The last few games you beat and rate them III

[mouser]

AER Memories of old 7/10

Indie game released last year, one of the freebies on Twitch Prime this month.

Very aesthetically pleasing and relaxing game. The flying is especially well done. No combat, an exploring game with some lighter puzzles and lore scattered across the world. Takes 3-4 hours to complete. Not sure I'd be happy paying the list price of $15, but if it's on sale for under $5 I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

Bloodborne 2/10

I’m convinced nobody actually likes this game, there just afraid to tell people its shit.

 

[Nalens Oga]

For anyone with a PS3 in North America, Yakuza 4 and 5 are on sale on the British Playstore for 5.69 and 7.49 GBP (that's $10-14 CAD) so worth getting imo. Really a bargain, I always try to go with physical version but 5 was never released as a physical copy and 4 is like $30+ on eBay at the cheapest.

They also have a bunch of other good shit on sale on the British playstore, MGS games, Wipeout, Binary Domain, Bayonetta, etc. North American playstore has the action pack of Sleeping Dogs/Just Cause 2/Tomb Raider on sale and the Deus Ex Director's Cut on sale (I'd just buy a physical copy of that one it's cheap).

 

[Unholy Diver]

Zelda: Breath of the Wild 9/10

Excellent game, plenty to do, fairly challenging at tines

 

[Nickmo82]

Bloodborne 2/10

I’m convinced nobody actually likes this game, there just afraid to tell people its ****.

I loved it. I couldn't really find my feet and rage quit DS3, but Bloodborne? Great game.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Valkyria Chronicles 4 - 8/10

I loved the original Valkyria Chronicles, it's one of my favorite RPGs of all time. 2 only came out on PSP which I never owned and 3 was Japan only so it was nice to see a new game come to major systems this year. The gameplay is great and I loved the story. You control your squad in a war where you move each soldier one at a time like a 3rd person shooter and then choose where to fire, similar to XCOM. It's definitely more of a strategy game like XCOM than anything else but movement is controlled in third person.

While I highly recommend the original, I can't recommend playing this one nearly as much as I can the original. The graphics and gameplay are exactly the same as the original, which is 10 years old now. The only thing they changed was adding an APC to transport your troops around, making missions much easier to cheese, and a grenadier class which fires mortars. Every other class plays the same way and nothing else feels like this is a sequel. For that reason, I would say play the original. If you really loved the original and want a new story, absolutely pick this up. But if you haven't played anything in the series, just play the original which you can get for much cheaper and get the same enjoyment out of.

My main complaints about the game, which was in the original if I recall correctly, is that you can't quickly go into a targeting mode like the AI can, allowing the enemy to get a couple shots on you which can kill your soldier. You also can't do anything during the enemy's turn. You can't pause it, you can't quit the game, you just have to sit there and watch the animations. This gets really annoying late in the game when the enemy has a lot of CP and you realize early in their turn that you're in a bad position and just want to restart the mission. There's even a mission late in the game where the enemy goes first with 10+ CP that they use all of. Meanwhile, they can kill some of your troops before you even get to do anything and it's completely random every time. It probably took me 20 minutes of restarting until I finally got my turn without losing any soldiers.

Overall, really good experience, glad I bought it, if you liked the original, go ahead and pick up this one. If you haven't played the original, start with it. You don't even need to play the original for story line purposes at all, it's just that the gameplay is practically identical.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

I wouldn't call this game an all timer, but it's definitely some good shit.

It's the gaming equivalent of apple pie like grandma used to make...but it's not as good as VIII (which is imo about the 5th-7th best RPG I've ever played).

Let's just go to the great and not quite great enough:

Great:

- Play length clocked in for me at just south of 115 hours. The game is a good value.

- Characters are overall definitely better than 8 (though no one touches Angelo); Veronica is awesome, Sylvando is excessively flamboyant but he's a clutch 'story' character (but a pretty shitty battle character, more on that later), Jade is pretty good and Hendrik is also excellent...but I feel like Erik, Serena and Rab are just kinda there.

- With Toriyama designed characters and enemies, a Level-5 inspired world and a mix of midi and non midi music and sound effects the game is graphically and musically beautiful.

