Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[Copanele]

25 minutes ago, CraigyXO said:

 

Thank you so much, this was super informative. Apologies if this is a really nooby question, but as I stated I've only played Unity but do the games all follow each other in terms of story or are some of them standalone? For example, you mention the Ezio trilogy, are they directly linked to Black Flag for instance? I guess what I'm asking is from a series standpoint, if you've played Unity are there any other you'd be required for the animus storyline etc. to make sense? I no longer own a PS3 so I will only be playing PS4 versions but it's definitely a long term goal of mine to make Unity stand-out a little less on my account.

Normally both the timelines (present and past) follow each other in terms of story : You are in the present reliving the memories of your past ancestors. The story was an important factor in the beginning but it was kinda abandoned on the way and Ubisoft focused mostly on the past because that's the selling point. To make a very bad chart : 

 

1. AC->AC2->Brotherhood->Revelations->AC3 - you have the same main protagonist and storyline.

2. AC4 -> Rogue -> Unity -> Syndicate - new unseen protagonists, the present is focused on the villains and the support cast of the 1st stage

3. AC Chronicles and Liberation - sort of stand alone games that are linked only through the McGuffins of the series - Pieces of Eden and the Assassins being mentioned in other games.

4. AC Origins -> AC Oddysey - completely new main protagonist.

 

The games are definitely linked. With the exception of Shay Cormac from Rogue, every Assassin from a game is mentioned in the next entry of the franchise (e.g. Altair is mentioned in almost every single AC game, Ezio same except AC1 etc.) so yes they are linked but the plot is not that difficult to grasp. You don't need a flow chart for this franchise like you would need for Kingdom Hearts  

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Copanele

[AJ_Radio]

6 hours ago, Copanele said:

Oh for sure, compared to the madness you had to do in Slain (or Super Meat Boy), Jotun is not that insane. Just takes practice.

 

The game is relatively obscure among trophy hunters at least on this website. However stuff like this is usually several times more popular on Steam, which is where the bulk of the audience comes from.

 

I recommend you pick up Titan Souls at one point. The entire game is basically you against the bosses, using only a single arrow. It's also pretty difficult, but since you managed Jotun that shouldn't be anything too hard for you.

 

6 hours ago, Copanele said:

As for Street Fighter 4...I am waiting for the coming of spring. I legit need myself in the best mood if I want to attempt that madness  But I am set on doing the game! The trials and ranking up all characters to C rank will be the most painful of them all.

 

Hopefully you'll have a fighting stick in hand.

 

I can't compare Street Fighter with Super Meat Boy. But the Capcom franchise has always been incredibly difficult to master. Perhaps that is what Capcom wanted for anybody going for the platinum.

 

Best of luck when you go for the trophies.

 

5 hours ago, Copanele said:

Grab ONLY the PS4 copies for the other games. All of them are more or less remastered for PS4 (Ezio trilogy looks janky I admit and Liberation is...ugh), BUT you will have to deal with multiplayer only in Black Flag and Unity. PS3 versions have AC2 , Brotherhood, Revelations, AC3 and Black Flag with multiplayer and...you do not wish to play on the PS3 servers, trust me.

 

Did you trophy hunt on another account or play on the Xbox 360 prior to being a trophy hunter?

 

I understand the PS4 versions are vastly superior, but the only PS3 Assassins Creed I see on your list is Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassins Creed Rogue.

 

Assassins Creed 2 is entirely single player on both versions. Black Flag has the same trophy list on both versions. That leaves Brotherhood, Revelations and 3 with multiplayer on the PS3. These are the versions you want to avoid.

 

I've done 3's multiplayer. I'm skipping Brotherhood and I plan to wrap up Revelations at some point. Still need to reach level 20 and play on all multiplayer match types.

[Copanele]

 

38 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

The game is relatively obscure among trophy hunters at least on this website. However stuff like this is usually several times more popular on Steam, which is where the bulk of the audience comes from.

 

I recommend you pick up Titan Souls at one point. The entire game is basically you against the bosses, using only a single arrow. It's also pretty difficult, but since you managed Jotun that shouldn't be anything too hard for you.

 

 

Hopefully you'll have a fighting stick in hand.

 

I can't compare Street Fighter with Super Meat Boy. But the Capcom franchise has always been incredibly difficult to master. Perhaps that is what Capcom wanted for anybody going for the platinum.

 

Best of luck when you go for the trophies.

Huh, I heard of Titan Souls. Let's see if it's on sale ! I also grabbed Hyper Light Drifter, heard it's very good.

 

And hell I am prepared with lots of controllers and a fightstick. Not only SF4, I also aim for Darkstalkers 3 (it has no platinum but there's the same amount of capcom combo crazyness) and Skullgirls 2nd Encore(replace frame combos with 20-30 hits combos). I am in for fun times  

 

38 minutes ago, Spaz said:

Did you trophy hunt on another account or play on the Xbox 360 prior to being a trophy hunter?

