Topic: Games you've recently beat

@nessisonett I struggled through Max Payne on PS4 last year. It feels amazing to use its bullet-time mechanic at first, but it becomes old hat by the end and you're right, the last couple of missions are a whole lot of "kill one baddie, save, kill one baddie, save" stop-start nonsense. The camp value in the overwrought parody-esque tone of the story was brilliant, though. I laughed at almost every cutscene. Was mostly glad to have played it as a piece of gaming history, but I didn't rush out and buy the sequels.

@RogerRoger By all accounts, the PC version is vastly superior to the PS2/PS4 version but yeah I did get a little tired of the many many similar levels by the end. The tone was a bit much as well. Like Remedy were just barfing up stereotypes until the very end!

@nessisonett Do you have the sequels by any chance, or are you planning on getting them?

@RogerRoger Yeah, I have the other two on Steam so I’ll get round to them at some point. I have so many other games to play first though!

@nessisonett I don't remember much of the second Max Payne game but thought the third was brilliant. Really like the South American setting which felt a bit different at the time.

And the recent 25 (I think) anniversary video Remedy dropped for the series was kinda cool!

@nessisonett Oh yeah, I know that feeling. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I was sitting here yelling "Play them, Ness! Play them now!! I must know!!" or anything!

[glances at watch]

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@JohnnyShoulder I heard bad things about the third game, mainly because it was so radically different from the previous two. Which probably means I'd love it. Glad to see it has its supporters (especially since, when I say that I "heard" bad things, I of course mean that I read them on the not-at-all-reactionary-or-bandwagon-controversy-hungry internet).

@RogerRoger Oh really? I may have missed all that at the time or just not cared enough about any of it to stop from playing the game. I suppose it was a change for the series, but it did come a number of years after the previous game. Plus you ain't gonna please all of the gamers all of the time.

@JohnnyShoulder There was some scattered stuff from the usual clickbait sources. I seem to recall rumours about a troubled development, and then "fans" complaining that it had abandoned its gritty noir setting in favour of a GTA-esque aesthetic. Critics seemed to like it, though.

Not that any of that should impact one's enjoyment of any given game, of course.

@JohnnyShoulder @RogerRoger I think I remember complaints that they made him bald.

@nessisonett Now that you've said that, I think I remember reading something similar, yes. Which is such a bizarre complaint to have about a protagonist, but there we are.

@RogerRoger @nessisonett IIRC there was quite a good reason for why he is bald in the game.

Won't be talking about every game I've finished since I left but I thought I'd at least write down all the games I've finished this summer.

Bayonetta 2
Trails of Cold Steel IV (it took me roughly 130 hours to finish it, absolutely phenomenal game!)
Ghost Recon Future Soldier
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (+ DLC)
BioShock
Observer
Devil May Cry 5
Steins;Gate (bloody loved this game!)
Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
Jak 3
Little Nightmares (+ DLC)
Persona 5 Royal (it took me almost 150 hours to finish this one, another phenomenal game!)
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
Sea of Solitude
Man of Medan
Fallout 3 (+ DLC)
The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Medium
Mafia: Definitive Edition
ReCore
Psychonauts
A Plague Tale: Innocence

Overall I think this has been a great summer in terms of gaming for me as I've cleared out a lot of titles from my backlog. Fallout 3 for example has been in my backlog since 2016 and the only thing I had left to do in that game was to do the final mission plus the DLCs. My favourite game this summer is easily Steins;Gate. It's been quite some time since I've found a series that has truly resonated with me, I absolutely love it and can't wait to play the other games in the series.

@LtSarge That's quite the list; something for everybody in there, I'd wager. It's also satisfying to make progress in trimming the ol' backlog a bit. Whilst doing the same for myself, I recently played Psychonauts and thought it was good for what it was. Thanks to the Game Club, I can also say "Hey, me too!" to Resident Evil 2 (PSone) and Mafia: Definitive Edition, both of which were great. What did you think of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and did you enjoy its DLC challenge tombs?

@RogerRoger I honestly think it's the best Tomb Raider game I've played so far. I've only played the PS4 games (2013, Rise and Shadow) though so that might change. But yeah, Shadow was absolutely incredible. I really like that there were hub worlds where you could walk around, interact with people and take on side quests. Not to mention that you would gain access to the DLC challenge tombs this way, which made them feel like a part of the overall story instead of DLC. Regarding the DLC tombs though, I thought most of them were very interesting. The one where you have to ride a raft down a river filled with traps is probably my favourite one. I'm really glad that I got to experience all of them naturally through story progression instead of playing all of them back-to-back after already finishing the game.

