Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[AJ_Radio]

More minigames in Yakuza Kiwami, though they don’t look nearly as bad as the ones in Yakuza 0.

[Copanele]

On 16/04/2021 at 2:26 AM, AJ_Radio said:

More minigames in Yakuza Kiwami, though they don’t look nearly as bad as the ones in Yakuza 0.

Nah from what I reckon only Yakuza 3 has that ass pool minigame and Puyo Puyo tetris in Judgment. Other than that I should be pretty safe in terms of minigames. Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise also had the abhorrent rhythm game but I managed to do that one so it's out of the way

 

Also for some reason I can't write a review on Slain, I keep listening to metal/songs from Brutal Legend instead need to focus on it tomorrow before I forget the experience! 

[Copanele]

 No. 136: Slain Back from Hell

Platinum Name: Platinum 

Hardest Trophy: Oh,God,Mother!Blood!Blood  - defeat the Mother Beholder without taking damage. Horrible trophy.

Difficulty: 6/10

Personal impression: 8.2/10

 

Slain is the first platformer that I completed this week. A fallen hero called Bathoryn has been brought back from the dead, given a mythical sword and has been sent away to battle to forces of the evil overlord Vroll. He has to jump over deadly pits, fight hordes of skeletons and witches, defeat the numerous bosses and please the lords of Metal.

 

This is the theme of Slain: Metal. Imagine that it's sort of a 2D Brutal Legend kind of game. You have to traverse each level littered with monsters(and checkpoints) and defeat the end boss. After beating the living hell out of the boss and cover yourself in its blood, you have to headbang to please the Horned Metal God, as the custom is. This game oozes of atmosphere and it shows that the devs really put care in this game. It has one of the best soundtracks for an indie title and really gets the mood going even after the hundreth death (or 200? I don't know I died a lot).

 

What's notable at this game is that its platinum list is extra tough. As it wasn't enough for the game itself to be difficult, you have to also beat the game without using magic, beat the game without dying at all (both achievable with Cloud save backup), defeat each boss without taking damage and defeat certain bosses under a set amount of time. From them all, the most infuriating was the Mother Beholder, a floating head who spits green orbs and spawns mini-beholders. On her last phase, she can cover the screen in her bullshit, taking me lots of tries to get her down. The rest of the list seems daunting but after one playthrough I pretty much learned every secret and mode to defeat the enemies.

 

Not much to say about this game. Very atmospheric, very punishing, satisfying to the max and one of the rare platformers that I actually enjoyed.

THE GOOD:

- killer soundtrack

- challenging but actually fair

- diverse enemies and bosses

- combat and parrying is endlessly satisfying

 

THE BAD:

- the final 2 levels can be abit overkill in terms of difficulty

- other than the soundtrack, it doesn't do anything special to stand out as a game

Edited April 19, 2021 by Copanele

[AJ_Radio]

Slain: Back From Hell is oozing with atmosphere. Valfaris is a game that’s much in the same vein, but I’ll wait until I knock my backlog down a peg. 

[Copanele]

5 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Slain: Back From Hell is oozing with atmosphere. Valfaris is a game that’s much in the same vein, but I’ll wait until I knock my backlog down a peg. 

Yep. Slain is a game that I oddly enjoyed quite a lot. Had a rough start with it but once I got it going woo boy. 

 

And... I am having second thoughts about Valfaris now it has a speedrun trophy and my god I can't handle those at all. Will decide later if I should play it or not. 

[AJ_Radio]

Just now, Copanele said:

Yep. Slain is a game that I oddly enjoyed quite a lot. Had a rough start with it but once I got it going woo boy. 

 

And... I am having second thoughts about Valfaris now it has a speedrun trophy and my god I can't handle those at all. Will decide later if I should play it or not. 

 

If you do, let me know how the game is.

[Copanele]

2 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

If you do, let me know how the game is.

Will do for sure. If it's a platformer I will let you know  

 

Ok, speaking of platformers, need to write my frustrations for this one as well:

 

No. 29: Braid

Hardest Trophy: Full Speed Run  - complete the game in 45 minutes

Difficulty: 6.5/10 - because of the speedrun only

Personal impression: 8.5/10 - as much as I want to fault this game...it's a great indie. That I hate  

 

Braid might be one of the first game that defined the "Indie" genre. It's a puzzle platformer from 2008 featuring Tim, a little man who is in search for his princess. His main aim is to collect all the puzzle pieces in the 5 worlds, Super Mario style. At first glance indeed, you might believe this is a Super Mario knock-off, since you have the textbook Goombas that you bounce on, the Piranha Plants, cannons and even some bunnies.

 

What this game brings to the table(other than the cool painting like artstyle and the song) is the special powers. Tim can manipulate time, instead of lives, if you die you can simply rewind the game to a safe point and try again. Sort of like Prince of Persia. This mechanics flips the entire game on its head and that's where the complexity comes from. If the first world you can simply rewind time, the more you advance in the next worlds the more time mechanics are introduced. 

 

For instance, your first world is World 2(that's how the game numbers them), where you simply rewind time. World 3 introduces platforms AND enemies that are unaffected by time rewind so you must have those in mind. World 4 introduces a weird mechanic where going forward advances the time in the world while going backward rewinds it (it's one of the more frustrating levels since you have to do some weird jumps and Goomba "revivals" via time rewind" . World 5 brings you the doppelganger mechanic, where you do an action, rewind and your shadow redoes the previous action while you do a new one. Basically a co-op in one go  Finally, World 6 introduces the Ring mechanics, where you can slow down time in a certain area (it is also the hardest World in the game). Won't spoil what World 1 does, you try for yourself!

 

The story was a hit and miss for some, for me...I appreciated it. It didn't give me big brain syndrome, because I understood the analogy/alegory the developer did, I found it well written and quite intriguing. Especially the big reveal at the end of World 1.

Also the game features a secret ending(not covered by any trophy) where if you collect all of the super duper hidden stars in each level you unlock a secret something and a confirmation of the more ambiguous parts of the story. So if you play this game, even if it's not required, do try and collect the stars (via YouTube, they are so obscurely hidden you might go insane trying to get them legit).

 

Anyway, this was a great game..so why did I hate it? Well i did not hate the game...more like the trophy list. This is an UR 100% because of one trophy : THE SPEEDRUN. You have to complete the entire game in 45 minutes. That means finding all the puzzle pieces in all of the worlds, complete the entire game including the final world that has no puzzle piece and suffer through the Epilogue that COUNTS in the timer.

So why do I hate the speedrun? This is a game about precision and retries. It's a game that accentuates learning from mistakes, because you WILL do mistakes. Speedrunning this kind of game defeats the entire purpose of the game. Some puzzles require peak perfection, failing to do so means restarting the entire level, thus wasting 2-3 minutes on the clock. For instance, World 5 with the shadow, if you do a bad jump and rewind, your shadow will do the same bad jump, forcing you to rethink the entire level. Rethinking = more time wasted. Thankfully when you pause the game and when you piece the puzzle the timer itself stops so you can have a brief look on YouTube for solutions or take a break, or rage or something. Took me well over 15 tries to finally do the speedrun but in the end I was victorious:

 

So yeah...this was Braid. A cute little game with fun mechanics, plagued by a stupid trophy. You can try it on PS3 (careful of the store shutdown), but do so at your own risk  

 

THE GOOD:

- great graphics and song

- surprisingly solid story

- time mechanics are actually fun

THE BAD:

- speedrun from hell

- some fans go way too big brain mode over a simple game. Imagine this was the original Undertale before Undertale was a thing

 

WHAT'S NEXT: Now my backlog is going really thin, I actually murdered some games that I was considering quite impossible to do (Slain and Braid). I am at a whopping 98.12% completion and I have 6 games left in my backlog. For a 7th  one (Titan Quest) I still am waiting for a patch that will never come, for 2 DLC trophies. They would literally take 15 minutes to get but yeah...unobtainable. Anyway :

 

- (currently playing) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2: This is a blast from the past. I can't believe how well this remaster is. I played THPS3 and 4 a ton when I was younger so this game fits like a glove. Won't have ANY troubles with this game, it just takes time. Plus...I keep customizing  I am taking my time with this one.

- Turok 2 Seeds of Evil: I have 2 more levels on Hardcore mode and the final boss and that's it. Problem is...I kinda got bored. Need to get back in the groove, since this game is not that tough(or well, another game that I played an absurd amount of hours back in the day)

- Mirror's Edge: The final platformer on my list, my Moby Dick, my El Dorado, my ...whatever you wanna call it, a game that I fear and dread and can't wait to fully go big time. The ultimate 3D platformer(I don't care about Super Meat Boy, I am dealing with THIS right now), once I am done with this little puppy I can say I will be free from any earthly constraints. No I am not playing Super Meat Boy!

- Catherine: Oh Sheep! This is a weird one. I know I can do this odd game, I just need the patience of Buddha. I will get to it for sure.

- Persona 4 Arena: Again...I can do this game. I know I can. But I am in no mood right now. I feel like doing something else

- Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3: Right now I CANNOT do this one  what annoys me at this game is that for combos the game doesn't tell you the inputs on the screen, but the name of the moves. Like what the fuck does " Air rave into ice age into wahoo level 1" means. Give me the fucking inputs ON SCREEN dumbass! So yeah, this game shall be attempted much MUCH later.

 

GAMES I PLAN TO PLAY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:

- Fu'un super combo: It's a fighting game from SNK (kek) that I enlisted for the Ultra Rare event. I can say I can handle SNK games pretty well now so...yeah, this one should be attempted after THPS

- Fighting EX Layer: I am starting this one only because I will boost the online with someone. Figured out I might as well play the entire game. Doesn't look too difficult.

- Yakuza Kiwami: I am taking a break after Yakuza 0, but I am eager to start this bad boy as  soon as possible. These games are mad fun

- Nier Replicant PS4 remake: I actually preordered this game, can't wait to revisit the depressing world of this game in full HD  

 

 

So yeah this is the plan that I have for the near future. Until next time!

[AJ_Radio]

I hope they kept all the old music from Tony Hawk 1 & 2. Loved that 1990s era music, a shame they don't make bands like that anymore. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 just sounds like a massive pain in the ass. I will never play it myself, far too grindy of a trophy list plus I'm not a fan of its style.

[Copanele]

4 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

I hope they kept all the old music from Tony Hawk 1 & 2. Loved that 1990s era music, a shame they don't make bands like that anymore. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 just sounds like a massive pain in the ass. I will never play it myself, far too grindy of a trophy list plus I'm not a fan of its style.

From what I see here yes they did, all the music is in place+new songs that actually fit in the game. 

 

Here's a sad random part: if they will ever remake THPS3 (arguably one of the best in the series) they won't be able to add the entire playlist that game also has Xzbit - Paparazzi and yeah those lyrics won't go well in a 2021+ game, but I can't imagine the game without that specific song. First World problems, I know

 

Anyway yes, THPS1+2 is THAT good. A stellar job from Vicarious. 

 

And yep I can confirm to you, UMVC3is a royal pain in the ass, don't even think about starting it. I don't know what I was thinking when starting it. 

I started Fighting EX Layer last night however and it's actually pretty easy and fun. Even the commands are super easy (a fireball is forward + punch) so if you ever want to fire up another fighting game this is the one to go. 

Online is also populated and you don't even need to boost it really . Found only USA players in actuality

[Copanele]

 No. 137: Fighting EX Layer

 

Platinum Name: FIGHTING EX LAYER Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy: Combo Expert - Shirase Because she took me 3 tries to nail the combo

Difficulty: 1.5/10. Even easier than Tekken

Personal impression: 6.5/10

 

So I picked up this game from a sale, was so cheap I can't even remember how much I paid. Started it recently because of online (someone wanted to boost with me) so I said what the hell, might as well complete this game.

 

First thing first, there's 2 good mechanics about this game - the Progressive system and the Gougi system. Progressive system is basically "dumbed down mechanics", created such as even the people who can't string combos can still do cool shit in the game. There is still a ton of depth to the gameplay but it's very beginner friendly.

Gougi System is an interesting mechanic where you can choose a set of 5 buffs that will assist you during the match. They will activate once you accomplish certain conditions however. Interesting concept, again.

 

BUT...this game is so bland. Reason why I started this impression post this lazily is because...from the moment of platinum (yesterday) and now, I almost forgot everything about this game. Characters are nothing memorable, there's no story, no noteworthy soundtrack (none I could think of at least) and it's super barebones. I think this is the EZPZ of the fighting genre. Mind you, it's not a bad game, hell there was work and love poured in this game....but my god it bored me to death. Heck I can't even write about it without getting bored.

 

So yeah, if you want a fast platinum and a decent game, pick this up, it's super cheap. Else...might want to consider other more "substantial" fighting games.

 

THE GOOD:

- Gougi and Progressive systems are fun concepts

- gameplay is rather solid

 

THE BAD:

- unremarkable game

- boring

- not many fun things to do in it

- feels like a waste of time to be honest, despite it being a decent game

[AJ_Radio]

Hey at least it was a breather for you. I’d probably get a panic attack doing all those hard Capcom and Neo Geo games.

[Copanele]

Been a while since I updated here, took my sweet time...but this one will be quite the unique entry.

 

 NieR Replicant VER.1.22474487139...

Platinum Name: The Final Verse

Hardest Trophy: The Little Mermaid- defeat Louise in under 5 minutes  

Difficulty: 3/10

Personal Impression: 10/10

 

Most of the time, after I've finished a game and gotten its platinum, I try to "analyze" it. Analyze is a strong word, mostly try to see what were its good points, its weak points, graphics, story all that stuff. But even now and then comes a game that actually blows my mind. It makes me go "fuck all these numbers, thinking what's good, what's bad, I just love this dumb ass pile of whatever I am playing". Although I am generous with my games, I rarely give a 10/10. Well, today another game gets this treatment from me.

