 

40 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

One annoyance is that the difficulty is always in the DLC, why is the plat always so easy in comparison and makes the DLC the real challenge? I hate to see this trend usually within games these days. Either way, I am interested to see what the fist will do with the new DLC like Copanele mentioned that could be really kickass.

 

Especially because of DotD... If you needed to complete the base game on DotD for the plat, it would already be more difficult, but NG isn't the real Nioh... you don't need to think much about builds or anything. The real game starts with NG++ in my opinion, and is also the most fun difficulty to play for me. 

 

I'm jumping into the DLC today, straight on DotD, as I already did with the first one... no idea what to expect!  

[Arcesius]

  Platinum #75 – Nex Machina

 

 

 

The PitchPut your reflexes to the test with this fast-paced and gorgeous Arcade twin-stick shooter. The robot apocalypse is nigh, humanity needs your help...

Put your reflexes to the test with this fast-paced and gorgeous Arcade twin-stick shooter filled with neon and particle effects by Finnish developer Housemarque: The robot apocalypse is nigh and humanity needs your help... Let's go!

 

 

100% Enjoyment 

 

100% Challenge

 

 

The Best

Ah, Nex Machina... A game suggested to me by multiple people with great taste, but that took me a while to get to. I got it on a pretty recent sale for the ridiculous price of around 4€, but after playing it I wouldn't even be mad had I paid full-price. This game - and after the last couple of completions I'm even more glad to be able to write this - is such a good time! ? Holy hell, it already made a good impression from the little gameplay I had watched on the PS store, but man if this wasn't a great experience! 

 

But I want to keep the reviews short, so let me get straight to the best parts. Let's start with the music. There are certain games where the soundtrack is not that important... I'm thinking about games like Diablo, Gauntlet, etc... It's nice to have some soundtrack, but it is not integral to the experience. But for games like Nex Machina, packed with action, fast-paced, requiring quick reflexes and focus, the music can make all the difference. And I will compliment Nex Machina by comparing it to another game I think nails this aspect to an extent few games do... And that game is Furi. In both games, the music improves the experience significantly, and contributes towards keeping you "in the zone".

 

Just note for example how the music changes between the regular levels, to the boss stage. The impact of the bullets on the boss perfectly fit the beat of the music, and creates the tense atmosphere it needs to for you to stay focused and not die to one of the zillions of projectiles coming at you: 

 

 

Also, did you notice how all other sound effects are so that they are heard over the music? There is no confusion, you hear something and you know what it is that you picked up, what the sound means. Everything is well distinguishable and recognizable. They really did a great job here. ?

 

Then of course the level design. There are (only) six different worlds, but they all have a unique feel to them. You go from a forest, to a fire cave, to a futuristic city, ... It's very varied, and each world has their unique enemies (even though they are all robots.. that's what the game is about). But not only that. The different stages within a level seem to be on a rotating "cube" of some sort, and you will often see past or future stages in the background, upside down, on the side... it is genuineny very interesting how they put together each world, and while they could just as easily (if not even easier) link all stages in a linear fashion, the level transitions are part of the charme. 

 

 

And of course, the most important aspect... gameplay. The game has really easy controls. This is a twin-stick shooter, so aiming and shooting are done with the analogue sticks. Other than that, you have your secondary weapon and your dash on the shoulder buttons. That's it... Very simple, very effective. The game speed is very slow on the lowest difficulty setting (which I wouldn't recommend playing anyways, only for Misc trophy cleanup...), but is on point on Experienced to get into the game, and is perfect on Veteran. There is always something happening on screen, there is almost no room for a breather, so you better keep shooting the hordes of enemies trying to swarm you, taking down bigger foes with your secondary weapon, all while avoiding the neon bullet-hell unfolding around you. Once you are used to the speed and the enemies, you can play to get higher scores as well, at which point you should also focus on secondary objectives such as rescuing humans before they are harvested by robots, destroy hidden objects, etc... Just... fantastic.. ?

 

 

The Worst

You know, after the major issues I had with the last couple of games I reviewed, there really isn't too much to criticize about Nex Machina, so I'll keep it short. For one, the narrator's voice comes out of the DS4, which really I'm not a fan of (that's it? That's your critique? Really?). 

