@Th3solution@JohnnyShoulder Rayman Legends is excellent and I especially loved the musical levels at the end of each world. The bonus “remixes” of those at the end of the game are really tough though.
That game has a couple of ridiculous trophies though; one of which means having to log into the game repeatedly for at least a month to get.
@Kidfried Congratulations! Yeah, if you go back and look, I think several of us share the sentiment that the epilogue was just too much in a way and may actually detract. It’s got a very ‘DLC’ feel to it, as the ‘first ending’ is quite impactful and satisfying and the rest just seems like extra bonus content. Some people have come in the defense of the extra Marston storyline after Arthur dies saying they thought it was great, but it dragged a lot and affected the pacing of the overall experience to me. I give Rockstar credit though for including all that content (and RDO to boot!) in the base $60 game where most developers would hold back anything outside the core story and sell it separately to us as DLC or add-on packs. So, I try to look at it through that lens and it makes me feel better about it. Because otherwise, I was starting to get rather upset at the game when I was playing it because it just wouldn’t end! 😅
You may find it interesting to go back and read some of the discussion in the game-specific thread where different people weighed in about these issues a few months back.
Regardless, I bet your happy to have seen it through to the end. What’s your next big gaming project? Assassin’s Creed? NieR? Persona 5? Another Yakuza game? God of War? A Soulsborne game?
[Edit: I did go back to the RDR2 thread out of curiosity and revisit some of our discussion back in February when I was finishing the game and I wonder if you still feel as you did back then. We were comparing RDR1 and RDR2 and discussing the pacing and whatnot even then. Interesting read.]
@Kidfried@Th3solution Congrats on finishing. I think, given time and space to think about it, I kind of feel the same way about the epilogue. The 'ending' of the main storyline was so good, that whatever followed was going to struggle to top it.
I'm glad I played the epilogue, though. I thought it was superb in its own way, it just had a completely different vibe. Looking back, I should have had a break from the game before playing it. The epilogue would have worked very well as DLC, but had it been a separate thing, I'm not 100% sure I would have ever got around to it, so I'm glad it was included with the main game.
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Kidfried It sounds like the game is one big rebellion against the idea of less being more.
I do intend to get around to it someday, but I'll confess, hearing about the terrible controls and weighty movement really put me off of it. I like my video game movements to be snappy.
Currently Playing: Resident Evil Village: Gold Edition
Guacamelee 2 - I loved the first one - which I replayed last summer - so very much looked forward to playing this. Like the first game it is a Metroidvania luchador inspired beat-em-up and plays extremely similarly, even retaining the same moves (which are gradually unlocked as you progress through the game).
Despite the familiarity there are a lot of new ideas and the gameplay is considerably more complex - particularly in its often elaborate level design. At times I thought "wow this is clever", but others I swore repeatedly at the TV. Some of the platforming sections are difficult if not downright frustrating, giving the impression that the developers assumed players will have completed the first game beforehand. There is quite a lot of satisfaction in eventually completing a difficult section.
The biggest criticism I have is that controls are a little slow, with a slight delay when using certain moves. In a game that often requires moves to be used in quick succession, it's something that could be a little tighter.
Aside from level design the area that has seen the most improvement is the "chicken transformation". In the first game it was largely a gag and used to move through small paths, but here the chicken has its own moveset and is very effective in combat.
Like the first game there are a lot of "optional" rooms and areas where after completing a particularly difficult platforming challenge you are rewarded with a prize (typically coins, heart or stamina pieces). One late game "chicken illuminati" dungeon is perhaps the most difficult platforming I have ever done in any game.
On the subject of chicken illuminati (yes, a chicken cult), the game has a rather offbeat script that is infused quite a lot of humour.
The game has a pleasing visual style that has been embellished since its predecessor. The vast majority of the music is the same as the first game, however, which I found a little disappointing.
Overall, despite its often high difficulty I enjoyed Guacamelee 2 a lot.
@Kidfried It's about the same, though I thought dodging was slightly off at times - particularly with enemy projectiles. However, because many of the platforming sections are a lot more intricate - requiring lots of different moves to be used in quick succession - the slight delay is sometimes more of an issue there.
@RogerRoger Lol, awesome. And I should amend my statement. I enjoy reading all your game impressions, not just the bad ones. But the descriptions and analogies like steering a milk float are especially humorous and insightful. 😛
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I'd had my eye on this for a little while because of all the similarities to XCOM mentioned in every article about the game and finally picked it up in a sale.
The story in a nutshell is classic post-apocalyptic fare with only small human settlements now remaining. You control a group of mutants who essentially act as scavengers for the colony but end up on a mission to find the chief mechanic for the settlement after he goes missing and it all goes from there. It's all a bit weird but works well enough to tie everything together.
