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Briste's Diary of a Madman


Briste

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Platinum #116

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Ash of Gods

 

So this was a game I'd never heard of, randomly saw a thread about on the psnprofiles home page asking the question if it was a Banner Saga ripoff, clicked on the game, saw the graphics and immediately went to the Playstation store and bought it for $17.99. I liked Banner Saga enough that I treated AoG like pizza. Even bad pizza is still pretty good pizza. I figured even a bad Turn Based Strategy game that mirrored Banner Saga was worth my time and if I could make it through Space Hulk, I could make it through anything. After spending the last three weeks with it, I can say it is definitely worth the time and I don't feel ripped off. I don't exactly understand the hate for it emulating TBS because if you think about it...most games mirror something. There aren't a ton of truly unique experiences. Are any CoD games that different from one another or any other FPS for that matter? How many games come out that try to be like Dark Souls? If the format works and is done well, then I don't mind so long as there is some originality to it. This game has an original story and has changed a lot of the battle mechanics from TBS. Since only 125 people have owned/played this game on here...this review will be slightly longer since there isn't a ton of information on this site about it.

 

I'll start with the bad...the game isn't as polished as TBS and it is very evident right off the bat. There is some weird formatting thing where the text has a huge gap in between lines in the text box. The first letter of the first word in the box is larger and in a very fancy font. It usually takes up about 3 lines of text...when you hit the 4th line, there's an extra space. It's like reading a paper that goes from single spaced to double spaced just for one line and then back to single....it's just a weird formatting thing that makes you wonder why they couldn't just fix that. There's also a handful of spelling errors and very often, what the narrator is saying isn't exactly what is being written in the text. Again, it's just stupid formatting stuff, but it makes it seem kind of lazy on the programming side.

 

The bigger sin is how bad the controls are. They are extremely touchy and it is not easy to move the cursor around. You tap it once and it'll move like 6 spaces. Fortunately, you have like six minutes to make a move (you have to be in a coma to run out of time). If you move the cursor far enough, it jumps to the enemy character list. If you move it far enough the other way, it'll go on your character move list. This happens frequently and not on purpose. It isn't made clear in the beginning exactly how to select the character you want or how to move it and it gets real annoying real quick. The way you want to select the character you want to use is with the D-Pad. Press :left: to select your side and then :up: or :down: to highlight the one you want and then finally :cross:. It took me far too long to figure this out and I can see why a lot of people might give up before they even really start. It really is frustrating in the beginning to get a grasp on how to make the game do what you want it to do. Couple that with the fact you can't rotate the battle grid, and it can be quite frustrating. Honestly, the biggest problem is when you click on the character you want to use, it doesn't lock the other functions of the cursor until you back out. For example, if you select your character and then try to use the cursor to select where on the board you want him to move...but the cursor jumps 7 spaces and ends up on another character on the board. If you click :cross:, it now selects that character, whether he's on your team or not and you have to go back to the D-Pad to re-select your character. Or, once you select who you want to attack, you choose if you want to attack their health or energy. If you press left or right, the cursor will also move in the background and it'll appear like it is selecting something, when it isn't. It'd have been great if once you select your character, it doesn't allow the cursor to move out of the zone they can walk unless you select where to go or back out. It's unfortunate that the controls are so wonky because people are missing out on a great game. Once you understand how the controls function, it is still annoying, but it's much, much better. Those are really the only handful of issues I had.

 

The story and map section of the game follows almost exactly like TBS, i.e. travel to an area, a text box pops up with options, you select one and there are different consequences (sometimes) based on your decision. Battles on the other hand, are quite different. In TBS, you alternate turns with your opponent until only you or them have one character left, and then the order is static. In AoG, you alternate turns all the time...it doesn't matter how many of you or the enemy are on the board. It is actually a huge strategy component as well. You can have up to six characters fight for you at one time (I've seen the enemy have up to ten). Sometimes it might make sense to bring only three or four strong characters so  they have more turns...sometimes it makes sense to bring six so your abilities that last one turn (round), will have more staying power.

 

One round in AoG is one cycle through all of a team. If you have four characters on the board and the enemy six, you will hit round 2 after four moves (plus any cards/spells) and them after six moves. Rounds are important for two main reasons. First, you can only play some cards after a certain round. It makes it so you can't use OP spells right off the bat. The second is it signifies when your ability cool downs reset. In a round, you can pick any character that hasn't gone yet in any order, but all need to go before the same one can go a second time. It is possible for one character to go twice in a row if you make them the last character of one round and the first character in the next round. Because of this, it is quite often that you and the opponent on are different rounds. You can only use each character once per round and using a card doesn't count as a character turn. It is one way to extend a good ability a little bit longer. Once everyone has gone once, the next round begins and you can use your characters again in any order, which is also a big strategy component.

 

For example, the character Lo Pheng has an ability that grants him +42 defense. It basically makes him invulnerable to attacks (still can be damaged by cards). He also has an auto counterattack and cannot be pushed back. It makes sense in most levels, to use Lo Pheng first in the first round and walk him as far as you can into enemy territory. Use that ability (which doesn't end his turn) and then attack if you are in range, or just stand there. The bad guys generally target your character with the highest attack rating, which is usually Lo Pheng when you are on his story line, and come and attack him. So long as it isn't a ranged attack, he will counter and damage the enemy while taking no damage himself. That ability lasts one turn (the description in game says one turn, but it means it is active until his next turn). If he goes first, he will then be basically invulnerable for the remaining five turns in this round and then if you use him last in round two, five more turns. That is ten possible attacks from Lo Pheng on one ability. If you go into battle with only him or a few others, then that ability isn't quite as strong. While he sounds very OP, he can also be quite squishy because he doesn't start with any energy, which I explain why that is problematic below.

 

In TBS, your characters Health and Attack share the same bar. When your health goes down, so does your attack and it is often beneficial to keep injured enemies on the board longer to waste enemy turns. That is not the case here. Your attack power does not diminish when your health does. In fact, your attack can fluctuate quite a bit depending on what attack you choose, magic cards you might use or cards or abilities that are used against you. Your characters also seem much more squishy in this game and it is pretty easy to get killed quickly. Instead of an Armor stat like in TBS (there is armor in AoG, but it never lasts more than a turn) there is an energy statistic. Using abilities can cost HP, Energy, both or neither. So long as you have energy in your bar, your character will take normal damage. If your character runs out of energy, they will take double damage. It is the same for the enemy and so you need to decide if it is better to attack energy or HP. The temporary armor stat will mitigate some damage taken. So if your armor for the round is 6 and you get hit by someone with a 10 attack, you'll take 4 damage until you are out of energy and then double damage for every point that was dealt after energy ran out. The addition of the magic cards also adds a slight wrinkle to battle and I found that there needed to be a lot of strategy in these fights to come out on top. I did find the game much harder early on. As your characters gain experience and level up, some of the abilities you can get make your characters very powerful.

