Kill Your Completion 11

[BlackSquirrell1]

@voodoo_eyes  Thanks for hosting this event!  Had a great time and met some really nice people!  Looking forward to the next event. 

[PerryToxteth]

KYC 11

Game No. 5

 

Playing Time: 1+ hours

Trophies Earned: 1/13 (3%)

Final Thoughts: I tried to delay this review, hoping to find more time to give this game a fair shake, but no such luck. Probably the least played game in my KYC career, with just a tad over an hour.

  I'm not really sure how or when this ended up in my Playstation Store cart. Some sale from sometime ago, probably the same sale that had steep discounts on Battlefield V, Thief and Murdered: Soul Suspect. 

  I thought it was a 2D platformer. Turns out it's 3D Sandbox; and kinda/ sorta platformer. Definitely not what I expected. Story-wise, you know about as much as I do. You are a being (see above), and you walk along a world. There are things you can interact with, but it's hard to tell as there's no tutorial, and few hints. Then there's some things you can interact with, but you have to be qualified first. I think you need to find another entity, and they will give you powers to get the items to respond. But that sounds like a whole lotta backtracking. 

  I'm fine with games keeping you in the dark as you explore and move the story along, but there was no set-up for that in this game. Just start walking. That's it. Frankly, it's not really working for me. I assumed the name might hint at a periodic table element theme; if so, I haven't seen it yet.

 Probably best to grade this game as an incomplete, but it has a a strong scent of . Or worse. GASP!

 

- I'll send out a wrap-up tomorrow. 

  

 

[PerryToxteth]

Quick wrap-up for KYC 11. Here's my final stats:

 

KYC 11Statistics.  (Pre-KYC11)

Games Played/ Completed:  143/103      (138/103)

Trophies Earned:                     4653          (4621)

Unearned Trophies:                 702            (624)

Completion %:                         86.20%      (88.27%)

Percentage Drop:                     -2.07%

 

 That hardly seemed like an event for me. I managed to earn just 33 trophies in this event; a far cry from previous KYC events where I accumulated over 100 trophies without much effort. Such is life, I haven't earned over 30 trophies in a month since July.

 

KYC Game Summary

- Life is Strange: Before the Storm -

  Decent prequel to a surprisingly good first game.  I'm only one chapter in so I've just scratched the surface. 

 

- Out of the Box -

   The bulk of the game is bouncer management. Cussing people out provides the entertainment. 

 

- AER -

Journey meets Flight Simulator = nausea nirvana.  

 

- Fe -

 

- Old Man's Journey- 

Trophy whore magnet. ?

 

Thanks again to all who participated! And a special thanks to @voodoo_eyes for hosting!!

 

[Kevvik]

Ok, this is really late but finally getting around to my comments on...

 

Game #10: Smoke and Sacrifice

 

Initial/Final Impressions

Time played: 18-20 hrs

 

Smoke and Sacrifice is a survival/RPG where you play Sachi, a mother who in the opening sequence, takes her firstborn son to the priests to be sacrificed to the Sun God, a mysterious force which keeps her village from being overcome by the ice which covers the rest of her world.  Her village survives at the behest of the Sun God, who keeps the village warm and liveable while ice, and the monsters which dwell there, surround the village.  Farming and life go on while the village priests oversee the sacrifice of every firstborn child.  The child is placed on an altar (of sorts), the priests activate a machine which strikes the child with a ray after which the child disappears and, according to the priests, this satisfies the Sun God who then continues to protect the village from the elements surrounding it.  Several years later, Sachi wakes to find monsters in the village. She runs to the temple to find the priests only to discover them gone. She goes to the altar which activates and teleports Sachi to a strange world filled with smoke and monsters.  She learns she is actually deep beneath the earth and that the Sun God is actually a machine fed by the Drear, all people who started out as the firstborn children before being corrupted by the smoke.  Sachi sets out to find her son and try to stop the priests who rule over this underground world.

 

The story develops slowly and plays out in a very satisfactory manner but this game is really about survival.  The smoke, which fills the land while the machinery is being fed brimstone by the Drear, will slowly dissolve your health which eventually kills you if you don't maintain a light source which keeps the smoke at bay.  At first, this is simply a firefly in a plant container playing lantern but eventually other options become available.  While you have a light, your health won't decrease but when you don't, down goes your light bar.  You eventually acquire a pendant which maintains an inner light for you but which decreases without a separate light source.  Once that light runs out, your health starts dropping.  You can recharge it at certain glowing devices but having a lantern is still a big deal for survival as your light won't decrease if using an alternate option.  A running watch lets you know what time it is in world as the machinery stops for half the day, allowing more exploration without smoke.

