Topic: Games you've recently beat

@RogerRoger I only got it because I needed to fill my Christmas list out. Life Is Strange 2 totally killed any interest I had in the franchise, honestly. But pretty quickly into True Colors I was hooked.

Looking at reviews, I get some of the criticisms and why it's perhaps not getting as much praise as I think it should, but also some of those criticisms I see as positives. It's shorter? Sign me up! The story is more straightforward? I'll take that!

I think they've done a really brilliant job with the characters here and so for me it was a win.

@RogerRoger @johncalmc Thanks for reminding me I have LiS2 sitting in the backlog. Not sure when I’ll get around to it.

I’m looking forward to also playing True Colors since it’s been more universally praised. But I have a hard time dropping $60 for one of these games. I know I shouldn’t begrudge it having a full price when I very readily drop full price for other 12 hour games like Uncharted or Ratchet & Clank. I picked up LiS2 on a sale last year for like $15 so I figure by the time I get to True Colors it’ll be on the cheap.

Just finished my first playthrough of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and it’s a really good game. I always see it in the sales for under a fiver, so if you haven’t played it, it could be a nice little bargain for you. As I mention in another thread recently, it’s as good an immersive sim as I’ve played. There are some great skills available to unlock… and as a result there are many different ways in which you can play through each mission.

I’m gonna need at least one more playthrough (on the permadeath I Never Asked for This difficulty) and maybe another one after that too, as almost all of the trophies are missable and it’s real easy block an achievement.

@colonelkilgore I actually have Deus Ex Mankind Divided in my library by virtue of claiming it when it was a PS+ giveaway, and every now and then I am slightly curious to try it, but never enough to commit to downloading it. You’ve piqued my interest slightly, but I recall you said something about it reminding you of Dishonored, which I really couldn’t get into. Is there another game you’d compare DE: MD to as being similar? I really don’t have a good grip on what the game is like. It’s largely flown under the radar.

@Th3solution so aesthetic-wise, it’s very Matrixy/cyberpunky which is one of my favourite cups-of-tea if you know what I mean. The closest approximation in terms of a gameplay-loop is definitely Dishonored though I’m afraid. It’s one of those ‘immersive sims’ where each area is a ‘decent’ size in terms of foot-print but can really be delved into using the various skill set that you choose due to verticality and subterranean. Every mission can be carried out in a multitude of different ways due to the skill set you select also.

It (& the Dishonored games) also remind me (a little bit) of the classic Bethesda games. I mean, one is immersive-sim and one is full on western RPG but there are similarities.

In all honesty mate, I’ve tried lauded games and struggled to get into them (like with you and Dishonored)… and then tried them a couple of years later, while in a different frame of mind and really clicked with them. Maybe just wait until you’re looking for something completely outside of your usual tastes and give it a try.

@colonelkilgore Thanks, bud. Seeing as I own (or ‘have access to’ for lack of a better term) Mankind Divided, it might be the one I try if I get the hankering for something different and in that wheelhouse. I have Dishonored on PS3, but not the remastered PS4 version, so I’d rather not go back 2 gens ago to play a game I’m already wishy-washy about.

My gaming calendar is pretty full though. I don’t think I’ll venture for a while. But every now and then I get a wild hair to be impulsive with booting up a random game. Happened with Dirt 5 this week and it turned out pretty well.

@RogerRoger Game pricing has become incredibly inconsistent. And the advent of streaming services is only making it more convoluted.
If/when LiS2’s number is called, I’ll definitely drop a tag to you, since I still recall well your great review from a couple years ago.

@Th3solution yeah that’s fair mate.

All I would say (for if you do ever give it a go), personally I find these types of games are all about exploration. I’ll spend hours searching every nook and cranny… and feel relatively satisfied with finding little more than a hidden passage (and yet more to explore 😂). If exploration really isn’t your thing, it could be why you didn’t click with Dishonored.

@colonelkilgore I actually quite like exploration. It was probably the timing in my life that was the problem with Dishonored. That and the first person viewpoint, which I abhorred before but am a little more tolerant to now.

