Copanele's collection of trophies and experiences

[Gommes_]

Holy smokes, you went from "I don't even know how to run" to completing 90 stars! That is very impressive. As soon as I hit the 75 I was done with the game as I didn't wanna torture myself any longer. I can totally see this game as one of the hardest ever. Good thing is that the platinum will be yours now eventually.

[Slava]

Very nice! Congrats on 90. Hope to see that 100% soon. 

 

On 4/3/2024 at 6:52 PM, Copanele said:

Actino Rise where you have to do 10325142461351 turns and flips

 

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

Actino Rise is one SUPER insane vertical maze. These maps are definitely a result of some twisted dev mind

 

Yeah, send this damn level back to hell where it came from 😄. It's still sitting at 2 stars for me. I refuse to go back! ...ok, maybe one day I will be bored enough to go for 99 stars. But not today 😁. (i'm at 91 now).

 

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

For me, this game is way, WAY harder than Persona 4 Arena.

In fact, I do believe it's the most difficult game on my profile right now

 

🤔<(wait, does that mean I'm as good at games as Copanele? It can't be...)

 

But it actually can't though 😁. Seeing how fast you went from 75 to 90 sends me back to reality. Moreover, if I played Persona 4 Arena, that Homer gif would be me in that game.

 

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

Your average Pure Time Trial map. Where do you have to go?

 

I had the same reaction. I was still recovering from COVID brain fog at the time, IIRC. I remember going like "Wait, which cube am I supposed to jump on, again? That one, or another similar looking one? FUCK". 😄 Just navigating is a problem at first, let alone going fast.

 

On 4/3/2024 at 6:52 PM, Copanele said:

Seriously, how do people even get proficient at this kind of game??

 

Just many retries and occasional YouTube video referencing. I don't think there's much more to it.

 

I'm playing Mario. Spending less time with it because I don't feel like doing anything lately, and that includes games. But anyway, same process as in ME. Restarting again and again, losing, but getting slightly farther. Although TBH, getting the game over screen at 8-3, just one level before the last, is extra demotivating. Why did they make world 8 so much harder? 😁.

 

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

Me trying to comprehend what @PooPooBlast and some youtube dudes meant by "side jump boosting"

 

Cool trick that I haven't found much use for. I think I used it mostly in the stormdrains levels where 90 degree turns were abundant. It probably feels much better to perform on PC due to controls. BTW, have you watched any speedruns? As in whole game any% ones with skips, tricks, and glitches? They take it to another level of craziness.

Edited April 7 by Slava

[Copanele]

6 minutes ago, Gommes_ said:

Holy smokes, you went from "I don't even know how to run" to completing 90 stars! That is very impressive. As soon as I hit the 75 I was done with the game as I didn't wanna torture myself any longer. I can totally see this game as one of the hardest ever. Good thing is that the platinum will be yours now eventually.

Thanks thanks  I sure hope I won't spend TOO much time with the speedruns. Heard the second and the final level are true bitches to complete.

 

5 minutes ago, Slava said:

Very nice! Congrats on 90. Hope to see that 100% soon. 

Thanks! Still debating if I should save this game for a milestone or just be done with it now 😂

6 minutes ago, Slava said:

Yeah, send this damn level back to hell where it came from 😄. It's still sitting at 2 stars for me. I refuse to go back! ...ok, maybe one day I will be bored enough to go for 99 stars. But not today 😁. (i'm at 91 now).

One more story with this particular ass level. So I do the almost perfect run (well, the 2 stars run that is), all I needed was the final jump right? everything was in place, all nice, final hop in sight...

....and then, in a fit of panic, I miss the final fucking beam of light...

Something like this:

I wanted to cry 😂

 

8 minutes ago, Slava said:

🤔<(wait, does that mean I'm as good at games as Copanele? It can't be...)

 

But it actually can't though 😁. Seeing how fast you went from 75 to 90 sends me back to reality. Moreover, if I played Persona 4 Arena, that Homer gif would be me in that game.

Hey, all I am saying, it's not impossible!!!

 

9 minutes ago, Slava said:

I had the same reaction. I was still recovering from COVID brain fog at the time, IIRC. I remember going like "Wait, which cube am I supposed to jump on, again? That one, or another similar looking one? FUCK". 😄 Just navigating is a problem at first, let alone going fast.

Kinetic was the one map that made me go wash my face after finishing it. The one level that gave me nausea, because of all those cubes. The entire map is ONLY cubes and fuck my life they all looked the same at one point. I only remembered the directions via muscle memory (how the hell did I get 3 stars in that one?)

 

10 minutes ago, Slava said:

Just many retries and occasional YouTube video referencing. I don't think there's much more to it.

 

I'm playing Mario. Spending less time with it because I don't feel like doing anything lately, and that includes games. But anyway, same process as in ME. Restarting again and again, losing, but getting slightly farther. Although TBH, getting the game over screen at 8-3, just one level before the last, is extra demotivating. Why did they make world 8 so much harder? 😁.

Good lord Mario...the one game that I never finished and will NEVER finish. I think Mario was the source of my distaste for platformers  

12 minutes ago, Slava said:

Cool trick that I haven't found much use for. I think I used it mostly in the stormdrains levels where 90 degree turns were abundant. It probably feels much better to perform on PC due to controls. BTW, have you watched any speedruns? As in whole game any% ones with skips, tricks, and glitches? They take it to another level of craziness.

That trick honestly kinda saved my bacon in some levels like Chroma or Stormdrains, whenever I had a turn I used this trick. I barely made the time and it was only because that extra second at 25km/h  

And I only watched one speedrun level of level 1 I think. Hard times await...those skips are mad good. Too bad some of them can only be done on PC indeed  

[Slava]

5 minutes ago, Copanele said:

I sure hope I won't spend TOO much time with the speedruns. Heard the second and the final level are true bitches to complete.

 

For me, most of them took <5 tries, while most of the time trials took 50+. So even in terms of play time, I spent significantly less time on chapter speedruns. 

 

9 minutes ago, Copanele said:

or just be done with it now 😂

 

Do it! Now!!

 

(and leave Catherine for 300 😄).

 

11 minutes ago, Copanele said:

....and then, in a fit of panic, I miss the final fucking beam of light...

Something like this:

I wanted to cry 😂

 

This is too funny 😁. 

 

13 minutes ago, Copanele said:

(how the hell did I get 3 stars in that one?)

 

I still have 2 stars on Kinetic.

 

13 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Mario...the one game that I never finished and will NEVER finish

 

Mario 3 may be a better choice if you want to beat a 2D game with the famous italiano plumber. I'm pretty sure it's an improvement on all fronts compared to the first one. As for me, i'll probably go for all mainline Mario games from NES to NGC. I was having more fun with it than with GoW2 at least 😅.

[Copanele]

3 minutes ago, Slava said:

Do it! Now!!

 

(and leave Catherine for 300 😄).

I swear that word is triggering my PTSD at this point 🤣

 

Also hotdamn I do remember you not particularly liking GoW2. Didn't know it was that bad though!

[ShadyWARcotix]

Finally you got this Copanele and you really didn't understand the side jump boost? Crazy that you didn't feel like you improved in this game and still got all stars.

 

I also didn't liked these dlc maps. Few of them were ok and I liked the art style but most of them were a big non sense. Enjoyed the main trials a lot more!

 

Ps: I played Ratatouille via ps premium and I had no sound issues,  no bugs and glitches but I stopped playing it after 40 minutes because I couldn't pass the first level. This game wanted me to collect few more collectibles before I could move on to the next level. I stopped there. Deleted the game and moved on.

 

 

Edited April 7 by ShadyWARcotix

[Slava]

7 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Also hotdamn I do remember you not particularly liking GoW2. Didn't know it was that bad though!

 

I don't know what it is, maybe it's me, maybe it's the game, but I lost interest in it somewhere around the swamp area. I've been playing the game an hour per week on average since then 😁. There are some particular things I dislike about it, but they're not that significant. Maybe except for the boss battles with mythical dudes who want to fight you 15 seconds after meeting you for absolutely no reason. The main issue is that I'm just not having fun most of the time. I'll beat it eventually.

Edited April 7 by Slava

[Copanele]

22 minutes ago, ShadyWARcotix said:

Finally you got this Copanele and you really didn't understand the side jump boost? Crazy that you didn't feel like you improved in this game and still got all stars.

Yep I really could not wrap my head around it until i did it by mistake.

