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Topic: Your Latest PS4 Purchase

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colonelkilgore

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The only metroidvania I’ve ever tried was Hollow Knight a couple of years back (& I wasn’t feeling it tbh) but I’m really thinking I need to give the genre another go.

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Voltan

@colonelkilgore Hollow Knight is like a mix of metroidvania and a 2D soulsborne. If you’re looking for a fun way to start with the genre, may I recommend Guacamelee!?

Voltan

colonelkilgore

@Voltan yeah the partial 'soulsy-ness' was what made me give it a go tbh. Don't know why I didn't click with it really... maybe I should give it another go now I'm a bit more open-minded.

I will take your advice on Guacamele as well, I'll keep an eye on it in the store and pick it up when it gets a sale price. Same with Castlevania: Requiem.

**** DLC!

LtSarge

@colonelkilgore Hollow Knight is a difficult game to get into because the world is just so huge and open. That's what makes it the best Metroidvania game though, but it also makes it hard for newcomers to stick with since you can easily get lost and therefore discouraged to continue playing it. I'd definitely recommend holding off on giving it another go until you've played a couple of Metroidvanias.

Bloodstained is a great Metroidvania, it's my second favourite one after Hollow Knight. The only thing I didn't like about it is that it can get very difficult during boss fights. Guacamelee is great fun and I feel like that's a good starting game if you want to get into Metroidvanias.

LtSarge

colonelkilgore

LtSarge wrote:

…the world is huge …but it also makes it hard for newcomers to stick with since you can easily get lost and therefore discouraged to continue playing it.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with that. I remember feeling like I really couldn’t get a handle on the orientation of the world. I remember thinking that was quite strange too, as one thing I do enjoy in souls-likes is mapping out the world in my head. I guess it is a different skill in two dimensions.

I’ll take yours and @Voltan’s advice and make Guacamele my entry-point. Cheers guys.

**** DLC!

Voltan

@colonelkilgore I absolutely loved both Guacamelee and Guacamelee 2. They’re a lot of fun and have just the right kind of humor for me
Well balanced difficulty too IMO.

Voltan

Thrillho

@colonelkilgore I adored Hollow Knight and it’s one of my favourite games from the PS4 generation. I completely avoided using any guides and loved exploring the vast world. And despite playing it to death, the platinum remained well out of my reach (damn you pantheons!).

I hope you do give Guacamelee a blast as I also loved both the games. The trophies on those are very achievable but the platinums require a second run through on hard which I never got round to doing.

Thrillho

colonelkilgore

@Thrillho I probably only gave Hollow Knight around 4 or 5 hours back when I tried it… but I wasn’t as focused on keeping things fresh by varying the games and the order in which I played them at the time. I’m gonna add two genres to the rotation from next year, metroidvania’s and rogue-likes/lites.

Looks like it’s gonna be Guacamelee for the metroidvania and Returnal for the rogue-like/lite. I’m sure most people wouldn’t consider Returnal the best introduction to to the rogue-like/lite but I’ve been looking forward to playing it for a long time so I don’t wanna delay it any longer by sliding a more appropriate entry-level rogue in before it, if you know what I mean.

**** DLC!

Voltan

@colonelkilgore Returnal only dips into the rougelike mechanics and is definitely more of a shooter itself but that might be why it’s actually a pretty good “gateway game”

Voltan

Voltan

@Thrillho I got the platinum in both and honestly I don't remember them being too hard but I could be wrong
I think I got the 2nd one first and then gone back to the 1st though.

Voltan

Th3solution

@colonelkilgore It looks like you’ve come up with a game plan already, but I’ll still throw in my 2 cents (2 pence?) and give you perhaps a little more food for thought. Which you can take or leave, I won’t be offended either way —

Traditionally, I’ve not been a fan of 2D Metroidvania. The ‘getting lost’ part is the worst aspect of it. When I played Guacamelee I suffered the same fate you described of giving up on the game after a couple hours because I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. I also had a similar experience with Muramasa Rebirth, despite loving all the other aspects to the game combat, I just couldn’t find my way around the map. Had pretty much the same experience with Strider, gave up on that after a few hours too.

I’d sworn off of 2D Metroidvanias thereafter, but what warmed me back up to them was actually Dead Cells. And it’s interesting that you were also trying to dip your toe into the waters of Roguelikes too because actually Dead Cells is what they called a “Roguevania” since it has Metroidvania type of layout whereby it has a large interconnected map and you open up paths to new areas that you need to backtrack through; but also has Roguelike elements as well with procedural generation and permadeath. I think the procedural generation of each run makes the Metroidvania parts less glaring. There is a certain way you have to approach the map, but at least every time you go through a certain sub-world it is relatively fresh in it’s specific layout.

