@Ralizah Glad it wasn't just me, then. I didn't even think about the controls being designed for touchscreen implementation; suddenly it all makes sense. Good shout.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Ralizah Well, who are we to argue with TIME Magazine, eh? I've subsequently seen the error of my uninformed opinion and changed my mind; 10/10 BOTY (Beards of the Year).
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
I completed ABZU and Here They Lie on Monday and Pokemon Let's Go Eevee yesterday by beating the Elite Four with a full team of shiny pokemon. Hoping to complete Fe tonight and then get back into review writing.
Heavy Rain. Rather surprisingly for a story driven game with lots of endings, I actually got one of the better endings on my first attempt.
It was a decent game and I enjoyed playing it, but it does have its flaws. The controls and moving the characters doesn't feel quite right, and take some time to get used to. The quick time events can be annoying. When a QTE suddenly switches from having to hold buttons to tapping quickly, it catches me out every time. And in the heat of the moment when needing to be quick, it's easy to confuse the QTE symbol for moving the right analogue stick with the QTE symbol for moving the entire controller.
As for the story, it starts off slow but it's good once it gets into it. It does feel awkward and cliche in places. But overall it was an enjoyable murder mystery. My sheer obliviousness to any and all plot twists meant that the killer reveal took me by surprise, though I suspect plenty of other players would have seen that coming.
My biggest gripe with this game is with Madison. She was such wasted potential. Her problems with being an insomniac and having nightmares are quickly forgotten about, and she instead spends most of the game just aiding the other main characters.
Not sure now if I'll continue playing this now that I've seen one ending which turned out to be a good one. I'll likely wait a few days then check the trophy list. If the trophies aren't too difficult or tedious then it could be fun to explore the different choices in this game while working on the trophies. If the trophies are too tedious, then I'd be perfectly happy to not play any more and instead move on to a different game.
So I just finished the main story of Just Cause 4. This may seem like fast work, but I'm suffering with some man-flu at the moment and so a systematic, somewhat-mindless map-clearing game is just what the doctor ordered. I've played it for about 12 hours all told, to see the story through and to claim every region of the map for the Army of Chaos.
There are plenty of side quests that I've skipped and will now enjoy, broken down into three categories. First, there's the stunt challenges, this time dressed up in the excuse of helping a movie director shoot stunts for her upcoming film; I doubt I'll do many of these, as the director character is a very loud woman and I'm not looking for a tricky skill-based kinda experience right now. Then there's training new Army of Chaos members, which basically means "take some NPCs with you whilst you blow stuff up" and they're kinda fun (although the NPCs can swing wildly between acting like safety-smart cowards or suicidal maniacs, so some have required a couple restarts because if they die, it's game over).
Lastly and perhaps most interestingly, there's a Tomb Raider game-within-a-game, where you're asked to explore and find ruins and temples across the map (with no objective markers; you've gotta find them yourself) and then trigger ancient traps or mechanisms with your grapple to unlock the secret history of the island. I deliberately left these alone, because I have a feeling I'm gonna love them. They're how I'm gonna spend my evening.
I've calmed down about the graphics now... a bit. SquareEnix have promised a patch to fix the lighting and texture issues, but it remains to be seen how much they're able to do without compromising the game's performance, which remained steady even in the most chaotic of missions.
Still, for every beautiful moment I found...
...there's a place that looks like this, and it's just tough not to recoil.
That last shot is taken from the big finale, which was a bit of a let-down, if I'm honest; a simple run-and-gun through the villain's headquarters with few surprises. The story before it had been built around three core multi-stage "operations" which pay off with some of the most exciting, spectacular missions I've ever played in anything, ever. They're where the weather effects (tornadoes, lightning and sandstorms) came into full effect. Chasing a tornado as it tore through bridges, buildings and eventually an entire city was absolutely fantastic, and it's a shame that more of the game doesn't take advantage of those set-piece events more often, because otherwise you're just clearing military facilities and ticking off simple objectives from a shortlist of variables. When it hits those high notes, however, there's nothing quite like this game. It was incredible, even if only very briefly.
And the story was actually far more engaging than I expected. They've done a halfway-decent job of making Rico seem a bit more three-dimensional this time, and whilst he's still hilariously deadpan and macho most of the time, his action hero one-liners had some weight to them by the end, which I really liked. There's a big set-up for Just Cause 5 at the end, too, and if they bring back the core cast and keep that same level of characterisation going then I might be curious enough to return and see how it all pans out... just probably not at launch, given what happened this time.
Overall, I reckon I'd agree with the 6/10 given to the game by PushSquare, but that's an average. When you're fiddling with challenges or encountering terrible visuals, it can go as low as 4 or 5, but when you're playing those three core "operations" it can climb as high as an 8 or maybe even a 9.
But these Tomb Raider side quests might get me to bump it to a 7 if they're any good.
Tagging @Th3solution and @JohnnyShoulder as you folks were interested in early impressions and I thought you might wanna read a more rounded view.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Just beat Darksiders 3. A really solid sequel. Took me just over 26 hours and got most of the trophies (67% completion). Think I'll go back to platinum once/if it gets a NG+ update.
I really hope the game sells well enough. They've laid enough story to get at least 2 more games.
Next up Strife!
Lives, Lived, Will Live.
Dies, Died, Will Die.