 

I understand the PS4 versions are vastly superior, but the only PS3 Assassins Creed I see on your list is Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassins Creed Rogue.

 

Assassins Creed 2 is entirely single player on both versions. Black Flag has the same trophy list on both versions. That leaves Brotherhood, Revelations and 3 with multiplayer on the PS3. These are the versions you want to avoid.

 

I've done 3's multiplayer. I'm skipping Brotherhood and I plan to wrap up Revelations at some point. Still need to reach level 20 and play on all multiplayer match types.

 

Nope, I was a full on PC player and I've played Brotherhood at some friends on PS3. I played all the games up until Black Flag on PC first and I didn't like Brotherhood multiplayer there either. Assassin Creed 3 was fun with the WolfPack mode but ultimately got boring fast. I have absolutely no idea how Revelations multiplayer is but...I don't expect much either. 

 

But...Black Flag was enough for me in terms of Multiplayer on the PS3 console. Servers were absolutely horrendous, took me 4 days (5 hours per day) to try and connect with other 3 people for the Sacred Lands trophy, a trophy that I got in 30 minutes under PS4, just because the servers would just disconnect and the players would be kicked out. All of us were from Europe too. I encountered these issues on PC as well, Ubisoft just can't make proper game servers. Considering I had to do Far Cry 4 too on PS3 , where co-op barely held up just so I can do a vehicle takedown, you can see why I recommend avoiding the PS3 versions from this particular company. It's not the games, it's Ubisoft!

 

Unless someone is really keen on stacking or wants to clean up the backlog, I don't see any reason to play the PS3 versions when you just have the PS4 versions available. The PS4 versions are smoother, work better and well...they are on PS4. Plus you have all the DLC nicely packed into the main game, AC3 and Liberation come free as part of Oddysey's Season Pass...paying extra dollaroos just to Impress Warren Vidic (the absolute worst trophy in the series from Revelations) is kinda nasty  Yes AC2 is the only one single player there buuut... again, stacking. That's up to the choice of the player after all.

Edited January 22, 2020 by Copanele

[AJ_Radio]

42 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Unless someone is really keen on stacking or wants to clean up the backlog, I don't see any reason to play the PS3 versions when you just have the PS4 versions available. The PS4 versions are smoother, work better and well...they are on PS4. Plus you have all the DLC nicely packed into the main game, AC3 and Liberation come free as part of Oddysey's Season Pass...paying extra dollaroos just to Impress Warren Vidic (the absolute worst trophy in the series from Revelations) is kinda nasty  Yes AC2 is the only one single player there buuut... again, stacking. That's up to the choice of the player after all.

 

You're comparing older technology with newer technology. That's like me saying Windows XP and Windows Vista are still okay, they're not because they are old operating systems. Windows 10 is smoother and runs a lot faster.

 

That's essentially why the PS3 versions are slower. Advancement of technology gives us options to have a more smoother experience than we had 10 - 20 years ago.

[Copanele]

4 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

You're comparing older technology with newer technology. That's like me saying Windows XP and Windows Vista are still okay, they're not because they are old operating systems. Windows 10 is smoother and runs a lot faster.

 

That's essentially why the PS3 versions are slower. Advancement of technology gives us options to have a more smoother experience than we had 10 - 20 years ago.

Yep that's right. Sorry I thought you were also asking why I recommended only PS4 compared to PS3 while I never touched all the PS3 games. 

(Although in all honesty Win10 is kinda trash and I still love Win7 despite it being older, but that's not the point of the conversation I know )

Anyhow, I did compile a list with new games that I should totally add. Titan Souls really looks scary, also thought of adding Sundered (done by the same team that did Jotun), heard it's not as good however. Furi...yeah I will ask for tips when I start it, it looks scary.

[AJ_Radio]

2 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Yep that's right. Sorry I thought you were also asking why I recommended only PS4 compared to PS3 while I never touched all the PS3 games. 

(Although in all honesty Win10 is kinda trash and I still love Win7 despite it being older, but that's not the point of the conversation I know )

Anyhow, I did compile a list with new games that I should totally add. Titan Souls really looks scary, also thought of adding Sundered (done by the same team that did Jotun), heard it's not as good however. Furi...yeah I will ask for tips when I start it, it looks scary.

 

No worries.

 

Windows XP is my all time favorite system. I truthfully don't like Windows 10 that much. Probably too late for me at this point to learn Linux. But then there's Mac, which is a lot worse than Windows.

 

You can do Titan Souls. Furi I felt was more difficult, but videos on YouTube really go a long way in helping out.

 

Should I expect anything glitchy or annoying in the Prince of Persia 2008 reboot?

[VoxAnimi]

Hello there, I have glanced at your checklist before, but never commented on this thread until now. Recently been contemplating over devising a trophy checklist of my own, and yours is one of the more compelling ones that I've seen so far in terms of your summaries regarding the games themselves. I must say, your platinum collection is full of worthwhile titles. From the Prince of Persia series completed in entirety to Jotun or the Souls series, you certainly have a lot of variety in what you've played. Your profile also seems to consist of quality over quantity, which I find admirable. Keep up the good work. 