@Keith_Zissou getting the plat is… ‘complicated’ mate. So, the game itself is pretty easy… but the plat requires a permadeath run on the hardest difficulty (which only unlocks after your first playthrough), there is an online mode called breach (which I’m yet to try) and there are a few trophies for that… but most awkward is not locking yourself out of side missions and collectibles and such. I was very patient during my first playthrough and done everything I could possibly think of… and I still locked off side missions etc. Pretty much every trophy is missable, so I’ve since found out that it is advised to keep multiple save points in play for any such mishap. Still, it’s a good game regardless of the trophy hunt complications, so it’s definitely worth the often minuscule amount being asked for it.

@Keith_Zissou I actually need to go back and finish off a few things for the Fallout 4 plat myself… I don’t have any saves though, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a real fast run through the main missions only. I have to get the trophy for 100% Settlement Contentment too, which is supposed to be a pain.

Still a bit to do on both Division 2 & Deus Ex… (& Yakuza Kiwami) and would love it if I could wrap them up before release schedule starts getting busy. If not though, I circle back to them at some point (like Fallout 4, which was like 7 years ago 🤣).

@Jimmer-jammer well I hope everything’s okay mate! Yeah it was good fair play. I know what you mean too… the post credit twist and reveal really sets up what would be an interesting next instalment (which we’ll probably never get).

@Jimmer-jammer ah good. Haven’t played any Breach yet but there are a few trophies attached to that mode, so I’ll be giving it a go when I get a chance to.

@Keith_Zissou cheers buddy, how’s Mass Effect going anyway, does it still hold up?

@Keith_Zissou yeah I played the first two on 360 way back when (the original Mass Effect was actually the straw that broke the camels back and made me go out and buy an Xbox). Loved them both. Then my Xbox died but by that point themMass Effect games had come to PS3, so I picked up the third game on PlayStation and for whatever reason (I can’t really remember if I’m honest) I couldn’t get into it.

I picked up the Legendary Edition late last year though, so I’ll be looking forward to not only playing the first two again… but also to play through 3 and to see how it all ends.

Oooof! Man, you gotta do you of course… but I’d be a little worried that I’d be burned out by the third in that case. However you do it though, enjoy dude.

Recently Finished Dark Souls 1 Remastered.

@colonelkilgore Similar history with the original trilogy as well. Not the buying a 360 for it as I already had one, but I loved both 1 and 2, so naturally I was really looking forward to 3. For whatever reason, it didn't click with me and I never finished it. Now, with the Legendary Edition, I'm able to go back and give it another shot.

I've already played 1 and 2 again, but 3 is still in waiting. I've had the release since it came out, and I was planning on spacing them all out a little but finishing them all in 2021. That obviously went a bit sideways, but I'll definitely get to it at some point after Horizon Forbidden West.

I look forward to finally giving Andromeda a shot as well, as I totally skipped over that due to it's unfortunate release. I picked it up yesterday along with a couple of other games before the last Games Under $20 sale prices expired.

@KilloWertz I haven’t even started playing through them yet, something that I really need to find some time to do. I’m considering picking up Andromeda too, I saw that a ‘certain someone’ 😉 was playing it prior to block-gate and really enjoying it… maybe it’s been salvaged from the massacre it received at release.

@colonelkilgore @KilloWertz @Keith_Zissou I’m pretty close to pulling the trigger to play ME: LE through the EA Play sale. It’ll be my chance to try this streaming service witchcraft and see what all the fuss is about 😜. Not sure I’ll be able to get through more than one or two of them in the 3 month trial.

My ME experience is the opposite of yours — I skipped ME one back then because I had no Xbox, and jumped in at ME2 on PS3 and then played and finished ME3 with my same bro-Shep. So I’m looking forward to playing fem-Shep and playing properly from the first game rather than doing the little intro I had to do: “here’s a quick summary of the story so far and the 3 or 4 major decisions from the first game you need to make so that this game makes sense”

I finished Kena: Bridge of Spirits last night .. but I had to drop the difficulty down, for the final boss, to do it. I'm left with rather mixed feelings about that, but it was just No Fun otherwise.