For those interested in this game I would not recommend playing it on console. It runs at around 15 fps pretty much at all times when there's action on screen
The last few games you beat and rate them III
- Thread starter SniperHF
- Start date
- Status
Ceremony
How I choose to feel is how I am
- Jun 8, 2012
- 114,296
- 17,375
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, 2012)
Over the course of my life I have acquired tremendous proficiency in the art of padding. Write something or talk about something on any kind of subject and you can quite adequately compensate for a complete lack of insight or knowledge by adding extraneous bullshit in so many places that your audience manages to forget or overlook any deficiencies you have.
And so we come to Final Fantasy Thirteen Two, one of the most contradictory titles for anything ever. After a wait of nearly eight years I finally got the platinum trophy in FF13 last month and it was a shame I had 'beaten' the game so much longer ago as I didn't get to share all of my complaints with a captive audience. Fortunately the sequel manages to carry most of them over as well as adding the sort of horror you'd expect from time travel, so here we go.
Most of the complaints from people who played FF13 were about its linearity. I like linearity in games. I've said before on here that when I'm faced with exploration of multiple ways of completing a level I get paranoid I'm missing things and I can't enjoy it. The notion of a large game world to explore is fine, but for me the best form of exploration in such a game can only come when the story takes you around most of it organically.
Fortunately FF13-2 goes in an entirely different direction, giving you multiple areas to explore in (sort of) any order you like while offering absolutely no instinctive clue about how to get around any of them. Except herein lies the biggest problem I had with FF13, the fact that I had no clue what was going on. So I'm going to try and recap it:
The game is split between two planets, Gran Pulse and Cocoon, the latter of which is a small moon-like thing which sits above Gran Pulse. The people on Cocoon are all terrified of Gran Pulse because they've heard it's full of monsters. The people on Cocoon live their lives at the behest of an assortment of magical beings called fal'Cie, who do magic. They make energy appear. They open doors. That sort of thing. fal'Cie can also on a whim give people a task, or Focus to do. When a person is chosen they become a l'Cie, and given magical powers to complete whatever their Focus is. They're not told what their Focus is. If they complete their Focus they turn into a giant crystal, if they fail they turn into a monster. You control a ragtag bunch of insufferable misfits who are all l'Cie, who have to destroy Cocoon.
Make sense?
The problem I found in both games is how there's no attempt to involve the player in the story. There are datalogs in the game which have lots and lots of words in that classic Japanese game style which seem to make out the story as being much grander and more profound than it actually is. This isn't the point, though. This isn't how it's supposed to work. This wouldn't even work anyway, because as these people are running around doing magic and fighting all manner of creatures and flying robots, none of them are ever shocked. The same thing goes for FF13-2. Take Serah, the main character. She's a teacher in a small coastal town. Then a guy appears on the beach one day and tells her he's from the future and he can take her to find her sister who's trapped in the world of the dead. Oh and here's a floating teddy that turns into a crossbow which you can use to kill monsters that will attack you on the way. Okay! I feel as if there's a large disconnect between the player and the game which is never resolved, and which the game never tries to resolve. Given I must've put close to 200 hours into the two games over the years this really isn't a good thing.
If the story is impassive and doesn't try to involve you (it gets really batshit insane when you add in the time travel which of course is taken in stride by everyone, nobody ever questions why these big floating things have appeared throughout the world and which allow these two clowns to move around the centuries), then does the gameplay? Sort of. The battles are fought through a system of paradigm systems, where you have three party members whose role can be changed depending on what sort of fighting you want to do. So you can attack, attack a different way, heal, buff and debuff, that sort of thing. Where this differs from FF13 is the third member of your party isn't a person but is any number of the monsters you've defeated up until that point, which all have their own array of stats and abilities. This adds a much greater level of depth to the fighting, having to find the best monsters then find the best materials to level them up while still complementing your fighting and the battles you face.
Except it would, if I didn't get the distinct impression the game doesn't want to be played. You can tell me you don't have to do the following, but why wouldn't you? There's a Normal Mode, but there's an Easy Mode. Better play it in Easy then. Oh whoops, there's no challenge at all, you win every fight and the monsters you use barely matter at all, even though there's hundreds of them and you can infuse abilities from one into another. But why bother? Oh and as you collect the collectibles you can access what are effectively cheats, giving you more XP from battles. Great. Very nice. I'll just blast through your garbage as quickly as possible then. And another thing, there's an option you can unlock to make your controllable character jump further, which you need to use at a certain point in the story. Why would I turn this off? Why not include it from the start? Nonsense.
What else is there to gameplay besides battles you can blast through without any strategy at all? There are occasional puzzles, and these have to be seen to be believed. There are three types, two of them are just moving around platforms in the right order which are fine. Then there's the Hands of Time:
Imagine trying to complete those. Now imagine trying to complete those in a time limit. With Japanese games like this I always feel as if there's a need among the developers to think of as much stuff as possible, be it locations, gameplay mechanics, characters, side-missions, whatever, and I just... don't get it. Oh no hold on it's to try and exhaust you to the extent you forget about all the problems.
So what to say in summation then? The same ridiclous characters you've probably come to expect, gameplay which the game seems desperate to undermine and render pointless, environments which are no more engaging than before laid out in a near impossible manner, a soundtrack which is mostly terrible and a story which is never explained or is ever engaging in any way. What a time. I'm sure there are many more grievances that I've forgotten, but I no longer care.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, 2012)
Over the course of my life I have acquired tremendous proficiency in the art of padding. Write something or talk about something on any kind of subject and you can quite adequately compensate for a complete lack of insight or knowledge by adding extraneous bull**** in so many places that your audience manages to forget or overlook any deficiencies you have.
