Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[Copanele]

10 minutes ago, Baker said:

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. 

Hahah , yep, Elden Ring really was the very best out there  When it launched I was like

 

 

(You can't come into this neighborhood with that sacrilege of a game and expect me to not reply with a DMC5 meme ??)

 

 

[Baker]

20 minutes ago, Copanele said:

 

(You can't come into this neighborhood with that sacrilege of a game and expect me to not reply with a DMC5 meme )

 

 

Soon. Very soon..

 

The big difference here is I actually really like DMC 5. Just need to get back into it. ?

 

I saw a post of someone that ran through HAH with the super costume and then went through all missions one character at a time. And that sounded like a good idea to me. I’m thinking of  V—> Nero—> Dante.

 

Good luck with Catherine next year, you will complete it no doubt.

[YaManSmevz]

Aayyyyy that's what I'm talkin about!! Awesome write-up mah dude? and for the record...

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

 

(had no better image available)

 

Of course you didn't, this was the best one!

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

ARCANA HEART 3 LOVE MAX !!!!!!

 

For a quick idea of how dumb I am, when I saw this my first thought was "wow, he's really excited about this one" til I saw the exclamation points in the image. Not my brightest moment?

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE

 

Bruh. Here I was thinking I had the MGS deal solved, I knew which games I was and wasn't playing, and you had to come along and make this look so appealing. How dare you.

 

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

 TREASURES OF THE AEGEAN

 

Did I miss your review of this?? It doesn't look familiar at all, but looks so appealing! And if it beats Guac 2... well fuck me, I need to check this out!

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

A STORY FOR THE AGES - BEST STORY

THE WOLF AMONG US

 

Mmhmm, mmhmm?

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

CALL OF JUAREZ GUNSLINGER

 

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

THIS IS WHY I LOVE VIDEOGAMES - THE MOST SATISFYING EXPERIENCE

SHADOWMAN REMASTERED

 

Dude I remember you were so excited about this, and I just have this memory of it being a cool edgy 64 game without actually spending much time with it. I really need to correct that!

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

THE BEST GAME OF 2022

ELDEN RING

 

The more time goes by, the more I know you guys are gonna make a Souls junkie out of me sooner or later?

 

8 hours ago, Copanele said:

• @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 

 

Oof. Yes, do that! Something tells me she can hit very hard?

[Copanele]

13 hours ago, Baker said:

Soon. Very soon..

 

The big difference here is I actually really like DMC 5. Just need to get back into it. ?

 

13 hours ago, Baker said:

I saw a post of someone that ran through HAH with the super costume and then went through all missions one character at a time. And that sounded like a good idea to me. I’m thinking of  V—> Nero—> Dante.

Yeah that is possible...however using a super costume won't award you the S rank...which you need in Hell or Hell mode  

Unless there's an exploit? ?

13 hours ago, Baker said:

Good luck with Catherine next year, you will complete it no doubt.

Many thanks, I only need the motivation to return to it ? 

 

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

For a quick idea of how dumb I am, when I saw this my first thought was "wow, he's really excited about this one" til I saw the exclamation points in the image. Not my brightest moment?

When it comes to Japanese game names, you never know what you're getting  Arcana Heart games have a tendency to add a ton of exclamation points depending on the re-release (there's a PC version that has even more exclamation marks I think?)

Believe me the game is not as exciting as you would expect ?

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

Bruh. Here I was thinking I had the MGS deal solved, I knew which games I was and wasn't playing, and you had to come along and make this look so appealing. How dare you.

 

 

Yeah there's no skipping Metal Gear Rising. Is is completely stupid, non-canon and action oriented instead of tactical stealth? Absolutely. But it is worth every minute.

Plus it has Kojima's personal blessing! 

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Did I miss your review of this?? It doesn't look familiar at all, but looks so appealing! And if it beats Guac 2... well fuck me, I need to check this out!

Yeah I completed this game in January, so that's why it went under the radar.

You can click on the game name and it will send you back to my initial post about it  if the site is kind enough to actually not mess the hyperlinks...

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

Dude I remember you were so excited about this, and I just have this memory of it being a cool edgy 64 game without actually spending much time with it. I really need to correct that!

This game is the most "my list, my rules" game I could add!

As mentioned, if it wasn't for Elden Ring, Shadowman would have been my GOTY. It was THAT GOOD (for me :> )

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

The more time goes by, the more I know you guys are gonna make a Souls junkie out of me sooner or later?

 

Oh there's no escape for you  

13 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

Oof. Yes, do that! Something tells me she can hit very hard?

Glad that my dodge moves are on point...I still had to clean up everything in detail. Gotta prepare for Christmas by suffering thoroughly ?

Goddamn dust...appearing outta nowhere..

[Baker]

3 hours ago, Copanele said:

 

Yeah that is possible...however using a super costume won't award you the S rank...which you need in Hell or Hell mode  

Unless there's an exploit? 

No. But but it would be just to have acces to every mission on every difficulty. And then pick them off one character at a time. I have D ranks everywhere as I played through all difficulties with the super costume. (Except Human) ?

[Billie__227]

I love these end of year posts! Congrats on everything you did this year! Here's to another one :3

[Platinum_Vice]

On 22/12/2022 at 6:09 PM, Copanele said:

2022 Game of the Year Awards

(had no better image available)

 

 

 

As if a better image COULD be available??