 

What happens if your character hits 0 HP is handled differently as well. in AoG, if your character falls in battle, they get an injury designation. A minor injury is one red skull, a moderate injury is two, a major injury is three and if they get a fourth red skull, they die. The good news is you can only get one skull per person per battle and if multiple people get a fourth skull in one fight, only one character will die. This is mostly important to know for the Heartless trophy where you have to play making all the evil choices you can. Battle is not the only way you can get an injury designation. If you run out of strixes, you can also get an injury designation. What is a strix? There is no food or anything in AoG and strixes kind of play that role in this game. Strixes are basically a type of stone in the game that a lot of items/jewelry are made with. Due to a story component in the game (trying to keep this spoiler free as possible), your characters must have strixes on them at all times or they can get hurt. It is an important plot device to the story, however the strixes are perishable as they burn out. Different characters require different amounts of strixes to survive the day. One character may need 5 strixes per day while another only 3. Every day that passes, your strix supply dwindles and if you ever run out of strixes, you have to decide who goes without. Whoever you choose to go without will get an injury designation each day they don't have them. You can get strixes as loot after battle or by purchasing items from merchants. Pretty much if you run out of strixes though, all of your characters will get an injury designation. It's just when you get low where you have to choose. If any character gets a 4th red skull from traveling without a strix, they will die. Again, only one person can die per day.

 

Those are the basic mechanics of the game and other than the game controls, are thought out pretty well and quite challenging to play. I found the game to be slightly harder than TBS. It's hard to gauge how long one playthrough in the game is because based on your choices, the game can probably be a good 2-3 hours shorter. With a well timed USB/Cloud save, you could probably get all the trophies in two playthroughs. For the Iron man trophy, you have to play the Ironman/Hardcore mode as a 'good guy', otherwise the circumstance for the trophy won't present itself. The problem with the Iron Man setting, is there is only one save state and the game updates it after each decision, so it is impossible to replay from an earlier chapter for trophy cleanup in this playthrough. However, if you made a save in the Cloud or on a USB just before Opacum, you could probably replay the ending a few times to get some of the trophies that require players to be alive. For one playthrough, you have to play as evil as possilbe, which means killing off most of the playable characters, which eliminates many of the trophies for the platinum. I ended up needing four playthroughs. I did my first playthrough blind and killed off a couple of characters by accident that were needed for trophies and I didn't think about the cloud/USB idea on my Ironman playthrough. So I then did an good guy playthrough with a few replays of the last few chapters and an evil playthrough for trophy clean up. One of the strengths of this game is the re-play ability. Amazingly enough, the game was pretty different each time I played through it and I'm pretty sure I still didn't see everything the game has to offer.

 

This is about as long a review as I've done, and i did perhaps get a little too technical since most of you will have no frame of reference for what I'm talking about...just know that behind the very visible flaws right off the bat, there is a very good game here. $17.99 might be a bit steep for most people, but if it is ever on sale for $10 or less...it is most definitely worth picking up. Despite its flaws, it is probably my favorite game I've played so far this year after FF7R.

Edited by Briste
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I definitely admire your account. It's clean, slick and has a good variety of games with various genres.

 

Some questions:

 

1. I'm planning to do MLB 18: The Show soon as my first baseball platinum. Would you regard that as the easiest in the series? MLB 19: The Show was tempting until I saw what you had to do with that Diamond Dynasty trophy. I basically said nope, not getting that one. MLB 20: The Show looks a lot easier, but has a bunch of online tied to it's trophies. Not sure if you have to do actual multiplayer though.

 

2. While I think it's a bit overrated, I still like Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Is the sequel easier? I saw a trophy in one of the DLCs that could be compared to the challenges (Test of the Ring and Test of the Wild), hopefully it's not as bad because The Hunt is My Mistress was very annoying and luck based.

 

Keep up the good work.

Edited by Spaz
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4 hours ago, Spaz said:

I definitely admire your account. It's clean, slick and has a good variety of games with various genres.

Thanks! I've had fun so far :) You do alright yourself :P Are you going to try and get the 100% on Arkham City? You only have the tedious bits left lol

 

4 hours ago, Spaz said:

1. I'm planning to do MLB 18: The Show soon as my first baseball platinum. Would you regard that as the easiest in the series? MLB 19: The Show was tempting until I saw what you had to do with that Diamond Dynasty trophy. I basically said nope, not getting that one. MLB 20: The Show looks a lot easier, but has a bunch of online tied to it's trophies. Not sure if you have to do actual multiplayer though.

There was nothing hard about 18. Nothing tied to online and I actually enjoyed The Road to the Show part of the game. It was that part that actually made me want to play 19 a little...it didn't hurt that 19 was free as well, but yeah, that Welcome to the Chip trophy really sucked. It's not as bad anymore since I think a lot of the pros moved onto 20 and your rank doesn't reset anymore...but it's still hard.

 

4 hours ago, Spaz said:

2. While I think it's a bit overrated, I still like Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Is the sequel easier? I saw a trophy in one of the DLCs that could be compared to the challenges (Test of the Ring and Test of the Wild), hopefully it's not as bad because The Hunt is My Mistress was very annoying and luck based.

I found the second one to be about the same as the first. None of the DLC's were as hard, but still were a little challenging. I think I needed to do two playthroughs on The Desolation of Mordor DLC since I didn't get the gold the first time through. It was much easier the second time once I figured out how to play Baranor and the best route to finish each zone. Nothing as hard as The Hunt is My Mistress though. I really enjoyed both. I had pre-ordered Shadow of War, but never got around to playing it at release and in hindsight it worked out much better that I waited...The Act IV Shadow Wars portion was much much grindier before they nerfed it. It was still the most boring part of the game, but at least they shortened how many seiges you had to do. At first the sieges were kind of fun, but they just made you do too many. Overall, I thought the game was about the same as the first. It didn't expand a ton that I can remember from the original, so it was more of the same....but I really enjoyed Shadow of Mordor so I didn't really mind more of the same.

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3 hours ago, Briste said:

Thanks! I've had fun so far :) You do alright yourself :P Are you going to try and get the 100% on Arkham City? You only have the tedious bits left lol

 

It's more difficult with the DLC characters. Catwoman goes down a lot quicker in the combat challenges and her 'Thief' vision is vastly inferior to Batman's 'Detective' vision in the Predator challenge.