And so we come to Final Fantasy Thirteen Two, one of the most contradictory titles for anything ever. After a wait of nearly eight years I finally got the platinum trophy in FF13 last month and it was a shame I had 'beaten' the game so much longer ago as I didn't get to share all of my complaints with a captive audience. Fortunately the sequel manages to carry most of them over as well as adding the sort of horror you'd expect from time travel, so here we go.
Most of the complaints from people who played FF13 were about its linearity. I like linearity in games. I've said before on here that when I'm faced with exploration of multiple ways of completing a level I get paranoid I'm missing things and I can't enjoy it. The notion of a large game world to explore is fine, but for me the best form of exploration in such a game can only come when the story takes you around most of it organically.
Fortunately FF13-2 goes in an entirely different direction, giving you multiple areas to explore in (sort of) any order you like while offering absolutely no instinctive clue about how to get around any of them. Except herein lies the biggest problem I had with FF13, the fact that I had no clue what was going on. So I'm going to try and recap it:
The game is split between two planets, Gran Pulse and Cocoon, the latter of which is a small moon-like thing which sits above Gran Pulse. The people on Cocoon are all terrified of Gran Pulse because they've heard it's full of monsters. The people on Cocoon live their lives at the behest of an assortment of magical beings called fal'Cie, who do magic. They make energy appear. They open doors. That sort of thing. fal'Cie can also on a whim give people a task, or Focus to do. When a person is chosen they become a l'Cie, and given magical powers to complete whatever their Focus is. They're not told what their Focus is. If they complete their Focus they turn into a giant crystal, if they fail they turn into a monster. You control a ragtag bunch of insufferable misfits who are all l'Cie, who have to destroy Cocoon.
Make sense?
The problem I found in both games is how there's no attempt to involve the player in the story. There are datalogs in the game which have lots and lots of words in that classic Japanese game style which seem to make out the story as being much grander and more profound than it actually is. This isn't the point, though. This isn't how it's supposed to work. This wouldn't even work anyway, because as these people are running around doing magic and fighting all manner of creatures and flying robots, none of them are ever shocked. The same thing goes for FF13-2. Take Serah, the main character. She's a teacher in a small coastal town. Then a guy appears on the beach one day and tells her he's from the future and he can take her to find her sister who's trapped in the world of the dead. Oh and here's a floating teddy that turns into a crossbow which you can use to kill monsters that will attack you on the way. Okay! I feel as if there's a large disconnect between the player and the game which is never resolved, and which the game never tries to resolve. Given I must've put close to 200 hours into the two games over the years this really isn't a good thing.
If the story is impassive and doesn't try to involve you (it gets really bat**** insane when you add in the time travel which of course is taken in stride by everyone, nobody ever questions why these big floating things have appeared throughout the world and which allow these two clowns to move around the centuries), then does the gameplay? Sort of. The battles are fought through a system of paradigm systems, where you have three party members whose role can be changed depending on what sort of fighting you want to do. So you can attack, attack a different way, heal, buff and debuff, that sort of thing. Where this differs from FF13 is the third member of your party isn't a person but is any number of the monsters you've defeated up until that point, which all have their own array of stats and abilities. This adds a much greater level of depth to the fighting, having to find the best monsters then find the best materials to level them up while still complementing your fighting and the battles you face.
Except it would, if I didn't get the distinct impression the game doesn't want to be played. You can tell me you don't have to do the following, but why wouldn't you? There's a Normal Mode, but there's an Easy Mode. Better play it in Easy then. Oh whoops, there's no challenge at all, you win every fight and the monsters you use barely matter at all, even though there's hundreds of them and you can infuse abilities from one into another. But why bother? Oh and as you collect the collectibles you can access what are effectively cheats, giving you more XP from battles. Great. Very nice. I'll just blast through your garbage as quickly as possible then. And another thing, there's an option you can unlock to make your controllable character jump further, which you need to use at a certain point in the story. Why would I turn this off? Why not include it from the start? Nonsense.
What else is there to gameplay besides battles you can blast through without any strategy at all? There are occasional puzzles, and these have to be seen to be believed. There are three types, two of them are just moving around platforms in the right order which are fine. Then there's the Hands of Time:
Imagine trying to complete those. Now imagine trying to complete those in a time limit. With Japanese games like this I always feel as if there's a need among the developers to think of as much stuff as possible, be it locations, gameplay mechanics, characters, side-missions, whatever, and I just... don't get it. Oh no hold on it's to try and exhaust you to the extent you forget about all the problems.
So what to say in summation then? The same ridiclous characters you've probably come to expect, gameplay which the game seems desperate to undermine and render pointless, environments which are no more engaging than before laid out in a near impossible manner, a soundtrack which is mostly terrible and a story which is never explained or is ever engaging in any way. What a time. I'm sure there are many more grievances that I've forgotten, but I no longer care.
I got the platinum for FFXIII-2, but I honestly can't remember much about it. I do remember it being more fun than FFXIII though.
Unholy Diver
Registered User
Deus Ex Mankind divided : 7/10 Decent shooter with some stealth and rpg elements, didn't really stand out a whole lot, never played any of the previous games
Wolfenstein 2 - 9/10 another great entry in the Wolfenstein series, some good humor, gruesome deaths, and a pile of dead nazis, could have been a bit longer I suppose but very good overall
Wolfenstein 2 - 9/10 another great entry in the Wolfenstein series, some good humor, gruesome deaths, and a pile of dead nazis, could have been a bit longer I suppose but very good overall
Nioh - 8.5/10.
You'll like it if you like DS/Bloodborne. obviously. I live in Japan, so a lot of the story/locations/lore might have been more meaningful to me than most. That said, the atmosphere isn't quite as enjoyable as BB.