And yes I still feel I haven't improved as much. Basically if I have to retry any of the levels i still think it would take me a long time to redo them. It's why I rarely touch platformers also XD

22 minutes ago, ShadyWARcotix said:

I also didn't liked these dlc maps. Few of them were ok and I liked the art style but most of them were a big non sense. Enjoyed the main trials a lot more!

 

Ps: I played Ratatouille via ps premium and I had no sound issues,  no bugs and glitches but I stopped playing it after 40 minutes because I couldn't pass the first level. This game wanted me to collect few more collectibles before I could move on to the next level. I stopped there. Deleted the game and moved on.

 

 

Ah so my physical copy was the issue, good to know. Oh well, won't struggle either way, game doesn't sound that great 😆

 

19 minutes ago, Slava said:

 

I don't know what it is, maybe it's me, maybe it's the game, but I lost interest in it somewhere around the swamp area. I've been playing the game an hour per week on average since then 😁. There are some particular things I dislike about it, but they're not that significant. Maybe except for the boss battles with mythical dudes who want to fight you 15 seconds after meeting you for absolutely no reason. The main issue is that I'm just not having fun most of the time. I'll beat it eventually.

Yep truly understandable 😁 that one is my favorite GoW but I totally see why it ain't your jam. 

Also yeah that's how it goes in God of War of old 😂 "Hello, my name is Perseus, you killed my mood of adventure, prepare to die". Gotta combo the Pantheon to death.

[Copanele]

One last mention about Mirror Edge trials, I forgot to add this in my main post.

So...I know this has been debated to death, it has been discussed and despite the best efforts of some actually good mathematicians (never forget Arcesius) it was concluded that numbers are difficult and don't make any sense in the end.

But I still laugh my ass off at the way DLC trophy percentages are calculated on this site.

 

 

#75 and #90 stars trophies are DLC. And yet somehow they're less rare than the #35 and #50 who are the main game. Yep, numbers totally add up, math is on point, universe is expanding at an alarming rate.

 

 

Pythagoras is breakdancing in his grave...

[Nikythekiller98]

That's a great result Copa! Finished Catalyst 2 months ago and considered going back to the OG Mirror's Edge. I'll be in for a rough time, it seems.

[Copanele]

29 minutes ago, Nikythekiller98 said:

That's a great result Copa! Finished Catalyst 2 months ago and considered going back to the OG Mirror's Edge. I'll be in for a rough time, it seems.

Yeaah not gonna lie, better prepare yourself when going after this one  OG Mirror's Edge pulls no punches!

[Copanele]

 No. 280 - Persha and the Magical Labyrinth: Arabian Nyaights

 

Platinum Name - Next on the Journey

Hardest Trophy -  Magic Cat - collect all cats on side B

Difficulty - 4/10

 

In order to take a break after the crazy Mirror's Edge Trials, I decided to play something relaxing, something that will chill my brain and put me in a good mood. And what other better choice than a match-3 game!

 

Persha is a lighthearted Match-3 game where you play as a magical girl trying to catch the infamous magical cat Rock. You will have to chase the pesky cat throughout 6 towers, each with 10 stages. You will have to match various boxes of threes or more, collect keys, destroy all kinds of enemies and finally catch Rock in order to advance.

 

If you played something like Bejeweled or Puzzle Quest, you know how this goes already

 

What I appreciated about this game is that it can get quite tricky in some levels. Don't let the adorable graphics and lighthearted soundtrack fool you, some levels can actually kick your butt around, especially if you aim to collect all of the Cats present in each level. Some of those missions are rather tough (kill x enemies in under 30 seconds, collect 5 shields and 3 keys in this order), but the rewards from getting the Cats are well worth the effort. Not only do you receive coins which are required for the final rating, but each cat has a special ability, from recovering your health to destroying an entire line either horizontally or vertically. Some cats even require other cat usage in order to fulfill their missions.

 

In terms of mechanics, you have the following options:

• Persha is your main protagonist and she is the only one that can move freely on the map, without requiring any 3-matching. She can defeat enemies and collect coins and is the only one that can capture Rock
• Rock is the top hat cat that will appear once you collect enough keys. All you need to do is attack him once (swap places with him) and he will get captured
• Keys are required in order to spawn Rock. Once Rock appears, all keys turn into Coins that will be added to your score
• Wall blocks are special concrete blocks that prevent enemies from passing through them. You can even trap enemies inside with careful planning
• Cat Eyes are blue orbs that are required if you want to unlock the Cat Mission info. Or...you can look up on the internet  
• Shields block one attack from the enemies. Pretty much the most useful block of them all.
• Bombs explode everything adjacent to them if they get matched
• Enemies are the cats that will stand between Persha and Rock. They have various abilities, from jumping 2 squares at the same time to becoming invisible.

All of these mechanics are very well explained in the game whenever a new item/enemy shows up

 

Expect a lot of cat puns

 

The platinum doesn't require anything outstanding. You have to complete all towers with S rank and collect all cats. Once you do the first 6 towers, a new set called B-Side with another 6 towers will unlock. These ones are trickier than the first but by that point you should be well accustomed with the game already.

One word of advice though - Do not cheat/backup saves if you want to enjoy this game. I personally found a great satisfaction in figuring out by myself all the puzzles.

 

In conclusion, a really cute and fun puzzle/match-3 game which is now being sold at a steal price with the Spring Sales. So if you like these kinds of games, I do recommend it  

 

THE GOOD:

• Very lighthearted and fun puzzle game
• Maps are not braindead easy
• Perfect if you want to take a break from more serious gaming

THE BAD:

• Tower 3-1 side B has one weird bug where the Cat Mission doesn't always unlock. 

Recommendation - Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords  Whenever I play a Match-3 game, I compare it with this one. So far, Puzzle Quest is still superior (the fact that I also played the Warlords series which is set in the same universe does not help the other games  )

[Nikythekiller98]

Not even a few minutes after I finish work and I find a new plat being posted here, LOL
Well done, it may not be my genre, but I've always been curious about these types of puzzle games

[Copanele]

4 minutes ago, Nikythekiller98 said:

Not even a few minutes after I finish work and I find a new plat being posted here, LOL
Well done, it may not be my genre, but I've always been curious about these types of puzzle games

Thanks thanks  yeah I finished this one yesterday but I decided to write about it today.

I am back to Mirror's Edge so (hopefully) another plat writeup will be up lol

[Copanele]

 No. 281 - Mirror's Edge

+ 💯 Completed

 

Platinum Name - Over The Edge

Hardest Trophy -  Superstar - Attain 90 stars in Time Trials (DLC)

Difficulty - 10/10

 

Man, does it feel liberating when you finally complete a game that has been chilling on the backlog for years  (7 to be more precise)

 

 

Mirror's Edge is a one-of-a-kind first person parkour game, where you play as a "Runner" called Faith. In a dystopian squeaky clean world where the police controls everything (imagine V for Vendetta's UK, only with more white), the Runners are the only ones who live outside the law, willing to do various delivery services via running and hopping across buildings. Its gameplay and premise were interesting enough for me to start the game, first on PC (where it crashed because I had a faulty Seven Seas Edition copy) and then on PS3.

 

Soon enough....I discovered that I absolutely suck ass at platformers, so I abandoned the game. Then I rediscovered this game once I joined PSNP and I have been slowly chipping away at it with no success in sight...until it clicked. But it was a long and arduous path and I am pretty sure I am not going to do that again with a platformer game  

 

What will first hit you when you start this game are the aesthetics. Man, this game looks good even in 2024 - it's one of a kind. You're being hit with the serene whiteness of everything surrounding you (buildings and such), the only splash of color being the path you'll have to take which is colored in red (thanks to Faith's ability called Runner Vision). The red elements stand out in this squeaky clean world and not only it shows you where you can go, but it also is a parallel to Faith "running" against the system. 

 

A world of contrasts

 

Another impressive thing is the sense of liberty the game gives you. As a parkour master, Faith can do impressive vaults over objects, jump, wall run, wall climb and more. Almost everything can be scaled, so when you understand how the mechanics of this game works, you can string various moves to do impressive feats, like wallrunning into wall climbing and then into turning and jumping to a ledge that wouldn't normally be accessible. The best part about this system is that, if you get REALLY good, you will manage to make your own routes, ignoring the Red colored routes that the game shows you. 

In the end, the purpose is to go from point A to point B. How you do it is up to you.

 

Sadly, the gifs don't do this game justice; you will have to play in order to understand.

 

The sound is also a very important factor in this game. Faith gasping for air or hearing the wind flowing as you run really gives you that impression of speed, like you'd be actually running on the rooftops. The soundtrack, while minimal, works perfectly in tandem with the atmosphere (Atrium's eerie background music is a fantastic addition).

