Last Game You Finished And Your Thoughts V3.0

It captures the essence of the original Metal Gear Solid without loading it down with numerous cutscenes. I really ought to go back to GZ - going for S Ranks and combing the base for collectables seems like it'd be a fun time.

Shock, shock and awe!  I finished an actual game!  When was the last time I did that?  Probably Breath of the Wild last year.  Looking back mobage has really impacted the rate I finish real games.  


One of the better JRPG's in recent times.  Combat is some of the better seen in the series, lots of good mechanics to use and master that are both easy to use while also allowing some depth to proceedings if you want to put the effort in.  

But the real highlight is the protagonist.  Ever get tired of goodie-two-shoes protagonists in games, but also incredibly tired of the Wests generic gruff jaded male protagonists?  Well you're in luck, because Tales of Berseria brings in an honest-to-god anti-hero as the main character.  

We've seen protagonists out for revenge before, Shulk comes to mind.  What sets Velvet apart is that she abandons all her morals to get it.  She can, will, and does do whatever it takes to further her goals.  Use people, destroy towns and economies, kill.  If it's the most effective way to get to her goal of killing Artorious that's what she'll do.  Most stories would try to temper this, or be about redemption.  Not this one.  It makes for a refreshing take on what would otherwise be a generic JRPG story.  

The rest of the main cast is similarly selfish.  A pirate looking for his captain.  A wandering swordsman out for revenge.  A psychopathic witch out for a good time.  Our only two "moral" characters are an innocent child learning to be his own person after his entire personality was suppressed and a do-gooder that only works with the team for ulterior motives.  


Solid 8 out of 10 game.  Refreshing, fun to play, and doesn't outstay its welcome.

Hyper Light Drifter



I appear to be in a little bit of a minority, at least here aboard the good ship GNamer, in that I bloody loved this game, start to finish.
I've been hearing about it for years. Sean Bell of Midnight Resistance and the Computer Game Show bigs it up and it's one of those indie games which is often referenced as "post Dark Souls". The weird screenshots I'd seen all made me think I would like this as well. I was therefore a bit disheartened when I saw that our very own Jas didn't rate it.

But I gave it a bash anyway and I'm so glad I did. The aesthetics are phenomenal throughout, a really unique world with four distinct areas, an outstanding soundtrack by disasterpiece, and just a thick layer of atmosphere all the way through. The specifics of the story are vague but the emotionality of it is exquisite.

And the gameplay was just right for me. There was a nice feeling of exploration and teasing out a map, without it ever feeling like I was lost. The combat was sublime - it always felt like it was on the perfect line where if I didn't pay attention and treat the enemies with respect, I'd be killed but if my head was in the game I could zip around and feel like an absolute badass.

The bosses have caused some contention but for me, there was only one which didn't land (a kind of bird wizard whose pattern I couldn't quite learn.) The others were difficult, of course, and sometimes frustratingly so, but I always felt like I was getting a little closer with each attempt. In fact, by the time I reached the final boss I was actually surprised when I beat it - I was expecting a second form or something because it went down a little too easily!

There are plenty of secrets and things I could go back in and find, and maybe one day I'll fancy another go around, but for now I'm finished and very satisfied.

10/10

The_Jaster wrote:

The meat of the game though is basically figure out a way into 4 mini dungeons per area, kill the enemies in each room to progress, activate a diamond switch thing then kill the area boss then repeat. It just get's a bit samey after you beat the first area and I wish it had something else to break that up a little bit more.

You're not wrong, but this didn't bother me at all. Each area had enough unique enemies and mechanics to carry me through. Plus, it wasn't that long. My game clock said 8 hours 35 minutes, and I didn't feel bored in that whole run. Maybe if this were two or three times the length I'd take umbrage at the lack of variety, but for my money what was there was plenty.

Balladeer wrote:

 It looked like an amazing cyberpunk Zelda with one of the best art styles I've seen in an indie game.

Yep, yep, agreed, sounds good . . .

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Unfortunately it feels a bit... soulless.

WOW! I didn't get that vibe at all. There was so much character to all the creatures and folks, even if it was told through pictures rather than the written word. Of course it was post-apocalyptic, but so are a lot of great stories. To me this was a very real world with real pain and real little glimmers of life and love and hope.

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the high difficulty that clearly only gets higher,

Obviously, this one is a matter of huge subjectivity but for me, the difficulty was really nicely balanced. The Celeste-style respawn definitely helped as well. And I don't think the difficulty curve was necessarily one where it gets progressively harder - the first three locations can be done in any order and barring the bosses are similar difficulty levels.

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the lack of direction,

Hard disagree here though! The map is very videogamey in design- a central hub with four spokes, and in each one you meet folks who point out there all the objectives are. It was exploratory and solitary, but I don't feel it lacked for direction particularly.

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and level design that feels a bit like it could be ProcGen,

Now you're just being paranoid. That level design was exquisite! Circling around and in on itself, littered with secrets and tricks and nooks and crannies and delicately, perfectly hand-crafted enemy encounters . . . this was a labour of love. Maybe you should play a couple more procedurally generated games so you can really appreciate when something isn't that!

