Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[freddie1989]

Plenty of PS3 on that list pal, makes me realise I need to buy one and get back to some of them old games! Bioshock Infinite and Brutal Legend are 2 particular ones that I started and never finished. If I haven't started them yet I will do PS4 but the incomplete ones just stare at me ? good luck to you!

[Copanele]

6 minutes ago, freddie1989 said:

Plenty of PS3 on that list pal, makes me realise I need to buy one and get back to some of them old games! Bioshock Infinite and Brutal Legend are 2 particular ones that I started and never finished. If I haven't started them yet I will do PS4 but the incomplete ones just stare at me good luck to you!

Yep I did collect quite some games there! But they are pretty manageable + I just like gaming and collecting stuff, so I am pretty confident I can get them all! 

Priority are the challenge ones though ,since there's a time limit

[Copanele]

 No. 71 : J-Stars Victory VS+ 

Platinum Name : J-STARS Victory VS+ 

Hardest Trophy : The Road to Glory - Win every battle on Victory Road 

Difficulty : 3/10 (as long as you get how to build your deck)

Personal impression : 7/10

 

J-Stars Victory VS is a 3D brawler between all relevant shonen jump characters(at least from 2014) and is the lesser known predecessor of Jump Force. If you know the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games, this is the same gameplay style. You have to form a 3-man team(sometimes even 4) from all the 52 available characters. Normally you can control one character, another secondary character is controlled by the CPU and the third character acts as a support , spamming in the match to throw in an attack and leave (with a cooldown). Only 39 characters are playable, the rest can only act as a support.

There are 3 main modes you can tackle : Campaign (split into 4 arcs, each with its own protagonists: Luffy in Arc 1, Naruto in Arc 2, Toriko in Arc 3 and Ichigo in Arc 4), Victory Road ( You have to conquer each map thrown at you and select multiple paths) and VS mode (where all the local and online stuff happens). Personally i never managed to connect to someone online so every single impression and gameplay will be from a single player perspective.

 

Campaign is set across the Jump World. You control a boat and scour across the land, doing various side missions and gathering your crew. It is the most interesting part of the game however the story itself is worse than the final chapters of Bleach so really pay no attention to it. Just mash the X button to skip the dialogue from Arc 2 onwards.

Victory Road is just exploring. Start a map, do all the routes, rinse and repeat. Once you go a route you can't go back so...multiple playthroughs are required at certain maps. Not really my definition of fun but whatever.

Online would be probably fun if it worked. Fortunately all online trophies can be earned against CPU so that's a bonus there.

 

Honestly, whether you go Story, Victory Road and Online, the idea is kinda the same. For an anime fan this game will be quite fun, because there are lots of references and stuff from the main source materials( e.g. When you defeat Raoh from Hokuto No Ken, he doesn't die , he just stands tall, yells something in japanese then the match ends - just like in the manga). Models are quite good and the maps are not that badly designed either ( except the Namek Planet, screw that map). Also the ultimate moves and all the attacks are quite flashy too.

Each battle gives you J-Points (the currency of the game), where you can buy various stuff but most importantly you can buy character cards! These cards give various buffs and debuffs and you can customize them into your deck. If you get 3 "combination bonus" cards (from a weird list from the internet, the guide explains it in more detail), all the debuffs are removed for that line of cards. I honestly spent alot of time in building my deck and finding the best heroes combo so I can dish out the biggest amount of damage as fast as possible.

 

At first glance,the game is not that bad BUT! it is. incredibly. BORING.

 

After finishing your main arc (Luffy, Ace, Seiya), you will notice that everything repeats itself. Even if you do change and mix characters, the fun runs out pretty fast. I do believe that avid anime fans will love this game but a casual anime/manga consumer like me that wants diverse gameplay too. 

 

And honestly, half the roster is quite useless. Ichigo and Naruto are pathetic really( maybe they are good online who knows) even though they are part of the main cast. The rest are not really relevant. There's only one team I discovered that dishes out insane amounts of damage: Luffy, Kenshiro and Vegeta(support). Luffy is a powerhouse with all his gatling moves, Kenshiro is a sturdy paralisys madman and Vegeta's Big Bang Attack support obliterates up to 50% of the enemy's HP. Adding to that are cards with stamina regen and damage increase in "combination bonus" mode, results in complete obliteration. With all these options, why would I choose other characters? Victory Road became trivial even at 5/5 stars difficulty.

 

Honestly, play this game only if you really love your Shonen stuff(it got delisted, not available to buy digitally anymore). The game as a brawler is not that good really and gets boring fast. I have to give points for the effort though, since the game doesn't look half bad and it usually works....as long as team Sasuke and Madara don't spam their shit and kill my framerate.

 

Bonus points for Gintoki from Gintama. He's the funniest character I ever played as and against. A walking talking anime gag (just the way Gintama is ,really). Also because of this game I re-read the manga Toriko, I really enjoyed it.

 

If I were to rate it

Best heroes in order : Luffy, Toriko, Kenshiro

Best support : Vegeta by far

Worst heroes : Ichigo, Sakaki/the Policeman/whatever his name is, Naruto

 

Yep...definitely not buying Jump Force. While this game looks cute, everyone looks constipated in Jump Force.

 

THE GOOD:

- full roster of Shonen Jump cast

- lots of accurate references

- ability to mix your team as much as you desire

- pretty graphics

- building your deck is surprisingly fun

 

THE BAD:

- it gets boring after the first Arc

- complete lack of balance

- Luffy is too OP

- The gameplay itself is shallow

Edited November 22, 2019 by Copanele

[Copanele]

UPDATE

 

- after lots of headaches, finally completed the PLATINUM OPINIONS AND IMPRESSIONS section. Still need to finesse lots of reviews and add the THE GOOD/THE BAD section for each and every one, but the main work is completed. 

- added 2 more games to the PS3 backlog : Castlevania Lords of Shadows 1 and 2. 

[AndresLionheart]

Hey man, nice collection of plats you have there.

 

I have to say that I'm kinda jelous of your DMC plats =p. I would like to have them in but I just can't bring myself to do them due to not wanting to put the effort because of the difficulty. Having to do DMC2 is a big turn off, too.

 

I'm also surprised that DS2 is your first plat. It's not the kind of game someone just casually platinums.

 

I'm just starting to get into Guilty Gear as well. Since they announced the last one I got really interested so I began to casually play Xrd Rev2 (on PC) to get to know some of the characters. So far having a great time with Ky (who looks fucking badass on GG Strive).

 

If one of these days you want to expand your horizons in terms of game genres, I would recommend trying some JRPGs. Dragon Quest XI is long but easy to plat. Tales of Berseria is more action oriented and it's not that bad of a Platinum.

[Copanele]

5 minutes ago, AndresLionheart said:

Hey man, nice collection of plats you have there.

 

I have to say that I'm kinda jelous of your DMC plats =p. I would like to have them in but I just can't bring myself to do them due to not wanting to put the effort because of the difficulty. Having to do DMC2 is a big turn off, too.

 

I'm also surprised that DS2 is your first plat. It's not the kind of game someone just casually platinums.

 

I'm just starting to get into Guilty Gear as well. Since they announced the last one I got really interested so I began to casually play Xrd Rev2 (on PC) to get to know some of the characters. So far having a great time with Ky (who looks fucking badass on GG Strive).

 

If one of these days you want to expand your horizons in terms of game genres, I would recommend trying some JRPGs. Dragon Quest XI is long but easy to plat. Tales of Berseria is more action oriented and it's not that bad of a Platinum.

