Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Apr 8, 2021 14:59:32 GMT
Imperial Khador - I've noticed that you've been playing some other games from Falcom (the Trails series). If I had some extra time, I would certainly go for their other games too, as Falcom is always a solid developer. Too bad that the Legend of Heroes games, which I'm very interested in, are known to be so text heavy and have super long stories, as I'll probably avoid these longer games for awhile after I'm finished with The Witcher 3 (which I'm already playing), Okami and the Dark Souls sequels, all of which I'll play through this year. One good thing about the Ys series is that all the ones made until Origin are very light on PC, so they probably all run well enough on a laptop (I think that VII might as well, as it was a PSP game too). It's only VIII-Celceta-IX that demand better hardware.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Apr 9, 2021 7:57:20 GMT
I did end up grabbing Ys Origin on Steam when it was on sale, but it was after I'd already finished it on the Vita. I did install it just to check, and it ran pretty well. I suspect any of the releases up to Ys Seven will work just fine on my laptop. Even Celceta had a Vita release, so I think there's a good chance it would run well on my laptop. For some reason, I really like the aesthetics of this era of Ys releases, and the first 5 Trails games (Trails in the Sky 1-3, Trails from Zero, Trails from Azure) on PC have the same look. The environments are kind simplified, but with high res textures, decent camera work and smoothly running at 60fps. The effect kind of reminds me of a late era PS1 or early era PS2 game, but with a nice coat of paint. The Trails/Kiseki series is definitely one I'd recommend, but as you mention....it is definitely a time sink. Since the stories are all connected, you get the most out of playing them in chronological order, but there are nine games available in English so far (with one more available in Japanese and another one coming out this year), and with each being around the 40-60 hour or longer mark, it is definitely a time investment. Apparently they think they have enough stories left to tell in that world to keep going about 15-20 years. I'm definitely on board for it, though. I just have Trails of Cold Steel IV left, and then I'm caught up on what is available in English It is kind of funny that Trails/Kiseki started off as a sub-series of 'Legend of Heroes', but has more or less supplanted it. Legend of Heroes started as a sub-series of the 'Dragon Slayer' line with two games in 1989 and 1992. Then the Gagharv Trilogy in 1994-99 dropped the Dragon Slayer title, and then got PSP remakes/ports in 2005-2007....but then every release since then has been in the Trails sub-series. That seems to happen a lot with Falcom. I think Dragon Slayer also split off into their Xanadu series, which covered everything from Faxanadu on the NES up to Tokyo Xanadu on the Vita PS4. I do kind of what to try out the Gagharv Trilogy on the PSP at some point. Those Legend of Heroes titles didn't score very well in reviews, but apparently they contain a lot of concepts that got refined and re-used to better effect in the Trails games, and that makes me curious.
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dschult3
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The true heir to the Monado.
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Post by dschult3 on Apr 11, 2021 22:16:22 GMT
I am playing through Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition again, but this time in New Game +. I'm not noticing anything extra thus far. Xenoblade 2 had a ton of extras. I love the game, so it isn't too disappointing.
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dschult3
CGR Undertow Groupie
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,767
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Post by dschult3 on Apr 18, 2021 17:08:58 GMT
Is anybody playing Pac-Man 99? I've tried it a few times, and I've only scored in the high 30s. My wife and son seem to like it more than me. There's just too much going on at the same time. I wish you sent ghosts instead of slow down Pac-Mans, because all of the white Pac-Man baddies seem to hide that SOB Pinky!
Also, the chicklet directionals seem to work better than the Pro-Controller. That's a first for me.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Apr 22, 2021 2:24:08 GMT
I didn't know about it until now, I'm definitely going to play now that I know it exists.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 1, 2021 9:03:57 GMT
Heh, I did try Pac-Man 99 a few times, but I'm pretty bad at it.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on May 2, 2021 4:35:36 GMT
I've been swamped with work lately, but I had time for two games, one finished and another still going:
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC) is a competent sequel that fixes most of the problems I had with the first one, but then introduces some very annoying new ones. The combat is more traditional, with simple melee attacks (though it's still on the boring side), the level design has less spikes everywhere, the chase sections are shorter and much simpler and it has even better graphics, though I do think they are a bit over-designed and sometimes (especially on bosses) it's hard to understand what is going on, with too many objects on the foreground and effects obstructing a more clear view of the game itself. Another problem is an excess of controls - by that, I mean that the game not only uses every button on the controller, but also a lot of combinations that are needlessly complicated for a simple 2d platformer, it's one of the rare games that literally made my fingers hurt after a long section. There are actually more abilities than buttons on the controller, so you also have to keep replacing them (the game allows you to freely assign each ability to a button), which is a thing that gets a bit annoying. Some commands are not very reliable, either: a few actions are context-based, and they often fail to register, which is a terrible thing for a platformer. I also felt the story was more melodramatic than in the first game, as if the developers wanted to get prizes for making the players cry or something. On the technical side, the PC version is a bit messy: takes forever to open and to close the game, and once you begin any of the races the game stutters badly; I had to restart my PC a few times. It's all very strange coming from a 2d game, even a pretty one (games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider run very smoothly on this same machine). All that said, while I wouldn't recommend the PC version because of its technical issues, the game itself is still ok, probably better than the first one. It's not my cup of tea, but I had some fun with it. It doesn't deserve all the praise it got, but isn't very bad either.