 

 

 

[panikooooos]

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

 

Unless someone is really keen on stacking or wants to clean up the backlog, I don't see any reason to play the PS3 versions when you just have the PS4 versions available. The PS4 versions are smoother, work better and well...they are on PS4. Plus you have all the DLC nicely packed into the main game, AC3 and Liberation come free as part of Oddysey's Season Pass...paying extra dollaroos just to Impress Warren Vidic (the absolute worst trophy in the series from Revelations) is kinda nasty  Yes AC2 is the only one single player there buuut... again, stacking. That's up to the choice of the player after all.

Just a tip, the dlc in brotherhood and revelations is free in certain regions, hong kong I think and it's also region free so it works even if you have the european or the american version of the game 

[AJ_Radio]

9 minutes ago, VoxAnimi said:

Hello there, I have glanced at your checklist before, but never commented on this thread until now. Recently been contemplating over devising a trophy checklist of my own, and yours is one of the more compelling ones that I've seen so far in terms of your summaries regarding the games themselves. I must say, your platinum collection is full of worthwhile titles. From the Prince of Persia series completed in entirety to Jotun or the Souls series, you certainly have a lot of variety in what you've played. Your profile also seems to consist of quality over quantity, which I find admirable. Keep up the good work.

 

His profile is quality wise better than mine. It looks neat and well presentable. I really wish I didn't get carried away with stacking, but nothing I can do about it now.

 

Mortal Kombat (2011), Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition and Super Street Fighter IV, all extremely difficult fighting games. Massive amounts of respect if he can get those done.

[Copanele]

47 minutes ago, Spaz said:

Should I expect anything glitchy or annoying in the Prince of Persia 2008 reboot?

 

Glitchy...so and so. Game was pretty stable for me but I heard there are some issues with - drums for Ubisoft - collectibles. Game asks you to collect 1001 light seeds and in some cases it just won't register one seed, letting you with 1000/1001. Advice is to manually save and back up your save games periodically. Also the City of Light level is the one which usually bugs out so save that one for last. You get 1000 seeds in the map and the last one from the final fight.

 

But...game is abit annoying trophywise. You have a speedrun trophy (Speed Demon - finish the game in 12 hours), Be Gentle With Her - Elika saves you less than 100 times throughout the entire game, aka don't fall into pits too often and the most annoying Combo Specialist - execute every combo in the game. Not only do you need a spreadsheet for that one, some combos might actually not register, so it will be abit of a pain. It's definitely not hard but just tedious at times (not at the level of AC Unity, no worries  ). 

There are some other exploits with patches and whatnot but I did not bother with those, just played the game regularly. Was too lazy for it.

 

39 minutes ago, VoxAnimi said:

Hello there, I have glanced at your checklist before, but never commented on this thread until now. Recently been contemplating over devising a trophy checklist of my own, and yours is one of the more compelling ones that I've seen so far in terms of your summaries regarding the games themselves. I must say, your platinum collection is full of worthwhile titles. From the Prince of Persia series completed in entirety to Jotun or the Souls series, you certainly have a lot of variety in what you've played. Your profile also seems to consist of quality over quantity, which I find admirable. Keep up the good work. 

Many thanks lol! With one or two exceptions, I do enjoy my videogames. Not all of them are worthwile, but each of them were fully intended, even My Name is Mayo, which I did buy just because it sounded dumb as hell  Had I known the infamy of it...nah still would have bought it lol. I like mayo.

 

EDIT: Somehow this other line did not register (tried to answer to a different post and the site just abandoned me), @VoxAnimi your list does look quite awesome too! (having Infamous collection and Apotheon too, a game which I personally enjoyed). Do give a nudge whenever you do your list, I want to see your reviews too  .

35 minutes ago, panikooooos said:

Just a tip, the dlc in brotherhood and revelations is free in certain regions, hong kong I think and it's also region free so it works even if you have the european or the american version of the game 

Oh thanks for the info! That's good to remember! I only knew Black Flag isn't region free(got bamboozled with an US DLC over my EU DLC). 

 

28 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

His profile is quality wise better than mine. It looks neat and well presentable. I really wish I didn't get carried away with stacking, but nothing I can do about it now.

 

Mortal Kombat (2011), Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition and Super Street Fighter IV, all extremely difficult fighting games. Massive amounts of respect if he can get those done.

Well hey for every popped Sound Shape you have games like Super Meat Boy, Vanquish or a crazy Capcom Arcade Cabinet game(and other mad games that I only dream of touching). Don't undermine your list's quality just because of some little games!