Still, I got it cheap and put a heap of hours into it, and got some great swearing practice into the bargain too! (I might of raged a little, but no boss ever felt cheap or unbeatable).
You'll like it if you like DS/Bloodborne. obviously. I live in Japan, so a lot of the story/locations/lore might have been more meaningful to me than most. That said, the atmosphere isn't quite as enjoyable as BB.
Still, I got it cheap and put a heap of hours into it, and got some great swearing practice into the bargain too! (I might of raged a little, but no boss ever felt cheap or unbeatable).
GlassesJacketShirt
Registered User
Kingdom Rush and Kingdom Rush: Frontiers
7/10 for both of em. Fun tower defense games on the cheap.
7/10 for both of em. Fun tower defense games on the cheap.
Commander Clueless
Apathy of the Leaf
- Sep 10, 2008
- 15,847
- 3,838
Already posted about it in the PlayStation thread, but I just finished Persona 5.
Absolutely incredible game, and that's coming from a guy who historically isn't a fan of JRPGs or anime. These guys know how to tell a story (a weird ass story, but a great one) and mix in compelling game play and management all into one.
Sure, there were a few frustrations with inconvenient save points when you need to go to bed and instant-kill moves when your MC dying means you lose the game, but overall it was a fantastic experience. For me, this is one of those few games that just blows the mind.
10/10
My only true complaint is now that I'm into the series, I probably need to wait half a decade for another one.
Absolutely incredible game, and that's coming from a guy who historically isn't a fan of JRPGs or anime. These guys know how to tell a story (a weird ass story, but a great one) and mix in compelling game play and management all into one.
Sure, there were a few frustrations with inconvenient save points when you need to go to bed and instant-kill moves when your MC dying means you lose the game, but overall it was a fantastic experience. For me, this is one of those few games that just blows the mind.
10/10
My only true complaint is now that I'm into the series, I probably need to wait half a decade for another one.
X66
114-110
- Aug 18, 2008
- 13,585
- 7,461
Already posted about it in the PlayStation thread, but I just finished Persona 5.
Absolutely incredible game, and that's coming from a guy who historically isn't a fan of JRPGs or anime. These guys know how to tell a story (a weird ass story, but a great one) and mix in compelling game play and management all into one.
Sure, there were a few frustrations with inconvenient save points when you need to go to bed and instant-kill moves when your MC dying means you lose the game, but overall it was a fantastic experience. For me, this is one of those few games that just blows the mind.
10/10
My only true complaint is now that I'm into the series, I probably need to wait half a decade for another one.
Yeah it was a terrific game, and the best in the series.
Persona 4 is still worth playing though, it was great.
You might want to check out Ni No Kuni 2, it will give you another JRPG fix.
X66
114-110
- Aug 18, 2008
- 13,585
- 7,461
Long time coming, but here’s my list in the last year and change…
The Last Guardian
Score: 8.5/10
This was a great game that has one of the best ending sequences ever in a game. There are things you experience in this game that you don’t in other games and for that alone it is worth playing. The reason it didn’t score higher with me was because there were some issues with Trico listening. It was frustrating knowing what to do and not having Trico prompt the action.
Zelda Breath of the Wild
Score: 10/10
This game is a masterpiece. It is the single most ‘alive’ environment ever seen in a video game, and even a year after its release it still surprises me. No two players have the same experience going through the game, and that is incredible. If I had one minor complaint about the game it would be that there wasn’t much reward for finding treasure chests or completing side quests. There were some that had great rewards like pieces of a set, but getting things like rupees or repeat weapons from chests or rupees from a side quest were kind of a letdown.
Persona 5
Score: 9.5/10
Hands down the best game of the series and it’s jam packed with content. The single play-through took over 80 hours for me. There is so much to do in this game and that first play through simply isn’t enough to see it all. One of my favourite things to do in this game was beating the palaces in one day. Great art style, great combat system, great soundtrack and great characters. Must play for RPG fans. My only gripe is that I wish there were more optional bosses.
Nioh
Score: 9/10
Dark Souls meets Ninja Gaiden, I knew I was going to enjoy this game. You get a lot of content with this purchase. It’s difficult but fair, and there are a lot of weapons to mess around with that have their own style. My only gripes with the game is that I think the enemy variety was just good and not great and the environments are not at the same level of the Dark Souls series.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Score: 9/10
When I first saw this game I thought that it was just going to be a 8-10 hour game that was all scripted/linear interactions. I was wrong. It took me around 40 hours to complete the game, and it was full of amazing moments on the eyes. This is the most ‘next-gen’ looking game I’ve ever seen. The way the machines move and react to your attacks is incredible, they hit it out of the park with this stuff. My only gripe is that fighting the humans is nowhere near as fun as fighting the mechs, but I guess that’s good for the pacing.
Mario Odyssey
Score: 10/10
Another masterpiece, Nintendo killed it in 2017. This game has that perfect blend of tight controls, freedom to explore and pick-up and play elements. There were so many times that I would be waiting for my wife to get ready and I would just collect a few moons in that span. I was just as satisfied playing for 15 mins as I was with a few hours. My only real complaint is that there were only maybe 10 moons that were very challenging to obtain. I hope down the road there is a DLC that has nothing bad hard moons, because those are a lot of fun.
Samus Returns
Score 8/10
I enjoyed this reboot, it’s been a while since I played a 2D Metroid game(or a Metroid game at all). It’s a fun game to mess around with and doesn’t take a lot of commitment. My only real complaints is that the first half of the game is really dull compared to the second half. I wish that pacing was better figured out, but still worth the play.
