Topic: Games you've recently beat

Bloodborne - this was my first soulslike game. I briefly tried first dark souls on PC and DS2 on XONE I didn't like them. So I tried bloodblorne and initially I didn't like it, but after I gave it some time it really grew on my to the point I even got a platinum for it.

Shadow of the Colossus - I played this game for the first time ever and I enjoyed it a lot. I remember reading a preview of this game back in the time of PS2 and wanting to play it. I'm glad I haven't because it was amazing playing it on PS4 Pro

What Remains of Edith Finch

Wow! Just played this game tonight and I'm genuinely stunned how amazing it is. I'm not a particularly emotional guy but love this game got me right in the feels so many times during its 2-3 hour playtime.

Each short story is as gripping as the last and the uniqueness of the whole game is just insane.

Not that it matters, but I almost wish I played this game when it came out last year instead of now, because this is certainly one of 2017's stand out releases and having just finished it now I'm a little disappointed that it hasn't had more love from different game awards and what not. I feel like anyone who's played this will have been likely been raving about it for months now.

A truly special experience, and one I won't be forgetting in a long time.

10/10

_{This is your second warning now please watch the language -Tasuki-}

@roe It was in my top votes for 2017 - I thought it was the most interesting example of the genre with some nifty and original ideas.

Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch)

I'm not the biggest Fire Emblem fan, and I haven't had the best luck with Warriors games in the past, but I'm glad I picked this up.

I've actually cleared the main story over a week ago, and have spent time since then clearing some of the History Maps (I've gotten to the point that I've unlocked Lyn, who is really fun to play as). I still have two History Maps left (not counting DLC), and while I may work on them, I don't consider them necessary for basic completion (I've gotten a good 40 hours out of the game).

I finished the first God of War today. I hate how long it's taken me to get to this series, but better late than never.

It's a fun title. The story isn't super amazing, but it does it's job. It's simple and it works. The gameplay is obviously the meat of the title, and it does not disappoint. It's not as deep as a Devil May Cry or Platinum title, but there's no learning curve either. The result is a game that's easy to get into and have fun with. However, I wouldn't say it's brainless, as there's plenty enough challenge from the game, and mashing buttons isn't the best way to handle it (plenty of enemies will hand you your ash colored behind if you do). A major plus for the game is that it has plenty of memorable moments. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail for anyone who hasn't played it, but it's an entertaining ride.

The few cons I'd put against it would be how some encounters drag out, still tossing enemies when you want it to end (It's not very often, but it was noticeable), and having to repeat the button mashing prompts during fights will exhaust you after a while, especially when you face minotaurs constantly, and they die quicker by a mashing prompt (which also rewards you with a health recovery). No joke, I popped my shoulder during the final boss because of how often you mash circle. Also, since I played the PS3 HD release, the CG scenes can look butt ugly, especially if there's a close up on a character's face. Otherwise, this game doesn't look too shabby for a PS2 port.

Anyway, God of War is a game I can definitely recommend. It's a fun hack and slash that anyone can play for a good waste of time. As long as you don't have arthritis.

Finally beat Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth- Hacker's Memory!

My first 100+ hour game of the year. All in all I really enjoyed it, but I preferred the first game. The Cyber Sleuth formula is very solid. It's what all Digimon games should be like moving forward.
It reused a lot of assets and mechanics, but it was disappointing to see that some of the main problems from the first game carried over (Farm Investigations & Accepting cases).
As the chapters allude, Hacker's Memory very much feels like a 'side chapter' to the greater Cyber Sleuth story & as such it never really hits the heights of the first game.
The story was pretty good. I like that the digimon games are typically a bit darker. The ending was pretty depressing though, to the point were I didn't want to go back and do the final side quest.

Anyways- great game! Hope we don't have to wait too long for the next Digimon game, although I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on here that cares .

Polished off another playthrough of Banner Saga part 2, absolutely love this game, part 3 hitting PC in the summer, hopefully it'll be on console this year.

FFXV. Stellar game.

Just finished the main story of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. I definitely enjoyed going back into Arcadia Bay and the world of Life is Strange with its interesting cast of characters and backdrops but overall I'm not sure it's that good a game really.

Much like the first game, there's a few really emotional moments and key decisions that really keep you involved in the story but the vast majority of time spent in the game is frankly awkward and boring. I feel like the whole thing either needs to be a lot more fleshed out, or the opposite and it needs to be better edited, cutting out most of the dull parts. Even if it meant that each episode was only an hour rather than two, I think I'd prefer that over a lot of the mundane stuff the game forces you to do while you wait for the next major story beat.

Criticisms aside, I found the ending to be really powerful and it's another story that'll long stick in my memory as the game really does make you care about the characters. Deck Nine did a stellar job of matching Dontnod's original effort (albeit over a shorter episode-span this time).

3/5

Played the third and final DLC episode of Wolfenstein II: The Freedom Chronicles earlier, bringing a patchy, uneven experience to a whimper of an ending.

After the Episode Zero sampler was a huge disappointment, the first two episodes (The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe and The Diaries of Agent Silent Death) were excellent. I really enjoyed them, both from a gameplay perspective and for presenting far, far more compelling protagonists than BJ ever was in Wolfenstein II's main campaign. After those, however, The Deeds of Captain Wilkins comes crashing back down to generic people, generic locations, generic action... generic everything. It had promise, and the storyline does try to make you care a little more than you probably should, but in the end I just wanted it to be done with, and I uninstalled the game from my HDD as soon as I was done with my first playthrough.

