Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Iver Nice. Yakuza 6 is great as it looks fantastic, everything has voice acting, and the story is one of the best. There are much less substories so the pacing works better too.

Clan Creator is back but works better than YK2, hostess clubs are also a little different (for the better), and new side games are fun.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the conclusion to the series!

@Iver I did play Yakuza 0 a couple years ago and just didn’t quite finish it. I liked my time with it though. But for me - it’s length got in the way. Perhaps if I tried to just mainline the story then I could justify trying to go back and wrap it up. But I’m caught in one of those weird spaces where I’ve invested dozens of hours into it so don’t want to start over, yet I think it would be hard to go back a pick up where I left off because I can’t remember the mechanics and what was going on in the story.

I like the sound of other entries being a little more focused and shorter, and so I have kept an open mind of trying the series again one day.

I have a few series that I’ve only played isolated entries, and it works fine for most when the narrative isn’t too interconnected. But when the story is one of the big attractions, I usually like to have it all, if possible, especially if it’s one continuum like Kiryu’s story.

So Judgement or Like a Dragon seem to be where the series goes away from Kiryu and might make sense for me if I did want to dip my toes again. But the price is right for Y1-Y6 which is why it caught my eye.

I cleared Tales of Arise (Steam) the other day, and it was pretty fantastic. It's more an evolution of the series rather than a table upturning revolution, but the many small changes made make it the best Tales game in a long time.

World structure isn't all that much removed from Berseria (in fact, it's probably more linear), so this definitely isn't some sort of open world transformation, however combat is much easier to grasp than the past couple games and your party will be performing fun, slick, & flashy combos of death in no time. That's not to say it's an easier game though, as I found that it was prudent to have cooking buffs active whenever entering new areas/fighting bosses to stay competitive (which isn't something I really had to do in past Tales games), and at the very start (with just 1 or 2 party members) even basic enemies could KO me with 2-3 hits. This MAY be part of a balancing push to get the player to buy the various buff/boost DLCs (of which I didn't partake), but to be honest I never once felt the need to grind for story purposes, and managed to beat bosses 3-4 levels higher than myself without much trouble. I only had one grinding session (maybe an hour long), and it was for the strongest optional boss (strongest before post game anyhow, which I haven't fully explored). The only other slight bugbear in the combat in my mind is that in late game your spellcasters get flashy screen filling attacks that can make it difficult to see the action at times.

There's a lot of other small changes that really add to the experience too (in addition to the lush modern graphical presentation). With the exception of the side quest dialogue nearly everything is fully voice acted, including EVRY skit, which by the way are now fully animated affairs (like living manga panels), and your different costume/weapon choices are reflected in all skits & cutscenes (except for the few anime cutscenes, naturally). The reintroduction of sci-fi elements to the series (in fact, I'd say the most sci-fi premise I've experienced from the series, though it's still full of fantasy too) makes the world building much more interesting than Zestiria or Berseria, and while I could see some coming, there were quite a few twists in the story & lore that were very interesting. I almost want to say it seems Xenoblade inspired (with dual low tech & high tech planets), but it still feels very much it's own thing. Character designs are generally pretty good, and their personalities play off each other nicely. Finally, while it may seem a bit heavier narrative wise than past games (honestly, I think Berseria may be just as heavy, though Arise's updated graphical presentation just makes it hit home a bit more), it still remembers to have a lighter side, in fact, I like to call it Tales of Owl-rise, lol.

For full disclosure, I did buy the Swimsuit DLC for the female party members, which does come with an extra branch to each of their skill trees. I don't believe these offer unique skills though, just further boosts to skills they learn in-game.

That's my third run of Final Fantasy VII Remake finished.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, it was pretty easy going as it was using my old save with my top level characters and high level materia, and I only played on the normal difficulty. As such, I breezed through most of the battles (having Cloud so strong and with materia allowing him to use triple slash straight away saw me through most small encounters almost instantly) but some of the boss fights still took some effort.

Those boss fights really are great though and they're all wonderfully varied so show off the combat mechanics of the game brilliantly. Even with my set up, the fight with (late game "spoiler") Rufus was still pretty tricky.