Many thanks !! Yep , DMC plats are abit of a "prized possession" of mine, been waiting for DMC5 personally since I completed DMC4 back in 2008  . I am currently bringing myself to clean up the remaining ones for PS3 : DMC2 and DmC reboot. Playing DMC2 is quite game suicidal, that game is sooooo bad (but still gonna get it again. I am immune to pain at this point  )

It might be my favorite franchise so far.

 

Well truthfully, the Soulsborne collection (or at least DS1 and 2) were games that I started on PC first. I platinumed DS2 on a whim ,back then I just decided " Hey let's do 100% on this game". I believe I only needed that stupid Hidden Weapon spell at that time. That was before even knowing about this site . Played these games so much I managed to pull SL1 runs on them so... yeah. Weird hobby of mine. Bloodborne was the toughest but DS1 is still the best of all time for me.

 

Guilty Gear is hands down my most beloved fighting game franchise. Rev2 is a great version for sure, it teaches you all the basics and madness that Guilty Gear is. Honestly the tutorial and the challenges are great too! 

I personally started with Guilty Gear X2 Reload. It kicked my ass but it was a learning experience. They are removing some mechanics in Strive though so... I am curious how that game will turn out to be.

 

Annnnd finally about jRPG...normally I avoid them, not really a fan of them . But one day I should thoroughly check one, just to "expand the horizon" as you said  however I really need to have my pick because the wrong game would be a massive turnoff for the genre. I will check Tales of Berseria one day (I know there's more in the franchise but it seems many people recommend that one).

 

 

[ZoutjeNL]

Amazing collection of platinum friend! And a great taste in games. I love Soulsborne and challenging games. I played too little GoW so need to play more (only played 2018). Also recently picked up DMC5 and looking at your ratings it really hypes me up to play it. I like the work you did with the impressions of the games. I will surely follow you throughout the years! Keep it up  

[Copanele]

4 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Amazing collection of platinum friend! And a great taste in games. I love Soulsborne and challenging games. I played too little GoW so need to play more (only played 2018). Also recently picked up DMC5 and looking at your ratings it really hypes me up to play it. I like the work you did with the impressions of the games. I will surely follow you throughout the years! Keep it up  

Many thanks! Glad at least someone took a glance to all the dumb stuff I wrote during work under the Impressions part

 

[Litha]

A little off-topic, but I thought I'd mention that your write-up of The Witcher 3 convinced me to pick up The Last Wish and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, so thank you.

Edited December 2, 2019 by SpaghettiGrabsy
Mild spacing error that made me cry

[Copanele]

7 hours ago, SpaghettiGrabsy said:

A little off-topic, but I thought I'd mention that your write-up of The Witcher 3 convinced me to pick up The Last Wish and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, so thank you.

You are welcome! They are really enjoyable to read and you get a broader picture about the world , who Geralt is (and how much of a dumbass Dandelion really is). 

Should pick up book 3 again, I dropped it at some point while being focused on other things. Being lazy is not really that good  

 

[Litha]

37 minutes ago, Copanele said:

You are welcome! They are really enjoyable to read and you get a broader picture about the world , who Geralt is (and how much of a dumbass Dandelion really is). 

Should pick up book 3 again, I dropped it at some point while being focused on other things. Being lazy is not really that good  

 

I tried The Witcher 3 but I felt like I'd jumped in at Episode 14 of Season 5 of some TV show. I had no clue what was going on. I really want to give it another go given the universal praise it's received. It'll take me a while to follow all the breadcrumbs but as I said, I'm really enjoying it. Thanks again!

[Copanele]

 No.72 : L.A. Noire (+100%,PS3)

 

Platinum Name : Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy : Shamus to the Stars - complete all story cases with a 5 stars rating 

Difficulty : 2/10 with a guide for the cases, 5.5/10 without one

Personal impression : 8.6/10

 

From Wikipedia : Film Noir is a cinematic term used to describe primarily stylish Hollywood Crime Dramas, that emphasize cynical attitude and sexual motivations. 

The reason I have added this is because L.A. Noire perfectly covers all the points in the definition. You play as Cole Phelps, a LAPD cop in the year 1947 in the great City of Angels , Los Angeles.

After uncovering some murders as a cop, stopping a bank robbery and using his deduction skills to interview a suspect, he is promoted as a detective and is moved into the Traffic department. He gets tangled in all the intricacies of murders and legal systems and it's up to him (and you) to clean up the streets and bring justice and order.

 

First of all, the setting is surprisingly accurate. Team Bondi managed to replicate the after-war setting in the US. All the era specific cars are there, the radio posts are also straight from that era (they are even mentioned in the credits section), the dress code and the behavior is accurate. One specific commercial that I enjoyed was the cigarette commercial; corny song, a rough voice singing like he smoke all his life and weird rhythm. I laughed my ass off when I first heard it and I was temporarily forgetting about my cases whenever that stupid commercial went on.

 

The main man, Cole Phelps, is your typical Noir protagonist. He is a decorated war hero, in peak physical condition, a sharp mind and a desire for justice. He is determined to right any wrongs there are. The more you play as him, you uncover more of his past and his interactions with others. I won't give any spoilers but if you ever watched a Noir film (or a neo-Noir, specifically Sin City), you could expect that nothing is what it seems and Phelps has some history on his back. Despite being a war hero, he is reluctant to talk about his war experiences with his detective partners. The plot tangles and gets more complex as you get promoted to superior desks and do more difficult cases.

 

Regarding the actual gameplay, the case solving consists into 3 main parts : investigation (first the crime scene, then the other unlocked areas considering you found the right clues), the action part (ranging from plain driving to shootouts, car chases and suspect tailing) and interrogation (interrogating suspects and accusing the guilty ones). While the investigation and action part are quite self-explanatory (find clue, analyse clue, shoot the bad guys), the main focus is on the interrogation part. Team Bondi used a MotionScan technology ahead of its age, where the facial animation were captured from every angle, trying to best replicate a true face reactions. 

Normally when interrogating a suspect, after him giving you a reply to one of your questions, you have 3 options : Truth, Doubt and Lie. Then, according to the suspect's face, you need to select the right option. For example, while interrogating a woman, if she looks straight into your eyes you are most likely to select Truth, if she smirks you have to select Doubt and if she averts your gaze she is most likely to be lying. When she is lying you actually have to bring in proof and confront her lie.

In theory this is a great mechanic but due to the limits of the year the game was released, it gave away some hilarious results. Firstly, some characters acted like they smelled a wet fart when they were lying and some facial animations were completely unnatural. Secondly, the original intend was Good Cop, Bad Cop and Lie (also updated like this in PS4). Selecting Doubt made Cole yell like a madman. It was a hilarious moment when Phelps called a granny "An old hag" when selecting Doubt. Like...what are you doubting my dear detective? That's plain old rude!

Also ,in the later Vice and Arson desks, in order to make the game more complex, you have to completely ignore the facial animation and actually use your intuition and your genuine detective skills to solve out the crimes, because some murderers can lie to you with a clean face and you'd never catch on. So it's a great idea but it needed some work.

 

As mentioned, the story is what you'd expect from a film Noir : intrigue, cynism (described by the detective in the first opening sequences of the game), a beautiful german singer, corrupt cops and slimy politicians. Each desk has it's own ministory. You have the first Patrol desk (where Phelps starts as a policeman) then Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. While I believe that Traffic and Homicide are the best parts of the story, Vice dragged on too long and had the most boring cases and Arson felt abit rushed. The DLC's add new cases but again, only the Homicide DLC's were stellar. One special mention to Nicholson Electroplating DLC in Arson case, that was a very weird case, mostly because I didn't understand very much what actually happened and it covered lots of explosions.

