Kill Your Completion 9

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #10 - Tales of Xillia - Preview

 

 

Alright, I'm fairly certain that I'll enjoy this one. Full disclosure, I started this game 4 years ago or so, but never got far enough to unlock a trophy. I might have to start over anyway though, as I doubt I'll remember how he combat works in it.

 

If memory doesn't fail me, I liked this one well enough back then. Also having enjoyed Tales of Berseria gives me high hopes for any entry of this series. Hopefully I haven't gotten too burned out by RPGs throughout the event.

Edited March 28, 2019 by voodoo_eyes

[Edunstar84]

Game #4 - Tales of Xillia 2 - First Impressions

 

Playtime: 1 hour 10 minutes 

Trophies: 0/49

 

Like voodoo_eyes, I played this game years ago, but didn't get far enough to earn a trophy. I think it's been 4 years, if you can believe it. I got to 13 hours of the game previously and would have to go to back to relearn the combat once more. Can I just say that the graphics hold up. This definitely doesn't feel dated. I know some fans complain about the boring graphics, but it sets you up to feel that the recent installments aren't  too old. 

 

Writing that, I do like the combat very much. It's nice, fun, and fresh. It's a lot more complex than ToX 1, but doesn't seem as convoluted as Zestiria. I still need to get back into that mess of a game! 

 

The story isn't fleshed out yet, but I'm enjoying it. There's a silent protagonist, which having played Ys 8 (Adol is also a silent protagonist), I don't mind as much. Although since ToX 2 gives more story, it kind of feels empty in places where other characters are talking. From the get-go, you're thrust into battle with a mysterious person learning the very basics. After a couple of grear scenes, you enter the first dungeon, which is a test to get into your brother's company. Well, you failed and need to take a job as a chef - almost like real life, eh?

 

Obviously there's  a lot more to the story that I can write about. Very quickly I can say that you get to meet some old faces from the 1st game, and Namco tried going dark for this one. Anyway, I'm going back in to play some more. 

[dizzyshadow]

so for various reasons I've fallen way behind with my reviews, so time for a catch up

 

Game 7 : Batman - The Enemy Within

 

I'm gradually working my way through the telltale back catalogue, i played the 1st batman recently, so was keen to see how the story progressed. The story carries on from where the first left off and focuses on John Doe and his friendship with Bruce Wayne, they make good use of the extended universe of batman characters and chances are if your favourite villain wasn't in the first game they will be in this one, The majority of this game is actually spent playing as Bruce Wayne, batman only pops up on a couple of occasions (or at least that was how it was on my playthrough) which leads to choices where you have to be quite deceptive. I found myself making much darker decisions than i usually would, i normally play games with the aim of trying to get a "happy" ending, but here i abandoned an ally to their fate and really quite cruel to another character at the end, I think this is one of the later telltale games so the choices are a bit more varied than some of the earlier ones, and i did feel like i was having to make tough decisions for self preservation.

 

I enjoyed my playthrough and will keep working through the back catalogue, But to be honest you already know if you will like or want to play this game, if you are a batman fan or like the telltale game series then you'll enjoy it, if you aren't a fan of either then probably best to steer clear.

 

 

Playtime: 10 hours

Trophies 31/31

Rating : 

 

[dizzyshadow]

Game 8 Little Dragon Cafe

 

I went off script here, game 8 was supposed to be Gwent but the more i thought about it the less i wanted to try it, so having picked this up recently, i decided to sub this in instead. Unfortunately that may have been the wrong decision because its just Dull, the pacing is all wrong and there just isn't enough to do to keep you interested while you wait for the events that you need to happen to progress the story. So you just end up repeating the same tasks over and over again which doesn't hold you interest for long, and the story just isn't interesting enough that i'm desperate to see what happens.

 

Anyway a little more about the game, you are the son or daughter who helps out in your mum's cafe and then your mum falls ill so its left for you to run the cafe yourself, a mysterious stranger says your Mum is ill because she is part dragon and the only way you can cure her is raise a dragon from the egg he gives you, which seems to involve just feeding it lots of meals. You end up recruiting a band of misfits to help with the day to day running of the cafe.

 

Game play involves exploring to find ingredient which are suspiciously familiar but grow in interesting places (carrot bushes anyone?),  and fragments of new recipes which seem to exist in stack of boxes around the world. There is a fairly basic rhythm game to cook meals in the cafe and then you can help[ the NPCs with the tasks of running the cafe or shout at them to to stop them slacking off and then they will do it themselves. Every so often a special NPC will show up and you must find and cook them a special meal to progress the story, however this plays out over several days which makes it painfully slow.

 

One to avoid in my opinion, which is a shame because it could have been a good little game.

 

Playtime: 5 hours

Rating: 

Trophies:  5/22

[dizzyshadow]

Game 9: SubNautica

 

This is a game i got for my birthday, have to admit its not quite what i expected, i was imaging a fairly relaxed underwater exploration game Maybe similar to endless ocean or ABZU. However lots actually quite different its really a survival game at its core.