I also picked up on a few things I missed first time round (my hard difficulty run I pretty much skipped all the cutscenes and flew through dialogue), particularly (end game spoilers) that the Sephiroth seen in the Shinra building was the two cloaked guys you saw in sectors 5 and 7 (as they have the matching number tattoos).

I was also slightly surprised on this run to find (chapter 14 spoilers) Aerith outside her house for a short scene after you go back there to find Marlene after the sector 7 plate drops. On both my other runs I'd spoken to Tifa and apparently it's also possible to have a scene with Barret instead so it's much like the Gold Saucer date from the original game!

The game plays even better in 60fps than when I first played on PS4 and the production of the game really is top drawer!

Now onto INTERmission! (which I thought I'd already purchased but seemingly hadn't so wrote these thoughts while waiting for it to download )

So I finally finished up Psychonauts 2 and this was such a phenomenal game. It just oozes with so much creativity and each level felt so different and refreshing from the previous one. The levels never failed to bring a smile to my face, whether it was due to the different environments or the entertaining dialogues between the characters. Speaking of which, I'm amazed at how many characters there are in this game. I thought the first game had tons of them, but this one brought it to another level. The important thing though is that the developers managed to give each character enough time in the limelight so that you get to know them and care about them. Otherwise you would've gotten all these forgettable characters such as the kids from the first game.

Compared to the previous game, the controls have been much improved and the graphics are obviously much better, which made the levels that more stunning to look at. Combat has also been vastly improved and overall, it felt much more fun to play this game compared to the first one, which could get frustrating to play sometimes. Not to mention that some levels and boss fights in the first game could get rather difficult. Luckily, the developers made sure not to have these frustrating moments in the sequel. I can't remember a single time when I got frustrated, the game just felt great to play. It could still get challenging, but not to a point where you would get frustrated.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time with Psychonauts 2 and it's definitely one of my favourite 3D platformers of all time now. I highly recommend playing it, but do play the previous game first in order for the story to make more sense. Not to mention that it'll be easier to remember the characters when you've already encountered a good amount of them in the first game.

@Iver I enjoyed it but it mostly as an isolated game but it did feel a bit disappointing as the final Yakuza game. It looked and felt great to play, and Clan Creator was better than in Y2. I got quite into the baseball minigame/substories though

And that ending felt a bit of a letdown really. I thought they wouldn’t actually go through with killing Kiryu and was quite surprised when it seemed that he had. But no, they didn’t and it ended up feeling like a worst of all worlds really..

As for myself, I finished off FF7R: INTERmission last night.

About 10hrs overall for gameplay I think it was. The story is reasonably interesting and fun, taking part between the second bombing and the sector 7 plate collapse in the main story.

It throws a whole load of new characters at you who are pretty forgettable really but the lack of side missions means that the pace of the main story is kept up nicely.

The big distraction from the main story in the Fort Condor minigame. Instead of being an actual place like FF7 itself, it has been redesigned as a board game where you both try to destroy one another’s base by deploying units to do so. It’s simple, fun, but frustrating at the higher levels.

The combat is quite unique from the main game though. Yuffie has some fairly standard short and Lange range abilities but the big difference is that you don’t control your partner. You can issue commands to him but he’ll do his own thing otherwise. However, you can “synchronise” and attack enemies simultaneously but also perform synchronised abilities which use an ATB bar from each character to perform more powerful attacks.

It’s lucky that combat feels so good as there is a lot of it, especially in the second chapter which towards the end feels like battle after battle after boss. Scarlet also plays a bigger role than the main game and she’s a fun character to expand on.

The final boss felt something more like a modern Kojima character than an FF7 one but apparently he’s a known character from Dirge of Cerberus which I know nothing about.

Overall, a fun little experience that may have relevance for the second part of the main game (mainly giving Yuffie some reason for joining the party) but I didn’t feel the need to rush and replay it on hard like I did with the main game.