 

As mentioned however, Faith is technically an outlaw; so the police is not really a fan of her using rooftops as her own boulevard. Therefore here and there you will have several encounters with the long armed arm of the law. When things get heated up and bullets start to fly, you'll have the option to either run (as intended) or fight (definitely not intended). Faith is able to punch and kick enemies, incorporating her parkour movesets (like jump karate kick or slide kick). However she can also disarm and shoot the cops back. It's not mandatory (there's even a trophy for not firing a single bullet throughout the entire game) but it will make certain sections easier...and it's also the worst part of the game.

 

Really, the addition of guns in this game is absolutely stupid. Mirror's Edge is NOT a first person shooter, shooting around like in a Call of Duty game ruins the pace of the game. What's worse, in some sections of the game (The Boat, The Shard), you'll have to pray to sweet RNG that Faith doesn't catch too many bullets, should you decide to avoid using guns against the police force. Gun shooting is clunky and the recoil is awful. 

And honestly I wouldn't have minded this too much if it wasn't for a certain section in the platinum run, which I'll refer to later.

 

Also, the story is stupid. It starts strong (Faith's sister Kate being framed for a murder of an important politician) but then it devolves into your generic friend-turned-enemy and some loser runner being the mastermind behind everything, which makes no sense. Story should definitely be ignored, it only has the purpose to give you more buildings to yeet yourself off of.

 

Finally, Mirror's Edge is one of those games that are fun to play, but horrible to platinum and abysmal to 100%. For this, I need to resummon the special section.

 

ROAD TO 100%

 

In terms of platinum and learning this game properly, the best way I'd describe my experience would be this:

I kept mentioning that I suck at platformers and Mirror's Edge is the only game so far where I feel I have made no real progress in learning it. And I am dead serious when I say it, because how in the name of Adidas can I still regularly fail jumps that are super easy to pull even if I did the said jumps 100+ times. I can't estimate distances, I can't understand what the perfect wallrun angle is and by god I don't understand how to speed vault instead of regular vault. People had hardships with this game but nowhere have I heard anyone to NOT get good even after finishing a game.Pretty much all I did was brute force my way until "it magically worked". That was my final and most effective approach.

The fact that I also went for the insane DLC did not help at all 😂

 

In terms of trophies, Mirror's Edge has your typical easy trophies - finish the game, finish the game on hard, do some tricks, collect all the stupid packaged because of course we need that, finish the game without firing a gun, all nice and fancy. However what makes this game so difficult are the 2 following challenges, which truly are challenging:

• Get 90 stars in all Time Trials (33 trials, 3 stars per trial)
• Complete all the chapters in Speedrun mode below the target time

Regarding trials, I already covered my experience in this post. Simply put, each trial is a portion of the map you already encountered in a game, you have to get through various checkpoints from point A to point B under the target time. There's 3 targets, tightest time gives you the glorious 3 stars. Pure Time Trials are DLC trials in space, they're nauseating and awful, please refer to the post above as mentioned because if I check them again I will have motion sickness 😂

 

However, Trials were the most fun part of the challenge. Not only were they relatively short, but other than a few (Actino), there wasn't much bullshit to be had. Also they were instrumental in succeeding to the other awful part of the challenge, because speedrun mode is where you see all the flaws and cracks in the game.

 

In the normal playthrough you can explore Mirror's Edge at your leisure. In speedrun mode however you have no such luxury. The time constraints are TIGHT and the path recommended by the game is usually bullshit and will give you eternal pain. So instead you will have to resort to various glitches and game-breaking bugs in order to bypass certain sections. If you sit at the right spot on a plank in Chapter 2 for instance you can save like 1 minute of utter platforming pain. Or a certain jump in Chapter 7 would help you skip 2 abysmal gun encounters which is not a good mechanic implementation especially in a speedrun mode!. Gun encounters were the worst because your skills were obsolete, all it mattered was the RNG and the AI being dumb enough to miss you with a machine gun while you were running for your life.

 

True speedrun experience

 

But it's not only that...the game's mechanics were really struggling to keep up with what I was trying to do. Say I wanted to jump on a springboard (special launching pads that throw you to further platforms), most of the time Faith would vault over these springboards to her doom. Or try to jump and climb on a pipe, Faith would wallrun and fall instead, acting dumbfound (just like me). Or better yet, me jumping towards a rope or a pole...just to completely clip through it and fall to my doom. The game demands precision, true, but often it doesn't tell you WHAT kind of precision it wants. Sometimes...you just have to be lucky.

 

Now, if I were to go only for the platinum, I would have said that speedruns were worse than time trials (for some chapters I had to teleport myself through walls!). However considering the DLC and the eye-burning Pure Time Trials...I'd say overall Time Trials are way harder to accomplish.

 

My chapter speedrun times are as follow, if anyone is curious:

o P: 2.42.35/3.00.00
o 1: 5.46.85/6.00.00
o 2: 10.33.49/11.00.00
o 3: 7.47.21/8.00.00
o 4: 7.31.87/9.00.00
o 5: 8.48.54/9.00.00
o 6: 6.28.56/7.00.00
o 7: 7.00.46/8.00.00
o 8: 6.14.86/8.00.00
o 9: 5.38.64/6.00.00

 

Overall, even after this whole time, grinding at it and such... I am not sure if I like the game or not. On one hand the aesthetics are fantastic and this kind of platforming/parkour is one of a kind. On the other hand...it's the only game that made me feel just as incapable at the end as I was at the beginning, and the multiple ways the mechanics screwed me over and over made me really curse at the screen more than once 😅 so much so, that when I finished the game, I wasn't jumping around from happiness (like Persona 4 Arena did ), all I could do was just sigh of relief "Thank fucking god it's done, now I can pull this screenshot"

Delete completed.

 

Would I recommend this game?...Maybe? I mean it's a good game, it has some really fun mechanics, but if you're going for the plat and especially 100%...prepare to suffer. 

Unless you're good at platformers I guess  

For me, this will be peak platforming. Mirror's Edge is the hardest game I have ever completed.

Until I attempt Koihime Enbu RRR that is. A tale for another time.

 

THE GOOD:

• First Person Parkour - how cool is that?
• Man this game looks and feels good
• Faith is a really badass female character now that I think of it!
• Ambiental music really sets the tone
• I like the red/white contrast
• Oddly enough I liked the main game Time Trials? for some reason?

THE BAD:

• If you go for precision, man this game can be ROUGH
• Forced addition of guns and gunplay in a game about running is dumb
• Pure Time Trials  = 
• Personal preference, but the lack of reassigning the jump button is incredibly stupid. Maybe I DO NOT WANT TO JUMP WITH L1, goddamn Playstatioooooooon!

Recommendation - Prince of Persia Trilogy  I don't know why, but I think the Prince would smoke Faith in a speedrunning contest. Or I am just missing the series I don't know 😂

 

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

PS3 GAMES BACKLOG

 

1. Castlevania Mirror of Fate HD
2. Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2
3. Catherine 🤢
4. Quantum Conundrum
5. Tomb Raider Anniversary
6. Tomb Raider Legend
7. Tomb Raider Underworld
8. XCOM Enemy Unknown
9. Mirror's Edge

I originally planned Mirror's Edge to be my 300th platinum, but I had no patience & desire to wait and re-learn the mechanics. There's another Pink monstrosity that is fitting for that milestone though....

Hardest game on my profile done. Soon it will be time for the worst game on my profile 😂 or that's what I say very year at least

Edited April 12 by Copanele

[Slava]

2 hours ago, Copanele said:

Oddly enough I liked the main game Time Trials? for some reason?

 

Must be Stockholm syndrome 😄.

 

Biggest of congrats! Looks like it's a historic moment for your profile.

 

Hard to disagree with anything in your post from gameplay to graphics. I definitely agree about the story. First time I played on PC, I was only invested in saving the sister (Faith and Kate are both cool characters), and didn't care about the rest. When I replayed it on PS3, I payed more attention, so the plot was a bit more disappointing that time, especially the end. 

 

Spoiler

The conflict is between two political candidates, the "good one" gets killed, obviously the pro-establishment "bad one" is behind it. He hires runners, builds a stronger police state, etc. Be we never meet the guy. Instead the final encounter is with one of the traitors. I guess there was room left for a sequel 🤔. Anyway, other than saving Kate, the ending felt anticlimactic.

