Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[Slava]

Yeah, the tonal shift between levels is interesting. They even put a smaller level in between, presumably to make a smoother transition.

 

But in some sense, the contrast is justified because of the story and the world structure. You get to see two different classes of robots, it's a kind of simple social commentary.

 

Gameplay-wise though, the cat becomes Solid Snake, I mean Solid Cat, and becomes a secret agent. They never explained why the cat is so smart, so I guess you're expected to simply accept it. 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Slava

[Copanele]

16 minutes ago, Slava said:

 

Gameplay-wise though, the cat becomes Solid Snake, I mean Solid Cat, and becomes a secret agent. They never explained why the cat is so smart, so I guess you're expected to simply accept it. 

I think that was the problem for me. 

I initially interpreted it as B12 telling you what to do(which made sense to a point) , but that becomes less and less likely when you have to recongize patterns, get tape to use in boom box in order to distract robot and steal clothes, and so on. 

 

Interesting decisions ? 

[AihaLoveleaf]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:20 AM, Copanele said:

?No. 53 - Call of Juarez Gunslinger

Appreciate the write-up for this one. An arcade shooter complete with combos, multipliers, points, star ratings, and all that good stuff is so totally my kind of thing. What a shame the game was delisted, with no physical in sight, however. If the game ever pops back up with the remaster/port treatment -- and preferably with the same trophy list -- then I'm in.

[Yuber6969]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:17 AM, Copanele said:

 

THE BAD:

• Not recommended to dog lovers

 

 

Guess this rules me out lol.

[Copanele]

 No. 194 - RiffTrax

 

Platinum Name - The Full RiffTrax Library 

Hardest Trophy - Have A Roni Win a game after being in last place at the start of the final round.

Difficulty - 2/10, 8/10 if you don't speak English at all

 

There is a great evil lurking these trophy checklists threads. A certain character is a danger to society and gaming itself.

THIS is the person at fault:

 

Image subject to change

 

No..not Bojack. I mean @DrBloodmoney. He can't stop recommending me games and I can't stop buying them  At the end of the year I have to calculate the amount of money that I've spent because of his evil recommendations. He attacked my wallet like a true silent assassin, like a Hitman even. 

 

...anyway, onto the game. This game has been recommended by the aforementioned Doc. RiffTrax is a party game where the players receive a short clip from a movie and their aim is to write a follow-up to the clip. Usually the clips themselves are from incredibly bad or corny movies, so you will have to work extra hard for those lines. After everyone inputs their lines, a vote happens, where each player votes their favorite lines (without knowing who wrote them, of course). At the end of each round the points are calculated, and at the end of the match the winner is decided.

 

This game is way more fun than I expected. I am not much of a party gamer, I could say that this is my first party game, buuut I had fun with it! Obviously this game works only with friends, like that you can find out who has the most sick mind of them all  

 

Trophies are so easy you might wake up with half a list completed from only one match. Unfortunately you won't have many chances to play this game with random people, but for boosting purposes all you need is another device and 2 different browsers opened (I used a laptop with regular Chrome and Incognito mode chrome to pop those 2 trophies that I've been missing)

 

I really have nothing much to say about the game, it's a party game, if you have like-minded people around you (or online), this game is worth an investment. Obviously, you'll need to know a bit of English to properly have fun with it  

 

Now it's time to see what kind of wild card games DrBloodmoney plays...money be damned!

 

THE GOOD:

• quite a fun party game
• easy to set up and learn
• new tracks added periodically, keeping the game fresh
• the game has a "baba dooey" sound effect that cracks me up

THE BAD:

• Without friends, this game loses its purpose
• some of the random players that I've encountered had no humor sense

 

Recommendation- Scrabble  I really had no idea what to recommend so..another "wordy" party game  

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Copanele

[Copanele]

Another DLC Done! Y A Y!!!!!

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Tomb of the Fallen DLC Buried Knowledge

Difficulty: Can I stop falling through the damn floor already, game?/ 10

Hardest Trophy: There's only one trophy ,automatically hardest.

