Kill Your Completion 12

[Arctic Cress]

Posting my starting stats, with comparison to the start of KYC 11:

 

Games played: 388 (+16)

Games completed: 232 (+9)

Unearned trophies: 3,253 (+147)

Completion %: 71.83% (No change)

 

Not a good showing overall. Hopefully the less games picked this time will help manage this a bit better progress-wise. At least the completion % stayed where it was.

[Kevvik]

And it begins...

 

Game #1: Baldur’s Gate

 

Initial (sort of) Impressions

Time played: 5-6 hours (lot of interruptions today)

 

Baldur’s Gate (Enhanced Edition) is a re-issue of a classic cRPG from the old PC days. Displayed in an isometric view, you control your Main character, and eventually other party members, as you follow the storyline and side quests trying to learn about yourself and why a strange figure wants you dead.

 

You create your MC a la the old dice rolls, choosing your race, class, gender and customizing your little iso to start things off. You roll for your stats (and likely reroll several more times until you’re happy with them).  Then a great adventure begins.

 

You start out in Candlekeep where you live with your guardian. After going through a few quick quests to give you the feel for things, you meet with your guardian who is taking you away to try to keep you safe. You walk into an ambush and during an in-game engine cutscene you run for it while your guardian is killed covering your escape. From here you try to figure out what is happening. You can gain party members to join you on your quest.  During the game you will meet both forgettable and memorable characters, some who have become beloved over the years.

 

If you have played this or any of the Black Isle cRPGs back in the day, you understand how this works. It works ok with a controller but isn’t always intuitive. I’m curious if that will change the more I play as a keyboard/mouse is probably still the best way to play.  Your best friend will be the pause button. Using this, you can send specific instructions to your party to maximize your fighting ability (cast offensive/defensive spells, attack with melee or ranged weapons, use special abilities and items) in what is still a loosely turn structured system or you can let the AI do its thing (this is not recommended). You attack at certain rates of speed and other attacks take time so your spells can be interrupted, status effects inflicted and at low levels, you and the monsters can stand there swinging at each other and miss each other (quite often). Levelling up and finding magic weapons/gear can improve your battle ability as well as your defensive standing.

 

I’ve really enjoyed returning to this world, having played through this series numerous times back in the day, and rejoining the relationships you build with the characters. Still getting used to playing with a controller though, which is probably the only real drawback.  More to follow in the days to come.

 

Trophies earned: 13/55, 18% for C rank

Score so far: 9/10

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Kevvik

[DamagingRob]

Game #1, Day 1

Touhou Double Focus

 

 

I still don't know what Touhou is, and I'm not sure I care. Two girls get sucked into a book world, and begin this bizarre adventure. It's a fairly short game, consisting of just 4 areas to explore: castle, desert, forest, and some kind of city on the water. There's also a small area in the center with the game's only save point. And you get portals you can place around the world, that act as fast travel points. 

 

Early impressions were, "Good God, what is with these controls?" To dash or run, you have to double tap left or right. And the touchpad is used for way too many things. Pressing it brings up the map, swiping up or down brings up the settings, and swiping the opposite way brings up your photo gallery. It took some getting used to, and probably is why I died so much. 

 

You play as one of the two girls, each with their own specific abilities. And can switch between them whenever. The fox girl can run up walls, while the crow girl can dash... and fly. This is mostly useless, since you just hover in place, and will probably only activate when you don't want it to. Because hey, let's have it be the up directional button, which players may accidentally press when going for left or right. ._. 

 

Other abilities you'll gain as you progress include: summoning a zombie to stand on and ride across spikes that would otherwise kill you, a waterfall that you can ride to very high places, and a super punch to break boulders and other obstacles blocking you from entering areas.  

 

Trophies are kind of insane, but easy enough. Assuming you can beat the bosses the first time, because some of them are a real pain when you can't heal at all during the fights. Finish without using healing items, finish in under an hour, finish without saving, beat almost all of the bosses without taking damage and in a limited amount of time, and 100% the map/find every item. Could they have gone any more nuts with the list? At least it's not on Horror Hardcore difficulty. Normal was annoying enough. 

 

And combat, combat is something. Crow girl is better for attacking, but she can't block. So you'll likely be switching a lot, trying to not get hit, and take out the bosses. Especially when trying for the no damage trophies. You just keep hoping and praying the boss doesn't use that one attack where you're fucked. 

 

I guess on the bright side, I'm almost done with it. I need to play through it again without saving, and then speedrun it in under an hour. Time Attack also doesn't let you save, so not looking forward to that.  

 

Time played: Save file says 6 and a half hours? I think the game time keeps running, unless you close the game. Probably not accurate.