 

You start off running for an escape pod on you space ship which is crashing, having just managed to escape in time you are knocked out, and awake to find yourself stranded on a planet which seems to be entirely covered in water, the wreckage of your spaceship can be seen nearby. You have no option but to jump in and start exploring, your pod has only basic supplies (food water) but luckily it does have a fabricator which means if you can find the resources it make all manner of things for you. At first you have no equipment so you are really limited in what you can do, first priority is to get air tanks and other scuba gear, as you do this what you can explore further and find more things. However as this an Alien world everything is unfamiliar, and you find out by experimentation (friend or foe, safe or deadly), there is no tutorial at all you do have a PDA which provides basic hints but its left up to you what to do, because of that you can miss something really important, i spent hours struggling along without one of the most important tools. You can also wander into areas you can't solve yet as you don't have the required tools. But i does add to the atmosphere of being totally on your own.

 

As the game progresses there are many more things to find and mysteries to solve, which start to explain what is going on. Its a really gripping experience the sense of adventure and exploration is one of the best I've felt in any game.  However that does make It is what i call a high stress game - one where i feel constantly on edge while playing as the unknown makes it quite sinister in places.

 

I'm sure there is far  to this game than i have experience so far, i'm pretty sure base building is fairly key element i'm yet  to reach, and presumably an end game of some sort. Definitely one ii'm looking forward to returning to, but probably in short bursts.

 

 

Playtime: 5 hours

Trophies 2/18

Rating: 

Completion: 56.38%

 

Next Up: Astro Bot

[Gretchen27]

Game 5: First Impressions
Collar X Malice

Play time: 1hr
Percent Change: -2.03%

Last game  I did start this one on time, though the beginning of this week has been busier than usual so I only got around to the first 15min then. Wanted to clear at least the prologue to have something to write about. I won't put any story spoilers in this or the last impression.

A few months after several police officers go missing, they reappear in a televised event showcasing something called X-Day. Adonis, the voice modulated host warns the people of Shinjuku that all of them are being watched for judgement, with these captives just the beginning. The officers are subsequently killed a little while later as punishment for their crimes. Only one body is found though...I'm sensing maybe the others aren't dead, maybe in on it willingly or under duress. Or maybe Adonis just wants to drop bodies later; it's a VN after all, there's always more outcomes. Anyway, the government decides to quarantine Shinjuku hoping to keep the criminals inside the district (who the hell ever said they were based there?) Better yet they repeal their weapons law, allowing the citizens to open carry for protection. Icing on the cake: they issue every adult citizen with their own gun. Albeit it's chipped to alert the police when/where it's fired, with ballistics of course being registered to the owner. Sounds like a great plan to trap terrorized citizens & give them weapons.

The main protagonist you follow along with is Detective Hishino (first name of your choosing). She's a member of a special task force created because of the aforementioned events to manage incoming reports associated with citizens & their new open carry policy. Basically, she gets to deal with any & all calls related to X-day. Which I still have no clear idea what that is. From the prologue it seems to be a judgement/sentencing day where those Adonis chose to watch are then ultimately killed. Haven't heard of anyone passing to live through X-Day, yet. Great odds for Hishino, the next subject.

I'm liking this so far, just wish this week would allow for more time to read it. But the weekend is almost here so I'll be able to clear a route then.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 9

Game No. 6

 

 

Batman

 

Playing Time: 3 hours

Trophies Earned: 6/31 (20% E ranking)

 

Final Thoughts: So to know where this review is coming from, when you say Batman, I think of Adam West. I know that's blasphemous in many circles, but it shows my age (I watched the re-runs as a kid, I'm not THAT old). I don't even think Michael Keaton was Batman until I was in high school.  Batman didn't really exist in comics for me either. Comics were things you begged your parents for at Woolworths, there was no such thing as a Comic Book store.

  I've never been on the Superhero cinema gravy train, but I have seen a majority of the Batman movies, though mostly the older ones (Val Kilmer, Clooney). I have seen two of the Christopher Nolan ones, and those seem to be the best received. It seems this game's interpretation of Batman is mining the Christian Bale vein. It could be a Comic version of Batman too, but I wouldn't know.

  Anyways, let's get to the game. This is Telltales version of Batman, and it was free on PS+ awhile back. This is my third foray into a Telltales game; the first was better than expected (Tales...Borderlands), the second one was a giant fart in your face (Game of Thrones).

  I managed to get one episode into this and I have to say, I'm really enjoying it. For the uninitiated, Telltales games are intended to be like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, except of course, they're not because whatever choices you seem to make, it doesn't affect the story in any such way. 

  That said, in this game, you get to be Bruce Wayne just as often as you are Batman. As Mr. Wayne, you are shmoozing with the big wigs of Gotham, as well as gathering intelligence for your alter ego. Even for a Bat noob such as myself, the names are quite recognizable with Commissioner Gordon, Vicki Vale and Alfred. So far, the baddies that have showed up are Cat Woman, Harvey Dent, and possibly, Penguin.  I don't know his backstory, but Penguin to me was always an old coot, because Burgess Meredith is a LEGEND. In this, I think there's a young English kid who's on the verge of becoming the Penguin, so maybe this is following the comic series. 