 

Ah how I missed an AC Valhalla DLC...it's all I ever wished for! Screw other games, give me more DLC!

In this DEE ELL CEE, you complete the Tomb of the Fallen journey (started here, if you want the initial post). You enter a tomb, complete a stupid puzzle, get a piece of equipment that is thrown to the trash can because nothing can beat your mythical Raven set, go to the next tomb.

 

With all the items that you find from DLC1 and DLC2 of Tombs you open another megatomb that is in fact another Isu technology treasure trove. Stupid Isu with their stupid obsidian tombs...Again, you align some balls of light, try not to fall through the floor like a dumbass, fall anyway, restart the puzzle, finish the puzzle, get the end game super sword that you will throw away because the Cu Chulain spear from Druid DLC is still the best.

 

So yeah...if you reached this point in playing this stupid game, you might as well invest 2-3 hours and complete this DLC as well. Wachugonna do, leave this game at 98%? Preposterous!

 

THE GOOD:

• At least it ain't a Mastery Challenge DLC

THE BAD:

• This stupid game holds 100+GB of my PS4 hardware hostage and I got tired of it

RECOMMENDATION - a game without DLCs

[Together_Comic]

3 hours ago, Copanele said:

So yeah...if you reached this point in playing this stupid game, you might as well invest 2-3 hours and complete this DLC as well. Wachugonna do, leave this game at 98%? Preposterous!

 

The classic trophy hunter dilemma.  Sunk Cost Fallacy be damned, fun be damned,  we need that bar on PSNP to say 100%! 

[Copanele]

1 minute ago, Together_Comic said:

 

The classic trophy hunter dilemma.  Sunk Cost Fallacy be damned, fun be damned,  we need that bar on PSNP to say 100%! 

The bar WILL BE 100% no matter how many falls through floors and wall stuck-ups it takes!

Already hyping myself up for the next DLC  

[Joe Dubz]

Hey hey, congrats on once again reclaiming that 100%! Geezus man, are they ever gonna let it be at this point??! ?

 

RiffTrax sounds like fun. It sounds alot like the Jackbox Party Pack games in a sense? There was this one game we'd always play where you have to fill in the answers. Then everybody votes on their favorite answer. My wife and I would try to come up with the most vulgar, explicit, offensive things to say and it was fuckin hilarious at times ? You def need friends with a good sense of humor tho! 

 

Sounds like we need to check this one out... Thx Copanele and Doc for the inadvertent suggestion ?

[DrBloodmoney]

6 minutes ago, Joe Dubz said:

 

RiffTrax sounds like fun. It sounds alot like the Jackbox Party Pack games in a sense? There was this one game we'd always play where you have to fill in the answers. Then everybody votes on their favorite answer. My wife and I would try to come up with the most vulgar, explicit, offensive things to say and it was fuckin hilarious at times  You def need friends with a good sense of humor tho! 

Is the one you played Quiplash, by any chance?

 

Because - yeah - Rifftrax is basically an “insert next line”, Video Pictionary version of Quiplash…

 

…and like that game - vulgarity is quite often the path to victory! ?

[Joe Dubz]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Is the one you played Quiplash, by any chance?

 

Because - yeah - Rifftrax is basically an “insert next line”, Video Pictionary version of Quiplash…

 

…and like that game - vulgarity is quite often the path to victory! 

Yep, Quiplash is definitely it!! From the sounds of RiffTrax, that would be right up our alley! Thank you again, kind sir ? And yes, the most vulgar answer almost always wins ?

 

Copanele, if you're ever in the mood for something similar, check out the Jackbox games! Same thing but no pictures, just words lol. 

[Copanele]

1 hour ago, Joe Dubz said:

Hey hey, congrats on once again reclaiming that 100%! Geezus man, are they ever gonna let it be at this point??! 

Most definitely not! They'll never stop  

 

2 minutes ago, Joe Dubz said:

Copanele, if you're ever in the mood for something similar, check out the Jackbox games! Same thing but no pictures, just words lol. 