@LtSarge I quite want to pick P2 up at some point but it does seem playing the first game
is advised and it sounds like that feels pretty rough to play these days.

@Thrillho Honestly, as a whole, the first Psychonauts holds up pretty well in terms of controls and movement in my opinion. The thing that makes the game less appealing to play these days is the level design and difficulty spikes for some boss fights, particularly the final area. I'm sure you've heard of the "Milkman Conspiracy" level, I was extremely frustrated with that level because all of a sudden, you have to do all these things that the game never told you about. For example, all the PSI powers that you learn throughout the first half of the game are never utilised in order to progress through the levels until that level. But the game never tells you this, so you walk around and do everything that you know that you can do but you can't progress. Then you look up a guide and you find out that you need to burn that thing or do that thing with one of your PSI powers and I didn't even know they were mandatory to use in order to progress. I just thought they were optional to use in battles if you wanted some variety. If you ask me, this is clearly some Tim Schafer level of obtuseness as he is known for making difficult and unclear puzzle games.

But yeah in terms of platforming, I actually thought it was good. But I've definitely heard some people say that the game is rough around the edges in that regard too.

@Iver I'm surprised you out YK2 so low in your list though as I really liked that one. Good to see you put Like a Dragon so highly as I still have that to play (as well as the Judgment games).

@LtSarge I'm sure I'll get to them both at some point as I do love a platformer and good ones aren't that common these days. Good to hear you still (mostly) enjoyed the first game too though.

Just finished Genesis Noir and this has to be one of the most bizarre indie games I've ever played. It's a very, very surreal experience where the focus is more on the story and the visuals rather than the gameplay. As a result, it wasn't that fun to play but I came out very impressed by the cut-scenes. The theme is basically a mix of astronomy and noir, which I thought was very interesting and it made for some incredible visuals. Fact of the matter is that this game is more of an experience rather than an actual game. So if you're going in with that kind of expectations, then I think you'll have a great time. Although it's worth noting that I encountered a lot of bugs when playing it on my base Xbox One. I'd explore and wander into areas that basically wouldn't let me leave. Not to mention that some interactions just wouldn't get triggered. I'm rather shocked that it's been over six months since the game came out and these issues still haven't been ironed out. I don't know if they're specific to base Xbox One, but it's still worth keeping in mind.

Just finished DOOM 64. Man, it's so crazy to say that because I've been struggling to get through this game for the longest time now that I never thought I'd beat it. At first I was rather burned out on the series after having played DOOM 1 and 2, so I kept starting it up then putting it down for months on end without any noteworthy progress. However, I decided a couple of days ago to start it up again and it finally clicked with me. It was so much fun to play now after having taking a long break from the series, which is just what I needed. The game is really good, but it can get a bit formulaic. Still, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm glad that I finally finished it. It feels great to now be one step closer to playing the more modern DOOM games, such as DOOM 3 and DOOM (2016).

Before I move on from it though, I'm going to play through the additional Lost Levels campaign. I still want to experience more of this game, so I'm definitely looking forward to playing this extra campaign.

Scarlet Nexus

Other than some horrendous pop-in during pretty much the whole game and some frustrating "boss" battles, I had a pretty good time with it. Really dug the art style and thought it was an overall pretty good looking game, and I agree with the masses about the combat system being great.

The bond level system in the game was also pretty poorly executed in my opinion as well. It starts out fine by naturally progressing with presents on bond episodes aside from the Team Bond Level staying at 1 for the entire game up until the final couple of phases, but then you end up having to spam presents to people to get their bond level to rise. I was unable to get 2 of mine to Level 6 for no apparent reason even though I spammed them probably close to 10 presents each the final time the team was at the hideout. In the end, it doesn't matter a whole lot unless you want all of the achievements. Just pointing out a frustrating flaw in an otherwise pretty enjoyable JRPG.

I'm glad Microsoft added it to Game Pass so I could play it for "free", as I'm not sure when I would have ever played it otherwise (I was planning on buying it someday for my PS5, but was in no rush since the demo didn't click with me).