 

May have to look up YouTube guides for the DLC trophies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Platinum #117

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Goat Simulator

 

This was a game that was never really on my radar and I wasn't in any rush to play. It was free a few months ago on PS+, however the DLC was really expensive and I wasn't going to pay full price. I added the DLC to my wish list, just in case there was ever a good sale. All of them turned out to be on sale for like $7 a month or so ago. I picked it up figuring it might make a good, short game for an event, Turns out I was right and I could use it in the Gaming By Numbers event. Figured it would be an easy game to mix in....however I still had no real timetable on when I'd play it. Then I played The Last of Us 2...All I'll say about TLOU2 at the moment is that I really liked the game a lot. I was able to stay virtually spoiler free (all I knew is a lot of people hated it based on the leaks) and after my first play through, I get why some people might hate it...but I think that was the point and I really give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for having the balls to tell a hard, if not unpopular story....but this review isn't about TLOU2...it's about Goat Simulator. After the heavy themes of TLOU2, I could use something goofy so I slid this in between NG and NG+ playthroughs.

 

There's not really much to say about this game...it's not good lol Sure it's funny for a bit, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly and it just becomes a bit tedious. It was 100% mindless (even the garbage flappy goat trophy was pretty mindless...terribly frustrating, but mindless). Way too many DLC's as well with nothing really great about any of them. I did laugh quite a bit at the MMO DLC having spent a lot of time with MMO's in my past, I thought the chat screen was pretty funny. Thankfully there are pretty decent guides out there that make the trophies relatively painless. The worst of the DLC's was probably GoatZ...mostly due to the Survivalist trophy where you need to craft all of the items in one round. I was using the mods where I wasn't supposed to take damage or get hungry, so it should have been easy. I got most of the items/weapons/clothes crafted and only had three left. I was standing outside the crafting house, looking through the goat mods menu, when all of a sudden it said I died...I was so pissed because it took like 45 minutes to get that far. I went after that trophy first so I didn't really know the lay of the land and it took a bit longer to find everything. My second attempt was just as frustrating...I got to the same point and this time, due to the shitty game, the item I needed (A Home Sweet Home sign) fell into the map and was lost. There is only one of this item on the map and I had to restart again. Another 30 minutes wasted....thankfully the third time went fine...but it was very frustrating.

 

It's been quite a while since I played a game with so many bugs and glitches. It's just a poor quality game and it's clear they didn't put much QC into it. I mean it's a game about being a goat, so I get it...but it was still pretty bad. However, despite all the bad things I have to say about the game...it was just what the doctor ordered. It was mindless, it was a little funny and at points a little fun...and it didn't involve very deep themes that make you look critically at a story and digest just how tragic things can be. If this wasn't free, I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than a mindless escape. It's super easy and due to the way DLC trophies are calculated on this site...ended up dropping my overall rarity by a few tenths of a percentage point lol.

 

In other news, I was on vacation over the last week and went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire with my wife and kids. I love it up there and usually go in the fall when it is really pretty. There are tons of hiking trails and little hidden nooks. I did some of my favorite driving in recent memory up there as well. We decided to drive up Mount Washington (highest peak in the area). Boy that was one sketchy drive! The road is just wide enough for two cars to squeeze by each other. There is no guardrail the entire way up and there are several points where it is a sheer drop if you fuck up. I can't believe I haven't seen more stories of shitty drivers falling over the side. Anyway, it was 87F degrees and sunny with a slight breeze at the base...by the time we drove the 8 mile road, 6,000+ feet up...the temperature had dropped to 47F degrees and the winds were over 75 MPH and it was raining. Like an asshole, I didn't think of the severe weather change and was wearing mesh jogging shorts and a T-Shirt. I parked the car and we got out to walk up to the summit and I was freezing my ass off lol. My kids had a blast in all the wind and their little masks blew off a few times...I won some hero points from them with my nimble feet able to stomp on the masks before they flew off into the abyss. Despite the lack of visibility and the high anxiety from the drive up...it was a blast and I'd recommend anyone who travels there to check it out. It's not free...but I thought it was worth it.

 

I also haven't driven on a legitimate dirt road, that wasn't a driveway, in all of my memory. There are roads in the White Mountains that are seasonal and are closed during the winter months. Apparently, those roads tend to be dirt. My wife wanted to take the boys swimming in a small pond with a small waterfall that fed into it that she had found online. I said sure and had her put the address into Waze....it was eight miles away from where we were staying and it said 45 minutes to get there. I assumed there must have been traffic...but nope lol It was the bumpiest, hilliest, blindiest road I have ever driven on. It felt like being on a roller coaster a bit. My wife kept panicking that we were going to breakdown out there, with no cell service and no one knowing we were out there. I kept telling her she was bringing us into 'Deliverance' territory and whatever happened was on her ?...which didn't help ease her stress lol. Fortunately we found our way and it was really a pretty spot. It also turned out that if we had come from the back entrance...we would have driven on real roads as well lol Thanks Waze!

 

Anyways, the point of all that was I usually bring my Vita along on vacation to play when everyone else goes to bed. I haven't picked it up in a while and figured I'd give Super Meat Boy a try again. I played for about 15 minutes and realized I had no desire to play that game right now. It's the first time I've played a game in a long time that I had absolutely no desire to play whatsoever. Instead I downloaded Rogue Aces from my backlog and that was actually pretty fun for the few hours I played it. It'll be a game I'll enjoy finishing. The incompleteness of SMB hangs over my head, however I'm legitimately wondering if I'll ever go back to it at this point. I'm just not in the proper headspace at the moment to tackle that monster. I don't want to say I'm giving up on it just yet, because it is the only thing on my profile that I think I maybe legitimately can't do and I'm not ready to admit I'm not good enough. It wasn't that I was getting frustrated or anything...I just didn't really care to take the time to learn the levels. I was just zooming through, not trying to be careful and just got bored after those 15 minutes. I just need to get those competitive juices flowing again....just not quite sure when that will be. Playing with my kid has been fun and refreshing and really took some of the wind out of my '100% or bust' sails. He has no concept of trophies and just plays because he loves it and his enthusiasm is quite infectious. I'm more into having fun with him at this point and playing some games with good stories than I am about truly challenging myself. I'm sure at some point in the winter when he is back to school (hopefully) and I'm bored with work and it's dark out super early...I might get that itch back...but at the moment I'm feeling pretty ok with the idea of never finishing that game. What I just wrote is blasphemy of course...but I'm a little ok with that :)

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I followed a guide to the upmost attention for Goat Simulator, because after GoatMMO it just became a big chore. Numerous collectibles you have to find which basically require a YouTube guide, because a number of them are located in places you wouldn't think to look if you were just wandering around.