Depends on how high it is ranked on the vulgar-o-meter  but yeah if I ever have the mood for another party game (and if I find people to play with), for sure! Thanks for the suggestion  

[Honor_Hand]

13 hours ago, Copanele said:

So yeah...if you reached this point in playing this stupid game, you might as well invest 2-3 hours and complete this DLC as well. Wachugonna do, leave this game at 98%? Preposterous!

 

THE GOOD:

• At least it ain't a Mastery Challenge DLC

THE BAD:

• This stupid game holds 100+GB of my PS4 hardware hostage and I got tired of it

RECOMMENDATION - a game without DLCs

 

These are the words of a man that's been completely wasted by a barrage of useless DLC in a game. For real, they perfectly encapsulate your current opinion of AC and the ludicrous amount of DLC content it has gotten so far. xxD

 

[AihaLoveleaf]

16 hours ago, Copanele said:

Difficulty: Can I stop falling through the damn floor already, game?/ 10

Hot damn, we're back to falling through the floor again! You could have told me Sonic Team worked on this game, and I would have believed you.

[Together_Comic]

18 hours ago, Joe Dubz said:

Hey hey, congrats on once again reclaiming that 100%! Geezus man, are they ever gonna let it be at this point??! 

 

Could be worse, could be Overwatch (2). 

[Copanele]

14 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

 

These are the words of a man that's been completely wasted by a barrage of useless DLC in a game. For real, they perfectly encapsulate your current opinion of AC and the ludicrous amount of DLC content it has gotten so far. xxD

 

Every time I see Eivor's face in the "New DLC" tab, I feel like this 

 

11 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said:

Hot damn, we're back to falling through the floor again! You could have told me Sonic Team worked on this game, and I would have believed you.

I think I could create a new youtube channel called "CopaneleReloaded" with only AC Valhalla bugs at this point  

But MAN DO I FALL THROUGH THE FLOOR LIKE SONIC LATELY!

 

8 minutes ago, Together_Comic said:

 

Could be worse, could be Overwatch (2). 

Oh yes it can't get worse than that...

I tried to play Overwatch 2, because THAT DAMN NOT 100%

I was "blessed" with this screen:

 

Even the AC Valhalla case (bottom of the screen) was displeased with that Queue number. And this game is from the company that created World of Warcraft...  

[NorthPaul93]

Great trophy list, man.Keep it up.?

[Copanele]

No. 195 - Yakuza Dead Souls 

 

Platinum Name - Platinum Trophy 

Hardest Trophy - Savior of Kamurocho  complete Dead Souls Mode

Difficulty - 5/10

 

So far the Ryu Ga Gotoku studio did not disappoint me one bit with their games. I tested the waters with Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise, a game that was equally fun and frustrating but overall a great experience. Then I swan dived into the Yakuza series, Yakuza 0 becoming one of the best games I ever played. I more or less plowed through the games in order, latest main entry being Yakuza 4, a controversial entry that...currently ranks as my 2nd favorite   more on that later.

However among all this mountain of quality, I heard contradictory opinions about a certain entry in the series: Yakuza Dead Souls. This is a non-canon entry which had a very poor reception at launch and the feelings towards it were very mixed. Some said it's best if I skip this game, while others praise it as the best entry in the series. Obviously, since I am enamored with the series right now, I couldn't pass the occasion and I purchased the game, reviews be damned! 

I am pleased to announce that the game is actually really solid, a worthy Yakuza entry even if it's non-canon...but it's also the game that is in the most need of a remaster because YEESH it can become a clunky mess at points.

 

So, first things first, what is Yakuza Dead Souls? This game is Ryu Ga Gotoku's attempt at a zombie game. It is a spinoff that happens 1 year after the events of Yakuza 4. In short, a zombie infestation hits Kamurocho while on top of that Haruka gets kidnapped AGAIN! Of course, it’s up to Kiryu and friends to stop the infestation and solve the issue the best way they know – by punching and kicking the living shit out of the dead.

 

....except the zombies don't give a damn about your punches and kics this time. Being undead, just beating the hell out of them will tire you. The only thing that will put them down to permanent rest is a well placed bullet. And this is where the main game changer is - Yakuza Dead Souls is a 3rd person shooter instead of your classical brawler. You can FINALLY use the guns to actually kill (again) the enemies. Zombies usually die from more than one bullets, but a well placed headshot gets them in one go. 