You are given a rating considering how many clues you found, how many interrogations you have completed successfully and how much damage you did to the city while driving(an anti-GTA game, ironic coming from Rockstar). The maximum you can achieve are 5 stars. While Traffic and Homicide have some well structured cases with logical interviews sections, Vice is completely random. By the time I reached Arson I kind of got bored and decided to read a guide for some difficult parts. What I also didn't really like is that if you don't reach the new areas in a specific order, you might miss out really important clues and you can butcher your 5 stars rating. There's no real hint to what place you should really go so...that's abit of a downside.

 

A special mention to the ending, which many players call utter bullshit : While it is exactly how the game should have ended (Film Noir, remember? ), it did feel very rushed and just slapped there. I personally believe the dev team ran out of budget and probably just got exhausted by the game (7 years of development is no small feat). So I excuse them for the rushed ending, I get their main idea. Considering how good the game was up until that point I will let that slide.

 

So in conclusion, an unique experience. Do give it a try if you wish to play a down-to-earth GTA and actually use your brain. This game reminded me of the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" games developed by FrogWare so I couldn't help but rate this game highly. My inner detective has been satisfied!

 

THE GOOD

- accurate representation of post-war USA, completed with the cars and dressing code according to the era

- stellar soundtrack and radio stations

- exemplary story, it catches you and fuels your curiosity

- Cole Phelps is a great protagonist

- great detective investigation mechanics

- facial animation is ahead of its age

 

THE BAD
- gameplay can get abit too simplistic at times

- some facial animations feel unreal - uncanny valley

- the Vice desk cases are dull and the Arson cases are too short

- the ending was rushed

- while the facial animations are great, the rest of the body is stiff

- selecting Doubt gives some hilarious but wrong results (fixed in the remastered version)

- the later cases get so obscure, the facial animation technique is redundant and you have to use some insane logic and deduction

[AJ_Radio]

5 minutes ago, Copanele said:

 No.72 : L.A. Noire (+100%,PS3)

 

Platinum Name : Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy : Shamus to the Stars - complete all story cases with a 5 stars rating 

Difficulty : 2/10 with a guide for the cases, 5.5/10 without one

Personal impression : 8.6/10

 

I remember back when May 2011 when a YouTube channel named "TheMediaCows" posted gameplay footage of this game. I was simply hooked.

 

It really is a goddamn shame we really haven't gotten more games like this. I would gladly take a 1990s/2000s era detective game set in Chicago, New York City or Los Angeles. Playing as a simple detective who works his way up to the higher ranks in the police force. Doing your share of forensics, asking the coroner questions about a deceased criminal, so on and so forth.

 

Another reason I enjoyed this game is because a good number of the actors are from the television show Mad Men. Definitely a solid drama TV series, still one of my favorite shows of all time. So seeing the actors in this game definitely clicked.

 

I may stack the PS4 version. Not sure, but it was foolish of them not to include trophies for The Consol's Car DLC. Instead we get more collectibles.

[Copanele]

9 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

I remember back when May 2011 when a YouTube channel named "TheMediaCows" posted gameplay footage of this game. I was simply hooked.

 

It really is a goddamn shame we really haven't gotten more games like this. I would gladly take a 1990s/2000s era detective game set in Chicago, New York City or Los Angeles. Playing as a simple detective who works his way up to the higher ranks in the police force. Doing your share of forensics, asking the coroner questions about a deceased criminal, so on and so forth.

 

Another reason I enjoyed this game is because a good number of the actors are from the television show Mad Men. Definitely a solid drama TV series, still one of my favorite shows of all time. So seeing the actors in this game definitely clicked.

 

I may stack the PS4 version. Not sure, but it was foolish of them not to include trophies for The Consol's Car DLC. Instead we get more collectibles.

I feel the same, I really wanted one more game like this one. It was so well done, honestly when I first saw "Rockstar" I did the beginner mistake to go "Ahh, another GTA game" and didn't pay much attention. But once I actually got into it...wow what a great game! If they did a sequel in '90's/'00s then wow it would be so good. Or , do a "Dirty Harry" like film, in the 1970s, there's lots of material there! 

Honestly I believe I will reinstall my Sherlock Holmes collection for PC. There were some specific games which, although not having the action and interrogation part, they had the same fierce " find the clue - link the evidence-  find the suspect" part. Same as L.A. Noire, if you are not actually using a guide they are very difficult but logical. I have heard the latest Sherlock Holmes game is lame though so I will avoid that one.

 

I saw the PS4 list and yes, it's a shame that they added some stupid collectible DLC trophies instead of linking The Consul's Car. That case was really good. Just because of that I won't stack the PS4 version, even though they improve the graphics and actually fix the Truth, Doubt and Lie with Good Cop, Bad Cop and Accuse. Seriously, Phelps was a mad man when selecting Doubt  

[AJ_Radio]

4 hours ago, Copanele said:

I feel the same, I really wanted one more game like this one. It was so well done, honestly when I first saw "Rockstar" I did the beginner mistake to go "Ahh, another GTA game" and didn't pay much attention. But once I actually got into it...wow what a great game! If they did a sequel in '90's/'00s then wow it would be so good. Or , do a "Dirty Harry" like film, in the 1970s, there's lots of material there! 

Honestly I believe I will reinstall my Sherlock Holmes collection for PC. There were some specific games which, although not having the action and interrogation part, they had the same fierce " find the clue - link the evidence-  find the suspect" part. Same as L.A. Noire, if you are not actually using a guide they are very difficult but logical. I have heard the latest Sherlock Holmes game is lame though so I will avoid that one.

 

I saw the PS4 list and yes, it's a shame that they added some stupid collectible DLC trophies instead of linking The Consul's Car. That case was really good. Just because of that I won't stack the PS4 version, even though they improve the graphics and actually fix the Truth, Doubt and Lie with Good Cop, Bad Cop and Accuse. Seriously, Phelps was a mad man when selecting Doubt  

 

Ahh Dirty Harry... That along with the spaghetti westerns Clint Eastwood did forever cemented his place in cinema history. I love those old films...

 

They changed too much in the latest Sherlock Holmes game. They made Holmes and Watson younger, and there is a focus on poorly designed QTEs that break the immersion. Crimes and Punishments was good in what it set out to do and I wish Frogwares continued with it, even if they made another game with the exact same layer of paint.

 

I'd play the PS4 version just to re-experience the game. The collectibles don't mean anything so they're just padding to make a game longer than it needs to be.

[Copanele]

 No. 73: Devil May Cry 2 (PS3)

Platinum Name : Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy : The Sky's the limit - S rank with Lucia 

Difficulty : 1/10 with infinite DT and cheats, 7/10 doing it legit(bloody palace is horrendous in this game)

Personal impression : 3.2/10 - still garbage.

 

Ok proper review on this trash can...I can do this.

 

DMC2 is the sequel of the critically acclaimed DMC and ... it's one of the worst games ever made. To understand why DMC2 is so hated you need to understand first how DMC1 is.

Basically DMC1 was initially supposed to be Resident Evil 4 (the Leon extravaganza). However Capcom decided that the main character doesn't quite fit the RE formula so a new franchise was born. DMC1 is known for its over the top combat, tight but atmospheric locations, fabulous boss battles and the main character Dante, a loud mouthed jolly carefree devil hunter. In DMC, just killing enemies is not enough, you have to do it in style. Of course you can slash at enemies but why do that when you can launch them into air, hold them airborne with your pistols then stab the living hell out of them and after that mocking them all while having a style rank of STYLISH. Paired with a kick ass soundtrack, the game quickly became famous. Sure the story was abit cheesy but it worked! It was entertaining.