If we could perceive time for what it really was,
What reason would Grammar Professors have to get out of bed?- Robert & Rosalind Lutece
@NecuVise Seems like an attainable goal. Also it supposedly sold pretty ‘well’ on PC.
According to steam spy there are 50-100k owners. https://steamspy.com/app/606280
Don’t know how reliable that is, but it seems to suggest they’ll probably hit their goal across all platforms.
Lives, Lived, Will Live.
Dies, Died, Will Die.
If we could perceive time for what it really was,
What reason would Grammar Professors have to get out of bed?- Robert & Rosalind Lutece
RDR2. I fear the best part starts now since I'll be free to do what I want instead of being just an actor. Almost all the missions were an eye-roll festival because of many annoying things: me forced to use a certain weapon by a companion, me forced to approach a gunfight exactly how the devs decided otherwise the companion dies etc.
I think I'll do the post-game stuff only when I'll take a break from Dragon Quest XI (just started).
Uncharted 3. It was a great game with lots of memorable moments, though the ending seemed slightly underwhelming when compared to the first two. I'd say that overall Uncharted 3 is the best one out of the first three and that I enjoyed it more than Uncharted 2, though Uncharted 1 is still my personal favourite.
@crimsontadpoles That's awesome; I entirely agree with every word of your post, despite the "popular" opinion being that Among Thieves is the best of the PS3 trilogy and that Drake's Deception is the worst. I have a personal soft spot for Drake's Fortune, but objectively put Drake's Deception above it, and Among Thieves comes in last place.
Glad you enjoyed it!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@crimsontadpoles I agree that UC3 is the best. It's just filled with thrilling set-pieces and lacks the irritating yeti and tank bits that dragged Uncharted 2 down for me. I also enjoyed the look back at how Sully and Nate first met.
Nothing will beat the vehicle chase in UC2 where you jump from one vehicle to the next. It’s the perfect example of making you feel like an utter hero even though afterwards you realise it is all set up perfectly.
The time has come for me to leave Inaba. I knew this day would come and I usually don’t make a big fuzz about finishing a game but this is different.
After clocking a little over 110 hours on my main save, reaching 70% trophy completion and being captured by the golden ending, Persona 4 Golden is now transferred from my Vita memory card to a slot in my heart.
A few impressions:
The day to day gameplay loop was a great way to unfold the narrative. Constantly learning more about the mystery while dealing with everyday life, teenage angst and identity together with a group of unique and well-written characters. When I said goodbye to them and reminiscing about everything we’ve been through it really felt like saying goodbye to family.
The turn based combat was slick, stylish, strategic and sometimes really challenging on normal mode. I never felt I had to grind extensively. The boss fights were pretty cool too.
The game looks great on the Vita OLED screen and the cut scenes were glorious!
It was my first encounter with the franchise and it really got under my skin. Someday I will definitely play 3 and 5.
@JJ-firl I'll second the thanks for your thoughts. My friend has just purchased this for her PS Vita and is planning on playing it over the Christmas week (and then probably for a good couple weeks into the New Year, from the sounds of it). We talk almost exclusively about games and so it's good to know she'll have a great time and I'm looking forward to hearing the details from her.
I also love games where completion feels like saying goodbye to friends or a family. It doesn't happen often to me, but it's a real special feeling. Glad you were able to connect so strongly with the game!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@KratosMD It's great that my impressions made you relive those memories. It truly is an emotional game that, despite the heavy themes and murder mystery, stays upbeat and optimistic. The game seems to invoke 'extreme' opninions. Either you completely fall in love with it (like we did) or you don't like it at all, which is also perfectly fine. I can fully understand that this game is not for everyone... It sure made a huge impact on me and puts things in a different perspective.
The ending was so fulfilling and perfect that I didn't want to bother with NG+. I think if I kept playing and playing I would eventually get burned-out and that is not what this game deserves.
I will remember to let you know what I think of Persona 5 when I get around playing it. The experience will definitely be different because I have to play it on my PS4 instead of the Vita. I felt that P4G was a perfect fit on the Vita so I'm curious to see if the experience holds up on home console.
@RogerRoger She's definitely in for a treat! If I can give a little advise: I usually steer clear from guides on first playthrougs but I did do a little research to make sure I got the "True ending" (Golden ending) because it is highly missable. That research did nog spoil the experience for me and the golden ending is truly rewarding. Do let me know how she likes the game!
@JJ-firl Belated thanks for the extra little tip regarding Persona 4 Golden; I'll be sure to pass that along and will let you know what she thinks (if she didn't get any games for Christmas that may supersede her original plan, that is).
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
I finished God of War: Ghost of Sparta this week. Which means I'm almost finished with the original series.
It's really difficult to keep sharing impressions of the games because, while they are fun and entertaining, they're also very identical. If there's something I can praise Ghost of Sparta (and the other PSP game, Chains of Olympus) for, it's that the story has more personal elements for Kratos and tries to humanize him a bit. It's something I appreciate to remind me that I'm not just playing a Greek murder simulation.
The PS3 versions of these games are also very well done. It's easy to forget that these used to be portable games.
"We don't get to choose how we start in this life. Real 'greatness' is what you do with the hand you're dealt." -Victor Sullivan "Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing." -Solid Snake
Forums
Topic: Games you've recently beat
Posts 1,001 to 1,020 of 5,530
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic