Topic: Games you've recently beat

@KratosMD Dude, you are on a roll!

@KALofKRYPTON Noice! 3 is my favourite in the series. The combat still sucks, but the set pieces are incredible, the villain suitably evil, and it just has an atmosphere and silliness that I find appealing. Thief's End is a little bit too self-serious.

@mookysam @RogerRoger
Started Drake's Deception night. Once again, the remaster looks pretty great! Also once again, I've played more of this than I thought!

@KALofKRYPTON Whether you'd seen it before or not, what a great opening! The best thing they could've done after that in medias res start to the previous game.

@KratosMD Somebody once showed me a gameplay clip of a Slender game (not sure if there have been multiple or not, so it might've been the one you played). You're a far, far braver man than I, sir. Congratulations on getting it finished, and checking another off your backlog!

@RogerRoger I had forgotten how much more fluid the movement feels by 3. Could just be the addition animations when Drake bounds along - but it does seem a somewhat easier experience in general.

Can't remember how far I played, but I do remember doing as far as the big fire scene that I think I'm coming up on.

@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, I think people didn't like the change in gunplay (because of muscle memory more than anything; I actually thought it was an improvement) but they did appreciate the tweak in general platforming fluidity. Even after two additional games, developed for a more powerful console, it has the biggest and most insane set-pieces of the series.

If you've read my post in the other thread, you probably know by now I beat Assassin's Creed Origins.

I really don't want to be that guy, but I think it's highly overrated. The last 50% of the game felt like an awkward mix of padding and random segments.

The story didn't make sense, but it was cheesy too. The gameplay became copy paste pretty much after the first few hours. Player progression has some really strange problems, that become more noticeable the further you progress.

By the end of my playthrough all of it really felt like an incomplete and incoherent mess, more than Unity ever felt to me.

When I started I really loved it. I even decided to buy the Season Pass. But now I'm like: will I even play the DLC?

The basis of the game is very good, don't get me wrong. But gameplay and story just don't succeed in staying engaging enough.

Syndicate and Revelations are still my faves!

Oh, and I really don't know the answer to the question whether I will play Odyssey too. I just want to think of something else than the Creed right now!

River City Girls + Katana Zero. Played these on Steam, but I highly recommend getting both of these if they are on sale on PSN.

@KratosMD I only play horror games on the long dark winter evenings/nights. Feels wrong to being playing them when it is sunny outside lol. Also playing with headphones will intensify the atmos. Listening to the Alien stomp around looking for you while you hide in a locker is quite nerve wracking!

@KratosMD I once went to a theme park on a weekday, when it was practically abandoned, and as a result got to repeatedly ride a vertical-drop rollercoaster. By the end of the day, it had definitely lost part of its thrill, so whilst I'd never be in danger of playing too many horror games (or any, for that matter) I can totally relate to your fear of losing your fear. Sounds like you're approaching them well.

Oh, and thanks for explaining the backstory to the Slender game! One of those things that I'd absorbed fragments of from general gaming culture, but never knew the full story about.

@Kidfried That's a real shame, that you've spent good money on DLC you're now thinking of avoiding. I'm sorry the game didn't pan out for you; given your feelings towards the end, you're owed double congratulations for clearing the game (and triple for earning its platinum trophy)!

@Kalvort Katana Zero is only currently available for pc and switch. Thanks for the recommendation though, it has always been on my wishlist.

@JohnnyShoulder oh sorry I thought it hit PSN already ;/ Anyway, if you liked the Hotline Miami games, this will hit the spot nicely!!

Finished Uncharted 3 Remastered last night.
Nicest of the bunch to play so far, but I think 2 is the strongest narratively so far.

Moving on to Golden Abyss next, which I've finished before, but it was a long while ago!

I just finished up Kingdom Hearts III, and I'm very emotionally conflicted right now. Definitely need time to process my thoughts on it.

I also recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna, the Golden Country (full thoughts in the "Impressions/Reviews" thread), which was great.

@KALofKRYPTON Fair enough. I was really hoping you'd join me in calling Uncharted 3 the best of the PS3 trilogy, but I'll take half an agreement over no agreement at all.

Enjoy your handheld adventuring!

@RogerRoger The horseback section is the best bit of the series so far. Without doubt.
I'm tempted to say that 3 feels phoned in, but that's grossly unfair. It's a fine game, perhaps it's playing them in quick succession, but 2 just felt a more complete experience. The narrative and script felt weighty.

@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, even I've got to admit that, when Naughty Dog said they'd created a whole bunch of gameplay set-pieces before figuring out a plot with which to tie them together, I nodded along. I loved the focus on the relationship between Nate and Sully, but it was all fairly fluffy stuff, with plenty of random "Okay, let's go over here then!" curveballs and padding.

Will be very interested to see what you make of A Thief's End now!

@RogerRoger I did have 4 on release. Went through about a third of it I think, not sure what distracted me from it, but I lent it out and never went back to it.
It was good from what I remember.

Monster Hunter World Iceborne. I've completed the main story and did a bit of the post-game things, but missed plenty of quests and other side activities. I really enjoyed the expansion, but after playing so much of it I now want to move on and give it a rest.

The core gameplay involves hunting down these huge monsters, in what feels like epic boss fights. There's a variety of different monsters to battle, and plenty of weapon types to choose from (Hammer and Insect Glaive are my favourites). The basic gameplay loop involves battling monsters to get materials, then using the materials to craft new weapons and armour in order to be able to defeat tougher monsters.

Iceborne is an expansion which takes place after the main game, and involves travelling to a new icy area and encountering new monsters.

My favourite thing about Iceborne is the monsters. Whereas the base game was a bit lacking in the weirder and wackier monsters, the Iceborne expansion had a good selection of unique monsters. My main issue with the monsters was that a lot of the returning monsters from past games were revealed before the expansion was released, so there weren't many surprises.

Iceborne also features a new hub area. This is quite a nice quality of life improvement, as it is much smaller and more compact then the hub from the main game, so hunters won't need to run as far to get to where they want to go.

My main gripe is that, as a solo hunter, the game is more pushy about encouraging multiplayer than past games. As well as some pop ups, there's a few monsters that are next to impossible to complete solo, such as the Siege monsters.

But overall, the game was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it.

So I've been completely taken down by a chest infection this last week and only now managed to get online properly. Before being laid low by the lurgy, I did manage to finish off Devil May Cry 5 in an initial story run.

I know a few people mentioned that they struggle with these types of games, especially with chaining combos etc. and I would put myself into that camp. However, I had the game at 'Human' difficulty which is I guess either easy or normal of the two starting settings and that was a level I was comfortable with which meant I could make some mistakes and it not cost too dear so there was some forgiving.

Overall, I really liked this game as daft as it was. Having not played much DMC since the original on PS2, I wasn't up on all the characters etc. but the story was ok for what it was, there was some interesting ideas. There are three playable characters that you have to take on for different missions and this gave some great variety and did mix things up though sometimes I'd get used to one character and have them down and then have to swap out for a different character but overal this was balanced well. Action is over the top, completely ridiculous, as was the various weapons and upgrades. Obviously this isn't subtle.

One thing I would say is that this game is absolutely GORGEOUS to look at and so smooth. The character models in cut scenes are incredibly impressive and the action is so good even when there is a lot on screen. I was playing on a Pro in 4k and it looked great and I got zero slow down. It was one of those games where you look at it and have to stop to admire how wonderful it looks.

So another really solid Capcom game!