Nier Automata
Score: 9.5/10
When you take an action game and give it to Platinum games you know chances are it’s going to be incredible. Factor in the RPG elements, over the top story/characters, great art-style, gameplay variety, soundtrack and replay value, it is no surprise why this game got the praise it did.
Xenoblade 2
Score: 9/10
If you like the series you’re going to love this game. It’s one of the most in-depth RPGs ever in terms of how much customization and chemistry you have control over. There are so many different combinations of mixing and matching characters, blades, gems etc that it can be overwhelming, even for series vets. I can see people completely hating this game as well, but there is something about knowing how much content there is in the game even after you beat it that always draws me back. My only complaint and it is a big one, it’s that there are just too many cut scenes. Like **** man, there are 11+ hours of cut scenes in the game. 11 HOURS.
Monster Hunter World
Score: 9.5/10
Huge fan of the series, and happy to say this is the best one in the series. The grind is real and well worth the investment. The decisions made to make mundane tasks a thing of the past is also very welcomed. I’ve put in over 100 hours so far and still have a lot of sets and weapons to make.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Score: 9/10
Love this game. Still have a ways to go before I am comfortable playing it, it’s very different than Fighting games that I have played in the past. I’ve had a lot of my friends come over and play this, they’re not too big into fighting games but they had a blast with this.
I hope that’s everything lol.
A lot of high reviews, but my defence to that is:
A) I know what I like, so I tend to gravitate towards those games. If I played games like Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm sure I'd get it a garbage review.
B) The last calendar year is arguably the best ever for gaming.
The Last Guardian
Score: 8.5/10
This was a great game that has one of the best ending sequences ever in a game. There are things you experience in this game that you don’t in other games and for that alone it is worth playing. The reason it didn’t score higher with me was because there were some issues with Trico listening. It was frustrating knowing what to do and not having Trico prompt the action.
Zelda Breath of the Wild
Score: 10/10
This game is a masterpiece. It is the single most ‘alive’ environment ever seen in a video game, and even a year after its release it still surprises me. No two players have the same experience going through the game, and that is incredible. If I had one minor complaint about the game it would be that there wasn’t much reward for finding treasure chests or completing side quests. There were some that had great rewards like pieces of a set, but getting things like rupees or repeat weapons from chests or rupees from a side quest were kind of a letdown.
Persona 5
Score: 9.5/10
Hands down the best game of the series and it’s jam packed with content. The single play-through took over 80 hours for me. There is so much to do in this game and that first play through simply isn’t enough to see it all. One of my favourite things to do in this game was beating the palaces in one day. Great art style, great combat system, great soundtrack and great characters. Must play for RPG fans. My only gripe is that I wish there were more optional bosses.
Nioh
Score: 9/10
Dark Souls meets Ninja Gaiden, I knew I was going to enjoy this game. You get a lot of content with this purchase. It’s difficult but fair, and there are a lot of weapons to mess around with that have their own style. My only gripes with the game is that I think the enemy variety was just good and not great and the environments are not at the same level of the Dark Souls series.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Score: 9/10
When I first saw this game I thought that it was just going to be a 8-10 hour game that was all scripted/linear interactions. I was wrong. It took me around 40 hours to complete the game, and it was full of amazing moments on the eyes. This is the most ‘next-gen’ looking game I’ve ever seen. The way the machines move and react to your attacks is incredible, they hit it out of the park with this stuff. My only gripe is that fighting the humans is nowhere near as fun as fighting the mechs, but I guess that’s good for the pacing.
Mario Odyssey
Score: 10/10
Another masterpiece, Nintendo killed it in 2017. This game has that perfect blend of tight controls, freedom to explore and pick-up and play elements. There were so many times that I would be waiting for my wife to get ready and I would just collect a few moons in that span. I was just as satisfied playing for 15 mins as I was with a few hours. My only real complaint is that there were only maybe 10 moons that were very challenging to obtain. I hope down the road there is a DLC that has nothing bad hard moons, because those are a lot of fun.
Samus Returns
Score 8/10
I enjoyed this reboot, it’s been a while since I played a 2D Metroid game(or a Metroid game at all). It’s a fun game to mess around with and doesn’t take a lot of commitment. My only real complaints is that the first half of the game is really dull compared to the second half. I wish that pacing was better figured out, but still worth the play.
Nier Automata
Score: 9.5/10
When you take an action game and give it to Platinum games you know chances are it’s going to be incredible. Factor in the RPG elements, over the top story/characters, great art-style, gameplay variety, soundtrack and replay value, it is no surprise why this game got the praise it did.
Xenoblade 2
Score: 9/10
If you like the series you’re going to love this game. It’s one of the most in-depth RPGs ever in terms of how much customization and chemistry you have control over. There are so many different combinations of mixing and matching characters, blades, gems etc that it can be overwhelming, even for series vets. I can see people completely hating this game as well, but there is something about knowing how much content there is in the game even after you beat it that always draws me back. My only complaint and it is a big one, it’s that there are just too many cut scenes. Like **** man, there are 11+ hours of cut scenes in the game. 11 HOURS.
Monster Hunter World
Score: 9.5/10
Huge fan of the series, and happy to say this is the best one in the series. The grind is real and well worth the investment. The decisions made to make mundane tasks a thing of the past is also very welcomed. I’ve put in over 100 hours so far and still have a lot of sets and weapons to make.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Score: 9/10
Love this game. Still have a ways to go before I am comfortable playing it, it’s very different than Fighting games that I have played in the past. I’ve had a lot of my friends come over and play this, they’re not too big into fighting games but they had a blast with this.
I hope that’s everything lol.
A lot of high reviews, but my defence to that is:
A) I know what I like, so I tend to gravitate towards those games. If I played games like Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm sure I'd get it a garbage review.
B) The last calendar year is arguably the best ever for gaming.
