Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Tjuz I've not decided on the DLCs yet. If there's a Game of the Year-esque package with everything on, I might find it hard to resist. I'll definitely let you know.

@Thrillo While I agree that the ending comes too soon, I was aware of it, and so I was fully prepared. As such, I enjoyed the ending for what it was. You're right though, what with the whole prison break scenario it feels like the game is just building up a head of steam, and then it ends.

The dialogue between companions was great and it encouraged me to rotate companions and take people I wouldn't normally have wanted to bring along (Vicar Max I'm looking at you)

@JohnnyShoulder Parvati and Nyoka were my favourite companions, although I did end up taking Felix along a fair bit, as he was less judgemental about some of my... erm... let's say morally dubious decisions.

@Gremio108 Poor SAM is always overlooked

@Thrillho Yeah I didn't use SAM much. I wonder what he has to say about some of the situations you get into throughout the game?

And that’s the end of the Ezio Trilogy. I’m sad that it’s over as I do love Ezio but it’s nice to see him get a proper send-off. It was quite the emotional ending and I really took to this series in a way I didn’t think I would after the first game had aged so badly. It really will be interesting to see how I feel about the later entries with the classic style.

Saw a guy in the credits called Willy Wang. Safe to say I was giggling like an idiot.

@nessisonett You are a machine lol. In that respect you remind me of Kratos. The ex forum member, not the video game character. 😅

@Kidfried @JohnnyShoulder Since I’m swamped with work during the week, I probably have an hour to play at most but the weekend I can end up playing for hours at a time. Like I said, Brotherhood and Revelations really weren’t that long without doing all the side content but I don’t regret skipping them, it’s mostly just padding even if it can be quite fun.

And that’s Morrowind’s main story done too! I’m on a roll!

@Arugula I’ll be there soon! Literally just got Tag Tournament 2 and then onto 7. Is the story mode any good? 6’s was absolute pants so I’ll take anything better than that 😂

So I got Bloodborne at release, tried it, and gave up after 20 shots at the first boss because I was super stubborn and refused to believe that beating the game after calling for co-op was illegitimate. Tried it again a couple years later, gave up again. But finally, FINALLY, I picked it back up last month, caved and called for co-op to beat the first boss, and once I did, I couldn't put it down. Bloodborne has made a believer out of me and may have turned me onto the Soulsborne genre as a whole. Just beat the true ending for it last week and was going to platinum it but opted to shelve it for now to continue on my backlog journey.

@RogerRoger I reckon I'd still know the layout of the first level in intricate detail having played the demo of the game a LOT of times!

Yesterday I finished Batman: Arkham Asylum for the first time. I decided to play through the Arkham games chronologically instead of release order, partly because I don’t want to play three open-world games in a row. This was therefore my second game in the series after completing Arkham Origins earlier in the year. I don’t think it compares particularly well to Origins, which I vastly preferred (aside from its horrendous technical problems). The set pieces, linear story sections and level design are better in Origins, and the game plays better, too, utilising an array of enhancements that I’m guessing first appeared in Arkham City. Asylum therefore feels a little dated and stilted and very much a game of its time.
Anyhoo, this all sounds rather negative, because despite the above comparisons to Origins I actually had a decent time and enjoyed my playthrough - particularly the relative linearity of the game. One benefit to playing Origins first is that I had a little background and extra context to some of the characters such as Oracle and Batman’s first encounter with Joker.
The darkness of the setting is quite interesting and macabre; Arkham Asylum is a truly disturbing place, where the patients are treated like animals. This made me feel a little uneasy, because I honestly can’t say I blamed the majority of the patients for wanting to get behind Joker and riot. However, one aspect that bothered me is that certain enemies are simply referred to as “lunatics”.
The worst parts are easily Croc’s Lair and the late-game battles.

@mookysam I actually prefer Asylum to City, the only two I’ve played, personally I find the open world in Batman games a bit of a chore to traverse. The more Metroidvania style makes the riddles and trophies a bit more palatable too. Yeah, the final boss is dreadful and it’s a bit dated but I just find it more of a focused and well-rounded package.

@RogerRoger I’m not sure that I did. I seem to vaguely recall a train level but that’s from the second game, although that could be from seeing it rather than playing it (or me just mixing it up with the many many games that have had similar levels).

@mookysam I never played Origins but I’m in the same camp as @nessisonett as the claustrophobia of the asylum made it a better and tighter experience.

City didn’t really benefit from having a big open world as getting around the city as Batguy is nowhere near as fun as doing it with Spidey for instance.

I feel like every time I've been on Push Square recently it's been to bang on about The Outer Worlds, but I got the platinum yesterday so it's time for a final thought.

Just when I thought this game couldn't get any funnier, I decided to drop my character's intelligence for my Supernova difficulty. This resulted in the 'Dumb' dialogue options being available to me, including the classic: "Stand back ADA. I know numbers real good!" Given what follows, this has become one of my favourite lines from any game ever.

Anyway, great game and if you enjoy well-crafted dialogue, play it. It's that simple.

I was just thinking that @Gremio108 hasn't banged The Outer Worlds drum for at least 24 hours. And here you are!

Seriously though, glad you enjoyed and you are right the dialogue is superb. As much as I enjoyed Fallout 4, TOW did show up some of its shortcomings.

Shame both devs are under Microsoft's bosom now, so the likelihood of any sequels appearing on PS5 is slim.

@Gremio108 Wow, good work on the platinum. I liked the game but not enough to do another complete run!

I can’t remember if you said already but are you going to try the DLC?

I recently played through the Two Point Hospital Bigfoot DLC levels. This is included in the base PS4 game but was paid DLC on PC.

The DLC just has three levels in it and contains some new illnesses as well. Some of these are ones that fit in with pre-existing buildings (e.g. new illnesses that can be cured in the pharmacy) but there are a few new ones that use new buildings. Barking Mad sees patients come in dressed up as dogs and a room with a giant doghouse is used to treat them; Monster Mishmash sees Frankenstein patients needing treatment; and my favourite, Metropolism sees patients as Godzilla or giant robots who use a room that sees them rampage through a miniature city.

The first two levels use similar mechanics to a couple of my favourite levels from the base game; the one with a public hospital where money is made from random goals, and the research level where every staff member is trained from scratch. The final one is the most interesting layout as you take over a castle. The twist being that it's haunted so frequent hauntings occur where multiple ghosts will appear at once.

The levels are all set in snowy mountains so new items fit with this and plenty of heating is needed in your hospitals. This also means you get new catastrophes with avalanches (essentially earthquakes that damage your equipment) but also hailstorms which also damage equipment but the hailstones also need cleaning up too.

Overall, three levels is just right for a return to the game and the new illnesses make it more interesting after the base game became a little stale. Rehashing ideas from the base game for the first two levels is a little lazy but at least they were the most interesting ones to re-use.

@JohnnyShoulder Honestly, at this point in time, I'm more gutted about The Outer Worlds 2 not being on PS5 than I am about Fallout and Elder Scrolls. If I end do end up getting an Xbox late in the generation, it'll basically be a Western RPG machine. And maybe a bit of Forza.

@Thrillho Cheers! I wasn't planning on playing the DLCs, but after how much I enjoyed the game, I'm keeping it on the hard drive in case the opportunity arises. It's definitely a game I'd be happy to revisit.

Microsoft having access to all three of the studios that contributed to Fallout over the years gives me a lot of hope that the series can get back on its feet and deliver something comparable to Fallout 1-3 or New Vegas. Obsidian's a big get.