 

Nier Replicant is an odd thing. It's created by Yoko Taro, a madman with a mask (because he's shy) who specializes in writing fucked up stuff . The game has the most basic premise: your main protagonist, little Nier, is trying his best to survive into a world ravaged by disease and plagued by black monsters called Shades while taking care of his sick sister. He's your basic kid who knows how to flail a sword abit better than the others. Everything changes when he has to rescue his sister Yonah from an ancient shrine and encounters the magical tome Grimoire Weiss, a sassy old floating book that is basically your conduit for magic in this game. And from this point the entire game goes bonkers.

 

 

The game itself is incredibly weird. You normally play in 3rd person, your textbook action hack & slash game. But at some point you go into 2D and hop on stones. Then switch to a bullet hell section in a mine cart where you have to gun down several robots. Then it turns into a 2.5 diablo-esque aRPG. Just to finally tackle a classic textbased RPG story. It's such a wacky way to approach gameplay in a game! Gladly the combat itself was severely fixed in the PS4 version (original one had some serious issues in the combat department), now it plays more like Automata. But I guess this gameplay is picked only so you can't lose focus on the main selling point of this game: The Story.

 

My god the story of this game is brilliant. It has Bioshock 1 levels of revelations, the world and characters are VERY well established, the side quests are actual gems hidden behind seemingly mundane fetching quests...nothing is what it seems here. This is most obvious with Nier's team, first consisting of the faithful book/companion Grimoire Weiss, then joined by Kaine, a foul mouth woman with a dark secret (and what a secret)and probably one of the best female representations in videogames. Last to join is Emil, the mascot of the game (and Yoko Taro's choice of mask), a sweet skeleton child who is also a magical powerhouse. All these are oddities in a weird and dying world. I can't spoil any more, it would detract from the enjoyment of the game.

 

If I can find a massive fault of this game, it's this : IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE! No really, the game is so weird and unconventional, many players will feel uncomfortable, bored or straight up annoyed at this game. And yes, it's totally understandable also, the release of the original game was met with heavy criticism.. BUT if you like obscure games with terrifyingly good story and a fierce cast of companions, if you love crazy music sung in Chaos language (made up language), if you like to just feel constant suffering and hopelessness, then by all means do pick up this game. You won't regret it. Because true to his original western name, the game is truly Gestalt: it's greater than the sum of its parts.

 

Since I obviously can't string some coherent sentences about Nier, why do I like this game? Why do I think it's top 10 best games I ever played?

To be honest, it's every wacky component of this game combined. I love the odd main character and his companions, this might be the best team of "Whatever the fuck are they even doing there" I met in videogames. I absolutely am crazy about that soundtrack in a made-up language, because using a made-up language means you can reach any note you want with any combination of words that you want. I like how utterly depressing and fucked up the story is, for real how can anyone think something like that?

And most of all, I think the atmosphere is what gets me. When you reach the Lost Shrine, you FEEL the sense of abandoned place. Facade is the epitome of weird foreign desert city. Seafront gives you the feeling of a remote fishing village, and so on.

 

Also the idea that you play the game and you only unlock Route A, playing several times to unlock other routes which are actually further reveals into the story is brilliant. You know how this will end, but do you know ALL the details? Maybe Route B will tell the story from another perspective. Maybe Route C will break your heart in a different way! Maybe Ending D-- you get the idea. The game has 4 endings, with an extra 5th "Epilogue" and no playthrough is truly similar. Although you are playing the same levels, through the same missions, you'll notice that things have changed, details or mysteries from a previous route being answered in this new playthrough.

 

As a final conclusion, this game really deserves its initial Western PS3 release name. It is called Nier Gestalt, Gestalt being roughly translated "a whole is bigger than the sum of its parts" and I believe this applies to this game perfectly. Maybe action with bullet hell with multiple endings with intentional glitches and so on might make no sense on paper, but the entire chaos of this game is what makes it this appealing. I would say, if you are interesting in either niche stories or unique "experiences" (example being Brutal Legend, Asura's Wrath, games that can't fit in any specific category), do give NieR a try!

 

THE GOOD:

- A crazy good story with multiple branches

- Soundtrack ripped straight out of Heaven

- Smooth gameplay, improved over and over

- the dynamic world that reacts to your actions

- it made me suffer like no other game  

 

THE BAD:

- incredibly niche even by niche standards. 

- farming materials for weapon upgrade is still horrible.

- pretty much gets me ridiculed for giving it a 10/10 and not even being able to properly explain why.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Copanele

[Copanele]

Small update - I will rework Nier Replicant's impressions. Tried writing it last night, ended up listening to its soundtrack and Drakengard 3's soundtrack so I got the...mess from above  Seriously even My Name is Mayo got a better "review".

For whoever was reading that, it's not the final product. Fucking game got me so good, I have no idea what to even write about it that would make sense ?