 

I did rage at the game for the same reasons you're describing. There is one particular pipe in the "Jacknife" chapter, that she just refuses to grab and ruins your chapter runs. And of course, Chapter 9 AKA the reason your therapist has a job 😁. Getting shredded into swiss cheese with machine gun fire so many times was infuriating. I confess that by the last attempts, I was enjoying returning the favour and giving cops the taste of their lead 😁. I was kinda even getting proficient at it (as if I was Christian Bale in Equilibrium) and didn't hate the gunplay that much. It doesn't compare to the studio's other FPS works (Battlefield), but felt satisfying anyway, probably mainly from the audio-visual side of things. Guns sound great in this game, IMO.

 

How often did you use the slow-mo feature, BTW? In my PC playthough, I definitely completely forgot about that button and ended up struggling with gun stealing timing, because I involantarily made it harder for myself. On PS3, I didn't forget about it, but I still barely used it. It can be utilised during parlour too, but I don't think it helps much there, if at all.

 

And visual are cool, no doubt. Level design and even architecture were impressive as well. Buildings sometimes look cooler from the inside than from the rooftops. A lot of care was put into them.

 

 

And I loved the dynamic soundtrack. I listen to the OST once in a while, game aside. I like how each area has a unique vibe in terms of sound that it keeps from the "exploration" theme to "chase" and "combat" versions. 

 

Never played Catalyst, but I still plan to. Will do so on PC, likely. Not sure yet.

Edited April 12 by Slava

[Copanele]

14 minutes ago, Slava said:

 

Must be Stockholm syndrome 😄.

 

Biggest of congrats! Looks like it's a historic moment for your profile.

Definitely that 😂 must have been in love with being brutalized at some point. And thank you, it really is (for me at least!)

 

14 minutes ago, Slava said:

I did rage at the game for the same reasons you're describing. There is one particular pipe in the "Jacknife" chapter, that she just refuses to grab and ruins your chapter runs.

I had the same damn issue with Faith refusing to grab shit in this particular map, but it was right after Jacknife fell like an idiot and I had to chase him down via a detour:

 

It was so frustrating to go "yes I got you now, sucker" just to jump and...clip THROUGH that shit. God I was so angry.

 

16 minutes ago, Slava said:

And of course, Chapter 9 AKA the reason your therapist has a job 😁. Getting shredded into swiss cheese with machine gun fire so many times was infuriating. I confess that by the last attempts, I was enjoying returning the favour and giving cops the taste of their lead 😁. I was kinda even getting proficient at it (as if I was Christian Bale in Equilibrium) and didn't hate the gunplay that much. It doesn't compare to the studio's other FPS works (Battlefield), but felt satisfying anyway, probably mainly from the audio-visual side of things. Guns sound great in this game, IMO.

 

How often did you use the slow-mo feature, BTW? In my PC playthough, I definitely completely forgot about that button and ended up struggling with gun stealing timing, because I involantarily made it harder for myself. On PS3, I didn't forget about it, but I still barely used it. It can be utilised during parlour too, but I don't think it helps much there, if at all.

Both of these go together, in total I used the slow mo 3 times:

• Once in chapter 7 The Boat - after climbing down from the truck in the place with lots of gunners, I went left, climbed the cars then there's a ledge sticking out on top of the cars. Jumped on the ledge, turned to right then activated slow motion(so I won't die from bullets). and hopped like a dumbass until i triggered a checkpoint. The result you can see here (I timestamped it for you)
• Once in chapter 8 I think, I kept failing a super short wallrun section.
• In chapter 9 in the server room.

The way I approached server room - ran to the server in the left, enemies gunned it down. Went through the server boxes, there's a springboard that throws me right at the machine gunner in the middle. Grab his gun (he is super slow, so I could get his gun normally), then turned on the slow motion and gunned down the other 3 servers. By the time the slow mo was done, the doors were open and I darted out.

I tried to gun my way through but I was either wasting too much time or I was shot down in return 😅 

21 minutes ago, Slava said:

And visual are cool, no doubt. Level design and even architecture were impressive as well. Buildings sometimes look cooler from the inside than from the rooftops. A lot of care was put into them.

Yep, I absolutely loved the visuals. Really a carefully crafted game  

21 minutes ago, Slava said:

And I loved the dynamic soundtrack. I listen to the OST once in a while, game aside. I like how each area has a unique vibe in terms of sound that it keeps from the "exploration" theme to "chase" and "combat" versions. 

That Atrium Vibe...damn. The soundtrack was the only thing keeping me sane from the thousands falls to my death in that stupid area XD 

[Slava]

31 minutes ago, Copanele said:

I had the same damn issue with Faith refusing to grab shit in this particular map, but it was right after Jacknife fell like an idiot and I had to chase him down via a detour:

 

Heh. What's funny is that the pipe I was talking about is in this very screenshot as well 😁. Just a couple of jumps further.

 

34 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Once in chapter 7 The Boat - after climbing down from the truck in the place with lots of gunners, I went left, climbed the cars then there's a ledge sticking out on top of the cars. Jumped on the ledge, turned to right then activated slow motion(so I won't die from bullets). and hopped like a dumbass until i triggered a checkpoint. The result you can see here (I timestamped it for you)

 

I didn't even know you could do that. Nice.

[jonesey46]

From memory, I think I agree with everything you've said about this game but if I'm being honest, I love this game. It has its flaws and getting 100% (11 years ago) was super frustrating but I don't know man, there just isn't anything like it, so for that, I can't help but love it.

 

Do you plan on playing the sequel? Trophy wise, it's a walk in the park compared to the first, so there's that but I don't know if I can recommend it. It doesn't quite have the magic of the first one in my opinion.

 

Anyway, congrats on the 100%. There's nothing like finishing off an old and challenging game.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw that the servers for Catalyst went down in December. That's a shame.

Edited April 12 by jonesey46

[Copanele]

3 hours ago, jonesey46 said:

From memory, I think I agree with everything you've said about this game but if I'm being honest, I love this game. It has its flaws and getting 100% (11 years ago) was super frustrating but I don't know man, there just isn't anything like it, so for that, I can't help but love it.

 

Do you plan on playing the sequel? Trophy wise, it's a walk in the park compared to the first, so there's that but I don't know if I can recommend it. It doesn't quite have the magic of the first one in my opinion.

 

Anyway, congrats on the 100%. There's nothing like finishing off an old and challenging game.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I just saw that the servers for Catalyst went down in December. That's a shame.

Thank you thank you! Another PS3 game retired, that list is thinning out  

 

To be honest, I knew that Catalyst's servers were getting closed. But I simply had no energy and desire to attempt that one too, no matter how much easier it was  I really don't get along with this genre, so I bet Catalyst would have felt like an 8/10 for me at least lol

[MissShake]

I said it already but that's quite the Goliath you've tackled, David!

 

I really loved Mirror's Edge when I played it back on the 360, but this post makes me wonder how I'd feel about the game in present day. It seems like it's not a lot of fun to 100%, and I don't know if I'd be able to resist attempting it if I played it now. My least favorite part of the game was the cutscenes, they look like insurance commercials here in America lol.

 

Maybe I'll finally finish up the list for Catalyst in celebration of your achievement

[Copanele]

16 minutes ago, MissShake said:

I said it already but that's quite the Goliath you've tackled, David!

 

I really loved Mirror's Edge when I played it back on the 360, but this post makes me wonder how I'd feel about the game in present day. It seems like it's not a lot of fun to 100%, and I don't know if I'd be able to resist attempting it if I played it now. My least favorite part of the game was the cutscenes, they look like insurance commercials here in America lol.

 

Maybe I'll finally finish up the list for Catalyst in celebration of your achievement

I completely forgot about the cutscenes 😆 yeah they were kinda off-putting, didn't help the story either.

I am pretty sure you'd like the game, but hate the 100%. If one game would benefit from a re-release on the PS5, this would be the one. A 60 FPS gameplay would really iron out some of the folds there  

 

Damn you have Catalyst! Yeah that would work as a Cleanup Crew option! Also many thanks, I know I spammed a bit with the "this stupid trial is driving me insane", sorry   

Edited April 12 by Copanele

[Yuber6969]

On 3/27/2024 at 3:41 AM, Copanele said:

 

 

Skullgirls 2nd Encore - Marie DLC

 

Skullgirls 2nd Encore keeps adding characters! Which I will admit, it's a very admirable effort (especially since the characters are very well designed) but...is there anyone playing this game even? I sure hope so!