 

 

I find the system to be very well implemented within the Yakuza universe. You have a wide array of weapons (from the usual handguns, large handguns with high power and low bullet clips, shotguns, assault rifles, snipers, grenade launchers and some sweet omega rifle) and they all have their own upsides and downsides like the "styles" from Yakuza 0 or Yakuza Kiwami. They all consume bullets this time (no more durability stuff) and these bullets have to be bought and managed in your limited inventory, just like a Resident Evil game.

You also level up abilities which improve many various skills - you get more inventory slots, melee attacks to fend off the zombies, you get access to more weapons, more heat actions available etc. Probably the best ability in the game is head tracking, a skill that automatically tracks the head of the nearby zombie when you aim, helping you to place headshots after headshots.

In conclusion, this game is literally "Yakuza with guns". Even the famous heat actions were replaced by Snipe Heat actions. When your heat bar is full and you have an interactable object nearby (explosive barrels, cars, fire hydrants), you can initiate a QTE. Pressing the right button will explode the object, usually killing everything around it.

 

Zombies also come in various colors and flavors. You have your usual grunts, poor zombified citizens of Kamurocho who just rush at you and try to grab you while growling. While they die in one shot usually, they become increasingly dangerous on higher levels. Then you have mutated zombies, like giants who can only be hurt by headshots, zombified hostesses who run away and call for help, the ever annoying monkey boys who run around and slide towards you, making it very hard to hit them, mosquitos, fat dudes etc. Probably the worst of the bunch are "the cool guys", hooded zombies that just walk around slowly, but if attacked they will start to constantly maul you with karate kicks, knees and other kung fu moves, making them the most dangerous to fight. I usually ignored them or just aimed for headshots if I really needed to kill them.

No Yakuza game is without bosses however and the bosses in these game are...interesting to say the least. All of them are inspired from Resident Evil from what I see and honestly, most of them are kinda annoying ? They all have a weak spot that you can hit, good luck doing that though because they move around like crazy. There's an especially annoying flying boss that has the ugly tendency of flying around AND healing itself while zombies fill the arena, which gives an extra headache to the player.

 

Since I am at the gameplay part, I have to say that the game is especially clunky. This is the main problem you will encounter with the game, at least in the beginning - both aiming and moving is done with the Left Stick, so  when you have to aim you have to stop and turn around. The problem arises when the zombies start moving, because they are most of the time way faster than you and you simply can't aim in time. Thankfully they can be shot while running, which is the preferred way of dealing with them, unless you have to aim for certain parts of their body. However the worst part is the framerate drops when the zombies fill the screen. The game is very poorly optimized so being attacked by a horde of zombies quickly turns your PS3 into a powerpoint presentation. One particularly annoying instance is when you have to face a mutant called Hermit, which is basically a boulder. When that boulder spins, due to the amount of polygons and rendering your PS3 commits seppuku, so make sure you kill that zombie as fast as possible because your console is at risk  

 

Now back to the good parts of the game - the funniest part is Kamurocho's obliviousness of the entire situation (proven to be possible in real life too, given these past years). You have the "Safe zone" kamurocho, where everything functions as before and the "Quarantine" kamurocho, where the zombies and survivors alike are separated by huge military-grade walls. You can enter from safe zone to quarantine zone through special places only....which does make the exploration of Kamurocho to be extremely cumbersome. Sometimes you have to make tons of detours in order to reach a place which you would normally access through 2 small shortcuts.

Other than that, the businesses trapped inside the quarantine can be "liberated" if you eliminate the zombies around them, afterwards they will offer their regular services. It's actually hilarious to see that the Kamurocho pawn shop owner goes "thank you our lord and savior" just so they can continue selling you Tiger Belts at the same exorbitant price.

Speaking of businesses - you have the classic restaurants, Batting cages (ugh), bowling, mahjong parlor, shogi and the best minigame of them all Karaoke. I especially recommend singing Karaoke with every character, because some of them...damn they're really killing it with the tunes.

