MajorGamer wrote: ↑August 18th, 2018, 8:53 pm The most notable thing I have to say about this ends up being a spoiler. Without going into details, it pulled off something I've never seen in a videogame before. It is rather clever and is even foreshadowed fairly well. Won't mention anything else unless someone asks me to.

No, but you have got me intrigued enough to want to give it a go! Does it take long to complete?

19-08 Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)

Turns out that winning a war isn't the easiest thing to do. Especially not when the enemy has hulkingly monstrous machinery and weird weaponised blue energy at their disposal. Looking forward to dive in deep on tonight's podcast recording.

KSubzero, did you ever play this one? I could imagine you taking a liking to it.

Michiel K wrote: ↑August 19th, 2018, 1:38 pm KSubzero, did you ever play this one? I could imagine you taking a liking to it.

I bought it on both PS3 and PS4 but bounced off of it both times. I really like the setting, and the game sounds like it'd be up my alley on paper, but the gameplay never quite grabbed me for some reason. I was actually planning on listening to the podcast to motivate a third attempt! Do you think I would I be spoiling interesting plot developments for myself by doing so? Maybe I should just persevere...

Perhaps, but even though I like the plot and cast of characters, I'd say it's hardly earth shattering stuff. You can see the modest twists coming from more than a couple of miles, too. Certainly not a game I was playing for the story!

Oh, interesting. I have heard very positive things about the story, so I suppose there is enough to satisfy at least some people on both fronts. I just started Horizon as a result of Chopper's kind reminder yesterday, but I think I'll bump VC to the top of the pile and save the podcast for later, then.

I'm kinda excited about it, all of a sudden! ^^

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑August 19th, 2018, 2:23 pm I just started Horizon as a result of Chopper's kind reminder yesterday

By no means should you take my comment as a recommendation; I found the game unremarkable apart from one or two things. I was just looking at the podcast schedule and remembered you saying you hadn't played it.

Chopper wrote: ↑August 19th, 2018, 2:53 pm By no means should you take my comment as a recommendation

What's done is done!

I kinda like it so far...

Alex79uk wrote: ↑August 18th, 2018, 9:24 pm

MajorGamer wrote: ↑August 18th, 2018, 8:53 pm The most notable thing I have to say about this ends up being a spoiler. Without going into details, it pulled off something I've never seen in a videogame before. It is rather clever and is even foreshadowed fairly well. Won't mention anything else unless someone asks me to.

No, but you have got me intrigued enough to want to give it a go! Does it take long to complete?

Took me 30 hours to complete it but that is on the hardest difficulty (just about everything one-shots you) and doing all the extra challenge stuff. If you were only beating it on a non-insane difficulty, I'd guess it would be about 15 hours. It regularly goes 75% off during the Steam sales if you have no problem waiting.

(Jan) Life is Strange: Before the Storm - PS4.
(Jan) Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition - PS4.
(Jan) Watch Dogs II(platinum) - PS4.
(Feb) Marlow Briggs - Xbox 360.
(Feb) Shadow of the Colossus - PS4.
(Mar) Assassin's Creed Syndicate - PS4.
(Mar) Ghost Recon: Wildlands - PS4.
(Apr) The Witcher III - PS4.
(May) Halo 4 :TMCC- XB1X.
(July) Dungeon Siege III - Xbox 360.
(Aug) Resident Evil 5 - PS4.

Feb – Destiny 2 (Xbox One X)
Feb – Snake Pass (Switch)
Mar – NBA Playgrounds (Switch)
Apr – Assassin’s Creed Origins (Xbox One X)
May - The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter (PS4 Pro)
May - Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4 Pro)
Jun – The Wolf Among Us (Xbox One X)

Aug – Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360 via Xbox One X)

I’ve owned this for years (not day one or anything, but a good while), and just never got round to it. I’ve no idea why – the frontier west is a period I find incredibly interesting and I’m very cine-literate in films of the genre along with having read many a book on the subject. Red Dead Redemption though, has just sat on the shelf, never quite making it from case to console for I variety of long forgotten reasons. Until this year! Spurred on by early glimpses of RDR2 and the lovely 4K upgrade implemented for the Xbox One X and it’s nifty backwards compatibility, I finally popped it in and off I rode into the wide blue yonder!