 

Quote

 

SMOKING SEXY STYLE - BEST GAMEPLAY

 

HONORABLE MENTION - TREASURES OF THE AEGEAN

 

 

 

I don't know if I've told you already but I bought this purely on your review.

 

Quote

 

A STORY FOR THE AGES - BEST STORY

THE WOLF AMONG US

 

If only they removed the "choices" part in the game  

 

But a great story, for sure. ?

 

Quote

 

• @DrBloodmoney, @rjkclarke, @Platinum_Vice, @YaManSmevz, @Destructor-8, @Billie__227, @KindaSabbath for quality impression exchange about games (I still think SotC sucks  )

 

SotC is definitely overrated. The real Colossus was the friends we made along the way.

 

Or something.

 

On 22/12/2022 at 6:24 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

Goddamnit - I bout Treasure of the Aegean already! I really did! I'll get to it soon, I swear! ?

 

Yes! This!!

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Platinum_Vice

[Honor_Hand]

Yo, amazing end-of-the-year post, Copanele! And congrats on the completion of 52 games over the span of a single year. That's gotta be a new record, man. Lol, I'm going to be lucky if I complete at least a third of that. xxD

 

Reading your write-ups is always an experience as you always explain stuff in the most hilarious, yet accurate of ways. Can say that I've obtained plenty of insight into all of the games you've played, and you've also given me plenty of new considerations for my wishlist. It was nice to see you heading into the Arcana Heart 3 mines this year. Safe to say that that game was an eye-opener for you. An eye-opener in the sense that hey, you can have fan-service games with a lot of substance and a high fun factor. Even if it made you feel like an Orc worker in Warcraft 3 going into the mines, you have to admit that you were a happy Orc worker with ze lolis. xxD

 

Seeing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance referred to multiple times throughout this award post reminds me I really need to play that one at some point because it looks so badass. Also, the memes. It should give me plenty of more context for all of those too. x3 That Shadowman remaster is another that I need to experience for myself. I am always a sucker for classic, retro games. ^^

 

And man, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was so bad... I can only imagine the levels of disappointment I am going to get whenever I get to playing Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite. For once, I know Felicia is not in the game, so I know Capcom is already dropping the ball in a massive way there. Come to think of it, maybe it's for the better that Felicia didn't make it because the game looks horrendous at times. She actually dodged a bullet there. >.>

Here's hoping that this next year brings us more "what the hell is this game goddamnit Copanele" moments to remember. xxD

[Copanele]

On 12/24/2022 at 4:49 PM, Platinum_Vice said:

I don't know if I've told you already but I bought this purely on your review.

It will be mad hilarious/sad if you guys play it and end up not liking it  

On 12/24/2022 at 4:49 PM, Platinum_Vice said:

 

SotC is definitely overrated. The real Colossus was the friends we made along the way.

 

Or something.

 

I completely agree here. I made friends with the ground so many times...  

 

22 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

Yo, amazing end-of-the-year post, Copanele! And congrats on the completion of 52 games over the span of a single year. That's gotta be a new record, man. Lol, I'm going to be lucky if I complete at least a third of that. xxD

Many thanks Honor! Yep it was a glorious year. If I think of it, it's my best year yet  full of good and crazy games.

Gotta say, it was pure pleasure to share the rants with you mad lads (especially when I was almost losing my mind with Persona 4 Arena)

22 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

Reading your write-ups is always an experience as you always explain stuff in the most hilarious, yet accurate of ways. Can say that I've obtained plenty of insight into all of the games you've played, and you've also given me plenty of new considerations for my wishlist. It was nice to see you heading into the Arcana Heart 3 mines this year. Safe to say that that game was an eye-opener for you. An eye-opener in the sense that hey, you can have fan-service games with a lot of substance and a high fun factor. Even if it made you feel like an Orc worker in Warcraft 3 going into the mines, you have to admit that you were a happy Orc worker with ze lolis. xxD

I really enjoyed Arcana Heart 3 , the original one. The extra difficulty twist really made it enjoyable. And yes, Examu really showed no restraint with some characters or gallery arts  

Love Max however....

No thank you  

 

22 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

Seeing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance referred to multiple times throughout this award post reminds me I really need to play that one at some point because it looks so badass. Also, the memes. It should give me plenty of more context for all of those too. x3 That Shadowman remaster is another that I need to experience for myself. I am always a sucker for classic, retro games. ^^

I think you will enjoy both of them. Shadowman even more, because of that clunk :> 

Whenever you make a bit of space in your neverending backlog, you can give either of them a go ?

22 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

And man, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was so bad... I can only imagine the levels of disappointment I am going to get whenever I get to playing Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite. For once, I know Felicia is not in the game, so I know Capcom is already dropping the ball in a massive way there. Come to think of it, maybe it's for the better that Felicia didn't make it because the game looks horrendous at times. She actually dodged a bullet there. >.>

Here's hoping that this next year brings us more "what the hell is this game goddamnit Copanele" moments to remember. xxD

 

Yeah... please don't play MvCI. Really. There's NOTHING of value there.

And yeah Felicia not being in the game is a good thing, they would have butchered her badly! Low res Felicia would have been the final nail in the MvC coffin

 

Also this year I thought of something. I might give the jRPG genre a go... .:> 

I think that would generate enough "me" moments.

Just not Persona (sorry @Yuber6969). I ain't doing highschool again!