 

This game also implements a weird "rogue-like" element, called The Subterranea missions. You trek across randomly generated underground dungeons, your target is reaching the lowest depth possible. There's also a story linked to it together with a hidden superboss (Yakuza fans know which boss I mean), but I found it to be tedious and a headache, easily my least favorite section of the game.

 

Normally I would avoid this part, since spoilers are not fun. However, being my favorite part of Yakuza Dead Souls, it's inevitable that I have to talk about STORY AND CHARACTERS. Therefore I will have to issue the classical:

 

WARNING! STORY SPOILERS FOR YAKUZA 2, 4 AND DEAD SOULS AHEAD

 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

 

I am using this kind of spoiler because the beautiful PSNP button ruins my posts. 

 

Anyway, in Yakuza Dead Souls you play as 4 characters - Shun Akiyama the money lender from Yakuza 4, Goro Majima the absolutely adorable one eyed mad man, Ryuji Goda the Kansai Dragon from Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2 and our main protagonist Kiryu Kazuma the Dragon of Dojima. Each of the 4 characters are dragged into this mad plot of zombi-ness and chill and they have specific weapons and playstyles which suits their personalities.

 

Akiyama is once again dragged in this whole mess against his will, while he was on his way to recover some money. Accompanied by his ever-adorable Hana chan (the best secretary in the world, fight me) he stumbles across the first case of zombening and therefore he's the first who is forced to pull the gun and pew pew the zombies. You are introduced to the game's mechanics, dungeoneering and how to go from the quarantine zone to the safe zone and viceversa. As it wasn't enforced enough by Yakuza 4, Akiyama easily becomes one of my favorite character here, with his carefree mood and "just give me a break man" attitude, but also with his devotion to his secretary and his interaction with survivors. His signature gun are the double handguns, they have infinite ammo and when fully upgraded they simply mow down everything in their path.

I think Akiyama is one of the best written characters so far, however even he is eclipsed by the next character introduced.

 

Majima is the second character that you play as and considering the release order, this should be the first time you play as him in a Yakuza game. Simply put, this game is tailor made for Majima, who is always ready to unwind his craziness. Majima is the most excited about the zombie outbreak and he is mad trigger-happy about it.

However Majima gets the most character development in this game (ignoring Yakuza 0 obviously), turning him to a really compelling anti-hero, especially when he jumps head-first into danger in order to protect the survivors of the outbreak. His character gets extra "story points" once a certain thing happens to him mid-campaign, thus changing his entire persona.

Majima's weapon of choice is a hi-tech pump action shotgun, the best shotgun in the game, which complements his personality. You rarely have to aim as Majima, just run and gun and enjoy the mayhem

 

I was at first skeptical about Ryuji's story section, especially given how he "survived" the events of Yakuza 2. Also his weapon of choice the mini-gatling gun is a pain in the ass to use AND it eats up a shit ton of ammo. Initially I did not like Ryuji, but as his story went on I was absolutely impressed. Ryuji was not only revived, but also redeemed, especially since he is directly related to the game's main villain.

Ryuji has the biggest character development and I can't praise RGG studio enough for doing this. Well done guys, you made the Dragon of Kansai be an actual sensible human being AND the greatest companion to the main man:

 

Kiryu is obviously the last to join the fray (it takes time to move his ass from Okinawa to Tokyo). True to the Legendary Dragon, he has access to all the weapons and his special weapon is the Anti-Material rifle, a monster of a sniper rifle that cleans up the entire screen once you set your sights on a cluster of enemies. I have no idea how his weapon works but HECK I am in love with it. Kiryu also has to deal with the hardest bosses in the game but who can stop him, since he is armed to the teeth?

