Jan 16 - Shovel knight king of cards DLC

The entire lot done on Switch for the podcast recording this volume

Jobobonobo wrote: ↑January 15th, 2020, 10:25 pm
Really enjoying the Sonic Adventure playthrough by the way. Was not a fan of it back in the day but I quite like its cheesiness now. The goofy animation and voice acting is so much more fun than the ridiculous dourness of edgy nonsense like Shadow the hedgehog.

Thanks mate! Loads more to come

YES!

Beat the Heart with the Silent in Slay the Spire. My most impressive gaming achievement by far! Of course, I took a screenshot of the victory screen and only then realised that overwrote the video so I can't even play it back. Stupid Sony.

It nearly broke my heart.
In the end I had to run the gauntlet of The Awakened One (I used Nightmare+ to clone a bunch of Dexterity+ cards and got through his heavy hitting like that), and then the Heart (and his cohorts) by cloning Catalyst+ and overwhelming with poison. Smallish deck - 19 cards.

That might all sound like I know exactly what I'm doing, but still discovering things about this game after 200 hours (to be fair I wasn't trying to beat the heart until this week).

Now on to the Ironclad and the Defect.

17 - 1 Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (NES)

The video says it all. Also contains Metal Storm bonus material.

Spoiler: show

Jan - Blasphemous
Jan - A Short Hike
Jan - Dear Esther
Jan - Luigi's Mansion 3

Jan - Sayonara Wild Hearts
Jan - Gorogoa

19th Jan - Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

I spent nearly 4.5hrs in just one level because I couldn't get enough of it. I kidnapped a bartender, rescued a guy with mutton chops from having his blood guzzled by rich a-holes, and got a tattoo. All in one mission.

The levels are still excellent. Returning to Karnaca from Dishonored 2, I thought the Upper Cyria district (where you spend missions 2&3) was the best realised chunk of the Empire's Southernmost nation created for the series yet. There are absolutely top tier NPCs and minor characters, with literally laugh out loud moments. I would put this up against any location and level design in the series. The contracts system in the game incentivises and rewards exploration, and is essentially an opt-in for how long you spend in each level.

The power set is extremely fun, despite finding it fiddly to begin with I really liked Billie's version of Blink, which is called Displace. Using Semblance to steal people's faces and gain temporary anonymity is also great.

It all led to what was (for me) a bloodbath in the Royal Conservatory from Dishonored 2 (a really good example of how to re-use assets imo) and an atmospheric if flawed final mission.

Have to say I just want to play the series more. Would love to go back to the first game and finally do those DLCs where Daud and Billie's story really comes together for the first time, then run NG+ for the two I just did. Will probably do so slowly, doing a level or two a week. I just love these games.

Clocked in at 12hrs. Fully assault/ lethal by the end

Simonsloth wrote: ↑January 14th, 2020, 11:27 am 13/01 God of War

19/1
Resident Evil 2 remake: Leon A and Claire B

Realising there’s almost no way I’m going to be able to play along successfully this year! I’ve got a week to finish Assassins Creed Origins and this year is full to brim of games I haven’t played!

For any individual we would recommend playing along with some rather than all!

I finished the first Witcher game. Honestly, I got on with it fairly well. There were issues, for sure. I get why people don't like the combat (and fights with Wraiths boiled my blood) and the games backtracking needs ANYTHING to make it less of a slog. But, even with those issues, I still enjoyed my time with it. And, besides the constant use of the only three NPC assets, it could actually be rather pretty, even in 2020. I'm glad I played it, I enjoyed it, totally understand not recommending it to people.

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑January 21st, 2020, 2:24 pm For any individual we would recommend playing along with some rather than all!

Haha! I’d already put Red Dead 2 away for a rainy day/week/month so I’d admitted defeat even before the first show was recorded!

I’ll still do my best as there a few games I’ve already played so a few weeks when I will be able to catch but it’s mostly like you were looking at my shelf of shame and making the playlist from that!

A bit late to the Devil May Cry 2 conversation, but did we ever find out why the game came out so underwhelming? Was it a case of Capcom being surprised by the first games success and pumping out a sequel or was it something else? Or was it nothing and it was just a disappointing game?

duskvstweak wrote: ↑January 21st, 2020, 6:15 pm A bit late to the Devil May Cry 2 conversation, but did we ever find out why the game came out so underwhelming? Was it a case of Capcom being surprised by the first games success and pumping out a sequel or was it something else?

