Topic: Games you've recently beat

@FuriousMachine give the wee toady a kiss 🐸 yeah, it sure is an intro to the DLC. I think the devs perhaps mentioned how they went a bit far with that one 😛 or maybe not.

Level wise it is like starting a new game, so progression will come soon enough and you will probably be back on death March once more. And also, they di reward you for it with everything else in the DLC, so there is that. And thankfully no controllers or walls were harmed 😁

I feel like there's another memorable fight soon enough, if memory serves me, so tag me in when you think you got there haha.

@CJD87 hmmm....counter on the home screen says 28 hours which seems a bit much. I wasn't trophy hunting but I did repeat and complete the harder versions of each area and spent a lot more time playing around with the base building part than you would need to just to beat it. But....I spent more time than I needed to because I was having fun!

@Ravix Oh, the toad got what was coming to him... and that upset some people, apparently. I will deal with them later.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

Kind of disappointing, I won't lie. Given how regularly this tops Castlevania game rankings, I was expecting something special. But it doesn't really do much that other Castlevania games before and after haven't done better. It has none of SotN's atmosphere. Order of Ecclesia featured an improved take on the TSS and also had a much more satisfying difficulty curve. Rondo is still tops for music and density of game design (unlockable characters, multiple unlockable stages, etc.). Bloodlines had more interesting level design.

I hate the generic anime aesthetic of this compared to other Castlevania games at the time (love me some anime, but Castlevania is meant to feel gothic). Having to switch out souls constantly to navigate environmental challenges was a pain (reminded me of the worst parts of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's water dungeon, lol). And the setting was weird. We're inside an eclipse? What does that even mean?

It's a perfectly functional Igavania otherwise, but as Castlevanias go, it's very mid-tier. Not bad, but also not particularly good.

@Ralizah sorry about pinging you in NL, initially, I didn’t expect to see this reposted here. Since I’m more active here this is where I’ll continue the discussion. My original comment was:

@Ralizah wow, already? I haven’t touched AoS in a while. Full disclosure, I’m more of a classicvania fan, but I have some fondness for the NDS era titles. I suppose this one Isn’t worth revisiting based on your commentary, however. Thx 4 the review.

@Yousef- lol no problem. I'm active on both forums. Ping me wherever.

Yeah, it's a short-ish game. Five or so hours to get the true ending. I'm sure you could wring more out of it if you went for all the souls, but I'm not doing that.

I didn't play much of Dawn of Sorrow initially, but I'm a huge fan of Ecclesia and liked what I played of Portrait of Ruin. Excited to eventually get to the Dominus Collection.

Keep in mind my opinion is very much a minority one. It's a popular entry. It just didn't really resonate with me. Not a bad game at all, but not a top-tier Vania for me.

Still Wakes The Deep - Textbook walking simulator, albeit a pretty good one. I think @Malaise covered it well a few pages back. I found the story to be intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying. There’s just not a whole lot to take from it when all is said and done, much like the gameplay. The game really could have benefited from even a few simple puzzles. Climbing ladders, pulling switches and turning valves feels great but nothing is ever done with them outside of simply performing the action.

Where the game absolutely excels is in its performances and the realization of its location. The offshore rig is truly a site to behold and being trapped in such an authentic atmosphere bolstered by strong performances really carried the experience for me. Worth noting I had no bugs or performance issues at all.

Hi-Fi Rush - A real gem. Combat is serviceable but fun, exploration is limited yet rewarding within its economic framework. What blew me away with this one though is its incredibly strong cast of characters and some of the best writing and direction I’ve encountered within the medium. Seriously. It’s genuinely funny, chock full of effective satire and irony, and tells a complete, satisfying and heartwarming tale. The soundtrack is killer (won’t spoil anything here but there’s a pretty great surprise or three) and it’s all polished to a sheen. What a game.

It was a month ago, so not too recent, but the last game I beat was Conker’s Bad Fur Day on the Xbox via Rare Replay. I had played it last year and did a second playthrough because a PX game club voted on it for August last month. I hadn’t done a second play of it, and I remember it being super fun when I first tried it and finished it.