[realm722]

14 hours ago, Copanele said:

Small update - I will rework Nier Replicant's impressions. Tried writing it last night, ended up listening to its soundtrack and Drakengard 3's soundtrack so I got the...mess from above  Seriously even My Name is Mayo got a better "review".

For whoever was reading that, it's not the final product. Fucking game got me so good, I have no idea what to even write about it that would make sense 

 

Hahahaha I love it Copa. The Nier games are something I've always had on my horizon since I've heard very good things about them, but they're definitely more niche and fall into the weirder side of games. I've seen Automata go as cheap as $20 - my question to you would be as a fan of the series, is Replicant so important to the story you should play it before Automata? Does it matter? I was prolly gonna check it out eventually but your love for it has made it go up on my interest rankings

[Copanele]

2 minutes ago, realm722 said:

 

Hahahaha I love it Copa. The Nier games are something I've always had on my horizon since I've heard very good things about them, but they're definitely more niche and fall into the weirder side of games. I've seen Automata go as cheap as $20 - my question to you would be as a fan of the series, is Replicant so important to the story you should play it before Automata? Does it matter? I was prolly gonna check it out eventually but your love for it has made it go up on my interest rankings

So, here's what people normally say about Automata: it's an independent game, it has nods to the original NieR, the setting is happening around 8000 years later. It's a nice game and all.

 

My opinion as a fan and someone who even dabbled in Drakengard lore just to get more Nier out of it(jesus christ that series scares me): YES Replicant IS VERY important to the story. Because there's certain aspects in Automata that hit even deeper once you know how fucked up everything is in Replicant. Without it, you might miss some stuff in Automata that won't make much sense.

And sadly no, just reading the wikia won't help  it's basically get depressed in NieR Replicant to get utterly DEMORALIZED in NieR Automata. I even had a friend who played Automata and thought the game is meh, but after playing Replicant he got pissed because "Automata has so much more meaning now in place x and y and so on".

 

So...yeah. Don't sleep on Replicant (especially now that the PS4 version is excellent), it will really add to the atmosphere and story. You can play Automata and even enjoy it, but I don't think you can experience the full on existential crisis until you've got a taste of Replicant  .

[Copanele]

Also i sorta kinda finished the edit on the review. Still not satisfied, but honestly this game can't be explained through words without spoiling it. So yeah I'll leave it like this, top 10 right up there.

[Copanele]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Wrath of the Druids DLC

Difficulty: 3/10

Personal impression: 5.5/10

 

Normally I overlook the laziness of Ubisoft when it comes to this franchise. I am a simple man, I want historical settings, I want to climb fancy buildings and stab suckers in the back.

It takes a special kind of lazy to get me riled up and sadly Wrath of the Druids DLC managed to do that. It's the most "why did they even bother?" level in this game, which was already bloated enough, despite me really enjoying the main game.

 

So the setting: Eivor receives a letter from his cousin the King of Dublin (Ireland, for those who skipped Geography classes). He must go there and help this cousin gain favor from the High King of Ireland Flann Sinna who seeks to unify the entire country under his rule. But of course, some certain locals do not agree with this so they try to give a new neck pocket to the High King. Since we're in Ireland, of course it's the blasted druids and their foresty magic. 

 

The first thing that I thought when I set foot in Ireland in this game is "wow, this is a shittier England". I don't mean real life, of course, I mean game wise. Ireland as a setting feels rushed, like a reused map that they didn't have time to insert in the main game. Other than the main city Dublin, there's NOTHING you haven't already seen - small settlements, TONS of fields, EVEN MORE ROCKS and 2 castles on top of the hills. That's it, that's Ireland. If I could find points of interest in England and even Norway, well Ireland doesn't have them at all. Traversing it is even more of a pain because not only the sync points and the ports are way too far from the actual objectives that you will encounter, the terrain itself is ASS! It's rarely a flat field or hill, it's just...steps. Steps everywhere. Wanna go with a horse? Better climb up, whistle for the horse, go for 400 m, climb again and so on. Its SO FRUSTRATING, I don't think I had this issue in any other AC game so far.

 

Story...eh. Seen the villain from a mile away. Eivor's cousin is by far the most interesting character. The very last mission is fun because I admit I did not see it coming, but it's too little too late. 

In terms of enemies, Druids are the weaker version of the witches from the main game, the 3 mini bosses that you had to fight and were ACTUALLY COOL! Here they are more annoying, teleporting and hitting you with some stinky sock gas that makes everything yellow. Again, if that's druid magic, I am not impressed.