It takes place in Alaska, and has been advertised with artwork showing your new hero running about on snow-covered hills, something which would've given us a great visual variety... but no, you're in an Alaskan underground Nazi base for the first two chapters, meaning the only distinct difference between the levels and any of the other identical levels from the main campaign is the fact that one of the guards mentions a moose at one point. There's nothing here like Agent Silent Death's trip to a Hollywood movie studio; in fact, when you finally do get a glimpse of the exterior environment, it looks like a tropical beach (although it's tough to tell, as your view is obscured). The third chapter tasks you with infiltrating a massive Nazi submarine, seemingly of the same class as the one that acts as your hub in the main campaign, yet again allowing for cheaply reused assets and level design. It feels like you're just replaying parts, the worst parts, of BJ's story.

Each of the characters in the DLC episodes have used one of the three unique powers BJ was previously asked to choose between, and they made sense before (Gunslinger Joe was a football player, so can barge through walls, and Agent Silent Death was a spy, meaning the vent-crawling was put to excellent use) but here, Captain Wilkins just happens upon the stilts and thinks they'll help. Turns out, they really don't, as the levels aren't designed in a way to make them useful outside of a few really obvious set-up moments. It's like the idea for stilts was had, everybody thought "Great!" and then went home for the weekend, before coming back in on Monday and desperately trying to mash together the rest of the game around them. I never used them in combat.

The DLC reflects the main campaign, in that it starts and ends on really weak, misguided notes, but features a middle full of variety, excitement and inventiveness. Recommended only if you can get the whole lot, core game and season pass, in a sale for fifteen quid or less.

@RogerRoger I picked stilts in the campaign, and they were actually pretty fun. Mostly for combat mind you, to get high up and rain death down from above. An interesting and unique addition, if nothing else.

@kyleforrester87 Ah, I went with the ramshackles wall-smashing ability. Looking around the DLC levels (because I wanted to use them, I just never did) I could only see one or two places where I could get up high and hide, but it never felt like a significant tactical advantage. In fact, most combat areas in the DLC have you entering through a high vent anyway, allowing you to sit up in the rafters and blast away without ever having to use the stilts to get up there (and if you do find yourself on the same storey as your adversaries, they're too much of a fiddle to activate before you get shot half to death).

If I ever do replay the campaign, I might give them a try and see if they worked better there, especially since you said they were pretty fun... and I will give you one thing; I can't think of another FPS with stilts, so they sure are unique!

@Jaz007 Are are a fan of the series or a newcomer? Did you play it with DLCs included or only the base game? I'm thinking if I should buy that game or not, as I see divided opinions.

@NecuVise I’ve always liked FF as a IP, but I’ve played a couple spin off games before FFXV. And while I didn’t play it, I watched my sister play through the entirety of FFX (and I mean all of it, more than the main story too) since I couldn’t play it yet then. So in between. And it was vanilla FFXV (just with updates). I’d absolutely reccomend it. Go for the Royal Edition too I’d reccomend. I couldn’t play it for over a year after it’s launch, but I have the deluxe edition with the steel case because I was that excited for it after seeing the reveal of it as FFXV. (I literally couldn’t play for that long, or any game for that matter.)

Just finished Dante's campaign in PS4 DMC2, mostly meh but it has its moments. Before that I platted The Surge and loved every minute of it, fantastic game!

@Jaz007 Thanks for replying, it's helpful. I can't go for the Royal Edition as it is 2.5 times more expensive than the vanilla so I'm not paying so much more for those DLCs

Just finished Tomb Raider Definitive edition. Pretty great game.

I know it gets compared to Uncharted a lot, but I think it's kinda even in a sense. I think the gameplay is better: Lara controls and plays well, aside from how she doesn't have a melee attack until you get the climbing axe, anyway. I enjoy the upgrade and growth systems (although I'll admit that it's weird that Lara's capable of modding guns despite just starting out), and the variation of collectables.

I think the story is on the weak side, however. It's not bad, but it's the typical hero's journey mixed with the abnormal artifact/ lost island adventure that's been done before. I also think that the cast didn't get much time to shine aside from Lara and Roth. There's some moments with them here and there, but aside from their personal documents (Which I'm not a fan of because character development shouldn't be relegated to optional collectables, not if you want me to care about them) they aren't that fleshed out.

I don't know when I'll get to Rise, but I'll give it a go now that I've got this under my belt.

@DerMeister Now you’re all ready to see the movie!

@DerMeister Yeah I agree with Tomb Raider v Uncharted. Maybe its cos I grew up with TR games? But I think TR gameplay is better and Uncharted does story and characters better.

Played through the Uncharted Remastered Trilogy and thought there was way too much shooty shooty bang bang and not enough exploration stuff.

@JohnnyShoulder I completely agree. The first Uncharted though was a revelation as it really brought us characters that were every bit as good as those portrayed in movies. It was much more grounded, despite having some 'mystical' element than we had seen from Tomb Raider in the past and it gave us more realistic character interactions. That has gone on to define the Naughty Dog we know and love today. A heavy focus on Story and character realisation with relatively 'average' but well executed game-play. Its a standard 3rd person cover shooter with some platforming mechanics - that's also true for Last of Us but with maybe more emphasis on stealth - but the Story and characters elevate those above others that offer similar game-play.

The reboot of Tomb Raider has more focus on the game-play. Its opened up into more of an open world action RPG - although those 'open worlds' are more Hubs than one big open world. That gives reason to explore, to hunt (for resources), Side quests (although not exactly numerous in TR), reason to rank up, upgrade gear etc, reason to revisit areas when you have the right gear (explosives, rope bow etc to access areas you couldn't earlier on) etc. What the Reboot also did though was give Lara a more realistic and 'human' character - with better interaction with the supporting cast - something the reboot did better than 'Rise' which may be one reason the story doesn't resonate as well.

However as a 'game', Rise is certainly better. Its not 'just' the single player campaign either but all the additional options - like survival, time challenges etc - much better than the first's Multi-player mode...