Trophy progress: 28/32 for 80% and an A rank. 

Edited March 2, 2020 by DamagingRob

[voodoo_eyes]

8 hours ago, Kevvik said:

And it begins...

 

Game #1: Baldur’s Gate

 

 

Hve you noticed whether the load times are excessively long or not? PoE has that issue, while Torment managed to do it a bit better.

 

7 hours ago, DamagingRob said:

Game #1, Day 1

Touhou Double Focus

 

Early impressions were, "Good God, what is with these controls?" To dash or run, you have to double tap left or right. And the touchpad is used for way too many things. Pressing it brings up the map, swiping up or down brings up the settings, and swiping the opposite way brings up your photo gallery. It took some getting used to, and probably is why I died so much.

 

Yeah the controls made me delete the game after 5 minutes of playing, because for some reason the directions while using dash were reversed. so right was left and left was right. No way to change it either.

[DamagingRob]

3 hours ago, voodoo_eyes said:

Yeah the controls made me delete the game after 5 minutes of playing, because for some reason the directions while using dash were reversed. so right was left and left was right. No way to change it either.

She does have a backdash, which I believe is . But I don't think the forward dash was like that. You do have to double tap to use it, though. The controls feel obtuse to me. It's only due to Greenzsaber's video guide showing it was so short, that I pushed through. And how I learned all the controls, 'cause there sure wasn't any kind of tutorial or anything...

[kingofbattle8174]

First Day Game Review for Coffee Talk 

 

Starting PCG 55.55%

Current PCG 55.20%

 

Trophies Earned. 7/24  10% E

 

 

Welcome to Coffee Talk. As I stated before it is part job sim as you play a unknown barista. I say unknown as you have no features besides a name to select. The shop is very interesting as there are various species as you can see all living in current seattle. The story is actually a vn with a light version of the coffee making mechanics. You do not start out with all of the ingredients and you do have a phone app that stores your recipes. There are no story selections for you though, so it is just to sit back relax and hear about people's problems. A majority of the trophies seem to come naturally as you play through the story. The story does deal with some weighty issues such as race relations and straw pollution. It handles it all well though without getting too serious. The music is very relaxing as well like you would find in a Starbucks, to just unwind.

 

There is also a challenge mode. This mode is like any other restaurant sim. You have a timer and have to complete orders based on peoples preferences. There are also a slew of trophies for getting streaks of correct orders. I have not tried it yet but will for next update.

 

The latte art is a challenge. I do not seem to have the deft fingers to make great art. You only need to do an hour of this. and if you are no good, there seems to be no penalty for it at least.

[DamagingRob]

Mini-update:

 

So, I completed a run without saving. Game is pretty short, so no big deal there. Took me a little over an hour. But here is where the "fun" starts... I honestly didn't think this could get worse, but completing the game in under an hour in Time Attack Mode is going to be a nightmare.

 

It's not enough that you have to be that fast, they actually penalize you for dying. Every time you die, 5 minutes are added to the timer. So, even if somehow I could remember exactly where to go (I won't) and complete it in 21 minutes like Greenzsaber, I'd also need to die fewer than 8 times. So yeah, I don't know about this...

[hittheroadbucky]

So I actually put quite a bit of time into Beyond Two Souls yesterday and finished my first playthrough ? as with all the Quantic Dream games I didn’t use a guide as I wanted my first playthrough to be my genuine story. And as with all Quantic Dream games that’s bitten me in the bum when it comes to replaying as I have a fair amount of work still to do ? overall I really enjoyed the game and was hooked instantly. I was also fairly satisfied with my ending. I only had one character die (which after looking at the trophy list was more of an annoyance than anything else) 

 

As I still have a few days left of this game I am going to go back and try and mop up as many of the trophies as I can before it’s time to swap. I do also want to try and fit in a second fill playthrough on duo mode on between work and uni things ?

 

Progress so far: 19/46 trophies ? 

[kingofbattle8174]

It was not on my list but extra trial game coming at yah...

 

Final Fantasy VII Remake.

 

Man oh man, was this a blast. The music and location hit you right in the feels. I remember owning the original FF 7 demo for PS1. I played it so many times waiting for the game to release. This version holds up just as well. The little extra bits are fun and add a bit of challenge like laser grids. The gameplay reminds me of FF Type-0 and what I tried of Nioh. I did not try classic. Cloud is alot of fun to use, Barret is awkward since he is a tank. He is very slow and cannot seem to strafe or anything. While firing you are still. Cloud is alot more mobile. Graphics are great of course, and only one glitch for me where the sound went out for a very short bit during one of Barret’s rants. Please hurry up April.

[DamagingRob]

Game #1, Final Review

Touhou Double Focus

 

I don't know what more to add. I did forget to mention the stamina bar, which drains for every action you use. So you can't spam attacks, blocks, dashes, item healing, etc.

 

The Time Attack was indeed a bitch. I just kept dying early, and forced to restart. To the point I have the path to the first boss memorized.. Once I got past it without dying, it seemed to go pretty smoothly. Until I got to the final area, and kept getting killed by this one pain in the ass situated enemy.  And then it finally clicked. Still had some stupid deaths I wasn't happy with, and barely managed it. But Time Attack was vanquished. I also found out putting the PS4 in Rest Mode pauses the timer. Useful if you need a break during a run.

 

Not entirely sure what score to give it. It's pretty difficult and I don't like the controls, but I don't know if that makes it a bad game. I don't know why they didn't put forward dash to a single button press, when backward dashing is done with a simple press of . I sure am glad to be done with it, though. ? ? Somewhere in between probably.

 

Time played: No idea how many attempts the speedrun took, and I took many breaks due to frustration/nerves, so it's anyone's guess. Even stopped and played the FFVII demo, at one point. 

Trophy progress: 32/32 for 100% and an S rank.

Completion percentage: 92.45% (+.0.02%). Going the wrong way. That'll probably change with the rest of my games. Maybe not Mitsurugi, but the rest are going to take awhile.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #1 - Flatout 4 - Progress Update

 

 

Halfway point for this game and I've put about 3 hours in so far.

 

There are a bunch of modes available, so there is a decent amount of variety. There is career, flatout mode and online. Flatout mode is essentially the challenge mode, encompassing stunt events like deathmatch, Beat the bomb, carnage (points for destroying things)), stunt (eject the driver), potentially more.

Career mode also cnsists of several types of races. Regular races, arena mode (destruction derby) and time trial. This mode is also divided into 3 classes, Derby, CLassic, and Allstar. Which essentially means, buying a better car to be able to race in the other classes. So far I've got one car from Derby (essentially given to you at the start) and Classic mode.

 

The cars are way overpriced compared to the amount of money you gain from winning races and competitions. Having beaten about 15 cups (I repeated one 10 times for a trophy and replayed some as well) and 2 time trials and 1 arena it took I only amassed around 40k, which was barely enough to by a car from calssic mode for 32k and upgrade the first vehicle to even be able to ebat the 3rd cup in the first tier.

 

Flatout mode is going a lot worse, not having been able to beat a single challenge so far. Online mode I won't be trying during the event as it requires the update that I haven't donwloaded.

Edited March 3, 2020 by voodoo_eyes

[hittheroadbucky]

I’m on day 3 of 6 now, and the last few days I’ve been working on some clean up with chapter select. I’ve only been able to play a few hours due to other commitments so my original goal of fitting in a full second playthrough is probably unlikely at this rate. I’ve been reading through the guide for the game and the amount of replaying I’m going to have to do of full chunks of the game to rectify some choices I made is pretty extensive so I can see why people have said the quest for the platinum is tedious. While some chapters are fun to replay to see the different choices, I’m really dreading having to replay 6 in sequence purely so I can wear a different outfit on a date ?

I’m hoping by the end of day 6 I can at least manage to work through completing the different endings ? 

 

[Kevvik]

Game #1: Baldur’s Gate

 

Day 3 Impressions

Time played: 8 hrs

 

I didn’t get much further, one fight taking me several retries just because the mage kept wiping me with hold spells and a summoned mob but I finally managed to get through it. Combat hasn’t changed and the story moves along. Still loving this, both in the present and in nostalgia.  I still have to think about the controls but the pause button makes this not as critical as if everything was happening in real time.

 

To address @voodoo_eyes concern about load times, they are virtually non-existent as far as I can tell. Intermittently as you progress the story there are sections of voiced narrative but between screens when moving, I don’t think I’ve had a gap of more than 5 seconds as the next area preps.

 

I’ve been very pleased with this remaster and am looking forward to the rest of the games. I’ll definitely be returning to this, probably occasionally during the event as well, depending on time availability.

 

Trophies earned: 18/55, 25% for C rank

Score so far: 9/10

Completion rate: 84.31% (-0.21% for the event)

 

Next up: Game #2: The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

[Psy-Tychist]

Midway Point Impressions of Game 1:

 

I found out that The Council is very trophy heavy in the first chapter. 30 out of 43 in game trophies are earned in the first chapter with story related trophies for chapters 2-5 make up the rest if it.

 

The game is presented in a pseudo-realistic style, the characters all are quite characturistic but the environments and surroundings are exquisitely detailed. Interaction points are minimal, making exploration a neccessity to get the most out of the dialogue options in the game.