 

What would an RPG be without combat?  You manufacture weapons from found recipes and can find dropped or manufacture items to replenish health.  You can use your fists but damage is minimal in battle so weapons are better.  Materials are found throughout the environment, sticks and scrap iron being early weapon materials.  Weapons and armor can be upgraded/repaired once you manufacture the right supplies or find more of the necessary materials.  Combat runs fairly smoothly as you attack or dodge but I found the hitbox around Sachi to be a little more forgiving for your foes than theirs are for you, especially in mini-boss and boss fights.

 

I really enjoyed Smoke and Sacrifice though I found myself often getting caught up in story quests and combat and sometimes forgetting to watch my survival supplies.  There's no endless storage here, just a certain number of different items that you can carry though weapons, armor and special items don't stack like mats do.  There are chests around where you can stash stuff until later if you have found the appropriate keys.  There's also a fast travel system where certain portals can be used provided you have Drear tokens to unlock them.  At the start of the game most monsters are reasonable to deal with as long as you don't get mobbed.  Then you are generally screwed.  Even with stronger weapons and armor, the best way to survive being mobbed is to avoid it and run away (never forgetting a light source).  This makes necessary combat a task to be undertaken with deliberation, not running through trying to kill everything in sight.  You won't last long.  Progression will also require manufacturing the appropriate armor, especially boots as the ground is often unfriendly (ice, electricity, fire) so you aren't going very far without the right gear.

 

I could go on more but I'll start drifting into spoilers.  Needless to say, this was a very pleasant surprise and a fun platinum to achieve.  The ending was satisfying and overall this was one of my favorite games this year.

 

Trophies earned: 35/35, 100% for S rank

Score: 9/10

Completion Rate: 83.62% (-1.01% for the event)

 

I'll drop my full event summary tomorrow.

[Psy-Tychist]

As KYC XI has closed, my final listing of the games played made not much of a difference to my Completion Level due to the games played having a much higher threshold to earn trophies in.

The final standings look like this:

 

Game 1: Degrees of Separation - 5/10 trophies = 52%

Game 2: Aaru's Awakening - 0/15 = 0%

Game 3: Ninja Senki DX - 0/18 = 0%

Game 4: In Space We Brawl - 0/18 = 0%

Game 5: Everything - 23/35 = 52%

Game 6: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - 0/29 = 0%

 

Other games Played:

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness - 1 trophy

Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child - 13 trophies

Deep Space Rush - 17 trophies

 

Stats at the end of KYC XI:

Games Played: 622  -  626

Games 100%: 298    -  300

Completion %: 62.00 - 62.15%

Trophies added: 125 - 75

[Kevvik]

Better late than never, here is my event wrap up, from best to worst...

 

Smoke and Sacrifice  - 9/10

 - a really surprising, strong title. A survival RPG with a great story, solid gameplay and just hard enough to make me work but not get frustrated

 

Sword Art Online re: Hollow Fragment - 8/10

 - simulated MMORPG with good characters, interesting story and solid gameplay

 

Child of Light - 8/10

 - clever 2D RPG that both looks great and plays great with an interesting combat system

 

One Upon Light  - 7.5/10

 - quality puzzler with interesting mechanics and solid gameplay

 

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas  - 7/10

 - solid Zelda clone that stands on its own but tries a little too hard at times

 

Call of Cthulhu  - 6/10

 - RPG adventure that tries to be great but falls short. Atmospheric but gets disrupted at times by action/stealth sequences that detract from rather than adding to tension

 

Dragon Fantasy Book II - 6/10

 - retro turn based RPG with a good sense of humour and straightforward gameplay, still good even if nothing special

 

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter - 3.5/10

 - generic feeling mystery adventure game that tries to do too much, obscuring the few things it does well

 

Shenmue - 3/10

 - a remaster of a "classic" that hasn't aged well. Wants to be an adventure game with martial arts but hides from the latter while failing to make an interesting former

 

One More Dungeon - 1/10

 - dungeon crawler that looks bad and plays worse

 

3  out of 8 achieved, 1  out of 2 achieved, 4 out of 10 completed

173/305 trophies earned

-0.95% completion rate for the (slightly extended) event

 

Some very good games offset by some very disappointing titles. We'll see how catching up goes over the winter with hopefully some more consistent gaming time over the holidays.

