Topic: Playstation 4 Backloggery and most wanted!

I was looking back at my last update of backloggery and saw it was actually a year ago. 😅

So here’s my current backlog reduction and backlog expansion plan:

Current/Next 3 projects:
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core (about halfway)
Star Wars: Outlaws (maybe a third of the way)
Lost Records (yet to start)

Next 3 possible purchases:
Death Stranding 2
Clair Obscur
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

———

Honestly, I’m not sure about those purchases except DS2. The other two I’m curious about though. Especially Clair Obscur, but I’m waiting for reviews to see if it’s actually as good as it looks.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Nine Sols is amazing, genuinely a stunning metroidvania/sekiro-like. Combat is so tight, and probably the closest/nearest to Sekiro.

If Salt and Sanctuary is 2D Dark Souls, then Nine Sols is essentially 2D Sekiro... get ready for that final boss!!

I actually enjoyed Nine Sols more than Erdtree, but maybe that speaks to my FromSoft rankings (#1 Sekiro, #2 Elden Ring, #3 DS3)

@CJD87 Looking forward to playing both, but that's interesting about Erdtree, would you say GoT is at all similar, or if not similar to Sekiro or Nine Sols, is the combat equally satisfying? Toying around with the idea of getting that one as well.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN GoT is a really different flavour to Elden Ring.... and often people seem to 'pledge allegiance' to one camp or the other.

For me personally, I adored Ghost - probably just as much as ER in fairness. Ghost has such a compelling narrative, a simple story told exceptionally well. It is a beautiful game with a lot to love. Combat is pretty challenging on 'lethal mode', but still probably not as difficult as Elden Ring. If you like hard games, definitely crank up Ghost to 'lethal'.

Ghost doesn't have the same level of build/playstyle variety as Elden Ring, nor the epic boss battles, but your investment in the story will keep you playing. Combat is really satisfying, with new abilities unlocked via a skilltree system.

Ghost perhaps suffers more from 'open world bloat' than Elden Ring, and at times Ghost can feel like 'a very Rich Man's ubisoft game'. Ghost DLC rocks though, honestly so good - leans into a campy/horror vibe, similar to recent Resi games.

@CJD87 That's interesting to know. Would you say the combat in GoT is similar to Sekiro, then? Or is it more simple if it's more Ubisoft-y as you imply it is. You say the combat is satisfying, but even a poor man's Sekiro would feel satisfying, just not perfect. Would you say it's inferior or equal to Sekiro?

Definitely thinking of getting that in addition to Ghost of Yotei if I enjoy the first one.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I would say that the combat in Sekiro is superior to Ghost, but that Ghost has more diversity in playstyle. Sekiro is so tight when it comes to fighting, but ultimately it 'doubles down' on a single mechanic in parry-based playstyle.

Ghost isn't quite as exciting, but you have a wealth of combat options (melee/bow) and various skilltree attacks. You're right in that Ghost's combat is a bit ubisoft-y... but a rich man's ubisoft

Ghost is definitely a classic though, I just personally love Sekiro that little bit more.

My previous backlog reduction and backlog expansion plan:

Next 3 projects:
☑️ Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core (done)
☑️ Star Wars: Outlaws (done)
☑️ Lost Records (done)

Next 3 possible purchases:
🔘 Death Stranding 2 (not yet)
☑️ Clair Obscur (purchased)
🔘 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (not yet)

———

So I completed what I was working on, and bought one of the three that I was considering. It would have been an overall reduction of backlog by 2, but I also bought a couple more games on a whim when they went on sale: Nobody Wants to Die, and Resident Evil Village. Both were quite cheap on sale, so I don’t regret it, but I do feel like backlog reduction is a pipe dream at this point. It’s not even considering the fact that I have games dropping on PS+ constantly that I am adding to the backlog. Usually about 1-2 a month are added that I have interest in. I’m playing one right now. And speaking of, here’s the update:

Current and Next 3 projects
Baldur’s Gate 3 (in process)
Sword of the Sea (in process)
Alan Wake

Next 3 possible purchases
Death Stranding 2
Ghost of Yotei
Hellblade II

————

I’m on the back half of BG3 and SotS. Especially SotS should be easy to complete in the next couple sessions with it. BG3 on the other hand probably has 30-40 hours left, if not more.