HOWEVER I am tagging you whenever I complete one of those monster games :3  Need to compensate my severe lack of skill in the platforming department with some fighting games. Even though honestly the true test would actually be Street Fighter 5, since I have to defeat a huge roster of different players online, no boosting, single player shenanigans or cheap tactics allowed. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Copanele

[Litha]

I'll need to grab Titan Souls one of these days as well. I remember seeing a bit of gameplay on YouTube and it looked pretty solid.

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

also thought of adding Sundered (done by the same team that did Jotun)

I bought Sundered based solely on the fact that it was the same devs plus a Lovecraftian theme. I still haven't played it yet as I want to do Jotun first, but I'm looking forward to it all the same.

[Arcesius]

Just here to say two things: 

 

1. Buying Hyper Light Drifter was the best choice I've seen you make yet ? No but honestly, maybe it was just the right game for me, but I adore it. It is a bit on the short side, and it has a bit too many well-hidden collectibles, but it is definitely one of the most fun indie-games I've played. I hope you enjoy it!
   There is an interactive map somewhere where you can mark which collectibles you've already found. USE IT! (At least on your second playthrough). 
    
2. Titan Souls is alright. It ain't too tough, just don't go into it expecting a adrenaline-filled boss rush. The game is more of a puzzle game, and when you know what you're doing you can finish each fight basically in seconds. If you are looking for a good boss rush, then Furi is your game ?
    

Well, I got the Darkest Dungeon collection and... Jotun ? How long would you say does the latter one take to complete? 

[Copanele]

18 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Just here to say two things: 

 

1. Buying Hyper Light Drifter was the best choice I've seen you make yet  No but honestly, maybe it was just the right game for me, but I adore it. It is a bit on the short side, and it has a bit too many well-hidden collectibles, but it is definitely one of the most fun indie-games I've played. I hope you enjoy it!
   There is an interactive map somewhere where you can mark which collectibles you've already found. USE IT! (At least on your second playthrough). 
    
2. Titan Souls is alright. It ain't too tough, just don't go into it expecting a adrenaline-filled boss rush. The game is more of a puzzle game, and when you know what you're doing you can finish each fight basically in seconds. If you are looking for a good boss rush, then Furi is your game 
    

Well, I got the Darkest Dungeon collection and... Jotun  How long would you say does the latter one take to complete? 

Small little nugget of truth...you kinda inspired me to purchase the game too I saw lots of appreciation for that game so yep that's a grab for me. I saw some Titan Souls boss fights and it looks like a good puzzle game. That's how Jotun fights are too...more on the puzzle and timing side.

 

About Jotun...I have no idea how much to give to it. 10 hours?25? I didn't use a guide for the apples of Idunn (the health upgrades) and the God shrines, got lost into the beauty of the game and I got whomped in Valhalla mode countless times, so it took some time to complete it. So I honestly do not know ? It's not a long game, that's for sure! If you are also skilled, game can be finished very fast.

[AJ_Radio]

Jotun sounds like Titan Souls. I died several hundred times in Titan Souls, but still got the platinum in just over three days. 

 

Good music, a memorable final boss fight, it’s a good indie game. 

 

Only part I didn’t like was No Roll Mode. Made the boss near the end with the two stone fists a real bitch, because you have to be very specific with how you’re moving around. 

 

Both games can be done quick, but they're heavily skill dependent. For some people they will take a lot longer than others. 

[NaseemJohn]

15 hours ago, Arcesius said:

Well, I got the Darkest Dungeon collection and... Jotun  How long would you say does the latter one take to complete? 

Weirdly enough, despite the 8/10 difficulty rating I personally found jotun harder than a lot of games rated higher. The Odin no power and Hagalaz no damage trophies were a pain in the ass because of rng. I think I spent like 60+ hours on the game and the majority of that time was on those two bosses alone. Maybe I was just shit but yeah it’s probably the ultra rare plat of my collection that gave me the most trouble. 

[Arcesius]

8 hours ago, NaseemJohn said:

Weirdly enough, despite the 8/10 difficulty rating I personally found jotun harder than a lot of games rated higher. The Odin no power and Hagalaz no damage trophies were a pain in the ass because of rng. I think I spent like 60+ hours on the game and the majority of that time was on those two bosses alone. Maybe I was just shit but yeah it’s probably the ultra rare plat of my collection that gave me the most trouble. 

 

Damn, not really encouraging ? But yeah it sounds like Downwell all over again, only that you found that one really easy while many others struggled pretty hard. A RNG-filled, polarizing game... ? Well I bought it, and I have accepted the RNG gods as my saviours ever since I started NecroDancer, so I might as well give it a go ?

[Copanele]

14 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

Damn, not really encouraging  But yeah it sounds like Downwell all over again, only that you found that one really easy while many others struggled pretty hard. A RNG-filled, polarizing game...  Well I bought it, and I have accepted the RNG gods as my saviours ever since I started NecroDancer, so I might as well give it a go 

Oh do not worry  it's  not THAT tough...it's  only 6 Jotuns  

If you could manage  that Crypt of the Necrodancer or whatnot(I still don't understand that game from youtube) you will have NO issues with Jotun.