 

As for Super Meat Boy, the call is on you. You're missing the three hardest no death trophies in the entire game. Follow a guy on YouTube for those no death runs, they may provide some tips on how to beat certain levels.

 

I followed this guy for Girl Boy, and it was a huge help:

 

 

AND this guy for Impossible Boy:

 

 

If you feel this stuff is too difficult for you, then I would suggest taking a break like I did or just admit defeat. Honestly I don't blame anybody for not getting this platinum, because it takes a great deal of concentration and effort. It's NOT a game for everyone, and if you feel like hanging up the towel that's completely up to you. You made more progress in this game than most, but let me just say this platinum trophy will probably be my proudest and most prestigious one I will ever have on my profile.

 

I could play this again on an alt and get the platinum in under four weeks.... but I don't know if that is worth the trouble.

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9 hours ago, Briste said:

 I haven't picked it up in a while and figured I'd give Super Meat Boy a try again. I played for about 15 minutes and realized I had no desire to play that game right now. It's the first time I've played a game in a long time that I had absolutely no desire to play whatsoever. Instead I downloaded Rogue Aces from my backlog and that was actually pretty fun for the few hours I played it. It'll be a game I'll enjoy finishing. The incompleteness of SMB hangs over my head, however I'm legitimately wondering if I'll ever go back to it at this point. I'm just not in the proper headspace at the moment to tackle that monster. I don't want to say I'm giving up on it just yet, because it is the only thing on my profile that I think I maybe legitimately can't do and I'm not ready to admit I'm not good enough. It wasn't that I was getting frustrated or anything...I just didn't really care to take the time to learn the levels. I was just zooming through, not trying to be careful and just got bored after those 15 minutes. I just need to get those competitive juices flowing again....just not quite sure when that will be.

 

It'll come over time. I took months-long breaks when tackling Nuclear Throne. I needed 856 hours to get it done. I'm sure that you'll plat SMB at some point. Just take the time needed to get motivated to go at it again.

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14 hours ago, Spaz said:

As for Super Meat Boy, the call is on you. You're missing the three hardest no death trophies in the entire game. Follow a guy on YouTube for those no death runs, they may provide some tips on how to beat certain levels.

Thanks for the video's. I've watched the ones on the guide here a few times as well and they're all good. It's not that I can't beat the levels. I can get through them all with between 0-5 deaths...which is still a long way from where I need to be...I just ended up being bored. I'm sure once I'm closer to 100% and I'm bored in the winter, I'll get that itch again.

 

5 hours ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

It'll come over time. I took months-long breaks when tackling Nuclear Throne. I needed 856 hours to get it done. I'm sure that you'll plat SMB at some point. Just take the time needed to get motivated to go at it again.

That's some serious dedication right there lol. I've only put about 40 hours overall into SMB so far...it'll probably take at least that again to get through these last three levels. I agree that I'll get it eventually...I just seem to be missing that drive at the moment to persevere.

 

I appreciate the support!

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8 hours ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

 

It'll come over time. I took months-long breaks when tackling Nuclear Throne. I needed 856 hours to get it done. I'm sure that you'll plat SMB at some point. Just take the time needed to get motivated to go at it again.


That’s crazy. That’s even longer than going for the Star Ocean: The Last Hope International platinum. Star Ocean in comparison is a much easier game.

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On 1.8.2020 at 0:16 AM, Spaz said:


That’s crazy. That’s even longer than going for the Star Ocean: The Last Hope International platinum. Star Ocean in comparison is a much easier game.

 

That's because Nuclear Throne is not my forte sort of game. Someone with with better reflexes and more skill can get it in around 120 - 150 hours, less if they are really good or had prior experience on PC. I was really bad at it and only got more successful with the right Golden Weapon and persistance.

Edited by Rally-Vincent---
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On 7/31/2020 at 5:59 AM, Briste said:

I'm just not in the proper headspace at the moment to tackle that monster. I don't want to say I'm giving up on it just yet, because it is the only thing on my profile that I think I maybe legitimately can't do and I'm not ready to admit I'm not good enough. It wasn't that I was getting frustrated or anything...I just didn't really care to take the time to learn the levels. I was just zooming through, not trying to be careful and just got bored after those 15 minutes. I just need to get those competitive juices flowing again....just not quite sure when that will be. 

 

First of all, congrats on the Goat plat :) Definitely a game I'm not touching... seems like a mess ?

 

Secondly, good that you recognize you don't have the proper mindset to go all-in on SMB! Would only become frustrating if you are not really 100% determined to get it done. Who cares about how long it too you once you finish it? You'll get it done at some point, and since the only two trophies you have left can only be done with Bandage Girl, once you get back to the game you'll get it done in no time, since you don't have to practice multiple characters. 

 

And 40 hours so far really isn't too bad, either! I got my plat after about 50 hours, with about 5h needed for Girl and 12h for Impossible Boy, so I was where you are now pretty much with about the same time spent with the game :) What I'm saying is that if you got that far only after 40 hours, you don't need to worry about not having the skill to get it done. You can finish this one, just need to really have the motivation to see it through. 

 

EDIT: I thought you had Zombie Boy already.. my bad.. ?

But it doesn't change anything.. Zombie Boy is comparable to Girl Boy in terms of challenge, at least in my opinion. I can let you know which characters worked for which levels for me, just in case you want some input on that ?

 

 

 

I'm having that issue of not being motivated to go after something with Pier Solar. Remember how I wanted to get the plat before Christmas? Yeah, still haven't done that stupid minigame, and while it bugs me that a stupid RPG is kicking my ass, I don't want to get burned out again by forcing myself to practice it. 

 

 

18 hours ago, Rally-Vincent--- said:

It'll come over time. I took months-long breaks when tackling Nuclear Throne. I needed 856 hours to get it done. 

 

Holy fuck, that's NecroDancer levels of commitment right there ? Must be a fantastic game if you stuck so long with it. I've been thinking about playing it myself, but I don't really like the aesthetics, and I'm afraid that I would not enjoy it as much. I have Gungeon downloaded, and if I like that one well enough I might consider getting Nuclear Throne as well.

 

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On 1.8.2020 at 10:00 AM, Arcesius said:

Holy fuck, that's NecroDancer levels of commitment right there 1f633.png Must be a fantastic game if you stuck so long with it. I've been thinking about playing it myself, but I don't really like the aesthetics, and I'm afraid that I would not enjoy it as much. I have Gungeon downloaded, and if I like that one well enough I might consider getting Nuclear Throne as well.

