Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[Copanele]

29 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

I find it pretty funny how with other games being comparable to Dark Souls, someone came up with endearing term "Soulslike", with it being a widely agreed upon appreciation... Yet when it comes to other game genres or series out there, you find fans who rip each other apart at the notion of one being "similar" to another like it's a bad thing! 😂 Dark Souls fans EMBRACE inspiration from others!
It's bizarrely awesome how Souls games and Heavy Metal music are considered hardcore from outside audiences, yet their fans are somehow the most wholesome! 😂

Ohhh don't speak too soon...there's some out there that dislike Lies of P because it's a GOOD Soulslike, like it's a sin to have a GOOD fromsoft inspired game. Nah, there are some crazy fans out there, like in any other community. Maidenless, all of them 😂.

 

Buut I admit, most of my best online friends are because of Dark Souls. So, you can find good people too  

(i do agree that Heavy Metal fans are overall very wholesome though ! )

[Copanele]

Cult of the Lamb - Sins of the Flesh DLC 

💯 completed

 

Hardest Trophy - Aesthetics of the Lamb - upgrade the temple

Difficulty - 3/10, very RNG based

 

The second free DLC of this cute Rogue-like game brings in new "NSFW" additions. Jokes aside, there's new rituals that involve Sin, a new mechanic where you "corrupt" your followers to do unsavory actions, like dancing butt naked around the campfire, hatch eggs, get them drunk or start a damn peasant riot and burn stuff to the ground. Of course, this is all done in a joking manner, fitting the theme of the game. You can use the generated Sin currency to upgrade your temple or to craft various costumes that your followers can wear.

 

Unfortunately, there hasn't been too much focus on the actual Crusading part, the only extra thing being a new weapon, the blunderbuss, which is already broken since it's a ranged weapon and you can simply snipe the enemies from afar. I wish there was a bit more focus on the combat aspect as well, since it hasn't evolved that much from the release of the game.

 

Another annoying part is that the devs fixed a lot of the bugs, but now the game slows down to a snail's pace, it not being able to process all the details on the screen anymore. At least on my PS4 I had to wait like 5-6 seconds whenever I wanted to load up my followers' list to assign them tasks. So in a way, the game is still not working as intended, although it doesn't crash as often anymore  

 

Finally, getting all the trophies is a bit of a chore. You have to level up 12 followers to max level, which takes a while. You have to find random pieces of paper in random locations which is about as fun as it sounds. Lastly, upgrading your temple to the maximum level 10 is a heavy resource endeavor, you needing a lot of sin and gold to achieve that.

 

So...while the DLC is a nice free addition, given the game's new framerate dropping and the focus on the cult aspect, while ignoring the combat aspect...I can't fully recommend this game. Don't get me wrong, Cult of the Lamb is a great game in itself, but it has issues that can't be ignored😅

 

Until the next free DLC!

[YaManSmevz]

Damn dude, you had a busy week!

 

On 1/21/2024 at 9:34 AM, Copanele said:

 265 - Lies of P

 

I'm so glad that guy from My Chemical Romance finally got his own video game!

 

Edit: Did I already say that? Short term memory loss is a bitch, man... don't drink, kids.

 

Seriously, this looks great. I loved how in depth you got with the combat, made me wish I was playing it now! I'm really intrigued to see what they do with the story, it's always so interesting to see how these old stories were before they got Disneyfied within an inch of their lives, plus you seem so taken with it!

 

I'm excited, dude - I've got a spiritual successor to play after Bloodborne!

 

On 1/25/2024 at 2:16 AM, Copanele said:

 267 - Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection

(Uncharted 4: A Thief's End + Unncharted: Lost Legacy)

 

You've done a stunning job of making me wanna get back on the Uncharted horse, I gotta say! I am stuck with the PS4 version of U4, I'll have to figure THAT mess out... but a solid series ending just sounds like too great a thing to miss - and I was kinda meh on Lost Legacy, thinking there's no way I'd wanna make room for more Uncharted, but I think you've successfully slapped it into my backlog!

 

How dare you.

 

Great shit, my dude😎👊

Edited January 28 by YaManSmevz

[Copanele]

On 1/28/2024 at 9:02 PM, YaManSmevz said:

Damn dude, you had a busy week!

 

 

I'm so glad that guy from My Chemical Romance finally got his own video game!

 

Edit: Did I already say that? Short term memory loss is a bitch, man... don't drink, kids.

 

Seriously, this looks great. I loved how in depth you got with the combat, made me wish I was playing it now! I'm really intrigued to see what they do with the story, it's always so interesting to see how these old stories were before they got Disneyfied within an inch of their lives, plus you seem so taken with it!

 

I'm excited, dude - I've got a spiritual successor to play after Bloodborne!

Hah that's a new one, so far I know that P looks like the guy from Dune 😂

 

Oh this is definitely not a Disney story holy damn it wouldn't get past the controls  but it's a fantastic one nonetheless.

And picture this - the game made my Sifu playthrough (upcoming) review to be a walk in the park 😂 so even bigger thumbs up to Lies of P. You'll love it!

On 1/28/2024 at 9:02 PM, YaManSmevz said:

 

You've done a stunning job of making me wanna get back on the Uncharted horse, I gotta say! I am stuck with the PS4 version of U4, I'll have to figure THAT mess out... but a solid series ending just sounds like too great a thing to miss - and I was kinda meh on Lost Legacy, thinking there's no way I'd wanna make room for more Uncharted, but I think you've successfully slapped it into my backlog!

 

How dare you.

 

Great shit, my dude😎👊

I have no clue how, but apparently I motivated several people to get back to Uncharted  glad I could do that! Although, I am sorry for the PS4 multiplayer struggle 😅

As for Lost Legacy...you know, I think you'll enjoy it, it felt like a free dessert. Just, don't try to play it on Crushing from the first playthrough like I did, it will sour the experience!

[Copanele]

 No. 268 - Sifu

+ 💯completed

 

Platinum Name - Fist of the Immortal

Hardest Trophy - Hidden Dragon - clear all Dragon arena challenges

Difficulty - 6.5/10, considering the DLC

 

I recently started working out again. I felt a sudden desire to exercise and just do physical activities. And it's all thanks to Sifu.

Why exactly? Because this game made me go "why am I wasting my time practicing martial arts in a janky ass game when I could simply go outside and practice actual physical activities".

Sifu made me wonder why am I even playing videogames in the first place 😅

 

Now, in itself, Sifu's aim isn't bad at all and for what it tried to accomplish I'd say it managed to do that admirably. Simply put, Sifu is a 3rd Person beat'em up game with a dash of roguelike-ness, which also is a love letter to all action/kung fu/Jackie Chan movies of old. The game pays respects to movies like Old Boy, The Raid, John Wick and hell, even some of the more obscure ones like "36th chamber of the Shaolin". Considering the devs hired a martial arts master to confirm that the moves are accurate, I can only say that the game is impressive in that regard.

 

Special Kung Fu delivery!

 

The artstyle is a highlight of this game. While the areas of the game are pretty simple in concept (A warehouse, a club, a museum, a corporation building and a healing spa), they can fully transform the moment you hit the "mysticism" part of each level. Despite that, I think my favorite level is still the first one, "The Squats", simply because it's just you delivering slaps and kicks in the rustiest, ugliest and nastiest derelict building/warehouse ever. That level REALLY feels like it's a grimy hellhole where only junkies and drug dealers hang around. And considering you are a little vengeance filled Kung Fu disciple...yep it works just right!

 

As mentioned before, there's a lot of movie references in the game. In this case, Oldboy

 

Speaking of vengeance, the story is simple at first, but unfolds the more you play and collect clues. From the prologue, a former student Yang and his 4 accomplices storm a Kung Fu school and kill its Sifu and a large amount of students. The only survivor is the master's child, with the help of a magical talisman that resurrects the dead, at the expense of years of their life. Filled with revenge, the child (you can choose if it's a boy or a girl) starts to train for 8 years and collect clues in order to find the 5 evildoers and kill them.

Throughout your playthrough you will collect various items and notes that will show the motivation of each villain and why they decided to kill the Sifu. I'd say that the story, while simple, fits perfectly within the scope of this game. A straight and to the point revenge story with some twists and turns for flavor.

 

Now, finishing all the good stuff I had to say... let's move on to the main course - the combat. And its jankiness.

 

The combat is the purest "freeform" style ever implemented in a game. You have no lock-on, where you aim is where you attack...in theory. Both you and the enemies have a health meter and a "posture" bar, similar to Sekiro. When that posture bar is depleted, you can inflict a "takedown", a beautifully choreographed execution attack on the poor fool that dared question your sifu hands. Same can happen to you though, if your posture bar is broken you will be temporarily dizzied and the enemy can take out a huge chunk of your life with one slap. You also have various moves that you can unlock via experience points, to better help you with the combat.