 

Btw I see Hyper Light Drifter has a boss rush DLC? I can't find it anywhere to download. Or is it in-game already.

[Astrailla]

1 hour ago, Copanele said:

Oh do not worry  it's  not THAT tough...it's  only 6 Jotuns  

If you could manage  that Crypt of the Necrodancer or whatnot(I still don't understand that game from youtube) you will have NO issues with Jotun.

 

Btw I see Hyper Light Drifter has a boss rush DLC? I can't find it anywhere to download. Or is it in-game already.

 

If I remember well, you unlock the Boos Rush when you finished the game one time, knowing on PC there is no kind of DLCs, I think they did the same on PS4.

[Arcesius]

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

If you could manage that Crypt of the Necrodancer or whatnot (I still don't understand that game from youtube) you will have NO issues with Jotun.

 

Well you can always buy and play it... It's cheap, and will give you hundreds of hous of gameplay! ?

 

 

Quote

Btw I see Hyper Light Drifter has a boss rush DLC? I can't find it anywhere to download. Or is it in-game already.

 

Don't get ahead of yourself ? No but sure, no need to download anything. It was a free DLC, and is unlocked in the main menu once you beat the game ?

Edited January 24, 2020 by Arcesius

[KN_Kirai]

On 22/1/2020 at 2:34 PM, Copanele said:

Grab ONLY the PS4 copies for the other games. All of them are more or less remastered for PS4 (Ezio trilogy looks janky I admit and Liberation is...ugh), BUT you will have to deal with multiplayer only in Black Flag and Unity. PS3 versions have AC2 , Brotherhood, Revelations, AC3 and Black Flag with multiplayer and...you do not wish to play on the PS3 servers, trust me.

 

Yeah, now that almost every game (apart from the fist AC) has a PS4 remastered version, it's very convenient to just purchase those, and with that, leave out the dreaded MP. I understand you would still need to do AC4's MP but compared to the previous version, it's nothing. As someone who had to go through Brotherhood and Revelations on PS3 because I didn't have a PS4 at the time, I know the pain.

 

On 22/1/2020 at 7:57 PM, Spaz said:

I understand the PS4 versions are vastly superior, but the only PS3 Assassins Creed I see on your list is Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassins Creed Rogue.

 

Assassins Creed 2 is entirely single player on both versions. Black Flag has the same trophy list on both versions. That leaves Brotherhood, Revelations and 3 with multiplayer on the PS3. These are the versions you want to avoid.

 

I've done 3's multiplayer. I'm skipping Brotherhood and I plan to wrap up Revelations at some point. Still need to reach level 20 and play on all multiplayer match types.

 

From what I remember, Revelations' MP trophies are not too hard to get even without boosting. But some of the DLC ones can be a bit of a pain if you care about them and don't like boosting. Dunno if the MP's populated or not these days, though.

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by KN_Kirai

[Copanele]

55 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

Don't get ahead of yourself  No but sure, no need to download anything. It was a free DLC, and is unlocked in the main menu once you beat the game 

Can't.Stop.Me. NOWWW! But seriously thanks for the tip  I usually  like to buy the game and DLC to avoid the headache of searching later. If I can finish the game or not....debatable.

[AJ_Radio]

On 1/24/2020 at 2:39 AM, KN_Kirai said:

From what I remember, Revelations' MP trophies are not too hard to get even without boosting. But some of the DLC ones can be a bit of a pain if you care about them and don't like boosting. Dunno if the MP's populated or not these days, though.

 

You need to boost the DLC trophies. 

 

I definitely plan to come back to Revelations soon.

[Copanele]

Welp since adding a new platinum/100% won't come any time soon (Nioh eating up all my "gaming resources") , guess it's time for a third series ranking.

 

GOD OF WAR RANKING

 

INTRODUCTION : While not playing God of War at the moment of their release (I was initially a PC player), this series is one that ultimately convinced me to invest into a Playstation, this and Demon's Souls. After playing them all, I guess it won't come as a surprise if I say that this is one of my favorite action series out there : all of the games in the series I feel they are very well done and even the most "weak" of them is still a good game. Also me being a sucker for mythology and greek stuff helped alot in loving this series even more.

You will notice that, compared to the other Series ranking, I have few words to say about God of War games. It's because that's how the games are...Kratos doesn't waste any precious time with talking, he just get to the beatdown. Anyway, let's get started:

 

7. God of War Ascension

 

As I mentioned, even the "weak" game of the series is still pretty good. While I can't say that Ascension is that great of a God of War game, it's still very fun and has some impressive graphics and mechanics. Kratos here is more human than in the other games (since the game is set before God of War) and he is only at the beginning of his struggles. However...the game isn't memorable enough, apart from the sick graphics. Kratos is really "weak" in this game(compared to God of War 3 where he just obliterates the Pantheon), his godly powers are underwhelming and the villains (the Furies) are not really memorable. Well...apart from Kastor and Pollux, the time brothers. Those were fun. 