 

 

I found it addicting in its simplicity. And what made it so difficult for me - the random generation of every level - also made it bearable, since it wasn't the same levels all over again. I still do some runs occasionally. If you want to do it - Nuclear Throne has one online trophy. Something to get out of the way as early as possible.

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On 8/1/2020 at 4:00 AM, Arcesius said:

Secondly, good that you recognize you don't have the proper mindset to go all-in on SMB! Would only become frustrating if you are not really 100% determined to get it done. Who cares about how long it too you once you finish it? You'll get it done at some point, and since the only two trophies you have left can only be done with Bandage Girl, once you get back to the game you'll get it done in no time, since you don't have to practice multiple characters. 

 

Yeah, this is kind of what I realized the other day when I booted it up. I wasn't in it to get better, just kind of going through the motions and figured why waste my time right now if I'm not going to do it right. I won't beat it that way.

 

On 8/1/2020 at 4:00 AM, Arcesius said:

I'm having that issue of not being motivated to go after something with Pier Solar. Remember how I wanted to get the plat before Christmas? Yeah, still haven't done that stupid minigame, and while it bugs me that a stupid RPG is kicking my ass, I don't want to get burned out again by forcing myself to practice it. 

 

I'm with you 100% on that lol exactly where I'm at. In all fairness though, you are much more masochistic with these games than me :) The games you've been able to pull off are extremely impressive, especially in the context of the new baby and all. I look forward to when your kid is old enough that some LEGO games sprinkle their way onto your list ;) You should register the name Laertes7 in PSN now actually in preparation for the username!

 

Platinum #118

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Rogue Aces

 

This was another unexpected addition to my list. I believe this was a free game from PS+ a year or two ago and was just kind of hanging out in my backlog. Didn't know anything about it and was nothing I was looking to make time to play. However, on my vacation, after I realized my heart wasn't into Super Meat Boy, I looked for something else to play to pass some time during nap time and after my kids went to bed. After some intense scrutiny over my backlog and an arduous game of eenie meenie minie moe...Rogue Aces proved to be my time passer on my trip. It would appear that the backlog gods smiled upon me this time as I really had a lot of fun with this game.

 

It is just a 2-D side scrolling air combat game, however I found the controls to be pretty responsive and it was actually quite a bit of fun. I motored my way through it much faster than I thought I would because I found myself playing this in my normal gaming time over the PS4 console. There is nothing earth shattering about it, it was just fun. A few of the trophies were gimicky, however most of them were something you would get through normal game play. Despite the relatively low rarity of the game, it is not particularly hard. It could be, but you can save after each mission which makes it much, much easier. On the Vita it is exceptionally easy to save to the cloud and reload. The game would be very difficult without that however as completing all 100 levels with just 3 plains would be quite the challenge. I found that security blanket made the game a lot more fun however as it allowed me to be a true daredevil pilot and not worry if I crashed into a cliff.

 

I didn't play it on the PS4 at all, so can't really speak to how it plays there, but this seems like a game that was made for the Vita. The graphics, the controls, everything. The fact it was free was just a cherry on top. The other great thing was it ended up being a number I can use in the Gaming By Numbers event so wins all around! If you didn't get it for free, it's probably worth $5-$7. There's not a ton of depth to the game, but it is addicting...offers decent replay value and is easy enough to play in short bursts on the go. 

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I wouldn’t stress about Super Meat Boy too much. It’s very difficult, everybody knows that. Took me over two years to finally wrap it up, with months of breaks in-between. 
 

Won’t be having kids, not in the world we live in now. Arcesius and I are the same age, the fact he is getting stuff done with a baby in mind is pretty damn impressive. 
 

No thanks, I’m happy with being single and free from children.

 

I had an opportunity to get Rogue Aces but decided to pass on it. Looks like fun, reminds me a little of Sky Force Anniversary which I just did a few weeks ago. 

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14 hours ago, Briste said:

I'm with you 100% on that lol exactly where I'm at. In all fairness though, you are much more masochistic with these games than me :) The games you've been able to pull off are extremely impressive, especially in the context of the new baby and all. I look forward to when your kid is old enough that some LEGO games sprinkle their way onto your list ;) You should register the name Laertes7 in PSN now actually in preparation for the username!

 

Hahaha, what a genius idea! ? ? 

 

And thanks, but if anything, the baby actually gave my gaming more structure than before. I used to just play whenever I found a bit of time, but there was no regularity. Now, I mostly can't / don't want to play during the day, either because of work of course or because of my Family, but I have a couple of hours in the evening when he goes to sleep. It's not much, but it's enough to get games that need focus done :) 

 

Truth be told, Covid of course also had an influence on my gaming time in the last couple of months. Usually I would have time for either gaming or socializing, but the latter was very reduced lately. 

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On 8/3/2020 at 3:21 AM, Arcesius said:

And thanks, but if anything, the baby actually gave my gaming more structure than before. I used to just play whenever I found a bit of time, but there was no regularity. Now, I mostly can't / don't want to play during the day, either because of work of course or because of my Family, but I have a couple of hours in the evening when he goes to sleep. It's not much, but it's enough to get games that need focus done :) 

 

My play time is very structured (for the most part). My wife isn't a gamer and I try to respect that when she's awake. Generally I can play for about 45 minutes to an hour after my kids go to bed and then another hour or two after my wife goes to bed. My kids generally go to bed around 8:30pm, then my wife will take a shower and call her mom or something. This gives me the 45 minute ish window. Sometimes it is longer, sometimes shorter...but when she is done with her nightly routine, we usually will sit and chat or watch TV or something until around 10:30-11:00 when she goes to bed. I then stay up to about 12:00-12:30 to play. On weekends, my kids still nap so I'll get a couple hour window mid day then. My wife likes to sit and read during nap time so I take advantage to play for a bit. It's a decent routine and I still get to play quite a bit...but my basic rule is if my family is awake, I'm not playing. My oldest is getting to play for about 30 minutes a day if he's having a good day, being kind and friendly and a good listener. If he isn't kind and friendly then he misses out. It's a decent motivator lol I feel you on the need for structure with a baby around.

 

I finished up a pretty big game just now and I'm going to try and keep it spoiler free. If I mention anything story related, I'll make sure to put it in the spoiler box.

