Games Completed 2018

[Chopper]

Thanks for answering the call and playing it! I suppose I was being a bit selfish by asking people to play it because I thought that the second half/final act of the game wasn't great, but thought that might be a failing on my part rather than the game's. I think we're mostly in agreement that it is the game's fault. I would say that there is a fair bit of good and interesting stuff in the game, and that people who are into the narrative style of games should play it, but as so often with these games it becomes a bit wooly and obfuscatory and unsatisfying by the end.

More below.

Spoiler: show

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Okay so first of all, I don't understand what this game is to begin with. I don't know if it expects me to cure the patients (based on what? I'm not a real-life psychiatrist), solve the murder (I can't use the evidence to point out contradictions like in Ace Attorney and 95% of the dialogue seems to be unrelated chatter), or simply sit back and enjoy (?) the story. Speaking of the story, I'm still not sure if it's meant to be either a classic whodunit like something from Agatha Christie, a high-concept tale dealing with the nature of dreams and sanity like Silent Hill, or an ingenious meta-narrative with carefully foreshadowed plot twists like Zero Escape, which I initially suspected and was hoping for at the beginning but didn't seem to go anywhere towards the end. The inscrutable sanity "mechanic" hints at the middle one, but that didn't go anywhere either as far as I could tell. I find sanity mechanics to be an fascinating concept when committed to like in Eternal Darkness, but this one never made me question the protagonist's mental state. All I saw were a bunch of loopy folks talking nonsense.

I'm not too bothered about where it 'fits', and I thought the goal of the game (primarily to find the murderer, and hopefully 'help' (rather than cure, which would be impossible) the patients as much as possible while you go about it. The latter requirement led to me not asking certain questions, and in some cases advancing the day with questions left unanswered, which I can't help feeling hindered my 'investigation'. I mean, when a patient asks you whether you like them, or if you'd like to meet outside work or whatever, surely that shouldn't be answered? Though I liked the 'Should I kill my husband (again)?' plotline!

But yeah, it threatened to veer off in a number of directions, as you note. I think I was happy to just follow the roller coaster - I did like the way they deepened the plot for each character via the gradual introduction of new elements (eg the mysterious stranger that turned up in Bryce's Midnight Hour).

I am colourblind, so I only noticed the sanity dots a couple of hours in, didn't see any explanation for what they were, and then never thought about them again. I did wonder what the sanity-related trophies were, but found out afterwards that if you really pushed the patients, this came into effect, but as I say all this was lost on me. I only popped the first sanity-related trophy so I guess my effort at not agitating the patients was successful.

The dialogue sections often overstay their welcome with all the pointless babble they throw at you. I officially checked out of trying to understand the overarching story at around Chapter 4 or 5 due to the deluge of obfuscating information.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I gave up on the "ask a question" feature early on after being repeatedly confronted with the limitations of the program. According to this Steam discussion, the identity of the murderer depends on what dialogue choices (?) you've made throughout the course of the game, which is something I straight up dislike. Good writing needs proper character arcs, and a character that can simply be turned into a completely different person at the last minute without retroactively changing anything about their previous portrayal isn't a good character in my opinion. It renders the whole plot completely unsubstantial, same issue I have with choose-your-own-adventure books.

I actually got drawn more into the story as things went along, as the patients added twists to their stories. Claire's husband and Bryce's mysterious stranger were hilarious, I thought, and I was on tenterhooks as to what to answer Claire when she asked advice on the type of issues you definitely shouldn't be giving advice on. I didn't realise that your choices changed the murderer - I thought each game picked one at the start and the responses were then tailored accordingly. I have issues with this though, see below.

I was amused that at first at you saying that the plot suffers in Choose Your Own Adventure books (just because plot isn't the first thing that occurs to me about those) but you're right. If the responses and killer are determined from your choices, then you'd think that the plot would certainly have some holes, if not massive ones. I'll have to think about this, it was at least well done, I thought.

The acting is mediocre at best, but I don't think the actors are sorely to blame for that. There is something very unnatural about emulating one half of a conversation without any sense of rhythm or anyone to bounce off of while staring blankly at a camera, and most of the scenes feel rather phony as a result. Although some are better than others, like the older dude who only appears in one chapter. 3, I think?

Was he the Quantum Bettor? I loved him

The weird aggressive close-ups that the game uses whenever it wants to let you know how craaazy your interlocutor is gave me nervous whiplash.

Didn't really notice these, there were a few lingering glances at cleavage etc, I thought, but maybe that was just me.

It's not all bad, though. Some plot elements / dialogue strands were more interesting than others, and at the very least it gave me some insight into a facet of gaming I know nothing about. Considering I bought it at discount price, I can't complain too much.

