Last Game You Finished And Your Thoughts V3.0

Here we go in the order I beaten

1.


Touch was the first Katamari game I played, so I don't know what it's like on console but this VITA version was cool and worked well as the 13 missions are 10mins long at the max.

Meaning it's great on the go and I could see a new one or port working well on Switch due to that.

2.


Again played on VITA but is on Switch and elsewhere but best played on a handheld as it can use the touchscreen s you drag the level around to move the burly men. This was in the sale on PSN, looked interesting enough and has a easy platinum mainly as it's 20mins long for one playthrough that even though you need to do like 10 playthrough it's the only 2hrs for 100%.

3.


This afternoon I just finished and platinumed the first Shenmue.

Do I still think it holds up? Yes but the controls indoors can be a bother and camera controls aren't even needed.

Is is it a good port? No not really as maybe one of the most important parts in the game isn't viewable and des tarnish the experience.  

Worth playing still? Yes from a historical standpoint and even last night with Cyberpunk 2077 they brought about NPC's had routines etc that's something Shenmue did, the story is still good, the voice acting is still bad in an old Kung Fu movie way, the issue I could say is the forklift stuff goes on for way too long and isn't as fun as you may remember.

It is still a classic but as time goes on it will be remembered more for what it did for gaming when it does show its age more then it does.

That feels like an honest measured assessment about a game I know has a lot of emotional significance for you, Mas. Onya.

Would you honestly recommend it to me Mas? Considering I've played Yakuza, I spoke to a guy at work who said it's his favourite game and he was talking about how similar it is to Yakuza, which got me thinking that I might find Shenmue really dated by comparison.

See I didn't like Yakuza 0, with the reason being it felt slow and outdated which sounds silly compared to Shenmue and it might be nostalgia that glosses over those problems.

But I would recommend it still like I'd hope most would with likes of Super Mario 64, you just have to realise it's from a different era also at £20 it's not like you've got much to lose.

I can easily forgive a game for having some flaws from being a product of a previous generation. I suppose it might be one to keep an eye on for a sale, potentially.

Remember these views are just based on replaying the first game which did more for gaming then the second but Shenmue II is in my Top 25 games of all-time and Shenmue I wouldn't be close to that, now when I do start it on PS4, I might find it has aged like I did with Jade Empire this year (still like Top 50 or 100) but it did improve a lot on the first game back in the day.

Up to you if you wait for a sale but like I said it's like £20 for two games, which is a bargain when you see Capcom want £16 for Onimusha and what is Nintendo going to want for Luigi Mansion on 3DS £30.

Anyway I beat and got the platinum in


At the moment DC is on PS4 and all the things that aren't game systems, I'm not sure if it's a timed exclusive or a proper console exclusive to PS4 but if you can play it's well worth it and I can see sort of similarities to that upcoming untitled goose game, sure they don't look like they will play the same but in this you're a raccoon who's sort of a dick by annoying fellow town folks with holes in the ground.

And that's the premise you suck things into the holes and after each level, you have cutscenes which all rather funny. I'd certainly recommend it at the £8 on PSN.

That did look really sweet (no pun intended), what I saw of it.  I think I'll pick it up i(f it it ever comes to Switch.  We know. - everyone)

Aqua Kitty UDX



I finished off the classic mode a few days ago and this is a fun little 2d shooter but for me the last few levels had massive difficulty spikes to the point where I had to drop it from normal to easy. Apart from that I still enjoyed my time with it as it has that classic "just one more go" feel to it and if I find myself with a half hour to kill then I'll likely throw this on.

It's only £6.49 as well.

I'm finding it really hard to put Iconoclasts' story and writing into words, ironically.  I was really bloody keen on it.  It deals with some big themes, has emotional and funny moments, and goes some really dark places.  The characters are well written, and the villains are wonderfully punchable for the most part, especially the twerp with the messiah complex.  That said, I can see how others might find it pretentious.  The script's happy to mix high-brow and low-brow, but the high-brow stuff can get verbose.