He also gave birth to the infamous John Yakuza persona in this game  

 

An accurate depiction of the Dead Souls Dragon

 

 

 

 

Trophy wise, this game is technically the most lenient Yakuza game to platinum. You are not required to do any specific actions regarding the minigames, just play them a number of times, you still have to date all the hostesses available unfortunately. However because of the gameplay (and the jank), the harder difficulty playthroughs are actually hard , not for the right reasons unfortunately. Dead Souls mode poses a real challenge and unless properly prepared, expect to have an awfully tough time with it. Thankfully there are a lot of guides and approaches on this site regarding this mode, so the Dead Souls playthrough is not as abysmal as expected (compared to Legend mode in Yakuza Kiwami)

 

Now the true question is - should you play this Yakuza entry? For me there's 2 instances and they all depend whether you enjoyed Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4:

1. If you loved Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 after playing Kiwami 2, despite their old age, then I can't recommend Yakuza Dead Souls enough. The downside is that you need a PS3 for this, but regardless even with its shortcomings, you really need to play this game.
2. However, if you didn't particularly cared about Y3/Y4 and just enjoyed Y0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2, this game is best skipped. It is a very poorly optimized game and it will bring more grief than pleasure, especially since the travelling throughout Kamurocho is even more cumbersome with the inclusion of Quarantine zones and blocked streets. Since it's NOT CANON, nothing stays around lorewise so you won't miss much by not playing it, you can go for Yakuza 5 instead.

Personally however, I absolutely loved this game. It is currently the weakest Yakuza game that I have played from a gameplay standpoint but I still absolutely enjoyed it. It just shows the level of quality that RGG brings in their games.

 

THE GOOD:

• A yakuza quality game through and through
• being non-canon, the dev team and the writing team took the most crazy liberties ever - resulting in amazing story
• Insanely good character development
• Majima is in a league of his own in this game
• It's endlessly fun to pulverize hundreds of zombies with your absurd guns

THE BAD:

• Boy is this game clunky as hell
• Boy is this game janky as hell
• Boy do I have Powerpoint PTSD from this game
• What framerate?
• Aiming with Left stick feels unnatural
• Kamurocho is twice as hard to traverse due to quarantine zones and debris
• It's only on PS3 unfortunately

Recommendation - Yakuza 4  only because of Akiyama, the most smooth criminal of them all.

 

 

RGG games ranking time!

 

Yakuza 0 > Yakuza 4 > Yakuza Kiwami 2 > Yakuza 3 > Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise > Yakuza Kiwami > Yakuza Dead Souls

 

I couldn't help but move Yakuza 4 above kiwami 2 for me. I know, this might be an unforgivable sin BUT I SIMPLY LOVED THAT GAME. The characters were SO good and the story was actually compelling despite the stupid plot points AND the ending. And the music...oh the music. Sorry, I have to be true to myself.

Yakuza Dead Souls is ranked the lowest unfortunately...but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. Ranked the lowest = around an 8/10 in terms of preference, means that I enjoyed the game, but the framerate and the PS3 only availability drags it down big time.

 

Now the games that I have left are:

1. Yakuza 5
2. Yakuza 6
3. Yakuza Like A Dragon 
4. Judgment
5. Lost Judgment
6. Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin (upcoming)
7. Yakuza 6.5 Joryu edition (upcoming)
8. Yakuza Like a Dragon 2 may cry (upcoming)

 

...holy shit that's a lot of Mahjong to be played....

Edited December 24, 2023 by Copanele

[Platinum_Vice]

Damn you've got a great sense of humour. Loved this read!

[Honor_Hand]

11 hours ago, Copanele said:

Now the games that I have left are:

1. Yakuza 5
2. Yakuza 6
3. Yakuza Like A Dragon 
4. Judgment
5. Lost Judgment
6. Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin (upcoming)
7. Yakuza 6.5 Joryu edition (upcoming)
8. Yakuza Like a Dragon 2 may cry (upcoming)

 

...holy shit that's a lot of Mahjong to be played....

 

 

It really do be a lot of Mahjong, you know. xxD

 

Love reading your checklist here, Copanele. Extremely informative on the game while at the same time fun to read, very illustrative, creative, and all that good stuff.

 

Onwards with the rest of the Ryu Ga Gotoku games, my friend. You have like 10,000 hours worth of minigames there. x3 

 

[Copanele]

8 hours ago, Platinum_Vice said:

Damn you've got a great sense of humour. Loved this read!