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I can't help thinking that HLD would have been better for me had it just had a couple of talkative NPCs, or a bit more obvious story, or a bit more direction.

Again, very much a taste thing but I couldn't disagree more. It just landed for me as it was - like a Bulbasaur, I didn't understand what this world was saying, but I understood what it was feeling. I wanted to heal it, and I'm glad I did.

Looking back I think a lot of the hype just killed it a little for me & the fact I had played a lot great indie games prior to it as well probably didn't help, I thought it was good but just didn't love it like I expected to.

This was surprising, it admittedly took longer to complete than it should have after getting distracted by other games, I ended up clocking up between 4-5 hours with the story mode and a bit of online play. It's simple to play, avoid the red shapes by moving or phasing through them with a button press and it all seems to coincide with the soundtrack. What's surprising though is the story mode itself.

Considering it has no dialogue and I was playing as a blue Square I really got in to the story mode and actually cared about what happened, the game threw a couple of swerves at me and even had a few moments that made me shout out loud in response to what was happening. More importantly the music itself is quality, it's all very euphoric or dubstep-like, not exactly my favourite kind of thing but along with the gameplay it was really easy to lose yourself in it and the two blend perfectly together.

I've not played much beyond the story although I was greated with a mission to play in challenge mode which there seems to be a few of so there's still more for me to play through. All in all this is really fun, very pick up and play and easy to say "one more track".

8/10

It's on the watchlist!  Interesting to read about story mode though, I either missed that in other reviews or they didn't mention it in such detail.  Good to know.

I'll get Just Shapes & Beats someday - really impressed by that demo, and really like the sound of it from that review.

~



I’ve finished a playthrough of the Onimusha: Warlords remaster on Switch. For me, this was a very welcome return to Onimusha Warlords. I had it on PS2, enjoyed it lots, and I’ve completed it there a few times. This is nice for me to play on a modern system. For anybody else though, I’m not sure how much they’d enjoy it.

It’s good, definitely, but it feels ancient. Many aspects of the games design – like the pre-rendered backgrounds, the fixed camera and the unskippable cutscenes – were left behind in the wake of Resident Evil 4. But, maybe that’s what makes Onimusha feel so strange. Warlords is more different to everything else now than it was even when it came out (if that makes sense). It’s got an unusual atmosphere and setting, it has uncomplicated one-button combat too. There’s lots of out-of-place puzzles in amongst it, and it’s got a very undemanding play length. I don’t think I’ve played much like Onimusha: Warlords in over fifteen years. It’s out of date, and unlike with Resident Evil 2, Zone of the Enders, Devil May Cry and it’s other remastered contemporaries, there’s been very little effort here to modernise it. Only the analog controls and upscaled graphics set it apart from the PS2 version in any meaningful way. Yet I quite like that novelty. I think it’s a really interesting artefact of the early days of the PS2, a game very much of it’s time. I liked that time. Those times were good.

As one of those palate-cleanser games, I cautiously recommend Onimusha: Warlords. Just don’t expect anything contemporary or innovative. Me, I liked that I could switch my brain off, and batter through it quite comfortably over the course of a few nights. 7/10.

I hope that you're only going to use three scores going forward: 10/10, 7/10, and NO/10.

I rate a lot of stuff 7/10, but I don't think I've ever used NO/10. I think I gave Sonic Mania 10/10, which I admittedly gave too low a score.

Firewatch


People, particularly our very own Pengers, have been telling me to play this for ages. I finally sat down tonight to do it.

The opening was a punch right in the heart, and from there I found a lot to like about this game. It captured the feeling and joy of hiking in solitude in the mountains. The colourful visuals were properly gorgeous, doing really nice stuff with lighting and strong colour palettes. I really enjoyed the melancholy little story of this friendship developing over the radios, the hijinks and the slow sad expressions of past mistakes.

Then the second half of the game or so started throwing in this mystery and tension and tried to have twists and turns which didn't really land for me. What started out as this weird and creepy conspiracy came to a really dissatisfying end and in the end I resented the more low-key tone being abandoned for what was for me less interesting.

Still. Glad I played it.

10/10

Post appreciation thread worthy that from Jay.

I might recommend firewatch to my girlfriend the next time she wants a new game so I can watch it vicariously. She likes slower games so shed probably at least like the first half.


But I felt much the same as you Drunka, it really let itself down inn the second act.

I don't disagree that comparative to the video game medium as a whole, that it's subversive. But my problem with that is that I dont think firewatch wants to be compared to things like resident evil, deus ex, final fantasy. It wants to be compared to children of men, the blair witch project or any such tv/film mystery. And it's just not up to that medium where we have a storied history of auters with more cohesive and incisive visions realised from start to finish.

Maybe that's unfair, but I always come away from firewatch feeling underwhelmed. It did start off really well though, and it does establish an intense and real atmosphere at the start, to a largely unparalleled degree relative to most games.

Oh, I don't have a problem with the ending between Delilah and Henry, I thought their final little conversation was perfect

Spoiler:

I loved that ending, and if people are complaining about that I'm fully on your side, Jay.