[Copanele]

 No. 208 - Yoku's Island Express

 

Platinum Name: Yoku's Island Express 

Hardest Trophy: WickerKing  collect all Wickerlings

Difficulty: 3.5/10

 

I know I posted the 2022 awards, but I managed to squeeze in juuust one more plat before the end of the year. Thankfully this game won't budge the previous game picks in any way  

Yoku's Island Express is a really odd game. It is a combination between Metroidvania and Pinball of all genres, where you control a cute little dung beetle who is attached to - and pushes - an actual pinball. You traverse the island by using the various well placed flippers, but here and there you have actual "pinball" dungeons where you usually have to find the way out via collecting various items.

 

The Metroidvania section asks you to solve quests and talk with the island's cute inhabitants...

 

...while the Pinball section asks you to ...well...pinball  

 

From the very first flipper pushes you will realize that this game is really cute and lighthearted. The music is chill, colors are vibrant and the various NPCs are just spreading good mood. Yoku himself is a very energetic little dung beetle, seemingly happy to be tossed around with his pinball companion.

 

The premise of the game is pretty simple - try to find a cure for the local god and see who inflicted damage to it. To do that, you have to traverse the entire island top, bottom and sideways while solving puzzles and pinball dungeons. You collect fruits as a currency which are used to unlock various flippers and buy random upgrades and maps from local vendors.

In true Metroidvania fashion, you also unlock various skills to aid you in your journey - the ability to swim, grapple and suck in explosive slugs to name a few.

 

The actual gameplay is a bit of a hit and miss here unfortunately. The best part are the Pinball maps, who are controlling rather decent and you aren't really feeling that you've been robbed when you failed to throw the pinball in the desired slot. You can't die in this game, which is a huge bonus, if you fall in the gutter the only thing you lose is 2-3 fruits.

However the actual traversal of the game is abit of a slog, Yoku doesn't have the desired momentum to actually traverse the map as fast as possible. There is a fast travel system but it only covers half of the map, you still being tasked to find the convoluted path should you want to head undeground.

The most annoying aspect is the slug explosion ability and the way it's tied in with the collectibles of the game. You can suck in a slug which then it's attached to a side of the pinball and acts as a timed bomb. After a set amount of seconds the slug explodes, propelling your ball to the opposite side of the explosion. Some collectibles can only be accessed by exploding the slug at the right angle....which is easier said than done. Aiming the ball at a right degree is quite clunky, sometimes you'll wonder why did your ball flew horizontally when you aimed it vertically.

 

Also there are a TON of collectibles. There's some well placed Scarabs that appear only in pinball maps. Most of them are visible but there's 2 or 3 who are deviously hidden and only show up on your map once you have only 10 scarabs left to collect. An odd design choice. And then there's Wickerlings...the equivalent of screaming turnips that are scattered throughout the world and need to be accessed via a puzzle or ability. Collecting the wickerlings was a frustrating job, mainly because of the slug issue mentioned before.

 

Overall, Yoku's Island Express was a pretty ok game, dragged down by some iffy mechanics and slow traversal (which shouldn't be a thing in Metroidvania games). It is worth the time investment, however I recommend picking it only when a sale is up

Also, despite being the best part of the game...I realized I don't really like pinball games  

 

THE GOOD:

• the entire game is adorable
• interesting mix between metroidvania and puzzles
• fun pinball dungeons
• it has boss battles!

THE BAD:

• traversing the game is a slog
• explosive slugs are an annoying mechanic
• abit too many collectibles

RECOMMENDATION - Ender Lilies Quietus of the Knights  an interesting twist over the classic metroidvania formula, you are a little girl who controls "summons" instead of attacking herself. Definitely a great time and way creepier than Yoku for sure 

[Yuber6969]

Great write-up! I agree with MGR getting so many awards, especially for OST. My favourite song by far was The Only Thing I Know for Real.

 

I'm not surprised to see that AH3LM got the grind award. The gallery grind was so irritating.

 

Big congrats again on P4A! I know you'll follow up with Koihime sooner rather than later.

 

On 22/12/2022 at 8:48 AM, AihaLoveleaf said:

Are there going to be more "Damn it, @Copanele!" Moments in 2023!? Damn it, @Copanele!!

 

Considering he made KOF 13 a bounty for 2023's UR cleanup, yes.

 

On 22/12/2022 at 0:22 PM, Copanele said:

You know which game ain't UR anymore even? ART OF FIGHTING!!

We both know a person that would call bullshit on that rarity 

 

 

And that person is me. Fuck SNK lol.

 

 

[Copanele]

9 minutes ago, Yuber6969 said:

 

Considering he made KOF 13 a bounty for 2023's UR cleanup, yes.

9 minutes ago, Yuber6969 said:

 

And that person is me. Fuck SNK lol.

 

 

I am definitely in top 5 reasons that make you go full rage mode ?

[Yuber6969]

20 minutes ago, Copanele said:

I am definitely in top 5 reasons that make you go full rage mode 

 

You are going to send me to an early grave with the games you make me play.

[Copanele]

Shadowman Remastered - The Horror DLC

 

 

Nightdive Studios is a gift that keeps on giving apparently. After doing a fantastic job with the Shadowman Remaster (you can read my original impressions here), they went above and beyond to add a DLC with even more restored content. 

When will these mad men stop? (hopefully never  )

 

The Horror DLC is basically concept arts brought to life. The original game had a certain book called "The Book of Shadows", which you could unlock only after you collected all 120 Dark Souls. This Book of Shadows was nothing more than an in-game concept art collection, with stuff that the devs planned to add but never managed to.