Can I also just say how badass Lara was in this game? Taking on jaguars, hiding in the forestry and taking down enemies stealthily is seriously so cool. My favourite aspect of the combat (which was also in Rise towards the end) is when you're underwater and you can swim up like a shark and pull an enemy down with you. Then hearing the confusion from the rest of the enemies as they are slowly eliminated one after the other was just so satisfying. Not to mention towards the end of the game where Lara has lost everything and she basically breaks. When she rose out of the water and you could only see her silhouette and the enemies feared her so much that they had to call in a helicopter to take her down. My god, I've never been so giddy playing a TR game until that moment. It was truly the culmination of everything that has happened so far in the trilogy.

@LtSarge Awesome, couldn't agree more. Whilst I felt that the largest hub (Paititi) damaged the story's pacing on my first playthrough, I still adored exploring it and working with its inhabitants. In terms of spectacle, my favourite DLC tomb was the giant musical instrument, but the trap-laden raft ride was probably the most memorable in terms of gameplay. I would like to replay the game with the DLC integrated at some point because you're right, playing them monthly afterwards was a bit stop-start.

It's gonna be real interesting to see where Lara goes next, after this trilogy, because she always had a streak of badassery about her, but nothing as visceral as the moments you've highlighted there. She was a cool, calm badass before, whereas those bits where she snaps gave her an uncontrollable edge which really suited the story. I really hope they build on that, as it was very effective.

That's me done with Ace Combat 5: Squadron Leader for now, and probably forever.

To its credit, I was genuinely hooked during some of its highlights, but so much of it felt like a repetitive slog, and its attempt to tell me a compelling story via mid-mission voice clips (so often drowned out by afterburners and explosions) fell flat in too many places. I did connect with one character, though, and enjoyed the missions which mixed things up and tasked me with unique objectives.

If you've got an interest in, or just a higher tolerance for, aerial combat gameplay then I'm sure it'd be a treat. For me, it was a nice little novelty used to break up my usual fare. Nothing more.

@RogerRoger Is that the most recent one? I felt the same but lasted a whole lot less longer than you. One of the perks of having PS Now is that you can try games you wouldn't normally without even having to download them.

@JohnnyShoulder No, it's a remaster of an older PS2 game which came free with the Deluxe Edition of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, which is the most recent one and which is currently sitting on my PS4, waiting to get played. Which will happen eventually, but not for a while, methinks.

Do you unlock trophies when trying random stuff via PS Now? Given our conversation going on elsewhere, you'll know why I ask!

@RogerRoger Yep, it all works the same as it does normally, only that at times the resolution and frame rate can take a big hit if streaming. Any if you play a PS3 game, you get to go on the PS3 front screen. Which was a strange for me at first, having never owned a PS3!

Just finished Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight on PS4 after 12 hours of playtime. Pretty good game overall but it's severely lacking in content compared to Persona 4: Dancing All Night. There's no actual story mode like in P4DAN, instead there's a social mode where you interact with the Phantom Thieves member just like confidants in Persona 5 and I honestly thought this was a cool idea, albeit not a good substitute for the story mode. Not to mention that the requirements for unlocking each member's level was kinda arbitrary, for example unlocking challenge modifiers or using different accessories/costumes in the songs you play. It's just not that compelling to unlock them and now that I've finished the game, it's pretty much just grinding from here on out in order to unlock the rest of the social ranks.

Second, there were no remixes of P5 songs that I really liked. P4DAN has so many that I still listen to even years after I finished the game because they're just so good. The list of songs in general is sorely lacking, especially now that Persona 5 Royal has come out with several new excellent tracks like Take Over. Granted, Royal came out after P5DIS but I wish they could've released an enhanced version of the game and added the rest of the songs. Considering how light the game already is in terms of content, more songs would've definitely been appreciated.

As a stand-alone game though, it's a great one to play after finishing up P5. It helps you interact and bond more with the characters you've come to love and you get to enjoy more of the stellar soundtrack of P5. It's just a good time overall and if you can find it for a cheap price then I'd still recommend it even if it isn't as good as P4DAN.

I'm still going to grind for the rest of the social ranks now as well as go for the Platinum trophy since I've gotten so many trophies anyway and it seems like a fairly straightforward one.