Humor has been used to mask the pain of dealing with jankiness  

 

7 minutes ago, Honor_Hand said:

 

 

It really do be a lot of Mahjong, you know. xxD

 

Love reading your checklist here, Copanele. Extremely informative on the game while at the same time fun to read, very illustrative, creative, and all that good stuff.

 

Onwards with the rest of the Ryu Ga Gotoku games, my friend. You have like 10,000 hours worth of minigames there. x3 

 

Many thanks there  by the time I will be done I will be a Mahjong Grand Master.

My biggest fear...Yakuza 5 asks me to 100% the list again....which means Batting minigame...my favorite  

[Copanele]

 No. 196 - Lara Croft GO

 

Platinum Name - A true adventurer 

Hardest Trophy - Master Builder  stack 3 pillars

Difficulty - 1/10

 

Another entry for the GO series, this time with famous treasure hunter Lara Croft.

 

This game is on the same principle as Hitman GO, that I've completed a while ago - levels are "maps" where you travel via nodes. It is a simple yet effective turn based system, every time you move the environment (enemies and hazards) move as well. In this game, all you have to do is to find the exit to each level, while collecting the occasional vases and treasures along the way, some better hidden than the others, via hovering your cursor above them.

 

Graphics wise, Lara Croft looks actually great. The design of each level is on point, the game has a lot of personality and even Polygonal Lara Croft manages to give off the classic Tomb Raider vibe, with her rolling and hand standing animations. These animations don't do anything gameplay-wise, but they show that the devs really cared about this game and didn't half ass it. 

The levels are larger than in Hitman GO, with multiple layers. This also ups the difficulty of each level, having to think several moves in advance. I admit that at the end the puzzles became so difficult that I simply gave up and went Hint Mode, which shows you the solution from the get-go. 

 

 

While Lara Croft GO looks better than Hitman GO from a visual standpoint...I still prefer Hitman GO in the end. The fact that the puzzles are absurd in some points and I can't see the entire map from the start (a thing that was possible in Hitman) makes me prefer the Bald Assassin version. 

Still, Lara Croft GO is a great little game, with a super easy trophy list (the Hint option invalidates any challenge the game might have) and constantly on sale. For the price of a McChicken, I'd say this game is worth an investment.

 

The Good:

• a very relaxing little game
• quite a great amount of detail and care was put in this game
• very, VERY cheap

The Bad:

• some puzzles are VERY difficult, which hurts my primate brain
• not as charming as Hitman GO

 

Recommendation - Hitman GO  same principle as Lara Croft GO, but with the bald assassin as the main character. You can't go wrong with either games, if you like to take your time and plan your actions on a GO board  

[AJ_Radio]

Great work @Copanele. Very detailed write up of Yakuza Dead Souls. I need to stop by this thread more often.

[Copanele]

 No. 197 - Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

Platinum Name: Ruler of the Dragon's Isle 

Hardest Trophy: Island Hermit defeat the Island Hermit

Difficulty: 2/10

 

Every time you see the name Yoko Taro involved in a game development, you can be damn sure you'll play something unique. Yoko Taro specializes in 3 things: a compelling story, thicc characters and lots of existential crysis. So when I saw that this game has the madman himself as a Creative Director, I instantly bought it.

Suffice to say, I did not regret it  

 

Voice of Cards is a very interesting card based Dungeons&Dragons simulator. Everything works on D&D rules, you use dice to make RNG related actions and you even have a GM who will narrate every single line and action that you make (and will praise or criticize you depending on your actions). The battle itself is done via a Turn Based system. In actuality, the "card" part is only graphic wise.

However, focusing on cards was a very good approach. The game and the card designs are beautiful and full of personality. You'd think that motionless pictures will be bland to look at...however every move and action has an effect on the card. For instance, if you have an attack like "spinning slash", your card itself will spin around. So, the game is quite lively for a card game.