Frankie Blueberries
Dream Team
- Jan 27, 2016
- 9,414
- 10,992
X66
114-110
- Aug 18, 2008
- 13,585
- 7,461
Randallooch
Registered User
Celeste
Side scrolling platformer that is decently challenging, but especially challenging if you do the alt-levels (called side B, unlocked by finding hidden items in each level). This gets extra props for having some of the best music I've heard in a video game in a long time. It also has a neat lil story to boot, but nothing too deep. You can pick it up on any platform for $19.99, well worth it.
Side scrolling platformer that is decently challenging, but especially challenging if you do the alt-levels (called side B, unlocked by finding hidden items in each level). This gets extra props for having some of the best music I've heard in a video game in a long time. It also has a neat lil story to boot, but nothing too deep. You can pick it up on any platform for $19.99, well worth it.
Ceremony
How I choose to feel is how I am
- Jun 8, 2012
- 114,296
- 17,375
(Yakuza 4, PS3, 2009)
My last post here was about a Japanese game which is so bloated and padded that by the time you've spent the 60+ hours necessary to complete it you're so burned out you forget half of the stuff you had to do. So then the natural choice for something to play next was Yakuza 4, an open world game which you can only get around by foot, where you're stopped to fight gangs at every intersection, in a deceptively small and large at the same time map which doesn't let you place custom waypoints, and in which you can also play golf, fish, play mahjong, play shogi, go to a strip club, go to a strip club without the stripping, find girls to train and dress in the strip club without the stripping, play pachinko which is the worst slot machine ever, play arcade games, play those arcade machines with the grabbing claw, buy crap weapons, make better weapons out of the crap ones, go on a treasure hunt, chase people, go bowling, play darts, play table tennis, go for a massage, play poker, play roulette, play blackjack, play baccarat, play four other Japanese gambling games with dice, sing karaoke, play pool, drink without getting drunk but still get cut off, fight in a coliseum, train fighters to fight in a coliseum, collect bits of rubbish to trade in a shop in the sewers and play baseball in addition to running an assortment of ludricrous errands for everyone who happens to stop you in the street. Bonus points for when you get hit with a substory in a way which doesn't differentiate any from the main plot, leaving you not knowing what will actually advance things.
That isn't to say none of these extraneous activities are fun. The golf in particular is spectacularly frustrating, but I've played it a lot and I'm going to play it again when I've finished writing this. I even enjoyed chatting up the hostesses once I'd got to the point where I had about ten million yen and just bought the most expensive champagne all the time, although training them was absolute torture.
But enough of all that, let's start at the beginning. Yakuza 4 is one in a seemingly never-ending line of games about organised crime (I think, I'm not sure what the crime was here) set in Kamurocho, a conveniently pedestrianised section of Tokyo. The story of this one flits between four different characters who all end up having connected stories. Although an open-world game the primary mechanic is fighting various enemies either as part of the story or random encounters on the street. If the random encounters didn't give you a clue that realism isn't the chief concern of the game - "Hey! You! The famous guy in the mob who's on the cover of this game, who everyone wants to take down but who has beaten literally hundreds of fat plugs like me senseless! I'm going to kick your ass!" - then the story certainly will as a never-ending web of deceit and double-crossing in the police and the gangs unravels, reravels and unravels again before ending with everyone fighting topless on top of a skyscraper.
There's not really much point in me talking about the story because I don't have a clue what happened. So much of it is reliant on an in-depth knowledge of the previous games. Oh! It's that guy! Remember when he did this??? Well, no. I don't remember the last one you introduced like this an hour ago, I don't know anything about the fifth one you've done it for in this game alone. It's not what I would call an approachable story. This isn't helped by the volume of cutscenes, which take on that maddeningly unique Japanese game feature of shifting between skippable and unskippable. Here's a rendered cutscene which you can skip (you have to go into the pause menu to enable cutscene skipping). Now here's a rendered cutscene you can't skip. Now here's one which you can't skip completely, but you can keep jabbing X to make the text go quicker. And now here's one that isn't rendered but just has the text come up at the bottom, so keep jabbing X to get through it regardless. It's like watching a film made by a director who's far too over-indulgent and needed an editor hitting them with a big stick. Trim it down, lads. At least try and make it immersive.
This strange disconnect is probably best explained through numbers. I was about 16 hours finishing the story the first time, minus some for times I was misled and did stuff I didn't have to. Then I was about 50 hours finishing substories and minigames for all the various trophies. Then once I'd stopped caring about trying to follow the story I finished two more playthroughs of it in 8 hours or less apiece, purely by skipping all the cutscenes. I honestly don't think I missed much either.
If the story is this off-putting, is the gameplay any better? Not really. Perhaps I'm spoiled by having played Arkham Asylum but in 3rd person fighting games I expect much more fluidity than this thing offers. I discovered - eventually - you can hold R1 to lock on to an enemy, but it's useless against groups and even against single guys most of the time. You end up facing the wrong direction and moving far too slowly to react when the tougher ones try to hit you. The end result is finding a single combo for each character which cheeses the fights and spamming it over and over. This is harder than it sounds, because as you upgrade your characters you can pick techniques to unlock which all have weird names and it all just feels really... vague. When you start out as each character you get some practice battles. A couple of guys to beat (I really want to type kill, because you obviously do, but they don't die) and a challenge to beat them using certain moves. But beyond these basics there's a lot of trial and error and gamefaqs searching. Even on the easier difficulties, a lot of the time it ends up coming down to hoping you frantically pressing buttons doesn't get you stuck next to a fat guy who you can't knock down. It inevitably comes down to hitting the one good attack until your opponents are done, pausing and topping up your health with an item if necessary.