 

Anyway, Marie is the final boss of the Skullgirls world and now she arrived as a playable character, with new movesets! In terms of gameplay, Marie feels like a combination between Rachel (Blazblue) and Dizzy(Guilty Gear), using a skeletal vacuum cleaner instead of an umbrella and using her familiars to lay waste on the screen. An interesting character but not quite my style of play.

 

What I appreciated about her however is her story mode. Finally we get some closure for the story of this game, Marie being able to somewhat stave off the influence of the Skull Heart. You see her whole background story, her relationship with Peacock and who are the true antagonists of this universe. It felt satisfying to draw the curtains at last and open up for a potential new game.

 

....I sure hope the devs will work on a new game, right? Let this one rest already they already started editing stuff from the previous team and people are not happy about it.

 

Glad to hear that Skullgirls gets closure. I liked the Skullgirls story and have been waiting to get closure for a while now. Gonna play this soon.

 

On 4/1/2024 at 2:15 PM, zizimonster said:

Just had a thought!

 

Since you were deeply disappointed at Sifu, have you played Sleeping Dogs?

 

It would mend your broken heart. 👍

 

I have yet to play it, but I bought it after seeing this video:

 

 

On 4/12/2024 at 6:38 AM, Copanele said:

 No. 281 - Mirror's Edge

+ 💯 Completed

 

Platinum Name - Over The Edge

Hardest Trophy -  Superstar - Attain 90 stars in Time Trials (DLC)

Difficulty - 10/10

 

Man, does it feel liberating when you finally complete a game that has been chilling on the backlog for years  (7 to be more precise)

 

 

Mirror's Edge is a one-of-a-kind first person parkour game, where you play as a "Runner" called Faith. In a dystopian squeaky clean world where the police controls everything (imagine V for Vendetta's UK, only with more white), the Runners are the only ones who live outside the law, willing to do various delivery services via running and hopping across buildings. Its gameplay and premise were interesting enough for me to start the game, first on PC (where it crashed because I had a faulty Seven Seas Edition copy) and then on PS3.

 

Soon enough....I discovered that I absolutely suck ass at platformers, so I abandoned the game. Then I rediscovered this game once I joined PSNP and I have been slowly chipping away at it with no success in sight...until it clicked. But it was a long and arduous path and I am pretty sure I am not going to do that again with a platformer game  

 

What will first hit you when you start this game are the aesthetics. Man, this game looks good even in 2024 - it's one of a kind. You're being hit with the serene whiteness of everything surrounding you (buildings and such), the only splash of color being the path you'll have to take which is colored in red (thanks to Faith's ability called Runner Vision). The red elements stand out in this squeaky clean world and not only it shows you where you can go, but it also is a parallel to Faith "running" against the system. 

 

A world of contrasts

 

Another impressive thing is the sense of liberty the game gives you. As a parkour master, Faith can do impressive vaults over objects, jump, wall run, wall climb and more. Almost everything can be scaled, so when you understand how the mechanics of this game works, you can string various moves to do impressive feats, like wallrunning into wall climbing and then into turning and jumping to a ledge that wouldn't normally be accessible. The best part about this system is that, if you get REALLY good, you will manage to make your own routes, ignoring the Red colored routes that the game shows you. 

In the end, the purpose is to go from point A to point B. How you do it is up to you.

 

Sadly, the gifs don't do this game justice; you will have to play in order to understand.

 

The sound is also a very important factor in this game. Faith gasping for air or hearing the wind flowing as you run really gives you that impression of speed, like you'd be actually running on the rooftops. The soundtrack, while minimal, works perfectly in tandem with the atmosphere (Atrium's eerie background music is a fantastic addition).

 

As mentioned however, Faith is technically an outlaw; so the police is not really a fan of her using rooftops as her own boulevard. Therefore here and there you will have several encounters with the long armed arm of the law. When things get heated up and bullets start to fly, you'll have the option to either run (as intended) or fight (definitely not intended). Faith is able to punch and kick enemies, incorporating her parkour movesets (like jump karate kick or slide kick). However she can also disarm and shoot the cops back. It's not mandatory (there's even a trophy for not firing a single bullet throughout the entire game) but it will make certain sections easier...and it's also the worst part of the game.

 

Really, the addition of guns in this game is absolutely stupid. Mirror's Edge is NOT a first person shooter, shooting around like in a Call of Duty game ruins the pace of the game. What's worse, in some sections of the game (The Boat, The Shard), you'll have to pray to sweet RNG that Faith doesn't catch too many bullets, should you decide to avoid using guns against the police force. Gun shooting is clunky and the recoil is awful. 

And honestly I wouldn't have minded this too much if it wasn't for a certain section in the platinum run, which I'll refer to later.

 

Also, the story is stupid. It starts strong (Faith's sister Kate being framed for a murder of an important politician) but then it devolves into your generic friend-turned-enemy and some loser runner being the mastermind behind everything, which makes no sense. Story should definitely be ignored, it only has the purpose to give you more buildings to yeet yourself off of.

 

Finally, Mirror's Edge is one of those games that are fun to play, but horrible to platinum and abysmal to 100%. For this, I need to resummon the special section.

 

ROAD TO 100%

 

In terms of platinum and learning this game properly, the best way I'd describe my experience would be this:

I kept mentioning that I suck at platformers and Mirror's Edge is the only game so far where I feel I have made no real progress in learning it. And I am dead serious when I say it, because how in the name of Adidas can I still regularly fail jumps that are super easy to pull even if I did the said jumps 100+ times. I can't estimate distances, I can't understand what the perfect wallrun angle is and by god I don't understand how to speed vault instead of regular vault. People had hardships with this game but nowhere have I heard anyone to NOT get good even after finishing a game.Pretty much all I did was brute force my way until "it magically worked". That was my final and most effective approach.

The fact that I also went for the insane DLC did not help at all 😂

 

In terms of trophies, Mirror's Edge has your typical easy trophies - finish the game, finish the game on hard, do some tricks, collect all the stupid packaged because of course we need that, finish the game without firing a gun, all nice and fancy. However what makes this game so difficult are the 2 following challenges, which truly are challenging:

• Get 90 stars in all Time Trials (33 trials, 3 stars per trial)
• Complete all the chapters in Speedrun mode below the target time

Regarding trials, I already covered my experience in this post. Simply put, each trial is a portion of the map you already encountered in a game, you have to get through various checkpoints from point A to point B under the target time. There's 3 targets, tightest time gives you the glorious 3 stars. Pure Time Trials are DLC trials in space, they're nauseating and awful, please refer to the post above as mentioned because if I check them again I will have motion sickness 😂

 

However, Trials were the most fun part of the challenge. Not only were they relatively short, but other than a few (Actino), there wasn't much bullshit to be had. Also they were instrumental in succeeding to the other awful part of the challenge, because speedrun mode is where you see all the flaws and cracks in the game.

 

In the normal playthrough you can explore Mirror's Edge at your leisure. In speedrun mode however you have no such luxury. The time constraints are TIGHT and the path recommended by the game is usually bullshit and will give you eternal pain. So instead you will have to resort to various glitches and game-breaking bugs in order to bypass certain sections. If you sit at the right spot on a plank in Chapter 2 for instance you can save like 1 minute of utter platforming pain. Or a certain jump in Chapter 7 would help you skip 2 abysmal gun encounters which is not a good mechanic implementation especially in a speedrun mode!. Gun encounters were the worst because your skills were obsolete, all it mattered was the RNG and the AI being dumb enough to miss you with a machine gun while you were running for your life.

 

True speedrun experience

 

But it's not only that...the game's mechanics were really struggling to keep up with what I was trying to do. Say I wanted to jump on a springboard (special launching pads that throw you to further platforms), most of the time Faith would vault over these springboards to her doom. Or try to jump and climb on a pipe, Faith would wallrun and fall instead, acting dumbfound (just like me). Or better yet, me jumping towards a rope or a pole...just to completely clip through it and fall to my doom. The game demands precision, true, but often it doesn't tell you WHAT kind of precision it wants. Sometimes...you just have to be lucky.

 

Now, if I were to go only for the platinum, I would have said that speedruns were worse than time trials (for some chapters I had to teleport myself through walls!). However considering the DLC and the eye-burning Pure Time Trials...I'd say overall Time Trials are way harder to accomplish.