 

So far, the story has been slow burning which is good. A mystery has been set up and your character is slowly gathering clues as to what has happened. It also allows for character interaction and world building.

 

Hopefully have more chapters done soon to have a better understanding of the story.

 

21/44 trophies earned.

Starting Chapter 2 of 5.

[purgta]

Game #1, Final Review

 

 

Hatoful Boyfriend

 

This game is actually pretty great. I expected it to be decent based on reviews but it far exceeded my expectations. There is a good variety between each bird and the routes range from sweet to what the hell did I just watch(in a good way). The gameplay is pretty simple. You just raise your Charm, Intelligence or Vitality based on which character you are aiming for. You also choose which dialogue choices you think would raise there affection and that is pretty much it.

 

There are a lot of things to like in it. I really enjoyed how they used words like everybirdie. Each character seems to leave a question or two left unanswered during their route. These are all wrapped up in the grand epilogue chapter that is available after completing all routes. The epilogue is actually pretty long and will take a good chunk of your playthrough.

 

The only really negatives I can say about it would be that it could really have used a skip already read option. It does have a skip button but it skips everything. A lot of the routes share common events so you will be skipping a lot while also keeping an eye out for when you are reading something new. I played it on PS4 before using cross save to play it on my Vita. The game runs great on PS4 but there are huge issues with the vita version. The game crashes and the music sometimes sounds scratchy on it. None of these issues happened on my PS4.

 

I think the game came out on Playstation Plus in 2017 so you may already have the game. It is also regularly sold for €3. It does not have a platinum but the game is great and I really recommend it.

 

Time played: Not really sure as it took multiple playthroughs.

Trophy progress: 17/17

Completion percentage: 31.89% (+.0.01%). Probably the only time I will be raising it during the event. It probably would have raised higher but I had started a new game mid playthrough.

Rating:

 

 

 

 

 

[DamagingRob]

Okay, I couldn't just sit and do nothing for 3 days. And resuming one of my incomplete games would have further defeated the purpose of this event. So, once again, I'm going rogue!

 

Bonus Game #1- Day 1

Digimon World: Next Order

 

I'm kinda digging this game, even if I have no clue what I'm doing. The first thing I noticed when starting the game, is that it has English voice acting. The Cyber Sleuth games do not, so that was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. 

 

You can choose to play as a boy or girl. I went with the girl, because I don't like the look of the boy. Purple hair, with a light blue patch in the middle? Yeah... no. Looks dumb. The girl wears the shortest shorts known to man, though. Somehow, she manages to keep her underwear from showing. 

 

The game itself seems highly influenced by the original Digimon World on the PS1. You choose a couple of eggs, raise the Digimon that instantly hatch from them, eventually they pass away, and then you do it all over again. To raise them, you can have them train up their stats at the gym in town, or go out and fight wild Digimon. But you also have to cater to their needs, or you may end up with literal Shitmon. 

 

My second pair turned into a set of those things, after training nonstop, and ignoring their cries for food or whatever. So yeah, don't be a dick to your Digimon. Besides feeding them, they will also need to poop. That's where the outhouse in town comes in handy. But oh no, what do you do if you're traveling and they need to go? Introducing portable toilets! Keep some of these in your inventory for emergencies. 

 

But your main goal is to expand the city, by having Digimon come and join the community. While exploring areas, you will find Digimon you can talk to and recruit. Some may need an item or other requirement, and others you may just need to beat up. But they will join you in the end, expanding the city's facilities and population. Some even give you items on the daily, provided you talk to them.  

 

Battles don't require a lot of input from you. The Digimon will fight automatically, with you being an observer. Cheering them on raises your special ability meter, which you can command them to use if it gets high enough. And you can use items to heal them, or run from fights. Otherwise, it's all them. 

 

The fields are pretty vibrant and colourful. And the music is nice. There are a lot of items to collect on the fields, too. Either just laying around, or in harvest points. Harvest points give you materials to upgrade your city's facilities, and sometimes cards. Don't know if those have any use yet beyond a trophy. You can also fish, because why not? 

 

I have wandered too far before, encountering enemies I was not at all ready for. :/ Dying just returns you to town, though, so no need to worry. Eventually, you should be able to raise Digimon that can handle anything. But it's a process, and will take time. With them having an expiration date, you can't just train, train, train. But your training gains will get better with gym upgrades, and their lives will get longer with Trainer upgrades that extend them. 

 

But yeah, I'm enjoying this so far. It seems like a pretty chill game.

 

Time played: 5 hours.

Trophy progress: 16/45 for 24% and a D rank.

