dancingmind

It's a refreshing and interesting game. It looks good and runs well.

I do feel like people are going a bit crazy with the 9s and 10s. I agree that the choice of no map within the zones is annoying. I get lost a lot after completing a battle and getting turned around. Also, many things aren't communicated to the player clearly. I still don't understand what Sciel's combat card system is.

Combat was exhilarating at first, but eventually i get tired and can't keep up with the timings. Some of the bosses seem impossible. Lots of missable trophies is annoying, so I'm just going to give up on the plat.

It's a solid 8 and I'm glad I purchased and played the game.

Boy do they like using camera shake...

I got this on for PS3/Vita as a PS classic and enjoyed it immensely. I wonder (if like other classics) it will lead to a free download. I may still double dip as this game was fun!

Hi guys, I know this is deep in the comments, but I wanted to offer another perspective of the game. I usually sit in the same range as Push Square with reviews for games and have only considered two games in my collection (521 Games) perfect 10s. I would put Tales of Kenzera: Zau at 7.5/10.

POSITIVES:

• The controls are actually the best feature of the game. Once acclimated, Zau moves fast and flows like a dancer. It feels a lot like Guacamelee (which is a huge plus)
• Excellent trophy list. No missable trophies. No difficulty trophies. You get everything just from playing the game
• No padded content. Excellent length. I finished 100%/platinum in about 9 hours
• Checkpoints are very forgiving and loading is near instant
• Fresh world with some unique designs
• The game borrows a LOT of power-ups and the feel from Guacamelee 1 and 2. This is a huge plus from me. Get used to the controls and you will be doing overcoming some cool rewarding challenging gameplay

NEGATIVES

• There are tons of instant death spikes everywhere. This was an initial put-off, but games like Super Meat Boy have done this well with tight controls and fast retries. That is here. Keep trying!
• The story didn't grab me, but it was easy to skip
• Environments are long between fast travels

Wow. That "Blade" card game was in Trails of Cold Steel. I guess it showed up here first!

@Deadlyblack Gaiden is a pretty short compared to most entries and it has a fantastic ending! I really recommend giving it a shot over the holidays (on sale on PSN right now). It's tied for my favourite game of the year and I'll never forget some of the moments.

It has a slow start but then ramps up and gets hard to put down. I'm salivating for Infinite Wealth now... not burned out at all. I'd highly recommend checking out Gaiden!

1) Final Fantasy XVI
2) Like a Dragon Gaidan: Erased Name
3) Sea of Stars

I thought this picture was showing an XBOX 360 with a towel around it reminding me of the red-ring-o-death methods people used to do to save their failing consoles.

What it actually is ... less interesting

The Sea of Stars one for Sept 2023 is completely glitched. I got all three trophies and none are registering. Maybe it's for the PS4 version only?

Lillymo describes the game as a Super Mario World like game, but it's more like other SNES platformers of the time like Aero the Acro-Bat, Joe & Mac and Bebe's Kids.

Super Mario World is starting to be thrown around like Chrono Trigger. These are masterpiece games and you better really have something to give if you think it deserves that comparison.

Super Perils of Baking has some impressive pixel work at the END of the game, but most of the level selection is lifeless. There's a solid platinum, some fun ideas, but poor level design. I'd give it a 6/10.

I got the platinum for the first game last night. It was a lot of fun and challenging with only one player.

This series always reminded me of something and I finally figured out what it was. It's like LITTLEBIGPLANET! 1) Floaty jump controls. 2) You can grab and slap things. 3) You can customize your character. 4) Now you can play with your friends online!

This is actually pretty cool. I wonder if the latency is okay. PS2 games were pretty sluggish already and adding more latency could make certain games unplayable.

@Americansamurai1 I'd recommend trying it again.

Papers Please on vita was one of the best experiences on the platform. It's just so different from any other game and this is a rare case that the touch screen is such a blessing.

Did I watch a different showcase? I mean there were a lot of trailers rather than gameplay, but isn't that what people want in a showcase (E3 style?). To get hyped about new things?