 

Oh and it has Multiplayer. Why...I don't know, I just did the trophies and just exited. I don't find any reason to have multiplayer in a God of War game.

 

Score : 7.9/10 A decent game but not really outstanding. Still recommending it for the sick graphics.

 

6. God of War Ghost of Sparta

 

This is one of the PSP titles that were ported on PS3, it's "the one with the Brother". Ghost of Sparta is set right before the events of God of War 2, where Kratos searches for his brother Deimos.

For a PSP port this game is quite good honestly, controls well and has some decent fights. Also enjoyed hearing about Kratos' past, before his family's murder, especially when reaching Sparta. However this game might have the most mundane levels in all of God of War, Deimos' drama isn't really well developed and the fight with Thanatos was kind of...dumb. Killing Death has always been a weird concept in videogames. At least it was way better than in Dante's Inferno, Kratos ain't some crusader schmuck.

 

Score : 8/10 Abit better than Ascension just because of Deimos and those sweet arms of Sparta.

 

5. God of War Chains of Olympus

 

The other PSP title on the list , the "one with the Daughter". In this game, Kratos is the jobber of the Gods, doing various jobs (to get rid of Ares?not sure why) when suddenly the Sun has been stolen. Classic God of War story. Compared to Ghost of Sparta, I really loved the tone of this game, especially the first level with the Persian invasion. You have the chance to clash with a culture other than the typical greeks (and smash the Persian king's head to bits of course). This game has a more...cheerful tone(?) weirdly enough, but the most outstanding part is at the end when you meet your daughter in the Elysium Fields. That whole scene altogether paired with one tough final boss made me really like this game. 

 

Score : 8.2/10 Honestly these PSP ports are pretty good.

 

4. God of War 

 

This is the game that started it all. The first God of War is one memorable experience : from the first moments on the boat where you learn how to hack and whack the enemies, to the first really good boss battle (Hydra), this game is just pure spectacle. Here you discover how mean of a murder machine Kratos is, while also discovering how absolutely brutal and almost villainous he is (the whole Oracle part).

 

The game controls really well, has very interesting settings and ... well it's sort of the first game where you can brutally murder mythological Greek monsters. There are very few bosses (3 honestly) but they are very well made and are a combination of puzzle and skill. However the platforming sections are really punishing and they didn't really age well. This game would be epic if it would have been remade with the God of War 3 engine. It's still one of the "must play" titles if you own a PS3.

 

Score : 8.5/10 Timeless classic. Hades' level is horrendous.

 

3. God of War 3

This is technically the final chapter in Kratos' saga in Ancient Greece. It's the final standoff between him and Mount Olympus, and Kratos is hungry for vengeance. This is by far the best looking God of War game of the past generation and my Zeus it's a spectacle. The developers surely wanted to brag with their skills, since almost every single battle shows how small and insignifiant you are while slaughtering hordes of enemies at the same time. Most of the time you are either fighting on a gargantuan Titan or a moving mountain. The boss battles are all the Gods in the Pantheon and I can say they are the most brutal fights out there by far. Not even the final entry can match the brutality of Kratos in this game. Also Kratos has way more many weapons, even though they are chain based, they are diverse enough to pull some awesome combo(Nemean Caestus are so brutal and beautiful though).

 

However...personally I am having a sour taste from this game. I mean, I enjoyed it...but Kratos went full on villain. Story made no sense at all and no logic went through the skull of the Spartan ; he just wanted to slaughter everyone. I didn't really enjoy that thing, especially since the devs tried to somehow revive the story with the inclusion of Pandora, which only ruined the story more. 

Still this is not a game to skip. Get it (either PS3 or PS4) and PLAY IT.

 

Score : 8.8/10 Truth be told the Gods had it coming.

 

2. God of War 2

 

God of War 2 is my favorite game of the main trilogy. I always loved heroes more than gods, since heroes were always characterized by their hubris (unlike gods, the heroes' main fault would be their downfall...greeks really knew how to tell stories). In this case, Kratos goes on a quest to change his fate and murders every single hero encountered that might challenge him.

 

This game is a huge step up from God of War 1. The setting is bigger, more beautiful and also more brutal. Kratos has new God powers and more ways to split heads open. The biggest revamp are the bosses, way more numerous and way more deadly than the previous installment. My personal favorite is Perseus, who is not only a cunning enemy, but he is also voiced (and modelled) by the original actor from Clash of the Titans. Also the Golden Fleece might be my most favorite parry tool in a videogame ever. Of course, time travel doesn't make any sense as usual in this game but...what does after all? It's a game to smash skulls not solve integrals.

 

Score : 9/10 One of the best PS2 games ever made.

 

1. God of War (2018)

 

I doubt anyone is surprised that I put the latest installment for number 1. This might be one of the best games ever made, and I don't mean gameplay wise.