  As Batman, you follow QTE prompts in battle, and examine clues at crime scenes.  You need to link the clues together to advance the story. It's a bit unusual, but it adds depth to the story.  There's also plenty of Bat fan service, where you can explore and go into depth on all of the gadgets, as well as getting bios on individuals.

  As there's not much to do gameplay wise in Telltales, their games heavily rely on the storyline. And so far, this one delivers.  There are a number of characters introduced, and a web of storylines that I assume, will eventually tie together. Bruce Wayne comes across as a cool, calm character, with a bit more wit than I expected.  Bantering back and forth with Cat Woman as borh Batman and Wayne was decent writing for a video game.

  Only one episode in and I will give this a 

 

Next Up: A bunch of games. Was traveling last week and this week I've been dealing with the Insurance Company and the Restoration/ Roofing crew (quick update, demo is complete, waiting on bids).

  Because of that, my PS3 packed away to prevent water damage, and my current game-playing TV being under 30 inches (), I decided to pick four short PS4 games that don't rely on graphics or active gameplay. So this week, I've played Word Search by Powgi and Bridge Constructor (reviews coming...). I will also play Burly Men at Sea and probably an Artifex Mundi title to get to 10 games. Sorry for ad libbing at the last minute, but without a family den, it's the best I can do. 

[Edunstar84]

Game #4 - Tales of Xillia 2 - Final Impressions

 

 

Playtime: 3 hours 10 minutes

Trophies: 0/49

 

Not only do I have to deal with debt in real life, I have to deal with it in this game to a toon of 20 million gald. See, what had happened was that I was trying to save a train from crashing into a company, and I got badly hurt doing it. When I woke up some medical guy took it upon himself to treat me, a little girl, and my pet cat. To save the girl from slavery (this medical guy wasn't joking), I had to sign a contract saying that I'd pay the debt in full. Fun for me!

 

The rest of the story wasn't that bad, and I actually enjoy it now more than I did when I played it before. I remember being particularly salty for having to do the same trophies but with twice the grind than Xillia 1. The skits, though, aren't the best that the Tales of series has to offer. I would put it last on my list. But what I like about the series is the extra stuff. In this game it's finding 100 cats for my cat lady neighbor, which sounds boring but you can send these cats to collect items for you. 

 

The battle system is based on link artes where you can link to partner to perform special moves based on increasing a bar on the left. When the bar becomes full, you and your partner perform series of non-blockable moves. What kicks it for me is that you can't perform the same moves twice in a row, and if you do then you lose the combo. This means that when you do these you have to remember which button is tied to which move. That's the one thing I don't like about the combat, but I assume you get used to it eventually.

 

Recommend: Nah, there are better JRPGs, and the trophy list might put some off. I'll never going back to see what happens with Jude and Milla.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Edunstar84

[Edunstar84]

Game #5 - Word Search by POWGI - Review

 

Playtime: 3+ hours

Trophies: 18/34

 

This is basically a digital word search game encompassing different themes, such as countries, rivers, drinks and so on. My game time went like this:

 

The first hour...."Wow, what a great relaxing game with equally relaxing music".

 

2 hours later...."Ok. The music is getting annoying. I might as well mute it and play my own. And also, I need a break."

 

The plat and the trophies are super easy to get, I'd recommend this game and others from the POWGI developers, though this would probably be it for me. A great thing about their games is that all of the games have different regions and platforms (Vita & PS4). This would be my second time completing the game (with the help of the guide this time). During the previous time, it took me about 3-5 minutes to complete a puzzle, with a guide it takes 1-3 minutes.

[DamagingRob]

Game #5, Final Review, Dragon Ball FighterZ

 

 

A day early, but I've pretty much experienced everything this game has to offer. Basically, all I can do now is play more ranked matches in a vain attempt to reach 530k BP, or grind for Zeni. :/ The former will probably require boosting, and I'm honestly thinking of buying a turbo controller to save my sanity for the latter. Lol. 

 

Most of my time the last few days has been spent playing Story Mode, which is long and tedious... The story itself is fine (other than Android 21 having one of the most shrill voices I've ever heard, and making my ears bleed). But it's like the developers played Budokai 2, and thought that board game thing was cool. So yeah, story mode has you moving your piece on the board to different spots, and fighting many meaningless fights along the way.. It also has an RPG feel to it, as your characters level up. But only the ones you're using gain XP, which led to me having terribly underleveled fighters when I started it on Hard. 

 

Despite my grievances with Story Mode and Arena matchmaking, it still is a lot of fun. Fights are fast and flashy, and are a sight to behold. Every fight is 3 on 3, and strategy can play a part just as much as skill. Such as switching to a different character, so the other can recover health. And activating a special ability once per fight that temporarily makes you a lot stronger and rapidly regenerates your health. 

