The characters are mostly likeable and well-developed, but the writing is marred a bit by the omnipresent and really childish sexual humor (I expected some of this, since all of Uchikoshi's games have this element present to some extent, but the 30 year old MC's teenager-like obsession with breasts and porno mags actually starts ruining important setpieces in this game). The story itself is pretty gripping in its last several hours, though, even if it's tonally all over the place at times. The composer had pretty much only written music for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games previously, but he does a great job with the soundtrack in this, and the music is strong throughout.
I'd heard a lot of complaints about the trial-and-error aspect of the gameplay sections in this, which allow you to poke around in people's dreams, but that mostly wasn't my experience. I found the dream sequence puzzles had their own sort of emergent logic, which kept them from being frustrating. With that said, the time management element discourages the player from seeing all of the funny interactions written into these sections, and the puzzle element is still far less satisfying than, say, the escape room puzzle gameplay in something like Virtue's Last Reward.
Performance in this version is a bit questionable at times. The game looks great on the Switch (character animations are massively improved over the jank-ass Zero Time Dilemma), but it suffers from some lag and multi-second hang-ups when the game is loading animations and the like. It wasn't a huge deal for me, given the nature of the game, but it's something to be aware of with this version of the game. I don't know if the PS4 version has these issues, but, last I heard, the PC release was pretty buggy as well.
I'll def. be grabbing the sequel, but will probably be waiting on a price drop or something. There are WAY more games coming out in the next few months than I'll have time to play.
The characters are mostly likeable and well-developed, but the writing is marred a bit by the omnipresent and really childish sexual humor (I expected some of this, since all of Uchikoshi's games have this element present to some extent, but the 30 year old MC's teenager-like obsession with breasts and porno mags actually starts ruining important setpieces in this game). The story itself is pretty gripping in its last several hours, though, even if it's tonally all over the place at times.
... I think I recall this even in the demo in regards to the mc with him saying things like that to the AI he has...
Good to hear the story is pretty good in your eyes despite the tone being a bit over the place throughout the game.
I found the dream sequence puzzles had their own sort of emergent logic, which kept them from being frustrating. With that said, the time management element discourages the player from seeing all of the funny interactions written into these sections, and the puzzle element is still far less satisfying than, say, the escape room puzzle gameplay in something like Virtue's Last Reward.
... I really need to get the 999/nonary game series.
I did like the puzzles/interactions in the carsousel memory place though and I seem to recall there being multiple paths mentioned too so it presumably has some replayability too? š
I'll def. be grabbing the sequel, but will probably be waiting on a price drop or something. There are WAY more games coming out in the next few months than I'll have time to play.
... I admitedly have no idea what's coming out over the next few months š
Still I hope you enjoy whatever you're after and Ai's sequel!
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@HallowMoonshadow Like nearly all of Uchikoshi's games to date, there are branching paths, and the player will need to explore pretty much all of them before the game's "true" route is made accessible. You'll see the credits 3 - 5 times before you actually get the proper ending that fully wraps up the game. And this game's method of accomplishing this is having several of the Somniums feature alternative paths to completion.
Somniums also typically feature hidden collectibles you can do back and look for as well, so, yes, expect to replay several of the Somniums at least once down the road.
Yeah, the game has a really solid mystery underneath it all, and no amount of weird flaws in the rest of it can detract from how well executed the plot is once it gets going. Which is, ultimately, why Uchikoshi's games have such a cult following.
And yes, play The Nonary Games collection. 999 and VLR are both absolute classics.
So, just taking the next two months, the games I'm actively interested in include:
@Ralizah Yeah, Zero Escape went a little overboard with the pervy main character at times as well. I havenāt played AI yet because Iām still annoyed about Zero Time Dilemma š
@nessisonett 999 is the most tasteful in that regard. I still think the optional innuendo-laden discussion about drowning is one of the funniest exchanges I've ever seen in a video game. And it made sense contextually, given the character was a hormonal teenage boy
@Ralizah Iām just annoyed that Zero Time Dilemma utterly ruins about 99% of the dialogue between Sigma and Phi in Virtueās Last Reward. Some of it was creepy, some of it was quite touching. There were some fairly tasteless jokes in that game, but I guess they did actually make sense given Tenmyoujiās identity now that I think about it.