The Witcher 3 (PC), finally! It's a huge step above the previous entries, especially its combat: it feels now like a good action game, with dodges, parries and easy to use powers, bombs and arrows. It's frankly like a very (very, very) simplified version of a Devil May Cry game, which is a rare sight in a western RPG, and the first time I've seen a good melee combat in one of these. Like the previous entries, the game has a main quest that takes Geralt through a few different maps, but this time each map could hold an entire game by itself - until now, I'm more than 110 hours in without even getting into the last map, which looks as huge as the others. For anyone who likes very long games (I don't, but I really enjoy this series), this is probably the largest one I've ever played. Keep in mind it's not just the size of the maps, but how many interesting sidequests there are to do in them: each quest has an interesting story and none of them is a fetch quest, so, until now, I can say that I haven't felt any padding in the game - it's completely different from my last experience with a huge open-world RPG, which was Xenoblade Chronicles (enjoyed it, but the huge maps were empty and almost every sidequest was to fetch random items). The game is obviously not perfect and has some repetitive things, like all the "monster nests" and "hidden treasures" to find through the maps, but these are completely optional and do not interfere with the quests. Another interesting thing is that some quests can have very different outcomes depending on how you do them, and part of my time playing it was spent reloading a previous save and doing a quest differently to see a different ending for it. The writing isn't anything stellar or very creative (it's not a Nier or Metal Gear), but it's still very engaging and the characters are fun to follow. Lastly, the Gwent card game that you can optionally play against various characters is surprisingly addictive, not different from card games seen in Final Fantasy VIII or Shovel Knight: King of Cards. While I prefer short games and rarely like western RPGs, I still haven't get bored with it one bit and want to do as many exploration/sidequests as possible before the ending. It will certainly get a mention among my favourite games played this year.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 5, 2021 10:52:32 GMT
Dragon Quest VII on 3DS (still going, still slowly) Yakuza 5 Remastered for PS4 on PS5 DQ7 still remains a bit of a slog. I think I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, but I'm still intent on going through the main games (save 10, which is a Japanese-only MMO) in order. It isn't bad...even my friend who is a DQ fanatic considers it a low point in the series. Because it involves time travel, he sort of describes it as the Dragon Quest team's take on Chrono Trigger (which Yuji Hori and Akira Toriyama) without knowing what made that game so enjoyable. It is famously a 100+ hour game even if the side quests are not done. I do enjoy it a few hours/quests at a time, but I don't expect to finish it until some time in 2022. --------------- Yakuza 5, much like 4, follows multiple protagonists, and I'm still in the first section of the story (Kiryu). Already though, it feels the most 'modern' of the remake trilogy. It is a noticeable visual step up from 4 and Dead Souls (themselves a massive step up from 3). My same DQ fan friend is also a massive Yakuza fan, and I remember when he was playing this on the PS3. It is one of those games that blurs the line between a late-stage PS3 and early stage PS4 game, and uses the same engine the team would then use for Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, and Yakuza Ishin. Oddly this is also a game that is a bit infamous for being the longest in the series, at potentially over 100 hours. I recall my friend playing the PS3 version for about 4 months when it came out. So far though, it isn't a slog at all and I'm having quite a bit of fun. ---------------- Regarding the previous Ys discussion with Cervantes, I did end up picking up both Memories of Celceta, and Ys SEVEN while they were on sale on Steam this past week. I played Celceta just for a bit to make it ran okay on my Windows laptop, and thankfully as I suspected, it runs just fine at 1080p 60fps, so I didn't have to return it for the refund. As I noted before, I figured even though it has gotten a pretty recent PS4/Switch port, it was originally 2012 PS Vita game, so it seemed like there was a good chance my laptop could handle it.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on May 6, 2021 3:15:19 GMT
Just two more things about The Witcher 3: it being a very long game with alternate outcomes and endings (as I understand, still getting there!), I do recommend consulting the Wikia or a FAQ sometimes to see how the decisions affect the campaign. I say that because some very important and cool quests are entirely missable; in The Witcher 2, that wasn't a problem because the game was short and replayable, but TW3 is just too long to only notice that you missed on something after a hundred hours. So, while I recommend playing TW2 blind and replaying it later (as it has two entirely different alternate quests, each one in its own region and with its own characters), for TW3 it may be better to just look for the different outcomes and choose how do you want the campaign to develop. There are just too many little things that affect the latter quests and endings.