I'm sorry if this isn't particularly substantial feedback, buddy. But I'm really scratching my head as to what else I could write about this game that left me with a truckload more questions than answers. But by all means, ask away and I shall do my best to respond to the best of my abilities.

It's great feedback! I had some questions earlier but have forgotten them. We are in agreement about the text entry-element taking you out of the game - do you think you'd have a better idea at the end of the game if you'd used this? I couldn't bear to use it so it's a failure on the game's part for sure. Also, did you ask every question, or did you move onto the next day with questions left unanswered?

The 'plot' behind the plot was something about Dekker encouraging his patients' madness in an effort to hasten the return of Cthulu, or something like that. Did you make anything of that? I was interested to see where it went when Marianna was talking about something Cthulu-like, but it petered out a bit. I liked the mistress-kidnapping and that Dekker was a dangerous lunatic.

We can probably agree that there is no resemblance whatsover to real therapy? And if that's the case then how should we treat the game, as something fun and frivolous, or as something more serious. I was happy and sad for the characters at different times, and felt completely out of my depth at times, so I enjoyed the experience overall. Not sure what to make of it though.

And your own character - what was the deal with him ringing people's doorbells, living at Dekker's house and owning his dog? I felt this was a kind of random plotline that jumped into my timeline because it made no sense whatsoever in light of my questions.

PS: I almost forgot! Jaya was the murderer in my game. I accused her (out of 70% blind luck and 30% "Well it could be her, I guess?") which led to her talking vaguely threatening shit to me for 30 seconds and the game congratulating me. Cue credits. What.

All the other characters received happy endings in the epilogue. And the same epilogue also implies that one other doctor was in cahoots with... someone (?) and was declaring people insane for some legal scam or other. I have no idea what's going on.

PPS: It's entirely possible, though I firmly doubt it at this point, that the identity of the murderer had actually been subtly foreshadowed and hinted at during my playthrough. If that is indeed the case, then I'll gladly hold my hands up and admit that I didn't catch any of that subtext and that this game is significantly smarter than me. I'd love for an in-depth analysis to come out at some point and show me all this potential brilliance that I'm just not seeing at the moment.

Bryce (the gravedigger ) was my murderer, and I totally did not get him. This was the big question for me: does the game give you enough info in order to identify the killer, or was it entirely my failure (by not picking the correct conversation options). At no point, I believe, did I see any evidence linking Bryce to the murder. I had a pretty good (if not cast iron) alibi for two of the characters, so I was able to reasonably discount them (Marianna and Elin the Angel of Death). Then right at the end Elin pulled the cookie stunt and I lost all reason and accused her. I was pretty convinced it wasn't Claire, as she was busy murdering husbands, mistresses etc. But I had absolutely nothing to go on for the rest.

I had really taken a shine to Bryce by the end of the game, maybe this clouded my judgement?

I really liked some of the characters - Jaya was agreeably demented too - and thought the characterisation was quite good. Drawn in broad strokes but agreeably deepened as the game went on.

The only happy ending I got was Nathan, so I guess I made a real pig's ear of the whole thing. This might be one of those things where trying to act like the caring liberal screws you over in the game.

Oh, I think I got a happy ending for my Dr, at least he didn't seem to be committed himself at the end of the game, though I agree that was handled very bady indeed.

It does sound like your experience is also that you are not given enough info. Congrats though, you did really well!

What are we playing next?

[KSubzero1000]

More TIMoDD talk:

Spoiler: show

Thanks for answering the call and playing it!

No problem! It was an interesting experience overall and it's always nice to have a concrete topic to talk about with someone on here.

I mean, when a patient asks you whether you like them, or if you'd like to meet outside work or whatever, surely that shouldn't be answered?

Actually, you just tell them off so they don't start getting any funny ideas. I even straight up told Marianna she wasn't pretty when she asked and that definitely took her down a peg or two!

I am colourblind, so I only noticed the sanity dots a couple of hours in, didn't see any explanation for what they were, and then never thought about them again.

As far as I understand, the dots represent the level of progress associated with this character in the current chapter. The yellow (middle one for you) means that you've asked the bare minimum to be able to progress to the next chapter, and the green (top one) means you've exhausted yoursel- ahem I mean every hidden dialogue path.

Was he the Quantum Bettor? I loved him

Yes, that's the one! Just your everyday curvaceous middle-aged bro babbling about some roulette scam. Hilarious stuff.

We are in agreement about the text entry-element taking you out of the game - do you think you'd have a better idea at the end of the game if you'd used this? I couldn't bear to use it so it's a failure on the game's part for sure. Also, did you ask every question, or did you move onto the next day with questions left unanswered?