 

Other than that, the game is pretty short... As mentioned above, there are only six worlds, and you can - once you are familiar with the game - clear each world in around 6 minutes or less. Of course there is always something more to do, like getting higher scores, or playing on even higher difficulties... But even an Arcade run, where you beat all worlds in a row, "only" takes 30-40 minutes. 

 

And finally, the only "real" issue I have with the game... When you destroy a crate containing a secondary weapon, it starts rotating options. Say you open the crate, and the weapon is the "Laser". After 1-2 seconds the weapon rotates to the "Powershot", then the "Rocket Launcher", etc... Meaning that if you want a specific weapon, you need to pick it up when it has rotated to that weapon, and have only a small window to pick it up before it has rotated to the next option. With the game being so hectic, it is not always easy to pick up whatever you want.... And picking up the wrong weapon can screw you big time. 

It actually happened to me that during an Arcade run on Veteran, I got to the fifth boss (the hardest boss in the run) and instead of picking up the "Smartbomb" I acidentally picked up the "Sword". That happened to me TWICE IN A ROW! ? And no, I didn't beat the Architect with the sword ? Not on Veteran at least (but I got to Phase 3, so there's that...). 

 

 

The Challenge:  

Now, the challenge. Let me say that the developers have been really nice to us here. The trophy list is, in my opinion, right on point. There is enough stuff on there that will keep you playing for around 30 hours despite the game being pretty short, while offering a decent challenge. 

Most trophies are pretty straightforward and will have you complete Arcade runs on various difficulties or without using any continues. The hardest trophy for the platinum is definitely completing an arcade run on Veteran, but after practicing each individual world on that difficulty, the run is more than manageable. 

 

Then there are a bunch of Misc trophies, of which many will come through natural play, but even those that don't are easy enough, and more importantly, pretty fun to go after. ?

 

However, I say that the developers have been really nice... Because let me tell you, if the trophy "Complete 100" feats would instead have been "Complete ALL feats", this would have been without a doubt a straight 10/10 in difficulty. 

Feats are various tasks you need to complete.. they range from saving all humans in a world, to defeating each boss with a specific weapon, to beating each world on various difficulty settings under a certain time limit,... They are extra challenges, so to speak. 

 

Now, there are over 200 feats, so completing 100 of them isn't too bad, since you can pick the ones that take the least amout of time. However, there are feats for beating the true final boss, Nex Machina, which you can only face after completing an Arcade run without using any continue, so there is no way to practice the fight other than at the end of a successful 1CC Arcade run.. An there is a feat for beating him on Experienced, on Veteran, on Master and ON HERO ? Yes, you see that right. there are two more difficulties after Veteran. In particular, a Hero run can only be started after a successful Master run! Now, imagine having to defeat Nex Machina on Hero... I doubt that more than a handful of people have actually achieved that feat. 

 

So yeah... for the platinum, you only have to beat the first world on Master... Thank you, Housemarque ? 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Arcesius

[Mori]

16 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

-snip-

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time for a change.  

Solid review as always, keep it up. ?

 

Regarding the "devs have been nice", I 100% agree. Like you've said, it could have been a 9/10 or even 10/10.

To my shame, I've never managed to beat TLB on Experience difficulty, so just imagining it on Hero or Master...

 

Did you have any shortage of feats to do? If I remember correctly, I just had enough "easy" feats to reach 100. I think 125 could have been much more difficult already, could be wrong though.

 

 

Anyway, good luck and have fun with TEiN, I'll join you soon.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Mori

[HusKy]

24 minutes ago, Mori said:

Anyway, good luck and have fun with TEiN, I'll join you soon.

 

Fastest time is 6 days, 3 hours. You can do it.

[Arcesius]

40 minutes ago, Mori said:

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time for a change.  

Solid review as always, keep it up. 

 

Thanks man, always appreciate a nice feedback  

 

 

Quote

Regarding the "devs have been nice", I 100% agree. Like you've said, it could have been a 9/10 or even 10/10.

To my shame, I've never managed to beat TLB on Experience difficulty, so just imagining it on Hero or Master...

 

Did you have any shortage of feats to do? If I remember correctly, I just had enough "easy" feats to reach 100. I think 125 could have been much more difficult already, could be wrong though.

