Topic: Games you've recently beat

Still can fathom how we played games with the N64 controller without giving ourselves some kind of permanent physical damage!

@Kidfried I was super confused when I was first reading about Swansong a few weeks back as I just assumed it was Bloodlines 2.

Thanks for write up on Cuphead. It's been on my watchlist since it was on Switch, but i suck at shmups and would need to try a demo before I get it.

@Kidfried Glad to hear you enjoyed Cuphead. Despite the steep difficulty, I always felt motivated to try my hand at difficult bosses again until I conquered them. The fact that reloading feels almost instantaneous certainly helped, I'm sure.

The Expert boss difficulty isn't too overwhelming if you're just trying to beat them. If you try to S-rank (only achievable on Expert) all of the bosses, though... you basically have to become perfect at the game. I can't even manage to eat a single hit in this difficulty, since I've found that the HP charms tend to lower my DPS just enough that it's difficult for me to kill the bosses quickly enough.

If you want another insane challenge to look forward to, the game also tracks the Run'n'Gun levels you manage to complete without firing a single shot. If you manage to achieve the "Pacifist" ranking on all of those levels, you'll be able to unlock a Black and White filter for the game... which sucks once you realize it makes it impossible for you to tell which projectiles you can parry off of.

I managed to 100% Crash 2 there. I really enjoyed it, way more than the first game. The warp zone structure just suits the game better since you get an element of choice. There were also more secrets, some well hidden ones but nothing too frustrating. That being said, there were some truly brutal gems to get towards the end of the game and I don’t even know how I managed it. Great game though, onto Crash 3!

Finished Nioh 2, or the main campaign at least. One of my favourite games of this gen, I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish.

@Gremio108 I loved the first game but have had no inclination to pick up the sequel whatsoever. I have no idea why.

@Thrillho I get like that sometimes. I really enjoyed The Surge but could not be bothered to play the second game for no particular reason. 🤷‍♂️

@JohnnyShoulder I’m just not sure I can face another Soulsborne, even though I haven’t played one in a couple of years at least.

@Thrillho I'm saving myself for Demon Souls Remastered. Then my life will be complete. Again.

@JohnnyShoulder @Thrillho I absolutely loved Bloodborne, but I gotta admit that I also have some weird pent up aversion to starting another FromSoft game. I even tried to ease back into the Souls-like with Jedi: Fallen Order, but I just can’t get motivated to take on another full-blown Souls game.

@Th3solution If Demon Souls Remastered dropped tomorrow I would be all over it. Of the other games not made by From Software, I've only enjoyed The Surge, and whenever I see them I just don't find them appealing at all.

@JohnnyShoulder I’ve been tempted by Code Vein. I like the anime aesthetic but when I played the demo the gameplay was tough to wrap my head around.

I’ll probably end up playing Demon’s Souls because there will be only so many PS5 games available in the early going.

@Th3solution I didn't like most of the character designs and heard a few things regarding the combat which put me off Code Vein. I could say 'I'll play it one day' but that would be a lie as I've got loads of other games I want to play before that. If it came on PS Now I would give it a whirl.

@JohnnyShoulder The character designs were quite prophetic, actually. We all wear these masks over our mouths now like the characters in the game, albeit less cool looking. 😛 I’ve not seen people carry around large swords or wearing strategically torn up shirts or capes yet though.

@Th3solution Well I think I look cool with my mask, cape and y-fronts over my tights.

@Thrillho This is a ridiculously late reply but yeah, I was like that with Nioh 2. It was vaguely on my radar, but I only bought it because my mate kept banging on about it.

It really is worth banging on about though, it's superb

@Gremio108 It’s on my list but I’m still waiting for a price fall for TLOU2 it Ghost now (purely out of principle seeing as I didn’t get them at release).

Nioh 2 timed its release well as I think it came out right at the start of lockdown.

@Thrillho Yep, two games I haven't got round to yet either, primarily because of Nioh 2, so you're probably making the right decision!

So I finally managed to keep the rest of the Ghostbusters on their feet long enough to finish the Remaster. As a big fan of the original films (yes even the sequel) I was interested to hear good things about this being considered the third film in a way. I went in fully expecting some last gen clunkiness and there certainly was that but the gameplay was fairly solid and it was fun to bust ghosts with the crew. Unfortunately two flaws ruined the experience for me.
The first is the propensity for your fellow ghostbusters(and yourself) to get knocked down and needing to be revived in order to continue. Early on it isn't much of a problem but the penultimate and final battles became a chore for me, constantly reviving as I knew it would be over if I went down with them down. At one point I spent a few minutes not even using my proton pack as I was just running around reviving.
The second and more damning flaw is with the bizarre sound mix. The main selling point for me on this game was the story being played out with the main cast of the films. However so often I couldn't hear what was being said by certain characters that I missed out on much of the plot. I recorded a few clips as examples.

I'm glad I played it but it's a shame it was spoiled by this silly flaw.

@LN78 Yeah I checked the settings but it only had volume controls. Did you play it on PS4 or the PS3? I must admit I looked to see if there were any mentions of the issue online but couldn't find any. It's very odd.