 

You'll start the game from a lobby every time, and run around with a chibi Dragon Ball character to select game modes. You can probably guess who mine is. I saw a familiar name one day. @Bos10George and I were in the same lobby. But I don't know if he recognized me, since I was only using "Rob" as my display name. But yeah, there are a lot of areas you can go to. 

 

There's the Arena, which is smackdab in the middle. And then 8 paths in a small circle. Going clockwise, the first takes you to an area with a statue of Hercule. Here you can participate in Union fights, which is something you're able to join from a little hut near the Arena. You just choose a DBZ character to represent, basically. Every win gives your team points, and the team with the most points at the end of the event wins. Interestingly enough, when I tried it, I ran into someone who appeared to be turboing. Lol. Just kept doing the combo over and over. Also, they sometimes have party battles here. I haven't tried one, but they sound interesting. One person controls one of the 3 fighters, I think. 

 

The next area is Muscle Tower, which is where Arcade Mode can be found. And after that, is the Local Battle area which looks like the Cell Games ring. Then the World Tournament ring is next. This is where you enter Ranked and Casual online matches. After those is the Kame House, where you can do party battles anytime. And the last two, containing a time machine and King Kai's planet, are where Story and Practice Mode are. And the final path is just the entrance/exit. 

 

Then there are a number of guys in the center ring by the Arena you can talk to. There you can watch replays, buy items from the shop, and visit your trophy room. Items are really only cosmetic stuff, but seem to be all Zeni is good for. I don't know how you unlock new trophies to decorate your room. I've only had one the entire time, and I may have had it from the start. 

 

Nothing more to really say. But it's another fun fighting game from Arcsys, looks great, and has some awesome music. Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Dragon Ball or their other games. Another to  score.

 

Time played: According to stats, over 32 hours. But some of that was probably idle time.

Trophy progress: 31/36 for 78% and an A rank. 

Completion Percentage Drop: -0.01%(-0.63% overall). Making progress on my bonus game has kind of kept this one from lowering it at all. 

[Arctic Cress]

So, in the end, I didn't start any of the three games I said I was going to start. I blame TrueTrophies for starting up a new challenge at the end of March with basically no warning, and being one of the 31 who has completed all of their challenges, I felt obligated to do as much as I could towards this one as well. Combine that with a few 55 hour work weeks and there was no time to start the games on my list. However, I did start a number of other games for that challenge, and I'll be making a few write-ups today and tomorrow on those instead of the ones I had planned.

[MidnightDragon]

I’ve been so busy and having to deal with so many real life issues I didn’t have time to start Assassin’s Creed II. I feel bad, but better than lying about it. For KYC 10, if I do it, I’ll make sure it works differently. Thanks to @voodoo_eyes for hosting and putting up with all my demands.  

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #10 - Tales of Xillia - Final Impressions

 

 

Time played: a bit over 3 hours

Trophies earned: 1/46

 

 

Apparently I only was 49 minutes into the game back when I played it last. As a result I just continued my save seeing as I was still getting tutorials. Somehow I actually managed to get a trophy, which I didn't expect to happen after such a relatively short time.

 

Graphicall it looks fine for the system it is on. Most of the dialogue has voice acting and the english voices are good enough. The combat feeks like a small step back having played Berseria and generally needs to be simplified. As a group of 3 you can run into enemies on the overowlrd and go into battle. It's sort of real time, combat, but lacks fluidity due to attacks using up  points.

 

You can find items in chests or randomly scattered throughout the environment (with some loot being hidden in houses that can be found if you face plant the walls) or as enemy drops. You can sell and buy items at vendors and receive quests from the townspeople.

 

The major thing that bothers me is the lack of direction. You get a quest saying that you need to do or get a partocular thing, but it doesn't tell you where. It also doesn't help that you get several ways to go. There is also no fast travel, at least at this point and I'm not the biggest fan of having to travel back and forth through 3+ areas to deliver a quest.

 

 

It's still a , but definitely worse than Berseria.

[Edunstar84]

Game #6 - Stardew Valley - 1st Impressions

 

 

Playtime: 1 hour

Trophies: 0/41

 

Right at the start my character's grandpa dies, and he left me a run-down farm in his will on the premise that when life kicks me down I can start a new one as a farmer. Well, I did grandpa! I left my crappy job to become and even poorer farmer. At the very least I might enjoy this job a bit more. So I take a bus to Stardew Valley and never looked back. Although I can't tell because my character's so small.

 

When Tori first sees Belleview Farm (you get to character and farm create in this game), it freaks her out just a little bit, but the mayor reassures her that there's good soil underneath all the overgrowth. As a welcoming present he gifts me with some parsnip seeds to get me going. And thus starts my 1st day.

 

After that you can pretty much do whatever you want, and there's little in the game that guides you. It feels refreshing not having to go through hours of tutorials again. I only made it to 4 days in my first hour, but I think I did pretty well. Thankfully the game gives you little "quests" to complete to make sure you're going on the right track, which is very much appreciated. I also like the soothing soundtrack. After an hour it doesn't sound grating, annoying, or boring.