What I disliked was the whole big creepy mystery. It felt shoehorned in, and when it turned out to be

Spoiler:

Fair enough. To be fair it's been so long that I can't remember all of it. Its mostly just the feeling that's left.

This is pretty much a not very good version of Tacoma, which you should all play (maybe not Jim) instead but it is playable compared to


If Jimbob made this, I'm not sure he'd be proud or embarrassed as he would have a game on Xbox One but this is the worst game I've played all year.

This would get a NO/10 even if does have some good ideas with the plot


Now Silence recently came to Game Pass on PC but you can play on Xbox One due Anywhere, and as it's on Xbox One along with hearing good things from Metal Jesus and his bud Radical Reggie. I thought I'd give it a go even if it's a point and click adventure (hey something Jimbob would like), it is very much in the old fashioned mould of those but the puzzles aren't as silly as the goat in monkey island (it is monkey island?).

Looks great, decent music, the story is fine and isn't that long meaning could be a good afternoon game between two AAA titles.

If nothing else, I've read a review of WTBMH and it sounds entertainingly terrible. I'm trying to work out where the sudden keenness for Jimbob comes from though?

masofdas wrote:

along with hearing good things from Metal Jesus and his bud Radical Reggie.

Were you on the wacky baccy when you typed this?

Jimbob posted about What Remains of Edith Finch, not long before I posted these and just thought of him.

Metal Jesus is a medium-ish YouTuber, who talks retro games etc.

#legalise

I saw the credits last night, now sure I've still got the 100% completion to do and missing about 10 out of the 47 achievements which include Time Trials that aren't part of the stories 100% etc.

Now I did play CTR back in the day on PS1, so this could all be Nitrostalgia but remember I wasn't a huge fan of N.Sane Trilogy or Sonic Mania.

With that said, I feel this might be the best Kart racer ever made, I love how it handles, the adding in of the nitro kart nitro system, having a story mode which is great single player content then stuff outside of that like all the Nitro Kart tracks being in the game.

I do feel those are underused though as I only raced on them because of achievement and twice online, that maybe could have been added in as the gem cups in the story mode.

Time Trials, Crystal Mode, Token challenges, Battle and online. Which all reward you with coins, in loot like a system which is a bit urgh to unlock some of the characters, paint jobs etc

That is maybe one of the few issues, the other being is Crash license outside of Crash, Coco, Cortex most of the characters are rather lame that even Sonics line up looks better.

Mario Kart 8D if you're a Switch player will always have that over CTR, that it has Mario characters and set in that universe even if CTR is the better game to play and single player content. Also online and general multiplayer, MK8D will likely still have players years from now but CTR won't.

If you have a Xbox One or a PS4 though and want a Kart racer then this is the best choice, without question.

My Friend Pedro - The controls for this take a little getting used to and part of the reason for me is the default set up has not only the aim assist way too high but also the sensitivity as well, which meant even after a good chunk of the first chapter I felt like I hadn't really grasped them at all.  
After I adjusted them I got on much better with it with the only issue remaining getting my head around the moments where you have to split your aim with 2 weapons - that aside each level really does throw out some great ideas/mechanics that I found myself replaying them just to mess around & try different things.

In the later sections of the game though these ideas get a bit too complex and it slows down or even spoils the shooting action altogether, overall I really enjoyed it but would only recommend it if you like chasing hi-scores or if you see it on sale for like a tenner.

I finished Nier Automata. It was great! Smooth and functional combat as expected from a Platinum project coupled with the wonderful storytelling and world building you'd expect from Yoko Taro. I've been hooked for the past two weeks on this. It does things with its storytelling that would only be possible through the medium of games - the end of the overall game, for those that have played it - that blew me away with its creativity. The music was outstanding, the characters were compelling and unravelling the mysteries of the world was a treat to experience. The only slight blemish I'd note is that whilst the combat does the job, it doesn't have the intricacies of a Bayonetta to keep you constantly engaged for the game's 30 hour plus runtime.

Still, a fantastic game and yet more proof that 2017 is the finest year ever for videogames.

9.5

That's a promising sign for the next Platinum action RPG.

Since I picked up the One X, I had been going back through the Xbox Exclusives that I may have missed such as Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break etc

For some reason, I kept putting Ori off but after this E3 and Ori 2 being dated (FEB 2020 ), I decided to finally play Ori which I went for the Definitive Edition over the standard (I could have played either and looked at it I could have doubled my achievements easily, due stacking I think if I played standard first).

I've got to say this is easily in the Top 3 Xbox exclusive and one of my favourite Metroidvania's around as it just looks gorgeous, the progression is great, heartfelt story.

As most of ya haven't got a One, then I reckon this isn't a huge power consumption that PC might be a viable option for you all as this is a game you should be playing.

Unless you know a Switch port like Cuphead happens and that has been rumoured or I guess XCloud in the future.

Drunkalilly wrote:

That's a promising sign for the next Platinum action RPG.

I'd imagine the storytelling and design components came mostly from Yoko Taro, so I don't think Astral Chain is going to be revolutionary and bold in the way that Automata could be. I still think it'll be a banger, natch - Platinum rarely put out a stinker.