So Nightdive Studios took some of these concept arts and readded them into the game + some extra goodies that weren't in the book. This consists of:

• The map that was only available online now it's in the game (in the Les Cartes, cycle through them and you will find the map)
• A new weapon located in the Experimentation Rooms level - Tete de Mort, a herbivore (cow? bull?) skull that shoots homing purple arrows and is all around the best voodoo weapon in the game
• A new boss, Seraph Queen - the ultimate buffed version of the Sisters of Fate - she truly is a bitch
• New architecture artwork for the Asylum - statues, decorum, new entrance - adding more aesthetics to the already grotesque Asylum
• An in-game tracker of the stuff you've missed in a level! Holy crap this is probably the best addition in the game! When you go to the teleporter Teddie Bear menu, you can see which vital items you've missed and you can collect. The tracker will show you what you've missed only if you CAN access that item (for instance it won't show you the Dark Souls that are hidden behind a lava pool if you don't have the Nager ability)
• The new Horror Mode difficulty
• A nice extra cutscene at the end of the game, if you finish the game on Horror mode  

The main event here is, of course, The Horror difficulty. In this difficulty, the enemies deal a crapton of damage, take way more shots to die and most important their attacks change completely. Hook pigs are faster, the snipers have 3-4 alternate fires, the surgeons come in various designs now...it's like all the enemies were redesigned and replaced entirely. The game quickly turns into a survival mode, where you REALLY need to plan your route and how to abuse the various janky mechanics of the game so that you will get the enemies dead before they do the same to you.

A good part is that the enemies do not respawn until you've completely left the area. So if you die, you get reset to the starting position but all your enemies stay dead.

With this difficulty, your Shadowgun really becomes pathetic in terms of power, so you really have to focus on the voodoo weapons instead. The new addition Tete de Mort will absolutely rip the enemies to shreds for minimal voodoo power depletion. Since the game is more than generous with the resources, I'd say go full on guns blazing whenever you have the chance.

 

The new boss Seraph Queen is an absolute headache to fight on Horror Difficulty. She has various lightning based attacks, a teleportation attack where she zaps behind you and tries to shish kebab you and an AoE explosion that can pretty much one shot you. It's advised to abuse the quicksave and quickload functionality against her because bosses recover their life if you die, unlike the regular enemies.

 

If there's a think that I don't like at this dlc...the bosses themselves have become huge damage sponges. It takes a full Violator clip and a full voodoo mana bar to HOPEFULLY bring a boss to his knees, while they can easily rip you to shreds in seconds. Fortunately this still being an old game..a lot of cheese and glitchiness were used against them  

 

So, with this DLC addition, I am glad to say that Shadow Man is at its full power. It's another one of the examples of why I love videogames and I will always keep this game in high regard.

But once again, I don't fully recommend it unless you are ready to deal with old-school jankiness and design  

 

THE GOOD

• More Shadow Man love
• New Voodoo Weapon is awesome!
• New boss
• The added item info really is a game changer

THE BAD

• Bosses on Horror mode are a bit too much of a headache

[FreshFromThaDeli]

Can't wait to go back and play my GOTY 2022 on The Horror difficulty. Working on an few things before then though.

 

There goes my fastest completion top 3 finish. Really wish PSNP kept a distinction between fastest Plat achievers and fastest 100%ers.

[Copanele]

I have a stupid plan for 2023, which will explain some of my odd platinum choices.

I joined the Platinum Difficulty Challenge for this year, which basically asks you to platinum a game for each difficulty (from 1/10 to 10/10). The only condition is for that game to be rated on a respectable site (PSNP, PSN, Platget etc). I was thinking to combine this event with my passion for pressing buttons in a timely order, so I am aiming to complete this challenge using only fighting games. Because I already completed quite a few fighting games in the past, I will also consider arena fighters (e.g. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm) games as fighting games, despite it sounding like a sacrilege  just so I can have options at my disposal.

 

My options so far are the following: 

1/10 - XBlaze Lost Memories/I am the hero(platget)/Skyscrappers
2/10 - Phantom Breaker Omnia/Kamen Rider/Skyscrappers/DOA5 Ultimate/Digimon All-Star Rumble
3/10 - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R/Tekken Tag Tournament 2/Kill la Kill IF/Blade Arcus Rebellion from Shining/Black Clover Quartet Knights/Blade Strangers/Dengeki Bunko/
/Digimon All-Star Rumble
4/10 - Dead or Alive 6/Demon Slayer/Kill la Kill IF/Black Clover/One Piece Burning Blood/Dengeki Bunko/DoA5 Last Round (PS3)/Aquapazza
5/10 - Soul Calibur 6/Multiversus (Avid Achievers)/Demon Slayer/my hero's one justice 2/Kill la Kill IF/Melty Blood Type Lumina
6/10 - Street Fighter x Tekken/Demon Slayer/Kill la Kill IF?Saint Seiya Soldier Soul
7/10 - Akiba's Trip Hellbound debriefed/Gigabash/TNMT Shredder's Revenge/Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 /DNF Duel
8/10 - Dragon Ball Raging Blast/Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate/DNF Duel 
9/10 - Street Fighter 4
10/10 - Dead or Alive 5/Koihime Enbu RRR/Street Fighter 4

 

Now that I bored you with insignificant details, time to write about my 1/10 entry.

