@RogerRoger I think Uncharted 3 suffers from Dark Knight Rises syndrome to be fair. On it's own it's an awesome game and better than most games but because it didn't quite reach the heights of Uncharted 2 (and while U2 hype was still big) for some reason some people deemed it disappointing.
@colonelkilgore Ya know as I was thinking about these 3 games and describing them, I guess I came to a conclusion that I must like the ‘blank slate’ protagonist better than the concrete character in most rpg cases. For some reason when I spend the time creating my character and making him or her look just the way I want and in some cases choosing their background, race, gender, and personality in addition to their physical features, it makes me more invested in their plight.
The 3 games mentioned all had some character creator of varying degrees of intricacy; I contrast it with Witcher 3 which by all accounts should be a vastly superior version of the open world fantasy genre these belong to, and yet I had trouble sticking with it past the opening few hours. Now some of that has to do with the gargantuan number of question marks dotting the land and the sheer overwhelming nature of that, but some of it has to do with just not caring for Geralt very much. I hadn’t played the first two games nor read the books (nor watched the TV series which didn’t exist at the time but I still haven’t watched anyways) so to me he was just a grumpy guy with laryngitis and cat eyes. 😅 I’m certain if I stuck with it long enough then Geralt would grow on me. But as of yet I can’t bring myself to go back. Like you say, maybe the PS5 port will lure me to try again, because I like the fantasy rpg genre, clearly, as evidenced by my having played all these other games.
Anyways, sorry for the monologue there, but it became clear to me something about myself I hadn’t fully realized. But I’m still not sure how I feel fully, as somehow I really love open world games like Red Dead Redemption 1/2, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, etc where the main character is a very specific person.
I recall there was a discussion at some point in the last few years on the forums about this topic and I can’t remember what my thoughts were at the time, but maybe they’ve changed.
Ah well, I don’t know but I’m just rambling at this point. 😅
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@BowTiesAreCool In terms of analysing the general consensus, that'd also be my take. I think the same applies to a lot of successful trilogies, in gaming and elsewhere. You have the first entry, which people will always love for starting something good, then the middle entry, which builds on that reputation and draws in a wider audience. The only thing a conclusion can then come along and do is "disappoint the fans" for being "more of the same" or "not ending in a satisfying way" or whatever.
There are plenty of examples which buck that trend, of course, but it does seem more common that a threequel will attract more negativity than it would normally do on its own.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Th3solution I think I'm much the same mate. It shouldn't really mean anything but when thinking back on games, the ones where you create your own character do seem to have that extra resonance. Strange but true 😉
I've played around 4.5 hrs of nier automata and I think I might be done with it. The sound track is phenomenal and I can see the promise of the story but the bit I'm struggling with is the gameplay, quest design and world navigation. I'm surprised as I've played a couple of platinum games (bayonetta 1 and 2, decent chunck of the wonderful 101) and they are normally right up my street. I know this is a jrpg and not a character action game and they are a genre known for their grindy nature. Without spoilers, has anyone who has played it found that there are big changes in the action and is there a lot of traditional mmo-esque jrpg quests that are needed to progress through the main story?
@R1spam from my perspective, it did take a wee while to click but once it did I thought the action was very good. I remember feeling withdrawal symptoms once I was done with it and trying to find something to play next. I'd stick with it a bit... coz if it clicks you'll love it.
@R1spam The world navigation is probably the part that won’t get much better for you, although I do remember that early 5-6 hour mark when traversal opens up are when things feel the most tedious. The world feels kind of bare for a lot of the early game. For some reason it seems to flow better later, and maybe it’s just that one acclimates to it, but it’s also because you do get a little variety in scenery eventually. It’s not the most compelling open world ever made. The quest design likewise improves and becomes a bit more varied, but for me, I never felt put off by the quests and even did all the side content and so maybe I’m a poor judge of how they either do or don’t evolve.
The combat really does become better over time, as you acquire skills and weapons to add variance. But the big attraction (in addition to the music as you mentioned) for me was the story. It’s a bit of a slow burn in the early part then really picks up at the end of the first run, then levels off for another stretch until you really hit a series of great narrative moments, the likes of which I’ve not experienced in any other games that I can remember. It takes some commitment, but getting to the ‘true ending’ is really a special experience, imho.
That said, if the gameplay, characters, and futuristic setting and conflict aren’t clicking with you, then you may not ever grow to enjoy it, especially the relatively slower slog in the middle where even I had a few moments where I was sorta going through the motions to get through to the next big reveal. But over the course of a roughly 40-50 hour experience, I’d say a 10-15 hour section in the middle was the only part that I’d would say was tough to push through.
@R1spam Have you unlocked the fast travel yet? I spent ages traipsing back and forward across the map for side quests and should have done a bit more of the main story to unlock fast travel and make life easier.