The biggest problem I think this game has is that so much of what I've described seems disconnected from everything else. Minus one or two occasions there's nothing in that list at the beginning which is actually necessary for finishing the story. I'm sure I've said before here that I don't buy into the notion that an open world game has to focus on the 'open' part of it, giving the player choice above everything else. So many of the activities you can do here may as well introduce new characters to do them with because there's so little bearing on anything and anyone else. None of it adds to the atmosphere or setting. As much as some of it's distinctively Japanese it's just a minigame with entirely distinct mechanics and no character input at all, so what does it really add?
I regretted starting this game when I was about two hours in and only had one trophy for viewing the recap videos of the previous three games (all identical). By the time I've finished no, I don't suppose I regret starting it but there are a lot of things in it I'm glad I don't have to do again. I've never liked the "if you like this sort of thing it's okay" defence and I don't like it here, because there are several areas where basic fundamentals can be improved upon. Maybe it's more like Stockholm Syndrome, I've spent so long with it I've become immune to its flaws. I've already deleted Yakuza 5 without playing it, though.
Update - my golf score was -10 through nine holes. I managed to bogey one of the par 3s and still got that.
mouser
Business of Hockey
Subnautica 8/10
A total delight to play. Survival, base building, sci-fi, exploring a waterworld planet. Took me about 70 hour to complete the game.
Well worth the $10-20 on Steam.
A total delight to play. Survival, base building, sci-fi, exploring a waterworld planet. Took me about 70 hour to complete the game.
Well worth the $10-20 on Steam.
Quantum Break - 9/10
Wow. First of all, I wish I had an Xbox One X and a 4k TV to play this game on. I played it on my Launch XB1 in HD and it was gorgeous. I can't imagine how good it looks in 4k.
I enjoyed the hell out of this game. I feel like it took a lot of chances and tried a lot of new things, and succeeded with a lot of it. Others may disagree. I even found myself enjoying the TV show aspect of the game. After each of the first four chapters, you make one final decision and then a 23 minute episode of the show pops up that helps fill in holes in the story. It's not the greatest, production wise, but it was entertaining.
The worst part of the game was the final boss, which was really punishing, but other than that, it was fantastic. With Alan Wake and Quantum Break, Remedy has released two of my favorite games. Can't wait for what they do next.
Wow. First of all, I wish I had an Xbox One X and a 4k TV to play this game on. I played it on my Launch XB1 in HD and it was gorgeous. I can't imagine how good it looks in 4k.
I enjoyed the hell out of this game. I feel like it took a lot of chances and tried a lot of new things, and succeeded with a lot of it. Others may disagree. I even found myself enjoying the TV show aspect of the game. After each of the first four chapters, you make one final decision and then a 23 minute episode of the show pops up that helps fill in holes in the story. It's not the greatest, production wise, but it was entertaining.
The worst part of the game was the final boss, which was really punishing, but other than that, it was fantastic. With Alan Wake and Quantum Break, Remedy has released two of my favorite games. Can't wait for what they do next.
Frankie Spankie
Registered User
Kingdom Come: Deliverance - 7/10
Let me just start off by saying the combat is incredibly frustrating and I feel like it was just awful. The gameplay alone almost made me quit playing the game completely. Other than the awful gameplay, the rest of the game is actually really good. It's set in a historical accurate 1400s region. Just playing as a blacksmith's son in the middle ages is a nice change of pace. The story was great and there were actually a few really funny quests in the game. The graphics were incredible with the crytek engine but it could be optimized better. Overall, I would recommend giving the game a try when it goes on sale. I don't think it was a particularly great game but it was still a fresh experience if you're getting tired of the same old thing like I've been feeling over the past few years. I got it for 20% off on GMG and am pretty happy with what I got for that price.
Let me just start off by saying the combat is incredibly frustrating and I feel like it was just awful. The gameplay alone almost made me quit playing the game completely. Other than the awful gameplay, the rest of the game is actually really good. It's set in a historical accurate 1400s region. Just playing as a blacksmith's son in the middle ages is a nice change of pace. The story was great and there were actually a few really funny quests in the game. The graphics were incredible with the crytek engine but it could be optimized better. Overall, I would recommend giving the game a try when it goes on sale. I don't think it was a particularly great game but it was still a fresh experience if you're getting tired of the same old thing like I've been feeling over the past few years. I got it for 20% off on GMG and am pretty happy with what I got for that price.
KingBran
Three Eyed Raven
- Apr 24, 2014
- 6,436
- 2,284
Farcry 5 - 7.5/10
The new environment / setting is great! The story was a real drag though and the ending (no matter which one you get / choose) is just.... meh. But it has everything you want in a good Farcry game in a very beautiful setting. However I am sad that they downgraded their already simple crafting functionality. Instead of crafting with animal hides for more weapon slots and bigger backpacks and wallets, you just spend perk points on that stuff and all animal skins are good for is selling. There was never anything deep about FC3, 4 and Primals crafting menu, it was perfect for an FPS but I think they wanted to maybe reach a broader audience with FC5 so they toned down some of that stuff?
Makes me want to hunt less honestly because once I got the gun I wanted, I saw no reason to hunt anymore. Ended up getting a really good helicopter and one of the first missions (if you follow the lead they give you instead of running off and doing your own thing right away) gives you one of the best cars in the game - The Widowmaker.
There was some great humor mixed in through out and some actual LOL's will be had. I have to hand it to the FC team though for not going out of their way to be obviously controversial just to be controversial. They knew the story they wanted and they did it. So props for that.
Overall though, boring, played out story about 'typical Midwest America' *yawn* surrounded by great gameplay and an incredible setting with tons of fun missions with good variety.