- A simple dose of good old JRPG mechanics is just what the doctor ordered. Not that I dislike western RPGS, but it's annoying fighting 200 enemies to get 3500 exp, and then doing some random stupid quest of no consequence like bringing a bucket of water to a child and bam, there's 2000 exp. I love the grind.

- Tons and tons of mini games and side Quests to keep you busy.

- One thing I feel most games do poorly - they don't ramp up the challenge hard enough. I did hard monsters and didn't even die once until near the (first...) final boss fight, but the post game was full of tricky battles. How did I barely ever die? I know how to play these games; start a new game, fight 50 battles. Do a story event, fight 50 battles. Get to a new area, damn right 50 battles, and repeat until you're over leveled and coast until you run into the game breaking King Metal Slimes.

- I dig the on screen enemies, so you can fight or just fly by them. Nothing more annoying than being at level 85 and being forced to battle level 3 enemies for 12 EXP and 18 gold.

- Towns are next level in vibrancy and character interaction. Best designed town? Puerto Valor. Best town overall? If I had to choose one I take Gondolia.

- No need to rely on rare and flighty metal slime farming for experience, I liked that.

- I like that the game has a sense of humor about itself; serious to a fault Hendrik finding the ogler's digest, Rab and the naughty stick, almost everything Sylvando does, the 'final' boss etc.,

- I won't spoil the post game, nor do I think it was as good as the post game in 8, but...definitely an interesting 'twist' on the story.


And now the not so great, by which I mean VIII did it a ton better.

- The villain in 8 was handled miles better. Chasing Dhoulmagus and then killing him and learning of Rhapthorne through Jessica and chasing him was masterful, there was zero telegraphing, while in this game it was pretty obvious from nearly the start who was good and who was in bed with the villain. After the first act in this game it felt like there was no threat as I gathered my friends and spammed hallelujah-electro light and critical claim/lightning strike.

- Overall the story in 8 felt more cohesive and tight. There was always something to fight for and even once you got to a point you could read the foreshadowing - the Hero and Medea would end up together, stakes were still high. In this game you're saving the world, okay, but you end up with...Gemma? Who the hell is she, aside from some NPC you knew and spent like the first three hours of the game with, before being vanished for another sixty hours and then suddenly you're married?!

The hero should have ended up with Veronica, after finding a way to restore her form, of course.

- While the post game overworld theme was better than the pre-post game theme, it doesn't even touch the original overworld theme from VIII, which is just a beautiful piece of music.

- Not being able to land your flying beast anywhere aside from isolated and disjointed map points was lame.

- I get that it isn't a western RPG, but they definitely could have co-opted a few western innovations. There's a bestiary but no character index (there's a LOT of characters to keep track of)? Quest catalog but no quest markers? Turn based combat but no auto-battle mode? What's that about?

- I spoke of Sylvando, and how he's awesome and he is...but sadly he's probably the most useless character in battle in the game, I literally just spammed acceleratle and hustle dance with him in the lineup. At least Serena is the game's best healer, and at least Rab has a good array of attack and healing magic, and some great peps. Not giving him a thieving perk, which given his background would have made sense, was a missed opportunity.

- The jobs are too rigid. Hero is pretty much predestined to be a one handed sword guy, which makes three. Boomerangs are only useful near the end of the Wheel of Harma, whips are useless and the staffs are hit and miss. I ran hero and Hendrik on sword-shield, Erik dual wielding Uber falcon blade+3 (caution: harsh), Sylvando dual wielding knives, Veronica and Rab on heavy staffs, Serena on wands and Jade with spears.

- And speaking of, Hero is ridiculously OP by not even halfway through the game. His ATK stat is in the stratosphere, his DEF stat is very above average (in fact his only weak Stat is deftness) and he's the best greatsword user and second best sword user (because Hendrik has Gyrfalcon Slash), but then he's the second best healer (because Rab doesn't have Omniheal) and the third best offensive spellcaster, to say nothing of his 10+ lethal sword abilities? I get that he's the child of destiny but dial it back. Spamming Quadraslash will win you 100% of all random encounters.

- Erik could have been an awesome story character but he was just fill in. Erik and Serena were of use in battle (Erik is the strongest physical attacker in the game thanks to the cheesy divide mechanic) but in terms of story they were just kinda 'there'.