 

My chapter speedrun times are as follow, if anyone is curious:

o P: 2.42.35/3.00.00
o 1: 5.46.85/6.00.00
o 2: 10.33.49/11.00.00
o 3: 7.47.21/8.00.00
o 4: 7.31.87/9.00.00
o 5: 8.48.54/9.00.00
o 6: 6.28.56/7.00.00
o 7: 7.00.46/8.00.00
o 8: 6.14.86/8.00.00
o 9: 5.38.64/6.00.00

 

Overall, even after this whole time, grinding at it and such... I am not sure if I like the game or not. On one hand the aesthetics are fantastic and this kind of platforming/parkour is one of a kind. On the other hand...it's the only game that made me feel just as incapable at the end as I was at the beginning, and the multiple ways the mechanics screwed me over and over made me really curse at the screen more than once 😅 so much so, that when I finished the game, I wasn't jumping around from happiness (like Persona 4 Arena did ), all I could do was just sigh of relief "Thank fucking god it's done, now I can pull this screenshot"

Delete completed.

 

Would I recommend this game?...Maybe? I mean it's a good game, it has some really fun mechanics, but if you're going for the plat and especially 100%...prepare to suffer. 

Unless you're good at platformers I guess  

For me, this will be peak platforming. Mirror's Edge is the hardest game I have ever completed.

Until I attempt Koihime Enbu RRR that is. A tale for another time.

 

THE GOOD:

• First Person Parkour - how cool is that?
• Man this game looks and feels good
• Faith is a really badass female character now that I think of it!
• Ambiental music really sets the tone
• I like the red/white contrast
• Oddly enough I liked the main game Time Trials? for some reason?

THE BAD:

• If you go for precision, man this game can be ROUGH
• Forced addition of guns and gunplay in a game about running is dumb
• Pure Time Trials  = 
• Personal preference, but the lack of reassigning the jump button is incredibly stupid. Maybe I DO NOT WANT TO JUMP WITH L1, goddamn Playstatioooooooon!

Recommendation - Prince of Persia Trilogy  I don't know why, but I think the Prince would smoke Faith in a speedrunning contest. Or I am just missing the series I don't know 😂

 

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

PS3 GAMES BACKLOG

 

1. Castlevania Mirror of Fate HD
2. Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2
3. Catherine 🤢
4. Quantum Conundrum
5. Tomb Raider Anniversary
6. Tomb Raider Legend
7. Tomb Raider Underworld
8. XCOM Enemy Unknown
9. Mirror's Edge

I originally planned Mirror's Edge to be my 300th platinum, but I had no patience & desire to wait and re-learn the mechanics. There's another Pink monstrosity that is fitting for that milestone though....

Hardest game on my profile done. Soon it will be time for the worst game on my profile 😂 or that's what I say very year at least

 

I'm the same when it comes to platformers; I struggle with the most basic jumps. When you say you found this harder than P4A, I would probably end up saying the same if I played this game. You mentioned not liking the platforming in God of War, and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who had that exact same thought in God of War 3 lol. Mirror's Edge seems to expect way more skill than I have in the genre. Big congrats again!

 

On 4/3/2024 at 11:52 AM, Copanele said:

Sooo...I tried How to train your dragon 2.....lord @Yuber6969warned me that this game is garbage.

First 10 seconds of the game where I tried to control Toothless and I was convinced..

Followed by me looking at the controller and then at the game and then at the case and then back at the controller...

 

So...yeah...gotta sell that game because I am NOT playing that thing!  

 

That game was hot garbage lol. I couldn't control the dragon to save my life. XD

[Copanele]

On 4/16/2024 at 9:56 PM, Yuber6969 said:

I'm the same when it comes to platformers; I struggle with the most basic jumps. When you say you found this harder than P4A, I would probably end up saying the same if I played this game. You mentioned not liking the platforming in God of War, and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who had that exact same thought in God of War 3 lol. Mirror's Edge seems to expect way more skill than I have in the genre. Big congrats again!

Kratos gave me the impression he was taking a mid-air dump whenever he was hopping in the game.

And I am pretty sure you'll find it the same, knowing you  as nasty as a combo might be, trying to emulate real running via a controller will be a different level of bamboozlement for your brain 😂

 

Ok, now back to the one review I didn't really want to write...

 

 No. 282 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

 

Platinum Name - Prince of Persia

Hardest Trophy - Charitable Soul - Complete every single sidequest - especially the  "Impossible Climb" one

Difficulty - 3.5/10

 

From time to time, there comes a moment when I play a game that I do not resonate with, no matter how good it is. It's those games that technically have the perfect formula - good graphics, awesome soundtrack, interesting story and compelling characters and most of all, crisp clean and sick gameplay - but despite all that, the artstyle and the tone of the game simply do not pass my "vibe checks" and they're so prominent that I simply cannot stand the end product.

 

This is the case with Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, a fresh Metroidvania take on the Prince of Persia IP. It's a game that does everything right overall, but manages to simply not be appealing to me personally.
This will be one of the most subjective reviews so please have that in mind. I don't like spamming "in my opinion" ad nauseam so keep that in mind  

It is also important to add that I played the following games in the Prince of Persia IP, so this is where my criticism comes from:

• Prince of Persia (the old 1989 one)
• Prince of Persia 2 The Shadow and the Flame
• Prince of Persia 3D (never finished it, dumb game bricked my Windows XP)
• Prince of Persia Trilogy - Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones
• Prince of Persia 2008
• Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands (and a forgotten game lol)

Good, enough intro, let's get on with this game:

 

in Lost Crown, you play as Sargon, one of the Seven Immortals in service to the Queen of Persia. The Immortals are a group of elite warriors in service to the Empire who are usually tasked with the more "impossible tasks" - repel invaders, defeat tough enemies, save princes from cursed mountains. That last task becomes a reality when, during the victory celebration, the Prince of Persia Ghassan is kidnapped by Sargon's mentor and adoptive mother Anahita. Confused and angry, Sargon and his colleagues follow Anahita to the sacred Mountain Qaf. This mountain, a former holy place, is cursed however, so Sargon and the team are trapped in a temporal bubble and are attacked by all manners of creatures. Your task is easy - save the Prince of Persia and escape the mountain.

 

Enter Sargon, the newest protagonist

 

Let's talk about Sargon first, because he was one of the reasons I was looking at this game suspiciously. I will be fully honest, seeing the first trailer where I was fed with some stupid rap music and a protagonist that is NOT the Prince of Persia...my hopes were an all time low, especially since I really don't like hating on games. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, because Sargon is actually an incredibly compelling character! He is young and brash but he is also unusually humble, always knowing that he's not at all immortal (heh) and he also has a lot to learn. You can see that actual care was put in the writing of this character, from his interactions with his colleagues, the occasional NPCs like the young map seller Fariba and even his enemies. 

Sargon is a good character and is worthy of the "title" of Prince of Persia. 

 

The soundtrack is also a pleasant surprise. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the Persian tunes mixed with rock guitar  there's something enthralling by that combination. Soundtrack hits hard and works perfectly with Sargon's sword clashing and enemy kicking. At least this is a constant in Ubisoft games - no matter how bland the games might be (looking at you AC Valhalla), you can be assured that the soundtrack will be top notch (again, looking at you AC Valhalla).

 

But perhaps the highlight of this game is the gameplay - I will be honest, this is the tightest 2D gameplay I have seen in a videogame ever. Perhaps because the game is returning to its roots of a 2D IP, special thought and care was put in this gameplay. As the protagonist of a PoP game, Sargon can jump, wall run, slide and vault over various obstacles. Being a Metroidvania, you also unlock a lot of abilities, like air dashing ,double jumping, shooting a chackram and then teleporting to that location, a magical scarf that allows you to snatch to various grappling points and enemies, there's a lot there. Pair that with the absolutely insane trap designs that are thrown in the game and you'll play a certified Prince of Persia game here.

For this, I will share a video of one of my favorite trap puzzles in the game  since a screenshot just won't do it justice.

 

The combat is not too bad either. Sargon has his 2 trusty scimitars and a bow that he borrows from one of his friends. If you played Guacamelee, the combat is pretty similar - the usual 3 hits combos, a launcher, a sweep and air combos. You can also pair your attacks with your abilities, leading to some really impressive combos. 

But by far one of my favorite mechanics in this game is the Parry mechanic. It works as you'd expect - if you time the button right, Sargon will parry an attack and the enemy will get stunned for a few seconds. What's awesome about this ability is that Sargon can also equip various amulets that increase his abilities and stats, this also including the parrying. With that you can slow time, health regen, Athra (mana) regen and so on. Of course, some of the attacks are unparriable, but you can always dodge if needed.

 

You also have some special abilities...I'll get to those in a moment

 

Up until this point, I had nothing but praise for the game. Cool characters, tight gameplay, amazing soundtrack, good enough story.