...you have no idea how hard it is to find a fighting game that is rated at 1/10...

 

 No. 209 - SkyScrapper

Platinum Name - Masterful 

Hardest Trophy - A Tale of Tales  complete all the single player campaigns

Difficulty - 2/10

Event difficulty - 1/10

 

I will admit, I would have not noticed this game if not for the Platinum Challenge difficulty. Which would have been a shame, because the game in itself is actually quite fun!

SkyScrapper is a platformer fighting game brawler (sounds weird no?) where you fight other opponents while climbing a crumbling tower. Your aim is either deplete the enemy's life (fighting) or reach the top of the tower first (platforming).

I ...think it's best to explain via an image.

 

You bounce off the debris while beating the shit out of your opponents. You don't see that every day

 

I have to say that this is quite a neat concept, I never played something like this before. You can pick from one of the 4 available characters - The British noble Phileas, the muscle brained martial artist Kichirou, the French special forces girl Solene and the ninja assassin-as-a-hobby Jessica. While each of the characters have a fun personality (Kichirou's ending was especially hilarious), the controls and skills are basically the same for each character, so choosing either of them is a matter of preference only.

 

While climbing, you can do various tricks that increase a green meter bar - long jumping, sliding on a falling debris, hitting opponents with flaming pieces of concrete. Filling the bar allows you to either inflict significant damage to the others or do a mega jump that will propel you several meters above the others. Leaving others behind is also a good way of dealing damage, the enemies do not die, but they lose a part of their HP.

 

Now here's the shocker part - I liked the platformer aspect more than the fighting aspect! The platforming section reminded me of Treasures of the Aegean, it resembles the same freeflow parkour mode, although way more rudimentary. You can string some killer jumps from piece to piece and reach the tower in no time...if you don't get hit by others. 

The fighting aspect however....it's very basic. Other than the regular attack, the super attack and sending debris towards the other participants, there's nothing complex there.

Also the biggest downside of the game is that it kinda gets boring after the first arcade playthrough. Characters being virtually the same gameplaywise offers no variety whatsoever. This game is probably intended to be played in multiplayer mostly...but the novelty would definitely wear off after a couple of matches.

 

Still, if you want an easy interesting little game, you can give this one a try when it's discounted. It shouldn't take more than 2 hours to complete it.

 

THE GOOD:

• neat idea for a game
• parkour part of the game is actually enjoyable
• the characters have interesting personalities

THE BAD:

• there's 0 difference between characters from a gameplay perspective
• game gets boring after 3-4 matches

Recommendation - Treasures of the Aegean  I kept praising this game, won't stop any time soon  it's just because the platforming is so damn satisfying. And yes, that's coming from the "how tf do I jump as Crash Bandicoot " guy

 

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, FreshFromThaDeli said:

Can't wait to go back and play my GOTY 2022 on The Horror difficulty. Working on an few things before then though.

 

There goes my fastest completion top 3 finish. Really wish PSNP kept a distinction between fastest Plat achievers and fastest 100%ers.

I really am waiting for your experience with the Horror difficulty, it really is a game changer  

Yeah sadly the only consistent list on PSNP there is who is the first achiever. Fastest achiever is always gonna be a floaty list.

(now that you mentioned, guess I am no.8 fastest achiever lol ?)

Edited January 3, 2023 by Copanele

[FreshFromThaDeli]

@Copanele Good list of fighting games on that challenge list. I didn't complete a lot of them last year in terms of Platinums.

 

This year it will be the same because I plan to play SF6 all throughout second half of the year when it releases and drop everything else I'm playing to rank up online and use training mode a lot. 

 

I would normally say good luck on that list but you don't need it. ? 

[maxfighter23___]

@Copanele good luck with your games and have fun

[Copanele]

3 minutes ago, FreshFromThaDeli said:

@Copanele Good list of fighting games on that challenge list. I didn't complete a lot of them last year in terms of Platinums.

 

This year it will be the same because I plan to play SF6 all throughout second half of the year when it releases and drop everything else I'm playing to rank up online and use training mode a lot. 

 

I would normally say good luck on that list but you don't need it.  

Hahah I guess you won't be available anymore starting 2nd of June ,unless I send you fight requests ??

 

Thanks! I "might" need a bit of luck with DoA5 survival mode, but I'll pray to the Gods of Jiggle that I succeed ?

 

3 minutes ago, maxfighter27 said:

@Copanele good luck with your games and have fun

Many thanks  

[Copanele]

 No. 210 - Dead or Alive 6

 

Platinum Name - DEAD OR ALIVE 6 Master 

Hardest Trophy - Milky Way  Receive 100 stars in DoA6 Quest mode

Difficulty - 2.69/10 (yes I am immature like that)

Event Difficulty - 4/10

 

When I played Dead or Alive 5 (including Last Round), the game felt like that cute girl next door. Fun game, lots of easy to pull combos (with some thought put behind them), a cast that focused more on jiggling and sweating physics, TONS of fanservice for every taste and a simple yet easy to follow story. It was in short a game that didn't take itself too seriously and was only focused on delivering a good fun time.

 

Dead or Alive 6 in comparison is the girl next door that had one botched plastic surgery. While still functional, the game feels like an overall downgrade to the previous version.

That's not to say that the game is ugly, seeing screenshots from the game you'd think it's the peak of last gen's fighting game graphics. It's when the models start moving that the cracks show up, the experience doesn't feel as smooth as DoA 5.