I definitely think I would have had a better understanding of the plot if I had used a guide to unlock all the hidden questions. But there is no way I was gonna spend hours banging my head against that barely competent feature to try and unlock them all by myself, however.

I asked all the pre-programmed questions in the entire game except for one. I think it was about directly asking Nathan if he had murdered Dekker, and I honestly thought that would have been in very bad taste of me so I just moved onto the next day on that one occasion.

The 'plot' behind the plot was something about Dekker encouraging his patients' madness in an effort to hasten the return of Cthulu, or something like that. Did you make anything of that?

NO.

We can probably agree that there is no resemblance whatsover to real therapy?

We can. Although it's been a while since I last consulted any mental health professional about spawn-killing my hubby or walking around in the TimeFreezeZone, so maybe my memory is a bit hazy on that one.

And if that's the case then how should we treat the game, as something fun and frivolous, or as something more serious.

I'm not entirely sure, but I would say that the game actually tries to tell a rather serious story most of the time, but doesn't really stick the landing and ends up being a bit ridiculous overall.

And your own character - what was the deal with him ringing people's doorbells, living at Dekker's house and owning his dog? I felt this was a kind of random plotline that jumped into my timeline because it made no sense whatsoever in light of my questions.

I hate to be of so little assistance, but I honestly have no bloody idea. I genuinely thought the game might try to pull some sort of meta-twist towards the end (you're Dekker's reincarnation / the patients are fragments of Dekker's imagination / Dekker is actually Cthulhu trying to understand the human condition), but nope. Nothing.

This was the big question for me: does the game give you enough info in order to identify the killer, or was it entirely my failure (by not picking the correct conversation options). At no point, I believe, did I see any evidence linking Bryce to the murder.

I honestly think it might have been entirely randomized, which sucks. See below.

I was amused that at first at you saying that the plot suffers in Choose Your Own Adventure books (just because plot isn't the first thing that occurs to me about those) but you're right. If the responses and killer are determined from your choices, then you'd think that the plot would certainly have some holes, if not massive ones. I'll have to think about this, it was at least well done, I thought.

I simply mentioned Choose Your Own Adventure books as an example for player-/reader-driven narrative agency and branching story paths, which are a pet peeve of mine. I don't know if you're interested in all that, but just in case: I think they actively ruin potential characterization for the simple reason that a character arc is fundamentally defined by the circumstances that the individual is thrown into, the way they respond to them and the consequences of said choices. This is arguably the most important building block of story-telling, and I strongly object to seeing it being dismissed so often. Examples:

• David in the Old Testament chooses to have Uriah killed so he can marry Bathsheba, the guilt of which stays with him until the end of his life.

• Achilles in the Iliad chooses to pout in his tent like a spoiled brat and influences the entire outcome of the Trojan War as a result.

• Lancelot du Lac in the Arthurian Legend chooses to have an adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere, which later leads to a civil war and the fall of Arthur's kingdom.

• Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea chooses to sink that british warship and crosses the Moral Event Horizon in the process, which serves as the last bond-breaking wedge between him and Aronnax. Because raah raah screw the Empire, thank God it's just us Europeans reading this, amirite? Oooh, I went there! Oooh, I'm so toxic!

• Frodo in The Lord of the Rings chooses to be the one to step up and become the ring-bearer during the Council of Elrond, despite being the least physically qualified to do so.

• Scrooge in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (laugh all you want) chooses to throw away Goldie's letter and seals his emotional fate by doing so.

• Michael Corleone in The Godfather chooses to become involved in his family's business, and look where that got him.

• Butch in Pulp Fiction chooses to go look for the golden watch because "of all the fucking things she could fucking forget she forgets my father's watch!" (even though he really really shouldn't), and look where that got him.

• The Narrator in Fight Club chooses to participate in dubious proto-masculine activities in order to regain his sense of purpose, and look where that got him.

Etc, etc, you get the point. That's simply how characterization works, and the idea that any of those stories would be improved by having the "option" for the protagonist to do the exact opposite instead is utterly absurd. It would take away from the narrative weight and often run contrary to the very essence that defines the character in the first place. And to use only one obvious video game example that is near and dear to my heart:

• Naked Snake in MGS3 is forced to make a very difficult choice at the end of the story, the consequences of which will directly impact decades of canon and influence the very lives of dozens of other characters. But that is a choice that the character is making, not the player. Having a good ending / bad ending copout at the end would ruin the entire series in one swell swoop.