Edited March 6, 2020 by DamagingRob

[Gretchen27]

Game #1 Review

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

(not my screenshot of the snow shark creature)

Playtime: ~4 hours

Trophies: 10/50 (15% complete)

Percent Change: -0.47%

Enjoyment: 8/10

 

Not sure where to begin with this. It’s like starting up Monster Hunter for the first time (which doesn’t make sense when you have to finish World’s story beforehand), tutorial info is thrown at you & everything is in a different place now. Guess I’ll start with the story aspect (very minor story spoiler warning for the first handful of quests/areas), & then I’ll get into some specific aspects.

 

Legiana, which happens to be one of my favorites to capture –aka the ice type wyvern in the Coral Highlands- has been spotted encroaching on the first forested area of the main game. So Commission issues an investigation into the phenomena, low & behold they’re actually migrating somewhere out to sea. There’s a cut scene of the cover dragon flying out with them. If that’s supposed to be the big monster to hunt it’d better be a challenge. The main game had a whole walking volcanic land mass to fight, or the other giant I have no hopes of spelling because I only farmed it long enough for the Palico’s armor. Anyway, by following the Legiana a new land mass is discovered. Yes! That’s exactly what I was hoping for. The new area’s a frozen wilderness…which is kind of a slog to traverse. It has the same drag effect as mud or waste high water. But props to the snow effects with regards to disturbing the ground, it’s a good touch of detail.

 

First monster encountered is this snow shark, a variation of the mud fish monster found in the desert area. Burrowing creatures are the bane of my insect glaive existence. Only fainted once though, & that was mainly my stupid fault for forgetting to eat & having nothing prepared for ice effects. I’ve seen two other monsters that were tweaked from the main game. But the difficulty feels like it’s been kicked up a notch for them. For one, their status effects are different or more potent, & I feel they start them out in enraged mode. They have been usually swift & aggressive. It’s back to the start where hunts would take me 40min to complete. That’s a good thing though, means I’ve got my work cut out to build better equipment, learn new tactics, & such.

 

& that isn’t the only cool (no pun intended) details added in this expansion. They’ve added a bunch of new items & decor choices for the hunter’s room. Nothing Sim worthy, but now you can unlock more items during quests. There’s also a weird steam works mini game that drops useful items, & a new snapshot feature with a quest line.

 

I’m not fond of the clutch claw they added. It’s an extension of the slinger that lets you grapple onto monsters. Not quite like mounting though because you can only do it when they’re staggered, but the stamina bar depletes rapidly. I don’t see the worth of it at this point. If it’s meant to give everyone a chance to bring down a monster, they’re a little late. Certain weapon types already have jumping attacks, & those that do not have probably been doing just fine for the past two years. I certainly wouldn’t want to see a horn or hammer user suddenly climbing around a monster instead of creating team buffs or breaking parts, respectively.

 

 

Overall, I think the game will get better as I go along. Right now I’m just struggling with the new environment & tweaks to the monsters. I will definitely keep playing it throughout the event; so perhaps that enjoyment rating will get bumped by the time of the final wrap-up. Didn’t get a chance to play last night, & I tried to see that Borderlands 3 got installed/updated for today. It didn’t, for no reason at all last night. So I’ll just leave it on while I’m at work & hope for the best. Speaking of which:

 

Game #2 Preview

Borderlands 3

 

I may have high hopes for Ni no Kuni, but this one’s likely to be the favorite. It’s even been given an extra day to enjoy. Borderlands is the pinnacle series to name for fun loot & shooting nonsense. I’m interested to see what decisions the developing team decided to keep from Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands episodic adventure. They’ve already acknowledged a certain part as cannon in the Borderlands 2 DLC. Also, would love to have a similar character to the mechromancer in B2. The Deathtrap partner really was a big help as I don’t often play shooters.

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #1 - Flatout 4 - Final Impressions

 

 

Total playtime: around 5 hours

Trophies earned: 15/46

 

 

Alright, so while I technically still have almost an entire day left for this game, I don't plan returning to it and tehrefore I'll wrap it up now.

 

Visually the game looks alright, and contrary to a lot of other racing games it has a lot of stuff on and off the race track. A lot of the objects on the track are destructible and refill your boost meter. Which is one of 3 ways of refilling it. The other two are jumps and bumping into the competition. The tracks are somewhat original, having a harbour area or even a frozen lake as part of a track. The tracks also tend to have various areas that have two or more alternate routes you can take. Some of them may be shorter, while others will actually take you longer.

One issue I have with the visual presentation is the dust effect, that happens on sandy or snowy terrain whenever you have an opponent ahead of you. It literally covers most of hte screen to the point where you can't see where ou are going.

