Popular Post Copanele Posted December 11, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 11, 2022 (edited) No. 206 - Grand Ages Medieval Platinum Name: Veni, Vidi, Vici Hardest Trophy: The architect!/Cosmopolitan city/Producer Have the most cities/most citizens/most products when you become Emperor - they are all linked together. Difficulty: 4.5/10 Those who browse through the games that I've played will see that there aren't too many strategies/simulator or builders there. In fact, the game that I am talking about now might be the very first city builder that I've played on the console. In truth, before switching to PS3/PS4, I really played a few real time strategies/city builders before. I was familiar with games like Spellforce, Rise of Nations + the fantastic DLC Thrones and Patriots, Age of Empires and so on, like I really played and finished them on a high enough difficulty. I even dabbled in actual city builders/business simulators like Industry Giant, Zoo Tycoon, Patricians, Port Royale 2 and ... Lemonade Tycoon. Yeah don't ask These were those games perfect to play on a rainy or snowy winter day, who work perfectly with a cup of hot beverage, when games like DMC don't hit quite right. Unfortunately, by switching to consoles I left these kinds of games behind, mainly because they are best played with Mouse&Keyboard, where you can freely select every tab and every resource that you wish. Of course, I do play some Disciples or Heroes 3 from time to time but not as before. Thanks to Rebourne's Platinum Every Genre event however, I had to inevitably play a game of the strategy kind on Playstation. And thus we arrive to Grand Ages Medieval. Grand Ages Medieval is a basic installment of a medieval city builder, where you start from one corner of Europe and try to slowly take over the continent, defeating every opponent and becoming an emperor. Even calling it a city builder is abit of a stretch, it's more of an "economic simulator" so to speak, since you barely do any actual building (other than clicking on stuff you want to build) and focus more on trading. Underestimating this game would be a mistake however, since the mechanics, as basic as they might seem, could actually send your economy plummeting if you are not careful. First France, then the world You have 2 main modes in this game. The first one is The campaign, where you, the fresh Prince of Sofia, have to conquer the world and marry the Empress while dealing with Normans and religion (there's even a trophy called Get Laid). The campaign acts like a glorified tutorial with an actual fun story, but you are severely limited in your actions there. Plus, you have some sort of "Training wheels", so you can fail only if you really try to. The second mode is Free Play, where your task is simple - conquer Europe and eliminate the competition. That's the real game in my opinion, no funny empresses to save your ass if you sell your wool at a bad price. In Free Play mode, you can pick where to start, what the starting funds are and how many opponents you'll get during your play. After you pick your starting position, you get one measly town which produces basic resources (lumber, bricks, grain, wool and some other raw material, usually honey), the grand title of Village Chief (Level 1) and one group of settlers. Settlers are used to create new cities, so you will definitely need to send these settlers to a different place to create a second town. Before setting your town, you can see what kind of goods it can produce, so it's always wise to found a town that produces goods different from the other towns adjacent. After finding a perfect spot for your second town, you have to hire a builder to build an actual road between your two towns and also hire a trader to trade between these 2 locations and jumpstart your economy. Traders are the most important part of the game, they are the main income of your empire. Soon you will create a third town, which will give you different resources and more traders. You will try to put a settlement near the city so you can have fish, then a settlement in the meadows to get wool. You discover that you level up by increasing your economy and attracting population, levelling up gives you perks that unlock more production stuff (or military stuff, more on that later). You finally have a small cluster of cities so you try to expand but then you see that the local bears eat your merchants. Meanwhile the filthy neighbor Francois Pepin moved his goddamn cottage right in the place where you wanted to dig for metal. You send a warning to Francois, while the plague hits your capital and your workers die in Pisa due to a flood. Meanwhile for some reason your trader Giusseppe is slacking off instead of selling those sweet pastries, so you tell Giusseppe to fuck off and you hire Antonio who works better if he has an odd number of carts with him. Francois tries to send some swordsmen but you repel them with your rowdy axemen, all while your economy plummets because oh boy you forgot to build a fruit shack and your population leaves you. You sigh and you reload a previous save, set on becoming the Fruit Guru and show Francois where he should shove his baguette... ....and then you realize it's 3:30 A.M. and you have to wake up at 8:00 AM in order to prepare some documents for your client, but instead you fucked around in Medieval Europe sandbox edition. I.FUCKING.LOVE THIS GAME. I can't remember when I was THIS invested at an obsessive level. Even my wife (a fierce Caesar III player) spent 2-3 hours with me trying to figure out how to maximize the profits of my dingy empire. It's not the "holy hell I need to perfect this combo" level of obsessive, it's the "I need to compare chart A with chart B to see why chart C gives me 5% less Silver in Summer" kind of thing. It starts as a basic game but then, as it gets more complex you will try (and sometimes struggle) to control the flow of goods and maintain the happiness of the population. It's really easy to flip the economy and mess up your entire production just by setting the traders wrong or forgetting to care for your citizen needs. Citizens need raw materials and food first and foremost, so it's best to produce as much as you can, because the excess will be sold in markets. Then with the raw materials you can create more refined items and finally luxury items that are the main way to bring fat money into your coffers. Half the play time you will try to understand and control this screen As mentioned, the more you expand the more you level up. You start from level 1 as a Village Chief, then raise in rank to Landowner, Merchant...Count, Duke etc. until you get to the target Emperor title. Every level up you get 3 perks and oh boy you will work hard to decide whether you want to unlock the Beer tech tree or just put that point into better roads who will enable faster trading. Ultimately, you'll get the oh-so-desired title of Emperor if your trading is good and money is flowing Hail to the Emperor Baby! Of course, life's not all Honey and Pastries in Grand Ages Medieval. First of all, when you get your first level up, you will be hit by an unexpected expense called Upkeep Civilian Units who will SERIOUSLY murder your economy. It took me a while to figure out this problem, the solution was that I had to build crazy amounts of raw materials so my civilians won't run out of resources and start "importing" from other cities. The game unfortunately does not tell you this so I had to spend quite some time with money fluctuating between -2000 silver and 500 silver before I finally figured it out. Then...there's also the war aspect. Yes you can create your military and wage war versus the other opponents...but it honestly sucks. Not only do your armies cost an arm and a leg (holy crap THEY ARE EXPENSIVE), the enemy AI just seems to produce nonstop armies at a faster rate than you. So unfortunately, in this game, diplomacy wins the day even if you have to shamefully pay tribute to the AI opponent until you manage to set your cash flowing. And finally...just like in any strategy game, the AI really cheats. At least in the beginning, the AI will be better equipped and have way more resources than you no matter how well you set your towns and how solid your economy is. The good part is that once the AI itself becomes emperor, it really dumbs down and allows you to overcome it. After all said and done, I believe this is an absolutely fantastic game that should be played by any of those who want to start with the obscure art of economy simulation. I really can't recommend it enough, despite its shortcomings. It's also on PS Premium library, so if you have that option I really suggest giving it a go. Unless you dislike city builders, Europe or rats. THE GOOD: it causes addiction simple yet solid mechanics the soundtrack really builds the atmosphere you really feel like an emperor when you get the economy running the campaign is actually interesting, if abit simple THE BAD: AI can cheat the warfare aspect of the game is too expensive and it's rarely worth it you aren't explained the more intricate aspects of the game it really isn't for everyone, you won't find the appeal unless you love this genre the game is not as fleshed out as the other more serious city sims Recommendation - Mount and Blade Warband / Bannerlord a medieval Action-RPG sim series where you take the things way more up close and personal. You still lead armies and do basic trading but the focus is riding into your battle yourself. I actually found Mount&Blade Warband to be one of those games that cemented my love for this hobby, so you can re-read the review if you wish Edited December 12, 2022 by Copanele 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Damn son, you came outta the back of that one really loving it! Well, dammit - that sounds really good - good to see a traditional mouse and keyboard game managing to work on a controller at least well enough to keep the good stuff afloat! This does sound like a good one - for a specific kinda mood of course, but sims are like that anyways! noted! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said: Damn son, you came outta the back of that one really loving it! Well, dammit - that sounds really good - good to see a traditional mouse and keyboard game managing to work on a controller at least well enough to keep the good stuff afloat! This does sound like a good one - for a specific kinda mood of course, but sims are like that anyways! noted! Yep! Actually the issues that I had with the game were more because of my misunderstanding of the game's mechanics. However, after reading the actual guide released by the devs and some helpful steam strats, I managed to finally understand what I was doing wrong. I can't say that the PSNP guide was too helpful in that regard ? And yeah...I played this game so much in the past days to the point where I was ignoring messages just so I won't break concentration ? The gamepad control is silky smooth, although damn I wish I could open multiple tabs and move them around (not possible in ps4 version) So yeah...i do wholeheartedly recommend this game...with the mention that it's still an "acquired taste" kind of game (you either love it or hate it), so it might not have the same appeal to others. Just fair warning 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted December 12, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 12, 2022 (edited) ? - Overwatch 2 - Ramattra DLC completed Whee, another season, another Overwatch TWO hero released. Which means 2 more trophies shoved in the nethers of my trophy list. A-FUCKING-MAZING ? They even shoved these 2 trophies inside another DLC list. Didn't know they could do that lol. Anyway...Blizzard tomfoolery aside... Ramattra. He's an angry egyptian revolutionary robot who is abit of an anarchist, as all rogue AIs are. I have no idea what the lore of Overwatch 2 is at this point, but he's cool, I guess? He has a staff who shoots...dust in in the eyes of his enemies all while spitting edgy one-liners. His skills include creating a purple AoE that inflicts minimal damage (seriously is there any purpose to this skill?) and a shield that sticks around for a maximum of ..5 seconds then it disappears, protecting absolutely nobody. However, Ramattra's main feature is his Nemesis form, where for 8 seconds he drops his staff and goes full on rage punch mode, emitting shockwaves with his fists that pass through any shield or opponent. It's a hilarious ability that makes him from the shittiest tank in the game to one of the best tanks in the game. It really cracks me up how Ramattra just drops his staff, yells "I WILL TALK IN A LANGUAGE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND--PAIN" and starts punching the shit out of his enemies. Poor D.Va never stood a chance His ultimate Annihilation activates an aura that syphons health from the nearby enemies and throws Ramattra into permanent Nemesis mode. The Ultimate is active as long as you deal damage. The trophies were easy enough to not require any form of boosting. Any Means asks you to kill 3 enemies within a single use of your Ultimate, which is pretty easy as long as you have a Mercy to heal you constantly. Incomparable Pain however asks you to block 300 damage during Nemesis Form and survive. It took me a few matches to realize that you actually block by hitting L2...and that the trophy is bugged. Apparently there was a workaround, you have to select another tank, die with him and then switch to Ramattra. Why does that method work? IDK ask Blizzard. Overall...this hero was actually fun to play as, especially when you go Ramattra vs Winston the gorilla, you can really activate Monkey to Monkey brain communication. However since this is Overwatch 2...I'll refrain from further praise, because I can bet they will implement some stupid ass Babidi Brazilian/Cambodian hero who will ask me to "kill 4 enemies while healing them " or some stuff like that . Edited December 12, 2022 by Copanele 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissShake Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 Damn dude, you definitely have me convinced to try out Grand Ages! Been a while since I dipped my toe into that genre... You planning to try any other sim games out on PS4? Idk if all of them will hit like this one, but it seems to be an itch you've had dormant for a while now, and it's now in need of more scratching 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 12 minutes ago, MissShake said: Damn dude, you definitely have me convinced to try out Grand Ages! Been a while since I dipped my toe into that genre... You planning to try any other sim games out on PS4? Idk if all of them will hit like this one, but it seems to be an itch you've had dormant for a while now, and it's now in need of more scratching Yes absolutely, the first one that I want to play on PS4 is Port Royale 4, which is a series I've played before. Port Royale 2 was quite the head scratcher but damn did I love it! Then I wish to try Tropico 5 and Tropico 6. I...played Tropico 1 a looong time ago, but "played" is a strong word because I didn't quite understand that game at the time After these I will see what else I can find on Playstation, I reaaaaalllllly missed this genre of games but I have to be careful with the controls. If the controls are a pain then the game won't be fun at all. I also want to move into real time strategy territory on a console, specifically Spellforce 3. I played 1 and 2 like a madman, really curious how 3 behaves Oh boy, here I go spending again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AihaLoveleaf Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Copanele said: Whee, another season, another Overwatch TWO hero released. Which means 2 more trophies shoved in the nethers of my trophy list. A-FUCKING-MAZING They even shoved these 2 trophies inside another DLC list. Didn't know they could do that lol. Only 38 Trophies left until freedom! Hang in there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxfighter23___ Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 i have not much knowledge about games i just play and buy the ones i think they are fun @Copanele so enjoy the games you got it seems that you guys have much more knowledge about games then i do i finally can play dlc trophies since i bought season passes vergil playable character assasins creed oddesey fallout4 batman arkham knight and 1 game i bought kena bridge of spirits so if someone can share there are knowledge about games i wil be happy to hear it and the rest of you guys all enjoy the games 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grotz99 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 On 12/11/2022 at 2:02 PM, Copanele said: No. 206 - Grand Ages Medieval This sounds pretty similar to the Civilization games, but more about economy/diplomacy than racing to get to space, destroying/allying with everyone or other ways to win. I might have to give it a try someday. Civ definitely had me going to long into the night though, it's always just one more turn... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 14, 2022 Author Share Posted December 14, 2022 6 hours ago, Grotz99 said: This sounds pretty similar to the Civilization games, but more about economy/diplomacy than racing to get to space, destroying/allying with everyone or other ways to win. I might have to give it a try someday. Civ definitely had me going to long into the night though, it's always just one more turn... I actually never tried a Civilization game, despite them being so popular! At some point I will give them a go...but I don't know, there's somethng about them that scares me. Might be Gandhi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share Posted December 15, 2022 Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The Last Chapter WARNING - MAJOR AC VALHALLA SPOILERS AHEAD (although at this point I am surprised that anyone cares anymore) So...the final FINAL FINAL I swear to got I hope it's FINAL DLC for AC Valhalla has been released. No trophy support, which was quite surprising, since Ubisoft has the tendency to release trophies for every piece of material they release, but I thought "heck, I suffered through this shit all this time, might as well spend 1 hour for the Last Chapter too, free of charge". Stockholm Syndrome be damned... Anyway, in this final chapter we find out how Eivor, the brave Norseman who made England tremble before his might, powers and voodoo magic given by Odin himself, ended up in America of all places. For those who couldn't keep up with the nonsensical plot, Eivor is possessed by Odin himself and so he (or should I say she - more on that later) decides to come to terms with this apparition instead of banishing it. Meanwhile, in the present, Basim wants to figure out the same thing, what happened to Eivor, therefore he takes over the Animus and generates 5 memory orbs set in various parts of England and Norway. You, as Eivor, have to find and synchronize to these orbs, but not before dressing appropriately for the task: The only way to find your inner peace is to dress like Sir Elton John apparently I...don't know why that outfit appeared on me. I was using my normally upgraded Raven Clan armor and seeing Eivor looking like the most majestic peacock made me burst out laughing. Truly a self discovery outfit! I expected this to be some long tomb exploration or another artefact or...even a discussion with Odin himself. Nah, what you have to do is saying goodbye to all the fools that you encountered during your main campaign and are still alive enough to wave at you. From them I only remembered King Aelfred because...well because he was pretty damn important. The rest were ... uh yeah see ya guys idk who you were because I played the main campaign a long while ago and I messed around in Asgard more than England. So after you finish your memory recollection, Eivor fucks off and you return back to the present world as Basim. You go outside, pleased with what you found (I have no idea what was so important) and you see a bleeding effect memory (remember when that was important?) about Eivor and Odin. Eivor who...has been correctly set to be a female now. Canonically it's the correct choice, because Eivor WAS supposed to be a female...despite Ubisoft going out of its way to put a male on the cover once again... I think we all know how the management at Ubisoft is truly despicable, no need to repeat myself right? Still waiting for that fully fledged AC game with a female as a lead protagonist (AC Liberation doesn't count) Odin describing the feel of playing a modern Assassin's Creed game And then...it ends. You get a message with "Thank you for playing". WHAT??? THAT WAS IT??? When I thought I could not be disappointed further, these Ubi dudes find a way to push it past the limits. It took more time to load the damn game than to actually get through all the dialogue with NPCs that I didn't care about. I went through all their stupid ass DLCs to reach...this. Probably the company just wanted to get rid of Eivor ASAP so they can push AC Mirage with Basim. What a colossal waste of time...What's worst...I did enjoy the main game. I would have probably enjoyed this last chapter if not for the damned DLCs. But after all that headache and stupidity added to the plot ... this was like the final shovel of dirt thrown over the grave of the game that was known as AC Valhalla. Rest in Peace Eivor, you poor blond(e) viking, you did not deserve this. P.S. Eivor still doesn't become an assassin throughout his life. So it really was only about sexy vikings. Recommendation: God of War 2018 + God of War Rangarok Want to have actual fun in Norse mythology? Play these 2 games. They are awesome! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted December 18, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 18, 2022 No. 207 - Eternal Hope Platinum Name - The Soul of Resilience Hardest Trophy - Promise Save your girlfriend from the Shadow Lord Difficulty - 1.5/10 Another game that I found because of Platinum Every Genre event. I found this little gem while searching for a game that would fit the Romance tab. Eternal Hope is a small indie puzzle/platformer where you play as Ti'bi, a young boy who tries to rescue his girlfriend. His task is to traverse several maps, collecting fragments of his girlfriend's soul and assemble them. In his quest he is assisted by Heli, a little firefly who helps Ti'bi with advice. It is clear that the game is inspired by the other more famous indie games Limbo and Inside and honestly...I don't mind The choice of colors works wonders in this case as well, the game successfully managing to give off the impression of a mysterious yet dangerous world. A classic puzzle - how to get across? Despite being inspired by Limbo/Inside, the game is not nearly as difficult. While some sections of the game take several retries, the game is in no means unfair or requires pixel perfect jumps. Most of the solutions are hidden in plain sight and the game gives off enough hints so you can figure out the puzzles relatively fast. This creates a pleasant "flow" of the game, although those who are versed in these types of games will pretty much blitz through Eternal Hope. Together with the classic Run, Jump, Avoid Traps and Hope I won't Get Eaten by That Monster, Ti'bi has another unique ability, the shadow mask. This allows him to access the Shadow World, where additional creatures reside. Ti'bi can't reside in the shadow world forever though, there's a "stamina" bar that will deplete the longer you use the mask and refills only when you switch back to the Normal World. One of the inhabitants of the Shadow World In terms of story, the plot is simple enough. It gets to the point however...I can't say I enjoyed the ending that much I won't spoil why, but it felt...unfinished. I would say that Eternal Hope is that kind of "afternoon game" where you pick it up, play it and have a good time, all in a day's work. I do recommend it at a discount, there's currently not many who played it and I'd say this game deserves abit more recognition THE GOOD: A cute and simple indie game Puzzles are simple yet well thought Short and sweet THE BAD: Not really a fan of the story's ending RECOMMENDATION: Limbo Probably the best alternative to this game. I don't feel like replaying Limbo on Playstation, that spider part gives me shivers even now 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted December 20, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 20, 2022 (edited) Warning, STORY SPOILERS regarding Elden Ring end-game bosses. The Foul Tarnished Experience - an Elden Ring story Part 8 - The End Last time I posted about my Rune Level 1 run, I just defeated Malenia and Mohg, two end game optional bosses that are complete headaches. I had to take quite an extended break after this, due to the burnout that appeared. I had a similar experience in Bloodborne when trying to defeat Orphan of Kos so I wanted to avoid that situation. Well break time is over! Returned with a full stamina bar, full madness bar and a ton of cheesy strats, ready to tackle the last 5 bosses on the list. My first target was the oh-so-hidden-wtf-Miyazaki superboss: DRAGONLORD PLACIDUSAX This towering 2-headed dragon is one incredibly hidden boss that you have to find almost by chance. On top of that, he's also the assumed former God of the realm, before the whole Elden Ring shenaniganery took place. Simply put, he's huge, all his attacks kill you instantly, so you better have your reflexes with you. Honestly...this boss wasn't really tough. Despite being Dragon God levels, he's no Midir. All of his attacks are super telegraphed and even the ones where he starts teleporting like an asshole (really what kind of dragon teleports?) are predictable enough, since he leaves off tons of smoke trails. The only truly dangerous attack that he has is when he reaches around 33% of his HP and starts shooting random lasers across the map Midir style. You really need abit of luck there because the attack is rather erratic and unpredictable but once you got that one figured out, Placidusax ain't much of a hassle. Any weapon works against him honestly, I preferred using dual rapiers with blood buffs, just because they're the best weapons in the series really and it adds insult to injury to beat a behemoth of a boss with 2 toothpicks. Now that I was done with all the optional bosses... was finally time to move on to the mandatory ones. Next on the list was the faithful guardian of the death rune and muncher of dead grass. MALIKETH THE BLACK BLADE This is where the troubles truly began. At first you face your old pal from the Beast temple, Gurranq, the