I don’t really know if I’ll make any purchases in the next few months, but I suspect if any of those on my list get a nice discount on Black Friday, then I might bite.

ELDEN RING (Second playthrough, including accessing the DLC) (With Sekiro 'Wolf' Build).
ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree (With Sekiro 'Wolf' Build).
DARK SOULS™ III (Third playthrough to access the DLC) (With planned Sekiro 'Wolf' Build).
DARK SOULS™ III: Ashes of Ariandel™ (With Sekiro 'Wolf' Build.)
DARK SOULS™ III : The Ringed City™ (With planned Sekiro 'Wolf' Build).
Sekiro (NG+ "Sculptor's Storyline" Ending Run.)

Games I most want on my upcoming PS4:
Mainline Neptunia games
Spin-off Neptunia games
Fantasy Life i
I'm also looking at some other JRPGs for PS4 as well 😃.

Current Backlog:
1) Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
2) Once Upon a Katamari
3) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
4) Spirit of the North 2
5) Life is Strange: Double Exposure
6) Star Wars: Outlaws

I'm also chipping away at Jurassic World: Evolution 2 and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. The former is just a lot of slow-paced samey gameplay which I love, but only in small doses. The latter is a brilliant game with one heck of a platinum grind.

Wishlist:
1) Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
2) Tekken 3
3) Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown
4) Shenmue III Enhanced
5) 007 First Light

@Werehog I thought of you when we got that big First Light preview recently. Looks quite good, eh?

And I’d be very interested in your SW: Outlaws thoughts. I finished it a few months ago. It’s a game that stumbled out of the gate but turned out to be quite good imo. As a SW aficionado I am curious on your take.

CURRENT BACKLOG

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Corpse Factory
• The Disney Afternoon Collection (Just need to play the two Ducktales games and Rescue Rangers 2; got all trophies for Darkwing Duck and Rescue Rangers 1, and beat TailSpin, which I hated)
• Slave Princess Sarah
• World of Goo 2

My goal is to clear all of these out by the end of the year. My plan is to do two levels of World of Goo 2 every night while I'm focusing on other games (right now, Expedition 33).

There are plenty of games I want, but I'm trying to stop buying new ones, since I have so many backlogged. Last game I'm getting for a good while will be Metroid Prime 4 in December.

Nice to see you've maintained an interest in the series. Played any of the second trilogy games yet?

@Werehog Let me know what you think of Life is Strange: Double Exposure when you finish it! As you know, I was madly in love with the second game. That aside though, I liked Before the Storm quite a bit, but really disliked True Colors. The first game I sadly had to watch as a YouTube playthrough after I encounted a save-breaking bug in the second episode, so I can't really say how I would've experienced that first-hand ultimately. I'd be intrigued to hear if this new one is worth a shot, since I've heard conflicting opinions. As far as I know, the fandom is against it for reasons that actually somewhat intrigue me.

That it does. I always knew IO Interactive were the right choice! Thanks for thinking of me.

Ah, then I'll be looking to you for advice, please and thank you, not least because it'll also be my first major Ubisoft game. I have high hopes though, largely because I know my love of the I.P. can and will pull me through any mediocre moments. Will let you know when I get underway!

I see from your own listing that you played Lost Records: Bloom & Rage recently...? Any good? I was curious but wanna clear my Life is Strange backlog before considering it.

***

@Ralizah Yes! In fact, I just completed Apollo Justice this past Monday. I was gearing up to return to the Chronicles duology when I realised that the other remasters had crept up on me while I wasn't looking. I always prefer to experience a series in chronological release order, so put my prequel plan on pause and set about completing my collection. Once I've played the Investigations games, I'll return to Dual Destinies, then finally go back and finish The Great Ace Attorney.

I'm excited because, while I liked Apollo Justice well enough, it didn't quite hit in the way I expected it to. Felt like it was deliberately holding itself back, setting the stage for bigger and better things to come. Well, that, and it didn't have nearly enough Gumshoe in it, and I understand he plays a more significant role in the Investigations games, so that'll be an instant improvement for me!