Capcom was definitely surprised by the success of the first DMC and, in their eternal wisdom, decided that its director (Hideki Kamiya) and his team of co-workers should not be put in charge of its sequel despite their immense creative potential and natural affinity for action games. They just pawned the project off to an unidentified team of unqualified low-level staffers without even notifying Kamiya. Six months before the game's planned release date, they noticed the abysmal state of the project and handed it over to yet another director (Hideaki Itsuno) who tried to salvage as much as he could but lacked the time and resources necessary in order to make any significant dent.

All's well that ends well, though. Kamiya left the sinking ship and went on to work at Clover Studio, co-found PlatinumGames, direct one brilliant game after another and terrorize the twittersphere. Itsuno thankfully got the chance to prove that DMC2 wasn't his fault by directing all future games in the main DMC series. Capcom survived the brain drain by selling half a dozen copies of the $1,297 RE6 Premium Edition and finding themselves a new audience. The End.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana - PSP
21/01/2020

Brilliant game in a criminally overlooked series. I first played this years ago and got about half way through before getting distracted.
Earlier this year I played through the PS2 entry, Ark of Napishtim, loved it and vowed to go back to finish this one. I picked up a PSP Go a couple of weeks back, this was the first game I installed...after Ridge Racer.

There still seems to be a misconception around the Ys games that they're fairly traditional JRPGs, not helped by a generic artsyle that doesn't do the games any favours in screenshots. But man, you've gotta see this game move!

It's a blisteringly fast paced mix of frantic combat, 3d platforming and very tightly designed boss fights with an absolute belter of a soundtrack that has more in common with Ninja Gaiden than Final Fantasy.

I think there may have been a story in there somewhere but I was about as interested in it as the game's silent protagonist. Thankfully it didn't get in the way of the action in the breezy 10 hour runtime.

I've played and enjoyed earlier titles in the series but the bump combat is a little odd and the later entries stronger focus on story feels like a misstep. These middle entries though, are truly top tier action games and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Onto Ys Origin next!

BaileyBoy wrote: ↑January 21st, 2020, 7:22 pm [
Earlier this year I played through the PS2 entry, Ark of Napishtim...

Apparently I still think it's 2019, oh dear

2 - Return To Arkham: Batman Arkham Asylum - PS4 Pro

Still a great experience 11 years since release (that makes me feel old), bosses (mostly) still suck and the ending was more abrupt than i remember but overall still my favourite Arkham game.

So uh, how do you guys define "completed"? Fully Cane and Rinsed? Because so far I've beaten the final boss of a few games this year, but have by no means stopped playing them.

For instance, I just sent Bowser packing in Super Mario Odyssey, but am "only" at 250 power moons. I intend to chip away at this monolith of a game for a while longer, but odds are I'm gonna run out of steam before the 100% completion mark. So when would a game like that be "completed"? Whenever I stop playing it? Am I way overthinking this ?

Mr Ixolite wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2020, 2:20 pm So uh, how do you guys define "completed"?

Generally for this thread we say ‘it’s your list, so your rules’.

So for most games I consider finishing the story and hitting the end credits completed, unless there’s a lot of post game content. Some people take it as getting all the xbox achievements. Others count it when they’re ‘done’ with it.

It’s a pretty loose definition.

Finished Mirror's Edge last night. It's a pretty cool game that I wish didn't have a story. The in-game aesthetics are just so strong that the flash-style animated sequences and confusing story with characters I never remembered the names of just took away from it all. But, I beat the game in about two sessions and I'd like to replay it again, skipping those and just trying to smooth out the runs. I tell you, if this game has existed when I was a teen with plenty of time and zero responsibilities, it's all I would have played for a month, just chasing my own score.

Neocab

Finished this off today and I found it overall quite average. I would have preferred a game centred around the main character rather than an overarching plot. Some characters were interesting, some forgettable a solid 7/10. Worth checking out on apple arcade rather than switch in my opinion

Flabyo wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2020, 3:17 pm

Mr Ixolite wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2020, 2:20 pm So uh, how do you guys define "completed"?

Generally for this thread we say ‘it’s your list, so your rules’.

So for most games I consider finishing the story and hitting the end credits completed, unless there’s a lot of post game content. Some people take it as getting all the xbox achievements. Others count it when they’re ‘done’ with it.

It’s a pretty loose definition.

Yeah, what Flabyo said, but regarding Mario Odyssey specifically, I personally put it on my completed list when I hit the end credits. That was almost 70 gameplay hours ago, and I'll probably put it on again if and when I reach 100% completion.

Although my four year old has just overtaken me with amount of moons collected...