hooded monster. He is an absolute pain to fight, mainly because most of his attacks have 0 startup, he can do them on the go without notice. You need serious prediction power to guess his rock shotgun attack or his cindequa slashes. Even assuming you get to his second phase, as Maliketh the camera simply becomes an afterthought, because Maliketh loves jumping around the arena and throw unblockable death rays that cut down your HP points like no tomorrow. I tried so many strategies but absolutely nothing worked, Gurranq would end me with one hit and I had 0 patience to practice Divination and dodge his crap. Instead, I decided to actually check for a cheesy strat in order to get past this ordeal. I really didn't like this boss fight even before so all I needed was to find a method to quickly dispatch this annoying boss. And sure enough, the solution arrived with an unexpected Ash of War - Flame of the Redmanes. With this Ash of War you can shoot a short wave of flames in front of you. The flame themselves are powerful enough, however the true beauty of this Ash of War is that the poise damage is insanely high, which meant I could stunlock the boss to death. If applied on a Misericode which has the biggest critical damage modifier, you create a weapon of mass destruction, an equivalent of a Rambo knife that shoots napalm from its hilt. Poor Maliketh didn't stand a chance After defeating Maliketh and grabbing the Rune of Death (which did...something, I don't know I wasn't paying too much attention), it was time to get back to the Capital. The capital which was fully covered in ash because whoops you accidentally set fire to the World Tree in a very Berserker-esque manner. Accidents happen My main target in this capital was to get to the Elden Throne and reassemble the Elden Ring...however some annoying patronizing bastard stood in my way SIR GIDEON OFNIR, THE ALL-KNOWING What a piece of shit of a boss Truth be told, Gideon Ofnir is a very interesting boss fight, probably the best wizard type fight in the entire series. What he does is simply get an ability from each major boss that you defeated and use it against you e.g. if you defeated Malenia then he will use her flower bomb dive against you. And given that I defeated every single boss before reaching Leyndel...Yeah ? Gideon was at his strongest. Well, that being said, he was an annoying bastard who spammed spells like there was no tomorrow. Fighting him head-on was impossible, he could nuke you to the ground before you even managed to have a swing at him. What's worse, his Rykard attack, the Flaming Skull, had the nasty habit of covering your field of view in smoke so you never knew what was coming for you. Eventually I decided to fight ranged with ranged so I just loaded up my pulley crossbow and fired at Gideon while he was doing his flower bomb which left him wide open. Also engaged into a funny table tennis tournament with him, managing to reflect every of his spells with my Carian parry. Took a few tries but he finally died. Still a pain in the ass. Now there was one more step to the throne. Except...I wasn't alone there. One other person wanted an audience with Queen Marika who broke the Elden Ring...and my god what an imposing character that was. GODFREY, THE FIRST ELDEN LORD You might have noticed in several places (Stormveil castle, artwork of the game) that there was an imposing viking with a humongous axe and a lion on his back. He looked like a legendary warrior but you had no idea who that was. Well...apparently he's Godfrey, the First Elden Lord and Marika's first husband, returned from exile to be granted an audience. You catch him right when he was retrieving the corpse of Morgott (oops). Since you're the single most powerful being left in The Lands Between, he decides to challenge you to a duel for the right of seeing Marika. And my god what a duel it was. In my opinion, Godfrey is the best boss in the game. While not as difficult as Malenia, all of his attacks are 100% fair and honest, there's no bullshittery involved. Learn his patterns, dodge and punish him back. Godfrey attacks with a combination of axe swings, shockwaves and slams, all of which are one shots because ...yeah he's the former king. Learning his patterns were a delight and I perfected his first phase to a point where I kinda broke his AI a bit But...and there's a big but...that's only his first phase. Once he drops to half of his health, he realizes that he has given you "courtesy enough" and taps into his TRUE power, becoming: HOARAH LOUX, WARRIOR I mentioned that Godfrey had a lion on his back. That lion was actually a limiter, since Godfrey was originally a barbarian he had to restrain his power and be civilized for once in order to fulfill his role as Elden Lord. Since you gave him no choice, he decides to slay his lion and return to his original form, that of a WWE Monster Slam champion. And when I say WWE, I mean this is how many of the attempts went. Hoarah Loux drops his axe, his glorious moveset, his armor and simply goes WWE MODE. He will grab, he will axe kick, he will claw, he will jump up in the air then drop on you and make the ground explode in a pool of lava and death oh my god let me LIVE please! It's one of the craziest transformations in this game and probably one of the best. I couldn't help but laugh how the penultimate boss in this game is the embodiment of Andre the Giant throwing you high in the sky then breaking the floor with your scrawny ass. How I defeated him...I was patient honestly. I poked him, avoided all the grabs, all the throws, all the shockwaves and prayed to God he doesn't grab me. He eventually died but dear lord it took forever. The only downside to this boss was...well..the soundtrack. I did not like it. Sooooo I tapped into my hidden never-seen-before video editing powers and added some AC Valhalla soundtrack on the background, which I say it fits better Now that the former Lord has been vanquished, it was FINALLY time to face Marika and return the Elder Bling to her....which meant of course defeating her husband Radagon. RADAGON OF THE GOLDEN ORDER I will spare you the madness that this story is and just tell this : Radagon is Marika. The explanation is abit more complex, but basically Marika smashed the Elden Ring in order to remove God's influence from the lands and Radagon tried to stop her. Now that you freed Marika, Radagon takes over and faces you in order to take the Elden Ring. Radagon is worthy of the name of the final boss, all of his attacks inflict crazy damage, crazy AoE and he has no significant weakness other than frost. His biggest threat are his hammer delays, you never really know when he is TRULY going to attack. At this point in time I was a bit too tired to even bother learning his patterns, plus he's not the biggest threat in the fight. So I checked a strategy online which allowed me to inflict the most amount of damage in a short time. Equipped with two flame imbued greatswords, lots of fire damage buffs and some prayers (irl prayers lol) I managed to defeat him in under 10 seconds before he had any time to hit me with fancy moves. As I said, Radagon wasn't my biggest issue, it was what followed. Because Radagon/Marika were just vessels for the actual god and final boss of the game: ELDEN BEAST Honestly I believe this is one of the weakest bosses in the entire game. It's a damn shame that this space slug is the true final boss, he is the cheapest and most inconsistent one out there. He can shoot a ton of lasers, can run across the screen as many times as he wants, can throw a laser spitting ball at you, can use that stupid Call of Beyond from Bloodborne on you, can cover the area in flames instantly...he is a complete pain in the ass. The biggest issue is his constant running around, you having to run all that distance only for Elden Beast to simply...run away again. I am glad I used a high damaging strat vs Radagon because it took me an unreal number of attempts to beat Elden Beast. However...the RNG was on my side one time, and one time is all I needed. In this fated try, the Elden Beast was kind enough to stand still a little, enough for me to inflict a fuckton of damage and finally beat it. After beating the final boss, I summoned Ranni and brought in the Age of Stars, bringing the game to a close FINAL THOUGHTS This has been an incredible experience and I am so glad I convinced myself to replay this game at Rune Level 1. It made me appreciate this masterpiece of a game even more because at Rune Level 1 your options are severely limited to the point where you really have to improvise and think all your strategies. It is a fun way to play the game...however I don't recommend going after ALL 165 BOSSES! That was abit too much even for me, only the main bosses should be enough. As final stats, hardest boss still remains Malenia and my favorite weapon of the run has been Antspur Rapier. Now I can finally prepare my End of year review Edited December 20, 2022 by Copanele 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grotz99 Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Thanks for more anxiety inducing videos, even knowing that those are the successful attempts. definitely brought back memories of those bosses for me since its been like 6 months since I played it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 minute ago, Grotz99 said: Thanks for more anxiety inducing videos, even knowing that those are the successful attempts. definitely brought back memories of those bosses for me since its been like 6 months since I played it. Be glad I haven't shared the unsuccessful attempts ? Ok...maybe I can share one :> Bonus points to whoever can tell me what the hell happened there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 1 minute ago, Copanele said: Bonus points to whoever can tell me what the hell happened there So THAT's why they call them "cut-scenes"! That one knifed you on it's way out the door! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copanele Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Just now, DrBloodmoney said: So THAT's why they call them "cut-scenes"! That one knifed you on it's way out the door! ??? Me: trying to have an audience with Marika Hoarah Loux mid-cutscene: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted December 22, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 (edited) 2022 Game of the Year Awards (had no better image available) Hello and WELCOME everyone to the 2022 GAME OF THE YEAR awards - Copanele Edition, where I rank the games I've played this year...if it wasn't obvious enough .Horrible introduction, I know. ANYWAY, compared to the 2021 Edition, this year has been way kinder in terms of gaming quality. I had better experiences and there were only a handful of poor games or games that gave me serious headaches. This made ranking quite a bit harder this year, since I wanted to mention so many games So this time, I added more honorable mentions for the categories that I chose. I had to pick from a grand total of 52 S-ranked videogames: JANUARY Ender Lilies Quietus of the Knight Blazblue Chronophantasma The Wolf Among Us Curse of the Dead Gods Treasures of the Aegean Guacamelee 2 FEBRUARY My Hero One's Justice Persona 4 Arena The King of Fighters XV My Brother Rabbit Guilty Gear (JP stack) MARCH Elden Ring Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroine's Infinite Duel Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Child of Light Arcana Heart 3 Sinner:Sacrifice for Redemption APRIL Marvel vs Capcom Infinite Yakuza 4 Skullgirls 2nd Encore(DLC completed) Eldest Souls MAY Batman Arkham Knight Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection Metal Gear Rising Revengeance JUNE Metal Wolf Chaos X D JULY Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl AUGUST The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle SEPTEMBER Cuphead (Delicious Last Course DLC) Tekken 6 Disc Jam Call of Juarez Gunslinger Fight of Animals Hitman GO Stray OCTOBER Rifftrax Assassin's Creed Valhalla (DLC, fucking finally) Yakuza Dead Souls Lara Croft GO Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend Blazblue Calamity Trigger NOVEMBER King of Seas God of War Ragnarok Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX!!!! Unpacking DECEMBER Cult of the Lamb Grand Ages Medieval Overwatch 2 (DLC, to be continued in 2023) Eternal Hope You can also click on each nominated game's title and it will get you straight to my original impressions post about the selected game Now that the explanations are over, let's get this show on the road! New year, still can't do proper introductions: ALL IN A DAY'S WORK - EASIEST PLATINUM MY BROTHER RABBIT This cute relaxing "find the object" game was the easiest plat I had to do this year. It's a very simple yet relaxing Artifex Mundi game, where you play as a rabbit trying to solve various puzzles. There was one puzzle where I got stumped and had to whip out the Good Ol' Youtube, but other than that the game was just relaxation and a good time again, proving that an easy game doesn't mean it's a bad game! HONORABLE MENTION - STRAY Us cat lovers have been blessed this year with Stray, a game about an adorable orange cat who has to find its way out of the underground. Of course, the main attraction is the whole cat part, where you can climb most buildings, meow at robots and pretty much be a nuisance to the world I do recommend this game, although it has some tricky sections where several retries are required. I HAVE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP - HARDEST PLATINUM PERSONA 4 ARENA Ah Persona 4 Arena...my prize and joy and definitely the toughest bastard game I platinumed this year. I prepared myself with all the other fighting games in order to tackle this beast and I STILL got my ass kicked! This game is evil in its difficulty, asking you to complete inhuman combo trials for each of the 13 characters and survive score attacks (aka survival mode) against all the roster on Developer Difficulty (which means custom made difficulty setting, that can't be picked from the menus). This is however my proudest platinum out of all the ones that I have and reason why I still enjoy fighting games as much as I do Or at least until I manage to do Koihime Enbu RRR, which is on another level altogether. Also to this day I still haven't played a Persona game HONORABLE MENTION - ELDEST SOULS As mentioned in the original post, it's rare for me to get completely shocked by the difficulty of a game. I usually know what I am getting into, but this one game was an exception. Eldest Souls is an izometric boss rush "souls-like" where you beat a wide variety of elemental based bosses. The bosses themselves are challenging enough (game is not bad at all) but the truly painful part of this game is every boss has a no damage trophy associated with the fights. This made bosses like Eos be a complete nightmare, easily taking me 700+ tries to finally beat it no damage. So uh...yeah...this was an unexpected game. What can I say, respects there, it got me good! BACK TO THE MINES - GRINDIEST PLATINUM ARCANA HEART 3 LOVE MAX !!!!!! My second least favorite type of trophies after online trophies are grindy ones, where you just mash and mash and mash nonstop the same sequence of buttons trying to level some Cthulhu character to level one bazillion for some bling blings. Out of all games this year, Arcana Heart 3 Love Max was the most ruthless of them all. 100+ matches for gallery grinds, over 17 hours of turbo controllering for levelling up a sweet innocent girl, tons of online matches...this game made me feel like an Orc worker in Warcraft 3, going to the mines and grinding like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully the game itself is pretty good from a gameplay standpoint...although I don't recommend people to play this while their significant others are around...the poster picture should be evidence enough ? HONORABLE MENTION - TEKKEN 6 While Tekken is an intricate and quite challenging fighting game series...the platinums are pretty easy to the dumb side. Here I had to beat up a crapton of Kangaroos in order to level up my character so I can beat a level... It's all I can remember of Tekken 6, sorry beating Kangaroos for days! PRETTIEST GAME - ELDEN RING To make a very important note here, I am not usually an "artsy" person. This translates into "I don't see the nuances between the games or what this kind of color choice tries to reflect and such". I know there is a difference between graphics and artstyle but...to be completely blunt, here's how I rank the looks of a game: If it makes me go WOAAAAAAAAAAAAH then it's pretty as fuck That being said, I think the most beautiful game I touched this year is Elden Ring. From the moment you open the doors to Limgrave, to seeing Stormveil Castle, to being hit by the beauty of Liurnia magical cities...and even grotesque places like Lake of Rot, this game is brimming with detail and actual life. The creators truly knew how to impress their audience with all the vistas and "screenshot-able" views. Especially when you find THAT elevator that gets you to THAT area of the game. In terms of "looks"...I don't think there's an area I dislike in this game. HONORABLE MENTION - GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK There's no surprise that Santa Monica's main game looks nice as hell! Kratos has never looked better (and older), all the Nine realms are designed at the utmost detail and basically...this game LOOKS like a proper 2022 game. The reason why it didn't get first place is because this game only has the most beautiful foliage ever made, but it doesn't make me go "HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT CASTLE" like Elden Ring did MUSIC TO MY EARS - BEST SOUNDTRACK METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE So, picture