So yes, that's my main problem with player-controlled branching narratives in games: they come at the cost of characterization. Mass Effect is probably the most notorious example of this, with Shepard being little more than an empty husk devoid of any defining characteristics and personality traits of his/her own. That's why I can't get on with Bioware stuff. There are a few games that have dealt with the concept properly, like TWD (because the "choices" have very little actual impact and you still get a coherent picture of who the characters are), and Zero Escape (because it knows how to connect the various story paths in an interesting way), but those are mostly the exception.

What are we playing next?

If this is a trick to get me to splurge out on some Out of the Park nonsense, you've got another thing coming! Unless we've arrived at the part of the conversation where I suggest a proper video game that expects you to know how to operate a controller, followed by you unceremoniously weaseling out on me while muttering half-baked excuses under your breath, in which case I'm sure that can be arranged!

In all seriousness, I adore the Zero Escape series of visual novels, but since they absolutely require multiple playthroughs in order to understand the whole story, I hesitate to recommend them to to you since this doesn't seem to be your thing. It'd be worth it, though!

[AndrewBrown]

Spoiler: show

02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]
19/05: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition [Switch]
22/05: Shadow of the Colossus (2018) [PS4]
25/05: Runner3 [Switch]
30/05: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Gold Edition [PS4]
06/06: PixelJunk Monsters 2 [Switch]
09/06: Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn [Switch]
13/06: The Banner Saga [Switch]
16/06: Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion [Switch]
28/06: Hollow Knight [Switch]
30/06: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus [Switch]
30/06: Star Fox [SNES Classic]
01/07: Bleed [Switch]
01/07: Bleed 2 [Switch]
03/07: Infinite Minigolf [Switch]
04/07: Crash Bandicoot [Switch]
07/07: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back [Switch]
07/07: Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure [Switch]
08/07: Crash Bandicoot: Warped [Switch]
12/07: Riptide GP: Renegade [Switch]
14/07: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker [Switch]

29/07: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link [NES]

I think enjoyment of Zelda II comes down to knowing all the tricks. I am able to enjoy it since I've been playing it since I was very young, so I've compounded all the frustration and obtuseness down and know all the secrets to get around them. Particularly combat: Tapping down and the attack button at the same time will cause link to crouch-stab, which is enough to kill a majority of enemies in the game. For those who use shields, jump attacks are also surprisingly effective (not the downthrust - jump, then attack). Most enemy projectiles may be blocked by pointing Link's shield at it. Intelligent use of magic is also essential; after leveling up Link's Magic ability a few times he can cast the Shield and Jump spells for a pittance, and both can make some of the more harrowing combat and platforming sequences a lot easier to get through and end up saving more magic in the long run than relying on the costly Heal spell. Lastly, you shouldn't and can't be afraid of grinding. Turning in a Crystal at the end of each Palace automatically fills Link's experience meter, so if you defeat the boss and find you're very close to leveling up, it's totally worth your time and effort to go back and grind out the rest of that experience level before turning in the crystal. Smart play likes this reduces the grind to level cap when you reach the final area, though admittedly it's a comparatively short grind compared to other RPGs from this era (Lizalfos around the New Kasuto area will get you there in a couple hours).

More infuriating are the puzzles; nothing indicates that you can use the Hammer to destroy sections of Forest on the overworld, for instance, and even if you discover that by accident, nothing else indicates that there is exactly one thing in the entire game which can be revealed by this ability--but that one thing is required to finish. One NPC wants you to find her lost mirror; the only way to know that it's hidden under a table in a nearby building is to use a guide or blindly run around furiously smashing the interact button. Another NPC is thirsty; of course the solution is to go to the fountain five feet to her left, as presumably Link brings her a drink from a public fountain clutched in his cupped hands! Between the crushing difficulty and the directionless wandering and the confounding puzzles, it's no surprise to me that many players give up and dismiss Zelda II as one of the weakest in the series. But I've found, from my admittedly advantageous position as someone who has been playing it for almost thirty years and beaten it several times, that if you engage with it on its own terms it's a surprisingly rewarding and deep action-platformer that is a welcome break from the Zelda formula and particularly the more derivative series entries that emerged in the early 2000s.

04/08: The Walking Dead: A New Frontier [PS4]

The Walking Dead: Season One is one of my all-time favorite videogames and I even defend Season Two in spite of its obvious missteps, so naturally I purchased Telltale's third season of The Walking Dead and played it immediately, right? Actually no; aside from coming out just a few days before Christmas (why would you do that), it also came out at the tail end of 2016. There was a lot going on in the world. And as each subsequent episode arrived over the coming months, I found myself caring less and less about what was happening to Clementine. But with The Final Season (*knocks on wood*) imminent I realized it was time to finally sit down and play A New Frontier.