 

Ayane is one exception, she still looks decent in this release  

 

The true issue appears when you start actually playing the game. Having enjoyed the previous iteration, I couldn't wait to enter this game and try the brand new combos under the new system....except the system has been dumbed down. In DoA5 you had a "Critical Stun" system where if you comboed the opponent for a set amount of hits, you could land a super OOMPH hit that would make them crumple under your hit and allow you to add even more combo shenanigans. It was a super satisfying mechanic.

In this game however...that Critical Stun was replaced by a Super button. Once you have the bars filled you press the button and it goes WOOSH, your character does some Final Flash kind of attack. Which doesn't feel that good. As a conclusion..I had to resort to mashing. Heck, whatever punch/kick works, it would be good.

 

Another headache inducing problem is the loading times. The game for some reason has the need to connect to the servers every time you switch to a different menu. Finished a game? Connect to server. Go to options? server. Exit options without changing a thing? Server again. This stupid connectivity can randomly drop too, because the DOA servers are hot garbage, which leads to several crashes together with progress loss. Thank god I didn't have to play a 100 matches survival mode, else it would have been utter pain.

 

And the final bit of the story...the infamous DLC Season passes, which are mostly costumes. They cost MORE THAN THE ACTUAL GAME what the hell? This has been memed to hell and back when this game appeared but just for the good ol' time sakes, I will repost that image:

 

Jeez, what were they trying to accomplish with these prices??? Like, ok, I like costumes and I appreciate a good bikini costume but WHO IS THE FOOL THAT WOULD PAY THIS MUCH FOR SOME STUPID COSTUMES? Really? When other more accessible/free forms of "entertainment" are already available on the internet? 

 

The only fun time I had in this game was when going for the Online matches. You have to do 50 online wins and 100 online matches, so I started playing this with @MissShake ...except the servers are actually populated with players just as lost as us (aka why are we even playing this?). We ended up doing most of the matches legit and it was actually fun to randomly punch the hell out of pink haired bikini girls while the lag was blasting us from every side. Big thanks to MissShake for helping me going through this ordeal  

 

The TL;DR version - game's a downgraded version of DoA5, it's dumbed down, has some ridiculous DLC prices, it's overall boring as sin and my face was  for the entire playtime. I even had to force myself to write this post just to get rid of dealing with this game.

I definitely recommend skipping this game altogether/

 

THE GOOD:

• Jiggles still exist
• Even more girls added (don't ask me of their names)
• Some graphical improvements, as long as the characters stay still

THE BAD:

• Why play this when DoA5 LR is so much better?
• Dumbed down gameplay
• Game looks like a downgrade altogether
• Those damn DLC prices!!!
• Servers are still trash
• "Connecting" message will be a constant annoyance

Recommendation - Dead or Alive 5 Last Round  Way, WAY more enjoyable than DoA6

 

 

[FreshFromThaDeli]

I liked DOA6, played it a ton online.Got up to something like B Rank in Ranked Match with my main. I agree DOA5 and its incarnations are miles better but this was still a fun romp imo. Well done.

[Copanele]

 No. 211 - Melty Blood: Type Lumina

 

Platinum Name - MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA Completionist! 

Hardest Trophy - Perfect Clear Rate  achieve 100% with one character

Difficulty - 5/10

Event Difficulty - 5/10

 

I sure love cleaning up my messy 2022 December backlog, because today it's time for Melty Blood to join the fighting games plat gang!

Melty Blood Type Lumina is a fighting game developed by French Bread (the ones who developed Under-Night InBirth) series and it's an installment of the Tsukihime series. Since I never ever played Melty Blood AND never read the Tsukihime series (since they are a Visual Novel, therefore Kryptonite to me)...I will talk strictly about this game only.

Besides...I've read some VERY disturbing stuff about most of the characters' background, which made me go "wtf Japan" ? best to remain pure with this game only!

 

Melty Blood is probably the most "middle of the ground" fighting game out there. It's got characters with a simple yet very charming design, an "easy to learn yet hard to master" gameplay, pretty banger music and a moderately challenging trophy list. Yet it's probably one of the most forgettable games out there, at least for me, unless you are crazy invested in the story and characters

 

 

Yep the game can get crazy like this  

 

In terms of story...the main protagonists Arcueid Brunestud(vampire chick on the cover) and Shiki Tohno (the glasses dude on the cover) aim to defeat a resurrected noble vampire Vlov, while also having to deal with the rest of the cast, each having a personal interest in the matter.

...yeah ok I haven't followed the story  BUT I ASSUME IT'S GOOD! 

 

The gameplay has the already-used-to-but-still-stupid autocombo button (you mash a button to do a quick combo), however this alone won't guarantee your victory! This game really asks you to learn all the mechanics that it has to offer, which is best shown in the Trials section of the game. Unlike any other fighting game, the Trials here allow you to slow down your gameplay so you can figure out the inputs at your own pace. You won't have to worry about 1 frame perfect inputs there, you can slow down the game and understand how each combo works for your favorite character (although it does detract from the actual challenge)

 

As mentioned, the roster is pretty memorable in its simplicity. The characters aren't anything flashy, most of them are in casual clothes, uniforms or maid wear, but somehow they have that personality that makes them be enjoyable. One of my favorites is Kohaku, a cheerful maid who looks like an airhead and has a crapton of attacks, from a katana hidden in her broomstick to actually flying on the said broomstick like a witch and dropping crap on enemies, to finally summoning violent cactus pots and switching to a fancy chinese dress when she wants to dish the maximum amount of damage. She also has various funny interactions with her stern sister Hisui.