 

Well... DMC2 takes all that and throws it away into the garbage can, starting with the original author of the game who was removed from the project without warning.

First of all, the graphics are sleep inducing. Everything is brown and grey, lots and lots of empty spaces, you sometimes go across levels without encountering any enemy or collectibles. They are...just there. The charm of DMC1 relied in the claustrophobic Resident Evil-esque atmosphere of Mallet Island. Now...in that whatever-the-name is city , it's just huge empty spaces where nothing goes on. Just Dante trekking around.

 

Speaking of Dante...he suffered some serious modifications. He doesn't really talk or taunt anymore. He's like a cartboard piece walking from place to place saying nothing or aiming guns. He forgot his taunts from the first game (really you don't have any taunt button either). Only at the end of the game he remembers how to mock an enemy (King? Yeah, here's your crown moment was pretty badass not gonna lie) and abit of his original side shows up. Apart from that he has a nasty tendency to just flip a coin to affect his decisions(even though both sides are the same, but hey he looks cool doing that). And he just....shows up in random places? How did he get on the oil rig? How did he show up in Arius' office? Who cares he is cool let's forget about that!

 

The second character Lucia is even worse. A protector of Vie de Marli ( some shitty island don't ask) she is tasked in helping Dante fighting the nasty overlord Arius. She does have an interesting backstory (manufactured devil , created by Arius) buuuuuuut her voice acting is so bad I couldn't help but cringe and skip her cutscenes. Her combat is the worst you are going to get, her dual blades miss most of the time and ranged weaponries are really bad. I ended up playing with the default weapons and only use an additional weapon (Cranky bombs...yeah i know) versus an underwater boss.

 

Speaking of bosses, they are uninspired and plain idiotic. They range from completely retarded (ZOMBIE HELICOPTER) to rehashes from previous games( Phantom appears because...hey you loved him in DMC1, here he is again). All of them can be and SHOULD be defeated with guns ONLY! Because that's the gameplay : Ignore the swords, just shoot guns. Swords are useless, you don't have anything apart from regular combo, stinger and launcher/helm breaker. You just upgrade their power not buy movesets. USE GUNS. No seriously buy a Turbo Controller and spam guns.

BECAUSE THE GAME IS THAT EASY! Long are gone the tight and hurtful battles from DMC1. Now even on Must Die difficulty, the enemies are so easy to defeat it's not even funny anymore.

 

The story : A mad CEO Arius wants to get the power of a powerful demon Argosax, who was sealed by Sparda(Dante's father) ages ago. An old lady who has raised Lucia calls Dante for help in exchange of a story about Sparda. Dante accepts reluctantly. Dante and Lucia have to collect 5 McGuffins called Arcanas in order to prevent the resurrection of Argosax. Dante and Lucia go for Arius AND collect the Arcanas because sure why not. Lucia gets captured. Dante goes and save Lucia in exchange for the Arcanas. Arius discovered that one Arcana is a fake, replaced by Dante (sneaky little devil) but Argosax is revived either way because Arcanas are just reason to shoot demons. Dante defeats Argosax and goes into the bowels of hell while Lucia waits for him all shy and kawaii.

Story is dumb. Want more details? Read a wiki, just remembering it made my head hurt.

 

So, does this utter failure of a game have any redeeming features? Well for once, the soundtrack is badass. Surprisinigly so, it's really good. As long as the voice actors shut the hell up, the OST of DMC2 is quite good. Dante's outfit is the best outfit he ever had. You can play as Trish with movesets from DMC1 which really improves the game (not by much). There are cheats that don't disable trophies and I whole heartedly recommend using them : Bloody Palace (enemy rush mode) is nigh impossible without them, just because of the trash enemies and utter boredom. Cut down a 6 hours playthrough in under 30 minutes. Final boss is somewhat interesting and what a final boss should be (if the rest of the game wasn't so trash)

 

And uh...that's it. I am done with this game, was more than happy to delete the HD collection after it. The good part was that I knew what to expect(compared to PS4 version which murdered my soul because I didn't know what I was getting into).

BOSS RANKING

 

I want to do this too, just because I have done it with every DMC game so far : 

 

Zombie Helicopter : By far the worst of them. You have a Helicopter who is possessed. Makes sense no? of course not. You just shoot at him. Don't bother with swords it's airborne. Worst boss ever. 0/10

Zombie Tank : It's better than the Helicopter because it's on the ground. Apart from that, same applies. 0.000001/10

Tateobesu(Lucia disc only) : What is worse than an underwater level? An underwater level boss fight THAT'S INVISIBLE. That's right everyone, Tateobesu is an invisible fish, means NO LOCKING ON. From time to time he DOES come visible just to chomp you then goes invisible again. WHO DESIGNED THIS FIGHT? 0.000002/10

Noctpteran : A shitty butterfly who spawns larvaes that overgrow and try to eat you. It's always airborne and swords are useless. Low health though so that's a plus. Larvaes are horrendous. 1/10

Jokatgulm : Hentai monster, need to defeat the tentacles before hitting the main head for a limited time before you are force pushed away. More annoying than a challenge. You also can get poisoned which....doesn't do anything, you are a powerhouse anyway. 1/10

Arius (human form) : He summons minions, spikes from the ground, teleports, drinks wine (really ), smokes a cigar( REALLY) and occasionally shoots you with his revolver. He looks like Heihachi from Tekken on cocaine. He dies pretty fast so that's a plus I guess? 2/10

Arius - Argosax(Lucia disc only) : Arius becoming a monster from Resident evil . You are in a crevice and he follows you. Only knives work, no way you are hurting him with blades. 2.1/10

Argosax the Chaos : A blob formed from the appendages of every boss encountered including Griffin from DMC1 ... wait he wasn't in DMC2 what??? Boss is actually abit challenging so he gets a 2.5/10

Possessed Arius (Lucia disc only) : Arius (AGAIN?Just die already) has some arms growing out of him , spams lightning attacks and lasers and tries to powerbomb you. Blades actually work on him. He packs a punch but predictable as hell. 2.55/10

Tartarussian & Plutonian : Basically the same boss, one for Dante and one for Lucia. They would be somewhat challenging BUT...you stay out of their attack range (HUGE ROOM TO MANEUVER) and spam guns. They will die...eventually. 2.6/10

Oranguerra : An oversized orangutan who smashes you and spits air balls. As basic as it gets which in this game it's a good thing. 3/10

Bolverk : A pathetic attempt at copying Nelo Angelo from DMC1. Insane range, shitty hitboxes, has 2 wolves that just dash in you and are more annoying than dangerous and all his fights are in rooms where the camera goes bonkers. Pathetic. Can be dealt with Missile Launcher. 3/10.

Phantom : Brought into DMC2 for nostalgic reasons, still can't save this shitty game. 4/10

Nefasturris - Nefascapitis : A building turned into a humongous skeleton turned into a cranium...weird. I like the design but the boss itself is pathetic. 4.1/10 we are slowly getting something interesting.

Furiataurus : Copy/paste the Minotaur from God of War, but with a hammer. A good and challenging boss....had it not been for the huge arena. Stay out of his range and shoot him. Done. 4.5/10

Trismagia : A trio of heads, really challenging on Must Die, problem is : Only guns work. Also only one head can be targeted at a time, which would be fine and dandy if the lock-on system worked. Fortunately they unite from time to time, perfect time to DT and blast them away. 5/10

Despair Embodied : Ultimate form of Argosax, an androginous plasma demon. Surprisingly fun to fight, guns are not that effective vs him (WOW) and requires actual skill to beat him. Too bad he's right at the end of the game...6/10

 

That's it for this game, next one is DmC for PS3. At least that one has good gameplay...if we ignore the story. Until next time!