 

The main problem - I said that "where you aim is where you attack". Well, that's not quite true. The game is programmed in such a way that you will always attack the enemy closest to you. Which is a bullshit mechanic, mainly because you will most of the time aim to attack the enemy in front of you, just for your character to randomly whack some goon from the back who was 1 cm closer to you. It's a stupid implementation and I don't understand why they resorted to this mechanic. 

The hit detection is also a complete mess, sometimes your character simply refusing to connect with the punches and kicks. Worst are the sweep moves, where you can knock an unaware enemy on his ass. Well, you can SOMETIMES knock an enemy out, because half the times you will try to run towards an enemy and sweep, only for your character to completely MISS the enemy even though you were bolting straight to him. This collision detection makes no absolute sense in this game.

 

Now, these might sound like minor nitpicks in any regular game. However, Sifu is not an easy game. It demands a decent amount of skill (at least if you want to get the 100% now). But with issues like hit detection, random attack recognition, the fucking Focus mechanic (a sort of special attack) that will target any enemy except the one you want, you will lose half the time mainly because the game refuses to work properly whenever you least expect it. And that's a goddamn shame.

 

When it wants, Sifu can be an absolute joy to play. The problem is "convincing" the game to work

 

Sifu is a game focused on defense more than offense, therefore it introduces 2 mechanics: the dodge and the deflect/parry. To dodge, you have to enter a special stance by pressing L1 and then by flicking down the left stick you will duck under attacks, while flicking the left stick up will make you hop over attacks, some dodges briefly slowing down time, allowing you to sneak in extra hits. Parrying/deflecting happens when you block right before the opponent's attack connects and it deals a great deal of posture damage.

 

While the dodge button would be the obvious pick, after the Sekiro/Lies of P experience...parrying is just so much more better. Dodging is super iffy + you will have to learn every enemy's attack in order to know where to flick the left stick. In comparison, parrying is just a press of a button and you get the added bonus of dealing a ton of posture damage. The best combination would be mixing up both mechanics but really, I had no reason to bother with dodging 90% of the game and I just went with parries instead. Enemies and even bosses are super easy to predict compared to crazy bosses like Isshin from Sekiro.

 

Parrying is also the way to "break " the game. When you play the main campaign, you will find various shrines that will offer you different bonuses depending on your progress: How much exp you gained, what age are you, what your score is. There is a rather expensive upgrade that increases the posture damage you deal with a parry. Honestly that skill is so busted I didn't really need any other upgrade. Maybe some "weapon durability" upgrade, because I liked my weapons to last longer, but any parry related skill is so damn busted that you really don't need to actually try anything else, as long as you managed to figure out the parry.

 

Now, there's a new mechanic introduced in this game : Age mechanic. Every time you die, you age a set amount of years and your "death counter" is incremented, this counter telling you how much you'll age at your next death. To explain, you start at age 20. If you die once, you resurrect at age 21 and the counter goes to 1. Die again however, you'll reach age 23 ad the counter goes to 2. Die a third time, you reach 26, counter goes to 3...you get the point. You die once you reach age 80.

Now here's the kicker: every time you age through a decade (30s, 40s,50s, 60s and 70s) your health goes down, your damage goes up. You become the epitome of the glass cannon. Which makes sense considering real life, but the game gets progressively harder like that. Yeah you deal abit more damage, but the enemies get way harder and they absolutely will wreck your wrinkly ass in 2 hits. I hated this mechanic 😂 it legit ruined my fun with the game once I reached the 4th stage and the fuckers with knives started spamming out of nowhere. It felt like the World Tendency from Demon's Souls, except you didn't have a workaround like in that game.

 

The gizmo that keeps you alive. Barely.

 

 

Completing the levels will grant you experience points, which you can use to unlock various skills. You have charge skills, stance skills, trip an enemy after you punched him away, various focus attacks...the list goes on. All the skills are useful in their own right, however there's one HUGE problem with this system - you're never taught in which situation you're supposed to use the said skill.

 

For instance, you unlock the Raining Strikes skill. You connect an attack to the opponent and go for the strikes...just to see that the opponent blocks the damn thing. No matter what you do, it won't work. HOWEVER against other enemies it will work. Sometimes! Like, when I am supposed to use this? 

I assume that the game wants you to use the Practice mode implemented in the game and try every move against every type of enemy and see what works, just like in a fighting game.  However, I would have preferred if the game instead told you when it's best to use that skill.

 

In the end, with the help of the best Sifu tutorial ever @PooPooBlast I managed to make some sense of the moveset of this game. Apparently some of the moves are busted too and they can carry you throughout the game, moves like Crotch punch (self explanatory), the sweep combo and the infamous yet forgotten Duck Strike, a moveset where you just duck and slam your fists into the opponent, it works against almost everyone in the cast.

 I'll admit, some levels do manage to make me forget about the janky combat system

 

Another system the game has is the Focus system. As you attack and dodge/parry, a small bar fills in the lower left corner. That is the focus bar and once you have at least one segment full, you will be able to pull several "special attacks" like an eye poke, a strong sweep, a thrusting palm or various attacks if you have a weapon in hand. The Focus attack is a sort of "get out of jail for free" card, once you pull it, you will be locked in an animation and it will give you some breathing room while dealing massive damage and posture damage to the unfortunate fool at the receiving end. Focus attacks are especially good vs elite enemies or bosses: For instance, using the Eye Poke, you stun the enemy, allowing you to start a combo of your choice and deal as much damage as you can.

 

There's one problem with the Focus however, same as the targeting system - it will "focus" on the nearest enemy. Which again it's an incredibly stupid mechanic, because using the Focus on the wrong guy can mess your camera up instantly. You also can't switch targets while in Focus mode, so you have to go in and out of this mode and hope you can finally target the fool you desire. All while the enemies move in to attack you, because in Focus mode the time is slow, but it's not completely stopped.

 

Insulting your elders will get you a guaranteed eye check!

 

One last thing I will want to mention though, and that's the bosses. Honestly, I actually enjoyed the bosses in this game. They are pretty damn brutal and you will have to learn how to deal with each of them. Or you can simply parry all of their moves if your Sekiro mojo is on. They all have their quirks, gimmicks and powers and it will be a challenge to deal with them. Especially the final boss, who is either the hardest or the easiest boss in the game, depending how good you are with your parries.

 

All that changes if you decide to play on Master difficulty though. Every boss goes through a "randomizer program", where they throw random ass attacks in very quick succession, without you being able to anticipate what they'll do next. Special mention to the final boss again, he gets the ancient 4000 old Chinese art of input reading, he'll act depending on what you are pressing on your gamepad. So for the sake of your mental health, play the game on Normal or Easy, don't go through the ordeal that is the Master difficulty unless you absolutely love the game. Keep that Master for the Arena DLCs

 

Ah, speaking of - this game has a huge ass set of Arena challenges, where you can push your Sifu skills to the max. Honestly, despite the Arenas being even more bullshit than the main game...I started to somewhat get along with the game. I saw the Arenas like the actual tutorial of the game, where every challenge gives you a problem and you are somehow offered a solution via hints, so that's where I learned how to optimize the entire game. The Arena modes were absolutely crazy to play, but it was a welcoming challenge. 

Except the final Dragon Arena challenges, who the hell thought it would be fun to fight 2 bosses at the same time, followed by the final boss and after that another 2 bosses at the same time? That was hell!

 

Again, I understand what the devs tried to do and why people loved this game. For me personally though, I thought Sifu was pretty ass. Definitely one of the most disappointing games I've played this year. It might be my inner snob DMC player, but if a game demands precision from me, I expect the game to be precise in kind. I want it to be my fault for fucking up in a fight, not the game randomly deciding what moves connect and what not. 

 

And I am very disappointed because I wanted to enjoy this game. Really, a kung fu game where you can feel like an authentic Jet Li sounded like an absolute dream. Really, it could have been my game of the year if it just delivered. But sadly, this game is not for me. I will accept critiques, I accept the other qualities of the game, but the flaws of Sifu were a deal breaker for me. And before anyone goes with the "skill issue" comment (as the Sifu community loves to spam apparently), I have mastered the game. I finished all the Arena missions, got quite a few gold stamps, I know how this game works. Still works like crap.