 

What this game brings new is the trading system...and I use system very loosely here. Basically you have to capture trading posts, build them with materials taken from monasteries (raiding is still fun), build them and then wait for a chest to fill with materials so you can trade them in exchange of levelling up Dublin and get armor. On paper, this sounded very nice but in actuality it's just another check on a list. Really, play 2 missions, collect some random shit, go empty the chest, trade and that's it.

 

Honestly there's only 2 things that really made me go "huh, nice" with this DLC: A legendary weapon from Irish legends, taken from a nice secret boss from the only side quest of the DLC, and a rainbow. If it rains you see a rainbow. No leprechauns though. Apart from that, this DLC is really not worth it. It's not as bad as Lost Archives from AC Revelations (which is still the worst DLC ever added in this franchise), but it's on par with Dead Kings DLC from AC Unity which...was trash...at least from what I remember, cause it was really forgettable. So yeah, better wait for a MASSIVE discount, cause you'll regret the money you'd spend on this lazy attempt of a DLC. Hope that the Siege of Paris will get abit better. Or at least with more action.

 

Also why did they still add the fucking stone stacking minigame??????????? THAT SHIT IS AWFUL! DID THEY NOT GET THE MEMO THAT EVERYBODY HATES THAT CRAP? I'd rather replay Faronora in AC3 than stack more of those fucking stones with the shitty physics.

 

THE GOOD:

- cute rainbow

- nice spear

- fun cousin that doesn't want to go bowling

- there's only one snake in the entire Ireland, I hate snakes

 

THE BAD:

- second rate map

- poorly placed fast travel points

- lazy trading system

- meh story

- no sidequests

- more glitches when it comes to finding and detection rates

- new mission added with this DLC in the main game - Legend of Beowulf. Spoiler: It's SUPREME ASS. BOOOOOO!

[AJ_Radio]

The YouTube videos you've been posting make this DLC look quite alright so it ain't all bad.

 

I mean.... it's Ubisoft. They're lazy when it comes to a lot of stuff. If this was a Sony exclusive or a Rockstar Game, you can guarantee this game and the DLC would be of considerably higher quality.

[Copanele]

6 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

The YouTube videos you've been posting make this DLC look quite alright so it ain't all bad.

 

I mean.... it's Ubisoft. They're lazy when it comes to a lot of stuff. If this was a Sony exclusive or a Rockstar Game, you can guarantee this game and the DLC would be of considerably higher quality. 

Ah in terms of looks yeah, game looks good. But that's how the main game looks too. It's just a pretty box full of nothing. 

 

And this one REALLY has nothing to do with any assassins. 

[AJ_Radio]

9 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Ah in terms of looks yeah, game looks good. But that's how the main game looks too. It's just a pretty box full of nothing. 

 

And this one REALLY has nothing to do with any assassins. 

 

I'm going to spoil myself, but how is the present day in Valhalla?

[Copanele]

4 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

I'm going to spoil myself, but how is the present day in Valhalla?

I can't spoil you sorry, it would break my heart if i do so it was pretty shit, up until one point where I was FUCK YES! But really overall it goes really mumbo jumbo mode. The bad kind of mumbo jumbo. Still not as bad as present day in Odyssey. 

 

I personally just ignore it ay this point. 

Oh and at this point the assassins are so moronic Ezio is spinning like mad in his grave. Reallly, if before I thought templars were retarded... my god the Assassins have the logistics and survivability plan of a donkey with pneumonia. 

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

I can't spoil you sorry, it would break my heart if i do so it was pretty shit, up until one point where I was FUCK YES! But really overall it goes really mumbo jumbo mode. The bad kind of mumbo jumbo. Still not as bad as present day in Odyssey. 

 

I personally just ignore it ay this point. 

Oh and at this point the assassins are so moronic Ezio is spinning like mad in his grave. Reallly, if before I thought templars were retarded... my god the Assassins have the logistics and survivability plan of a donkey with pneumonia. 

I believe Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla all tie in together in regards to present day. 
 

But as we both know, Assassins Creed is Ubisoft’s cash cow. Doesn’t matter if they fuck up the story or not so long as people pay for the games and season passes. 

[Copanele]

💯  No.30 - FU'UN SUPER COMBO

 

Hardest Trophy: Violent Storm  Defeat King Leo and clear the game (Savage Reign)

Difficulty: 6.5/10

Personal impression: 6.2/10

 

Disclaimer: I will copy most of the description from my status update because I can't be bothered to write that much about this game  

 

Fu'un super combo is an obscure collection from SNK containing 2 games: Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter. I say obscure because they really feel like a washed up version of Art of Fighting.

