Topic: Games you've recently beat

@LtSarge Always happy to see more praise for Judgment! That duology really has my eye to the point I've already purchased the first entry, but have yet to start it. If ever I want to try getting into the overall Yakuza series, it has always struck me as the best place to start with how it's not a huge commitment to a long line of games, is highly praised by fans and appeals to me personally with the whole detective aspect. The fact that you mentioned you even get to partake in a trial at the end of the second game has raised my enthusiasm greatly! I'm a total sucker for legal narratives, and nothing gets me more than watching courtroom drama (or even comedy) play out. Is that ending the only time the game does that really, or is it a recurring thing throughout both games?

Spiderman. Now I just have to one hundred percent everything for platinum. I'm about to hit the nine hour mark so the whole thing is going/went quite fast. Maybe it was the coffee.

@Tjuz You do partake in trials in both games, but I don't remember to what extent in the first game as it was quite some time since I played it. The one I mentioned has the protagonist participating as a lawyer (even though he's a detective now) and the game lets you choose evidence as well as make choices in how to proceed with the trial. It really was courtroom drama! These moments don't happen too often throughout the story though, as you're primarily a detective like I mentioned earlier.

The Judgment series definitely does a good job distinguishing itself from the main Yakuza series but the overall structure is still the same. So if you come to like these two games, then you'll definitely like the Yakuza series!

@LtSarge yeah I went hard on the series the first year and have slowed down a lot but I’ve been excited for this sequel for awhile. That’s good to hear though about the characters!

@Tjuz @LtSarge It's been a few years since I played the first one but there are at least two trials in the game and I think there's a third. That said, the first isn't really one as it's just in the office to introduce the mechanics of the game. The final one is culmination of the game so rather important!

I particularly liked that the Judgment version of sub stories (i.e. side missions) were acquired as jobs through your office as well. There are still plenty of utterly ridiculous ones though of course..

Beat Resident Evil Village last night. It took me a while to get into it but I ended up enjoying it over time. Very excited for Requiem.

@Thrillho Speaking of the side missions, unfortunately they aren't that great in Lost Judgment. There are roughly 40 of them, whereof 1/4 is basically one long side mission split up in roughly 10 parts. It's not that surprising though that the side missions aren't good as so much focus has been spent on the school stories instead, which like I mentioned before are fantastic!

So I finished The Kaito Files DLC of Lost Judgment yesterday, which took me about 7 hours, and it was absolutely sublime. Even though the story was short in comparison to a full game, it still felt like a complete Yakuza story to me that had all the things you'd come to expect. It was also so much fun to play as Kaito. His fighting styles reminded me a lot of Kiryu's. I'm very glad that I experienced this!

@LtSarge @Thrillho I've never been more sold on a game with you mentioning how the trial is interactive as well! Not sure if the other ones Thrillho has mentioned have that same effort put into them or if they're cutscenes more so, but it seems like a series of games worth trying for me. I've definitely put it up on my priorities! I just hope I won't get overwhelmed with the amount of side content that franchise is famous for. It's been the main reason I've put off trying out any of their games at all. Happy to hear that the DLC didn't disappoint either. I'll have to keep it in mind if ever I get around to Lost Judgment in particular! I'm a total sucker for DLC stories.

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@Kairuuu Glad to hear you enjoyed your playthrough of Resident Evil: Village! I've always felt it was somewhat unfairly treated by the fanbase. Maybe I would've felt differently if I had played 4 first, but I specifically left the "best" for last after catching up on those games. Either way, I think Village offers a delightful, silly romp that brings a lot of the best gameplay of the franchise to the surface. I definitely prefer it over quite a few others. Equally excited for Requiem... I'm just counting the hours to be able to hit that pre-load button. I'm prepared!

@Tjuz Yeah, it was quite good once it got going. Admittedly, however, I wasn't really a huge fan of Ethan as a character. I just didn't seem to vibe with him that well and I felt the same even in Resident Evil 7. I was hoping to pre-order Resident Evil Requiem today but my car decided to have some issues so I'll have to get those sorted before I pick it up. Very excited to play it though!

@Kairuuu Yeah, I think it's fair you didn't love Ethan as a character. He's by far the most blank slate of all protagonists. I think he worked fine as a representation of the player, but the whole personal story attached to him didn't do all that much for me either. I do think they ended his journey on a good note, though. Did you play through the Shadows of Rose DLC as well? I thought it was quite interesting in how it continued the Winters legacy! She definitely has way more of a personality than Ethan did as well. I wonder if they'll commit to having her show up in future games at all. Sorry to hear about your car! I hope you can get it fixed as soon as possible. Let me know when you do get around to the new Resi and whatever your thoughts will be!

Beat Nioh 3 last weekend (It was great) and going to start Wo Long.

@Tjuz

Yeah I bought both games quite some time ago and really want to play them. But unlike you I couldn't care less about Yakuza series. Judgement felt the same to me: Just two games in that world and I don't have to know anything about Yakuza series. Hope they make 3rd one someday. I am also excited about Stranger than Heaven too in the same regard or Gang of Dragon. They will be fresh entry points and I don't have to commit anything else.

Just finished Neva on PS5. Had no idea this game even existed until people started talking about the recently released prologue DLC. I enjoyed Gris, so I really wanted to play this, especially since I needed a palate cleanser after having played Lost Judgment.

The story is interesting and the platforming is actually pretty good. The combat however varies from being okay to being straight annoying. Some fights require pixel perfect dodges in order to avoid damage and I just don't understand why the enemies were designed like this. The game is otherwise a relaxing experience, which is why I don't understand why they decided to make the enemies frustrating.

As a whole though, it's a great game and I'll definitely check out the DLC.

Apologies for the delayed reply, but I just wanted to say that I hope your playthrough is still going (or has gone) well, and that you are (or ended up) enjoying the experience! I totally agree with your assessment of the game's whole vibe. It's always been my favourite thing about it, and makes me love The Angel of Darkness a heck of a lot more than the original "finished" product probably deserved.

Finished the prologue DLC for Neva. For €3, it was absolutely worth it! It's more of the same, which I'm totally fine with. But that means I still don't like the combat whenever it becomes annoying. The platforming is absolutely the game's strongest point. Each section is brief and introduces new ideas. It's really good!

@Werehog I took a little break to polish off the Ezio trilogy’s platinum but I’ll probably crack on now with Angel of Darkness. I was amazed how much better the characters look, Lara isn’t a massive improvement but the NPCs are so much better looking, switching graphical style on the fly really makes it stand out.

Kudos to anyone getting enjoyment out of Angel of darkness. Not sure why I have a strong aversion to the controls, tried it on steam and refunded it immediately. I’m too used to how the reboot trilogy works.
Both reboot trilogies, to be precise. I like both.