I enjoyed Jump Force more than this game, and that really says something... 😅

 

THE GOOD:

• artstyle is top notch
• loved the choreography of the moves
• once you manage to make the game listen to you, you really can pull off some impressive combos
• all the movies references
• several unlockable costumes
• Arena Mode was actually fun
• Easy mode, for when you really don't want to deal with the bullshit the game throws at you

THE BAD:

• One of the most inconsistent combat mechanics I have encountered in a brawler
• Lots of fun moves, good luck figuring out what they are for
• Parrying will break the game and invalidate other systems
• The upgrades are terribly imbalanced
• Some enemies are just horrible to fight against
• The camera gives me DMC1 vibes
• The "focus on the nearest enemy no matter what" mechanic is dumb and it should be replaced by a targeting mechanic
• If you decide to do a "focus build", don't, the final boss is immune to your focus attacks.
• It ruined my dreams of a perfect Kung Fu game

Recommendation 1 - Tekken 8  Haven't played it yet, but even I can tell how good that game is. And it has some solid mechanics, confirmed by many

Recommendation 2 - Kung Fu Panda series  want a fun Kung Fu animation? Give this one a try. Watched them already? Watch them again!

Recommendation 3 - an actual workout  makes you feel badass AND fit. 

 

 

 

 

P.S. this game had an unreasonable amount of ...glitches. I will share 2 videos where the game absolutely decided to break and kill me randomly. I think Sifu disliked me 😂

 

 

 

[MissShake]

Congrats on the 100%! I was really bummed you didn't like Sifu, I'd been hearing so much good stuff about it and it really looked right up your alley. So it's a real shame that the game was that clunky. I was considering getting it, but now... Might have to come off the wishlist 😅

[Copanele]

5 minutes ago, MissShake said:

Congrats on the 100%! I was really bummed you didn't like Sifu, I'd been hearing so much good stuff about it and it really looked right up your alley. So it's a real shame that the game was that clunky. I was considering getting it, but now... Might have to come off the wishlist 😅

Thanks! It really kinda broke my heart to be fair 😅 and at this point it would make me glad to see people tell me I am wrong and say they had zero issues with Sifu, because someone at least enjoyed it.

 

A rare case where I wish I could fully tell "this game is a piece of shit" but I can't...

[Yuber6969]

Congrats! Sifu sounds good in theory but not implemented well from what I've read here. I agree with what you said about how the game should be precise if it expects precision. That's why I liked Skullgirls and BlazBlue but not MVC 3 (gonna get hate for that one lol).

[FreshFromThaDeli]

That was a good write-up. Sorry to hear it wasn't your cup of tea. I'm still gonna play though, it's on my 'to play' list for sure. 

[Copanele]

 No. 269 - Stick Fight

 

Platinum Name - Xiao Xiao

Hardest Trophy -  Triple Kill - kill 3 other players in a short period of time

Difficulty - 3/10 if you don't count the frustration levels

 

This game was so good I even forgot to write about it...One of the rare instances where a game I pick up for an A-Z event turns up to be a dud.

 

Anyway, stick fight is...pretty much what you see on the cover. You and 3 other potential friends can pick your stickman and duke it out on various maps with a wide array of weapons, from swords and knives to guns, machine guns, snake guns, gravity guns and a teleport dagger. However what you also receive is a rather janky game, with lots of bugs, random falls through the map, hits that don't register and a copious amount of crashes.

 

You stick and you fight.

Yeah sorry...have nothing better to say here  

 

The weirdest part of this game are the trophies. For once, it's a PS4 only game, but if you try to play it on PS5, most of the trophies simply won't pop because...nobody knows, really. Then, there are some trophies that can only pop in online co-op, like the "kill 3 other players" ones, the kills simply do not register in local co-op. And that's where the game's jankiness truly shows up. I tried boosting this with @Yuber6969, we could connect 3 players but when it came to the 4th player...that 4th player could simply not join the damn session no matter what. The more we tried, the more the game crashed or had some odd glitches like screen freezing, stick freezing and all manner of weird stuff. It took an unkillable random (really, even if he died, the game awarded him the win) to finally "trick" the game into giving me the trophies. 

 

So yeah...overall, don't bother with this game. Not sure why people play this (servers are actually rather populated....with some less than savory names), but I for one would not recommend this to anyone.

 

THE GOOD:

• good UR entry for a PSNP event?????

THE BAD:

• glitchy mess
• trying to connect online is a game of chance
• the sticks can phase through walls
• tons of crashing

RECOMMENDATION - One Finger Death Punch 2 a vastly superior "stickman" game, where you perform various kung fu moves on waves of other stickmen, all on a kung fu soundtrack. It was actually a fun time, unlike this garbage here

[HelixNebula_x]

I quite enjoyed Stick Fight as a party game with the boys the last time we had a gathering, but I can't imagine playing it online. After a few drinks and 'winner stays on' rules, this was quite a laugh. Congrats on the completion!

 

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

RECOMMENDATION - One Finger Death Punch 2 a vastly superior "stickman" game, where you perform various kung fu moves on waves of other stickmen, all on a kung fu soundtrack. It was actually a fun time, unlike this garbage here

 

I have never seen anyone else even talk about this game, let alone recommend it. Really fun game, perfect mindless violence after a full day of work.

[Copanele]

12 hours ago, HelixNebula_x said:

I quite enjoyed Stick Fight as a party game with the boys the last time we had a gathering, but I can't imagine playing it online. After a few drinks and 'winner stays on' rules, this was quite a laugh. Congrats on the completion!

Hah yes in that particular instance I can imagine it being mad fun.

Online playing it seriously though...nah 😅

12 hours ago, HelixNebula_x said:

 

I have never seen anyone else even talk about this game, let alone recommend it. Really fun game, perfect mindless violence after a full day of work.

The kung fu in this game hits all the right spots 😌

I played the first one on PC too, just as fun  

[Yuber6969]

Sums up my thoughts perfectly. I still don't know why the game gave me those 4p trophies, but hey, I'll take it lol.

 

Oh well, at least we got an easy and short UR out of it.

[pelagia14]

On 1/25/2024 at 5:16 AM, Copanele said:

 267 - Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection

(Uncharted 4: A Thief's End + Unncharted: Lost Legacy)

 

So I'm super late to the party, but I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed Lost Legacy! 

 

It's my favorite Uncharted game and I feel it's almost criminal how little recognition the game gets within the franchise. I agreed with *everything* you said.

 

On 1/25/2024 at 5:16 AM, Copanele said:

And now...let's turn to the main star of the show.. Nadine.

 

In Uncharted 4, Nadine was "a goon, but woman". Sorry that's how I saw her, many praised her as being a badass for kicking Nathan around, but to be real the idiot Nate has 0 combat experience and he fought against a mercenary leader who lived all her life by waging war. Well, in Lost Legacy, Nadine gets one whole ass character arc, by being an actually curious and knowledgeable woman with a hidden desire for adventure, burdened by her mercenary life. She's a walking animal Wikipedia and it was absolutely hilarious to see her pointing out animal trivia and baffle Chloe with all that random knowledge.

 

Nadine in U4 was a typical Hollywood Strong Female Character™️ (essentially, take the template for generic tough guy and add boobs), whereas in U:LL she was allowed to be an interesting and multifaceted character - who just so happens to be a woman with masculine traits!

 

Your review made me want to revisit the game again! It will probably be some time before that happens, but reading through your entire Uncharted Series experience has been a delight - thanks for sharing it with all of us!

[Copanele]

8 hours ago, pelagia14 said:

 

So I'm super late to the party, but I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed Lost Legacy! 

 

It's my favorite Uncharted game and I feel it's almost criminal how little recognition the game gets within the franchise. I agreed with *everything* you said.

 

 

Nadine in U4 was a typical Hollywood Strong Female Character™️ (essentially, take the template for generic tough guy and add boobs), whereas in U:LL she was allowed to be an interesting and multifaceted character - who just so happens to be a woman with masculine traits!

 

Your review made me want to revisit the game again! It will probably be some time before that happens, but reading through your entire Uncharted Series experience has been a delight - thanks for sharing it with all of us!

Thanks! Yeahhhh took a while but I finally had no complaints about an Uncharted game 😂Glad the post was a motivator for revisiting the series (in the future  )

Also welcome back!!

[Copanele]

Since Leap Day is a thing that happens every 4 years, I decided to pop several games in this beautiful frog-themed day.

Of course, I did not foresee the fact that I will ALSO have to write about these games. Sooo... time to get to work. 

I'll start with the easiest ones today because Spring is coming and my energy is at an all time low. I really need some sun and a serious outdoor session..

 

 No. 270 - SkyScrappers (NA Version)

Platinum Name - Masterful 

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

Difficulty - 2/10

 

I initially covered this game here when I was going for the fighting game only platinum difficulty challenge. For those who are too lazy to check my previous review, Skyscrappers is a "fighting" game where you run up a crumbling tower while fighting other opponents. You have combos, special moves and a lots of platforming. 

Game's pretty short, however I felt like I struggled more in the NA version. Not sure why, the AI decided to go ballistics and gang up on me at every step. 