 

Platinum #119

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The Last of Us 2

 

The Last of Us Remastered was one of the first games I played after finishing up the God of War and Final Fantasy games way back when I started trophy hunting. It was a game I found by Googling something like "Best PS4" games or something. TLOU was one of the best games I had ever played. Having missed out on a decade of games from MMO's, it was the first really epic 'new' game I had ever played. Once I got punched in the mouth during the prologue, I realized I was in for something I had never experienced before and was pretty excited. That game did not disappoint and is still one of my favorite gaming experiences. Outside of Final Fantasy games, I generally don't know when new games are being released, or what is hyped. I had honestly forgotten this game was even in the works until the major leaks came out. I heard that people were super pissed about what was coming and decided right then and there that I would stick my head in the sand and not look at anything TLOU2 related. Not the forums, not the trailers, not the trophy list....nothing. I pre-bought it and then actively avoided anything to do with it. Due to Covid, my game was like five or six days late after it was released. It was pretty challenging to log into the forums and not see a thread talking about this game. I didn't open any, but the general gist of the title's made me think the game was going to be that good. After finishing it, I can say that I didn't get that same feeling that I got from finishing the first game...but I really enjoyed this game as well and I am really happy I was able to stay in the dark and not let other people cloud my expectations.

 

This is going to be a weird review as I can't say most of the reasons why I thought this game was great without mentioning the story and spoilers...so I'll give my story impressions in the spoiler section below...I'll keep this portion to the game play, etc. My first impressions were a mixed bag. The graphics were amazing and the controls were smooth, however I was kind of bored for a bit. The zones felt a bit too big with nothing in them and it felt like I was just riding a horse around. My biggest gripe was the lack of ammo you could carry. For example, the shotgun holds 6 rounds in the gun...but you could only ever have 8 shells on you...so that means that Ellie only could keep two extra shells in her back pack? She picks up every piece of paper and trading card she can find...but will only keep two backup shot gun shells? It makes no sense at all and seems like just a forced way to ramp up the difficulty, which is kind of lazy. I would rather resources be more scarce, but you can carry more ammo. Another gripe of mine is another stupid oversight in my mind. When playing as Ellie, she's immune so I don't mind her putting the infected in headlocks, since if she gets bit...it hurts but her life isn't over. When you play as someone other than Ellie, it seems like a HUGE risk to put an infected in a sleeper hold to snap their neck...especially wearing something with no sleeves. These are small gripes, but considering how immersed you're supposed to be in the story....it seems really unbelievable that someone would pass up more ammo in favor of a note someone you don't know left behind or that you would risk becoming infected by wrapping your arm around the neck, which I believe is pretty close to your mouth, to kill.

 

I also felt the flow of the gameplay was a little off as well. There seemed to be a lot of downtime, searching areas for nothing but empty cabinets and not running into much resistance followed by sections of intense battle and difficulty spikes. Nothing was crazy hard, but the flow just felt a bit disjointed to me. Part of that disjointed feeling came from the amount of collectibles as well. I spent hours searching every nook and cranny (or so I thought) to find as many collectibles as I could. If you spend too much time exploring...a goddamn message pops up asking if you want a hint and it doesn't seem to go away unless you press :l3: to get said hint, or find where to go on your own. I could have probably disabled hints...but it would have been nice to be able to cancel the hint as well. They give you so much shit to look for yet they want you to hurry up and get to the next area as well. Which was also a bit annoying, because there are so many 'point of no returns' in this game. There is really no backtracking at all in this game. If you open the wrong door by accident and advanced the story a bit...well sorry but they just blocked that door behind you and you can't go back and explore.

 

It seems like I'm doing a lot of bitching, but most of these issues are small in the context of the game. I really appreciated what they tried to do with the story. All I'll say outside of the spoiler is it felt a lot like Breaking Bad to me. Character's evolve and react to different situations...some you may like and some you may not...but no one is a hero and by the end...it's possible you won't like anyone. That doesn't mean you don't understand their journey...you just may not like who they've become. I think that is a really hard thing to do as a storyteller and I think this game is as good as any in telling a hard story. If you finish this game and feel happy about the journey, you should probably seek therapy lol

 

I think a lot of the complaints come from people that need/want a happy ending and a story that is black and white with good and evil etc. This game explores grey...deeply. It is a came about causality and consequences of choice. It explores the idea of revenge and illustrates how important the perspective from which a story is told affects how a situation is viewed. I really respect and admire what Naught Dog did here and give them a ton of credit. Having said that...I also feel like the story went one chapter too long...

 

The story isn't for everybody, but I think overall the game is visually beautiful and a great experience, yet lacks that special something that made the first one so revered. If there's a third episode...I'll be picking that up too.

 

Story Spoilers Contained:

Spoiler

After beating the story, I went back to see what the big gripes were with the story...and I disagree with the complaints on almost every level. I heard the game was too liberal and 'forcing political views' on people which I didn't see. I felt every character was believable and founded in reality. I didn't think the game tried to glorify or force anything in your face and most of what happened felt very organic to me. I was surprised to see that 'Bigot Sandwich' was an issue...I have a hundred people on my Facebook feed that would say something like that. Abby is jacked and a strong female character, which also felt organic to me. I think if you feel they were forcing politics on you, you are either highly sensitive or are looking for things to be mad at. I had no problems with any of the characters in the game.

 

Another huge sticking point was Joel being brutally murdered basically at the start of the game...I wasn't very surprised. I kind of expected something like that would happen in the sequel anyways considering what he did at the end of the first game. I know Joel dying was a huge point of contention for a lot of people...but honestly...if you didn't see that coming, you weren't paying attention. We loved Joel because we got to see his whole arc and could empathize with how he felt towards Ellie...but the fact of the matter is, his selfishness in that moment altered human history. He couldn't let her die due to his love for her, but he sacrificed millions of others in the process. That was bound to piss someone off and he made the choice in that moment, to spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder. It was a lose, lose scenario for him, but that is kind of the mantra of this story. Shit happens and just keeps rolling downhill. I didn't like what happened to him...but I expected it. People thought it was stupid that Tommy and Joel told her their names and where they were from considering how cautious they were in the first game. They said it was out of character and not believable. I didn't remember the circumstances by the end, but I didn't remember having a problem with their introduction. NG+ reinforced that idea too. They were all running from like a hundred infected in the middle of a blizzard and they were locked in a room trying to figure out how to escape. Tommy calls Joel by name and Joel responds to Tommy by name. They ask Abby what she's doing out there and they tell her where they're trying to go. I feel like four or five years living in Jackson maybe relaxed their cautiousness a bit and based on the context of what was going on...felt perfectly fine. Once Abby knew who she was with, it only made sense she would try to get them back to the cabin and considering the storm, it makes sense they would accept her offer. Now considering Joel's history, perhaps that was a stupid thing to do...but again considering the context of their encounter....it didn't seem that outlandish to me at all.