It seemed obvious to make Clementine the new player character in Season Two, but everything that went wrong with that season seemed to be related to this choice as Telltale's now-formulaic storytelling techniques were applied to a twelve year old girl. Even though Season One was all about turning Clementine into a person who could survive in the world of the Walking Dead, it still seemed to stretch credibility that she would be quite as capable as she was portrayed and entrusted with responsibility and leadership. I was at first skeptical of the choice to move Clementine back to a supporting role for A New Frontier, but the choice pays off: Not making her the center of the narrative (she disappears for long periods of time) allows for a more detached appraisal of her growth. And grow Clementine has; she's practically a Spec Ops badass in this season, to the point that quite a bit of suspension of disbelief is required as thirteen-year-old Clementine sieges a compound with a shotgun whose kickback should knock her on her butt, and later holds off a raider ambush single-handedly before escaping in a high-speed chase. Actually as I'm writing all this now I think Telltale has overplayed their hand a little bit, but this is all in the first episode and the rest of the season treats her a little more evenly.

The rest of Season 3 seems to be a retry at many of Season 2's weaker aspects, particularly its villain Carver and his despotic survival camp set up in a hardware store. Clementine and her new companions become entangled with The New Frontier, a group who at first seem to be survivalist raiders very similar to Carver's company but are revealed to have layers and depth. Carver's company was a cynical idea of how society might rebuild itself during a zombie apocalypse; The New Frontier is a more nuanced one, possessing obvious downsides and its machinations being secretly abused, but you can also see how people could be happy living there.

I've only talked about Clementine up until now, but she is indeed a supporting character (if still obviously the main protagonist of Telltale's The Walking Dead as a whole). The new main character is Javier, a disgraced baseball player having an emotional affair with his sister-in-law while they raise her children (his niece and nephew). Each episode begins with a cold open set before the outbreak that sets up Javi's family dynamics that play center stage post-apocalypse. Clementine might be the focus of Telltale's The Walking Dead as a whole, but it is the relationship between Javi and his brother David that is heart of A New Frontier. David is basically a redux of Kenny, the arrogant and pushy Type A supporting character from Season One and Season Two. Like Kenny, David assumes he's in charge in whatever situation he finds himself in and gets pissy when he feels like he isn't being supported. But I had a fresh relationship with David so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt more than Kenny, whose nonsense I was quite tired of before Season 1 was even over.

A New Frontier ends with Clementine having a clear goal for her future that sets up The Final Season. As she appears to be returning to Player Character status, I'll be interested to see how her growth in A New Frontier is built upon. Javier's story seems to be over, and I'm satisfied for it to be a standalone. Javi kept me interested; Clementine keeps me playing.

[Chopper]

@Ksubzero1000

Spoiler: show

To your point about characterisation, I see where you are coming from in regard to choices defining the character, but I still hold out hope that a game that is smaller in scope and with fewer actual interactions between characters (like Dr Dekker) can pull off the feat of writing meaningful content based on choice A OR choice B.

I was thinking about Dr D and I think the only tools the player had at their disposal was to get something corroborated between two people - for example both Marianna and Elin mentioned that they were on the beach (pier) at the time of the murder, and Marianna said she saw Elin. Claire confirmed Bryce's woman in chains. If there had been a bit more of that at least you'd be able to cross reference and make a better stab at things.

Going back to the choice thing, because there was so little crossover between patients, I think it would have been feasible to write a small amount of scenarios where A or B resulted in different characterisation. It would have to be extremely limited though.

With these narrative games emerging over the last few years, I find you have to roll with the punches and be very forgiving of logical/story failures. It's just something you have to do to enjoy the games. Maybe this (the landscape in general, not this game) is as good as it gets; there have been one or two narrative games that have made it work successfully, but it seems to be a difficult feat which takes a lot of skill.

I'd just like to mention the comedy aspect too; I laughed out loud quite often, and had a large grin on my face a lot of the time, and rehashing the game with you made me think back on a lot of that with enjoyment. So for me in the end, the game was *pretty* successful just on that basis alone, if not quite there yet as regards all the flaws we discussed.

What are we playing next?

In all seriousness, I adore the Zero Escape series of visual novels, but since they absolutely require multiple playthroughs in order to understand the whole story, I hesitate to recommend them to to you since this doesn't seem to be your thing. It'd be worth it, though!

Ehhhhhh.....I owe you one so I am game to play *one* of them. Are we talking about any of the usual anime tropes here as I am a middle aged man and I don't know if I'd be comfortable with that stuff! No offence but all that stuff passed me by and I have no cultural familiarity with it.