[voodoo_eyes]

Well it's past 4 AM and am still wide awake, so might as well do the round-up now while I have the Capcom Pro Tour 2019 running in the background.

 

 

From best to worst this one ended up being one of the weaker lists I've chosen for these events.

 

1. Tales of Xillia - solid overall, but needs the usual fine-tuning.
2. White Night - a pleasant surprise, that has a few questionable design choices.
3. Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 - seemed good enough so far, but has the potential to drop down in enjoyment if it gets to the point of having to grind in order to progress.
4. Tomb Raider Legend - feels dated and a tad clunky, but is still more enjoyable than the remaining games on the list.
5. Blue Reflection - Having played at least 10 hours by now, it lacks variety. It boils down to the same routine everytime and the story holds no inteerst to me at all.
6. GTA: San Andreas - This looks really bad on PS4, and unfortunately the gameplay itself isn't all that smooth either. Having had occasions where the game ran at single digit frames.
7. Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed - Offers no variety whatsoever. If you play one mission, you'll have experienced everything the game has to offer.
8. Saw 2 - Janky as hell, piss poor combat and the only redeeming factor being the puzzles don't make this a good game.
9. X-Blades - Clunky, ugly and boring game.
10. Syndrome - An absolute broken messs of a game.

 

Also played some other games throughout the event, some of which are more recommendable than the ones from the events itself.

• This War of Mine: The Little Ones - Good game, that has a fairly manageable amount of micromanagement going on. Once you figure out the game, it becomes quite easy to survive with everyone until the end. - Plat
• Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - Was an OK JRPG, Visually and gameplay-wise solid, it ended up suffering from a terrible llot system and some broken mechanics. - Plat
• FullBlast (both versions) - An alright little schmup, that lacks some vaiety. - Plat
• Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel - A TPS with co-op that has been enjoyable so far.
• Assassin's Creed: Origins - Great game, hilarious bugs, a lot of content. Hoping for the DLC to go on sale for a reasonable price. - Plat 
• Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - Finished the story and while it's a good game, it seems to suffer from an identitiy crisis. Several other genres are thrown into this game that don't gel well with JRPGs , THere was one single puzzle section, town management and siege battles. The latter are forced upon you and are detestable.
• Riddled Corpses EX - Seems lke a poorly balanced top-down shooter in which you need to grind a shitload of cash to be able to beat it.
• Path of Exile - Plays and looks great, but also has had crashes and soft locks.
• Killing FLoor 2 - just wrapped up the new DLC, which comes out every 3 months or so. Still a good time

 

 

I'll be focusing on Blue Reflection first, as it seems to be relatively fast to complete. Kind of want to finish up Ni No Kuni II as well, but that'll depend on if I feel like plauing JRPGs back-to-back.

[Edunstar84]

Game #6 - Stardew Valley - Final Impressions

 

 

Playtime: 3 hours

Trophies: 0/41

 

 

With 3 hours game time, I managed to fulfill a few of those quests I mentioned earlier: make a scarecrow, harvest parsnips, and meet all the townspeople. All was nice and chill, except I had to use a wiki to find people, which helped a little but half the people I looked up I couldn't find in their designated areas.

 

I also got the chance to mine a bit. It was very simple. Just mine rocks and ore until you find the ladder to the floor below. You encounter enemies while you're there, like slimes and killer bugs. I managed to get to the 10th floor, which had a nice pair of walking boots. This was as far abs I could get though without proper equipment. I think if you can manage to do 5 or 10 floors at a time, then the elevator "saves" that location, and you can start there next time.

 

The absolute worst part of the game I encountered so far was the fishing mechanic. It was absolutely dreadful. Casting the line is easy enough, but once you reel in a fish, your eyes meant to keep the bar lined up to a fish that jumped up and down on the meter. I don't know if I'm explaining it all too well. Look it up if you're interested. 

 

I could've mentioned earlier that if anyone liked Harvest Moon they'd like this game. But it seems more grown-up in a way and more difficult. 

 

Short game reviews:

 

1) Ys 8: Lacrimosa of Dana: Overall, a very enjoyable game. I completed the first play through in 63 hours and plan to plat the game this week. It's a great action JRPG, and I highly recommend it.

 

2) Zero Escape: The Nonary Games: Didn't like it at the start. The characters were very flat and unlikeable in my opinion, especially compared to Danganronpa. However I would still give this a chance, since it's a pretty easy game.

 

3) SAO: Hollow Realization: A huge game that would require my full attention to play. I definitely like the story, but I think this and Hollow Fragment would be the last game in the series I'll play.

 

4) Tales of Xillia 2: Surprisingly, I liked this game better than 4 years ago. I might play this game sooner rather than later. I also realized I need to go back and finish my PS3 games. Some of those games still hold up.

 

5) Word Search by POWGI: An easy word search game you can play to pass the time when you can't decide what to play next.

 

6) Stardew Valley: A nice farming game that's easy to pick up and play, I think. Don't think I'll be doing that though. I can only concentrate on 1 game at a time.

 

I played some solid games this time. Not as much as last time when I played gems like Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, and Cat Quest. This will be the last KYC I do this year as I want to finish the games that I chose from precious KYC events. There could be as much as 25 games. 

 

I liked the other reviews, too. I would've tagged people and added comments, but it's difficult to do on iPad. I've crossed off a few games from my list because of them, so thanks! And thanks to voodoo_eyes for continuing the event.

 

 

[Kevvik]

Realized that I haven't put my last review up but I'll get it in tomorrow with my wrap up. Going to be on the road today and don't have time atm to get it done. 

 

Until tomorrow...

[DamagingRob]

KYC 9 Ending Stats:

 

Games Played: 588 (+6)

Games Completed: 483 (No change)

Completion Percentage: 91.19% (-0.60%)

Unearned Trophies: 1,671 (+157)

 

Not a huge completion percentage change, but those 5 games will likely take me awhile. If I even finish them all.. 

 

From best to worst, though things could change: 

 

1. .hack//G.U. Last Recode - Fun if not a bit repetitive JRPG. But it just seemed to strike a chord with me, and was more enjoyable than the JRPG I thought would be a lot better than it: Persona 5. Leaning towards using it as a milestone. 

 

Honestly having a hard time numbering these. Lol. Gave four of them the same review score, so it's not like I really preferred one over the other. 

 

2. Persona 5 - You've probably no doubt heard about this one. Said to be the best JRPG in years. But that's really only because JRPGs haven't been as memorable for quite some time.. Still a solid game, but not as great as I'd hoped.  

 

3. Dragon Ball FighterZ -  A fun fighter based on my favorite franchise. Hard not to love. But a couple of trophies may make me never want to play it again when I'm done. Lol. 

 

4. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition - Surprisingly fun shooter that I regret missing out on last gen. Glad they did this remaster and put it on Plus, so I was able to finally give it a shot.

 

5. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds - This was the one game I started not originally on my list. Noticing a lot of grammatical errors the more I read, but it's still enjoyable. Just reading so much text is starting to get exhausting.. Probably won't play the second game for awhile. :/

 

6. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - And then there was this one, which was probably the only real disappointment. Too many missables, too many long ass loading screens, and Breach Mode is likely going to make me like it even less. Possibly playing it on the highest difficulty will, as well. Having your save erased when you die is going to be annoying.. At least I can back it up to the Cloud, but that could get tedious, depending on how often I need to do so. 

 

And another KYC event comes to a close. As always, had a good time posting and reading others' reviews. Thanks to everyone who participated, and to @voodoo_eyes for hosting again.

[PerryToxteth]

KYC Game No. 7

Word Search by POWGI

 

 

Time Played: 3 hours played

Trophies Earned: 7/34 (23% E ranking)

Final Thoughts: So I will just piggyback off what @Edunstar84 wrote about this game. It's the classic paper puzzle game you grew up with as a kid, only now it's on your TV screen.  POWGI games are really well done.  Some cheap games are glitchy as hell, but POWGI games are well-designed, user-friendly, and easy to get into.

  You better like word searches because for this platinum, you'll be doing a lot of them.  I believe there's close to 325 of them in all, and you need to complete all of them in a plat run.  These aren't terribly difficult, most of them will take between 3-5 minutes to solve. There are a few doozy's, like one puzzle where all the words end in X. 

  The one thing that will slow your platinum progress is the mind-numbing sensation that kicks in after playing this game after a half-hour or so.  Letters start swimming in your head and you quickly lose your train of thought.  It's just heavily redundant.  I can't imagine putting in 4 or 5 consecutive hours into this, Holy Alphabet Soup!

  It is a decent game though. Great game to chip away at, doing 4-5 puzzles before bed time. 

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 9

Game No. 8

 

 

Time Played: 1 hour

Trophies Earned: 12/25 (41% D ranking)

Final Thoughts: Unlike Telltales, Burly Men at Sea definitely qualifies as a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. Your choices directly correlate to what happens in your game. But is it fun? Well...

  Story in a nutshell, you are three stout men who find a map and go on an adventure. And that's pretty much it.  Along the way, you come across completely nonsensical things.  A complete story run takes all of 20 minutes. You can see how the story branches out. You have two options at the start, those will lead to two more choices, etc., etc.   The problem is there really is no ending. Or at least I didn't uncover one in the three playthroughs I did.  There might be an ending online, but I couldn't get the website to work. The game gives you a code to enter online, but no such luck for me.

  This game has a very similar structure to Wheels of Aurelia where the story branches out like a tree. But Wheels of Aurelia had more story content to it, was better written (including lots of dry humor), and interesting story endings.

  If you are desperate for a platinum, you could probably pull this off in under an hour with a guide.  I got this on PS+ and would feel cheated if I had paid money for this.  .