 

[Copanele]

 No. 74 : Bayonetta

Platinum Name : Acquire all Trophies 

Hardest Trophy : Legendary Dark Witch - complete all chapters on NonStop Infinite Climax  

Difficulty : 5/10 (mostly because you can't see much stuff on the PS3 version)

Personal impression : 6.2/10

 

So Bayonetta...A platinumGames product, directed by Hideki Kamiya (the guy behind the first DMC game, Viewtiful Joe and so on), tells the story of an Umbran Witch, Bayonetta, who is fighting the forces of Heaven while trying to recover from her amnesia and find out her past. Her fighting style consists into punches, kicks, 4 pistols - 2 in her hands and 2 acting as her heels aaand demonic power fuelled by her hair that also acts as her clothes.

Yeah if you are confused until now, so am I.

 

At the first glance this looked like a perfect game for me. As a DMC/God of War fan, I was more than eager to give this game a whirl, especially since I heard so many praises about it. For the first 2 missions I wasn't disappointed : Bayonetta is a bombastic cheerful sexy witch who won't take any pause from mocking the enemies or doing sexual innuendos (reminds me of a certain flamenco dancer in DMC4...). As missions go by however, the game starts to fall apart more and more and really becomes tedious at some points.

 

First of all, despite not really wanting to attack the game because of that issue, the graphics suck major ass. That is mainly because the PS3 port is atrocious. I checked the XBox/Wii version and the game looks crisp and moves beautiful. Not in the PS3 version though! I don't know maybe someone tripped over the "Graphics" folder on PS3 but the game looks like it was covered in smudge. This becomes worse as the game goes by, because the game's main purpose is to be flashy! In one of the final missions you fight Vergil..erm...Jeanne on top of a rocket at top speed while the background flashes in the back and your attacks explode while colliding with her. Imagine all that stuck in a 1980's graphical view and you won't understand what is going on. Just mash and hope you can actually hit the bimbo ... or do several other exploits that the game offers. This is really annoying because the enemy and environment design really looks awesome, it's a shame that I had to play it under these medieval conditions.

 

In the sound department the game shines however. Soundtrack is on complete point, awesome "commercial-style " music, like a teleshopper wants to sell you halos directly. It's good, energetic and gets shit done. Bayonetta's voice actress really does her part, but my favorite must be Rodin and Jeanne. Rodin is this tall black devil who is basically an arms dealer. He's the funniest character in the entire game and I entered so many times in The Gates of Hell (his bar/shop) just to hear his stupid lines and his grave voice. He is so powerful yet so bored he couldn't give two shits about what Bayonetta does and only helps her for the kicks. 

Jeanne is Bayonetta's rival and later on friend. Compared to Bayonetta, she is snarky, rude, her voice is like she's having a coughing fit but man does she go perfectly in tandem with Bayo. I love Jeanne even more than Bayonetta just because, despite her being as flamboyant and sexual as the main character, she has an air of dignity, like she was nobility. Way, WAY better character design.

 

Gameplaywise this game is great BUT this is also where I started hating it. First of all , if you played a DMC game you get a general grasp of the combat : different weapons, different combinations, kicks and flips. Bayonetta has a very useful ability called Witch Time, when she dodges an incoming attack (last second evade) the time stops for a couple of seconds. It's a very neat mechanic that I couldn't have enough of. This game rewards you too with stylish execution.

Another mechanic is the "Wicked Weave" attack. As mentioned before, Bayonetta can use her demonic hair to basically summon gigantic arms or legs from portals as a result of a combo. If you input a correct combo at the end Bayonetta will just slam a huge Hair-made leg or arm on the enemy. For example, you can do the regular punch-kick combo, but if you do punch-kick-punch , the final attack will be a humongous punch. All the attacks can be checked in the training mode.

 

There are 2 issues however that ruin the gameplay big time : glitches and QTE's. In terms of glitches, the enemies can be VERY cheap. There is a special enemy called Joy who is a copy of Bayonetta but with more annoying attacks. Most of the time Joy can combo your ass for a full health bar, and at a point where you have no idea how the game even works properly (no, you cannot dodge out of her combo). Fortunately you have either the Durga/Kilgore combo or "Enemies don't attack off screen" stuff. For the first one, you need a special claw weapon Durga as your main equipment, then the grenade launcher Kilgore as your secondary. Then ,you need to learn a special combo PPPPK (4 punches and one kick). Doing that with Durga then switching with Kilgore as you kick makes you fill the room with grenades and rockets, demolishing everything that is near you. I have completed all 3 playthroughs with only this combo after being fed up with the bullshit the game threw at me.

The second method works as a last resort. Get the sword, go somewhere offscreen where enemies don't appear, charge the sword, turn to the enemies and release the sword for insane damage. Works all the time except against huge bosses. Makes the game trivial.

Another bumper are the shooting sections. Kamiya, NOBODY LIKED THE MUNDUS SHOOTING SECTION IN DMC1 DON'T ADD EVEN MORE IN BAYONETTA! You have 2 lame ass levels : a motorcycle race where you have to shoot angels and a rocket riding race where you have to do the same. I just turbo'd the square button and dodged the incoming bullet hell fest. That part was unnecesarry in the game

THE CRAPPIEST PART ARE THE QTE'S. Seriously who thought of this? There are the certain Torture and Climax attacks (imagine the huge ass PRESS CIRCLE above a boss when he is "tired" trope), which aren't that bad. However... when you get to a second phase or in a random cutscene event, suddenly you get a PRESS THIS OR DIE prompt out of the blue. Trust me you WILL NOT SEE IT COMING! Worst part, dying really messes up your final score. Fortunately the save points are more than generous so usually you can retry right before you die. Plus, the game doesn't ask you to get a platinum score so at least that is a good part. But honestly, fuck the QTE's.

 

Where the game took the biggest dump however was in story department. Ok I get it, the game doesn't take itself seriously, but that shouldn't force me to follow up an idiotic story that makes absolutely zero sense. Bayonetta wakes up after her 500 years slumber, there's brainwashing involved, resurrection of a fallen god, some Lumen Sage/Umbra Witch conspiracy, Eyes of the World(what is this, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?) and dead fathers. Honestly whoever played this game, please explain to me the story because I am too dumb to understand what the hell is happening. Ah yes and time travel. Stupid ass TIME TRAVEL! So at a point I just ignored the cutscenes and I was yeah...whatever go on with it I don't even care. I actively hated the story and personally would fire the idiot who designed that plot. It's as bad as the Star Wars prequels.

 

Trophywise... the game would be a pain in the ass if not for those "glitches' that the game intentionally left out. The Alfheim portals are the most interesting challenges ever however, even though they are a pain to reach. Better bring your best game there because they don't pull any punches!

The hardest part is the infinite climax mode. Basically it's hard mode but with a trick : your Witch Time is disabled FOREVER! Luckily there are in-game items that are really invaluable: Royalguard...erm Moon of Mahaa Kala, it's basically a block button, timed correctly can really fuck up the enemy aaand another item that instead of witch time drops a magical mine which does absurd amounts of damage. Apart from the last boss fight Jubileus, these items worked wonders and I pulverized climax mode. 

 

As for the bosses...MEH. Jeanne was the best boss out there. The final boss Jubileus is a piece of crap because of the graphics. It took the Mundus treatment however : stack on health and shield items on Normal and Hard mode and just use them all in Climax Mode. Bosses are impressive but lack flair, can't even bother to remember their names properly. You got the angelic dragon, the angelic golem, the angelic hentai monster because sure Japan why not , the angelic Whale, evil overlord and Asura's Wrath mandatory planetary boss. Nothing I haven't seen yet so not impressed. All of them can be very cheap but also very cheap-ed.