 

I think there were still a couple that would have been alright... Not saving any humans on each world (I only did Techno Forest for the Nihilist trophy), saving ALL humans in each world on Veteran (again, only did Techno Forest), killing a certain amount of each enemy... But it stops there... I think ~110-115 would still have been fine, even if already more time consuming than getting 100, but 125 would have been pretty hard already! 

 

 

Quote

Anyway, good luck and have fun with TEiN, I'll join you soon.

 

14 minutes ago, HusKy said:

Fastest time is 6 days, 3 hours. You can do it.

 

Well, by that logic, fastest SMB time is sub 10 hours, so what are you waiting for, @HusKy? ?

 

In all honesty, I think TEiN will be pretty difficult. The game only has ~300 owners (and only 23 platinum achievers), so the percentages are not very significant. Completing all cartridges will be tough. 

 

On Steam there is an achievement for beating the game deathless. That would have put TEiN above SMB in terms of difficulty. But with the current trophy list, it should be a bit more manageable, but still challenging.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Arcesius

[HusKy]

1 minute ago, Arcesius said:

Well, by that logic, fastest SMB time is sub 10 hours, so what are you waiting for, @HusKy? 

 

Currently it's 13 seconds. Unfortunately, I'm not as skilled as the guy at the top.

[Mori]

21 minutes ago, HusKy said:

 

Fastest time is 6 days, 3 hours. You can do it.

 

Sure, give me 5 days.

 

8 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Well, by that logic, fastest SMB time is sub 10 hours, so what are you waiting for, @HusKy? 

 

Yeah Husky, what are you waiting for? After Crash 4, you do SMB, how about that?  

 

8 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

In all honesty, I think TEiN will be pretty difficult. The game only has ~300 owners (and only 23 platinum achievers), so the percentages are not very significant. Completing all cartridges will be tough. 

 

Did you expect it to be easy?  But yeah, Koro recently sent me an interview with Edmund McMillen where he says that TEiN is (or might be) the most difficult game of his.

 

Spoiler

 

 

8 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

On Steam there is an achievement for beating the game deathless. That would have put TEiN above SMB in terms of difficulty. But with the current trophy list, it should be a bit more manageable, but still challenging.

 

Devs have been nice again.

[Grotz99]

7 hours ago, Arcesius said:

  Platinum #75 – Nex Machina

 

Congratz on getting the platinum in this beast of a game. I tried it a while back and liked what I saw, but my skills were not up to snuff at that time. I recently jumped back into it a little to help bring down my unearned trophy count and it is just a fun game to pop in for quick breaks. I'm not sure I'll be able to get the platinum, but I'm going to see what I can knock out, I'm not that good at these bullet hell type of games. If there is one of these I'm going to get to better at, it might as well be this one.

[Arcesius]

8 hours ago, Mori said:

Did you expect it to be easy?  But yeah, Koro recently sent me an interview with Edmund McMillen where he says that TEiN is (or might be) the most difficult game of his.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Haha not at all ? But it's kinda weird to think that this game is THAT challenging given that it's not even UR. You know how it is.. you start a UR game, you have the mentality of "this is gonna be a bitch"... With this game.. it seems so tame, but it will definitely be a challenge. But a fun one, I'm sure! 

 

Awesome video by the way... Noclip has excellent documentaries. This dude is one interesting guy to listen to! 

 

 

1 hour ago, Grotz99 said:

Congratz on getting the platinum in this beast of a game. I tried it a while back and liked what I saw, but my skills were not up to snuff at that time. I recently jumped back into it a little to help bring down my unearned trophy count and it is just a fun game to pop in for quick breaks. I'm not sure I'll be able to get the platinum, but I'm going to see what I can knock out, I'm not that good at these bullet hell type of games. If there is one of these I'm going to get to better at, it might as well be this one.

 

It definitely is fun for short breaks. That is the advantage of a world only taking a couple of minutes to beat... ? I usually don't play bullet-hell type of games either, so I cannot really say that I'm good at them... I think Furi was the first game in this direction, but also the only one I've played besides Nex Machina. 

 

Have fun with the game!! The platinum is a decent challenge, won't deny that! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!! I'm actually writing a guide for the game, so I hope to be able to give helpful hints  Also, a couple of people frequenting this checklist have also played the game and I'm sure they would also be glad to help you out! So, just ask away! 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Arcesius