Also her animations of walking and running around are absolutely hilarious.

Sadly I couldn't find her running animation, so the walking animation should do

 

However, the true star of the show and the sole reason why the game was resurrected when it hit a low interest point was Neco-Arc.

Aka this little shit

 

The problem with Melty Blood is that it has an incredibly small player base, mainly because it's not as flashy or known as the other fighting game franchises. It's no Street Fighter, no Tekken, no Guilty Gear or Mortal Kombat, it's a niche game at the end of the day.

HOWEVER...a lot of people who play fighting games KNOW of this little turd of a cat and how annoying she can be  

Neco-Arc is basically the "Deadpool" character of the game, she's an annoying literal copycat of Arcueid, who is very proficient at breaking the 4th wall. She is the weakest character in the game, probably in the series (not sure), but damn if she ain't going to annoy you with her bullshit UFO spams, random cat trains, lasers, summoning Saber out of nowhere and...Cat Streaming mode, where she turns your game into a literal streaming montage where she thanks to her viewers.

 

The moment she got added to the game as a free DLC character, the interest for this game surged and I can see why - Neco Arc is too damn hilarious. Even I played as her quite a few matches online and despite losing all of them (cause the character sucks), it was mad fun to simply annoy the opponents with random crap.

 

 

Yes, the game can literally turn into...this

 

In the end, Melty Blood Type Lumina is a fun time with quite a cool cast AND free DLC characters that are added periodically. However, since it's also a very not-so-memorable game, I can only recommend giving this game a go if you can find it at a discount. It's good, but not THAT good to actually warrant a full price purchase.

I should probably play the previous installments on PC...if I will ever find the energy  

 

THE GOOD:

• a fun fighting game
• character personalities
• easy to learn, tough to master gameplay
• free DLC characters
• Kohaku and Neco Arc are the best in the roster

THE BAD:

• it's pretty unremarkable as a game
• the dreaded autocombo button
• it misses that "something" that makes other series great

 

Recommendation - Under Night InBirth  Same developer but the characters and the gameplay (and especially the soundtrack) is way better in this series.

[Yuber6969]

Congrats!

 

I still haven't played a DOA game (except Xtreme) and I wondered why everyone shat on 6 so much. I can see why now; it does sound pretty bad lol.

 

I've had Melty Blood on my wishlist for a while now and I'm glad to hear that it's decent. I really liked UNI so I'm sure I'll like this.

[Copanele]

On 1/4/2023 at 0:10 AM, FreshFromThaDeli said:

I liked DOA6, played it a ton online.Got up to something like B Rank in Ranked Match with my main. I agree DOA5 and its incarnations are miles better but this was still a fun romp imo. Well done.

I think I reached C rank while going for matches...for a fanservice oriented fighting game...too many people are playing Jan Lee online  

17 hours ago, Yuber6969 said:

Congrats!

 

I still haven't played a DOA game (except Xtreme) and I wondered why everyone shat on 6 so much. I can see why now; it does sound pretty bad lol.

 

I've had Melty Blood on my wishlist for a while now and I'm glad to hear that it's decent. I really liked UNI so I'm sure I'll like this.

Go for 5 whenever you have the time  it's super fun!

Yep I think you will enjoy Melty. The Story mode might be abit of a grind...but you had the patience to power through UNI story mode so this one will be easy  

[Copanele]

 No. 212 - DNF Duel

 

Platinum Name - Epic Collector 

Hardest Trophy - Eternity Crusher  clear Survival mode C

Difficulty - 5/10

Challenge Difficulty - 7/10

 

Yes, another fighting game. This is my January mood, so please bear with me for a short while  

DNF Duel is a fighting game developed by Arcsystem Works (Guilty Gear and Blazblue) and is based on the online game Dungeon Fighter Online created by Neople . This is another "adaptation IP" that Arcsys picked up, right after Dragon Ball FighterZ and Granblue Fantasy Versus. 

 

Since it's an Arcsys game, you expect the graphics to be amazing...and oh boy did the devs deliver once again! The best part of this game is how beautiful it looks! If Dragon Ball FighterZ had graphical fidelity...well this game beats it by a long margin. Every character, every background and every animation are created with top tier quality as expected from this prestigious developer. It's not as good as Guilty Gear Strive...but man it's still top notch. And it's still regaining the original DFO game feel, which I can see from videos alone:

 

It's amazing how they managed to adapt this....

...Into this

 

I did not know this game was developed in South Korea, so hearing the Korean VA was quite the surprise. I will say that it actually fits the game really well. I could choose between Korean VA and Japanese VA and I'd say that the Korean VA still sounds better, it gives a different personality to the characters compared to the typical " gruff honorable man/cutesy dangerous girl/smooth criminal gunslinger" that you keep hearing in anime. 

 

A fighting game is nothing without its roster and DNF Duel does not disappoint here either. You get 16 characters to pick from and each of them look amazing and completely different from each other. The characters do not have names, but rather classes (another thing brought from DFO) - you have the classic melee fighters Grappler and Striker, the ranged characters Ranger and Launcher, some crazy high risk high reward characters like Berserker, puppeteers like Enchantress and Dragon Knight and even hybrids like Troubleshooter. I know that the devs went with this character name choice in order to be in line with the DFO lore...but I feel that this detracts from their personality, compared to actually named characters ? unlike DFO, in DNF Duel you only have ONE Striker, not multiple characters that share the same class. Having a personal name would have been better imo.