The new environment / setting is great! The story was a real drag though and the ending (no matter which one you get / choose) is just.... meh. But it has everything you want in a good Farcry game in a very beautiful setting. However I am sad that they downgraded their already simple crafting functionality. Instead of crafting with animal hides for more weapon slots and bigger backpacks and wallets, you just spend perk points on that stuff and all animal skins are good for is selling. There was never anything deep about FC3, 4 and Primals crafting menu, it was perfect for an FPS but I think they wanted to maybe reach a broader audience with FC5 so they toned down some of that stuff?
Makes me want to hunt less honestly because once I got the gun I wanted, I saw no reason to hunt anymore. Ended up getting a really good helicopter and one of the first missions (if you follow the lead they give you instead of running off and doing your own thing right away) gives you one of the best cars in the game - The Widowmaker.
There was some great humor mixed in through out and some actual LOL's will be had. I have to hand it to the FC team though for not going out of their way to be obviously controversial just to be controversial. They knew the story they wanted and they did it. So props for that.
Overall though, boring, played out story about 'typical Midwest America' *yawn* surrounded by great gameplay and an incredible setting with tons of fun missions with good variety.
GlassesJacketShirt
Registered User
Spec Ops: The Line
Tough one to grade. The gameplay does the job (and I do think the cover mechanics are actually the best I've seen yet), but let's be serious: one's opinion of the game will come down to whether they view the narrative as a cunning subversion of the shooter genre or a cheap tactic used to shock and awe the gamer. I stand in the former category. When the dust settles on the 2010s, Spec Ops: The Line might very well be considered one of the finest games of the decade.
Score: 9/10
Tough one to grade. The gameplay does the job (and I do think the cover mechanics are actually the best I've seen yet), but let's be serious: one's opinion of the game will come down to whether they view the narrative as a cunning subversion of the shooter genre or a cheap tactic used to shock and awe the gamer. I stand in the former category. When the dust settles on the 2010s, Spec Ops: The Line might very well be considered one of the finest games of the decade.
Score: 9/10
Horizon: Zero Dawn
A highly flawed game, with some of the worst done "environmental storytelling" I've seen in a game. Audio logs up the wazoo. A good story but absolutely awful use of audio logs. And Im not against that type of storytelling in general. I loved it in The Surge but in Horizon theres like 6 of them in every single room during the second half of the game. Also you have to stand in one spot while these are playing since Aloy will talk over it. Speaking of which the nathan drake style exposition also didn't feel very polished. Got a bit corny.
The combat is alright but super flawed, I still can't figure out what the point of shooting off armor is. Does removing the armor damage the enemies or does shooting underneath the removed armor do extra damage? I do like the setting of tripwire, shooting enemies guns off and then using it against them, and various other things but even when I maxed out my skill tree and got all the best weapons it always felt like I wasn't doing enough damage. The only massive improvement is armor. Late in the game wearing the right armor can cut damage by 2/3rds. I wont say its bad, I did get the hang of it later in the game and I could consistently take down powerful herds once I got all the upgrades, but something about it felt like it could use some extra polish.
The climbing as I said before is pretty archaic now that breath of the wild is out, most of the open world is flat grassland or desert, but the story missions actually require a ton of climbing and it feels super clunky. Also it takes waaaaay too long to get a permanent horse you can call. I discovered from the noclip documentary that the head writer fought for this like crazy. Wow, what an awful decision. You need to max out the skill tree to be able to permanently call for a horse.
As for the roleplaying elements. Wow can you ever tell they copied the witcher with the dialogue options and basic roleplaying style.. Yeah, yeah witcher copied mass effect but horizon doesn't even try and hide it. Its got witcher sense, its got the same basic quest format, point for point its extremely witcher, they didn't put their own twist on it or anything.
The bossfights in this game are just regular enemies. Thunderjaws and Deathbringers plus two human bosses. The combat system with the emphasis on shooting weakpoints actually leaves a ton of room for interesting boss battles, so I'm surprised they're all just regular enemies. Even a game like Arkham which is kind of hamstrung by its combat design has managed to push out a couple interesting boss fights.
Finally the visuals. Very good graphics, highly detailed textures, but theres two things that killed it for me:
1. Super agressive use of fog.
2. The anti-aliasing, while its done a great job removing jaggies in this game, makes things a bit too blurry for me. I really notice this stuff in games, I personally dislike the visuals for DOOM 2016 and Hellblade because of this.
I could go on and on but I dont want to be long winded and Im a bit overly negative. I did genuinely like the game, and I will probably buy frozen wilds down the road. That said theres a lot of room for improvement for Horizon 2.
7/10
A highly flawed game, with some of the worst done "environmental storytelling" I've seen in a game. Audio logs up the wazoo. A good story but absolutely awful use of audio logs. And Im not against that type of storytelling in general. I loved it in The Surge but in Horizon theres like 6 of them in every single room during the second half of the game. Also you have to stand in one spot while these are playing since Aloy will talk over it. Speaking of which the nathan drake style exposition also didn't feel very polished. Got a bit corny.
The combat is alright but super flawed, I still can't figure out what the point of shooting off armor is. Does removing the armor damage the enemies or does shooting underneath the removed armor do extra damage? I do like the setting of tripwire, shooting enemies guns off and then using it against them, and various other things but even when I maxed out my skill tree and got all the best weapons it always felt like I wasn't doing enough damage. The only massive improvement is armor. Late in the game wearing the right armor can cut damage by 2/3rds. I wont say its bad, I did get the hang of it later in the game and I could consistently take down powerful herds once I got all the upgrades, but something about it felt like it could use some extra polish.