 

Hopefully we'll see many of you back in the spring! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. May Santa fill your backlogs with great games!!

Edited December 16, 2019 by Kevvik

[voodoo_eyes]

I went back to Yooka-Laylee, but it didn't last very long. I've unlocked the 4th world and realised what I disliked about the game. It's essentially a collection of minigames for every single item you need to collect in order to progress. That's why I can't get into this. I've completed a few other 3D platformers that were less polished, but thye were mostly about colelcting things while platforming. Anyway, I'm not going to return to this one again.

 

I also went back to a game from KYC 2, which was Trine. Pretty much finished up the story and colelctibles. Probably not going to bother with the hardcore mode for the plat. The Trine games all kind of feel like they're almost good games, but the lack of fine-tuning in certain areas makes them feel half-arsed. THis one is still a .

 

I'll probably try to return to Torment Tides of Numenara before the next KYC begins.

[DamagingRob]

Time for an update? I've basically just played my top 2 games since the event ended. Well, I did finish the Dissidia NT grind and completed Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit's DLC (which may have been a previous KYC game? I'm not sure..). But there's not much to say about those. Just finished the grind whenever I was watching sports, and using Remote Play on my Vita. Really going to miss using that with the PS5.. At least, I wouldn't think it will still be supported there. Senran Kagura was just playing through the other girls' stories on Easy. Nothing difficult.

 

NieR: Automata is basically done. Just sitting on the final trophy for now. But I'd say it has elevated to a , putting it above Prey. NieR perfection. It does still have some problems, though. No game is perfect. It did open up fast travel, and I was able to ride the big animals. Which fixed some of my initial negatives. But it still felt like I was running around and backtracking all over that map a million times, to the point that I had no desire to level up all my weapons. Would have had to farm items and deal with RNG drops, too.. Easier to just buy the trophy, and watch the final ending on YouTube.

 

Another thing I disliked that I noticed someone point out in the Game Awards thread, is these sections where you're... somewhat disabled, I guess? One in particular is very aggravating, since you are trying to get somewhere in a certain amount of time. But enemies will knock you down over and over and over, slowing you down a lot. And when you're in your hobbled state, you can't jump or run, so you're stuck sitting around and waiting till you can at some points. But the enemies don't care, and they may make you miss your opportunity by knocking you on your ass, when you should be finally jumping up to the higher area. 

 

But the story more than makes up for any shortcomings. Like damn, is it good. And the true ending is a thing of beauty. I wasn't crying, shut up!

 

Anyways, Prey is also still very good. This is another one that is technically done. Just sitting on the final base game trophy. I wasn't really looking forward to going through it again, since the first playthrough felt like it took me an eternity. Over 40 hours, which is close to the Platinum estimate time. :/ But a second run was surprisingly quick, though not without its share of annoyances. 

 

For one, you have to do it without buying powers. Which means you also can't upgrade your guns much, since that requires buying some. So, instead of killing everything like I did in my first playthrough, I opted to run past enemies a lot. When I had to kill certain ones, it took a lot of ammo which is something you never have enough of. 

 

Not having powers can also force you to find other ways into places. I was so lost with how to get in one door. Turned out there was a vent very high up in a corner. My mom can tell you how I can't find something high up, when she decides the floor isn't a good place for my shoes to sit.. 

 

And of course, the fact you have to kill every human this time. This may sound easy, but it can be quite annoying. Some of them are mind-controlled, and will run after you and explode if they spot you. And sometimes they'll just kill themselves, because the A.I. is that dumb, I guess. Watched one repeatedly walk into a thing that killed him, before having to give up and reload an earlier save. And yes, they have to be killed by you. Anything else killing them doesn't count.

 

But despite my not having all that great a memory, having to look up where to go a few times, and these other issues, it still took less than a day to run through it again. Probably less than 10 hours of playtime. Will probably give the DLC a go next, since clearing it and NieR off of my hard drive would give me a lot of space back. 

[voodoo_eyes]

Not a really a progress update, but more off a personal overview of the previous KUC games combined. I did one a couple of events back, so I'll do another one now.