Finally got to see the credits roll on Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5) this afternoon then went back to pick up easily obtainable trophies. Think I spent around 40+ hours doing this. As regular readers may recall, not really my favourite game but glad that I got it with plus rather than paying for it.
On that note have just checked my trophy guide and it seems I have played around 20+ games gotten from plus in the last year, in that sense it probably works out at decent value for me.
āWe are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.ā
@sorteddan Yeah, Iād say 20 games is definitely worth the subscription! If you consider maybe an average cost of each game is $20, then all you really need to play is 3 games to get the value back. š
Iāve played 3 from my PS+ library so far this year (Dirt 5, Rime, and currently playing BioShock 2), so anything else over the next 6 months is gravy. Also got a PS+ discount on at least one of my purchases this year which saved me about $20 off the price of Kena. And then the cloud saves, which itās hard to put a dollar value on that. If only I ever used online functionality then Iād really get my moneyās worth. But sounds like you definitely are!
āWe cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.ā
Just finished my first playthrough of Sniper Elite 4 and enjoyed the hell out of it tbh. Exactly what I was looking for. Gonna have to go back through each mission to pick up all the collectibles and then the āAuthenticā playthrough after that will be interesting.
Oh and the co-op and pvp that @render and I are planning to get done at some point this month. Fair bet of content fair play š .
@JudgeDredd yeah I know what you mean about retro level design (if on steroids to be fair)ā¦ probably itās strongest aspect. Glad you enjoyed 5 so muchā¦ itāll be a long old while until I get to that oneā¦ but Iāll be looking forward to it for sure.
Cheers for the heads-up on manual saves on authentic too š
@JudgeDredd yeah thatās the one alright. Iām gonna focus on getting all the collectibles and kills etc. first and then Iāll leave the Authentic run til last. Gonna be really interested to see how the gameplay changes.
@JudgeDredd I appreciate the confidence š ā¦ out of interest is there any indication of the winds direction, or do you just have to āsuck-it-and-seeā?
Saw the credits roll on Tomb Raider Chronicles (PSone) earlier this morning.
Playing through the four separate chapters felt like eating four freshly-baked cookies. You get your favourite flavours at first, some safe classics like maple and pecan or white chocolate chip, but then the third turns out to be oatmeal raisin; perfect when you're in the mood for it, but not exactly what you'd reach for by default when you're looking for a proper treat.
So you eagerly reach for the fourth cookie, and it smells real good. So good, in fact, that you cram the whole thing in your mouth all at once.
And all too late, you realise that it's made out of broken glass and used hypodermic needles.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@JudgeDredd Authentic difficulty is honestly the only way Iād play these games now. Just annoyed that my younger brother made a manual save on my file meaning I didnāt get the trophy in 4.
Had a good old go on one of my all time favourites yesterday, Furi. As great as ever, really enjoyed it, such a fun game with one of the best ever soundtracks. Tried out speed run mode for the first time as well and just about got both the trophies by the skin of my teeth, was a close call!
Ouch, that's a shame. Can't say I got very far in the later Tomb Raider games. Absolutely loved the first 2 though, truly incredible experiences. I guess them changing developers after the second game meant it lost its charm for me after that but I did get most of the way through TR3.
Really curious to see what the new owners of the ip will do with it. A proper remake of the original would be really exciting.
@colonelkilgore Looking forward to getting round to doing those trophies š. I first started playing Sniper 4 back in May 2019 and was a bit gutted that I didnāt get to clear all the trophies. I started an Authentic play through a few nights ago just to get back into it again and itās once again reminded me why I love the game. Who wouldnāt love those slow mo close ups when you nail a great shot.
Let me know when you are good to do those online ones and Iāll make some time š
@JudgeDredd Great to hear that Sniper 5 also lives up to expectations. Itās on my list!
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