Anyway, fun game, I recommend it.

 

 

💯 No. 79 - Frogger Returns

 

Hardest Trophy - The Sewers - third level is actually the hardest

Difficulty - 1.5/10

 

Reason why I played this game is well...because it's a Leap Year. This game has a frog  literally no reason other than that.

Frogger Returns is a PS3 game where you have to get the little frog from one side of the map to the other. You have to hop through all the hazards the level throws at you, from dangerous logs to rats, snakes, alligators, commute trains (?) and many more. For each level you have to hop from start to finish for a total of 5 times.

 

Traffic is always a hazard

 

The game is incredibly short, you having to finish only 4 levels. You can also get one of the 3 random power ups that spawn on the map: Reverse, which reverses the movement of the hazardous elements, Freeze which freezes everything except you in place and Invincibility which does exactly what it says, renders you untouchable for a set amount of time. Suffice to say, once you get an Invincibility star, you can basically finish the level.

 

The game is incredibly short, only having 4 maps that can be completed in Free Play mode (infinite lives, no timer). It's a cute enough game but I only recommend it if you want to play a game for a certain event. Otherwise...sadly this game doesn't offer that much 😅

 

THE GOOD:

• cute frog

THE BAD:

• doesn't offer much apart from the 4 levels

This is also a good opportunity to talk about a certain decision that I made about the PS3 games that I have in my backlog.

 

PS3 GAMES BACKLOG

 

1. Castlevania Mirror of Fate HD
2. Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2
3. Catherine 🤢
4. Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage
5. Mirror's Edge
6. Risen 2 Dark Waters
7. Simple 500 series: Mahjong
8. Quantum Conundrum
9. Ratatouille
10. Tomb Raider Anniversary
11. Tomb Raider Legend
12. Tomb Raider Underworld
13. Wet
14. Zuma

PS3 "MAYBE" GAMES BACKLOG

1. Blades of Time
2. Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 2 
3. X-Blades
4. Yaiba Ninja Gaiden

I decided to ax several of my "to do" games on this list. And that is all because of this glorious piece of shit:

I have been playing Wet for a while and my dear god I understand why this garbage wasn't received that well: it's so clunky, janky and "PS3-brown" that I honestly had enough. I experienced this same behavior with Enslaved Odyssey from the West, except in this game I already popped some trophies so there's no turning back. 

Wet killed my mood for janky PS3 games so I decided to only keep the ones that are decent enough or are locked in for an event.

The games that I axed:

• X-Blades - I played this game on PC and it's just as janky. The only way I'd play this is if I randomly stumble across a super cheap copy in a forgotten second hand store. Otherwise no, I won't try to find this game anymore
• Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 2/Blades of Time - these require online co-op. I simply won't force my PS3 to online anymore, plus I doubt anyone has a copy of Blades of Time 😅
• Yaiba Ninja Gaiden - everyone told me that this game is a piece of trash and seeing videos...yeah I believe them XD back to resale it goes!
• Simple 500 Series Mahjong - while I wanted to play this, the fact that I do not know Japanese at all is a bigger hindrance than expected (lol). So unfortunately I won't purchase this any sooner, unless a certain member wants to go after the game.
• Zuma - this game makes me feel old and I can only play it with a mouse 😂Sorry Frog game, you're out.
• Risen 2 - IF they remaster this for PS4/PS5 then I will consider it. I know the Piranha Bytes games, I don't think I can stomach a million crashes per second on a PS3  

So yeah, removing all those games, I will only have this:

PS3 GAMES BACKLOG

 

1. Castlevania Mirror of Fate HD
2. Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2
3. Catherine 🤢
4. Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage
5. Mirror's Edge
6. Quantum Conundrum
7. Ratatouille
8. Tomb Raider Anniversary
9. Tomb Raider Legend
10. Tomb Raider Underworld
11. Wet

Wet is the next one to be finished from that list. Can't believe they managed to make a game with a sexy badass katana-wielding woman this boring. It really takes talent to pull that off.

[Copanele]

 No. 271&272 - Breakers Collection (PS4 and PS5)

 

Platinum Name -  You've got it all!

Hardest Trophy - Full House - Finish Breakers in 3v3 mode

Difficulty - 5/10

 

Who is ready for some retro fighting games!!!! I definitely wasn't, because I played this collection and it kinda kicked my ass!!

 

I'll have to thank @MissShake for reminding me this collection exists, since I needed some options for the Leap Year event. And since this collection is a retro fighting game... yeah I couldn't wait to get into it. It briefly shocked me when the game proceeded to kick my ass on the easiest difficulty, but then I checked the original release and I saw the name SNK mentioned, that's when I understood what kind of game I had on my hands.

 

Breakers Collection is actually a set of 2 games : Breakers and Breakers Revenge. The only difference between the versions is the fact that Breakers Revenge has 2 extra characters -  main boss Bai-Hu and a ninja Saizo as playable characters. So it's not really a "collection" in the true sense of the word.

 

Other than that, this is a 2D fighting game with characters inspired from all the other 2D fighters of the era, mainly Street Fighter and KoF. You have your main character Sho who is the Ryu/Ryo Sakazaki archetype, with fireballs and dragon kicks. There's Tia, the sexy kickboxer who resembles Sakura or Yuri Sakazaki. There's the textbook grappler Condor, a native american who feels like Zangief with a T Hawk skin, list goes on. My favorite "reskin" is Rila, a Brazilian fighter that is a copycat of Blanka but also has a design that resembles Cham-Cham from SamSho. The inspiration/blatant plagiarism was so obvious I couldn't help but be impressed  However, I think I prefer Rila to either Blanka or Cham-Cham (don't hit me SamSho fans).

 

The only 2 unique characters - Maherl, an arabian inspired swordsman, attacking Pielle, a French swordsman.

And yes, he should have been called Pierre. Whoever did the localization is a genius here 😂

 

As expected from a SNK published game, the gameplay is actually pretty solid. You have various moves, super moves and combos that you can use with your character. No 2 characters are the same and there's really quite some depth to their moveset. Of course, it always feel like you're playing a bootleg version of Art of Fighting, but at least it's fun!

...right until you face the final boss Bai-Hu and you remember the whole deal with retro fighting games being cheap as hell.

 

Introducing Bai-Hu, the newest graduate from the Rugal school of SNK boss syndrome

 

As a final boss, Bai-Hu is rather uninspired, basically he's a big Chinese kung fu man possessed by a spirit. However when you fight him you realize that this nasty dude is out to eat your quarters. He will flip, dip, hit you from impossible angles, read most of your moveset and simply beat you with his sticks. He's a royal pain in the ass and it's a complete headache to beat him with all 10 characters, especially since some of them are plain useless. 

So yeah, he's a cheap bastard, it took quite a while to get past him consistently.

 

Other than that...Breakers Collection doesn't bring too much to the table. You have the odd 2v2 and 3v3 system similar to KoF, which makes me wonder why they even implemented it. There's an online component that I never tried because nobody plays these games (I tried). However the game goes on discounts pretty often so if you are in a mood of retro fighting games...yea sure this game ain't too bad

As long as you don't expect it to be some sort of KoF game.

 

THE GOOD:

• rather solid fighting game
• looks pretty

THE BAD:

• it blatantly copies everything from KoF/SF without really bringing anything new.
• The "Collection" from the title feels like a scam, since there's really a beta version and the actual game.

RECOMMENDATION - The King of Fighters Orochi Saga  I do recommend the series that REALLY put SNK on the fighting game map. KoF is better in every way and it's still going strong with its 15th iteration!

[Copanele]

 No. 273 - Nioh (PS5)

 

Platinum Name - You are Nioh!

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

Difficulty - 4/10 once I finally understood how the damn game works

 

I always dig a good revenge story. The wronged protagonist manages to pay back the misfortunes brought upon him by whatever villain happened to be villainous that week. Revenge will definitely not get you bonus points if you tend to pick the "light/good feels" path in life, but damn it feels good. 

This is such a story. Not about Nioh itself, god forbid, but about me managing to take my revenge after the beatdown I received the first time I played Nioh on PS4. 

 

When I first played Nioh , I thought the game was pretty damn good but my god did it kick my sorry ass. It's definitely way harder than any Souls games, Nioh being developed by Team Ninja, the same guys who created that little series called Ninja Gaiden, known for its brutality. The game was so tough for me to 100% that I had no choice but ask for co-op help in completing some specific dual boss sub-missions. 

Game was completed, but I had that awful taste of "did I really just ask for co-op help in this game?". I'm weird like that  so I swore revenge.

And revenge came! Together with the PS5 version! I buckled up, strapped in, fired up the game and decided that this time it will be different, this time I WILL BRING THE GAME DOWN TO ITS KNEES. 

