Topic: Games you've recently beat

@KilloWertz Yes I certainly enjoyed it more once I turned down the difficulty. I felt the platforming elements could still sometimes be a bit frustrating as if I needed to be too precise with double jumping. There were plenty of times Kena would plummet (sometimes to death) down because it looked like she was a few inches short of the height needed despite pressing the same button twice the same as all other times. The niggles meant it just fell short of being a great game but I'm glad I got it and played it. Like you mentioned it was still a great effort for a first game and would imagine they will only improve with time.

Guardians of the Galaxy has some great sound and music and is well mixed. I'd sometimes leave the PS5 tab page for the game open for a bit before playing because of the guitar music it plays. I hope you continue to enjoy it. I got the platinum for that today but I also turned the difficulty down for the last couple of boss fights in that too as I kept dying and they were quite lengthy. Still thought it was a great game though.

@JohnnyShoulder Like most games that allow you to individually alter the voice/sound effects/music I usually tweak it to about 100%/90%/70% (in that order) and it was fine for normal gameplay but it didn't seem to make any difference to the major cutscenes, at least for me. I don't like to play with subtitles as I find them distracting but felt I had no choice after a while as I couldn't make out some of the dialogue over the music. Maybe it depends on the tv, I should have tried it through my surround system but I often forget to put it on.

How did you get on with the final boss? I died twice on the bit where you return to the Rot God when it threw me out the edge of the area and could barely move. I didn't think to shield dash so got insta-killed before I could get back in. Hence having to all the way back to the start of the fight. And this was on the easy difficulty 😁. Got him on the third try though.

@BearsEatBeets Ah yeah I've got a soundbar with a seperate sub woofer, and also play a couple of hours a week with headphones. I didn't touch the sounds uptions either, I usually don't mess with those unless something doesn't sound right.

As for the last boss, I think I died more times in the platforming section in-between fighting the boss, especially when you have have to hit those plants in mid air. I died a fair few times, but this is normal for me. Corrupted Taro I must have faced a dozen times before giving up and putting it down to easy.

@JohnnyShoulder Oh yeah I died the first time I tried the flower point in that phase. I got worried for a second it was going to send me right back to the start for that but thankfully it's only the start of that section and not the whole fight.
I'm pretty sure Corrupted Taro was my turning point too, but I left it down after that and subsequently died much more from platforming than fights after that.

@BearsEatBeets Once Kena really clicked for me, it felt nostalgic. Yeah, like you said, it had small issues here and there, but it still brought me back to older school fantasy adventure games. I guess it also didn't hurt that it was a gorgeous looking game.

I leave it sitting on the game on the home screen just to let the music play for a while too. I think I'm near the end of Chapter 14 and I'm still highly enjoying it, so it should be safe now. I'll try to remember that if the bosses at the end give me much trouble, so thanks for the heads up.

Just finished Jak X: Combat Racing and y'know what? Not bad. Not bad at all.

It bears all the hallmarks of a PS2 kart racer (awful handling, janky track surfaces, loathsome rubber-banding, unfair weapons, tedious arena modes, pointless mods and upgrades, etc.) but after a while, you kinda get used to it, and your hand adapts to the awkward claw shape required to hit all the right buttons at all the right moments, and it suddenly becomes a breeze.

The story was a little disappointing, and predictable, but it's the first time I didn't hate the evolution Jak had undergone since his debut, and I could stomach the supporting cast a little better, too. The edgy soundtrack also managed to wear me down, to the point of mild enjoyment.

Overall, I reckon I'd rank it above the two mainline sequels, and give it a solid seven.

My mum finished up Assassin’s Creed 2 today and really enjoyed it, even if the ending remains insane, when I’ve played the rest of the games and understand the ‘lore’. The whole collecting the codex pages in order to complete the game was a bit tedious and the parkour did have the tendency to go a bit off the rails at times but it’s still a classic!

Just finished Uncharted Lost Legacy. A significantly shorter experience than the other games in the series but excellent nonetheless.
Just like with U4, I will not be chasing trophies in this one (although they seem just a tiny bit less crazy)

@nessisonett Hope she stayed away from those damn feathers!

That ending perplexes me to this day. So much so, that it kinda put me off the series until Black Flag. Shame cos it is a fantastic game overall.

@JohnnyShoulder I think she finished the game with about 12 feathers and approximately 15% of the viewpoints 😂

And that's me done with Flashback: 25th Anniversary.

Only played through it on the lowest difficulty, because I was more interested in the aesthetic and vibe than the actual game. It was cool to get beyond its opening jungle stage and discover what my eight-year-old self had been missing all these years, but it turns out he hadn't missed much. I can see why it might've been considered groundbreaking back in 1992, with its fluid animation and sense of style, but combat is clunky to the point of being prohibitive (which I guess is why this remaster features an instant rewind, something I used a heck of a lot to correct random mistakes) and its slow, deliberate pace makes it feel twice as long as it actually is. Which is probably a good thing, as it's a ridiculously short game.