 

So that's it for Bayonetta. For me personally it was a disappointment. As mentioned, I get people who liked it. I won't personally ever touch it again. Sorry Bayonetta, twerking your butt and doing pole dances ain't enough for me to play your game anymore, I am way more pretentious than that.

 

P.S. I am aware that you can fight Rodin and he's the hardest boss in the game. With all due respects, I am NOT farming 10 million halos just to fight him. I will be content to watching his fight on the youtube. He does look like the best boss battle in the game though!

 

THE GOOD:

- sexy Bayonetta is sexy

- gameplay is at its best , with diverse weapons and combos

- awesome soundtrack

- interesting concept and backgrounds

- Jeanne and Rodin are awesome, AWESOME characters

THE BAD:

- storyline so bad it rivals DMC2

- QTE ruin the experience big time

- Bayonetta starts being Deadpool in terms of screwing around. Just get to the point already girl!

- Final boss is just plain cheap and annoying, not challenging in a fun way

Edited December 24, 2023 by Copanele

[ZoutjeNL]

Congrats on platinum Bayonetta and an intensive review. Too bad the story sucks. Looking forward to picking up the remaster whenever it comes out. 

[Copanele]

18 minutes ago, ZoutjeNL said:

Congrats on platinum Bayonetta and an intensive review. Too bad the story sucks. Looking forward to picking up the remaster whenever it comes out. 

If they remaster it properly yes, it's a good investment, can't deny it   it can still be a fun game.

[Arcesius]

20 hours ago, Copanele said:

P.S. I am aware that you can fight Rodin and he's the hardest boss in the game. With all due respects, I am NOT farming 10 million halos just to fight him. I will be content to watching his fight on the youtube. He does look like the best boss battle in the game though!

 

Well, there goes my question ? No Rodin needed.. weak... ? That fight was tough, holy shit. 

 

I played Bayonetta back on the X360, and I really liked it. I was young, though, so probably Bayonetta being that sexy, the gameplay being so good and everything being so brutal and over the top had much to do with my enjoyment of the game ? Didn't really care about the story, that's probably something that I would also pay more attention to today. 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Arcesius

[Copanele]

1 hour ago, Arcesius said:

 

Well, there goes my question  No Rodin needed.. weak...  That fight was tough, holy shit. 

 

I played Bayonetta back on the X360, and I really liked it. I was young, though, so probably Bayonetta being that sexy, the gameplay being so good and everything being so brutal and over the top had much to do with my enjoyment of the game  Didn't really care about the story, that's probably something that I would also pay more attention to today. 

 

 

 

Hahah yes I lowkey feel dissapointed in myself too for not going after Rodin. But man...so much farming  I do NOT LIKE FARMING!!!!! Q_Q

 

Had I played it on X360 (10 times better graphics) and been abit younger indeed  Would have pure platinumed the whole game regardless of its stupid moments. Guess I am turning into a cranky old man lol.

[Arcesius]

8 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Hahah yes I lowkey feel dissapointed in myself too for not going after Rodin. But man...so much farming  I do NOT LIKE FARMING!!!!! Q_Q

 

Yeah but you know what else was different back then? Not having enough money to just buy new games all the time ? So yeah, even though I wasn't chasing achievements I still finished all missions with platinum medals and unlocked Ronin. Probably wouldn't do that today if it isn't required for the plat ?

 

Not sure yet if I'm interested in the remaster... We'll see once it comes out! 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Arcesius

[AJ_Radio]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:38 PM, Arcesius said:

 

Well, there goes my question ? No Rodin needed.. weak... ? That fight was tough, holy shit. 

 

I played Bayonetta back on the X360, and I really liked it. I was young, though, so probably Bayonetta being that sexy, the gameplay being so good and everything being so brutal and over the top had much to do with my enjoyment of the game ? Didn't really care about the story, that's probably something that I would also pay more attention to today.

 

Bayonetta and Vanquish both had meh stories. Gameplay in both were solid.

 

Pretty easy to find Bayonetta cheap nowadays, so if I have time in the next few months I may pick it up.

[Copanele]

 No. 75 : Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator

 

Platinum Name : The Absolute World 

Hardest Trophy : Medal of the Holy Order - collect 150 badges 

Difficulty :4/10 with boosting, 8/10 without ( online being dead and badges being a pain to collect)

Personal Impression : 9.3/10

 

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator (more specifically its Rev 2 update) is the latest entry in the Guilty Gear series, ArcSystem Works' flagship and Daisuke Ishiwatari's dream child (Daisuke is the developer and composer of GG). I can proudly say it is the best fighting game I have ever played, finally taking the place of my previous Nr 1. (Guilty Gear X2 Reload). From this you can see that I am an avid fan of the series.

 

Guilty Gear is a japanese "anime" fighting game first appeared in 1998. Basically, the humanity is facing the brink of extinction when they are being attacked by Gears, artificial created mutants with huge amounts of power. However, unlike the Street Fighter plot of "get to the ending and kill the bad overlord", Guilty Gear behaves differently. With a different thematic (humanity's survival and Gears not being what you'd expect they would be , hence the name), the final boss is rarely an antagonist (except for the first Guilty Gear). Most of the time it's just a misunderstood powerhouse with nuclear powers, a time travelling witch that just loves screwing around or an emotionless puppet who tries to understand how the world works while following the orders of her insane master.

I had to do this intro because surprisingly...the story in Guilty Gear is quite important. At least for me. Contrary to the other fighting game series, GG actually tries to tell a story. Of course, because it;s a fighting game, the story ain't that mad (plus Daisuke kinda sucks at writing) but the plot points manage to weave out nicely and the characters are actually believable, their traits and faults reflecting into the GAMEPLAY( hear that, Mortal Kombat and your stupid Johnny Cage beating Shinnok crap?Take notes). For example, Sol being such a burly unrefined powerhouse, means that every single punch of his hurts, he is very strong but his "I don't give a crap" attitude means that his moveset is very raw and unrefined, perfect to exploit for more seasoned players.

 

Because ArcSys is a japanese company and of course Japanese companies LOVE their stupid updates and DLC and balances and re-releases , this is the timeline of Guilty Gear : 

 

Guilty Gear -> Guilty Gear X -> Guilty Gear X2 (with its updates Midnight Carnival, Accent Core and so on) -> Guilty Gear Overture -> Guilty Gear Xrd Sign -> Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator -> Rev 2 Update - > Guilty Gear StrIVe (future installment).

 

What I am glad is that in Rev2, every single loosened end and story thread is tied in very nicely at the end of the game. Main conflicts and issues are resolved(even Sol's past, what a beautiful way to do it), finally giving an answer to who is the strongest between Sol and Ky (answer might surprise you) and many, many more. I will put a stop to the story section of this game because it will take me all day like this.

 

Graphically, the game is stunning. ArcSys has always been praised for their peak performance when it comes to graphics but my lord Rev2 blasted everything away. It looks PERFECT! While not going for realistic looks, like MK11, the style in itself is amazing. Each character has its own animations and traits ( just watch Baiken walking heheh) every attack generates shock waves, sparks or whatnot, the best fire/lightning in an anime-based game by far, the list goes on. The design of the characters is also top notch. For pure curiosity, whoever is interested should check a match between Dizzy and Answer and see the spectacle of lights and stuff that goes on the screen.

 

In terms of soundtrack...Wow, my Rock CD came with a game, nice!. Daisuke is a master at composing tracks for this game, each character having its own soundtrack and proper voice acting that fits to their persona. Favorite of mine is Johnny's soundtrack, a shredded pirate with a black jacket, sunglasses, katana and a Johnny Bravo attitude. Trust me when I say his theme fits perfectly to his character.