 

 

Must plays:

Spoiler

• Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
• Nier Automata
• Pillars of Eternity

 

Recommendable:

Spoiler

• Crysis
• MotoGP 13
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Letter Quest Remastered
• Ride
• Destroy All Humans 2
• République
• Apotheon
• Watch Dogs 2
• Mafia 3
• Portal Knights
• Battlefield Hardline
• Tales of Berseria
• Final Fantasy XV
• Exist Archive
• Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Agents of Mayhem
• Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
• Shantae Half-Genie Hero
• The Solus Project
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Tales of Xillia
• Transistor
• White Night
• Burnout Paradise Remastered
• Odin Sphere; Leifthrasir
• The Council

 

Passable:

Spoiler

• Far Cry Classic
• Superstars V8 Racing
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
• One Piece: Unlimited World Red
• Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires
• 191 Ways to Die
• Nitroplus Blasters: Heroines Infinite Duel
• Need for Speed: Rivals
• Costume Quest II
• Soulcalibur II HD
• The Awakened Fate Ultimatum
• Wanted: Weapons of Fate
• Final Fantasy VII (yes, youre reading this right)
• Dead Effect 2
• Foul Play
• Okage: Shadow King (Due to having game-breaking glitches and a low % RNG grind)
• Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
• Volume
• Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier
• Gravity Rush 2 (literlly made me feel sick)
• Black The Fall
• Devious Dungeon
• Fe
• Mages of Mystralia
• Need for Speed
• Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
• One Piece: Burning Blood
• Drive Girls
• Yomawari: Night Alone
• Valkyria Revolution
• Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star
• Blue Reflection
• Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
• GTA: San Andreas
• Battle Princess of Arcadias
• Trine Enchanted Edition
• Assassin's Creed Unity
• Megadimension Neptuni VII
• Tomb Raider Legend
• HDN MK 2
• Game of Thrones
• Onechanbara Z2 Chaos
• Zombi
• Pyre
• Battlefield 1 (wasn't an official KYC game, but did get an update nevertheless)
• State of Mind
• Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner
• Ghost Blade HD
• Iron Crypticle
• Yomawari: Midnight Shadows
• THe Legend of Korra
• Yooka-Laylee
• WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010

 

Play at own risk:

Spoiler

• Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion
• Risen 3: Titan Lords - Enhanced Edition (because the final third of the game is a buggy nightmare)
• Killzone HD
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
• Driveclub
• Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
• X-Blades
• Saw 2
• Trillion: God of Destruction
• Elea

 

Just no:

Spoiler

• Syndrome

 

 

Still pending on these titles until I actually finish them:

• Slain: Back from Hell
• Okami HD
• Conception 2
• Dishonored 2
• Torment Tides of Numenara
• Hitman: Blood Money

 

Haven't gottne back to any of the remaining games yet, as I've been busy with We Happy Few, which is very guide heavy. Therefore I'm trying to avoid switching between too many games at this time.

Edited January 6, 2020 by voodoo_eyes

[ladynadiad]

Is the next one still going to be in March?  From the looks of things that should be doable to me since for once I'm not going to have to move during a month when its happening.

[voodoo_eyes]

49 minutes ago, ladynadiad said:

Is the next one still going to be in March?  From the looks of things that should be doable to me since for once I'm not going to have to move during a month when its happening.

 

Yeah, I'll probably schedule the next KYC for March.

[voodoo_eyes]

Well, I ended up returning to WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010, that I played during KYC 3. At the time I rated it higher, which I intend to rectify now. After loading up hte game again after all this time I got notified that the save file was corrupted. So I had to start from scratch, but couldn't be bothered for long with this game. One of the trophies I've tried to get for several hours seems glitched as it doesn't unlock when completing the requirements.

 

Gameplay-wise it's worse than I remember. The fightstake too long, the hit detection is off a lot of times as well, especially when there's more than 2 opponents in the ring. That makes interrupting pins from the opponents a mess, as it more often than not, doesn't register the hit.

 

As a result I've no interest in continuing it further and downgrade it from a to a . It's solid, has a lot of modes and large roster, but the gameplay is not up to par.

