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Post by Imperial Khador on Mar 9, 2022 10:00:16 GMT
Finished up Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom for PS4 (played on PS5).
I really liked this one, more than the first, in fact. Combat is still real-time, almost Tales-style, but they did away with the familiar from the first game, and I think it works better for it.
Studio Ghibll wasn't involved this time, though the character designs and world still draw heavily from their style. Bright, vibrant world, air pirates, etc.
Music was nice and catchy.
In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the Trails of Mana remake, which I recently played, but I didn't feel the same tedium. Part of that is that it isn't a remake of an older game, so isn't bound by older design choices, etc. There's also some nice variants in gameplay, with a kingdom building mini-game, and a very simple skirmish RTS mini-game, in addition to the main narrative. Neither of these aspects are especially deep, but they break up the monotony, and work really well together.
I'd give this one a solid recommendation.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,649 
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Post by stratogustav on Mar 9, 2022 10:05:35 GMT
I actually did finish Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, and may even go for the plat this time because it is doable without the online trophies.
With this game I finish the Camilla Ludington trilogy which was certainly amazing, and I mean all three games.
Rise Of The Tomb Raider is still my favorite, but I love all three almost equally. They have been truly fantastic, and I definitely prefer them over all the Uncharted games that I also love.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
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Post by Cervantes on Mar 11, 2022 4:49:33 GMT
stratogustav - While I didn't love Rise of TR that much and we even talked a bit about it, Shadow was my favourite game in 2020, it's nice that you also enjoyed it. Now that I think about it, Shadow was probably my most enjoyable TR game since Anniversary (I liked all the others in-between, but not as much). Eidos did an awesome work with it.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
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Post by stratogustav on Mar 11, 2022 4:58:30 GMT
To be fair I like all three almost equally. If Rise is a 9.8, Shadow is a 9.6, and 2013 is a 9.4. They are all fantastic. I just feel Rise was more coherent and had a bit better imagination throughout the game. However Shadow is still outstanding. That last boss was really cool.
The Uncharted games are Uncharted 2 9.4, Uncharted 3 9.3, Uncharted 4 9.1, Uncharted 1 9.2, and Lost Legacy 8.5 easily. All incredible games too.
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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, 2022 2:48:06 GMT
I finished Metroid Dread yesterday. I have 13 hours in the game, and I know I could have probably beaten it in much less time, but I was doing my best to not use a guide. I had a love/hate relationship with this game. Super Metroid, it is not. Let's get that out of the way. The game is beautiful, and there are plenty of puzzles. I just can't get over the linear boss fights. Now, I know they aren't completely linear. I've read since beating the game that you can beat Kraid easily by getting another weapon earlier than you are supposed to. However, I don't think that can be done for most of the others. The invincibility of the E.M.M.I.s, and the over-the-top difficulty of some of the bosses just annoys me. Some people reviewed the game and called it "Nintendo hard." I disagree. The ramping up of difficulty with an autosave before the boss fight is a PS3/XBox 360 era thing. You have to fight the bosses and the E.M.M.I.s in a specific way, and that takes away the freedom of experimentation that made Metroid games so great. Dying 20 times before figuring something out isn't fun; It's stupid.
I really don't know if I enjoyed the game. I enjoyed the exploration part of the game, and I definitely got that dopamine kick when I discovered something new. The story is short, but sweet. The gameplay is as smooth as butter. The art design is fantastic. The music is great. I just hated the insta-death garbage. It drove me insane. My daughter (who was my Metroid buddy) would keep track of my death count. She would even ask me if it was time to play something else! Once I got past whatever I was stuck on, it became fun again. But then as you entered another sector, bam! There's a new E.M.M.I. zone. At the end of the game, it would be another Chozo warrior battle or monster boss. Sometimes the story would lock you into a linear path, which I found rather un-Metroid like. It was so frustrating. Friends have told me that it becomes more fun on a second or third play through. No thank you. That just isn't for me. I don't think I will be checking out the boss rushes or hard mode either.
I'd recommend the game if you like the old Metroid games and the challenge (frustration) of extreme difficulty hikes. I'd recommend playing a different Metroid game if that sounds annoying to you.
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Post by Imperial Khador on Apr 15, 2022 19:59:42 GMT
Finished up Iconoclasts for PS4 (on PS5) yesterday.
It is in the Metroidvania genre, but I would say it leans towards Metroid Fusion, in that it is fairly linear, areas are fully separated, and the only backtracking necessary is for a few optional power ups (or item creation components in this case).
I really liked the music and the sprite work is excellent. Platforming feels good, and the aesthetic makes good use of the main character Robin's job as a mechanic.
Story-wise, I think it tries some of the same things that Earthbound, Undertale, and similar titles have tried, with dark lore and worldbuilding contrasted with a happy visual style....like if Shantae took place in a post apocalyptic setting or some such. It seems heavy handed at times, but didn't detract from my enjoyment much.
I do feel the game went on a bit long, and tended to drag in its final third.
The main annoyance I had mechanically is that you do get a fair number of 'tweaks' you can obtain for Robin, with 3 equippable at once...but being hit by enemies will remove use of these tweaks (1 per hit), until you defeat numerous enemies to power them back up...so I rarely equipped any of them except ones that negated enemy damage. I think if they remained active all the time, I'd have been more likely to mix and match.
I...honestly don't know if I'd recommend this one or not.