 

And now since I finished with all the side-dish, for the main event : THE GAMEPLAY. 

Before starting : Guilty Gear is a tough game. Difficult to learn, even more difficult to master. Definitely not a good entry for beginners in fighting games, Guilty Gear is a niche entry and it pulls no punches. Luckily, the game has the best tutorial in a fighting game ever created. Every single mechanic is explained. Not only the basic movements, but even advanced gameplay that will be required for you to survive in the brutal world that is Online. As if this wasn't enough, the game throws at you a huge lot of missions. While they are challenges (akin to trials in street fighter 4), what their specific purpose is is actually teaching you every character's strong and weak point. You want to play as Chipp and have issues with Leo players? Say no more we have 5 missions that teach you the basics. You getting wrecked by a special attack thrown by a Jack-O? Got that too ! I bet if you wished for a pizza the game would have had a combo for that too, the tutorial and missions are THAT GOOD. However, a great deal of patience and understanding is required if one really wants to get into this game. While I love the game , I do understand why people shy away from it : It is not for everybody.

 

In terms of roster, Rev2 has the most complete roster available, with characters from both Xrd SIGN(previous entry) and previous Guilty Gear ones. You have the usual protagonists Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske, the blind zombie assassin Zato-1/Eddie, Vigilante Doctor with Deadpoolish powers Faust, pirate girl with the power of the sea and monstruous strength May, the list goes on. 

Revelator and Rev2 brings fan favorites Dizzy , the Maiden Gear , Sin Kiske(Dizzy and Ky's son), the Valentine sisters Ramlethal and Elphelt, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COCKY SAMURAI BAIKEN GOD BLESS HER...HEART and a completely new funny addition Answer, the ninja businessman.

Each character is completely unique in a way that might give you a headache. No two characters are being played the same! Forget the thought that Sol and Ky might be Ryu and Ken, aka palette swaps, this couldn't be further from the truth. There is no two similar characters in the game, each character has a completely 100% unique playstyle, gimmicks, strengths and weaknesses. The only trait that the characters have is that each of them have the same base mechanics (punch, kick, slash, heavy slash and dust)and the same toolkit ( cancels, blitzes, RISC system and so on). Apart from that, the strategies differ greatly from character to character. If you try to play Ramlethal like you would play Elphelt just because they are sisters you would be insta-killed in 10 seconds.

 

The game is very focused on offense. Even from the fact that the Tension bar(the magic line that lets you do special attacks ) fills as you get aggressive and depletes if you retreat, playing aggresively is well rewarded and recommended. I won't dive into the details and intricacies of the combat, I will just let you know that there is one very important mechanic : The roman cancel. For the love of god whoever starts this game SHOULD LEARN ROMAN CANCELS. Sacrificing a portion of your tension bar, you can cancel a combo or a whiffed combo into another new combo. This is done in order to prevent repetition : The more hits a combo has, the less damage you do. Doing a new combo resets the damage counter. 

For all the other mechanics I still recommend the tutorial.

 

In terms of multiplayer however... Japanese Netcoding hits again. In fighting games apparently, Japanese devs can't do proper netcode if their life depended on it. Might be related to their honor or something. The idea is simple : The closer you are to your opponent, the better the connectivity will be. Which means, if you wish to play with a guy 5000 km away...best of luck, you'll have 8 frames delay. Don't even think to play between continents, you'll move Matrix mode. But when the online works... it's wonderful.

 

Platinum wise, the game can be tough.. If you dont know how the game works, it will kick your ass. Getting all the missions can be a pain, MOM mode can be a completely weird and confusing mode (even though it's basically fighting game with RPG elements), the online is pretty much dead without boosting and...collecting medals for the 150 badge is the hardest by far. I only could do that part by boosting with my ps3 (game supports cross-platforming). It's a treat, but expect to invest a lot of time.

 

There are some minor nitpickings I have with the game . Apart from the crap online, the story could still use some work (Daisuke, hire a script writer please), some favorite characters have been removed or reduced to exposition dumps(the possessed weirdo Zappa is now just a talkative grunt, Anji Mito appears only in Baiken's story as a cutscene, Testament just left the scene altogether) and...some characters are abit underpowered(Potemkin) while others are clearly top tier rank (Johnny).

But despite these, Guilty Gear Revelator is one crazy good game that I cannot recommend enough and I am happy to have chosen it to be my 75th milestone entry.

 

Still need to platinum -SIGN- though... that's a different grindy beast altogether.

 

THE GOOD

- top notch graphics

- divine soundtrack (unless you hate metal)

- complex intricate gameplay

- a huge roster of characters

- story finally closes up an important chapter of the series

 

THE BAD

- crappy online

- not beginner friendly

- story could use some polish

[Copanele]

 No.76 : DmC Devil May Cry(PS3) 

+100% Vergil's Downfall

 

Platinum Name : Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy : Devils never cry - finish Dante Must Die mode 

Difficulty : 4/10

Personal impression : 6.8/10

 

DmC Devil May Cry (basically DmC DMC) is the reboot from Ninja Theory to the classic action game. This game also is starring the protagonist Dante, now a foul mouthed angsty teen nephilim (Half demon, half angel) who is fighting together with his brother Vergil and a human witch Kat against the oppression of demon lord Mundus.

 

Leaving all the biased "it's a 1/10 and a shame on history of Devil May Cry" aside, INCLUDING the poor communication between developers and consumers (whoever doesn't like this game is an uncultured swine, according to the lead developer or something like that), I will give my own opinions about the game. It is not as awful as DMC2, it is quite the good game when it wants to but it has its own set of issues.

 

Graphics and gameplay are tied-in. In every level, Dante is fighting in Limbo, a twisted version of the city where he lives in, manipulated by demons. For most of the time, the game looks pretty ok. The terrain modifications really give out to some interesting platforming and puzzles. Dante has some grappling hooks with which he can either pull himself to platforms or pull the weakened platforms to him. However, some levels in the game are complete ass. The worst of them is by far Lilith's night club : The combination of colors and loud techno music can really trigger epilepsy even in a healthy person. I had to take a break after each playthrough of that level, it is THAT straining to the eye.

 

Speaking of techno music...the soundtrack is an odd choice. Gone are the classic fitting themes of old DMC, now you have Combichrist growling nonsense into the microphone or Noisia slapping techno music. I personally enjoy Noisia's music, not judging them, but they really don't fit in this game. Perhaps the only good soundtrack is the final fight soundtrack against Vergil (yeah like noone saw that coming). However in the voice acting department, the voice actors give credible lines and do their part well.

 

The bread and butter of every respectable dmc game is the crazy high octane gameplay. Well...it was a hit and miss in this case. It is by no means a faulty combat (DMC2 still has the shittiest combat ever) but.... it is simplistic and limited. Dante has his main longsword Rebellion and he collects Demonic and Angellic weapons throughout the game. You have Demonic Axe Arbiter, Demonic Gauntlets Eryx, Angellic Scythe Osiris and Angellic...beyblades(?) Aquila. The Demonic arms are for slow but powerful hits and the Angellic ones are low damage but high hit rate and crowd control. Together with those you get the usual peashooters Ebony & Ivory, the shotgun Revenant and ....Kablooey (yeah I know...), a dart gun that can remotely explode the darts. Combine that with the demon grabs and angellic pulls and you get a good variety of combos....in theory.