 

THe sound effects are alright and fairly geenric. The music however was pretty great, mostly hard rock and metal from obscure bands, and unfotunately one of the few highlights of this game.

 

The gameplay is where many issues larise. As mentioned before, there are several modes, MP, Career, Flatout mode and there's also quick play. From the get-go, quick play is essentially locked. Most of the custom races and race types are all blocked off, until you progress through the story. It essentially gatekeeps you from acessing a gaem mode, which is dumb as hell.

Very few tracks and cars to choose from, as again they all need to be unlocked and bought during career mode. Flatout mode is the exception, because you don't even get to pick your car.

 

Career mode consists of regular races to win cups, arena  and time trials. Actual progress is only made, if you beat a cup (3-4 races each). Payout is miserable, even if you win, which makes getting new cars a chore. New cars aren't even straight up better than the cheaper ones, as their stats vary and as a result are good in some areas and bad in others.

 

THe AI behaviour is a whole different nuisance. They are absolute dicks. Your competition will actively try to ram into you, even if they have a free path to get in the lead. I even had the opponent in front of me at the start of the race, break so I could not get past  This is where the main issue comes from. Considering that several object are destructible and as such some random things can end up blocking paths on the road, lthus eading to a crash and enemies constantly trying to mess you up, it is very dependant on luck whether or not you will get on the podium. To be fair it goes both way, as the opposition also tends to crash every so often. It still becomes an annoying experience. It probably wouldn't be so bad, if progress wouldn't be hampered so much.

 

Flatout mode is just plain terrible. Beat the bomb, is just boring and arena is an absolute mess. Then there is the stunt  competition, which I stil haven't understood how that is supposed to work. There are variants to it as well. Essentially you drive a car down a ramp and need to eject the driver at a specific angle by pressing X, to launch him into an area full of blocks that supposedly can be knocked over. There a version of "beer pong as well, and it's just as bad. There isn't any indicater a to what the angle is like  So half the time he just flies in a straight line into nothingness and whenever I get an angle it does nothing to the blocks. None of htem ever fell .

 

 

This concludes my barely enjoyable expeirence of this game. It gets boring quickly and is poorly structured. It's not enough to be more than a , as visuals and sound alone don't cut it.

[purgta]

Game 2 Preview

The Last Guardian

 

I am a big fan of both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus so I have high expectations for this game. It seems a lot more like Ico from what I have seen. I don't know much about it and am pretty happy about that. I have had it in my backlog for quite a long time and don't really know why I never got around to it. I am expecting slightly awkward movement and to grow very attached to that creature.

[kingofbattle8174]

Coffee Shop Final Impressions

 

Not much more to talk about here. This is a very straight forward VN. It is an easy plat, that would have a higher completion rate if more people considered buying it. But at 55%, you can see it is not taxing. There was one other mode, endless, that is available to you. No timer, just make what you want. No timer or anything. It is useful to unlock all the secret recipes, which you need before really getting into challenge mode. Once you get over ten drinks, people start asking for a specific recipe. A breath of fresh air for something different that is about it.

 

Difficulty Level: 2/10

Fun Level: 6/10

 

 

Bonus game Impressions

 

 

I have been waiting to buy this one and finally got it today. The controls are more indepth than I am used to and there are alot of them. Everything I have seen so far in the first hour just makes it a perfect Dragon Ball game. 

[voodoo_eyes]

Game #2 - Secret of Mana - Preview

 

 

Developer: Square Enix

Publisher: Square Enix

Genre: Action-RPG

Price: 39,99€

 

 

Time for my second game of the event. I know pretty much nothing about this one, except that a the sequel is about to come out. Both originals have been on the SNES, but never played any of them. I did however play Adventures of Mana, which I think is the first game in the series. I remember it being a decent game overall. Hopefully the sequel will at least be decent as well, preferably better.

 

I do recall this game having tons of issues when it released, from constantly crashing to corrupting saves. I do hope that all of that has been sorted by now. Furthermore, the sequel better not be coming out with any issues, or it would look like Square didn't learn anything from their mistakes.

[ladynadiad]

 

Game #1 Tales of Symphonia (PS3)

Trophies: 4/40 (5%) D Rank

Current completion: 96.05% (-0.56%)

Current unearned trophies: 239 (+34)

Current games played: 190

Current games completed: 178

Current unstarted games in backlog: 75 games

 

So pretty much ages ago in like 2007 or 2008 I tried playing the Gamecube version and got bored and stopped about 2 hours in.  Got the game for PS3 and thought I'd give it another try since a game with trophies is something I'll eventually get around to finishing because I do want my completion back eventually even if this game is one of the harder Tales of plats.