I know that not every game is designed for me. I don't really like games with multiplayer or guns... that's a large part of the video game market since Xbox joined the industry in 2001 and developed Xbox live. I think it's great that those type of gamers get the types of games they like. It doesn't ruin the whole showcase because they are included.

What I like about PlayStation showcases is they mix in a bunch of genres with different audiences and budgets. I'm excited for The Plucky Squire, MGS Snake Eater, Cat Quest, Final Fantasy 16, and Dragons Dogma 2.

Street Fighter 6 is looking great. I'm so happy for the fighting community and will likely watch some streams of it. I don't own a headset but I thought the The VR2 content looked very good too!

And despite not liking shooties and multiplayer, I did LOVE the original Helldivers. Seeing Helldivers 2 was very exciting. They've kept the tone of the original.... Looks promising!

Overall, i had a lot of fun watching the showcase. It reminded me of older E3s. I didn't realize it was a "flub" until the next day when i read about it online. And you know what? Those old E3 presentations we remember fondly were exactly the same too. Watch them again sometime.

This series (along with Yakuza) have been such great discoveries for unique and engaging content. I started with ToCS on the vita and loved each subsequent release and going back to older entries to see the growing story and world arc throughout the series.

I can't believe Dragon's Crown is ten years old. Where did the time go?! I will be checking out this release day one

I was a big fan of the ToCS games. I was hooked as soon as I played the first on my white OG vita.

Given the graphics boost and the slightly portable nature of a Steam (Deck) release I purchased "Trails of Zero" for that platform on release date and I ... never beat it. I just stopped playing it. I don't know what it was about the game or the platform, but the magic just wasn't there. I think I may have to pass on this one.

Still got my eye on Reverie though...

Just a heads up if you didn't know, JETT is included in PS+ Extra (NA) as of Jan 2023.

This is still one of my favourite SMUPS. I like playing it on my vita

Cryin' Jim takes a win

@Casco I don't know.... I like the combat and I still love this game. I am totally back into exploring this world all over again on the PS5.

As I was going through Novigrad again, I realized that CDPR may have already built one of the most lived in feeling cities well before they proclaimed it for Cyberpunk.

The re-release of Witcher 3 has been a great game to revisit on holiday break.

So glad you included Sea of Stars. Don't sleep on this one!

That Yakuza 6 game really grabbed my heart. It has some poor performance and I originally cleared the game and put it down.

6 months later and I missed my bar friends, baseball team, and the little harbour town. I had to replay and platinum. Such a gem

I'm looking forward to River City Girls 2 tomorrow. Too late to make the 2022 list

Is anyone else bummed that the vita is totally not part of the equation anymore!? I got 12 VITA platinums this year. So my yearly total was 16 instead of 28.

My top 5 were:
1) Yakuza: Like a Dragon
2) Skyrim
3) Horizon Forbidden West
4) Mass Effect Legendary Edition
5) Ghost of Tsushima (directors)

@johnny30 Oh thanks for letting me know. That is a bit disappointing haha

It looks like finishing the recent Trails from Zero is going to be really important for this one. I see LLoyd and his team a lot in this trailer.

There are so many characters in this series now! I just hope I can keep putting Fie in the front lines...

I spent an evening trying to get the "achievements" to work, but items like playing a game or loading a specific game for the 1984 tasks were not working.

It was a frustrating experience and I realized I had wasted my evening looking up guides on how to get these things to work rather than just play games and have fun.

I'm going to ignore the service now, and try to have fun again.

Does anyone remember Y0, Y4 & Y5? Kiryu shared the spotlight with multiple playable characters in those games and they were great games. I think this is going to work great. Like others have said here, more "Like a Dragon" games is all that matters!

I don't know... now that I see this list I see some titles that I am really excited about and many that I will pass on. I think it will be a great 2023 if everything hits. And there's something for everyone!

I've been having a hard time finding something new to play. I popped Toem in last night and was engaged for three hours. Can't wait to dive back in.