-The world was a beautiful and vibrant place, but again, because you can't land your mount anywhere you want, only maybe 1/4 of it was open to the player.

- NPCs weren't as good; where are the Morrie, Trode, Marcello, Prince Charmles, Cash and Carrie and the Dhoulmagus-level NPC characters here? Faris was a watered down Charmles and Don Rodrigo was pretty cool I suppose but the rest sucked.

... But overall I greatly enjoyed my time with the game and look forward to playing it again in the future. If you're a big fan of RPGs but disdain some of the newer bells and whistles modern RPGS have then you need this game.

8/10. the game brushes up against greatness several times but never quite gets there.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Bloodborne 2/10

I’m convinced nobody actually likes this game, there just afraid to tell people its ****.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the Souls franchise.

I've settled on it just not being my cup of tea, but I'm still not 100% convinced I'm not the target of some elaborate joke.

 

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the Souls franchise.

I've settled on it just not being my cup of tea, but I'm still not 100% convinced I'm not the target of some elaborate joke.

It was the incredibly long loading screens that finally did me in, if your going to kill me every 30 seconds I’m only going to wait through so many 45 second loading screens before drop kicking my ps4 out the window.

That being said I tried to find players who felt like me about bloodborne, and I’ve never seen so much hate directed towards people who happened to dislike a game. If you told me you hated GTA5 I would think your crazy but I wouldnt insult your abilities/life choices the way these souls fanatics do lol. I knew it was a difficult franchise going into it, but told myself I was raised on ghouls n ghosts and battletoads, how hard could it possibly be? It just became repetitive and frustrating in the end. Power up, get to boss, die, power up get to boss, die, trade game in, get red dead.

 

[Nalens Oga]

I hate platformers on my console because I don't wanna solve puzzles I wanna play a video game...BUT I'm on a quest to get like every highly rated PS3 game for cheap that I can excluding the Souls games and GTA and expensive Japanese ones so I ended up buying Ratchet & Clank A Crack In Time anyways......it's platforming but platforming with guns, can't complain about that.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair

Simple as can be: you and others shoot aliens and machines and monsters and spacecraft all day every day non-stop. Only real flaw: the damn maps are big enough to make trekking through them something of a chore at times, especially if you're not using the Air Wing unit. Lots of filler missions (my version had 89(!) missions to play through for reference). It's fun enough, probably funner if you have friends who have the game as well.

6/10

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

Roblox 10/10

It’s like the dark souls of LEGO games.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Read Dead Redemption 2

Incredible achievement. Thinks too highly of itself.

9/10

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Super Mario Odyssey - 9/10

This is actually the first Mario game I beat since the 8-bit generation having never owned any of the consoles since the original NES. I loved how many ways you can tackle areas whether it's by just wall jumping up something, going into a pipe into a retro 2D zone, or taking over another monster and using their ability to reach your destination. I only ended up finding 200 moons. Some of them seemed obvious where they were yet I know I'm missing a ton. I know some levels open up new paths after you finish them which I haven't gone back to. The platforming is great, controls feel great but the motion controls seemed tacked on. I only play my Switch in handheld mode so I couldn't use motion controls and there were a couple moments that I felt at a disadvantage because of it. My only other real complaint about the game is the low draw distance. You can see far into the environment but if you're moving quickly or making a long jump from a high platform to the ground, enemies and some objects don't pop in until you get close enough. It's obviously a hardware limitation but it's still pretty annoying at times. Overall though, the complaints are minor and it's still a must buy if you have the Switch.

 

[Warden of the North]

Horizon Zero Dawn

I dont quite know what to say here.

I like the concept , story, and lore of the game A LOT. Its probably my favourite part actually. I cant describe what didnt quite work for me with it, but something was off. Clearly though the production value is extremely high and for that it also gets full marks. But something just didnt quite click and I didnt like it as much as I thought I would.

I did have the end spoiled for me though, and I wish I hadnt. The story payoff would have been great if I hadnt known what was coming.

Still, its great, and I can see why others would find it superb. I'd give it an 8.9/10 I think. Just shy of 9

 

[Commander Clueless]

Horizon Zero Dawn

I dont quite know what to say here.