The climbing as I said before is pretty archaic now that breath of the wild is out, most of the open world is flat grassland or desert, but the story missions actually require a ton of climbing and it feels super clunky. Also it takes waaaaay too long to get a permanent horse you can call. I discovered from the noclip documentary that the head writer fought for this like crazy. Wow, what an awful decision. You need to max out the skill tree to be able to permanently call for a horse.
As for the roleplaying elements. Wow can you ever tell they copied the witcher with the dialogue options and basic roleplaying style.. Yeah, yeah witcher copied mass effect but horizon doesn't even try and hide it. Its got witcher sense, its got the same basic quest format, point for point its extremely witcher, they didn't put their own twist on it or anything.
The bossfights in this game are just regular enemies. Thunderjaws and Deathbringers plus two human bosses. The combat system with the emphasis on shooting weakpoints actually leaves a ton of room for interesting boss battles, so I'm surprised they're all just regular enemies. Even a game like Arkham which is kind of hamstrung by its combat design has managed to push out a couple interesting boss fights.
Finally the visuals. Very good graphics, highly detailed textures, but theres two things that killed it for me:
1. Super agressive use of fog.
2. The anti-aliasing, while its done a great job removing jaggies in this game, makes things a bit too blurry for me. I really notice this stuff in games, I personally dislike the visuals for DOOM 2016 and Hellblade because of this.
I could go on and on but I dont want to be long winded and Im a bit overly negative. I did genuinely like the game, and I will probably buy frozen wilds down the road. That said theres a lot of room for improvement for Horizon 2.
7/10
Frankie Spankie
Registered User
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic - 8/10
Dark Messiah is a relatively short & linear action-RPG made by Arkane Studios (the devs that later went on to make Dishonored.) It definitely shows, you can tell it has a similar feel if Dishonored wasn't a stealth game but instead an action game. It's almost like a physics playground. There were lots of secrets and you actually feel like you can get places you shouldn't by climbing ledges and using a rope arrow to climb up. I felt like when I was exploring some areas that the game wasn't designed for me to go there and then I'd find a chest with some nice items. Killing enemies is so much fun in this game! There's quite a bit of variety to different ways to kill people including kicking enemies off ledges or into spike walls which was probably my favorite. There are tons of opportunities for environmental kills and they're so satisfying, especially cutting a rope to let a big stone on a chain swing down and take out anyone standing underneath, or breaking a support to a storage area containing a bunch of barrels that will roll down and kill enemies in the way.
It is rather old so the graphics might deter you from playing. Gameplay wise though, it has aged incredibly well. It doesn't feel overwhelming to learn but also feels more in depth than other popular games these days. There isn't much enemy variety but there is plenty of different ways to kill them so I didn't really care.
Overall, I've heard a lot of good things about this game over the past decade and have left it on my backlog for a long time. I finally gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. I understand the praise it received and I'd definitely say it deserves it. The game is rather cheap even at its full current price but if you see it go on sale and want a fun game that focusing on gameplay, give this one a go.
Dark Messiah is a relatively short & linear action-RPG made by Arkane Studios (the devs that later went on to make Dishonored.) It definitely shows, you can tell it has a similar feel if Dishonored wasn't a stealth game but instead an action game. It's almost like a physics playground. There were lots of secrets and you actually feel like you can get places you shouldn't by climbing ledges and using a rope arrow to climb up. I felt like when I was exploring some areas that the game wasn't designed for me to go there and then I'd find a chest with some nice items. Killing enemies is so much fun in this game! There's quite a bit of variety to different ways to kill people including kicking enemies off ledges or into spike walls which was probably my favorite. There are tons of opportunities for environmental kills and they're so satisfying, especially cutting a rope to let a big stone on a chain swing down and take out anyone standing underneath, or breaking a support to a storage area containing a bunch of barrels that will roll down and kill enemies in the way.
It is rather old so the graphics might deter you from playing. Gameplay wise though, it has aged incredibly well. It doesn't feel overwhelming to learn but also feels more in depth than other popular games these days. There isn't much enemy variety but there is plenty of different ways to kill them so I didn't really care.
Overall, I've heard a lot of good things about this game over the past decade and have left it on my backlog for a long time. I finally gave it a chance and I'm glad I did. I understand the praise it received and I'd definitely say it deserves it. The game is rather cheap even at its full current price but if you see it go on sale and want a fun game that focusing on gameplay, give this one a go.
Frankie Spankie
Registered User
Costume Quest 2 - 6/10
Costume Quest 2 is a cute turn based RPG about a couple of kids' story of saving Halloween from an evil dentist who is trying to end it. The combat is really simple and, well, it works. It's nothing special at all but it's not bad. There are plenty of different costumes to collect that all have their own fun abilities. The story is really fun to go through as well. It was pretty short at only about 5 hours but it was fun while I played it. 5 hours felt right for this kind of game. I played the original years ago and enjoyed it. This one really felt like the same thing as the first from what I remember with a fresh story. If you liked the first, give this one a go. If you didn't like the first, don't bother with 2.
Costume Quest 2 is a cute turn based RPG about a couple of kids' story of saving Halloween from an evil dentist who is trying to end it. The combat is really simple and, well, it works. It's nothing special at all but it's not bad. There are plenty of different costumes to collect that all have their own fun abilities. The story is really fun to go through as well. It was pretty short at only about 5 hours but it was fun while I played it. 5 hours felt right for this kind of game. I played the original years ago and enjoyed it. This one really felt like the same thing as the first from what I remember with a fresh story. If you liked the first, give this one a go. If you didn't like the first, don't bother with 2.
Ceremony
How I choose to feel is how I am
- Jun 8, 2012
- 114,296
- 17,375
A genuine masterpiece. Any claim that the game employs cheap shock tactics are undermined by the entire genre of modern military shooters doing much worse, much more, and much more often, without any subtleness or intelligence behind them.
- Status