I loved the raunchy humor (though I’ll say it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea) and the colorful and strange cast of characters, paired with the more cinematic approach it took compared to most 3D platformers. To top the hilarity off, there are a lot of parodies and references to films and pop culture popular at the time, and the references are used in relation to the theming of a level in the game and are even used to forward the story. What happens in the game’s storyline is so bizarre, it makes for a super memorable experience, and I’d recommend going into it blind to be surprised at what happens, if you do choose to play it for the first time. It’s so insane, and is truly the weirdest game I have ever played. The content in the game makes it seem like the developers were drunk when making it, and I just love it so much. I actually resonated with the message the game taught right near the end; even though the game is very lighthearted, raunchy and intentionally immature, it has a super interesting message I relate to a lot, but me explaining that is for another day, plus I’ve gone on about that part in other threads.

The controls are more simplified and easier thanks to “context-sensitive” buttons and emphasis on using the B button, meaning the actions the player takes change depending on the context, for example, the player might use the B button for a frying pan, but in another context, the B button might be used to whip out a gun instead. I like the concept of context-sensitive gameplay, and it makes the game easy to learn, but the gameplay is sort of awful.

I had gotten a bit upset while playing it a year ago and found it had a bit of annoying moments. But I had thought it was me playing terribly. Revisiting it, I can say that nope, the game has kinda garbage gameplay and occasionally poor level design. I’d say the gameplay is hit-or-miss, meaning it can be good, or bad. Some levels have poor level design or are too big and repetitive, and while the gameplay shifts are super interesting and fun, the execution of some is poor or janky. The gunplay involved in some of the levels is super hit-or-miss, and the one that stuck out to me the most. Early parts lack aiming reticles, making it hard to aim, but later parts add in reticles, but even with reticles, the aiming is still off at times. There are two segments where you battle against hordes of enemies, and you shoot them inside of a turret, and although those parts had reticles, I had to shoot aimlessly to defeat them instead of shooting precisely from how bad the aiming was. Some parts of the gameplay are poorly designed, the most poorly designed one in my opinion is this racing segment that is put near the end of one level, truly awful when I experienced it. The camera is bad at times, but it’s not super awful, I know there are games that have done way worse in that aspect.

It’s a nice game I absolutely love, but I’ll admit it’s more for the story, cinematics, and characters. Parts of the gameplay feel like an afterthought, since it puts characters and writing up front. I should say that is not a bad thing, as it can make a game super memorable, but the gameplay is probably the most important part of a game, and if it’s fun to play. This game’s gameplay I found was super annoying and outdated, and I think it was the gameplay that made me take so long to do a second playthrough. Still love the game, but probably not going to play it in full again. Luckily there is a remake I have played that fixes some issues with the camera and makes attempts to fix repetition, but the annoying gameplay and level design still remains.

@Pastellioli I’m somewhat warming up to context sensitivity as time goes on. With retro games, I absolutely adore “weird ideas”. But CC made Conker feel like a series of isolated fetch quests and a mini gamer simulator rather than a cohesively mechanic game. It’s fine if your game is plot driven, but I’m not sure if this was the way to do it.

@Yousef- Yeah, I really REALLY love Conker but I just think the gameplay was really bad and mediocre. It’s the characters and writing that overshadow that aspect and why a lot of people don’t talk about how bad the gameplay is, because the main selling point of Conker was it being raunchy and an M-rated game disguising itself as a kids game visually. I found it to be a great subversion and deconstruction of Rare’s own platformer games, but it focuses on the plot and writing a bit too much it forgets about the gameplay. An equal balance of the two would have made it a 10/10 game for me, but there’s little polish with some of the gameplay it makes it super annoying to play through. Banjo does both characters and gameplay well, and it felt equally balanced, but Conker does so bad with the latter in my opinion. There’s a prehistoric caveman level that occurs later in the game that shines in how awful its tasks and design are. I can tell the game developers had so many creative ideas, but unfortunately some are so poorly done.

I gave it a 9/10, but I think I’m bumping it back to an 8/10. I didn’t realize until now that the gameplay was this mediocre.