this, you're fighting as a sexy ninja cyborg against a behemoth of a mecha godzilla, you slice and dice at its legs while it shoots lasers, rockets and whatnot on a sick instrumental in the background. Finally after you whittle down its health, the Megazord tries one desperate attack against you by dropping its building-size mecha arm on you. You hear the following words in your earpiece "Stop that blade!" You block and...RULES OF NATURE!!!!!!! The lyrics kick in!! It's some of the most ridiculous shit I've ever seen in a game before and MGR is FULL of these moments. The timing of the lyrics and the soundtracks are all absolute bangers. Picking a favorite soundtrack is incredibly hard, because all of them are so good and they fit so well in the game! (although Armstrong soundtrack stands out with the memeable "Standing here I realize") When every soundtrack is custom made to say a story about the thing you're fighting, you know you have a music award winner here HONORABLE MENTION - YAKUZA 4 Yakuza 4 is considered to be an odd game in the Yakuza universe, mainly because of the odd story decisions (which I love because they're ridiculous as fuck). However in terms of soundtrack I believe Y4 has some of the best songs out there (or at least from what I played so far). The main theme of the game, Kiryu's various boss fights, Saejima vs "an old friend" fight...this game has some good tunes! It just can't beat Rules of Nature sadly SMOKING SEXY STYLE - BEST GAMEPLAY METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE My first encounter with a PlatinumGames...game was Bayonetta and truth be told...I wasn't impressed. Gameplay was good enough, but it was that stupid "what if we add bullet hell sections" PlatinumGames practice that prevented Bayonetta from being an actual joy. Thankfully Metal Gear Rising ain't like that. The entire game is a bliss to play, fast paced action sequence with controls that WORK and a parry system that, although abit obtuse in the beginning (direction of incoming attack + square WTF...) it's easy to master and because like a second nature to your gameplay. You can do some true acrobatic shit as Raiden while slicing and dicing cyborgs, robots and whatnot. And then you go to the DLC, switch to Jetstream Sam, unlock DOUBLE JUMPING and say "Ay dios mio this is GOOD". I'd wager to say that the gameplay quality comes close to DMC5 levels HONORABLE MENTION - TREASURES OF THE AEGEAN People might wonder why I picked this obscure 10-ish users game. Why haven't I referenced games like Guacamelee 2 or Batman Arkham Knight. Well it's because this little game has the most satisfying 2D Metroidvania parkour gameplay out there for me. You run, jump and vault while trying to solve the mystery of the ancient civilizations and when you master the controls...the game's GOOOOOOOOD. I think the gameplay reminds me of Prince of Persia when I could string various seemingly impossible moves through ancient ruins. And I am always up for that A STORY FOR THE AGES - BEST STORY THE WOLF AMONG US While I didn't really enjoy the "gameplay" choices Telltale has in this game, I can't deny that it's been one of the best stories I ever encountered. Bigby the Big Bad Wolf is the detective of Fable Town, a city full of fairytale fables brought in the modern world, his job being to solve an unexpected and gruesome crime, which ain't easy when you are the Big Bad Wolf. I'd say the story is very well said, with multiple layers and an actual mystery that gets even more tangled the more you play. Got so invested that I actually read the source material "Fables" comicbook. Which was very good (except the forced ending because of money hungry editors or something) If only they removed the "choices" part in the game HONORABLE MENTION - CALL OF JUAREZ GUNSLINGER Another odd choice I know, but hell my entire thread consists of odd choices In CoJ Gunslinger you play as an old retired yet famous bounty hunter Silas Greaves who winds up at a bar and starts telling his stories of old to the patrons. His story IS your game, where every step you take is narrated by the old man, with interjections from the patrons. It's especially funny when Silas starts to "embellish" his stories, because that has an effect on the gameplay, maps literally rearranging in order to fit the old man's story. I picked this as a honorable mention only because of the twist at the end, where all the cards are on the table. Of course, can't share because of spoilers, but the ending is perfect. Unfortunately this game is delisted so you either need to find an account with the game or...play it on PC THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - BEST CHARACTERS GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK I usually make a distinction between the STORY of a game and CHARACTERS of a game. You can have a good story with meh characters OR good characters with boring story. While I wasn't particularly impressed by the story of Ragnarok, the characters are too good to be ignored. The one that stands out the most is Kratos obviously, who is struggling to renounce his old "murder first, question later" tendencies while having to deal with his teenager son Atreus (who is the good kind of irritating son, especially when he's sometimes right). Mimir is also there to provide advice and comic relief, Freya is as glorious as ever ...but I think the show was stolen by Odin and Thor, who are NOT how you would expect. Especially Odin who simply oozes old man charisma and Mafia Boss level 100 type of impression. One thing is for sure, these new God of War games sure know how to write their characters. HONORABLE MENTION - METAL GEAR RISING REVENGEANCE Yes yes, another mention to MGR. What can I say, a game that throws its final boss in the very last chapter of the game AND makes it one of the most memorable characters ever HAS to be mentioned here. NANOMACHINES SON! That's not to say that Jetstream Sam is any less important. That charisma Brazil man almost equals Vergil in terms of badassery. In fact, given that he is 100% human no implants (in the DLC), I'd say he surpasses Vergil in some points. Too bad Raiden is the equivalent of a soggy biscuit but that was intentional I think. THIS IS WHY I LOVE VIDEOGAMES - THE MOST SATISFYING EXPERIENCE SHADOWMAN REMASTERED To better explain this category, here I mention games that make me sit back and go "Fucking hell I love this hobby, I have 0 regrets for investing time in it". And I believe this game reflects it best. Shadowman was originally a game from 1999 who wasn't that popular at the time but it slowly gained a small follower base. However the game itself was lost into the annals of history...until NOW OF ALL TIMES. This game was one of the best games I ever played during my childhood and seeing it not only remastered BUT with restored content, boss fights and a trophy system + quality of life changes worthy of 2022? HOLY DAMN I LOVE THIS HOBBY! Playing it a 20th time (I think) was every bit as enjoyable as it was in the past. The game is still massive, still grotesque and still unforgiving with its odd mechanics and backtracking. It's also a game that I can't recommend to anyone who hasn't experienced the madness that were Acclaim games, but it will forever get a 10/10. Actually I do recommend you read my impressions post about this game HONORABLE MENTION - ELDEN RING This game too made me feel like a child with the "where the hell am I supposed to go" type of map and the culmination of all Dark Souls games gathered in one beautiful open world. The only reason it doesn't get first place here is because of the final 20% of the game where the enemies are bitches ? But it still made me do a Rune Level 1 run !!! WHERE DID THIS ONE COME FROM? - BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THIS YEAR YAKUZA DEAD SOULS In this category I add games that blindsided me with their "enjoyment level". Basically I started this game not expecting much and I ended up absolutely loving it. For this year, Yakuza Dead Souls gets the zombie cake. This game was presented to me as being a non-canon mess of a game, Yakuza with zombies and guns. I had my expectations very low going in this game...but my god was it FUN TO PLAY! Yes the framerate drops almost set my PS3 to fire, yes the game is clunky as shit but damn there's so much passion and love poured in this spinoff of a game that I couldn't help but love it. Also the game cemented Majima as the actual best character in the series Sorry Kiryu, you ain't mad enough ? HONORABLE MENTION - TREASURES OF THE AEGEAN As mentioned before, this game took me by complete surprise with how fun it was to play. But this time, I believe the fun factor was also because of how little information there is online about it. I had to complete the game by myself, use the actual markers given by the game, figure out the puzzles and what to do...it was a 100% blind run and it was fantastic Really this