@Thrillho I have not and I think that would help a lot!! I can only go back to the bunker at the minute. @Th3solution@colnelkilgore thanks for the responses and interesting to hear you both allude to the story really going places. Will give it a couple of more hours to see if things open up and maybe buy a new weapon set to see if that spices things up, as I've got plenty currency.
@Th3solution You'll be pleased to know I've started FFVIIR after losing interest in KoA:R-R, I'm an hour or so in, on chapter 3, and man, that Scorpion Sentinel boss was a bit of a challenge, and the Huntsman, with his shield etc. was just annoying, plus I found Barrett a bit preposterous with his tough guy accent, saying things like "while the flowahs dahie" lol, you would have thought someone like him would have been all for eating cheeseburgers and hitting the gym while the planet goes to its demise, but yeah, I get it, they are all meant to be Eco-warriors, and Cloud's a hired merc whose being paid to help them the premise is ok, but I really just like whacking stuff about with the Greatsword and enjoying the boss battles, does the game get much harder as it goes along? Potions seem to be in abundant supply throughout the world, which is a good thing.
"Man is the pie that bakes and eats himself, and the recipe is separation." - Alasdair Gray
@TheBrandedSwordsman Sorry to hear that KoA didn’t quite grab you. Was it just the world and setting that was a turn off or was it the gameplay?
As far as FF7R, in my experience the game gets a little harder, especially the bosses, and the characters get better the more you get to know them. Barrett is a strange stereotype with the tough-guy street talk juxtaposed with his environmentalist world view. 😅 A lot of the story and character interaction has the Japanese flair so you have to take that for what it’s worth. It’s more quirky and silly at times, yet all the while trying to tell a very serious and epic dramatic tale. If you enjoy the early combat then I think it only gets better as you gain new squad mate options to mess around with, new materia to give you new spells and abilities, eventually getting summon abilities, etc. Many of the common enemies are pretty simple but the bosses and mini-bosses pose more challenge. When you get to chapter 7 that’s where my favorite fight has been so far.
But look forward to comparing notes on the experience! I’m liking it quite a bit so far.
I gave that Voice Of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars demo a shot.
The presentation with everything represented as cards is a nice touch. I like it. Makes it stand out. Music was rather nice too.
... Didn't stop me from deleting it twenty minutes later though.
That has got to be one of the dullest games I've ever played. Why is it so damn slow? It's only cards. There's nothing fancy on screen and especially for battles it seemed rather sluggish.
And who's idea was it to have only ONE voice actor?
In principle this could work just fine as I think J.B.Blanc did a stellar job in Dragon's Crown narrating the game by himself (Though there were other options when you beat the game and there WAS other voices throughout DC).
But with the Gothic look & dark, and dare I say oppressive, tone that Voice of Cards has... It'd obviously be rather jarring for it's va to do different accents & voices like J.B. does In Dragon's Crown...
... This however makes the voice acting REALLY drab and dry to me in VoC with his rather samey delivery for everything. It feels cheap and they could've at least sprung for VA's for the 3 protagonists too.
The little story that was here was very mediocre too. Granted it was just a snippet but... Yeah.
Technically a PS2 game but I’m playing the PS4 release (which I believe runs in an emulator) on PS5.
There’s a lot of talk of Psychonauts 2 being a GOTY contender so I decided to give the original Psychonauts a go.
Man, is this game ugly
Of course, a lot of it is by design but playing it upscaled with blurry textures doesn’t seem to do it many favors.
It’s also properly janky and struggles to maintain a steady frame rate on PS5, which is a little mind blowing
Platforming is ok at best and combat is absolutely awful (luckily there’s not a ton of it, although there are boss battles).
That being said, I’m now 10h in and I’m enjoying it. I like the characters, writing is good and there are very good ideas behind the various levels, especially the ones located inside people’s minds.
I’m going to see it through. Too much backtracking for the numerous collectibles to bother with trophies though.
If the sequel keeps all the good stuff and fixes all the bad, I can definitely see how it got those reviews.
@Voltan I played that PS4 version of Psychonauts on my PS4 Pro recently and yeah, it's not a looker, not by any stretch of the imagination. I'm surprised the PS5 doesn't help it much, although I guess that's the PS2 Classic emulator's fault. I landed in exactly the same critical headspace you seem to have done; for every level I loved, there was one which I... well, didn't. It's a game I enjoyed seeing through 'til the end, as a piece of gaming history, but not one I wanted to immediately replay or attempt to platinum.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Maybe if they didn't make a trophy for collecting all figments, I could be compelled to chase the others. There are literal thousands of them and their visibility is often far from great. At least there's a counter in the menu so if you revisit each level, you can see how many you missed but is still seems like too much. I think I got all of them in one of the levels so far and I don't even want to think about getting them all in that bull level
It's fine that there's so many since they're used for skill upgrades but there shouldn't be a trophy for getting them all IMO.
@Voltan Oh, gosh yes. I'd forgotten about that trophy. I swear half the figments I collected in that bull-fighting level were just environmental textures that came loose somehow.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
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