[KSubzero1000]

Ehhhhhh.....I owe you one so I am game to play *one* of them. Are we talking about any of the usual anime tropes here as I am a middle aged man and I don't know if I'd be comfortable with that stuff! No offence but all that stuff passed me by and I have no cultural familiarity with it.

Oh please mate, you don't owe me anything! I don't find anything horrible about them (they're certainly nothing like a creepy dating sim, I think the worst they get is having a middle-aged, substantially written belly dancer and a handful of raunchy jokes) but really, it's fine if anime is not your thing. That was mostly a throwaway comment on my part, I didn't actually expect you to run out and buy it first thing in the morning!

[DomsBeard]

Yes there is a decision in episode 4 where I went against Clementine and pissed her off. I think that was the only one.

*I just checked and the split was 50%/49% and 1% so in short the answer is yes.

To be honest the wheels came off season 3 after episode 2 and I think I said so in the games completed thread last year. I have put my blunt thoughts after the final episode here (no spoilers to be honest):

Spoiler: show

The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 5

Dreadful end to a really, really disappointing season. I have no idea what Telltale were thinking during this season it has been all over the place. The first two episodes they released back to back were excellent but it just goes to pieces in episode 3. Real shame as there were some good characters in there. I would not recommend unless cheap and I'm a huge fan of season 1 and 2. There will be a season 4 and I won't be rushing to pick this up like I have every season so far.

There was no point Clem being in it at all being brutally honest. Her story ark doesn't even get resolved. Annoyed!

I bought every season at launch of most Telltale but I haven't picked this up.

Anyway I actually completed Street Fighter Alpha 3 with Ryu and top difficulty one credit. No idea that Akuma was the last boss (I find him dull to be honest). Going to have a go with Street Fighter 3 as I have never really played more than 5 or 6 games in my life vs the 10,000's of 2.

[AndrewBrown]

I did cover for Clementine in Prescott, but I also left her to fight the bandits and guided Javi back with his family. There were a few places where I was in a tiny minority in my decisions at the end. On one of them, I forget exactly what it was, I was in the 1% percentile.

Can't agree with you on The Last of Us Part II about Joel being a "beloved character." The man is a selfish liar, and as much as I understand his actions, I would have absolutely no compunctions killing him were he to go full-villain in the sequel. My suspicion is they're going to make him repentant and he will sacrifice himself to save Ellie, admitting with his final breath that he had lied, and Ellie will forgive him while a mournful song plays then she runs off into the night and it fades out into black etc. etc. etc. and you know just completely water down and ruin the flawless ending of the original videogame.

[AndrewBrown]

Joel being "beloved" speaks to me about the skewed priorities, warped morals, and obsession with violence the broader videogame community has. Given generous definitions of "love," fine, but I would urge a more nuanced adjective be sought out.

[mikeleddy83]

Spoiler: show

Jan - Mega man 3
Jan - Mega man 4
Jan - Mega man 5
Jan - Mega man 6
Jan - Mega man 7
Jan - Mega man 8
Jan - Mega man 9
Jan - Mega man 10
Jan - Horizon: Zero Dawn
Jan - Metal Slug XX
Jan - Dead Rising: Case Zero
Jan - Talespin
Jan - Darkwing Duck
Jan - Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
Jan - Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 2
Jan - DuckTales
Jan - DuckTales 2
Feb - Wild Guns Reloaded
Feb - Bound
Feb - Quantum Break
Feb - Monster Hunter: World
Feb - Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain
Feb - Steins;Gate 0 (platinum)
Mar - Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite (story and arcade)
Apr - Tekken 7
Apr - Ratchet & Clank (2016)
May - Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X
May - Hyper Dyne Side Arms
May - Street Fighter
May - Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
June - Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition
June - Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting
June - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
June - Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack
June - Street Fighter Alpha 2
June - Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams
June - State of Decay 2
June - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
July - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
July - Splatoon 2

Aug - Hollow Knight

[MajorGamer]