The gameplay is more of a mixed bag.  The meh jump never quite goes away, but you adjust to it.  The weapons get more punch as you go on.  And some of the puzzles and bosses are really good.  Some of them, though, are just annoying.  The game will throw large puzzle rooms at you that aren't actually all that much fun to solve.  There's also one boss fight which is really emotional, until you have to replay it several times because the second phase kicks you in the nethers.  (The difficulty is adjustable: Hollow Knight aficionados might find the default setting on the easy side.)

The gameplay/story merging proooobably hits more than it misses.  In some places it works really well - there's a room you have to move through to get a key that's a highlight, and a couple of glorious bosses.  In others, not so much - there's a boss fight with a character who appears solely for that fight, seemingly because they wanted to use this style of boss fight and nobody else fit the bill.

The aesthetics and music are... there.

I would strongly recommend Iconoclasts because the story is belting and some of the gameplay moments are belting too, but I can't without caveating that there are a fair few unsatisfying gameplay moments in there as well.  Buy it, but do so for the writing and the plot.

7/10

Iconoclasts is right up there on my list of games to play next and that's largely because of the fantastic pixel art

First Owlboy and now this, Balla are you blind

A while ago I would have said, 'I just don't like pixel art,' and indeed I made the odd impassioned post to that effect.  Since then, however, Celeste's happened, which I think is... not beautiful perhaps, but still a lovely looking game.  I'm looking forward to getting Hyper Light Drifter too, and that also looks pretty special.

It probably is harder for pixel art to impress me, but I found Owlboy's sprites... a bit odd.  I can't describe it, objectively they look like they should be considered pretty, but they just don't do it for me.  Something about the backgrounds looking like pixel art and then slightly lower-def characters on them, maybe?  A bit inconsistent? Meanwhile Iconoclasts is a bit simpler and I do prefer it, but I find a lot of the location art quite generic-feeling, and the enemy designs a bit bobbins (bosses aside).  The one exception is when it goes gruesome...

I don't often post in this thread as I tend to finish games at a rate that I'll be triple posting if I did it all, but I've just finished an absolute masterpiece that I felt the need to share, so here are my thoughts on Shenmue:

This game is filled to the brim with quality, from the amazing, realistic voice acting, the incredible emotional range of Ryo (from non plussed to non plussed), the amazingly realistic city (with nothing whatsoever to do) and a story where there are endless things going on (wandering around the city talking to people, buying a boat ticket, working at the dock, finishing the game).

Some highlights I encountered along the way:
Waiting for the bus
Waiting to go to bed because I got home too early
Waiting til 7PM as a bar doesn't open
Waiting until 3PM to talk to someone
Waiting from 12-2PM during your forklift shift (every single day)

Classic game. 10/10

Hope Andy's sarcasm doesn't put you off Jay as it's port of a game from 1999 and we know how Andy feels about game's from that era. I'd hope you would appreciate it more for what it did and still doing for gaming then Andy clear has.

I've not listened to the video game podcast or whatever it's called for ages but I reckon Andy is the like the guy on it who's doing the latest play and I'm the guy who played before and wasn't going to let him play it.

Naa I do see what it did for gaming, it's clear a lot of games have taken parts of this for inspiration, but that doesn't make it any less of a slog to play through.

From what I've heard 2 should improve on quite a few of my issues with the first so I'm still looking forward to that (somewhat).

2 has a time skip and almost all story based and Hong Kong is bigger.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I don't often post in this thread as I tend to finish games at a rate that I'll be triple posting if I did it all, but I've just finished an absolute masterpiece that I felt the need to share, so here are my thoughts on Shenmue:

This game is filled to the brim with quality, from the amazing, realistic voice acting, the incredible emotional range of Ryo (from non plussed to non plussed), the amazingly realistic city (with nothing whatsoever to do) and a story where there are endless things going on (wandering around the city talking to people, buying a boat ticket, working at the dock, finishing the game).

Some highlights I encountered along the way:
Waiting for the bus
Waiting to go to bed because I got home too early
Waiting til 7PM as a bar doesn't open
Waiting until 3PM to talk to someone
Waiting from 12-2PM during your forklift shift (every single day)

Classic game. 10/10

Classic review. 10/10

masofdas wrote:

Hope Andy's sarcasm doesn't put you off Jay as it's port of a game from 1999 and we know how Andy feels about game's from that era. I'd hope you would appreciate it more for what it did and still doing for gaming then Andy clear has.

