Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Th3solution That's a shame. I'll probably give it a go nonetheless, but I still have "True Colors" to do first (and a slew of other games before that).

@FuriousMachine As a fan of the genre, I would recommend your giving it a try. I liked True Colors better though, so definitely play that first.

Either way, I’d be interested in your thoughts if and when.

@Th3solution Will do, mate

Just finished my first playthrough on Lords of the Fallen and while from a trophy hunter perspective it can really cause some headaches (some very convoluted side quests that can only be done during certain endings… all of which need to be done)… it’s bloody brilliant! A total love-letter to the Souls series, which as @JohnnyShoulder suggested a few days ago… is basically like playing Dark Souls 4.

@graymamba Ah cool, glad you enjoyed it also. I only did one play through, so never saw any of the stuff I missed out on, apart from a few lore vids and stuff.

I've also completed Lies of P not too long ago, which I can also recommend. It has a similar looping world design but the combat is more akin to Bloodborne. The story and character beats are a bit easier to follow, but does tie into the Lie / Truth mechanic. The Rpg elements are not as deep as LotF too.

@JohnnyShoulder yeah LoP is actually the one that I’m most looking forward to playing due to how I feel about Bloodborne. Probably gonna save it for a milestone though, so it’ll be a while until I get to it unfortunately.

Indika. A weird game that caught me off guard. But I must say I like it more than most games.

I love despair and euro jank in equal measures, so this was a perfect game for me!

Cyberpunk. I'm glad I waited this long to play it because I didn't run into one bug and the entire experience was memorable for all the right reasons. It's rare that I'll pull platinum on a game and go right back into a fresh playthrough just to experience it all over again. I don't want to say too much, it's the kind of game you just have to play for yourself and then you'll get it. I got 177hrs out of that first playthrough and never ran out of anything to see or do and that was only the base game, this time I'm including the DLC and trading out guns and range for up close katana craziness.

Final Fantasy - Pixel Remaster - I get it! If I’d played this back in 1987 (when I was 8) this would’ve hands down been my favourite game and game series. The scope for a game from that era and hardware is almost unbelievable tbh.

When I planned to play two FF’s per year (one pixel and one polygon) in an effort to catch up, I was expecting to simply be going through the motions with the older ones at least… but I feel far more positive about playing II, III, IV, V and VI over the next five years now.

@graymamba I haven’t played the FF’s pre-VII. Cloud’s adventure on PS1 was my first foray into the series, and first true RPG. Even though I still consider FFVII one of my favorite games of all time, I don’t have plans to go back to play it or the earlier pixel games, as ironic as that sounds. But my apathy for retro gaming is well documented. Seeing you enjoy the first game does make me consider it though. It’s really just VI that I want to experience, as it has the overwhelming support as the best in the early pre-3D FF series.

I am very curious how you got along with Final Fantasy’s turn-based combat, which I assume is the core of the game. Has it warmed you up to doing more turn-based gaming? I know you’re borderline allergic to that combat style.

@Th3solution to be fair, I really clicked with FFXIII’s combat when I played it last year. I think that experience has now converted me to someone that can enjoy turn-based combat (though I still prefer action combat if I had the choice). The combat in the pixel remaster is obviously a fair bit simpler than that of XIII… but I still quite liked it.

I’m gonna be playing FFXIII-2 in November and am looking forward to what most people seem to think is the best of the XIII trilogy. So I’ve definitely turned the corner on jrpg’s I reckon.

@graymamba Regarding XIII-2, I did like it, although it is one in my pile of shame that I didn’t complete. I believe it came out close to the end of the PS3 and so I got distracted by PS4 before I finished it. I was enjoying it at the time though. I never got around to XIII-3, Lightning Returns, for the same reason of it being locked back on PS3.

But yeah, my recollection of our prior conversations was that you had a hard time getting into turn-based games. Perhaps you’ll develop a sufficient appetite for the genre to mix in some of the premiere modern turn-based RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3, Persona 5, Clair Obscur, Like a Dragon, etc.