game needs more praise! MY DISAPPOINTMENT IS IMMEASURABLE... - least enjoyable game MARVEL VS CAPCOM INFINITE This is what happens when a beloved fighting game franchise is overtaken by the movie company intellectual wise. Due to the success of the Avengers movies, MvC Infinite suffered some changes...or rather some surgery botches. All the fun MvC3 gameplay was removed (babies can't press buttons) , the characters look like they went to a trip inside a Chernobyl nuclear plant, the story makes me want to forget the English language and...the game itself looks like one of those stupid Korean Mobile ads. Jesus what a crap game! HONORABLE MENTION - NICKELODEON ALL-STAR BRAWL To this day, I still wonder what's the point of this game, who was it made for? Did it seriously expect to dethrone Smash? Why is Garfield still haunting me even here? Questions left unanswered. Game's as bland as porridge. ...AND MY DAY IS RUINED - WORST TROPHY LIST OVERWATCH 2 Only Blizzard could completely wipe out Overwatch 1 from the face of the planet, rename the trophy list to Overwatch 2 and just slap DLC after DLC trophies there, instead of creating a new list. DON'T YOU HAVE BOOSTING SESSIONS? You sure should because yeah the DLC trophies are even more ass than the original game ones. Enjoy!!!! HONORABLE MENTION - BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT Let us be very clear - I don't think Batman Arkham Knight is a bad game!!!! Hell no. And even most of the trophies are pretty ok, yes even the combat based DLC ones that really demand a lot of you. Game is smooth, looks good and has good combat. HOWEVER - A CRAPTON OF BATMOBILE TROPHIES. OH GOD SO MANY BATMOBILE TROPHIES IN AN ARKHAM GAME! I am here to beat thugs down, not to play Assetto Corsa with Scarecrow's ass!!! Sorry, I disliked the Batmobile THE WORST GAME OF 2022 MARVEL VS CAPCOM INFINITE I did play a ton of good games and I think 2022 was a great year in terms of experience. This is the only game that truly felt bad and wish I never attempted it. Don't play this game, it's a complete waste of time and money and brain cells. Unless your passion is to see Dante looking like he got hit by the Taco Bell Menu aftermath and has to find a bathroom fast. THE BEST GAME OF 2022 ELDEN RING It is time to crown the king. Elden Ring completely slapped the other open world games that just go after quantity and not quality (looking at you AC Valhalla). Everywhere you go there's a surprise to be found, a potential boss fight or a complete new area that makes you wonder "just how big is this game??" I truly believe this is the fulfilled dream of Hidetaka Miyazaki, it does look like the game he always wanted to make but didn't have the resources to finish. I do believe Elden Ring is his magnum opus and the best game Fromsoftware has ever made so far. And then there is my personal experience with the Rune Level 1 run which made me love the game even more. The added layer of difficulty which forced me to switch strategies depending on the challenge I was facing was something I rarely encountered before. This is definitely not only my GOTY 2022, but one of the best games I have ever played. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another glorious year done. I really love this whole trophy checklist system because it really makes me appreciate/hate games with more passion AND I managed to find a ton of fun people to hang out with in an online environment. For 2023, I really am looking forward to finally upgrading to a PS5 and grab Street Fighter 6 whenever it comes out. Now, for the credits and the notification messages that everyone dislikes ? In no particular order, a very warm thanks to: @AihaLoveleaf, @Honor_Hand and @Yuber6969 for the unique "what the hell is this game goddamnit Copanele" moments @DrBloodmoney, @rjkclarke, @Platinum_Vice, @YaManSmevz, @Destructor-8, @Billie__227, @KindaSabbath for quality impression exchange about games (I still think SotC sucks ) @The_Kopite for them guide hints @DrunkenEngineer for reminding me that I still have a Steam account ? @Arcesius and @Mori for ANOTHER YEAR with that UR event sorry for terrorizing you! @PooPooBlast for still being the resident Yakuza lord (see you in Isshin!) @MissShake for not helping with my fighting game addiction!!!!(not like I am being helpful in the first place) @FreshFromThaDeli because I still am not practicing in training mode and he still kicks my ass at fighting games (I REFUSE TO TRAIN) @everyone else that I didn't manage to mention because I am writing this thing for a long while and my wife threatens to hit me with a cookbook if I don't start helping her with cleaning around ? You are all truly the best. Happy new year, see you in the next post!? Edited October 28, 2023 by Copanele 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted December 22, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 (edited) Elden RIIIIIIIING! Praise the sun! no, wait... Umbasa! ...I mean Bear Seek! I mean... ah, fuckit. Could there ever be another? NO! what a game, dude - and your RL1 run was a bizarre, terrifying, and often hilarious thing to see! Damn man - this whole awards was a sweet cap on a great gaming year! Initial throughs: Yas ER, of course, but still, seeing it in writing only cements what is obvious - GOTY! Hell, yes Odin and Thor make that game! Shout out to Mimir also, Brother, but Thor and Odin are the ones that elevate that game to the level it sits at! Goddamnit - I bout Treasure of the Aegean already! I really did! I'll get to it soon, I swear! ? Arkane Heart 3 Love Max, continuing the proud tradition of Japanese games picking their titles by cutting up a magazine, and drawing words outta blind scrabble bag! Fuck that Batmobile! Goddamn Rocksteady - you made a great game, and a weak mini game... then leaned ALL THE WAY into the latter part! and finally.... - man, 2022 was good year for us, gaming wise! ? Cheers to you! Edited December 22, 2022 by DrBloodmoney 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maahniac Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 I absolutely loved this 2022 summary Copanele, thank you for sharing! I'm obviously incredibly happy to see Shadow Man Remastered featured here, as that of course is the best video game of all-time ? But... it also warmed my heart to see you mention Treasures of the Aegean (TWICE!) ? That's a game that needs to be played by MUCH more people, and I hope your glowing reviews here will help make that happen. As always, I love your writing style. Thank you for this, it was an entertaining read! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post FreshFromThaDeli Posted December 22, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 Great write-up as always @Copanele Was a great read on my lunch break at work. Really enjoyed seeing Shadowman Remastered mentioned like @Maahniac did. Looking forward to playing more fighting games with you in the year 2023 ? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AihaLoveleaf Posted December 22, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 On 12/20/2022 at 10:48 AM, Copanele said: And when I say WWE, I mean this is how many of the attempts went. You just awakened a dormant childhood memory Great work, by the way. Kicking 52 games off the backlog in 2022 is no small feat. Purely anecdotal evidence on my part, but it does feel like Trophy Hunters -- trophy hobbyists, or whatever you want to call it -- do get more games done on average, even with the extra time these trophy lists ask for. 3 hours ago, Copanele said: Also to this day I still haven't played a Persona game I hear the sounds of pitchforks clanking. Must be the angry Chie fanboys. 3 hours ago, Copanele said: HONORABLE MENTION - ELDEST SOULS 3 hours ago, Copanele said: As mentioned in the original post, it's rare for me to get completely shocked by the difficulty of a game. I usually know what I am getting into, but this one game was an exception. Though it's still UR, I can totally see somebody thinking "It's just 4%; it can't be that bad... Wait... I didn't sign up for this!". These low owner count games are always the ones you gotta look out for, lol. 3 hours ago, Copanele said: Out of all games this year, Arcana Heart 3 Love Max was the most ruthless of them all. 100+ matches for gallery grinds, over 17 hours of turbo controllering for levelling up a sweet innocent girl, tons of online matches...this game made me feel like an Orc worker in Warcraft 3, going to the mines and grinding like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully the game itself is pretty good from a gameplay standpoint...although I don't recommend people to play this while their significant others are around...the poster picture should be evidence enough ArcSys' job wasn't done unless the grind was as intense as the game title. Fire up that HORI!!!!! 3 hours ago, Copanele said: @AihaLoveleaf, @Honor_Hand and @Yuber6969 for the unique "what the hell is this game goddamnit Copanele" moments Are there going to be more "Damn it, @Copanele!" Moments in 2023!? Damn it, @Copanele!