Also, as I think about it, a much better point of comparison for the combat would be Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. While the PoP sequels improved on that combat with combos, dual weapons and interactions with walls and poles for more complex moves, TW3 takes a different path and improves on it with more magic powers (the Signs, some of which are very similar to the Time Powers from PoP), the addition of bombs/arrows, better animations and enemy variation. It feels very acrobatic while keeping a more realistic weight. TW3 doesn't have any jumping attacks, though.
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dschult3
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The true heir to the Monado.
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Post by dschult3 on May 29, 2021 20:45:28 GMT
A friend of mine bought me a physical copy of Hades for the Switch. I'm not a big fan of rogue like games, but this is interesting. Anybody else play it around here? I'd like to get your thoughts.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 30, 2021 8:34:27 GMT
Dragon Quest VII on 3DS (still going, still slowly) Yakuza 6:The Song of life for PS4 on PS5
Really enjoying Yakuza 6. Back down to Kiryu, instead of the multiple characters from 4 and 5, so the story feels a bit tighter, and I'm having a lot of fun.
I had previously played Yakuza Kiwami 2, which also used the Dragon engine, and was made after 6, so everything feels a bit more familiar, but it was still ad adjustment after 3, 4 and 5. The physics works a bit differently in the Dragon engine, so things feel a bit more sluggish in some ways than 0, K1, 3, 4 and 5.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 30, 2021 8:35:03 GMT
A friend of mine bought me a physical copy of Hades for the Switch. I'm not a big fan of rogue like games, but this is interesting. Anybody else play it around here? I'd like to get your thoughts. Haven't gotten around to it yet, but I have a few friends and acquaintances who seem pretty obsessed.
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dschult3
CGR Undertow Groupie
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,767
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Post by dschult3 on Jun 5, 2021 3:14:18 GMT
I have been playing Hades for a few hours now. At first, I hated dying all the damn time, but for some reason, I find myself drawn back to the game. Every time I'm a bit smarter and a bit stronger. I just beat Magaera, and I, of course, died a few more screens into the next level of hell. I find myself annoyed, but not angry, because I expect this to happen. I may play it again for one more bout with death, but I'm never raging after I die. Hours later, I'm back at it.
This is such a strange addictive game. My daughter likes watching me play through it as well. She has the guide that came with the game, and she is always looking up the current Greek god I've received a blessing from. Even she expects me to die, as she always asks when I start up the game, "Where do you think you're going to die this time?"
I know I'm extremely late to the party, but I highly recommend this one.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,818
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Post by Cervantes on Jun 5, 2021 5:07:21 GMT
I've finished The Witcher 3, it's a too damn long game. Beating the main game plus the DLC expansions took me around 170h. The developers surely did their best to make every sidequest count, but it still ends up being very repetitive after a point due to its own nature as a massive open world game: I think they should have left just the main quest and sidequests in the game and get rid of all the question marks in the map, which are just repetitive busywork, the kind of thing that developers feel like they are obliged to include in these games. The game would still be one of the longest ones around, but without any padding. If anything, it convinced me that I rarely ever enjoy massive open worlds and will avoid them in the future, as even this truly great one, well crafted and among my favourites, still had me bored for dozens of hours (the only ones that I still intend to play are Zelda: BotW and Death Stranding, and only because they seem different enough).
Anyway... As I'm gearing up for Ninja Gaiden Master Collection's release next week (!!!), I decided, in the mean time, to play the Mega Man GB games. Once I finish them all, I'll add my impressions to the Mega Man thread. The first one, which I just played through in the last couple hours, was very enjoyable, albeit a limited experience compared to the console entries (much shorter, slower, the controls do not feel as precise and the lower resolution of the Game Boy makes it feel cramped, especially in boss fights). It's still a great GB conversion for its time and a great start for this subseries.
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stratogustav
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Post by stratogustav on Jun 5, 2021 18:45:11 GMT
My PS Plus expired, but I will be renewing because I want to play the new Virtua Fighter remake.
Because it is on PS Plus, and it is a brand new release, on a fighting community that hasn't had anything for a while, this is the time in history where VF will have the biggest base of players playing the game at the same time, and I don't want to miss on that karnage.
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