I don’t need to say a great deal about the game itself as everyone knows everything about it by know I assume. What I will comment on is my perspective as someone playing the game for the first time in 2018 and how it holds up or otherwise vs games of today. Voice acting and storytelling are clearly two of the game’s biggest strengths, and it says a lot about how well it delivers in this regard that over 8 years on from release it’s still one of the very best I’ve ever played in terms of those elements.

On the flip side, gameplay at large is pretty clunky by today’s standards and would get a mauling if this hit stores and online marketplaces in 2018. I’d wager everything from character movement, to horse riding, to combat would all be considered below par by most modern gamers, and even many minigames are more an irritating aside than the addictive distraction they should be.

Overall though I still loved the game. The storytelling and characters didn’t just drag me through the average gameplay, they made it irrelevant. I was just enjoying living in the world so much, being John Marsden, engaging with the rogues gallery of a cast, discovering the latest twist in the plot – it was all just so damn compelling!

I’m not sure I’ll pick up RDR2 straight away for fear of open world western burnout, but I’ll be jumping in within the next 6 months, and I’m certain it won’t be gathering dust for as many years as the captivating original so undeservedly did.

Spoiler: show

Jan 7 - Bleed (PC)
Jan 19 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
Feb 11 - Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Feb 28 - Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (PC)
Mar 8- Final Fantasy III (PSVita - PSP version)
Mar 21 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) Three stars on all 150cc cups.
Mar 24 - Golf Story (Switch)
Apr 2 - Nier: Automata (PS4)
Apr 23 - Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)
May 3 - Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - Turnabout Reclaimed DLC (3DS)
May 5 - Final Fantasy IV (PSVita - PSP version)
Jun 4 - Advance Wars: Dark Conflict (3DS - DS cart)
Jun 9 - Ratchet and Clank (PS4)
Jun 23 - Pocket Card Jockey (3DS)
Jul 13 - Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (3DS)
Jul 14 - Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) All 10 cups on 100cc
Jul 21 - Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (PS4) Arcade mode - Normal
Jul 29 - Final Fantasy V (GBA version on an emulator)
Jul 30 - Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4)

Aug 19 - Professor Layton and the Curious Village (3DS - DS cart)

PUZZLES! I never really got into puzzle books so its good to know that I actually like these old fashioned style of puzzles, especially as I bought the next 5 games in the series.

The village is nice enough to wander around. The plot didn't grab me but ambled along without taking anything away. I thought I would like the soundtrack more than I did, although there were 2 or 3 pieces I enjoyed. But the puzzles are the meat of the game and they are good (and wildly varying in difficulty).

I cheated on puzzle 135 (a bonus puzzle and the last puzzle in the whole game) and looked up the answer. Otherwise I would have been sliding blocks for weeks.

I finished the main story and side quests of Nioh! There's a bunch of DLC stuff, but I'm going to take a break for a while.
It really was a cool game. Having never played a Dark Souls, Nioh felt closest to Onimusha to me, except brutally hard at time. Proud of myself for beating this one.

Marvel vs Capcom infinite story mode.

Pretty uninspiring stuff throughout. One of the main draws with MvC has always been the sizable roster but without the X Men here if feels limited which is highlighted in story mode. The amount of times you have to fight Ultron Clones is beyond tedious. They even throw them in the final fight too.

Was worth the rental to smash up Nemesis as Haggar though!

State of Mind (PS4)

Well, this is an odd one. It's a narrative game about a dystopia/utopia and the rich fleeing the former for the latter. Doug 'Geralt' Cockle is the really, really angry protagonist, and does a great job of portraying an almost totally unsympathetic character.

Interaction in a gaming sense is extremely limited; for most of the game you are going from A to B and clicking on hotspots to progress the story. Then at the end, they throw in a load of interactive stuff like stealth and puzzles, which bog you down just as you want the game to end. Pacing was very uneven all the way through; there were times where I was literally dozing off during the first half of the game.