Spoiler: show

Jan 1 - Neon Chrome (PC)
Jan 2 - Dispersio (PC)
Jan 9 - Numbus (PC)
Jan 11 - Hero Siege (PC)
Jan 14 - Castle of no Escape 2 (PC)
Jan 20 - Toy Odyssey (PC)
Jan 23 - 20XX (PC)
Jan 25 - Battle Chef Brigade (Switch)
Jan 29 - Kamiko (Switch)
Feb 1 - Guild of Dungeoneering (PC)
Feb 3 - KByte (PC)
Feb 7 - Cat Quest (Switch)
Feb 11 - DYE (PC)
Mar 7 - The End is Nigh (Switch)
Mar 10 - Shadow Warrior 2 (PC)
Mar 16 - The Keep (PC)
Mar 17 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd (PC)
Mar 18 - Hue (PC)
Mar 22 - Song of the Deep (PC)
Mar 28 - Metro: 2033 Redux (PC)
Apr 4 - Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)
Apr 6 - Xeodrifter (Switch)
Apr 8 - Has-Been Heroes (Switch)
Apr 14 - Slime-san (Switch)
Apr 20 - ReThink (PC)
Apr 22 - Little King's Story (PC)
Apr 24 - Headlander (PC)
Apr 28 - Dex (PC)
Apr 30 - SUPERHOT (PC)
May 6 - Azure Striker Gunvolt (Switch)
May 7 - The Ball (PC)
May 21 - Drakensang (PC)
May 23 - Spectrum (PC)
May 25 - Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas (Switch)
May 27 - The Sexy Brutale (PC)
Jun 4 - Immortal Redneck (PC)
Jun 5 - Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (PC)
Jun 11 - Prey (PC)
Jun 14 - Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (Switch)
Jun 16 - Scrap Garden (PC)
Jun 17 - LostWinds (PC)
Jun 20 - Straimium Immortaly (PC)
Jun 25 - Dreaming Sarah (PC)
Jun 26 - Poi: Explorer Edition (Switch)
Jun 29 - Dungeon Souls (PC)
Jul 2 - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Jul 6 - Bleed 2 (Switch)
Jul 11 - Risen (PC)

Jul 18 - Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (PC)

They had a clear story plan going into this one. BJ gets a bit of backstory and it follows into the plot. It is really well done for the first two acts. Then the third act hits and something went horribly wrong. It is impossible to tell if their original plans were scraped for some reason or they didn't have a good follow through (or something else), but the ball is massively dropped. Some plot lines go nowhere, areas seem to exist out of obligation instead of purpose, and there is an entire mission that is filler. The ending is also incredibly anti-climatic. If a behind the scenes story comes out about what happened, I'd love to hear about it. Your New Order choice carries through to here but it really doesn't have a point for the entire game.

The shooty bits are basically the same as the previous one. You can dual-wield different guns in each hand this time but didn't see any time it would come in handy. There is a very odd quirk to the stealth that I don't think existed in the last one. You can use your silenced pistol to take out a guard while they are talking to another guard and they won't notice. Instead of waiting for guards to patrol apart from one another, I could just have them be right next to each other, pistol one, then the other, and be just fine. Level design remains more of the first but this time around there are sections that have a light shining right in your face and you can't see a damn thing in that direction, leaving you to be killed very easily. It has nothing to do with brightness settings either since there are areas that are pitch dark, too.

You can go back to previous missions using the enigma machine to decode the locations of uber commanders. You need codes from commanders to do so. You end up being about 10 codes short to unlock everything without grinding a few kills. That is really dumb and a waste of time.

There is one special moment of hell from this game I need to mention separately. From start to finish, it takes 5-10 minutes. It probably took me close to two hours (maybe more) to do it with more deaths than in all of The New Order, most of which happening within the first 30 seconds. It is an absolutely massive difficulty spike out of nowhere and I'm baffled it wasn't toned down after play testing. Granted I did play on the hardest difficulty, but this short segment is not even close to any other point in the game. I found several threads dedicated to complaining about this section.

Overall, this one had a solid premise but had more work to be done before being released.

Jul 22 - Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (PC)

A tower defense game I'd heard good things about. Your towers are heroes you summon that level up through the maps. That ends up being more of a curse than anything else. It means latter missions rely on your heroes being a higher level instead of tactical tower placement. Experience gain is also pretty slow, even with the 300% option turned on. It turns what is a genre centered around strategy into a game about grinding.

[Chopper]

That was mostly a throwaway comment on my part, I didn't actually expect you to run out and buy it first thing in the morning!

I have visitors this week so I can't get near the console (surreptitiously playing bits and pieces on PC when I can) but I will have a look on the store next week and consider my next move

[KSubzero1000]

I will have a look on the store next week and consider my next move

Okay before you put any money down, here's a video from the very beginning of 999 that should serve as a good vertical slice of the game's presentation style. The ignominious belly dancer I mentioned is at 8:28, and there is also a repugnant childhood romance section at 13:35:



Provided you survive the ordeal , Zero Escape: The Nonary Games on PS4 is probably the best way to experience these games and is regularly discounted during the various sales. Believe me when I say they are narrative heavyweights in all the right ways if one can look past certain flaws.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Just finished Undertale on my Vita, and yeah, it's pretty amazing.