AND I DID! 

 

Game's still absolutely fantastic though!

The face of a champion

 

To begin, Nioh is a story about an Irish pirate named William (inspired by the real person William Adams) who is imprisoned in the Tower of London. William has a special ability, to see and communicate with various Spirits and his Guardian Spirit is Saoirse, a sort of Celtic mermaid. His spirit is the perfect compass towards Amrita, stones with magical properties, so the English alchemist and all-time villain Edward Kelley steals Saoirse and heads towards the origin of Amrita - JAPAN. William follows him and is caught into the height of the Sengoku era, where humans and demons alike fight for the unification of Japan.

 

Honestly I actually enjoyed the story in this game. William is truly lost in this mystical foreign land, his only point of contact is the legendary ninja Hattori Hanzo who welcomes William with the most broken yet oddly accurate English I have seen in a videogame. From there, William slowly takes part in battles, interacts with various historical figures (like Tokugawa Ieyasu) and gets stronger in order to fight all the challenges Japan can throw at him.

I don't think they want me here

 

There are many similarities with the Souls series - William can rest at a Shrine to save his progress, level up and attune his magic/ninja equipment. When you die, you leave behind your Guardian Spirit who "keeps" all of your Amrita, until you go and recover it. If you die, then the Guardian Spirit returns to you, but all the Amrita is lost. You also have a Ki bar that acts as a stamina and depletes for each action you take.

 

However, to consider this a Soulslike would be a capital mistake. A mistake that I did during my first playthrough. This is first and foremost an Action-RPG game with small Souls elements. 

Nioh plays under different rules and may the Shinto Gods have mercy on your soul if you don't respect that.

 

First of all, you do not have an interconnected world. All of your missions are started from the main map of Japan, map which is split in several areas. You have the main missions that push the story forward and unlock more areas, and then you have the side missions, small favors that you have to complete for the characters you meet along the way. All these missions reward you with various items, sets, equipment and of course, the most important of all, buttloads of Amrita. Or an unique skill that can be critical to your playstyle.

Not sure why she wants to fight a bearded dude armed to the teeth and protected by all sorts of minor gods, but sure!

 

Speaking of playstyle, the combat in Nioh is actually deep and complex, way more complex than in any Souls game. Actually, I'd say it's more akin to the DMC series. First, you have 3 stances with each weapon: High stance for slow attacks with huge damage, medium stance which is a balance between moderate attacks and decent defense and low stance for low damage attacks but very quick mobility. You will have to switch between stances depending on the situation you have and the enemy you are facing. For instance, if you are facing a Tengu (big bird that has tremendous speed and hits like a truck), the high stance is not really recommended since the attacks are slow. You would want to use a low or mid stance in order to be able to go around this enemy. Against a slow but bulky cyclops however, high stance is recommended since you can take your time hitting the brute, provided you can dodge its attacks.

 

This is a truly interesting mechanic that I haven't seen in too many games.

And then there's the weapon options, this is where Nioh truly shines. You have 7 weapon types at your disposal:

• Sword - very quick attacks, focusing on damage from behind and quick draws (you sheathe your sword and then unsheathe with tremendous speed)
• Dual swords - what's better than a sword? two swords!
• Spears - probably the best weapons in the game, having both range and mobility (it can act as a pole)
• Axe - slow but incredibly damaging attacks
• Kusarigama - a very weird chain&sickle weapon, perfect to trip opponents and break their ki
• Odachi (DLC) - the Japanese equivalent of Greatswords, used for great damage and reach
• Tonfa(DLC) - a unique looking stick weapon, used primarily to beat down opponents and break their ki

Each weapon type has a completely different playstyle, strategy and skill tree. Swords are good for close combat but perform poorly at range. Spears are perfect for ranged combat but they suffer in enclosed space. Tonfas are good if you are facing a single enemy but they are bad against multiple opponents. 

You can equip 2 of any weapon types and switch between them on the fly. With this you can create the best strategies you can think of, one weapon should complement each other. It makes sense to pair a Spear with a Tonfa, because they cover each other's weakness. Of course, you can pair anything with anything, there's really no limitation to this game. If you also include the ranged weapons (bows, flintlocks, hand cannons) and various magic and ninjutsu support spells, you have here one of the most complex action/RPG games you could ever think of.

 

Finally, you have the "Ki pulse" mechanic. Whenever you perform an action you consume a certain amount of KI. However, a small white bar fills up before the Ki starts regenerating. If you press the Ki Recovery button at the moment where the White Ki bar is at the max , you instantly recover all your ki. This brings up various extra properties, like briefly increasing damage, purifying corrupted areas that slow down your Ki recovery and, of course, recover all your Ki instantly. It's one of the most important mechanics in the game and it has to be learned instantly, if you want to have a good time with the game  

 

 

And then there's the enemies - a wide assortment of Yokai (demons), monsters, spirits, phantasms and...possessed umbrellas. Japanese mythology is filled with lots of weirdass monsters. You have your usual big angry demon that eats you alive, but you may also fight a bald monk singing at a Japanese guitar and summoning various restless spirits to fight for him. Or the sad spirit woman that loves attacking you with paper towels that slow you down. Or one of the weirdest enemies, an umbrella that instantly paralyses you and hits like a goddamn truck, probably one of the most dangerous enemies in the game. Simply put, the more ridiculous it looks, the more dangerous it is.

 

However these enemies don't hold a candle to the bosses and especially human bosses. Dear god are the bosses in Nioh a spectacle and a pain to fight. They're fast, they're evil, they'll kick your ass. You'll have to be at the top of your game in order to defeat them.

 

Make a mistake and you'll get pummeled

 

In order to properly counteract all the dangers the game throws at you, you'll have to face the hardest boss of the game : The Blacksmith. This is where you realize that Nioh is actually very loot-focused. Every enemy drops items, armors and weapons just like in a Diablo game, so you will need the best weapons and armors and the best effects. All this is done at the blacksmith who will improve your equipment, level it up and modify its effects in order to better face the dangers of Japan. 

 

...I will be honest, even after 2 Nioh playthroughs and 1 Nioh 2 playthrough, I STILL haven't properly mastered this blacksmith. There's so many mechanics, synergies and effects that you can easily get lost in all the details. Also the game has some weird translation issues (e.g. Receive Firearm Damage actually means Resistance Towards Range attacks) so your best bet is to scour the arid planes of Reddit in order to find a guide for your preferred weapon.

 

Mhm..yeah...yep...I know some of these words

 

Now, getting the platinum of this game is not really that difficult. The main game's story and missions can reasonably be completed with a minimum amount of preparation and understanding of the game's mechanics. Where things get dicey is in the DLC. Nioh has 3 DLC's : Dragon of the North, Sanada's Resolve and Bloodshed's End. And my god are these DLCs absolutely bonkers to complete, they have some of the hardest missions I've been cursed to face in a game of this type. If you don't have a solid build with solid effects, enemies will absolutely kick your ass.

 

And of course, in order to fully 100% the game, you have to complete all the DLCs. On Way of the Demon too.

If you wonder what Way of the Demon is, well it's a game cycle. Nioh works like this:

• Way of the Samurai - default game cycle, first difficulty that you are facing
• Way of the Strong - NG+, enemies get stronger, you get divine (green) items
• Way of the Demon - NG++, enemies get additional status effects
• Way of the Wise - NG+++, you start to get ethereal (orange items)
• Way of the Nioh - NG++++, you get covered in ethereal items and every level can level you up 20+ times, enemies can one shot you here.

Now, if you thought Way of the Samurai is tough, Way of the Demon is at a whole 'nother level. The DLC missions are so godawful and broken (you face 2 bosses at the same time, you have to run through a gauntlet of 100 enemies, etc) that you really have to go Way of the Wise/Nioh in order to be able to finish Way of the Demon missions  

Sounds ridiculous and that's what first happened with me during my first PS4 playthrough. Picked up a sword, got my ass handed to me, barely went to Way of the Wise and resorted to co-op.

 

So what was different this time around? Well...the weapon choice. I played with a Spear this time instead and I instantly fell in love with it.

 

The Spear is the most versatile weapon in Nioh in my humble opinion. The High stance is the best against human opponents because it has a moveset which completely stunlocks/pancakes them. As soon as you manage to put an enemy flat on his ass, he's as good as dead. The Mid stance is perfect to poke and break the Ki of the opponents, an opponent without Ki can be "executed", you can apply a finisher that deals a huge amount of damage, like a backstab. And the Low stance is for mobility, you being able to jump with your spear acting like a launching pole, instantly getting you out of danger.

With the spear an spear related equipment, I blasted all my way to Way of the Nioh. Got the best equipment possible, got several tens of levels above the WotD requirement and absolutely pulverized the missions that gave me so much trouble as a sword user.

