Topic: Games you've recently beat

Finished Return of the Obra Dinn and absolutely loved it. It’s just one big puzzle that feels incredibly satisfying to unpick. Similar to The Witness in that regard.

@LtSarge This is the biggest problem I have with the Forza Horizon games. You're given Lamborghinis and Aston Martins within the first 90 minutes, and then you never have to worry about buying new cars for specific events or anything like that ever again.

This is why I much prefer the Gran Turismo approach. Make those supercars dream purchases 20 or so hours down the line. I want to drive a crap Toyota for the first few hours.

@LiamCroft I agree, but I do think it's an issue with Forza Horizon in particular since it's definitely not like that in Forza Motorsport. I played through Motorsport 5 a couple of months ago and I had to constantly buy new cars. Maybe the developer wants to make the experience more casual for the Horizon series, but it just feels like a waste.

@Keith_Zissou If you’re into puzzles that you basically solve yourself and a plot that pieces itself together in your mind then it’s truly fantastic. Just don’t expect any handholding!

@LtSarge That has to be what they're going for. At least I would think so, but maybe a happy medium in Forza Horizon 6? Even in Forza Horizon 4, which I still play off and on since I was very late to the party, getting cars is basically pointless. I prefer them to clothing items, but they're still a waste.

@KilloWertz @LtSarge @LiamCroft Very much agree that the real draw for me over the years to Gran Turismo was the gradual feeling of progression. Perhaps it’s the rpg lover in me but I enjoy the solo ‘campaign’ where I build my garage and ‘level up’. There is an important balance that it needs to have where the player gradually improves skills but also gradually gets access to better quality of cars. Not unlike an rpg.

Not having an Xbox, I can’t speak to the Forza series, but it sounds like they have both options — the solo progression rpg-like time sink, and the grab-and-go-drive-the-Ferrari-on-day-1 casual approach.

Here’s hoping GT7 eschews this online only racer approach and brings us a deep sim racer where I can drive and level up a second hand Honda Civic for a couple hours before I start investing into my dream garage.

I finished this game yesterday.

Yes, i played Barbie games.
Girly girly games.

@Th3solution Forza Horizon has RPG elements as well; each time you level up, you get to spin a wheel and get a random item such as a car, money or a clothing item. But the rewards are pointless because you already have good cars, money is spent on buying cars (which you don't need to do), buying clothing items (which are meh) or buying houses which serve as fast travel points. In other words, you don't really need money in this game.

Forza Motorsport has had RPG elements since at least Motorsport 3 on Xbox 360. You level up, get more money to buy more cars so that you can participate in higher level cups and so on. You can even level up your car manufacturer rank depending on how often you use a car from that manufacturer and for each level you get a higher discount when buying cars from them. It's a great progression system, but yeah Forza Horizon is definitely more for the casual audience.

@Anti-Matter Is it not a bit reductive to describe such games as girly? Should we not be at a point where you can play whatever the hell kinda game you want without segregating based on gender?

@LtSarge In a way it’s like a Souls game or an action adventure game where you have bosses to get past and you feel so satisfied when you fine tune your skills and upgrade your equipment to the point that you can finally beat that boss, and then go on to open the next area of the map where you start preparing for the next boss. It’s really similar with the driving sims — you get better and at get to know your brake distances, understeer and oversteer, drafting, etc. all the while accruing money (= XP) to use on modifications and cars (= weapons, equipment, and skills) and take on the next course (= dungeon) to win the next cup (= boss). 😄

Forza sounds like a very well done series and it would be a good reason to own Xbox. I like that mechanic of gaining loyalty points with a certain manufacturer

That's the credits rolled for Spider-man Miles Morales. Really enjoyed this one, probably a shade more than 2018 Spider-man. Miles Morales due to its shorter length felt like it respected my time a bit more, with less bloat as there were less side activities.

The combat is also superior with less gadgets to use and instead the focus is with using your Venom powers, and as they aren't used by bring up a radial menu it feels less fiddly to use. Traversal was as amazing in the 2018 game.

Story wise is about the same with high production values, and a good (relatively unknown) voice cast. Just like in the 2018 game, I found it a little predictable in places but there were also a couple of surprises along the way.

Soundtrack and score was good, with a mix of hip hop, latino beats and orchestral, which I thought they transitioned very well. The former two I'm not really the biggest fan of, but I thought it suited the characters and setting to a tee.

Graphically I was impressed with spectacular lighting and shadows due to ray tracing. With the enemy powers being very neon-y (and purple), this was really allowed to shine. The end boss fight was in particular a real showcase.

Which leads one to my one real gripe, the lack of bosses. I think there 5 boss fights in the game, with 2 of those with the same enemy and another one a VR training thingy. None of the are bad though, but nothing on the scale of the Electro/Vulture or Scorpin/Rhino from the 2018 game.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am excited to see what they do with the full sequel, from the teaser trailer we saw earlier in the year. Still got a few bit to clear up after the story, and may even start a new game+ playthrough. Which is something I very rarely do.

@JohnnyShoulder If you’re going to NG+ for the trophy, it’s amazing how short the main story is but the side content blends in to the overall story really well and doesn’t feel tacked on that much at all.

It’s also nice for the NG+ trophy not to be locked behind the hardest difficulty too.

Great game though and it’ll be fun to see how the incorporate both Spideys into the next game!

@JohnnyShoulder funnily enough I wrapped the first playthrough on it today too… and pretty much agree with all you said on the game. I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated… and probably a tad more than the original.

Started the ng+ run and found that after only about an hour or two I’m already over halfway through.

@Thrillho @colonelkilgore Yeah I hear you can blitz through NG+ if you lower the difficulty. Didn't find the game that difficult on the standard difficulty. We shall see. At my parents from tomorrow so probably won't get a chance till I'm back, maybe after the break I will be more up for it.

Edit: And for reference it took me 23 hours to complete the story and about 80% of the map.

@JohnnyShoulder I haven’t changed the difficulty tbh… it just seems so quick as you only have to focus on the main missions and all your upgrades carry over.

@colonelkilgore Yeah I know that lol but it would be even quicker lowering the difficulty. Tbf time isn't the only reason I wouldn't do NG+, as I've only just completed the game I'm not sure if I can be bothered playing through it again, and would rather play something else instead.

@JohnnyShoulder yeah that’s fair, I’m only playing through the ng+ to pop the plat. What you playing next?

@colonelkilgore I've only got the trophies left from NG+, so who knows which way the wind will blow after I'm back. Especially with all the food I'm gonna be eating. 🤣

I'll be over my folks for the next few days, so I'll either be on my switch or my dad's ps4. It will be a smaller indy game most likely as I can't be dealing with the performance hit when playing a larger scale game. I have no idea what that will be, so I'll just browse my library.

In terms on my PS5 I've got Resi Evil Village, which I thought would be a good game to see in the new year with.

How about you, what is next on the Infamous Colonel Schedule?

@JohnnyShoulder I’m actually playing it loose atm if you can believe it… I’m currently weighing up Rise of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Assassins Creed 2, Devil May Cry and Grand Theft Auto 3. I’m super undecided about it… and it’s killing me tbh.

@colonelkilgore Whoa, take it easy now! Out of those I would recommend them in the order you put them. I'm waiting for a PS5 version of GTA 3, if one is indeed on the way. I don't generally play remastered versions of games I've already played, but there are certain titles that are so influential to me that I'm willing to give them a pass. Games like GTA 3, Metal Gear Solid, Dizzy Egg. But I'm not playing a broken version either.