 

The design of the characters is top notch, really nothing to say there, I'll let the GIFs/images talk for me  

 

The Ranger, for the Dante from Devil May Cry lovers

 

The Vanguard, for the Honorable Warriors

 

The Striker, for the...uhm...yeah...what was I saying again?

 

My favorite out of all the cast is the Dragon Knight however. She has a small pet dragon that acts as an assist. All her attacks are focused on dealing mad fire damage and prolong combos with the dragon. Not the best character, but I loved her design and Korean VA

 

I know I spammed this post with GIFs, but what can I do, game looks great  

 

 

Now, let's talk about the final selling point of a fighting game - the gameplay. And here's where my opinions will change about the game?

 

The first thing that this game brings to the table are the input changes. Probably the most dreadful part about a fighting game to a beginner are the convoluted inputs - 6 button combinations, press X Square down forward 236 R1 to do combo that does 2% more damage, lists over lists over lists of stuff...basically Ancient texts that only a madman could decypher.

 

Well, DNF Duel said "screw that shit" and simplified the inputs. Now all characters have a different attack depending on the button you press and the direction you press. Square and Triangle are light and medium attacks, Circle is Special attack and X is Super Special attack that consumes mana from a regenerative mana pool. Even if it still sounds complex, it really isn't, you can get the hang of it with the tutorial only. 

And even if you dislike the tutorial, the controls are intuitive. You want to advance while still attacking? Well press Forward with a button. Want to stand your ground? just press a button with no direction. Someone jumps at you? Crouch and press button to be launched in the air.

That's not to say that the gameplay can't be complex! Holy crap if you go to the Trial Modes or watch pro matches online you can see how wild the game can get! I would say that DNF Duel is a game that both casuals and pros could enjoy, because while the controls are simplified, they are not autocombo levels of dumb, so they definitely fall in the category of "easy to learn, holy shit is it tough to master though". You can do fun shit when playing with your friends OR you can do crazy shit while playing with your training mode lab obsessed friends  

 

Now, with all that being said, why did I say my opinions will change about the game? Well for me, a character's move list was also part of its personality. Yes some characters are a headache to learn, but it was also satisfying at the end, a satisfaction that I just didn't feel with this game. For instance if you see that a character that has a lot of "mash button" presses, you could imagine that the said character is a crazy close combat brawler with a nasty personality but also a character that can't deal with ranged attacks.

Here...except Launcher who is a purely ranged character...all the roster felt the same gameplaywise. Yes I know they are not the same, some are more broken than the others, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I've been playing roughly the same character no matter what I picked.

Also, since you can do crazy supers with the press of a button...I couldn't help but think of this image  

 

 

I don't know, the super attacks lost their novelty halfway through the game  didn't need to think too much, I just pressed the button and prayed to the gods.

 

Story is...I don't know. The moment I saw "Multiverse opened gates, then the gates closed until the Will of the Adventurers was manifested and the gates were opened again" I said "OK that's it, turboing the story mode it is" . So yeah there's a story, I don't know it, @Yuber6969 you tell me when you end up playing it, you're the loremaster of this stuff usually.

 

The trophy list is a pleasant surprise. It's actually moderately challenging. You do have to complete one character's trials (and they're not the casual crap that Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has thrown at us), you do have to finish Survival mode on all difficulties (last difficulty means beating 100 enemies back to back) AND to finish Story mode with all 15 characters (the 16th is the Boss character and he is not required). However, there are some easy characters that you can finish the trials with, and the Survival mode allows you to save after each fight.

Plus, you have this beautiful character to help you.

Her name is Launcher and yes she loves her guns

 

Launcher is the "Get this Platinum for free" character of the game. What she does is gun spamming. Yep, that's right, she turns this game into Cuphead. 90% of her attacks are projectiles, the AI can't deal with her and she is VERY ANNOYING ONLINE. So if you want to speedrun through the harder trophies of this game...pick this girl.

 

At the end, despite all the praise I brought to the game...DNF Duel will suffer the same fate as Granblue Fantasy Versus. It is a beautiful game and Arcsys put a lot of thought into it...the problem is that the game is also very forgettable. I am still not sure who was this game made for, because DFO players will briefly play this game for 5 minutes before returning to their online grind, while the fighting game players would simply go after more enjoyable games (Street Fighter 5/6, Tekken 7/8, Guilty Gear Strive etc.) A fighting game's success is dictated by its longevity and given that the servers of DNF Duel were empty after one month from its release...yeah, this game will be dead and buried at the end of this year.

 

Still, if you like nice graphics, want a moderately challenging trophy list or just want to press buttons without thinking too much... I do recommend grabbing this whenever a discount is available. It's not a bad game after all. Just misses that special ingredient to push it forward. 

 

THE GOOD:

• oh lord the graphics
• Korean VA
• the characters are actually beautiful
• easy to understand moveset
• moderately challenging trophy list

THE BAD:

• forgettable once you are done with it
• characters having classes as names hurt their personality
• the gameplay isn't for everyone
• neither DFO fans nor Fighting Game fans will keep their interest long enough to play this game

RECOMMENDATION - Dragon Ball FighterZ  the one true Dragon Ball fighting game that seriously put Arcsys on the map.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Copanele