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Slava Posted December 22, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 (edited) All those MGR wins... nice. (I need to play it too ?). 6 hours ago, Copanele said: Here I had to beat up a crapton of Kangaroos in order to level up my character so I can beat a level... It's all I can remember of Tekken 6, sorry beating Kangaroos for days! You're banned in Australia now. 6 hours ago, Copanele said: RULES OF NATURE!!!!!!! AND THEY RUN WHEN THE SUN COMES UP WITH THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE ALIIIIIIIIVE 6 hours ago, Copanele said: Also to this day I still haven't played a Persona game Playing my first Persona game currently (as well as my first turn-based RPG), which is Persona 3 FES. I've acclimated to the genre pretty quickly. 20+ hours in so far, having tons of fun. I'll just say, if you ever decide to play a Persona game, be prepared to have a second life (and a third one) for like 70-100 hours ?. I've heard people say 2022 was not a strong year in terms of videogames. When I look at the end of the year lists and stuff like that, I come to a different conclusion. Can you really call a year when Elden Ring was released bad? ?. What do you think of 2022 games overall? Edit: wait, I'm blind, you answered this question in the beginning, sorry. Edited December 22, 2022 by Slava 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted December 22, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2022 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Elden RIIIIIIIING! Praise the sun! no, wait... Umbasa! ...I mean Bear Seek! I mean... ah, fuckit. Let me tell you what the exclamation for this game should be ? 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Could there ever be another? NO! what a game, dude - and your RL1 run was a bizarre, terrifying, and often hilarious thing to see! What a game indeed! and what a fantastic year overall and the RL1 was the cherry on top. That's why I held off on posting the retrospective, I wanted to be done with the RL1 run. 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Goddamnit - I bout Treasure of the Aegean already! I really did! I'll get to it soon, I swear! Man I sure hope this game won't end up being a disappointment, given how much I hyped it up ? 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Arkane Heart 3 Love Max, continuing the proud tradition of Japanese games picking their titles by cutting up a magazine, and drawing words outta blind scrabble bag! Japan is realllllly crazy when it comes to these words, the Oxford Dictionary must be every creative director's wet dream. What even is a Revengeance? ? 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Fuck that Batmobile! Goddamn Rocksteady - you made a great game, and a weak mini game... then leaned ALL THE WAY into the latter part! Never forget, Batman never kills. His Batmobile though... Road rage at its finest 6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: and finally.... - man, 2022 was good year for us, gaming wise! Cheers to you! Big cheers, let's play even dumber games in 2023 6 hours ago, Maahniac said: I absolutely loved this 2022 summary Copanele, thank you for sharing! I'm obviously incredibly happy to see Shadow Man Remastered featured here, as that of course is the best video game of all-time But... it also warmed my heart to see you mention Treasures of the Aegean (TWICE!) That's a game that needs to be played by MUCH more people, and I hope your glowing reviews here will help make that happen. As always, I love your writing style. Thank you for this, it was an entertaining read! Ah, hello there Maahniac! I will actually have to give full credits to you for presenting me Treasures of the Aegean it's because of your profile that I discovered this. What a fantastic game it is! Yes, Shadowman is in a league of its own, there's no way I couldn't have mentioned it. In fact, had it not been for Elden Ring absolutely killing it this year, I would've picked Shadowman as GOTY and I am dead serious about it! Thanks for stopping by! Really need to "steal" more ideas from your list 4 hours ago, FreshFromThaDeli said: Great write-up as always @Copanele Was a great read on my lunch break at work. Really enjoyed seeing Shadowman Remastered mentioned like @Maahniac did. Looking forward to playing more fighting games with you in the year 2023 Heh, I really have to step it up in anticipation for SF6 (wishful thinking ) Big thanks man! Hope 2023 will be more chill 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: You just awakened a dormant childhood memory There's something satisfactory about that commercial...really don't know what it might be ? 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: Great work, by the way. Kicking 52 games off the backlog in 2022 is no small feat. Purely anecdotal evidence on my part, but it does feel like Trophy Hunters -- trophy hobbyists, or whatever you want to call it -- do get more games done on average, even with the extra time these trophy lists ask for. Truth be told...yes. Not sure if we play more games than the average gamer, but we sure do 100% more 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: I hear the sounds of pitchforks clanking. Must be the angry Chie fanboys. Well I can even throw in the fact that the best Persona girl ever is Chie, just to anger pretty much everyone around who actually knows what's going on in that series Bless Atlus feet ? 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: Though it's still UR, I can totally see somebody thinking "It's just 4%; it can't be that bad... Wait... I didn't sign up for this!". These low owner count games are always the ones you gotta look out for, lol. You know which game ain't UR anymore even? ART OF FIGHTING!! We both know a person that would call bullshit on that rarity ? Yep, low owner count games will always find a way to bamboozle you... 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: ArcSys' job wasn't done unless the grind was as intense as the game title. Fire up that HORI!!!!! Nothing beats the purchase of a turbo controller. Best investment of my life, it saved me weeks of stupid grinding and AH3 LM was no different! 3 hours ago, AihaLoveleaf said: Are there going to be more "Damn it, @Copanele!" Moments in 2023!? Damn it, @Copanele!! I SURE HOPE SO!!!! At some point I have to play Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 too, no? ? And I sure added some nice games in the UR thread...if I don't get at least the same amounts of "Damn it Copanele" moments in 2023 then I definitely did something wrong 58 minutes ago, Slava said: All those MGR wins... nice. (I need to play it too ). AND THEY RUN WHEN THE SUN COMES UP WITH THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE ALIIIIIIIIVE Angry Japanese Ninja Cyborg fights AMERICA! How can this game not be amazing? ? 58 minutes ago, Slava said: Playing my first Persona game currently (as well as my first turn-based RPG), which is Persona 3 FES. I've acclimated to the genre pretty quickly. 20+ hours in so far, having tons of fun. I'll just say, if you ever decide to play a Persona game, be prepared to have a second life (and a third one) for like 70-100 hours . It's ok, I enjoy Yakuza and those games take a fuckton of hours Problem is...Persona games send me back to highschool. Bruh I hated highschool, why would I trigger my PTSD like that? 58 minutes ago, Slava said: I've heard people say 2022 was not a strong year in terms of videogames. When I look at the end of the year lists and stuff like that, I come to a different conclusion. Can you really call a year when Elden Ring was released bad? . What do you think of 2022 games overall? Edit: wait, I'm blind, you answered this question in the beginning, sorry. Nah, let me elaborate to say WHY 2022 was great (for me at least). Here's the games that I thoroughly enjoyed and were released in 2022: Shadowman Remastered Elden Ring (duh) God of War Ragnarok King of Fighters 15 Cult of the Lamb Horizon Forbidden West (I want to play it) Metal Hellsinger Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (CHAOOSSSSS) Mount&Blade Bannerlord Sifu And these are the games that I remembered in 5 minutes while I wrote this list, not to mention all the other indie games that I definitely missed and will likely play once I encounter them Nah, 2022 was a great year, no doubt about it 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 That was a fun read. Some good games you played this year. But Elden Ring as the best game huh? I’ve spend 30 minutes searching for a Catherine gif that made any sort of sense. This was the best I could do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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