As a remaster, it's well-handled, and lovingly preserves a nice bit of gaming history for those gamers curious about a cyberpunk dystopian throwback crossed with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Turns out I'm not one of those gamers, but that's okay, because I paid less than two quid for the pleasure.

Tagging @Sorteddan and @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy (hey there, stranger!) because you've both chatted to me about the game before, and expressed an interest.

I beat Death's Door last night and in the most part quite enjoyed the experience. This is the second isometric game I've played in the past year, the other being Hades, and I'm definitely coming round to this design decision. It works quite well to allow a good field of view and means the developer can put some good fun elements into the boss battles. Speaking of which they were all really excellent and varied but my favourite was probably the urn witch.

I read somewhere this game was supposed to be 8 - 10 hours to complete but I'm already on 15 because I spent quite a bit of time just exploring the various areas so I might as well plough on for the platinum. I'd highly recommend this game though especially if you like a fair challenge.

@render Nice. I picked up the game (along with Hades) in the current sale. I think it was @kidfried who also enjoyed the game so it’s one I’m looking forward to.

I’m guessing you didn’t go for the base weapon run only then on your first play?

@Thrillho I knew someone mentioned it recently but used the forum search function and all I found was that @kidfried had mentioned it in their top games of 2021 list. Because I remembered something from that post I checked before I started and did use the base weapon from the off.

Having finished the game I've tried a few of the other weapons and they would have made it a lot easier but as one weapon pretty much feels the same as another I don't think you miss out a great deal other than battles taking longer. I tended to use my other abilities a lot as well as melee so I think that helped me ignore the low damage and I just got on with it. I should now be able to tidy up all the other trophies without another play through so that's a bonus.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Pretty much lived up to expectations, which is something to appreciate when you finish a game you really enjoyed like you thought you would.

It wasn't perfect, like not knowing exactly what to do or where to go at times and the huddling up amounting to being nothing more than a gimmick, but they were small issues in the grand scheme of things since they nailed so much. The combat was a little over chaotic to the point where it became a button masher in a sense by just constantly spamming random skills with you and your teammates to win battles, but the voice acting, the writing (dialogue, tone, and overall story), graphics, audio (fantastic soundtrack and audio mixing) were all great. All of that came together to make one very enjoyable experience.

I'm not sure if this would dethrone Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart as my 2021 Game of the Year, but it would definitely be a contender. Small issues here and there aside, like I said already, games that end up being great experiences for you don't exactly come out left and right, but this was one of those.

@KilloWertz What do you mean the huddling up amounted to nothing?!? Get the answer right and you got to hear a banging 80s tune while you fight, what’s not to like about that? 😂

@render Well, yeah, it was still fun to do and did give you temporary unlimited usage of the pink "super" abilities. I just meant in the grand scheme of things in the game, that they have nothing to do with the actual fight and are just random. It was still funny having a certain song or two playing while you're in the middle of a big battle.

Just finished Diablo III: Reaper of Souls on PS4. It was my first Diablo game and I enjoyed the majority of it. The first half was such a blast, but after that point I started defeating bosses in mere seconds. You get overpowered real fast in this game. I've looked up online in order to see if it was only me but apparently others who played the game on Normal also felt like the game became too easy after a while. The "real" experience comes from replaying it on higher difficulties and I'm definitely not doing that. But for what it's worth, I thought it was a great game and I'm glad to have finally experienced this series.

Recently beat God Of War (PS4) on normal difficulty. Amazing game from beginning to end: good level of challenge, plenty of combat options and customization to get your own personal fighting style. Also, kudos to the voice cast, they really made the story come as much more than "the stuff in-between random enemy fights".

Only possible complain would be that more than once I thought of keeping the axe and throw the stupid kid at enemies (Fortunately it didn't last long).

Finished Ghost of Tsushima (Director's Cut) for PS5 yesterday, and wow...

• Platinum Trophy on 'Base Game', played on Hard difficulty
• All additional trophies for the 'Iki Island' expansion (both for 'Exploration' and 'Story')
• Played Iki Island on Lethal difficulty.

Beautiful, immersive and incredible gameplay... a pleasure to have spent time with.
Whilst the 'base game' story is fairly generic at times, and leans on many familiar genre tropes, the Iki Island expansion really takes things to another level.

Jin (the protagonist) gets explored in much great detail during Iki, and there are some amazingly hammy horror elements also at times..... Iki Island almost pushes into campy Resident Evil-esque territory, which I mean as a pure compliment!

Gameplay and combat is tight, with lethal mode satisfying the masochist in me and leading to every battle feeling nuanced and important - with death only 2-3 strikes away (for the player and the enemies).

Cool customisation and outfits, alongside good variety of charms/builds to suit all playstyles.

I would probably bounce into the online mode 'Legends' or even do NG+, but for now I plan to park the extra content and hit up SIFU before Elden Ring arrives next week.

60 hours ish to achieve above, could take more/less dependant on difficulty setting I guess.

But well worth the pricetag, even at the premium £70 GBP, probably greater than 100 hours of (quality) content.

Started SIFU now and got brutalised by the first boss, think I need a controller remap....