They were initially released in Japan only, then worldwide for...some reason. Anyway, brief description:

• Both of them have the textbook SNK cheap AI who reads your inputs, their attacks overlap yours, you know pray to all the Japanese Gods to nail a lucky punch and win. THE USUAL!
• Savage Reign is trash. Moves like crap, final boss took me ages to beat, didn't like it one bit. Also the main character, a yelling Kenshiro looking ass called Hayate who uses the traditional martial art of the boomerang....well he's lame as hell.
• Kizuna Encounter however is mega fun. Better combat, better looking sprites, new characters are actually fun. Still not enough to leave the light of obscurity but way better than Art of Fighting 3. If that makes any sense.
• The 100% kinda deserves it's UR status. If you are not used in the bullshit SNK usually puts in their games (hey there KoF '94 Rugal) this game will whoop your ass. I dare to say that King Leo in Savage Reign is on par with Mr Karate and Young Geese Howard, only because you can't really cheese this guy.

To be honest, I would have given a bigger grade to this collection if I haven't had to deal with Savage Reign. Kizuna Encounter is a legit fun game, I am not kidding. I actually had fun playing it and the attacks and moveset feel organic and fun. Plus you got combos before the term "combo' was even a thing. However...Savage Reign is a pile of trash. You have that interesting plane switching mechanic but the AI is so absurdly cheap it's not even fun figuring out wtf are they trying to do. And the characters...oh god the characters. Let me just write the roster really fast:

• Hayate - your textbook karate meathead (imagine Ryu) who has a boomerang as a weapon. A BOOMERANG!
• Carol - a method dancer/Ballerina who throws with a psychic ball. Imagine Rose from SF but not fun.
• Chung - a grandpa with sunglasses and a backwards hat that gets angry when his life is low. Master Roshi 1:1
• Eagle - a VIOLENT AMERICAN WHO IS VIOLENTLY AMERICAN and uses an axe. Also has the haircut of Guile and clothes with THE VIOLENTLY AMERICAN USA USA USA! FLAG ON HIM. Was that American enough?
• Gordon - a fat #ugly_bastard cop who uses a cop tonfa and has chest/belly hair.
• Gozu/Mezu - 2 ninjas that are straight up Scorpion/Sub-zero ripoffs
• Joker - a legit clown (not the Batman one) on rollerblades who throws with random shit at you and giggles non stop. 
• Nicola - the worst character in the entire game. A smug ass kid with a Captain America shield that blocks EVERYTHING. God I hate this little rat.
• King Lion/King Leo - The only good characters, a buffed centurion looking guy who uses boxing gloves and has legit fun gameplay.

I won't add all the gifs for the characters because I am lazy. Imagine that the others weren't even worth the effort   

 

I think the embodiment of why Savage Reign is so bad is this victory screen from Nicola. If that makes sense to you let me know.

 

Also look how Hayate looks! Who the hell thought this could be a good main character!

 

 

Anyhow, Kizuna Encounter is better. Getting rid of shitty characters (Nicola and Carol begone!) and adding Rosa and Kim instead...who I wanted to see more in other games  All I am saying, when it comes to girl design, SNK knows their stuff.

 

Anyway I rambled too much. Thought it would be more interesting than playing this game  I am sorry for Kizuna Encounter, that one was legit fun, but the games are too obscure to stand the test of time. Play King of Fighters instead. It's way better!

 

THE GOOD:

- Kizuna Encounter is actually fun

- tagging is a nice mechanic

- Rosa and King Leo are 2 characters I'd actually like to see in other games.

- as usual, top quality SNK sprites and stages

 

THE BAD:

- Savage Reign is a game I wish I could forget

- AI cheaper than bringing a gun to a sword fight

- 0 useful information about the games online

- this feels like a shittier Art of Fighting/Fatal Fury/King of Fighters spin-off

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Copanele

[Copanele]

 No. 139 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2

Platinum Name: Pro Skater Returns 

Hardest Trophy: Got There  - complete all hard get-there gaps

Difficulty: 5/10 if you played THPS before, 7/10 otherwise

Personal impression: 9.4/10

 

I rarely am THIS impressed by a remake. Apparently the team from Vicarious Visions did the impossible again and fully remastered the first 2 THPS games, bringing them back in their full glory.

 

For who doesn't know or doesn't get it from the picture, Tony Hawk is probably the most famous skateboarder out there. These games are all about skateboarding, doing impossible tricks under a set limit of time aiming to have the highest score. You do that through various maps devised for skating, from the regular Warehouse, a plane Hangar, NY streets with their awful Taxis, Venice Beach to ridiculous places like Roswell and Skate Heaven. You can pick one of the numerous skaters available, starting with the Birdman himself, or you can create your own skater(highly preferrable), customizing him/her as much as you want. I decided to have a street style hobo called Mr Nugget with a long beard and interchangeable hats.