 

I hated Abby at first, but you're supposed to. Considering your introduction to her is the brutal murder of someone you were highly invested in, it makes sense no one would like her. I actually tried to die as her on purpose a few times. I didn't know who she was and didn't like that I had to play as her at all. That scene does a great job of getting the player to rally behind Ellie and say 'yeah, let's go kill that bitch.' When you get to the half way point and all of a sudden you're playing as Abby again...I was like wtf? I don't want to play as her...Thankfully, they show you in the first twenty minutes of the second half of the game what Abby's motivations are. it made it a lot easier to play as her and made me curious what was going on in her head.

 

I actually think it was brilliant how they set it up. I mean the whole time you're playing as Ellie, you think that the WLF is looking for you and that you are in imminent danger always. It was really interesting to see from Abby's side, that they had no idea Ellie was even there and that what happened in Jackson was out of sight, out of mind. This way of telling the story actually made NG+ much more interesting, because now you knew what the WLF is talking about when Ellie overhears and you realize exactly what she is walking into. 

 

I read that people didn't like that ND tried to make you like Abby by showing you her motivations. I don't understand that at all. Do people like not knowing the entire picture so that it can line up with their own narrative better? I mean, once I learned what made Abby do what she did...I did have a lot of empathy and understanding for her. Shit, Ellie was doing the exact same thing that Abby did in the first place....get revenge for the death of her father (figure). This story was one huge Greek Tragedy. Abby and Ellie were fighting for the same reasons, just on opposite sides. A conversation between the two would have been fascinating to watch, but since this is a Greek Tragedy...that conversation could never happen...otherwise there would have maybe been an understanding between the two.

 

This story has so much depth and nuance and was truly told very well. The only thing I didn't like was the last chapter. I was fine with it all the way up to when Ellie wanted to fight Abby. At that point I felt Ellie just needed to let it go. Abby was literally being crucified after being made a slave for months. She was famished and malnourished and felt excessive. Ellie wanting to fight Abby in that scenario was the only time something felt out of character to me. Ellie was pissed at Joel too for robbing her of the choice to save humanity. I understand she had extreme guilt due to the way she and Joel parted...but I think Abby had suffered enough for her sins. Considering how terrible the Rattlers were...it would have made more sense to me in that scenario that Ellie either just leave Abby on the cross and walk away or help her escape. Cutting her down just to fight her seemed really stupid...I feel like that ending could have been done much better. 

 

There is so much to discuss about this game, but I'm going to stop here before this post gets really out of hand. Just know...Ellie is Walter White and Abby is Jesse Pinkman (without all the crying)....not exactly...but pretty close

 

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You sound like my sister who is 39 years old. Has her hands full with a 7 year old niece and 4 year old nephew, even more now that they've had to stay sheltered these past few months. Had to babysit them several times over the years. Rather spoiled and bratty, but it is what it is.

 

There is nothing on The Last of Us Part II that appeals to me in the least. I will be picking up Ghosts of Tsushima for a cheaper price.. if the price tag falls around Christmas this year I will pick it up digitally and enjoy it for myself.

 

Will not be switching over to PlayStation 5. I got far too much crap on my backlog, although I've knocked out a little chunk of it this past month.

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I also enjoyed TLOU2 a lot. Curious what difficulty you went with, the normal difficulty i felt was too easy and always was maxed out on ammo. Felt bad leaving ammo behind that couldn't be picked up, she really needed a bandoleer. My second play through was on survivor and it was a good challenge, but not overbearing and I thought I could go faster since I didn't have to search for collectibles, as I was using a guide, but still had to because i needed supplies badly.

 

I played the the first TLOU again as the remastered right before playing this one and the issues you pointed out carried over from it, except for having more open areas.

 

I had a really hard time putting together any kind of review that didn't have spoilers for this, I'm sure the statue of limitations will be up soon though if it isn't already due to leaks. I also probably would be ostracized for what I'm going to say in this hidden section:

Spoiler

Like you, I saw it coming with Joel. i don't condemn him for stopping a vaccine from being produced, since honestly most people die from other people it seems like. Even if they did make one and use it for themselves, they died to one guy...they wouldn't get far and I doubt the fireflies would share it. But, the way he did it was pretty jacked up. He starts off by shooting a guy in the dick...twice, then continues to murder his way through and kill a very rare skilled doctor. Now what Abby doesn't know is that her dad pulled a scalpel on Joel, a dude who just murdered at least 20 people to get there and still has guns. If he just let Joel take Ellie, TLOU2 would have been a whole different story, but people apparently aren't that smart in a post-apocalyptic waste land.

 

Now coming to TLOU2, I felt like the first area in Seattle was them testing the waters with an "open world" concept. It seemed kinda like a waste of time, but was a nice way to gear up a little. Was kind of painful having to do that area a second time, even though i had my weapons from NG+, but it's my fault for needing supplies while playing on survivor. I did however know what to expect and prepare for and what areas deemed worth searching to the risk involved.

 

Here is what people will probably want to murder me for, but by the end of the game, I swapped my feelings completely, which might have been the intent of the story from ND. I actually found myself liking Abby more at the end than Ellie. Ellie really had no right leaving what she had behind to hunt down Abby for some kind of "resolution", didn't she already do enough? I did however love seeing my home town at the end. I can see them making the next TLOU be about Abby and Lev, but public opinion will probably stop that from happening.

 

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On 8/7/2020 at 3:59 AM, Spaz said:

There is nothing on The Last of Us Part II that appeals to me in the least. I will be picking up Ghosts of Tsushima for a cheaper price.. if the price tag falls around Christmas this year I will pick it up digitally and enjoy it for myself.

I understand, but it's too bad because it really is a pretty good game. Ghosts looks like another game I would also enjoy, but probably one I'll never actually get to.

 

On 8/7/2020 at 8:49 AM, Rally-Vincent--- said:

I enjoyed TLOU II a lot, the ending included. It is difficult to have a civilized discussion about the game, though. I stopped reading topics about TLOU II, I feel dumber afterwards almost every time.

This is too true. It's too bad it can't be discussed more civilly because there are a lot of good themes to discuss and tons of different ways you could interpret the story. I feel like there is a real lack of ability for people to remove emotion and think critically about things any more. It's a lot of 'I feel this, so it must be that' and people have stopped trying to see other perspectives.