I like the concept , story, and lore of the game A LOT. Its probably my favourite part actually. I cant describe what didnt quite work for me with it, but something was off. Clearly though the production value is extremely high and for that it also gets full marks. But something just didnt quite click and I didnt like it as much as I thought I would.

I'm glad someone else had the same problem that I had. I thought I might be crazy.

I agree: the concept, story, lore, and production value were all fantastic, but I could not get into it at all. I thought it was really cool at the beginning, but part way through it fell off a cliff for me.

I think I liked it less than you, however, as I decided not to play it and watched my wife play the key parts.

 

[Shareefruck]

Still obsessed with Celeste. One of those games that turn you into a wannabe speed-runner. I can beat it in 55 minutes now. I've narrowed down that the only thing I dislike about the game is whenever Theo acts like a typical obnoxious young person. Everything else is perfect.

Tetris Effect - 3.0 (Very Good) [tentative score]

Just barely started getting into this, but so far, it's really fun and a breath of fresh air, although not perfect the way that the original Gameboy Tetris is, for my money.

Spiderman - 1.0 (Negative)

Curiosity got the best of me and gave this a shot. About what I expected/feared. The swinging mechanics are incredible and feel great-- No arguments and quite an achievement there.

Beyond that, it's mediocre/uninteresting as hell, IMO. It feels like you're just given a bunch of random tasks to do to push along the story and give you an excuse to swing around, and the whole game feels like it's more about quantity of mindless content and technical achievement rather than making a legitimately stimulating and well designed video game.

In terms of story, I've always felt that critics have low standards for video games and they tend to receive wild praise for merely measuring up to the production values/caliber of storytelling of something that would otherwise be considered bad, like The Walking Dead. Ultimately, the storytelling here just feels like a successful poor-man's emulation of Marvel movies, which tend to have pretty bland and uninteresting storytelling to begin with.

It's not terrible, but I really do not agree with people who love this kind of thing.

Everything I sampled in 2018:
1. Celeste - 5.0 (Masterpiece)
2. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology - 3.5 (Great)
3. Tetris Effect - 3.0 (Very Good)
4. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition - 3.0 (Very Good)
5. Into the Breach - 2.5 (Good)
6. Sonic Mania Plus - 2.5 (Good)

7. Shadow of the Colossus (Remake) - 2.0 (Positive)
8. The Messenger - 2.0 (Positive)
9. Octopath Traveler - 1.5 (Neutral)
10. Deltarune - 1.5 (Neutral)
11. Dragonball FighterZ - 1.0 (Negative)
12. Spiderman - 1.0 (Negative)
13. Dead Cells - 1.0 (Negative)
14. Megaman 11 - 1.0 (Negative)

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Beyond that, it's mediocre/uninteresting as hell, IMO. It feels like you're just given a bunch of random tasks to do to push along the story and give you an excuse to swing around, and the whole game feels like it's more about quantity of mindless content and technical achievement rather than making a legitimately stimulating and well designed video game.

Welcome to gaming in 2018. I feel like this has been the standard for years now. People seem to just want a lot of content and don't care about the quality of it. I've gotten to the point where I'd rather play a game that does one thing incredibly well rather than a game that does a bunch of mediocre things.

It's hard for me to even get into new AAA games for that reason. They just all blend together and feel so generic since devs all just follow the same formula for their genre, cram as much crap in it, and forget to actually make the game fun to play.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Red Dead Redemption II (XB1) - 9/10

This game is simultaneously awesome and frustrating, for a few reasons.

On the plus side:

1) Narrative - An incredible journey. Somewhat generic western film style, but top notch in its delivery.

2) Characters - Arthur quickly became one of my favourite protagonists in any game (or any media, for that matter), and the band of outlaws is just fantastic. You love some and absolutely hate others, which to me says they are all extremely well done.

3) World - A world that feels alive for sure, with tons in it to explore. Even the environmental graphics are amazing.


On the negative side:

1) Controls - Janky controls for looting and cover mechanics make the game frustrating at times - particularly where time is of the essence.

2) Pacing - The game drags in parts. I found chapter 1 to be very slow (lots of talking on horses), chapter 5 to be completely unnecessary and even take away from the story line rather than add to it, and the epilogue to be drawn out with busy work quests. At times it felt like one of those movies that went on too long, to the detriment of the plot.