 

So pretty much this is a port of the PS2 version that never released outside of Japan.  Definitely looks way nicer than the Gamecube version, but it's pretty clear the game is a PS2 game and the main difference between this and the Gamecube version is the 3D models instead of awful looking 2D sprites and it also now has the original Japanese opening rather than a NA unique symphonic melody for the opening animation.  Like all Tales of games, the battles are more like an action RPG.  However, the battles are kind of a pseudo 3D.  By that I mean it looks 3D, but you lack free run from later games and the enemies can attack from different lines and you can only affect one line.  It's really kind of awkward in how it plays out and makes me feel like they should have just kept it 2D.

 

Pretty much it's very clear the game is old.  On top of that it suffers from a slow start to the plot and most of your starting characters being either boring or annoying.  I don't mind playing an old Tales of game, I've played plenty from this era, but for all that this game is lauded as being one of the best from that era, it's really lacking in everything that makes a game good and gets you into the game from the start.  I'd definitely recommend to play one of the newer games if you've never played a game from the series before because most of them do a better job gaining your interest and giving you a reason to keep playing.  This is definitely a game that hasn't aged well and a lot of people who praise it seem to do so more out of nostalgia because it was their first Tales of game, and possibly first RPG.  This is more something to play if you're into the series and want to play them all or you want a shiny UR plat for 150+ hours of effort.  The big problem is that the game is just too similar to the usual Chosen One sets off on a journey with her bodyguards to gain power to save the world.  Pretty much it's way too much like FFX and for all that I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy, FFX does a way better job gaining interest and explaining why the Chosen One's power is so important.  For those not familiar with FFX, right from the start you see the threat that Sin is and understand the importance of Yuna's mission to gain the power to defeat Sin.  In Tales of Symphonia, it's not so clear why Collette's journey of regeneration is necessary to help the world.  They tell of things happening, but what is shown can be handled in other ways.  The game falters because it's telling me what is wrong rather than showing me so unlike in FFX where I saw with my own eyes how terrible Sin was, I'm not seeing here why Colette is so necessary when even kids like Lloyd and Genis can beat the crap out of Desians, who are the only threat shown so far.

 

So overall, my view of the game has changed little, the only change is that I'll actually get that plat and probably will end up liking it no more than I like Vesperia, which ranks pretty low among Tales of games for me (my favorites in the series are Hearts, Eternia and Abyss for an idea of my tastes).  I'll still keep playing it because it's definitely not as terrible as Tales of Xillia that had a plot so bad that I just rage quit out of inability to keep suspending my disbelief over the sheer stupidity of a seemingly intelligent protag.  At least Lloyd is indeed really this stupid and the plot is believable.  While one point that seems kind of dumb on the part of the party is allowing a guy who is wanted by the bad guys to be with the Chosen who needs to be protected from said bad guys makes little sense, at least Lloyd and Genis have ties with the party that give some reasoning beyond just expecting me to accept that things are happening this way even if it makes no sense.

Edited March 6, 2020 by ladynadiad

[PerryToxteth]

On 3/4/2020 at 7:21 PM, voodoo_eyes said:

Game #1 - Flatout 4 - Final Impressions

 

 

Total playtime: around 5 hours

Trophies earned: 15/46

 

 

Alright, so while I technically still have almost an entire day left for this game, I don't plan returning to it and tehrefore I'll wrap it up now.

 

Darn, cross that one off the wish list. I had high hopes for it too. Any other games you know of with similar Demo Derby gameplay, but more fun than this garbage? 

[AuroraHistoire]

Shining Star ~ Trinity Universe

 

Trinity Universe is a strange JRPG that I really enjoyed in the little time (by RPG standards) that I have played. The plot so far hasn't gone anywhere but is interesting enough that I haven't gotten too bored yet. The combat system is very unique and I really enjoy it.

 

Trinity Universe is a game that gives you the choice of two different stories. Well, you have to play both to get 100% but your choice is important since you meet different party members depending on which route you pick and the plot is probably a bit different. Anyway, I picked the Rizelea route for my first playthrough. Rizelea's story is basically that she is a valkyrie with a mission of stopping drifting objects from hitting the floating landmass everybody lives on. Rizelea beats up the some really important dude during the beginning of the game and he tells her that his good for nothing son (also the protagonist of the route I didn't pick) needs to turn into a magic gem with the power to stop drifting objects from colliding.

 

After the opening bit and the tutorial dungeon, the story flounders around with barely anything that interesting happening. You mostly do a few small dungeons and gain a couple party members while the game gives you many tutorials about every single game mechanic for the first 5 hours of the game. I was so excited when the tutorials were saying that it was the final tutorial. At least the game is okay with you exploring any optional dungeons that drift into orbit at the start of the game.