It felt good. It felt satisfying. It felt...vengeful

The mission that kicked my ass in the previous run

 

So, what's the conclusion after replaying this game? I absolutely love Nioh. I love the story, its characters, the demons, the gameplay, the what-the-fuck-am-I-reforging-even blacksmith, everything. It has a bit of best from every world: the Souls recovery system, the Ninja Gaiden/DMC crazy combat, the loot happy system from Diablo 2, it's a game tailored to my tastes really  Yes, it has issues (the dual bosses are dog shit, some missions are really unfair) but overall it's a fantastic game made by Team Ninja and I am very glad that I managed to replay it and enjoy it to its fullest.

 

Now we'll see what I think about Nioh 2...I really did not like that game when I first played it...

 

THE GOOD:

• an incredibly deep combat system
• an incredibly deep loot system
• the game's story is oddly charming
• the Japanese mythology is crazy and scary and I love it
• Okatsu 😏
• the Abyss "Bloody Palace" system that brings a new level of holy-shit-there's-so-many-options-in-this-game

THE BAD:

• DLC missions can be straight up unfair
• it really is brutal to newcomers past Way of the Samurai
• the blacksmith mechanics aren't that well explained
• music is a bit repetitive
• you won't feel much attachment for most NPCs 

RECOMMENDATION - Elden Ring/DMC5/Diablo 2 - not going to slap the screenshots anymore, I believe everyone knows those games by now. All 3 games are fantastic, just be warned, Diablo 2 takes a while to complete  

[Copanele]

 No. 274 - SoulCalibur VI

 

Platinum Name - A New Story of Swords and Souls

Hardest Trophy - Master of Style by a Mile - defeat an Ancient in Libra of Souls

Difficulty - 3/10 - compared to SCV, this one was a cakewalk

 

There's a certain type of games that simply won't click for you anymore once you've missed the hype train. For me, it's the Soulcalibur series, a series that I completely missed when it was launched. I played SC5 a while ago (fun game, terrible trophy list) and now after SC6 I have to say...this series ain't for me 😅 It doesn't mean that the games are bad, it's just that I feel no particular attachment or drive to play a Soulcalibur game, no matter how good it might be. Sometimes it just doesn't click like that.

 

In Soulcalibur, you usually have to deal with some tremendously powered sword and its wielder Nightmare. Several characters try to either find or destroy this damn sword. Or, at least that's what I understood from the little plot that I followed. Because to be honest...the moment I saw some beautiful knight getting saved from impending doom by an incredibly busty ninja (like GODDAMN that ninja puts the girls in DOA5 to shame) I was "hahaha yeah no, skip to the story". Do not get me wrong though, I do not complain about the design of the characters, god bless them, it's just that I couldn't take the story seriously anymore 😂

To be fair though, I doubt the story would improve my mood for the game, since for instance I haven't followed the story of Tekken or Blazblue either, yet I absolutely love those games.

Yeah, I am sure there's also a plot there somewhere

 

Moving on...the main single player modes are Soul Chronicle - which is the Story mode, following the adventures of the SoulCalibur characters, and Libra of Souls - a custom mission based campaign where you create your own character and start your own adventure. 

Soul Chronicle is your average "evil guy must be defeated" mix, you whack dudes in the head in a nice 3D environment. A nice addition is the guest character Geralt from the Witcher series, who somehow got portaled again in this weird world. Poor Geralt, can't take a break no matter what.

Damn portals and samurai

 

Libra of Souls is the more interesting mode. In this mode you create your own character and go to town with any style you prefer. For the least amount of hassle I picked the Cervantes style, where you wield 2 pirate gunswords and you spin around like Bison from Street Fighter.

 

Libra of Souls happens throughout the entirety of Europe/Africa/Asia. You fight several dudes and have to close several portals where you are invaded by other players' avatars. It's a rather monotone mode so I barely remember anything that happened there. There are some challenging fights (like the Master of the style you pick) but overall you can get through the mode in 2 days at most. Still, I had more fun with this compared to Soul Chronicle

 

My Souls main Agnatiel has found her way in this weird world...and she's ready to throw down!

 

As gameplay, SoulCalibur 6 follows the same control scheme like all its predecessors: Square button attacks horizontally, Triangle attacks vertically, Circle is a kick and X is block. You can combine these buttons to pull various special attacks, one of them being an odd rock-paper-scissors mode with the enemy. There is a sort of tactic in the game, it resembling Samurai Shodown where you have to bait the opponents for a mistake. In terms of combos however...yeah I still have no idea how the hitboxes work in this game 😅

 

Ok, to not prolong this already painful review...I didn't "feel" this game. I didn't feel any particular joy or excitement whenever I was successfully hitting the enemy. I didn't dislike the game but I had a profound "MEH" feeling from start to finish. As mentioned, maybe it's because I didn't grow up with the games. I also am aware that skipping the story severely diminishes the excitement of the game but my god I couldn't handle that High Final Fantasy mumbo jumbo 😅 just not my kind of jam.

 

Still, I can't blame the game for my own preferences. SoulCalibur 6 in itself is still a gorgeous game in my opinion and has some solid gameplay. It didn't catch my heart, but maybe it will convince others of its quality. So I can only recommend it at a discount, because it would be a crime to bash it. Not when characters like Sophitia exist  

 

THE GOOD:

• game looks amazing
• you have a lot of styles and weapons
• female characters look absolutely gorgeous
• detailed character creator
• solid controls
• Libra of Souls is actually rather fun
• Geralt as a guest character

THE BAD:

• it really wasn't my kind of game
• it's not really that complex of a fighting game
• really, had nothing memorable to say about the game

RECOMMENDATION - Samurai Shodown  I really had way more fun playing this SNK classic, with its DLCs. The only caveat is the absolutely horrible online, which is way worse than in SC6

 

 

 

[Copanele]

 No. 275 - Quake

 

Platinum Name -  Great Old One

Hardest Trophy -  Otherworldly - Complete Dimension of the Past on Nightmare difficulty

 

And finally, my last Leap Day entry and the game that earns a spot in the milestone list, another remake of a glorious game, revived by Nightdive Studios (at this point they're legends themselves). Quake is one of the oldest and best retro shooters out there, created by the conflicting minds of John Romero, John Carmack, American McGee, Sandy Peterson and Tim Willits (grandfathers of First Person Shooters). It's a jumble of ideas, concepts and directions and one of the most fun shooters I have also had the pleasure to play in the latest years.

 

One angry dude, one mean ass shotgun and a bunch of baddies that can rip you to shreds. What more could you ask?

 

Since there were so many designers involved in this game, Quake's story is a messy one. Basically, an evil otherworthly entity called Quake is sending his evil minions to conquer Earth. Earth needs to be defended so you're the perfect man for the job. The game is split into 4 episodes, each episodes starts in a marine base infested by soldiers and always ends up in weird castles populated by knights, behemoths and all manner of monstrosities. You have to collect the 4 runes which will unlock the portal to the Eldritch horror Shub-Niggurath.

 

What's that having to do with Quake? Who even is Quake? Who knows, who cares, just grab that damn double barreled shotgun and go to town!

 

Stupid story aside, the biggest strengths of Quake are the gunplay and the level design. Quake was an amazing game for its time, easily surpassing Doom in terms of capabilities, and the level design was so well structured you kinda understand why the old retro shooters were so addictive back in the day. Each level is carefully crafted, every monster is placed so it is a hindrance, but it never feels unfair (again, unlike Doom who just loves to kick your ass). The weapons feel incredibly good and you always have enough ammo to deal with whatever the game throws at you, but never too much that you would feel TOO comfortable (at least on higher level difficulties).

Each level also has secret rooms that hold extra weapons/armor, stuff that will definitely help you in your next encounters. Some levels even can lead to other secret levels, some of which are incredibly well hidden but if explored, they'll offer an even higher amount of weapons and ammo. 

 

The welcoming committee

 

In terms of arsenal, your weapon varieties are limited but fully functional. You have an axe as your basic melee weapon and a single action shotgun who acts more like a gun. Later in the game you can find a nail gun (replacement for a machine gun), a grenade launcher and even a lightning gun. Each of these weapons have an unofficial upgrade, you being able to later find a dual barrel shotgun, a minigun that shoots with nails and the most infamous weapon in the Quake series, the rocket launcher. These upgrades pack a mean punch at the cost of more ammo per usage, and the rocket launcher can even be used to reach inaccessible places by launching yourself with a rocket (at the cost of a part of your life, so don't use it if your life is low!). While these weapons are rather simple, they are very effective, each being more than enough to tackle the beasties that serve Quake.