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
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Post by dschult3 on Apr 15, 2022 20:26:18 GMT
Story-wise, I think it tries some of the same things that Earthbound, Undertale, and similar titles have tried, with dark lore and worldbuilding contrasted with a happy visual style....like if Shantae took place in a post apocalyptic setting or some such. It seems heavy handed at times, but didn't detract from my enjoyment much. I feel like we are in the goth/emo stage of video game history. |
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 3, 2022 14:16:46 GMT
Dragon Quest VII on the 3DS after more than a year. I...am glad I did not go into this one ignorant, and would have to say that even with some quality of life improvements made to the 3DS version, this is the most tedious JRPG I've ever played to completion. It's hard to believe that Yuji Hori could made a game this uninteresting with a time travel plot when he's the same person who came up with the story for Chrono Trigger was also in change of this. I suppose it goes to show how much Masato Kato likely had to do with Chrono Trigger's story when fleshing it out. The game is far longer than it needs to be, with the class system not being unlocked until 10-20 hours in. Previous to that, you have very little variety in combat except to mash attack over and over. The story has some interesting moments, particularly towards the end, but would have (in my opinion), worked better in a game half the length of DQ7. But again...I had some idea of this going into it. A good friend of mine is a Dragon Quest fanatic, and this is far and away his least favourite, game, so I remember several rants about it over the years, though he did buy the 3DS version for a replay when it came out. The original had a difficult and lengthy development cycle, switching platforms, having numerous delays, etc. Of course it was a hit in Japan, being a DQ game, but it's easy to see why it wasn't successful elsewhere. Even with the improved re-release on the 3DS, I can't really say I'd recommend this one.
Edit: I am looking forward to Dragon Quest VIII though. Despite 7's decent sales numbers in Japan, the creative team seemed to take a lot of its shortcomings to heart, and VIII is regarded as one of the best in the series.
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Pimpjira
Guardian Force Shooter
Posts: 1,102
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Post by Pimpjira on May 10, 2022 1:44:10 GMT
Kirby's Avalanche on SNES
I haven't been finishing a lot of gammes this year. Some more I have are Triangle Strategy, SMT V, and Banjo Kazooie
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,888
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Post by dschult3 on May 10, 2022 2:04:36 GMT
Kirby's Avalanche on SNES I haven't been finishing a lot of gammes this year. Some more I have are Triangle Strategy, SMT V, and Banjo Kazooie How was Triangle Strategy? |
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Pimpjira
Guardian Force Shooter
Posts: 1,102
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Post by Pimpjira on May 10, 2022 2:22:36 GMT
Kirby's Avalanche on SNES I haven't been finishing a lot of gammes this year. Some more I have are Triangle Strategy, SMT V, and Banjo Kazooie How was Triangle Strategy? I liked it a lot, think most people if they like SRPGs but aren't expecting FFT(no job system) and don't mind a lot of reading. The story scenes can run kinda long. |
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,888
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Post by dschult3 on May 17, 2022 12:01:40 GMT
I finished Earthbound Beginnings last night. I enjoyed it a lot, and I'm going to start Earthbound for the first time soon. From what I have read, I believe my perspective is going to be quite different from players outside of Japan, because I played this one first. We shall see.
As for the game, I don't think I can recommend it to everyone. It is REALLY antiquated, when it comes to gameplay. I went into it expecting that, so it didn't bother me too much. Simple things like operating a menu may drive you insane. The battle frequency can be inconsistent at times. Sometimes I'd be exploring for a minute or so without a battle; other times I couldn't walk 5 steps without initiating a fight. The enemies were extremely original. Fighting an 18 wheeler or a hippy was out of the blue, but I found it humorous rather than jarring. The music was quite interesting for the time. It can range from funny, to lackadaisical, to serious, and then sad. It fits the story well, but don't expect Nobuo Uematsu here. The storyline is extremely interesting, but it doesn't go too deep due to the limitations of the original NES. An example of that would be towards the end of the game, a character professes their love to another, and all I could think was, "Wait...what? Where did that come from? OK, let's go with it." The main part of the story (learning about Giygas, Maria, and George) was great, although I don't fully understand what Magicant was or the nature of Maria's death. It was a mixed bag for me.
All in all, I'd recommend this game to players who are interested in the origins of Earthbound. I'm sure the leap backwards in time may be annoying to those of you who have played the SNES game, but if you are prepared for it prior to playing it, you'll have a good time. I enjoyed it.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 17, 2022 14:03:57 GMT
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dschult3
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
The true heir to the Monado.
Posts: 2,888
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Post by dschult3 on May 17, 2022 15:57:20 GMT
Imperial Khador Thanks! It's pretty awesome that Nintendo archived it and offers it up for free. Just looking through it, I can tell that this is a much more colorful experience.
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Post by Imperial Khador on May 25, 2022 19:12:20 GMT
Finished up unMetal for the PS4 (on the PS5).
I bought this one on sale on the recommendation of a friend who is a big Metal Gear fan, as it is an homage/parody of the MSX era entries in the series.
It was mostly fun, but I don't think I'll be replaying it. Mechanics were pretty faithful to those old 8-bit entries in Metal Gear, so no complaints there, though they show their age. Voice acting seemed to vary between intentionally bad for comedic effect, to actually bad; my friend found it charming, while I found it most grating. The writing relies a little to much for me on on references to other things without adding anything of its own, fecal references, and yelling "fuck". There's the occasional joke that made me chuckle, but they were few and far between.
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