So Dead Cells might be another consideration if you want to have a light introductory exposure to both 2D Metroidvania and Roguelike. I quite enjoyed the game, although once I beat the final boss and had a successful run, I didn’t go back and do all the post-game supplemental content that I read about.

After a pleasant experience with Dead Cells I later had a really great time with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It was a Game Club game we played here on the forum a couple years ago and so I benefitted from a little of the peer support in getting through it together, but overall I really liked it. Much more than I expected to. I not only beat the game, but enjoyed the entire ride.

So suffice it to say, I’m not scared or put off about Metroidvanias anymore, and I figure that if I went back to Guacamelee that I might find it more appealing now. But I can’t get out of my head how frustrating it was to be going back and forth over the same areas again and again looking for the next place to further the story. It’s the one impression that’s burned into my memory.

Edited on by Th3solution

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

colonelkilgore

@Th3solution nah feel free buddy, always appreciate as many perspectives as possible 👍. Funnily enough, I just bought Dead Cells on Friday! A mate of mine played it about a year ago and absolutely loved it but I was going through my ‘strictly no 2D games’ period (which won’t actually end until I play my next 2D game tbh).

So… and this in no way reflects my ‘weighting’ of your opinions, I am gonna hold off on starting Dead Cells for the time being. Reason being, I’ve watched a load of reviews and video-essays on it this weekend… and I can tell I AM GONNA LOVE IT! Thing is, to maximise my enjoyment of it, I wanna familiarise myself with the two genres it is merging. I was already gonna start playing rogue-likes/lites anyway (I’ve probably got around 5 or 6 in the backlog as it stands)… but this is the reason I’ve been reconsidering dipping my toe back into metroidvanias. I wanna have a bit of experience in the tank when I eventually take it on, as I think it will only accentuate how much i will get out of it. I’ll be sure to tag you when I get there, that’s for sure 👊.

Edited on by colonelkilgore

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colonelkilgore

Further to all this metroidvania talk, and having read again and again (since looking into the subject) how great it is… just picked up Axiom Verge as it’s on sale.

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sorteddan

I played guacamelee after it was free on plus years ago, loved it, got obsessed with finding every last nook and cranny and the secrets contained within. At the time I wouldn't have considered that i would enjoy 2d platforming games. So turns out I was wrong. The post game stuff needed for the plat was a real test of my dexterity and my patience but I prevailed. Picked up the sequel in a sale and enjoyed that too, if anything I found it a bit easier though maybe that was due to familiarity and experience. Both guacamelee games are well worth the time - if you wanna be a luchador and occasional chicken.

Dead cells I only picked up a few months back and it's also great. I personally wouldn't even put it in the metroidvania category, it's a rougelite with slight metroidvania elements in that skills obtained can open up new paths for future runs. For me a metroidvania involves unlocking new abilities and backtracking through previously completed areas to utilise them. With Dead Cells there is no backtracking, it's ever forwards towards victory or death. So far I've only beat the game on default setting but I do drop in for another attempt from time to time. It's still pretty awesome.

Personally thinking I should get to iconoclasts at some point as it's been in the backlog for quite a while.

Edited on by sorteddan

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

sorteddan

@colonelkilgore
If you really wanna get into rougelikes/lites I would very much recommend Enter the Gungeon. I rate as one of my favourite games I played on the PS4. Though I have recommended it to friends and I know it's definitely not to everyone's tastes. It is hard, it doesn't hold your hand or explain itself but it is a real retro blast and clearly crafted with love.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

JohnnyShoulder

@Sorteddan Plus Dead Cells has the best sounding frying pan in a video game!

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

colonelkilgore

@Sorteddan yeah I regret not adding it when it was part of the free games during the summer. I do have a few though, I’ve picked up Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Wizard of Legend, Curse of the Dead Gods… and obviously Dead Cells. So it’s not as if I’m scratching about for a rogue-like/lite.

I will keep my eye out on Enter the Gungeon though… high praise indeed given the generation that the PS4 has had.

Edited on by colonelkilgore

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PWBeni

Hi guys!

I purchased Lost Judgment Ultimate Edition a week ago. It was written that its compatible with PS4 and PS5 version. But today i noticed that i can't find the games PS4 version in my library, only the PS5 version. However in the store, it is still written that PS4&PS5 version. Have somebody the same issue? At first i thought i refund the transaction, but maybe someone else has the same problem, and they will fix it. Thanks your answers beforehand!

Greetings!
Beni

PWBeni

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