Edited January 6, 2020 by voodoo_eyes

[DamagingRob]

Well, I did everything in Mafia 3 I can do without starting a second playthrough. I think I was right to not give a triple gold score. The story is outstanding, but there are just far too many technical issues to ignore. The framerate drops at times, sometimes leading to a game crash. I've had missions disappear on the map, the latest instance fixed by closing and reloading the game. But the first time, I had to select it from the pause menu. You can actually bring up your objectives there, and select which one to be active. Something I just happened to stumble across, or I might have thought it was glitched and had to start over. Once I did that, the mission reappeared with a waypoint going to it. Worth trying, if this happens to you. I've also had objects floating in midair, and been unable to speak with NPCs sometimes without closing and reloading the app. And then there was this:

Spoiler

 

 

And no fast travel, which I may have mentioned in the review. But with how many times you're required to drive across the entire length of the map, it really becomes apparent.. 

 

The DLCs were pretty good, but woefully short. I finished all 3 today. Well, technically I played a bit of the first one last night. But still.. were they worth $12? And then two of them pad on some dumb thing to increase your playtime. 

 

The first one has a weed growing business, where it grows over time and you sell it for cash. Not a bad thing, since making money is a slow process in Mafia 3. But if you leave it till last... have fun idling. :/ 

 

The last one requires a lot of money to buy all the upgrades for a trophy. And if I hadn't seen ahead of time that I would need a lot for it, I would have been idling a very long time. As it was, I needed my weed to grow one more time at the end, and grabbed something to eat in the meantime. But both of these could have you wasting a lot of hours doing nothing, if you need more money and have done everything else. 

 

Anyways, I will probably try to finish the base game trophies fairly soon. Possibly just start it tomorrow, unless I go back to Yakuza 0. I shouldn't have anything more to add from that, though. Just playing through the game again, and killing everyone.

 

Completion back above 92%. But I bought all these games I want to play more than my other KYC ones on Black Friday, so I may actually not make a full recovery this time. KH3 will probably drop it down some with its new DLC, too.. Tough break, I guess. 

 

And I don't know if this one counted as a nonkill, but it sure was funny:

Spoiler

 

Whoopsie.

[MidnightDragon]

Of the five games I did, I've finished two (Organ Trail and Harvest Moon: Mad Dash). 

[Kevvik]

Completed Shenmue so that's one more down.  Between this and the sequel, both kind of disappointing.  These games didn't age well.  While it is a cool idea that many different gameplay ideas were incorporated into them, I just didn't find that the experience overall was that enjoyable.   Again, while it was cool that you actually had to work at a job, it detracted from the experience after a while. I won't be going for the third go round with Shenmue III.  Not even sure I would play it if it showed up on Plus.

[DamagingRob]

I loved those games, and will definitely be getting the third. 

 

Looking forward to March, and the pain games I'm going to play. Need to knock out God of War this month, so I actually have the space for all of them. Should have bought a 1 TB Slim over the holidays.. 

[voodoo_eyes]

9 hours ago, Kevvik said:

Completed Shenmue so that's one more down.  Between this and the sequel, both kind of disappointing.  These games didn't age well.  While it is a cool idea that many different gameplay ideas were incorporated into them, I just didn't find that the experience overall was that enjoyable.   Again, while it was cool that you actually had to work at a job, it detracted from the experience after a while. I won't be going for the third go round with Shenmue III.  Not even sure I would play it if it showed up on Plus.

 

I keep going back on forth whether I'm to buy them or not. They're currently on sale for 13 bucks I think, but that still seems to expensive to me. I'll probably end up waiting until they're available for a tenner or less. I just have a feeling I won't like them, but am intrigued enough to be interested in trying them out.

[voodoo_eyes]

I've returned to one of the older KYC games that was still on my list. In this case Okami from KYC3. Unfortunately my good initial impressions started to dwindle the furhter I got into the game. Fast travel unlocks too late into the game and is impractical and the jibberish instead of voices is something I can't stand. What ended up puting the nail in the coffin though were the minigames, they're all absolute shit and control like ass, because more often than not the brish strokes aren't getting registered properly. The game has charm and is original in it's concept, but the gameplay is just OK and the nuisances are just way too many. If it wasn't for the minigames I wouldv've at least bothered to finish the story, but as it stands I can't stand another mnute of this game. Dropping it down to a .

 

 

 

On a different note, I'll be making the new thread for the next event in about a week. So you might want to start having a look through your games .

[voodoo_eyes]

PSA

 

 

New event is up, so feel free to sign up/post your lists. See you there !