***

@Tjuz Will do! I'm curious to see how they handle Max's return, and the nearly 50/50 split on the first game's final choice. Speaking of which, I played the "remasters" of that and Before the Storm earlier in the year, and yikes, they were not good, at all. Glitches, bugs, crashes, and graphical issues across the board, from start to finish. I also had a save corrupted, although it only reset about forty minutes of progress, so I was able to continue. You're not alone!

I'm real sorry to see you disliked True Colors so much! It was never gonna get anywhere close to Life is Strange 2 for me personally (as I know you know, yes) but I enjoyed my playthrough well enough. What was your issue with it, if you don't mind me asking?

@Werehog Man, I’m really excited for you to experience Outlaws and I’d love to give any advice or feedback or just to share in your impressions of the experience. To have it be your first major Ubi open world game will also be fun to hear how it lands with you. You needn’t feel intimidated though. You’ve essentially played close cousins of the Ubi-style through Sony’s Ghost and Horizon games. The mechanics are similar, however Outlaws varies with the formula significantly, and to me if felt quite different from an Assassin’s Creed game. There’s a much bigger emphasis on stealth and the syndicate system really shakes things up. But yeah, the Star Wars attention to detail is really well done. If you have interest in reading further, I found my impressions post I made after I completed the game. Not a full review, mind, and it should be essentially spoiler-free:
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/game...

Similarly on Lost Records, allow me to post the link to my post-game impressions and then avoid making this post too long, so feel free to read that:
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/game...

Long story short, it was a slight disappointment. There’s some really great things that it does differently to the gameplay and story, so big fans of LiS should still consider giving it a try, but it’s definitely the weakest of their games, imho.
As I say at the end of my little impression post there, Lost Records soured me on jumping into Double Exposure right away, but I do still have loose plans to play it sometime. So your experience with it, if and when, would be very welcome also.

@Werehog Ah, it's a shame that you had such a bad experience with the remastered versions. I recently had my own issues with the newly enhanced version of Little Nightmares (though that was more due to the store's listing), but it always pisses me off. At least make sure the version you advertise as a better way to experience it is in all practical senses an improvement!

And I'll happily tell you, but much like The3solution (not to give you too much homework), it's probably better for me to link you what I posted at the time instead of getting into it here.
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/user...
Would love to hear how your thoughts differed on it if any any point you have time to get into it! Discussing Life is Strange (or Mass Effect for that matter) with you brings me back to good times.

@Th3solution @Tjuz Really appreciate you going back and finding previous posts for me to read, that's real kind and helpful of you both. I'll take my lead from your approach and wait until I'm sharing thoughts on the games in question before I launch into any longer replies (to keep the forums tidy if nothing else) but will absolutely tag you as and when, with thanks in advance.

For now, I'll just say that Sol, your Outlaws conclusions have actually added to my hype (as I do love a good stealth game) and... well, and quite the opposite with regards Lost Records, but that's okay! I'll be sure to pace myself accordingly after Double Exposure.

And I thoroughly enjoyed reading that excellent True Colors review, Tjuz! Your points on Alex's level of interactivity with Haven Springs, her characterisation, and the game's overall pacing are well-taken. I also nodded along with your paragraph about the romance options, because I also had to fight against the writers' obvious preference in that respect. Given how integral they are to the genre, I'll most definitely be touching upon those elements when discussing Double Exposure.

@Werehog No worries! I'll happily be tagged any time you fully get into it. I'm glad you were still able to find some truth in my thoughts on it, despite obviously having enjoyed it more yourself. Means I did a well enough job of communicating my experience! I'll be really intrigued to see how [i[Double Exposure[/i] ends up for you. Do you think you might go back to writing full-length reviews in the review thread as well? I have to say I always really enjoyed reading yours!

A more than "well enough" job, I'd say. It was (and is) very good review!

Thank you for saying so, but I can't see me doing that anytime soon. I'll be sure to cover as much as I can when leaving my impressions elsewhere, though.

@Werehog No worries! Hardly want to put any pressure onto you after you only just returned. If ever you decide to create new reviews, I'll be first in line! I'll settle for your extended thoughts in other threads though, as that's more than enough for me. And thanks once again for the compliment! I'm often a bit neurotic about my writing despite loving to do so, so I appreciate it.