  

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by PerryToxteth

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 9

Game No. 9

 

 

Bridge Constructor

 

Time Played: 4 hours

Trophies Earned: 18/42 (31% D ranking)

Final Thoughts: At one time in my adolescence,  I pondered the pursuit of a career in engineering. A few hours into this game and I realized, mankind is much safer today that I never ended up in that field.  I have managed to collapse so many bridges in this game, it's like watching an endless loop of "Bridge Over the River Kwai."

  The concept of this game is great.  You have an abyss you need to cross and are required to build a bridge that can support the weight of two cars when they cross over.  Bonus points if your bridge can stay erect when two truck pass.  On each level, you are on a budget, so you can't afford to build the Forth Bridge everytime.  There are four different building materials you can construct with: wood, steel, concrete and cables.  On some levels, you may only get one of those materials; on other levels, you may have the option to use all four.  

  The frustration comes into play early on, because there are no tutorials to speak of.  You are on your own, through endless trial-and-error constructions, of figuring out what will work.  That makes sense for wood construction, but for something like a concrete/ cable bridge concept, it wouldn't have been that tough for the developers to put in a few tutorial sections on suspension, cantilever, etc. 

  I would love to know what the platinum percentage of this game would be pre-YouTube.  Right now, it's at 44% on PSNP, but without any online pictoral guides, it would have to be an ultra rare plat. I am 40% of the way through the game, and have tried my best to avoid using hints.  On some levels, that has required 20-30 minutes of relentless reconstructs.  And I know more difficult ones are coming, so I'm not sure how far my patience will stretch before I say F it, and YouTube away.  

  What's frustrating is on some levels, the budget is too small to construct a reality-based bridge.  The second moment of , is when you can build away and construct what looks as eye-appealing a bridge as the Eads Bridge, only to have it falter with the trucks. Then, you look on YouTube for the solution, and someone has built an absurd, trapeze-like bridge that never in a million years would ever be built in the real world, and yet it works in the game.  So is this game built on physics, or not? 

  So yes, I like the concept of the game, but the execution is a bit perplexing.  I will give it a .

  

[Arctic Cress]

Game #3 - Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds

 

Funny story, I have the PS3 version of this game and never started it. Been sitting there for quite some time and it only takes a trophy event to finally get me to start one of these. To be fair I'm not too excited about playing through visual novels on a console rather than a handheld, so this game being released on the Vita definitely increased the chance that I would play it eventually. I've only played two other otome games - Hatoful Boyfriend, which is... certainly unique, to say the least, and Sweet Fuse: At Your Side for the PSP, which is more of a traditional otome game with a very likeable protagonist.

 

Hakuoki stars Chizuru Yukimura, who has traveled to Kyoto during the Edo period in Japan, trying to find her father who has mysteriously disappeared. Due to the time period this takes place in, she disguises herself as a man to avoid any unwanted confrontation. Upon arriving in Kyoto she gets attacked by a group of men and is saved by the Shinsengumi, who take her into custody. After telling them of her search for her father, the Shinsengumi then reply that they are also searching for him, and they decide to help each other out.

 

So far, I've only read through Chapter 1 and a bit of 2, so I haven't seen too much of the game. There's been a few choices to make as well, and based on the response to one I may have avoided an early bad ending. I've found it slightly interesting, not enough to keep playing (yet), but I usually give visual novels a lot of time to get going more than other games. Some of my favorites, like Steins;Gate, take a good deal of time to really get going - though not all of them have been that good when I do so.

 

As an aside, it's really weird playing the current Fate/grand order event while playing this, as it also stars the SHinsengumi (though in that game, Okita is female).

 

No roundup for all the games until I've reviewed them all - going to write-up Plague Inc: Evolved next.

[DamagingRob]

@Arctic Cress Haha, I also have the PS3 Hakuoki game, and have been sitting on it for awhile. But now that I bought the Vita games, which expand on that one's story, I don't know if there's a reason to play it.. Other than trophies, and feeling like I wasted money on it if I don't. Bleh. 

[Gretchen27]

Game 5 Final Impressions

Collar X Malice

Enjoyment: 9/10

Trophies: 10/37

Play time: +5 hours

 

Switching out my last game for a VN turned out well since the beginning of the week was busy & then by the weekend I wasn’t feeling well. Perfect chance to read & relax. 

 

There’s some small nuances that make this game a bit unique from other VNs. For one it has an investigation segment where you can analyze crime scene clues & draw your conclusions. You can’t miss anything at the scene though as the game won’t move on to a decision until everything has been analyzed. I tried to exit out of the scene early just to see how much choice I had in the matter, failing that is not an option. In the police HQ there’s been two incidents allowing you to choose what floor you wanted to visit for information. One seemed to be forced though, but I’m thinking other routes will have more availability to visit the other departments. There’s also some texting options that can affect character relationships & who accompanies you to different places. I also like the fact that the dialog boxes have the character names color coded. Sometimes I’ll be reading through these & when multiple characters are in the conversation it just makes it easier to see the color code at the top as opposed to reading the speakers name every time.