This looks cute. A lot of the characters look like Trails of Cold Steel characters (which I like)

@Shigurui Naruta Boy's lack of d-pad support made it unplayable for me. It was a real shame. I wish I could adjust the controls

I am not a fan of Game Pass and what it will likely do to the game industry as a whole for quality/quantity/expectations. BUT despite this I have been enjoying the PS+ extra service so far.

Gifted to me by my brother so we could play more online games together, this service has brought me so many games that I put on and off my wishlist:

Guardians of the Galaxy, Ghost of Tsushima (PS5 version with Iki Island content), Dead Cells, Stray, Children of Morta (HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRYING), Tony Hawk 1&2, Concrete Genie, Demon's Souls (PS5), Trials of mana and Bugsnax!!

This has been pretty incredible guys. I am worried that I may not buy games anymore though...

We've had a lot of great beat-em-ups this year. I'm looking forward to this one and River City Girls Zero!

@Golem25 Thank you for the effort anyways. I appreciate it

I have a couple Rata games on my profile, but they were really hard! Anyone with a League of Evil plat deserves praise from my perspective. Still i know what you are saying.

@Golem25 How do you check to see the top vita players by country? I would love to see where I stack up!

Edit: I figured out how. Click on "Country rank" on your profile banner image then filter by console. I am currently #372 in my country. Thought I would be higher. Either there are actually some fans of the vita I need to meet or there are lots of trophy spammers.

@nessisonett I was suprised by the low score for XI as well. It's in my profile (I rated it a 9/10) and I loved it when I played it!

Was excited to see this list come together and see what the pushsquare audience picks. I'm with @Shepherd_Tallon that Dragon's Crown is my favourite game on the vita.

Here's my personal top ten.

1) Dragon's Crown
2) Final Fantasy X
3) Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward
4) Guacamelee
5) Stardew Valley
6) LoH: Trails of Cold Steel 2 (unfortunately not on pushsquare)
7) Sound Shapes
8) Odin Sphere
9) Child of Light
10) Shakedown: Hawaii
Be sure to rate yours!

How has no one mentioned the feet? I know I haven't played a KH game since 2 in 2006, but Sora always had huge clown shoes!

This is similar to discovering whether Toad wears a big hat or his head is shaped like a mushroom. Huge reveal!

I added in my votes for best on Vita, but it looks like I have unpopular choices. My favourites are:

1) Dragon's Crown
2) Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward
3) Final Fantasy X (this made the list)
4) Guacamelee (this made the list!)
5) Stardew Valley

I'm glad at least one Vanillaware game made the list. If you have a vita, you really should get all 3 games by them. Despite them not appearing on many top lists, they some of the best playing and looking games on the handheld.

What about the weird faces and awkward conversations. This was weird in Horizon 1 and it's even worse in this one. It's pretty close to Mass Effect Andromeda in my opinion. If you need an example, find the quest with the two women with one of them named "Boomer".

Loving the combat and general gameplay, but conversations with NPCs are really rough and I tend to skip as much as I can.

I gave up PS+ about 2 years ago. The instant collection was just adding games to an already growing backlog. I was also consistently finding the games didn't appeal to me (and my niche tastes) or would be games I had already purchased. Moving to purchasing games I want to play was great for my backlog and sanity.

There are a lot of subscription services a consumer has access to now. I don't think the current PS+ is worth keeping if you are on a budget.

@jubber I too am a big fan of those games. Especially Velocity 2X!

My top 5 favourites:

1) Dragon's Crown
2) Final Fantasy X
3) Guacamelee
4) Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
5) Stardew Valley

A couple entries I enjoyed are not on the list including the Cold Steel games and Chasm.

Doesn't work for the Canadians either

@Smash41 I think that speaks more about how GamePass is making people purchase less games then they used to. It will be interesting to see the long term effect this has on the industry and small gems like Windjammers.

Great game and even better on the vita!

This port was rough at first, but I got used to the framerate eventually. The visuals just look so outstanding on the Vita screen I couldn't stop playing it and got the PLATINUM!