 

Since he destroyed his native home and eliminated the Greek Gods, Kratos moves far away in the Scandinavian setting, where he tries to start his new life. But such a known figure is hard to hide and soon the Norse Gods take notice of Kratos.

 

This game is sublime. While the previous entries had Kratos as a roided murder machine, in this installment he is older, wiser, tries his best to live a normal life(well as normal as it can get) and even have a new family. The best developed part is the bond with his son Atreus. During the journey their relationship is rocky, since Kratos is not the best father around and Atreus never had to even talk with Kratos. But as they progress towards their goal, they form one of the best father-son bond, especially from the point where Atreus discovers who his father is.

 

Although the gameplay is changed (you can now see from the third person view), it became way more free and even brutal. Kratos now has a new weapon, the Leviathan axe, which he can inscribe different runes and powers and even use it as a boomerang. It's a delight to find new combinations and skills for the axe and apply them on the poor enemies. Even Atreus is a great deal of help with his magical bow and arrows. Despite the trend, the NPC-escort is actually really well done in this game ; he is not annoying at all and is very helpful in dealing with enemies that would hack you from behind.

 

The bosses, although not as flashy as in previous God of War games, are actually posing a real danger. The most notable are the Valkyries, optional bosses that you can tackle and will test your utmost limits. It was funny to go full confident in a Valkyrie room expecting to whack it like any other former greek god, only to be completely obliterated. 

 

I can't say many extra things about this that haven't been told before. Score 9.5/10 anyone with a PS4 should play it. It's a very good game. Can't wait for the sequel.

 

[Copanele]

After many struggles, eaten chips and anger management suggestions : 

 

 No.13 : Nioh - 100% COMPLETED

 

Platinum name : You Are Nioh 

Hardest Trophy : The Final Stand - complete all Siege of Osaka (Summer) missions on Way of the Demon  

Difficulty : 8/10 solo, 6/10 in co-op with a player of the same level

Personal impression : 8.4/10 8.8/10 [new grade]

 

(Mega tag to @Arcesius here since he's a Nioh aficionado and loves this game  )

So, completed the game. I am now older, and wiser (not Way of the Wise wiser though). Although I had my first impressions about the game on entry No. 13 (which can be found here under the  11-20 tag), I believe a new review/impression is in order, since the game is completely changed once you go for Way of the Demon missions. At least it was for me.

 

I will skip the introductions about the game and whatnot, although I have to mention that this is by far the most mythologically accurate Japanese themed game ever made. The bestiary is absolutely impressing, I learned a great deal about Japanese stories, folklore and nightmares (my god they have issues with umbrellas). Not only that but this is awesomely mingled with the actual final years of the Sengoku era, where Tokugawa Ieyasu put an end to all the war and basically unified Japan. With these DLC you also fight important historical figures like Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura but also folklore heroes like the ninja Sarutobi Sasuke (not Naruto related mind you).

 

There's 3 characters inserted that made me applaud the creativity of Team Ninja : Jin Hayabusa - ancestor of Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden, who has most of the movesets from his game, including the ever sweet Izuna Drop (it is the funniest thing to fight some mad general then just Izuna Drop him) and the duo Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. Both of them were renowed samurai, Musashi is usually considered the best swordsman who ever lived and their duel is quite known in history. There is a trophy related to defeating Sasaki Kojiro using Dual Wooden Swords, called Master of the Twin Sticks  This is a nod to the real duel where Musashi (who is known for using a katana and wakizashi) killed Kojiro using a bokken - a wooden sword. I absolutely loved this reference and I can't praise the devs enough for actually caring about what trophies they throw in the game. Also another fun trophy was equipping all 3 National Treasures : Yasakani Magatama, Kusanagi Tsurugi and Yata Mirror. Yata Mirror was an absolute pain to find.

 

Now let's get to the meat of the run. My build was based around back damage build with the sword (basically doing insane damage as long as I am attacking the back of the enemies) but not that much of a defense. A glass cannon if you would. There were 4 parts that I focused on in Way of the Demon : Main game, DLC 1 (Dragon of the North), DLC 2 (Defiant Honor) and DLC 3(Bloodshed's End). To note, I did all the Twilight Missions as soon as they appeared,since you can do a maximum of 2 per day and they are cyclical. Abyss was pretty basic, did not encounter any significant resistance in all the 20 floors.

 

The main game was pretty straightforward. Usually the main game is pretty basic and easy. The side missions were by far the hardest to do, I believe the one which gave me the most headache was the battle on the bridge versus a Tengu and a buffed up Hammer wielder NPC. For every other human fight I just used the classic headshot with the bow and Iai + Backstab damage. Since I am using the Kingo Set, most of the backstabs were insta-kills. It did take the majority of my time but it was finally done. Probably the toughest boss for me was Umi Bozu since that one has lots of one shotting attacks.