However...overall, I didn't like this game. But why is that?

The best answer that I can give is that the aesthetics of this game didn't resonate with me at all to the point where it was metaphorically hurting my eyes. It's truly a matter of taste, but for me this tastes like shit. Why did this game have to look like Fortnite or Overwatch??

 

I hope these 3 images kinda explain what I mean

 

Maybe it's just me being a random old head right now, but I feel that the artistic design choices for Lost Crown are a massive step back from the stuff that came before, especially compared to the cel shaded tone of Prince of Persia 2008, a beautiful game in my opinion. I don't know, it gives me such a "By the numbers" vibe that I couldn't shake off right until the end. How can I take the rescue mission seriously when my boss Vahran looks like he's about to offer me a Season Pass discount for the newest Immortal Character DLC???

And this slowly seeped into the level design and the first 4-5 hours of the game. I felt that the game was an absolute SLOG, ONLY because of the lazy play-doh artstyle. I am aware that in a Metroidvania the beginning is slow, because you don't have all the abilities, but the world and tone of the world should keep you interested enough to explore. Games like Salt&Sanctuary, Ender Lilies or Guacamelee all did this perfectly, managing to catch my interest from the very first 5 minutes. 

In comparison, why the hell would I be interested in a game whose first 5 hours look like a damn Overwatch Payload map set in ancient Persia?

This is an impressive sight at first...only to realize that you can't zoom out, and you'll get the same brown/orange color for your next 4 hours of gameplay.

 

And let's say that ok, if it was the same the entire game, I would have understood, the developers clearly wanted to go with this style and that's it. Except they weren't!! Once you reach the half point of the game, the artstyle EXPLODES, it has PERSONALITY, it is completely different. I have reached the Raging Sea map where a ship struck by lightning and cannon fire is stuck in time and my jaw utterly dropped. So THERE CAN BE GOOD STUFF in this game!!!! 

But you have to go through 4 hours of brown to get the gold.

This is where the fun begins

 

And the difference is utterly jarring, at least for me  because I can literally hop from the template by-the-numbers "How do you do fellow kids" section of the map to the "Holy shit this feels like a 1001 Nights palace" with just 1 elevator. It truly feels like the devs were given full creativity in the second half of the game. Or maybe I'm utterly insane here 😂

 

Another thing is the tone shift in the game. I was never sure whether I was playing a game set in mythological Persia or a Naruto 2D game. To give an example ,at some point you have to fight an archer - boss fights in this game are awesome honestly. So you fight this archer, very fun, all the good stuff, he shoots small arrows, a huge arrow, arrow rain, all that good shit.

And then when phase 2 shows up, he ditches the bow, starts to close quarter combat you like Solid Snake - very fun twist, did not see this coming.

Then he does a parry and hits you with this.

 

 

My reaction to this was uncontrollable laughter. WTF IS THIS, PERSIA BALL Z BUDOKAI TENKAICHI? How can you reel me in a fight like that, where one second this guy uses a bow and arrow and the next second i get hit by a full blown Kamehameha. Consistency died together with the Persian Empire here.

The most egregious example for me was the fight with a certain boss who has a scimitar as a weapon. Or fine, let's call it a normal sword, there, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I fight this dude, he has some time powers...All fine, slashes, teleports.

But then this absolute tool starts to use his sword like a "nothing personnel kid" Katana (Iai slashes for the anime enjoyers) and starts to dimension slash like fucking Vergil from Devil May Cry. Bro are you a Persian warrior or a goddamn Bleach Captain character, DECIDE ALREADY!

 

This completely ruined the tone of this game for me. Whenever I was having a good time and feeling like yes, finally, I can get along with Lost Crown, some clown ass enemy/boss/power up shows up and tries to teach me the Skadoosh from Kung Fu Panda. Please, Ubisoft, consistency. That's why I couldn't enjoy AC Origins as much as others did, because it completely kicked me out of the Egypt mood when I had that stupid Final Fantasy XV Gundam show up in my desert and suddenly I could ride a Chocobo. Please, keep it in your pants Ubisoft.

 

Also a few words about the title itself, spoilers only

Spoiler

Throughout the game, via a sidequest and the Prophecy Board, it is heavily hinted that Sargon is the actual Prince of Persia, swapped at birth with a random child. However, this narrative leads nowhere, in the end Sargon just leaves in the sunset, happy that his mission was accomplished. It felt like Ubisoft rushed to wrap this game up as fast as possible.

I sure hope this is solved in another entry or a DLC because that story was a very good and unexpected twist.

 

With all these being said ... I hope for a sequel. Or a DLC. The story is not yet over (covered in the Spoilers section) and there's a lot of GOOD material in this game, like even great material. Hell this is one of the best Prince of Persia games made. If Ubisoft finds the courage to drop the Chicken Dinner floss dance graphics and get abit more consistent with what it wants to be, I will end up enjoying it even more. 

 

Since this is a personal taste though, I do recommend this game at a discount. It would be stupid of me to say "stay away" when all I had to complain of was the artstyle decision. This is a very good metroidvania and if you are into this kind of games, give it a try.

 

I am now curious how "The Rogue Prince of Persia" will be  looking forward to that one.

 

THE GOOD:

• Sargon is a very good protagonist
• Gameplay gets a pure 10/10
• Soundtrack is actually badass
• Sargon's powers are fun to play with
• Best boss fights in any PoP game ever made

THE BAD:

• "You unlock Sargon's turban skin with this lootbox" kind of graphics
• One moment you contemplate what the Persian gods tried to tell you, the next moment you throw planetary Rasengans at a bootleg Sepiroth with a goatee

Recommendation - Guacamelee  want a Metroidvania that nails it? This gringo right here! Guacamelee is utter perfection in tone, aesthetics and gameplay. Also Tule Treetops is still harder than anything Lost Crown might throw at you  

[jonesey46]

21 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Kratos gave me the impression he was taking a mid-air dump whenever he was hopping in the game.

And I am pretty sure you'll find it the same, knowing you  as nasty as a combo might be, trying to emulate real running via a controller will be a different level of bamboozlement for your brain 😂

 

Ok, now back to the one review I didn't really want to write...

 

 No. 282 - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

 

Platinum Name - Prince of Persia

Hardest Trophy - Charitable Soul - Complete every single sidequest - especially the  "Impossible Climb" one

Difficulty - 3.5/10

 

From time to time, there comes a moment when I play a game that I do not resonate with, no matter how good it is. It's those games that technically have the perfect formula - good graphics, awesome soundtrack, interesting story and compelling characters and most of all, crisp clean and sick gameplay - but despite all that, the artstyle and the tone of the game simply do not pass my "vibe checks" and they're so prominent that I simply cannot stand the end product.

 

This is the case with Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, a fresh Metroidvania take on the Prince of Persia IP. It's a game that does everything right overall, but manages to simply not be appealing to me personally.
This will be one of the most subjective reviews so please have that in mind. I don't like spamming "in my opinion" ad nauseam so keep that in mind  

It is also important to add that I played the following games in the Prince of Persia IP, so this is where my criticism comes from:

• Prince of Persia (the old 1989 one)
• Prince of Persia 2 The Shadow and the Flame
• Prince of Persia 3D (never finished it, dumb game bricked my Windows XP)
• Prince of Persia Trilogy - Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones
• Prince of Persia 2008
• Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands (and a forgotten game lol)

Good, enough intro, let's get on with this game:

 

in Lost Crown, you play as Sargon, one of the Seven Immortals in service to the Queen of Persia. The Immortals are a group of elite warriors in service to the Empire who are usually tasked with the more "impossible tasks" - repel invaders, defeat tough enemies, save princes from cursed mountains. That last task becomes a reality when, during the victory celebration, the Prince of Persia Ghassan is kidnapped by Sargon's mentor and adoptive mother Anahita. Confused and angry, Sargon and his colleagues follow Anahita to the sacred Mountain Qaf. This mountain, a former holy place, is cursed however, so Sargon and the team are trapped in a temporal bubble and are attacked by all manners of creatures. Your task is easy - save the Prince of Persia and escape the mountain.

 

Enter Sargon, the newest protagonist

 

Let's talk about Sargon first, because he was one of the reasons I was looking at this game suspiciously. I will be fully honest, seeing the first trailer where I was fed with some stupid rap music and a protagonist that is NOT the Prince of Persia...my hopes were an all time low, especially since I really don't like hating on games. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, because Sargon is actually an incredibly compelling character! He is young and brash but he is also unusually humble, always knowing that he's not at all immortal (heh) and he also has a lot to learn. You can see that actual care was put in the writing of this character, from his interactions with his colleagues, the occasional NPCs like the young map seller Fariba and even his enemies. 