Despite all that, they do manage to pull together an ending with a few decent moral choices. These are also ultimately flawed, or rather robbed of their weight, because the relationships between the leading characters were never developed properly in the course of the game.

All the way through, I was wondering why they didn't just make an animated movie; in the end it grew on me, though I couldn't recommend it unless you're a hardcore walking sim fan (and even at that I'd be hesitant).

Just a note that State of Mind is published by Daedalic Entertainment, who have been on a run of publishing some very interesting games over the last couple of years. State of Mind, Pillars of the Earth, Aer Memories of Old (eh), Shadow Tactics, The Long Journey Home, Blackguards. They've been killing it, all credit to them.

Funnily enough, the other publisher competing most for my attention is Bethesda, who've also had a great run this last few years

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)
Jul 22 - Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (PC)
Aug 8 - Styx: Master of Shadows (PC)

Aug 9 - Steamworld Dig 2 (Switch)

You're on a mission to find your missing friend the only way you know how, digging. Upgrades allow you to dig through harder dirt faster, allow more/better uses of other items, more health, etc. The main progression has you go down to explore and dig up gems that you sell in town to get money to get your upgrades. The tunnel also has caves that lead to their own areas that are little puzzles that usually have an artifact (helps get more upgrades) and cogs (turns the upgrade on/off) or rarely new abilities. It makes for a good, fun loop. The story is basic but serves its purpose in getting the game going.

For expectations, some people call this a metroidvania. It barely has elements of one. It would be like calling CoD an RPG. Some elements of the genre are there but the full thing isn't.

Aug 15 - Owlboy (Switch)

Heard many good things on this one and was looking forward to it. Turned out to to be very "meh" for me. The controls are a bit awkward. Even at the end of the game I was fumbling around a bit, pressing the wrong button to do what was needed. You'll generally be controlling Otus carrying around one of your companions. Otus is your hitbox for taking damage but all your attacks come from your companion which threw me off plenty of times for positioning things. Puzzles amount to carrying a thing to wherever it is needed. There is also a surprising amount of stealth in the game.

The story is one of the praises the game gets and I don't know why. It is fairly straight forward where you must stop the antagonist from getting the relics. The end is where I stared in disbelief at how dumb it was. You know how some games have conflicts that could be entirely resolved if the characters just talked to each other? That happens here within the span of 5 minutes.

For expectations, some people call this a metroidvania. It isn't.

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
Eternal Darkness
Luigis Mansion
Mickey’s castle of illusion
Super Mario Bros

23/08
Silent Hill 2 HD Collection

What an abdomination. They’ve seemingly managed to ruin almost every facet of one of my favourite games of all time. I had to dig out my old ps2 to prove to myself that the original is still great. It is. When you compare it to the metal gear hd collection for example it is truly awful.

25/08
999: 9 persons, 9 doors...

I’m a huge fan of virtues last reward and had been waiting for the European vita version for some time. I rushed out and bought it excitedly on release and proceeded to leave it on the shelf until now. It’s not quite as good as the sequel and the process to unlock the true ending is a bit convoluted but nonetheless it’s very very enjoyable and I would recommend it to everyone.

Next up: Shenmue.

See you all in about a month or two!

Simonsloth wrote: ↑August 25th, 2018, 10:14 am Silent Hill 2 HD Collection

What an abdomination. They’ve seemingly managed to ruin almost every facet of one of my favourite games of all time. I had to dig out my old ps2 to prove to myself that the original is still great. It is. When you compare it to the metal gear hd collection for example it is truly awful.

What makes it so awful? I remember reading soenthing about the fog being removed which killed any tension, but other than that? What you playing on, PS3?

This might shed some light:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digi ... nt-hill-hd

I was looking at Pocket City yesterday funnily enough when I searched to see if Sim City classic was available (and not that horrible version they promote on the store)

It wasn't, but this seemed similar. Worth getting then? Might take a punt.