 

On 8/7/2020 at 0:30 PM, Grotz99 said:

I had a really hard time putting together any kind of review that didn't have spoilers for this, I'm sure the statue of limitations will be up soon though if it isn't already due to leaks. I also probably would be ostracized for what I'm going to say in this hidden section:

Spoiler

I am one of those that also was more on team Abby by the end. Her road started at rock bottom and seemed to be more of a tale of redemption. She felt Joel got what he deserved, but really seemed to struggle with the memories of being the person to do it. It seemed like killing Joel affected all of them a lot. She knew she maybe crossed a line and was trying to atone. She began to look past affiliations and just wanted to do what was 'right'. This was something I could appreciate and I felt myself pulling for Abby in the end. It was heartbreaking to see what happened to her and Lev. Anytime she got a glimpse of hope, something smashed it away from her.

 

Ellie on the other hand, went from being more innocent and naive and due to her betrayal by Joel by denying her the chance to save humanity, the bad way that she felt she and Joel left things followed by his brutal murder...her story was more about revenge and how it consumed her. She slipped into a realm that she didn't seem prepared to handle either, which was shown really well in all of the cut-scenes just following something terrible she did. I thought her reaction after what she did to Norah was very telling. She didn't seem comfortable doing what she had to, but showed she had the conviction to follow it through. If it wasn't for the nightmares and her terrible guilt, she probably could have stayed at the farm with Dina and JJ. By the end, the need for revenge consumed Ellie to the point she was willing to attack and try to kill Abby, even after she had been crucified. I think Ellie is still salvageable because in the end she couldn't finish the job and deep down probably knew that Abby had more than paid for her sins.

 

It is an incredible tale of tragedy and if you can look at the themes and the path these two woman had to take, it is extremely compelling and very well done. I'm curious to see what happens next.

 

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6 hours ago, Briste said:

I understand, but it's too bad because it really is a pretty good game. Ghosts looks like another game I would also enjoy, but probably one I'll never actually get to.

 

I don't want to jump into the sequel when I still need to do the original game.

 

Nowadays I can probably get that online done in around a week if I put the effort into it, even though I have shitty internet for multiplayer. Got some other stuff like Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations I want to get done at some point. Will probably never do GTA Online. Terrible community of asshats, plus that Doomsday Heist DLC just looks like too much trouble for me to bother with. I'm perfectly fine with having some games unfinished.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Platinum #120

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Enter the Gungeon

I bought this game for the same reason i bought SMB...just in case I felt like challenging myself to something. This isn't nearly as hard as SMB, however it is challenging enough to stay fun. I knew nothing about it really, but it came highly recommended by @Jens as a great 'rogue-lite' game. It was on sale and while I was pretty intimidated by the 50+ playthroughs it says it takes on the Trophy Guide...I figured I'd stash it. It's been in my back log well over a year and after playing a few open world style games like FF7R and TLOU2, I wanted something a little different. I threw it on my Gaming By Numbers Event card figuring I'd never really get to it, but on a whim I started it up and figured what the hell?

 

This game was awesome. From the fantastic gun puns to the very responsive controls and nice challenge...it feels nearly perfect to me. For those that don't know what a rogue-lite is (I didn't)...it's a dungeon crawler with randomized maps where each run in is somewhat unique. You unlock different weapons and items each trip as you hit different milestones that could show up as rewards for defeating a boss or in a treasure chest...but you start with your basic gear every time. Due to the shear amount of weapons and items and the infinite possible combinations....the replay value is exceptionally high. There are 5 main floors with a bonus 6th floor after you kill all of the main character's past (I won't go into detail on what that means, but it is basically why you Enter the Gungeon). One run takes about 45 minutes to an hour if you get all the way through. Sometimes you get very lucky and get some gear that makes the game have a bit of an 'easy button' but generally it is quite challenging.

 

There are four main characters to start. The Marine, the Pilot, the Convict and the Hunter with two unlockable playable characters (the Robot and the Bullet) as you play through the game. Each has a slightly unique set of skills that make each different enough to add even more variety. I started out playing as the Marine almost exclusively while I learned the game. At first, it seemed like plat'ing this game would be impossible. Just getting to the second floor was challenging, however once I got the hang of it I could get to the 3rd floor in my sleep before it ramps up a little. After playing through all of them, I liked the Hunter and the Robot the best probably. The Hunter is nice because she has a dog with her...he doesn't attack or anything, but after each cleared room there is a chance that it will find an item. This is especially useful for finding keys to unlock treasure chests. She also comes with two guns to start, which is helpful on the first floor. The robot doesn't have health like the others, just armor, and he is much harder to replenish health with (you don't find armor nearly as frequently as hearts). But he is extremely accurate and I found I played well as him. I got exceptionally lucky on a few of my playthroughs with him with gear selection, so that probably helped why I liked playing as him so much. I didn't play much as the Convict or Pilot other than to do a run through to kill their past.

 

My favorite thing in the game is probably how awesomely named everything is. From the bosses Eye of the Beholdster, Gorgun and Dragun to the cleverly named guns like Pea Shooter (shoots peas) and the BSG (Big Shooty Gun), it's just full of plays on words and it is really, really creative how they put it all together. The controls are as sharp as I've seen in a game and if you get hit, you probably earned it. The only problem I found was if you hugged the wall, sometimes the aim would disengage. You can use the auto aim feature or aim yourself...I'm not skilled enough to aim myself and used the auto aimer. While the controls were very responsive...I did not like how they had the default controls set up and changed them all around to suit my style. 

 

The trophy list is pretty fair with the only really annoying trophy being Weird Tale for finishing Frifle's Challenges. It's basically a list of different enemies in the Gungeon to hunt down. There is a specific number of them you have to kill before moving on to the next. It is annoying that you can't work on multiple at once and even more annoying how rare a few of them are. One of them, for example, only shows up on the third floor...and may not even show up at all and you have to kill 20 of them. I probably had to rerun the third floor about 45 times before I found/killed enough to satisfy that bounty. It wouldn't have been as bad if it occurred during normal play...but I had finished everything else by this point and it was just a matter of farming. It took me 4-5 days of just farming floors to finish off the entire list. Nothing else on the trophy list felt like a chore.

 

If I wasn't such a fanboy of Final Fantasy, this would probably be my favorite game that I've played this year. It was a lot of fun and I recommend it highly. 

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That was a nice read, congrats on the platinum! ?

 

Very glad to read that you enjoyed the game THAT much. It has been installed on my PS4 for a couple of months now, but I couldn't bring myself to start it (yet). I had been playing quite a bit of Crypt of the NecroDancer, and I wasn't feeling like doing 2 rogue-likes / -lites at once. 

 

But if the game is that much fun, and doesn't even take that long (you did it in a little over 3 weeks, and I know you don't have a lot of gaming time), I might start it sooner than I was expecting to :) 

 

 

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