 

And boy, are the beasties nasty! While the usual marines that appear in the first level of each chapter die in 1 hit, the moment you get teleported to the various castles and magic places the difficulty spikes up. The first and most annoying enemies are the chainsaw wielding ogres that lob grenades at you. You'll also find an assortment of knights and death knights who will tear you to shreds if they come to you. You also have Fiends, hulking gorilla like monsters who can hop across the screen and slap you around. Then there's the Scrags, floating ghosts that love to pelt you with green ooze and run around. Vores are some spider monstrosities that shoot tracking crystals after you (and dear god do those crystals TRACK), the only way to avoid them is taking sharp 90  degrees turns and hope that the crystal hits a wall. Finally, Shamblers are the most damaging enemies of them all, behemoths that shoot lightning at you and deal an insane amount of damage if they get too close to you. They're very resistant to rockets so only nails or electricity can beat them.

And then there's the spawns...blobs that only appear in one chapter, jump around, inflict a ton of damage and explode if they die, potentially one shotting you. 

So yeah...a very fun menagerie of monsters.

 

What I found interesting about the monsters in Quake is that they can kill each other or even they can start infighting if one monster attacks the other. For instance if one of the Ogre's grenades accidentally hits a Shambler, that Shambler will de-aggro you and go after the Ogre who will in turn fight the Shambler. With well thought strategies, you can even start a monster rumble where every single dumbass monster starts shooting in his allies while you can just chill in the background and simply execute the remaining monster, too fatigued to deal with you. This was always fun to see and it proved to be a viable strategy in Nightmare difficulty, more on that later.

 

Death Knights also have access to projectiles, making them an annoying enemy to face in this game regardless of their placement.

 

In true Nightdive Studios fashion, Quake Remake doesn't only bring the main game. This game also contains the 4 expansion packs: Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity, Dimensions of the Past and Dimensions of the Machine. These packs are "expansions" to the story, which honestly it's just a reason to play more Quake  

 

Scourge of Armagon is a direct followup of Quake, where you discover that just because you defeated an Eldritch entity, doesn't mean that Quake has stopped fighting you. Instead you will face Quake's general, Armagon and his legion of enemies. Still don't know who Quake is but who cares!

This expansion is introducing some new enemies, the Centroid - mechanical scorpions that shoot nails at you, the Gremlin - actual ehm..gremlins..that steal your own weapons from you, and floating mines - just as the name says, a floating mine that explodes on impact. The levels are longer but there's no noticeable difference in terms of level design. You do have a new laser cannon to use as a weapon, which is a welcoming addition.

 

Dissolution of Eternity in contrast is Quake turned up to 11. You get new weapon upgrades that use Lava, which is a new way of inflicting pain upon the enemies. The best upgrade in the game is reserved to the rocket launcher, who now can shoot 4 homing rockets and easily becoming the best weapon in the game. The levels now have various old cultures motifs, you being sent through places like Rome, Egypt and even a Mesoamerican level. And at the end you face a dragon who is the shittiest boss in the game.

Uh yeah...this is the place where Quake really makes no sense in terms of lore.

 

Dimensions of the Past is a "retelling" of Quake, however not in a great way. You replay a toned down version of the main campaign, with way more enemies packed together and way less ammo. Dimensions of the Past is my least favorite mission pack just because it's straight out unfair with monster and ammo placement, a thing no other Quake mission pack did.

 

Dimensions of the Machine is the least "Quake" type of game, you being thrown in odd levels like a volcano, an "Olympus" like level with marble and columns, a sewer....honestly Dimensions of the Machine is the most nonsensical Mission Pack of them all. It's also the longest and, while I enjoyed the design, it's the only time where I really got bored of playing Quake.

Right after that I replayed the main campaign on Nightmare difficulty and ... yeah it was the mission pack that was boring, not the game  

A very impressive level in DotM, but it doesn't really feel like Quake

 

A few words on Nightmare Difficulty. In order to get the platinum, one condition is that you have to finish the entire game and its mission packs on Nightmare Difficulty. At first it sounds like a massive ordeal - you can only have a maximum of 50 health, the only way to increase this health is by finding health boosters that give you an extra 100 HP. That HP slowly drains until you reach 50 again. The ammo is a bit more scarce, the enemies are more resistant and they pack way more damage. In order to have a chance of survival, you have to find the various secret rooms filled with ammo and armor that are lost throughout the level.

 

You'd normally think that it will be a legit nightmare to finish the game, but surprisingly the game is really balanced! As long as you don't rush, conserve your ammo, try to find as many secret areas as possible and start infights between monsters, the Nightmare difficulty is actually a pleasant experience where you can fully appreciate the oddly solid fundamentals that the game has. Other than Dimensions of the Past where the ammo REALLY was an issue, the game never posed any serious issues on Nightmare difficulty.

Also, a hefty dose of quick save/quick load helped with this endeavor  no reason to hide that!

 

You don't want to get hit by THAT on Nightmare difficulty

 

All in all, Quake is a fantastic shooter from an old but gold era. Even with the age, Quake proves that sometimes it's just fun to kick back, relax and explode various monsters in a thousand pieces with no real reason. I can't recommend this game enough, which is why I also made this game as my 275th platinum.

Again, thank you Nightdive Studios for allowing me to replay a gold game with updated controls while still retaining the classic atmosphere.

 

THE GOOD:

• amazing retro shooter despite its age
• Nightdive Studio once again proves what it means to do a PROPER remake
• fantastic level design, created by the titans in the industry at that time
• simple yet fun gunplay
• varied monsters that will test your skills
• a lot of mission packs that gives you more Quake to shoot
• Nightmare Difficulty is tough but fair, a rarity in the world of First Person Shooters

THE BAD:

• game is old - you really need to be ok with the retro-ness of it
• don't expect the story to make any sense at all
• Dimensions of the Past and Dimensions of the Machine aren't too Quake-ish
• god forbid you shoot a rocket near you - the splash damage would be greater than any damage the monster could inflict

RECOMMENDATION - Turok 2 Seeds of Evil  another old school shooter where you pew pew mutated dinosaurs with the weirdest arsenal in the history of FPS.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

And there it is, all Leap Day games reviewed. I am never doing these kinds of "plat rain" events again  I like to play games at my own pace!

Edited March 2 by Copanele

[jonesey46]

11 hours ago, Copanele said:

 No. 275 - Quake

 

Platinum Name -  Great Old One

Hardest Trophy -  Otherworldly - Complete Dimension of the Past on Nightmare difficulty

 

And finally, my last Leap Day entry and the game that earns a spot in the milestone list, another remake of a glorious game, revived by Nightdive Studios (at this point they're legends themselves). Quake is one of the oldest and best retro shooters out there, created by the conflicting minds of John Romero, John Carmack, American McGee, Sandy Peterson and Tim Willits (grandfathers of First Person Shooters). It's a jumble of ideas, concepts and directions and one of the most fun shooters I have also had the pleasure to play in the latest years.

 

One angry dude, one mean ass shotgun and a bunch of baddies that can rip you to shreds. What more could you ask?

 

Since there were so many designers involved in this game, Quake's story is a messy one. Basically, an evil otherworthly entity called Quake is sending his evil minions to conquer Earth. Earth needs to be defended so you're the perfect man for the job. The game is split into 4 episodes, each episodes starts in a marine base infested by soldiers and always ends up in weird castles populated by knights, behemoths and all manner of monstrosities. You have to collect the 4 runes which will unlock the portal to the Eldritch horror Shub-Niggurath.

 

What's that having to do with Quake? Who even is Quake? Who knows, who cares, just grab that damn double barreled shotgun and go to town!

 

Stupid story aside, the biggest strengths of Quake are the gunplay and the level design. Quake was an amazing game for its time, easily surpassing Doom in terms of capabilities, and the level design was so well structured you kinda understand why the old retro shooters were so addictive back in the day. Each level is carefully crafted, every monster is placed so it is a hindrance, but it never feels unfair (again, unlike Doom who just loves to kick your ass). The weapons feel incredibly good and you always have enough ammo to deal with whatever the game throws at you, but never too much that you would feel TOO comfortable (at least on higher level difficulties).

Each level also has secret rooms that hold extra weapons/armor, stuff that will definitely help you in your next encounters. Some levels even can lead to other secret levels, some of which are incredibly well hidden but if explored, they'll offer an even higher amount of weapons and ammo. 

 

The welcoming committee

 

In terms of arsenal, your weapon varieties are limited but fully functional. You have an axe as your basic melee weapon and a single action shotgun who acts more like a gun. Later in the game you can find a nail gun (replacement for a machine gun), a grenade launcher and even a lightning gun. Each of these weapons have an unofficial upgrade, you being able to later find a dual barrel shotgun, a minigun that shoots with nails and the most infamous weapon in the Quake series, the rocket launcher. These upgrades pack a mean punch at the cost of more ammo per usage, and the rocket launcher can even be used to reach inaccessible places by launching yourself with a rocket (at the cost of a part of your life, so don't use it if your life is low!). While these weapons are rather simple, they are very effective, each being more than enough to tackle the beasties that serve Quake.