Outside combat, you move on a map with a pawn and you can encounter various events and monster battles, just like in a D&D game. While the battles are straightforward, the events are absolutely hilarious. One time you can find a merchant who sells you potions at a discount, sometimes you can be hit by random tornadoes or ... flying nuts and other times you can randomly find a super powerful weapon. Imagine my surprise when I was randomly whacked in the head with the second strongest bow in the game for my archer, while I was going hunting Furballs or something. 

 

The characters in this game are also very well written - at a glance you'd think they're unidimensional, however they fit in a D&D game, so the game never loses focus by adding too many unnecessary details. You have your main protagonist Ash, a brash idiotic swordsman in hunt for gold and his companion Mar who is a weird blue dinosaur monster. He will later be accompanied by a dark witch Melanie, an elf archer Ridis and ehm...Bruno. Let's say he's a fisherman, not going to spoil the surprise. This ragtag team of weirdos is tasked to find and defeat the Black Dragon, in a classic D&D quest.

What is fun about these characters is that you can feel Yoko Taro's influence, had you played Drakengard or NieR series. Although typical D&D character sheets, these characters also have some reallllllly weeeeeeeeeeeeeeird stuff going on with them  While Ash, Mar and Melanie are rather predictable, Ridis and later Bruno are the crackhead version of your typical D&D archer and brawler characters. Bruno especially is the most funny character of them all, his antics and motivations (and ways of reasoning) are endlessly hilarious.

 

Another very Yoko Taro-ish part of the game is the story, and this is linked to the cards that you unlock. You are tasked to unlock every single card AND its flipside story, which is normally the punchline for that character, by interacting with each character enough times. It starts predictable and simple, but from the very first card that you unlock, the sweet smiling granny, you obviously notice that shit ain't all that ok . It gets even weirder in Unionville and the Yoko Taro-ism hits the fan in the Isle of Blight, when you have the realization moment, where all the secrets unfold. One moment you are playing ha ha he he silly card game and the second moment you can't believe how a card ripped in two can be this impactful ? So yeah, the crazy masked man's influence is obvious in this game too, for those who played NieR Replicant (Automata less so)

 

However, this game isn't all just sunshine and existential crisis. While delightful...I have to say that the game is kinda....way too easy  . It is obviously not intended to be difficult in any way but I barely put any thought in my party build and I mowed down the entire game like it was nothing. Honestly, I just buffed Ridis to absurd lengths to the point where I was shooting with medieval nukes at enemies while the other 2 main party members Ash and Melanie were just buffing her. Really, Ridis is an absolute monster of a card character, to the point where I wiped out half of the final boss' health with one well aimed attack and a lucky dice roll. Forget dragons and monsters, don't annoy the little elf archer cause she will bring mayhem and meteors upon your ass in this game. Actually the only challenge in the game was beating an old hermit who could outheal the damage I was dealing to such extent that it forced me to reload an old save and APPLY EVEN MORE POWER TO RIDIS. The old hermit rewarded me with a super powerful armor. Talk about elder abuse...

 

 

The music...is alright I guess. A bit too generic, although the main menu theme really hits well. You have the usual jingles and the heroic tones when you fight a boss, but nothing out of the ordinary. With the DLC pack however (that I bought because I have nothing better to do with money I guess), I was able to change the in-game music to NieR Replicant music and BOY OH BOY did it change the tone of the game quite a bit! Once I got the Kaine Salvation theme going, I got instant goosebumps.

 

In conclusion, you will definitely have a good time with this game. It is compelling enough to hold your interest from start to finish. However, the low difficulty and the "card-only" design might not be to everyone's taste so I recommend getting this on a discount.

Myself, I already purchased the next game in the series, will definitely have to try it later on

 

THE GOOD:

• Yoko Taro - there's messed up story to be had
• Weird concept that works wonders
• Bruno rewrites the meaning of power
• Ridis alone will lay waste to the game

THE BAD:

• The NieR DLC sountrack almost invalidates the main game soundtrack

 

Recommendation - NieR Replicant again with this game recommendation, I know  It's THAT good...as long as you get past the absurd item grinding and flower gardening stuff.

[crisalid]

Awesome collection ☺️