 

It’s really hard for me to find a good stopping point. Even if a part is just procedural filler I tell myself ‘ah just read till a good part appears, then save that for later.’ But then a good section comes up & I just keep reading. That’s how I know I like it, but I wasn’t going to give a 10 out of 10 just yet because I still haven’t cleared a normal route. Failed the current one twice now. First bad ending or death if you like pissed me off. I know I said I wouldn’t spoil anything so I’ll just say I get tired of the cliché that a female character (unless she has supernatural powers) can be killed without a fight by an average person. & worse yet this one’s a cop, she should at least have some form of self-defense training & I know she’s a skilled marksman. Utter BS that bad endings are always written like this. Throw in a QTE or some other choices after you choose a bad route to at least make survival look plausible.

 

Back on track: that aside it is a great read so far. Just reached chapter 5 (Okazaki's route), I still haven’t looked at a guide because of spoilers so I don’t know if that’s near the end or not. I shouldn’t need one except for maybe the two routes that deal with the characters I don’t care for (Enomoto & Shiraishi). & since it’s the end of the month, I’ll go ahead & add my wrap up stuff for the event now.

 

 

Ending Stats

Completion Percent: 87.42% (-1.84%)

Games Played: 151 (+5)

Completed Games: 113 (+1)

Unearned Trophies: 790 w/ DLC (+141)

 

Overall, I enjoyed all the games I started in some form or another. They’ll all be completed at some point, but from best to worst:

 

The Sims 3: Pets – I ended up spending the most time with this game, which surprised me. There’s no in game timer, but I’m around week 7, day 2 in game if that gives you an idea of my play time. Yeah, I’ve liked the Sims way too much. I posted my final review after the game crashed on me for the first time & when I went back my save was from before I added a cat to the household so that was a fair bit of backtracking…Then the damn thing ran away from an accidental fire while inventing, literally the same day I got it. But it worked out in my favor for the lost pet trophy. Also, had something hysterical happen with the time machine. Part in game challenge & part curiosity I had my Sims try for a baby in the future. After a few days with no notice about the female Sim being pregnant this elderly lady appears in the house claiming to be their daughter from the future ? I lost it, could not stop laughing. So that’s how time machine babies work. 

 

Collar X Malice – Great VN. Read above.

 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – So this is one of those games that would be great if you just bought a system & had enough left over to purchase a game. I can sense there’s a massive amount of content to get through here. But I’d like to invest my time right now in Trails of Cold Steel, another long game. Sorry to say this one is gonna get deleted for extra space on my PS4 for the time being.  

 

Megadimension Neptunia VII – It’s a Neptunia game, simple as that. I was expecting something more for a console game, but it’s the same as usual. Guess I just wasn’t in the mood to start this one compared to the others.

 

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Glad this one is already completed. Nothing against the first playthrough, figuring out what was needed, retracing the areas, figuring out fights were all good the first time around. After that it all just felt unnecessary.

 

 

Currently, I’d like to work toward my 100^th Plat milestone so I’ll probably finish Collar X Malice first as a step towards that. Afterwards I could see myself getting lost with the Sims again. Thank you for hosting @voodoo_eyes  & great reviews everyone, they were enjoyable reads throughout the month.

 

@DamagingRob Just have to step in & say don’t play Hakuoki on the PS3. Did that & regret it. The story routes seem longer than average VNs & staring at a TV screen for small lines of text was mind numbing. I was interested in most of the routes, but finishing it ended up being a slog. Just stick with the Vita versions.

 

[Arctic Cress]

Game #4 - Plague Inc: Evolved

A long time ago, I played a flash game called Pandemic 2. After getting annoyed that Madagascar would always close its port before getting infected, I finally managed to start in that country and finally won the game. Now, what if someone made it into an actual game, with more combinations and challenges? Well, someone has, and Plague Inc: Evolved is that game.

 

Plague Inc: Evolved has you control a disease, and your objective is to infect and then kill everyone in the world before a cure is created to stop it. There are several different types of plagues you can choose from, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and others. Each one of these has a different skill tree attached, and with it, different ways to either spread the disease or different symptoms attached to it. One symptom allows you to take a plane and smash it into a country, infecting a huge number of people. Madagascar can't escape that one. While you are developing your disease, the countries in-game first discover your disease, and then work on developing a cure for it. It takes a while to be detected if you focus more on spreading the disease more than developing symptoms, as the symptoms make it more likely a doctor will find it. This is made more difficult as sometimes your disease will evolve symptoms on its own without your guidance, but you can devolve the disease if needed to make it easier.

 

The game also has official challenge scenarios that have different objectives from destroying the world - or dealing with more difficult scenarios than the basic game. Each one has interesting modifiers that can either make it harder - or easier, in the case of the mission where everyone abandons science. There's also custom scenarios that are made by other players. I haven't tried any of these, but I might take a look after I complete the main scenarios.

 

In the end, it's a pretty basic game - but there's a lot of depth and combos to be made. Most of the trophy list is developing certain combos of symptoms that cause additional symptoms to pop up, so there's a lot of trial and error (unless you look at a guide). I enjoyed it, and will continue playing this after the event.