The gameplay is pretty fun and is pretty combat focused. The USP here though is that you control your party in 3rd person but can switch into XCOM style turn based combat whenever you want with the general idea being to recce areas first so you know what enemies are around, and then try and silently pick off lone units as you can. Units walk around with a sphere of vision around them and avoiding these lets you perform sneak attacks. Generally going in all guns blazing will fail miserably. For the most part this works well but does get highly repetitive and there's no penalty for running into the enemy's line of sight if you're sure you can take them out in one turn.
Taking on larger groups in the standard combat style is trickier but quite satisfying. There is a small variety of guns but also only a small variety of enemies so, again, it gets quite repetitive and mostly comes down to swapping between the best weapons for robots or living enemies. There's a small roster of character to choose to play as but they're all pretty much the same other than Bormin who has the hog rush ability (which knocks out enemies for two turns) and Magnus who has a mind control ability. Those two abilities are pretty overpowered and allow you to get on top of small groups quite quickly. The EMP weapon attachments, abilities, and grenades make robotic enemies quite easy too. I'd also read the game was pretty tough so played on standard difficulty but this made it quite easy with quick skill cooldowns and full energy recovery after each fight so I ended up with more medpaks than I could possibly use.
The biggest quibble with the game, however, is that it felt like it ended before it got going. The "conclusion" to the story was pretty unsatisfying and almost made it feel like this was just one very long demo with the full game to come at some point.
Overall, it was a neat little game that has it's limits coming from a small studio but after what I got from Hollow Knight, this felt a little lightweight.
It has the slickest turn based combat I've ever experienced in an rpg. Everything moves really smoothly/quickly, it has an easy to read guide on screen that displays turn order, and the bosses have dynamic effects that make them very exciting (as an example, there's an early boss fight at sea, and it'll often move to a different side of your ship. This doesn't effect gameplay, though many of the other boss' gimmicks do, but it adds a level of excitement you usually don't see in turn based battles).
The sphere grid, while appearing intimidating at first, is a pretty straightforward character growth system. Most characters are effectively locked into a set path for growth at the start (letting you get accustomed to how things work), but by late game you'll have the option to break characters out of their own path, and explore other options (you'd have to go out of your way to do so, but given enough time, everyone can learn everything).
It's equipment system is straightforward as well. Unlike other rpgs, gear doesn't inherintly affect stats. All gear has 1-4 ability slots (many have empty slots that you can customise later on), and the only effect they have on you is based on the abilities they have. While a late game shield may have really good abilities, let's say Stoneproof (immune to petrification), Zombieproof (immune to zombie status), and Waterproof (immune to water magic), it won't give you any extra physical defense than that early game shield that only has Fire Ward (diminishes the damage you take from fire magic). Of course, many equipment does have stat altering abilities (such as HP +10%, etc), but that's the only way it can effect your stats, so that makes it very easy to pick what best suits your current foe.
While the story does have it's fair share of technobabble (what JRPG doesn't?), I found it pretty easy to follow, and it has some big twists. It didn't quite have the effect that it did when I first played it on PS2 since I knew the major twists, but it still managed to completely grip me.
It has a great cast of characters, and they most all have their own interesting character arcs. You'll definitely be sad to part with them when it's time to move on to something else.
It has really fantastic world building, with some unique locations, and it still looks really nice cleaned up in HD.
It has some classic music, and I dare you not to fall in love with "Suteki da Ne".
Cons:
Unskippable cutscenes. Not a dealbreaker, but it's annoying having to listen to the same chatty boss' spiel on your second or third attempt.
I thought they should have given more backstory to Yu Yevon. He's just a really old, really powerful summoner who's constantly summoning Sin for no particular reason apparently. It would have been more interesting had he had been one of Zanarkand's summoners trying to get an eternal revenge on Bevelle for the destruction of his city.
Other:
It is very linear. Now, I personally happen to think it works very well for the particular story they're trying to tell, it helps them to keep things moving at a good pace with something of interest happening almost all the time (and I think makes it a great starting point for someone wanting to get into rpgs), but I can understand that it can be a deterrent to some. It does have the ocassional side objective along the way, but it really doesn't open up until the final story location is available (and even then, most of it is superboss type challenges that might only interest the most hardcore players).
Overall, I think it stands the test of time and is up there with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & Ys VIII as one of the best JRPGs on the system.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
So started My Friend Pedro and I sort of agree with the Nintendo Life review. It is quite fun but the controls are quite complex for an old man like and it means I'll need a lot of practice to really do all the cool moves from the trailer.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy REmake is a masterpiece. Probably the best survival horror game ever made.
Anyway... great write-up! I've owned both 0 and REmake on GameCube forever, but, having heard most of your complaints echoed by other people who have played 0, I never actually ended up playing it, whereas I've probably cleared REmake 4 or 5 times on the GameCube alone. I've always intended to get around to it, but the issues it has just sound so... annoying! I can never work myself up to it.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I could never get on with Resident Evil 0 (or Code Veronica). I still have it for the GC but past the train I never got into it. Which is a shame because REmake is awesome.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
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