There's so much I want to say about the writing, the music, the little secrets and surprises... but I cannot bring myself to ruin it for anyone who hasn't dived into it.

Going from SMT IV: Apocalypse on the 3DS (competent but a little "designed by committee") to Undertale was a breathe of fresh air. Such an inspired little title that doesn't outstay it's welcome.

Aesthetically, it reminded me, just a little, of another RPG I'm fond of: Earthbound (aka Mother 2). However, fortunately, it doesn't share that games grinding. Oh Earthbound, I love ya, but the grinding needed to get your characters to a certain level, ugh...

It's also crossplay, so I'd like to give it another playthrough on the PS4 a little bit later. Easy recommendation.

[Alex79]

I will have a look on the store next week and consider my next move

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games on PS4 is probably the best way to experience these games...

Do you think? I'd say they're much more suited to handheld and if you have a Vita I'd much prefer to play them on that. Of course 999 isn't available for it, but if you have an old DS lying around...?

[KSubzero1000]

Well, I don't know if Chopper has a Vita. If he prefers to play TNG on Vita, that's perfectly fine as well. My point is that due to the added voice acting and flowchart, TNG is widely considered to be the best version of 999 at least. Even though I do love the DS version for certain spoilery reasons...

999 is very much available on Vita as part of the TNG bundle.

[Alex79]

Oh really I didnt realise that! Shame it's not stand alone as I have parts 2 and 3, don't really want the bundle to play through 1 again. I might just watch a story reminder on YouTube before playing them...

[duskvstweak]

Finished Bioshock Infinite last night. It was a fun game, lots of cool moments. It never hit my like the first Bioshock, but that game was a complete surprise whereas I came into Infinite with expectations, and a lot of them were met. I plan on playing the Buried at Sea DLC whenever it's on sale next.

[Simonsloth]

Spoiler: show

January 2018:
Bleed
Crackdown
Rez Infinite
Resident evil directors cut
Bioshock
Resident evil 2
Bioshock 2
Resident evil 3:Nemesis

Feb 2018:
Bioshock infinite
Def Jam: fight for Ny
Zone of The Enders
Resident Evil:code Veronica
Resident evil zero
Hyper light drifter
Braid
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Resident evil 4

March:
resident evil 5
resident evil 6
Lostwinds
lost winds 2
Ico 3D
Dead space
Dead space 2
Heavenly Sword

May:
Horizon Zero Dawn plus Frozen Wilds
Enslaved
Dmc
Steinsgate 0
Hellblade
Shadow of the Colossus Remake
Resident Evil 7

June:
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Bastion
Detroit
Vanquish
Battlefield 3 Singleplayer
Alice: Madness Returns

July:
Prince of Persia
The Last Guardian
Syndicate
Binary Domain
Call of Duty Classic HD

August:
Cave story 3ds

11/08
Eternal Darkness

Still working my way through my backlog. The game is still very slick and well designed after all these years which is not necessarily surprising given Nintendo’s name is stamped on it. I especially liked the separate vignettes for each character which made the experience seem more varied even though fundamentally you were retreading the same environments.

[Alex79]

JAN - Lumino City (Android)
MAR - Dark Souls 3 (PS4)
MAR - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
MAR - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS4) MAR - Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
APR - Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
MAY - Shadow Of The Colossus (PS4)
MAY - Uncharted: Lost Legacy (PS4)
JUN - God Of War (PS4)
JUL - Dying Light (PS4)
JUL - Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (PS4)

AUG - Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)

I was really excited to start this, having come to the series fresh with Zero, and loving it. I was rather disappointed with Kiwami, however. The story was nowhere near as interesting, there was a lot of pointless running around and not half as much to do around the city. It felt like a real chore to push on, but I was determined to finish it.

BUT...

Glad I did. The story really picked up in the final few chapters, following plenty of twists and turns to a wholly satisfying climax. Really looking forward to Kiwami 2 now!

[Combine Hunter]

Spoiler: show

10/02 - Final Fantasy II (PS Vita)
04/30 - Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)
10/03 - Celeste (Switch)
10/03 - Monster Hunter World (PS4)
13/03 - Bioshock: Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 2
17/03 - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PS Vita)
13/04 - Final Fantasy III (PS Vita)
23/04 - God of War (PS4)
02/05 - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (PC)
13/05 - Into the Breach (PC)
17/05 - Yakuza 0 (PS4)
28/05 - Hollow Knight (PC)
01/06 - Axiom Verge (Switch)
03/06 - Zone of the Enders (PS3)
15/07 - Frostpunk (PC)
22/7 - Secret of Mana (Emulator)

13/08 - Final Fantasy V (Emulator)

Thoughts on the pod!