 

A major part of the game is dungeon exploration. Dungeons have been a series of hallways with a few rooms that are all dead ends so far. They're really nice to look at and the appearance of treasure chests change based on the theme. Random battles happen while you're exploring unless you find the pool of dark energy and defeat every encounter in the dark energy pool. There are random items littered on the ground for you to collect and you have the option of searching for hidden treasure. The search command has a limited number of uses but if you're not close enough to uncover anything hidden, it draws a line towards the object until it hits a wall or something. There is usually a boss fight in the dungeon somewhere but there is also a secret stronger boss the will find you. In my 1 experience with this type of boss, they appear as dark energy on your screen and they will battle you at random. They also talk (I couldn't understand them since my Japanese is terrible) before they battle you. They didn't leave me alone and I had keep running from the battle (they were strong enough that I could possibly win but it would take great RNG & at lot of healing items). 

 

A unique aspect of dungeons is destroying their gravity core and having them drift away. After you destroy the gravity core, you have a limited time to escape but there are many rare items that spawn littered around that you will want to collect on your way back to the entrance. Random encounters seemed to be turned off (except the secret boss [the timer doesn't go down during battles]). If you fail to escape in time, you're stuck in a purgatory of random events and your party members complaining until you get the UFO event. The UFO event lets you buy your way back to civilization or hijack the UFO. Hijacking requires you to fight a enemy with the strength of a weakish-boss character.

 

The battle system in this game is very unique, requires intense focus and makes you feel like a genius when you preform it perfectly. Your party member's turn revolve around a resource called AP (actions points). A characters AP per turn is determined by their equipment (possibly level). Most actions require AP to preform. Every character has three attacks the correspond to &.  are attacks that hit the enemy multiple times.  are attacks that deal massive damage.  are magic attacks that hit all enemies but have the highest AP cost (10 I think). Your AP will constantly drain after you select your first attack, so you need to plan out your turn before acting. There are also secret (or written down in a menu or the game's manual) button sequences that when inputed will do special attacks that cost 0 AP (for the last input [technically you will drain 1AP before you can input the last button]). Some sequences are for all characters (like ) but all characters have at least 1 character specific sequence ( is Lucius',  is Violet's,  is Rizelea's,  is Flonne's [that's all my party members]). You really want to preform those button sequences since those attacks are really good. You also have abilities that are preformed with the  button. Abilities are things like healing, running away from battle, debuffs, buffs, ect. You have to find abilies as random drops in my experience and they need to be equiped outside of battle. During a party members turn, you can also switch to another party member turn early with ; the character you switch to gets a random buff or heal but the their AP will start draining immediately. While deciding which party member to switch to while switching, there is a timer that randomly will have a green section sometimes; if you perform a switch while the timer is in the green section, you'll preform a extra special attack. Any AP not used during a characters turn, will be carried over to their next turn. You have the option to skip a turn entirely with  if you want to store AP. You only allowed to store a characters base AP per turn multiplied by 3. There is also a meter that fills by hitting the enemy. You can burn it for healing with (hold) if you have AP or if two segments are full, you can preform a EX attack with . EX attacks are the strongest attacks in the game and don't cost any AP, I think. Despite the battle system being very complex, it's a lot of fun.

 

On the enemies turn, each enemy attacks twice (sometimes only once). The worst thing that they do is their really stong attack that hits your whole party. Part of me wishes the enemy would style on your party with stylish combos too, but that would make the battles go on for an eternity+1. 

 

I enjoy the song they play during the opening before the title screen where they show you all the characters but they play it way too much during the actual game. It's constantly playing when you're not in a dungeon, shop or the inn. To make things worse, it start from the beginning if you pop into the shop for 2 seconds. It wouldn't be so bad if the song didn't have lyrics. I have heard the instrumental version in the background of a few scenes so far. I'm not at the point where I'm completely tired of hearing it but by the 60 hour point, I'll probably be so sick of it, I'll hate it.

 

Another small insignificant problem I have with the game is that Rizelea's hair colour isn't the same between her 2D and 3D self. The game uses 3D models for battles and 2D character art for everything else. Rizelea's hair is light pink with the tips being blonde in the 2D artwork. Her 3D model has orange (borderline red) hair and the tips are yellow. The difference is very jarring. I'm constantly theorizing why they colours are so different. No other characters (I've seen so far) have this issue.

[voodoo_eyes]

4 hours ago, PerryToxteth said:

 

Darn, cross that one off the wish list. I had high hopes for it too. Any other games you know of with similar Demo Derby gameplay, but more fun than this garbage? 

 

Wreckfest looks pretty good, but I have yet to try it or buy it for that matter.