Sargon is a good character and is worthy of the "title" of Prince of Persia. 

 

The soundtrack is also a pleasant surprise. I don't think I'll ever get tired of the Persian tunes mixed with rock guitar  there's something enthralling by that combination. Soundtrack hits hard and works perfectly with Sargon's sword clashing and enemy kicking. At least this is a constant in Ubisoft games - no matter how bland the games might be (looking at you AC Valhalla), you can be assured that the soundtrack will be top notch (again, looking at you AC Valhalla).

 

But perhaps the highlight of this game is the gameplay - I will be honest, this is the tightest 2D gameplay I have seen in a videogame ever. Perhaps because the game is returning to its roots of a 2D IP, special thought and care was put in this gameplay. As the protagonist of a PoP game, Sargon can jump, wall run, slide and vault over various obstacles. Being a Metroidvania, you also unlock a lot of abilities, like air dashing ,double jumping, shooting a chackram and then teleporting to that location, a magical scarf that allows you to snatch to various grappling points and enemies, there's a lot there. Pair that with the absolutely insane trap designs that are thrown in the game and you'll play a certified Prince of Persia game here.

For this, I will share a video of one of my favorite trap puzzles in the game  since a screenshot just won't do it justice.

 

The combat is not too bad either. Sargon has his 2 trusty scimitars and a bow that he borrows from one of his friends. If you played Guacamelee, the combat is pretty similar - the usual 3 hits combos, a launcher, a sweep and air combos. You can also pair your attacks with your abilities, leading to some really impressive combos. 

But by far one of my favorite mechanics in this game is the Parry mechanic. It works as you'd expect - if you time the button right, Sargon will parry an attack and the enemy will get stunned for a few seconds. What's awesome about this ability is that Sargon can also equip various amulets that increase his abilities and stats, this also including the parrying. With that you can slow time, health regen, Athra (mana) regen and so on. Of course, some of the attacks are unparriable, but you can always dodge if needed.

 

You also have some special abilities...I'll get to those in a moment

 

Up until this point, I had nothing but praise for the game. Cool characters, tight gameplay, amazing soundtrack, good enough story.

However...overall, I didn't like this game. But why is that?

The best answer that I can give is that the aesthetics of this game didn't resonate with me at all to the point where it was metaphorically hurting my eyes. It's truly a matter of taste, but for me this tastes like shit. Why did this game have to look like Fortnite or Overwatch??

 

I hope these 3 images kinda explain what I mean

 

Maybe it's just me being a random old head right now, but I feel that the artistic design choices for Lost Crown are a massive step back from the stuff that came before, especially compared to the cel shaded tone of Prince of Persia 2008, a beautiful game in my opinion. I don't know, it gives me such a "By the numbers" vibe that I couldn't shake off right until the end. How can I take the rescue mission seriously when my boss Vahran looks like he's about to offer me a Season Pass discount for the newest Immortal Character DLC???

And this slowly seeped into the level design and the first 4-5 hours of the game. I felt that the game was an absolute SLOG, ONLY because of the lazy play-doh artstyle. I am aware that in a Metroidvania the beginning is slow, because you don't have all the abilities, but the world and tone of the world should keep you interested enough to explore. Games like Salt&Sanctuary, Ender Lilies or Guacamelee all did this perfectly, managing to catch my interest from the very first 5 minutes. 

In comparison, why the hell would I be interested in a game whose first 5 hours look like a damn Overwatch Payload map set in ancient Persia?

This is an impressive sight at first...only to realize that you can't zoom out, and you'll get the same brown/orange color for your next 4 hours of gameplay.

 

And let's say that ok, if it was the same the entire game, I would have understood, the developers clearly wanted to go with this style and that's it. Except they weren't!! Once you reach the half point of the game, the artstyle EXPLODES, it has PERSONALITY, it is completely different. I have reached the Raging Sea map where a ship struck by lightning and cannon fire is stuck in time and my jaw utterly dropped. So THERE CAN BE GOOD STUFF in this game!!!! 

But you have to go through 4 hours of brown to get the gold.

This is where the fun begins

 

And the difference is utterly jarring, at least for me  because I can literally hop from the template by-the-numbers "How do you do fellow kids" section of the map to the "Holy shit this feels like a 1001 Nights palace" with just 1 elevator. It truly feels like the devs were given full creativity in the second half of the game. Or maybe I'm utterly insane here 😂

 

Another thing is the tone shift in the game. I was never sure whether I was playing a game set in mythological Persia or a Naruto 2D game. To give an example ,at some point you have to fight an archer - boss fights in this game are awesome honestly. So you fight this archer, very fun, all the good stuff, he shoots small arrows, a huge arrow, arrow rain, all that good shit.

And then when phase 2 shows up, he ditches the bow, starts to close quarter combat you like Solid Snake - very fun twist, did not see this coming.

Then he does a parry and hits you with this.

 

 

My reaction to this was uncontrollable laughter. WTF IS THIS, PERSIA BALL Z BUDOKAI TENKAICHI? How can you reel me in a fight like that, where one second this guy uses a bow and arrow and the next second i get hit by a full blown Kamehameha. Consistency died together with the Persian Empire here.

The most egregious example for me was the fight with a certain boss who has a scimitar as a weapon. Or fine, let's call it a normal sword, there, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I fight this dude, he has some time powers...All fine, slashes, teleports.

But then this absolute tool starts to use his sword like a "nothing personnel kid" Katana (Iai slashes for the anime enjoyers) and starts to dimension slash like fucking Vergil from Devil May Cry. Bro are you a Persian warrior or a goddamn Bleach Captain character, DECIDE ALREADY!

 

This completely ruined the tone of this game for me. Whenever I was having a good time and feeling like yes, finally, I can get along with Lost Crown, some clown ass enemy/boss/power up shows up and tries to teach me the Skadoosh from Kung Fu Panda. Please, Ubisoft, consistency. That's why I couldn't enjoy AC Origins as much as others did, because it completely kicked me out of the Egypt mood when I had that stupid Final Fantasy XV Gundam show up in my desert and suddenly I could ride a Chocobo. Please, keep it in your pants Ubisoft.

 

Also a few words about the title itself, spoilers only

  Reveal hidden contents

Throughout the game, via a sidequest and the Prophecy Board, it is heavily hinted that Sargon is the actual Prince of Persia, swapped at birth with a random child. However, this narrative leads nowhere, in the end Sargon just leaves in the sunset, happy that his mission was accomplished. It felt like Ubisoft rushed to wrap this game up as fast as possible.

I sure hope this is solved in another entry or a DLC because that story was a very good and unexpected twist.

 

With all these being said ... I hope for a sequel. Or a DLC. The story is not yet over (covered in the Spoilers section) and there's a lot of GOOD material in this game, like even great material. Hell this is one of the best Prince of Persia games made. If Ubisoft finds the courage to drop the Chicken Dinner floss dance graphics and get abit more consistent with what it wants to be, I will end up enjoying it even more. 

 

Since this is a personal taste though, I do recommend this game at a discount. It would be stupid of me to say "stay away" when all I had to complain of was the artstyle decision. This is a very good metroidvania and if you are into this kind of games, give it a try.

 

I am now curious how "The Rogue Prince of Persia" will be  looking forward to that one.

 

THE GOOD:

• Sargon is a very good protagonist
• Gameplay gets a pure 10/10
• Soundtrack is actually badass
• Sargon's powers are fun to play with
• Best boss fights in any PoP game ever made

THE BAD:

• "You unlock Sargon's turban skin with this lootbox" kind of graphics
• One moment you contemplate what the Persian gods tried to tell you, the next moment you throw planetary Rasengans at a bootleg Sepiroth with a goatee

Recommendation - Guacamelee  want a Metroidvania that nails it? This gringo right here! Guacamelee is utter perfection in tone, aesthetics and gameplay. Also Tule Treetops is still harder than anything Lost Crown might throw at you  

 

Great write up! This is currently sitting on my shelf and this post is helping to keep my expectations in check haha!

 

If I'm being honest I'm just happy we got a new Prince of Persia game, The Forgotten Sands came out, what? 14 years ago now? Crazy. But it's Ubisoft isn't it? They just can't keep they're grubby hands off their games these days and they all get tarred with this "fortnite live service give me all your money" brush. It's a real shame because once upon a time, Ubisoft were my favourite publisher! Back in the Splinter Cell days.