In practice, all you really need is Rebellion's Overdrive and Upgraded Arbiter, they pulverize everything in sight. The rest of the weapons are just plain useless and situational. In order to "force" diversity, the geniuses from the dev team introduced " color-coded enemies". If an enemy is red it can be hit only from with a demonic weapon. Blue-> angellic. If you hit the enemy with any other weapon you just ricochet from it and get stunned for a second. It's an incredibly dumb decision that made no sense ( and was fixed in the Definitive Edition).

Two more mechanics from the original are altered : Devil Trigger and Taunting. Taunting is simple : It was removed entirely. Why...I cannot tell, but they removed taunting which is quite the sin there. It was an instrumental mechanic into the stylish combat. Devil Trigger however was "updated" : When Dante enters DT, his hair turns white and all the enemies are launched into the air and remain there floating. You have to bother and grab them all in order to demolish them. Oh yes, you are overpowered too so when you are in trouble just pop DT and clean up the mess.

 

Style ranking is also affected. You don't need to trouble yourself with intricate combos, diversity and enemy juggling for that sweet sweet S rank. There is only one combo that rules them all : two attacks with rebellion, delay, third attack with Arbiter(if you unlocked its trinity smash upgrade, which you should). You will get that sweet sweet SSS rank EVERY SINGLE TIME regardless of level, enemies, bosses and so on. Exception are the Blue enemies who can't be hurt by those weapons, for them just unload Osiris on their asses until they die.

 

And if that wasn't enough, the secret missions were also affected. In order to access them, you need to find 4 types of keys just to unlock the corresponding door. It would be all good and fine but when you have a Gold door in mission 4 and a Gold key in mission 6 this "feature" becomes infuriating. You need 2 playthroughs to get all the crap and unlock all the secrets.

 

But surprisingly, what's bad about the game is not the gameplay. It's THE STORY. Gameplay might have some hiccups but the story is straight up horrible. Dante is "emo teen who is against the society"and the script is plain idiotic (Fuck you banter between Dante and the Succubus). The script starts good and then it's hit right in its head. Mundus wants to control the world by debt and media, which I found quite innovative for once. But how can I forget the plot when so many inconsistencies happen? Kat can't interract with Limbo but suddenly she can, Dante has amnesia and then he spits the line " I won't ever forget what they did to my mom" ... like dude you didn't know that until 3 seconds ago. The game is full of idiotic lines and nonsensical insults.

By far the worst is Vergil. Vergil, our old stoic but honorable pal, is....a complete piece of shit. He is weak, unreliable, can't even fight properly and subjects himself to dirty tactics that make no sense and endanger everyone (shooting Lilith and Mundus' Baby starts some sort of apocalypse and almost guarantees his death). Worst of all, after he shows how weak he is and how overpowered Dante is, HE STILL CHALLENGES DANTE TO A DUEL AS THE FINAL MISSION. Like what did the scriptwriters think? Of course the final Vergil fight is an utter joke and I trashed his ass in 30 seconds max. Vergil is garbage.

Even his DLC is crap. Vergil's Downfall is a waste of money which "concludes" Vergil's fall to darkness. Basically Vergil blames everyone for "not understanding him" and just gets full Nelo Angelo at the end. His gameplay is crap, he is weak as hell and his DT is a Doppelganger from DMC3. Hated the DLC. 

 

This game is not an utter trash as people actively yelled however. It still has some solid gameplay for whoever wants to experiment and...had it not have the DEVIL MAY CRY name, it could have been abit better, with an unique name and theme. But like that...it sinks into mediocrity. At least the Definitive Edition fixed most of the issues and made an actually enjoyable version (removed Vergil's Fedora too)

 

If you thought I forgot something however...do not worry because it's time for : 

BOSS RANKING

 

7.Mundus' Spawn&Lilith - An overgrown demonic baby who has his mother Lilith sucked into his ... belly....I think.It has 2 health bars. This is by far the worst boss of the game mainly because the stage can seriously induce epileptic seisures ,the boss is disgusting and really cheap. Main attacks are soundwaves, that add to the crap background. The only way to actively destroy the boss is to weaken the Baby, pull Lilith out and smack her. Just use Rebellion's Overdrive and Arbiter on the ugly chick and you should be fine. 3/10 why is this shit in the game?

 

6.Mundus - UU BOY THE EVIL DEMONIC OVERLORD. Basically a huge ass golem that is more bark than bite. He just slams after you and groans. All you have to do is....jump. Then Arbiter. Do that for both his hands then his face and you are done. His meteors can also be parried for bonus damage. Better than his child just because it looks better. 3.5 is that even a challenge?

 

5.Succubus - HEY SUCCUBUS...SUCC ON DIS (Dante's words not mine). A huge slug that is hanging from the ceiling and attacks with her long nails, slams and...barf (i shit you not). Also the worst dialogue in the whole game. Still, she can pose quite a challenge on Dante Must Die if you are not careful so...better than the previous stooges. 4/10 learn how to write dialogue losers!

 

4.Hollow Vergil (Vergil's Downfall) - Did you miss darling Vergil? Now he's evil (and from Bleach anime). He is an annoying piece of crap that spams nonstop summoned swords, and when he is hurt he teleports out of the way and just throws even more summoned swords. His Hell and Hell variant can be infuriating, however there's this tiny combo : After the finish of his attacks, jump, Killer Bee(homing foot to the face) and then regular triangle attack. Jump and repeat. You can stunlock the loser. Boss looks quite cool though, not gonna lie . 5/10 get some tanning my boy.

 

3.Vergil - The final boss of the main game and Dante's dear brother. If you believe he is as ferocious as his counterpart in DMC3 and DMC5 then you are sorely mistaken. Vergil is a pushover, he just likes to block your attacks, do ONE attack then smirk. His summoned swords can be smashed with the Revenant shotgun, and after all his attacks you can just helmbreak his face. When he summons his doppelganger just... run around abit and he will dissapear. Vergil is actually tricky to beat in Hell and Hell, it's the only instance where I had to actually try and learn his stupid patterns. 6/10 you ain't nothing like the original, pasty boy.

 

2.Hunter - The tutorial boss. Surprisingly this is quite the fun boss to fight, even though he's easy to beat. The Hunter has everything a boss SHOULD have : Ranged attacks, close attacks, homing attacks, he invites to diversity and thinking. Sadly once you upgrade your weapons...he's really easy to beat. Just ebony and ivory his face then pop DT and demolish him. Therefore he's really cool only in the first playthrough when you fight him the first time. 7.5/10 a good experience.

 

1.Bob Barbas - The most unique boss in the game, probably in the franchise ironically, and the one that made me laugh. Bob Barbas is the demonic Anchorman that influences humans through media. Basically he's a huge head that spams various lasers. He has 3 phases. At the end of a phase however, you get sent into the real world and the view is from a Helicopter's point, like Dante would be recorded. It is a very fun fight, diverse, something that you wouldn't expect in this game. Too bad he's a pushover just like the Hunter in the next playthroughs. 8/10 just doing God's work.

 

That's it for Devil May Cry from me. Completed all the existing games on PS3 and PS4 and unless they release DMC6 or DmC 2 , I won't play any other releases any time sooner. Until next time!

 

THE GOOD : 

- Interesting graphics

- A floaty intriguing gameplay in the first playthrough

- The plot is a bit more evolved from the regular " evil overlord"

- Bob Barbas is a delight to fight

- Kat is entertaining as a character. Way more entertaining than Lucia

 

THE BAD:

- easy as hell

- Dante is stupid

- Dante is emo

- Dante should stop swearing like a sailor

- Everything except Rebellion and Arbiter is useless

- The.Worst.Dialogue.EVER!

- Vergil (His DLC included). Just remove Vergil entirely