 

DLC1 was intimidating at first. Date Shigezane was intimidating at first with his centipede form, only to remember that I fought something equivalent of him in Bloodborne : the Abhorrent beast. Switching to a Bloodborne approach quickly dispatched this boss. Date Masamune was a beast of a boss, however he is way too flashy and loves to deplete his stamina. While headshotting him is possible, just letting him tire himself up did the trick.

Maria however wasn't so nice. She constantly one shotted me and I really pulled a lucky strike with a headshot, especially since she zaps across the screen. Overall DLC1 was quite manageable, perhaps the toughest fight was against the two brothers Shigezane and... the kid with the axe.

 

DLC2 was like a breath of fresh air. You have an environmental hazard based map (Osaka castle, full on arrow storm), legendary samurai, a complete new weapon the tonfa and 2 mean bosses. Sanada Yukimura is a spear based general who can use either wind or fire and while he is a force to be reckoned with, he also has the tendency to wear himself out. On WotD he wasn't as tough however, that title goes to his subordinate Sarutobi Sasuke. It's the most asshole tonfa wielder sonic speed ninja I have ever seen. It reminded me of Bayonetta honestly, with all his explosions and blitzing around. Not to mention actually headshotting him was insanely difficult. I managed to pull it though and let me tell you, I don't enjoy fighting him. Hardest mission was against the Date brothers : The axe kid, Shigezane centipede form and Masamune. Ironically the kid with the axe was the worst because not only he threw a fuckton of caltrops but he also periodically summoned soldiers with guns who just shot at me like madmen. DLC2 was way tougher but still manageable.

 

DLC3 was plain unfair. I didn't even enjoy the story much (villain was pretty meh even by Nioh standards) and the missions had an artificial increase in difficulty. The final boss Nine Tails is an absolute nightmare to fight. But the hardest of the bunch were the side missions : Grand Tournament - fighting 100 of the hardest enemies culminating with a double boss fight against Musashi and Kojiro, The Fare For the Afterlife - fight 4 overpowered samurai, Sarutobi Sasuke and Sanada Yukimura with a help from a Biwa summoner (which means summoning those stupid revenants) and Everlasting Duty - fight Toyotomi Hideyori (a possessed human that can't be headshotted) and Nine Tails. While Grand Tournament was tedious yet manageable, the final two pushed me to the edge and made me give up and ask for help in co-op (and I don't like co-op help). I felt like the difficulty was way too artificially buffed and I should have farmed in Way of the Wise / Way of the Nioh. I did not wish to approach those difficulties anymore since at this point I got quite tired of the game.

 

So what do I feel about the game after doing Way of the Demon. The game is way, WAY more complex than I first expected. There are lots of builds, lots of grinding involved, lots of things that work and don't work. Ironically I don't feel that you have the same freedom as a Souls game (since you can finish that game naked with a broken sword) but that is compensated with the absurd amount of options that you have. Almost too many options for one's sake(although I felt that generally the axes are underpowered here, but I don't know that too well). All the op builds were nerfed heavily (even the LW builds) so you can't just make some insane combo set and demolish the game anymore. Some enemy combination are utter bullshit in this game : The Umbrellas that inflict paralysis and the Towel Ladies that give you Slow debuff are the worst that I ever fought. Also dog ninjas. Seriously what's the deal with dogs in these games? Some bosses I felt that are cheap as hell and nigh-impossible to beat through conventional means. The soundtrack felt recycled and I do hope they fix it.

 

HOWEVER...I liked the game. It made me want to push through and work my ass off. It FINALLY blasted me with PROPER japanese content(not those cringy " yamero onii - san " tropes that you just meet in every japanese stuff around here). The story was engaging (except DLC3) and hearing each character's struggles and story was honestly enjoyable. Guardian Spirits were all fun to earn and their lore was very well written. The only game that is more serious toned than this and in the same setting would be Sekiro, and I haven't enjoyed that game nearly as much as this one. The dojo fights were criminally fun, forcing me to use other weapons that I never touched against the masters in those styles. It's one of those games that I liked but I can't explain why. I do understand why some people absolutely despise this game and man I can't condemn them : This game feels like a college class with a cranky drugged teacher. Once you get rid of the teacher and study for yourself though from other sources, this game makes lots of sense and is very good. And even at the moment of this guide, I am determined to reattempt the final 2 missions solo, there has to be a way of doing them without going Way of the Wise.

 

So...yea. I liked this game. I will purchase Nioh 2 when it shows up.

[Arcesius]

Great review ? And it really sounds like you've experienced something similar to what I went through. After my first playthrough I liked the game, but I didn't love it. I actually didn't buy the DLC for a long time since I couldn't see myself playing through the game twice more for that 100%, but man am I glad that I decided to go for it in the end!  

 

Also great to see that you appreciated the historical aspects of this game. I honestly didn't know too much about this time period, but I found myself reading the in-game information whenever I could. Is this something that you are interested in anyways?

 

Also, if you don't mind me asking.. How do you calculate your scores? I currently just go by my gut, but I'm trying to find some dynamic scoring system... ?