@RogerRoger Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. There's not much depth to the classic DOOM games to make them enjoyable over a long period. However, I think that's what makes them so good in my eyes. It's kinda like old school Resident Evil, these games are just much simpler to play than the modern titles. Games from the 90s simply weren't as complicated to play and that's appealing in its own way. I would actually love to replay older games such as DOOM and Resident Evil because they're pure fun, but not as much with modern games such as The Evil Within because they're way more intricate and you have to be 100% focused when playing these games, which gets tiring.

Last week I finished Ys Seven for the PSP, which is the third Ys game I’ve played in a row this year. It looks like a PS1 game, but is surprisingly fast and fluid, with combat handling almost on par with that of the excellent system in Ys: Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin. Seven has a party system (I believe it was the first Ys game to utilise this feature), with the player able to switch between party members on the fly. Although regular enemies gave me no trouble, the bosses were a different matter entirely. The final boss took the piss a bit, necessitating a lot of grinding for items to make the best armour and weapons. Although the story is window dressing, it does have more of an emphasis than Felghana, and the music is wonderful, as to be expected. My favourite Ys game thus far is easily Origin, but Seven is a very enjoyable game in its own right.

Also recently completed Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris in co-op, along with all the challenges. It's fun, but not too different from The Guardian of Light and has some surprising performance hiccoughs on the PS4. One issue with the isometric viewpoint is it can be tricky to judge depth, so jumping towards tightropes occasionally caused Isis to plummet to her doom. Speaking of Isis, I came to loathe her voice performance. I get that they wanted an ancient Egyptian broad to sound commanding, but she's so monotone and overdone. Keeley Hawes' is great as Lara though.

@RogerRoger You're.... welcome? lol

I would say how it's actually done in Scarlet Nexus, but I don't want to ruin your mental image I suppose.

@mookysam I remember discussing the Ys series with you a long time ago (at least I think it was you, not many people here play the Ys games after all) so I'm glad to see that you're still going through this series! Ys Seven is one of my favourite games in the series and it felt so good to play it after coming off from Ys I & II Chronicles as well as The Oath in Felghana. Origin is great as well, I've been meaning to replay it one of these days.

Which game in the series are you considering playing next? Memories of Celceta would be my recommendation as it plays pretty much like Ys Seven, but if I recall correctly the characters were more likeable in MoC than in Seven.

On a side note, I actually played through Ys VIII earlier this Spring and it's become my favourite game in the series. It's so much more ambitious than any title before it: the story is better, the combat is better, the characters are definitely more memorable and so on. Not to mention that it actually feels like a full-length JRPG now, clocking in at about 40-50 hours of playtime depending on how much of the side content you choose to pursue. Definitely save it though for when you're done with the older Ys games.

@mookysam Ys Seven was just OK for me, the story was a step up but the overall world and dungeons felt a little bland. I agree about the final boss too, had to grind loads. I think I prefer Oath and Origin for sure. Glad to see you enjoyed it though!

@RogerRoger Trust me, I understand that sentiment very well because I didn't grow up with old school games. My first console was the Wii, then I got a 360 and later on a PS3, so I've mostly known more modern games and that's where my preference lies. However, as you already know, I love variety and discovering new things, so naturally exploring retro games is always interesting to me. Most are not compelling to me, but then I'll find those that are and it makes me very excited to play them. It's just interesting to discover something new because there are so many different games and you'll always find something that stands out.

@RogerRoger Your squad has a hideout that you go back to after each phase/mission of the game. You can go back in the middle too if you want, but anyways, that's when you give squadmates presents to up their Bond Levels (along with Bond Episodes). In other words, it doesn't actually happen on the battlefield.

I wasn't able to get one of the achievements because of it being flawed, along with the items certain Others (what you primarily fight in the game) are supposed to drop when you kill them a certain way also being flawed because I could have likely tried to farm that particular item for an hour and probably would have come up empty. You need a particular item to trade it for another item that unlocks slots for abilities, and I'm guessing because I was only able to unlock 2 of their 3 slots, that is why I couldn't get their Bond Level maxed out no matter how many presents I gave the last 2 characters.