 

The best thing about this game is by far the gameplay. It's not a simple textbook remaster of the original games, the dev team actually struggled to add the best stuff from the entire series, such as tricks, the option to revert and manual (introduced in THPS3), removed unnecessary gimmicks that clogged the previous games, they simply focused on skating and skating only. I'd say this is by far the best THPS release of a game ever made, despite being a remaster, simply because how focused the dev team was in offering the best skating experience via a videogame.

 

Another MASSIVE point is the music. THPS games are nothing without the music and I have to say...it's a banger here. Classic tracks return (Superman from Goldfinger still sounds as fun as ever), but there's new tracks that actually complement what was before. My favorite must have been Destroy Boys - Duck Eat Duck World, it simply worked wonders in the game. Glad the music is still top notch, really, it's vital for the proper experience.

 

There's 2 points that shocked me about the game: multiplayer and customization options. Honestly the multiplayer is BADASS, if you love the games. You have so many game modes it's ridiculous. I entered online to have some "matches", it was mega fun to skate in a chaotic Warehouse level with 8 other mad skaters, doing flips and colliding. 

Regarding customization...hot damn so many options. Even removing all clothes give you the best shorts with red hearts on them  you can unlock tons of clothes, boards and such by doing various in-game missions, ranging from easy (do simple tricks) to difficult (hard get-there gaps, where you have to link specific gaps in levels) to absolutely impossible (land a 20 million combo in a level without Game Mods). There's something for everyone, amateur or professional.

 

There's few negatives I can mention for this game. One minor nitpick would be Platinum related, the fact that it requires you to grind to level 100 is a massive headache. The exp is not nearly enough to ease off the experience, so you either have to resort to tricks, like 300xp every 7 seconds or use a turbo controller to grind exp. Was abit annoying, but it didn't remove the overall enjoyment.

Another thing is...despite very good, it feels that THPS is a thing of the past. I am not really sure I would enjoy a new THPS game, as good as it is, simply because it's a thing that peaked in the 90s. Of course, this is incredibly subjective, but that's how I kinda feel about it.

 

Regardless, a fantastic game, an experience that you can't go wrong with. Well done VV, I am looking forward to more of these quality releases!

 

THE GOOD:

- peak of THPS experience

- improved graphics

- only the best gameplay

- sound is divine

- amazing multiplayer

- tons of customization options

- challenges over challenges

- SKATE ON MY SON!

 

THE BAD:

- the grind for platinum is a real headache

- a product of its time

[DrBloodmoney]

On 18/04/2021 at 9:50 PM, Copanele said:

 No. 136: Slain Back from Hell

Platinum Name: Platinum 

Hardest Trophy: Oh,God,Mother!Blood!Blood  - defeat the Mother Beholder without taking damage. Horrible trophy.

Difficulty: 6/10

Personal impression: 8.2/10

 

Slain is the first platformer that I completed this week. A fallen hero called Bathoryn has been brought back from the dead, given a mythical sword and has been sent away to battle to forces of the evil overlord Vroll. He has to jump over deadly pits, fight hordes of skeletons and witches, defeat the numerous bosses and please the lords of Metal.

 

This is the theme of Slain: Metal. Imagine that it's sort of a 2D Brutal Legend kind of game. You have to traverse each level littered with monsters(and checkpoints) and defeat the end boss. After beating the living hell out of the boss and cover yourself in its blood, you have to headbang to please the Horned Metal God, as the custom is. This game oozes of atmosphere and it shows that the devs really put care in this game. It has one of the best soundtracks for an indie title and really gets the mood going even after the hundreth death (or 200? I don't know I died a lot).

 

What's notable at this game is that its platinum list is extra tough. As it wasn't enough for the game itself to be difficult, you have to also beat the game without using magic, beat the game without dying at all (both achievable with Cloud save backup), defeat each boss without taking damage and defeat certain bosses under a set amount of time. From them all, the most infuriating was the Mother Beholder, a floating head who spits green orbs and spawns mini-beholders. On her last phase, she can cover the screen in her bullshit, taking me lots of tries to get her down. The rest of the list seems daunting but after one playthrough I pretty much learned every secret and mode to defeat the enemies.

 

Not much to say about this game. Very atmospheric, very punishing, satisfying to the max and one of the rare platformers that I actually enjoyed.

THE GOOD:

- killer soundtrack

- challenging but actually fair

- diverse enemies and bosses

- combat and parrying is endlessly satisfying

 

THE BAD:

- the final 2 levels can be abit overkill in terms of difficulty

- other than the soundtrack, it doesn't do anything special to stand out as a game

 

 

Missed this when you first put it up - but just added this to my wishlist based on this review (and gif!)  as it looks, for want of a better description, to be so much my jam, that it should really be called "Slain: Back fro Hell, DrBloodmoney" ?

 

EDIT - actually, scratch the wishlist - it's currently on sale in the UK for under 3-quid! Bought instead!

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by DrBloodmoney