@Th3solution I think that it will… but I can’t see myself playing more than 2 turn-based games per year. So it’ll be a good few years before I’m done with FF if I’m honest. I already have a burgeoning backlog of other turn-based ‘classics’ ready to go once that’s the case though. I have the Persona games 3-5, Trails of Cold Steel 1-4, Ni-No-Kuni 1 & 2, Yakuza: Like a Dragon & Infinite Wealth and of course Clair Obscure: Expedition 33. So I’m gonna be good for the foreseeable 😅

@Elfuggingjefe @graymamba As far as old school turn-based JRPGs that look and feel modern, I’ve been tempted by Octopath Traveller II. It’s not often talked about around these parts. It’s on sale right now and so I’ve hovered over the purchase button several times. OT2 has reviewed very highly and often included on ‘Best JRPG’ lists, so one I’m curious about it. I just know with my backlog it won’t be played for a while.

I’ve never played a Dragon Quest game either; the aesthetic has never drawn me in. Another would be the Tales series.

I do think we might a new mainline FF game that is a little more traditional in the future

@Elfuggingjefe interesting, I didn’t know that jrpgs were your bag. I’ll know who to tag, when I need an opinion on what I should play after the FFXIII trilogy now 😉.

Now that you mention it, I do actually have Dragon Quest XI and have heard very positive things about it. I don’t have Metaphor Refantazio though, so thanks for reminding me about that. Just added that to my wishlist.

Also Trails in the Sky First Chapter looks very good, so really fancying that too.

@Th3solution good shout mate, hadn’t even considered the Octopath Traveller games (which also brings Triangle Strategy & Dragon Quest HD/2D remakes into the equation)… but they’re definitely good options for me now.

I’ve heard great things about the Suikoden remasters too… man theres a lot! Seriously considering upping my intake to 3 per year starting in 2026 😅.

@Elfuggingjefe well… more of an authority than me, that’s for sure. Just looking at what I could potentially remove from next years schedule, so that another JRPG could be added… it’s like pulling teeth!

@graymamba @Elfuggingjefe Part of the challenge is that JRPGs tend to be quite long, especially the modern ones. It makes squeezing one in rather difficult. And the gameplay systems can be complex, so they don’t make for good ‘drop in, drop out’ games played in parallel with other games. I was able to play Persona 4 and Persona 5 over a long period of time with other games going simultaneously, but it’s because I really know that series system and am familiar with the spells and nomenclatur, so I could usually pick up where I left off without too much trouble. I tried to do the same thing with Trails of Cold Steel, playing it on the side on Vita, whenever I went back to it I was pretty lost as to how to play it and what was going on.

Fortunately, the early Final Fantasy games are rather short by comparison and the playtime doesn’t really balloon until after VII.

Tell me about it, I was playing FFXIII from September 2024 to January 2025! Farming for one specific item drop, of which I only needed 5 of them for months on end. I’m getting the trauma sweats just thinking about it 😅

@graymamba Fortunately the FF13 sequels appear to have easier platinums.

As far as FF, I forget if you disclosed your overall plan to tackle them, as in are you going to go in order of release from here, or are you going to alternate between pixel and polygon?

It might be interesting to do an alternating approach, so after FF1, then go back to FF13-2, then FF2, then FF13-3, then FF3, then FF12, and so on until you meet in the middle, which if my calculus is correct, will be FF7, in about 2029. 😅, at which time we’ll have the full FF7 Remake trilogy remastered on PS6 and probably will have FF17 also.

@Th3solution you’ve basically cracked my plan, the only difference is that I’m thinking that I’ll probably be doing X and X-2 before XII. So yeah, next year will be II and XIII-3. Everything’s subject to change of course… but that’s the way I’ve figured would be the best way for me to play them all without feeling the bloat.

Started a bit of XIII-2 and… wtf is actually going on?!?! 😅