3) Travel - The game lacks a true fast travel. At the beginning of the game, this is understandable, as they want you to explore and your main quests are contained within a smaller area. Late game, however, the quests take place across the map which means you need to do a lot of horse riding. I mean a LOT of horse riding. I found this to be tedious at times.


Overall, though, the best game of 2018 so far in my opinion (although Spider-Man came a lot closer than I thought it would) and an absolute gem, if a bit rough around the edges.

 

[Shareefruck]

Welcome to gaming in 2018. I feel like this has been the standard for years now. People seem to just want a lot of content and don't care about the quality of it. I've gotten to the point where I'd rather play a game that does one thing incredibly well rather than a game that does a bunch of mediocre things.

It's hard for me to even get into new AAA games for that reason. They just all blend together and feel so generic since devs all just follow the same formula for their genre, cram as much crap in it, and forget to actually make the game fun to play.

Yeah. I can't be certain that all these specific games are actually guilty of it (because I've only played Spiderman), but personally, I never have any interest/optimism in big name games like God of War, Spiderman, and Red Dead Redemption 2 that come out every year because I always have these types of suspicions.

I hate this focus on open-world, technically realistic, cinematic (but not actually cinematic) games, where the selling point is always "I can do all this stuff and explore all this content that makes everything feel more like real life now", personally. It tends to feel mindlessly indulgent and non-rewarding to me.

Games generally only interest me when they either give me that really intricate, well designed digital board game-feeling (where you can see how interesting the mechanics/design is even if you completely remove the layer of immersion on top of it) or when they have a really charming, distinct, stylistic, and creative feel that actually gives you a legitimately artistically inspired/invigorating experience (which is pretty rare for a videogame).

Instead, everything blends together and tends to feel like an escapist virtual reality simulation roller-coaster-ride with pretty lame storytelling/presentation lifted either from blockbuster movies or cliff-hanger/twist-fueled TV dramas (neither of which I care for). I have no interest whatsoever in video games when they feel like this.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I'm also getting really sick of open world games. The second I see something open world, I immediately think a lot of running back and forth with a lot of collectables that the devs are probably going to force me to collect a certain amount of to unlock powers that are overpowered. At the same time, I don't want just corridor shooters too. I love the map design of smaller but open maps like Dishonored, Hitman, etc. Everything feels meaningful and the devs clearly put thought into where they're putting everything. Speaking of Hitman...

Hitman 2 - 9/10

Hitman 2 pretty much carries on from the latest Hitman. The maps are incredibly well planned and offers tons of replay value. The game is incredibly well optimized and polished. You can turn on hint markers to help you out when you can't figure out how to proceed or you can just go about the game without markers on and come up with some really fun and creative assassinations. There are only 6 missions but the missions are pretty long and you'll want to replay through them multiple times to see all the different methods you can take to assassinate your targets. The IO team has done a great job rejuvinating the Hitman series and I'm looking forward to more.

In regards to this as a sequel, it almost does feel like more of an expansion pack. The engine and everything is the same. If you haven't played the 2016 version, pick that up first while it's cheaper. I definitely enjoyed both and think they're both worth buying.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Yeah. I can't be certain that all these specific games are actually guilty of it (because I've only played Spiderman), but personally, I never have any interest/optimism in big name games like God of War, Spiderman, and Red Dead Redemption 2 that come out every year because I always have these types of suspicions.

Spider-Man is more open-world-y than the other two, as it has the Ubisoft-style glut of random things to do.

The other two feel more natural, but they will have some of the same. God of War is the least guilty of this I think.



Personally, I found the adventure very much worthwhile, even if I felt annoyed by the overwhelming crap on the way.


...except those MJ missions. If I wanted to play a stealth game as not Spider-Man, I'd not play Spider-Man.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Both Spider-Mam and God of War have very solid combat.

 

[Shareefruck]

Solid relative to the norms of the genre, maybe. Personally, I've never found this type of combat to be particularly effective, rich, or satisfying. Have similar feelings about most 2d side-scrolling beat'em-ups. I'd probably be more forgiving if the games were elevated by strong aesthetics/music/style/art direction (combining that with tight controls can go a long way), but everything looks and feels pretty bland and generic to me.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Titanfall 2
8/10

Feel bad for not playing the game back in the day. Pure thrills.