I finally beat Black Myth Wukong, and defeated all bosses and secret areas. It was an incredible experience top to bottom, and the true ending was a real spectacle to behold. I just started a NG+ to mop up the few trophies I have left for the platinum.

@Pastellioli Conker would d benefited from more like Ratchet & Clank, where stuff you gathered where straight up added to your arsenal as opposed to serving a weak gimmick. (Again, these large words coming from me. I’ve played my fair share of “weird” games so I’m not exactly unfamiliar).
With Conker being an M-rated game with a cartoony style, it has unfathomably high potential for a diverse toolset, even potentially moreso than the T-rated R&C (not to insinuate that a T-rating is a limitation or anything psychotic like that).

@Yousef- Yeah, the gameplay had so much potential to be extremely fun, and I can see what you are saying. Some of the gameplay mechanics Conker has are gimmicky, and some of them could have worked if they had tried to make it not so repetitive, janky, and poor. It’s that it had a focus on characters too much that they just forgot to make it actually fun to play at times. Usually a lot of the gameplay mechanics and actions you use throughout the game only occur once and don’t happen again.

I also forgot to mention it, but some of the bosses are too boring to fight against, mostly from how there is little change they add during the other phases to spice things up. The only boss I can think of that did have some sort of change during its second and third phases was the boss during the war chapter changing the weapons they used, but that’s sort of it. The only other changes for some is that they take more hits to defeat rather than one. The bosses were super quirky and interesting with their character and personalities (The Great Mighty Poo being the quirkiest and most memorable boss) but they aren’t really fun to battle against from how little they try to make them challenging.

Persona 3

My Game of the Year so far.

Just finished BioShock 2 on PS5. Gonna be honest, the final area dragged on a bit too long and the gameplay got a bit repetitive towards the end. If it had been a few hours shorter, then it would've been the perfect length considering not much new is introduced in like the final six or seven hours of the game.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the game and found it to be tons of fun. I actually liked the story as well once everything fell into place at the end. I also got the good ending for saving everyone, which is nice.

In terms of story, I enjoyed BioShock 1's more. But in terms of gameplay, BioShock 2's was definitely more enjoyable for me. Either way, I'm glad to have finally gotten to play this game. Looking forward to starting up Minerva's Den DLC soon!

Scott Pilgrim

Honestly If I didn't learn how to get infinite money and boost my stats to max level I would've dropped it.

Even then I didn't find it a particularly fun beat 'em up and was quite the slog.

Tinykin

On the other hand I really enjoyed my time with it. A fun collectathon platfomer with Pikmin elements. Even got the platium for it (Never went out my way for it mind you, just came naturally from doing every stage).

A nice breezy 10 hours and was just a great time.

I assume that's Reload you're talking about and not one of the many other versions of P3 @Malaise?

Had you played it before back on PS2/PSP or was this your first time with it?

@HallowMoonshadow Correct, yes, the PS5 version. I had never played it before. The Persona games just leave a lasting impression. Even after they're finished I find myself thinking about the characters, wondering how they are and what they're doing, they're that well fleshed out. I have a feeling Metaphor might end up being my GotY.

Any interest in The Answer/Episode Aigis dlc that released yesterday @Malaise?

I've become a little less enthusiastic as time has gone on for Metaphor and I'm not entirely sure to be honest. If anything it should tick my boxes even more then persona but... I dunno.

@HallowMoonshadow Maybe in future, but not any time soon. Atlus's pricing practices, as good as their games are, leave something of a sour taste.
I'm more interested in Metaphor mostly because of a lack of anything else grabbing my attention. Sure, there's a new Life is Strange, and a couple of other things, but since finishing Persona 3, I've gone back to RDR2, a 6 year old game.

@HallowMoonshadow for me it's the marketing that's increasingly coming off as desperate. It looks cool but it also looks the same as P5R just with cooler styles.

Dragon Age is also starting to look promising but also has a pretty desperate seeming marketing campaign. So I'm just going to wait for both to get reviews before choosing which I buy.