 

And boy, are the beasties nasty! While the usual marines that appear in the first level of each chapter die in 1 hit, the moment you get teleported to the various castles and magic places the difficulty spikes up. The first and most annoying enemies are the chainsaw wielding ogres that lob grenades at you. You'll also find an assortment of knights and death knights who will tear you to shreds if they come to you. You also have Fiends, hulking gorilla like monsters who can hop across the screen and slap you around. Then there's the Scrags, floating ghosts that love to pelt you with green ooze and run around. Vores are some spider monstrosities that shoot tracking crystals after you (and dear god do those crystals TRACK), the only way to avoid them is taking sharp 90  degrees turns and hope that the crystal hits a wall. Finally, Shamblers are the most damaging enemies of them all, behemoths that shoot lightning at you and deal an insane amount of damage if they get too close to you. They're very resistant to rockets so only nails or electricity can beat them.

And then there's the spawns...blobs that only appear in one chapter, jump around, inflict a ton of damage and explode if they die, potentially one shotting you. 

So yeah...a very fun menagerie of monsters.

 

What I found interesting about the monsters in Quake is that they can kill each other or even they can start infighting if one monster attacks the other. For instance if one of the Ogre's grenades accidentally hits a Shambler, that Shambler will de-aggro you and go after the Ogre who will in turn fight the Shambler. With well thought strategies, you can even start a monster rumble where every single dumbass monster starts shooting in his allies while you can just chill in the background and simply execute the remaining monster, too fatigued to deal with you. This was always fun to see and it proved to be a viable strategy in Nightmare difficulty, more on that later.

 

Death Knights also have access to projectiles, making them an annoying enemy to face in this game regardless of their placement.

 

In true Nightdive Studios fashion, Quake Remake doesn't only bring the main game. This game also contains the 4 expansion packs: Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity, Dimensions of the Past and Dimensions of the Machine. These packs are "expansions" to the story, which honestly it's just a reason to play more Quake  

 

Scourge of Armagon is a direct followup of Quake, where you discover that just because you defeated an Eldritch entity, doesn't mean that Quake has stopped fighting you. Instead you will face Quake's general, Armagon and his legion of enemies. Still don't know who Quake is but who cares!

This expansion is introducing some new enemies, the Centroid - mechanical scorpions that shoot nails at you, the Gremlin - actual ehm..gremlins..that steal your own weapons from you, and floating mines - just as the name says, a floating mine that explodes on impact. The levels are longer but there's no noticeable difference in terms of level design. You do have a new laser cannon to use as a weapon, which is a welcoming addition.

 

Dissolution of Eternity in contrast is Quake turned up to 11. You get new weapon upgrades that use Lava, which is a new way of inflicting pain upon the enemies. The best upgrade in the game is reserved to the rocket launcher, who now can shoot 4 homing rockets and easily becoming the best weapon in the game. The levels now have various old cultures motifs, you being sent through places like Rome, Egypt and even a Mesoamerican level. And at the end you face a dragon who is the shittiest boss in the game.

Uh yeah...this is the place where Quake really makes no sense in terms of lore.

 

Dimensions of the Past is a "retelling" of Quake, however not in a great way. You replay a toned down version of the main campaign, with way more enemies packed together and way less ammo. Dimensions of the Past is my least favorite mission pack just because it's straight out unfair with monster and ammo placement, a thing no other Quake mission pack did.

 

Dimensions of the Machine is the least "Quake" type of game, you being thrown in odd levels like a volcano, an "Olympus" like level with marble and columns, a sewer....honestly Dimensions of the Machine is the most nonsensical Mission Pack of them all. It's also the longest and, while I enjoyed the design, it's the only time where I really got bored of playing Quake.

Right after that I replayed the main campaign on Nightmare difficulty and ... yeah it was the mission pack that was boring, not the game  

A very impressive level in DotM, but it doesn't really feel like Quake

 

A few words on Nightmare Difficulty. In order to get the platinum, one condition is that you have to finish the entire game and its mission packs on Nightmare Difficulty. At first it sounds like a massive ordeal - you can only have a maximum of 50 health, the only way to increase this health is by finding health boosters that give you an extra 100 HP. That HP slowly drains until you reach 50 again. The ammo is a bit more scarce, the enemies are more resistant and they pack way more damage. In order to have a chance of survival, you have to find the various secret rooms filled with ammo and armor that are lost throughout the level.

 

You'd normally think that it will be a legit nightmare to finish the game, but surprisingly the game is really balanced! As long as you don't rush, conserve your ammo, try to find as many secret areas as possible and start infights between monsters, the Nightmare difficulty is actually a pleasant experience where you can fully appreciate the oddly solid fundamentals that the game has. Other than Dimensions of the Past where the ammo REALLY was an issue, the game never posed any serious issues on Nightmare difficulty.

Also, a hefty dose of quick save/quick load helped with this endeavor  no reason to hide that!

 

You don't want to get hit by THAT on Nightmare difficulty

 

All in all, Quake is a fantastic shooter from an old but gold era. Even with the age, Quake proves that sometimes it's just fun to kick back, relax and explode various monsters in a thousand pieces with no real reason. I can't recommend this game enough, which is why I also made this game as my 275th platinum.

Again, thank you Nightdive Studios for allowing me to replay a gold game with updated controls while still retaining the classic atmosphere.

 

THE GOOD:

• amazing retro shooter despite its age
• Nightdive Studio once again proves what it means to do a PROPER remake
• fantastic level design, created by the titans in the industry at that time
• simple yet fun gunplay
• varied monsters that will test your skills
• a lot of mission packs that gives you more Quake to shoot
• Nightmare Difficulty is tough but fair, a rarity in the world of First Person Shooters

THE BAD:

• game is old - you really need to be ok with the retro-ness of it
• don't expect the story to make any sense at all
• Dimensions of the Past and Dimensions of the Machine aren't too Quake-ish
• god forbid you shoot a rocket near you - the splash damage would be greater than any damage the monster could inflict

RECOMMENDATION - Turok 2 Seeds of Evil  another old school shooter where you pew pew mutated dinosaurs with the weirdest arsenal in the history of FPS.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

And there it is, all Leap Day games reviewed. I am never doing these kinds of "plat rain" events again  I like to play games at my own pace!

And now time for Quake 2?

[Copanele]

20 minutes ago, jonesey46 said:

And now time for Quake 2?

At a certain point yes 😁 maybe after I finish the struggle that is Wet.

I already own Quake 2 so a playthrough is inevitable!

[jonesey46]

10 hours ago, Copanele said:

At a certain point yes 😁 maybe after I finish the struggle that is Wet.

I already own Quake 2 so a playthrough is inevitable!

Well I hope you enjoy it more than I did!

[Copanele]

2 hours ago, jonesey46 said:

Well I hope you enjoy it more than I did!

Yep I remember you didn't like the second one too much compared to the first one (I reread your post to refresh my memory😁)

I shall see, if the atmosphere in Q1 is lost in Q2, then I will probably have the same experience. Regardless, it shall be played! Probably will also play on Normal, I don't need the Nightmare stress anymore 😄

[Honor_Hand]

Awesome write-ups, Copanele. I loved reading through these, especially those last two about Soul Calibur VI and Quake, as those are games that deeply interest me. =D

 

SC VI, in particular, looks like a proper continuation of the series. V was rather bland despite being mechanically solid. VI looks like it's going to be more of the same but with a more familiar cast, I guess? I just hope the fights and main campaign can be as interesting as they were in the old SC games. And man, Taki was always stacked as fuck. Not my favorite female fighter in the series, but she definitely carries the largest plot with her. xxD

Now, Quake sounds sweet. I love me some old-school shooters, and Quake here sounds exactly like Doom but with more 3D-ishness to it, which is just awesome. This is not surprising considering that the developers behind it are the same guys from Doom. Honestly, the appeal of these boomer shooters always lies not only in their fast-paced action and movement but also in the strategic combat of having to micromanage which weapons you're going to use and how you can turn the monsters against themselves and whatnot. It's all good fun. ^^

 

Quake's nightmare difficulty sounds a lot like Doom 3's, in which you have to deal with your health continuously trickling down to 25. That and the beefed-up monsters of course. Challenging, but still entertaining and fair.

 

Classic Doom's nightmare difficulty, though. Oh boi, I really look forward to the day you boot those up. The amount of cussing I'm going to read on Discord is going to be spectacular, lmao. xxD