I'm not in any rush to play it, let's put it that way.

From what I've seen, I can definitely see where modern gaming has drawn from Shenmue but some of the design choices are mind-boggling even for 1999. Majora's Mask - which was no doubt in development at that time - at least gave you ways to manipulate time.

JayMoyles wrote:

masofdas wrote:

Hope Andy's sarcasm doesn't put you off Jay as it's port of a game from 1999 and we know how Andy feels about game's from that era. I'd hope you would appreciate it more for what it did and still doing for gaming then Andy clear has.

I'm not in any rush to play it, let's put it that way.

From what I've seen, I can definitely see where modern gaming has drawn from Shenmue but some of the design choices are mind-boggling even for 1999. Majora's Mask - which was no doubt in development at that time - at least gave you ways to manipulate time.

Well, you won't be in any rush while you're playing it either.

Well played.

Another belter from Jas there.

Shenmue [PS4]

I have also just finished the first Shenmue and I have mixed feelings.

For years, Ryo's adventure was my favourite videogame. In December 2000, it blew me away with its compelling atmosphere and setting. It's the reason I visited Japan in 2006 and a big reason why I loved my Dreamcast. But, the game has not aged well at all. Visually, it's still staggering how this game was released 18 years ago (19 in Japan) and doesn't look like a blurred jumble of polygons. Some of the textures do look horrendous, granted, but it doesn't take away from the game world. The issues I've had with the game have been the combat. I don't remember the Virtua Fighter engine being so clunky, but in Shenmue it feels like you are fighting the controller at times, particularly with the camera in that 70-man battle. I also found there was very little to do during the periods where you are waiting for things to do - again this is likely due to my experience of the series. I aced the darts games almost immediately and spent pretty much all my money on the moves scrolls and capsule toys because they carry through to Shenmue 2. Hang On and Space Harrier do little for me, so I would just put the controller down and do something else for a bit.

I'm glad that Shenmue was re-released, as it confirms why I loved it so much at the time and why I (and many others) hold fond memories for it. It's a nostalgia trip within a nostalgia trip. I was a teenager playing a game (18 years ago) as a teenager playing a game set 14 years before that, essentially, and I had a lot of nostalgia for it. It's like having nostalgia for nostalgia. It also captures the period of a "schoolboy" becoming a grown-up, saying goodbye to his pals, getting his first job yet still pissing about with toys. It's not a great game but it remains a special moment for the medium and I still recommend it because there really isn't anything like it, for better and worse.

7/10

I'm sure Mas will jump in, seemingly in agreement, but I've got to pass over GJones' reviewette with this slender acknowledgement...


We finished it! I guess it was worth it?

TWP, as I will call it from hereon out, is a very obviously a tribute to the games that made designer Ron Gilbert's name back in the day. Trouble is, while the plot and writing are still pretty good, I don't think they match up to how good I've heard the greats of the genre were, or how good (for example) Grim Fandango's was. Don't get me wrong, it's still a positive, with the genre's trademark self-poking fun and the odd genuine heart-warmer; but it frequently uses its callbacks to the 80s and the genre's classics as more of a crutch than a humour aid. The ending is probably a great plot twist, although the way it explains some aspects feels like an arse-pull (and the way it explains one aspect had me laughing out loud).

The gameplay continues to be lousy, and we used a walkthorough copiously. Sometimes you feel you could have worked out that logic puzzle, given enough time. Sometimes you're left open-mouthed at the solution you're supposed, somehow, to have come up with. While wandering back and forward isn't as bad as in Grim Fandango, it's still there.

The pixel art is pretty good, generally quite expressive. The music is occasionally noticeable. The voice acting, though, is really good: the entire game's voice acted, voice acted well, and that's probably the best part of the game.

This will probably really appeal to those who grew up in the 80s and played Gilbert's previous games, which is of course the target audience. I'm not that.

I've been moving city, starting full-time work and spending time with my girlfriend, but I have finished some children's computer games in that time as well!

ARMS
The last update changed up the final boss of Level 7 singleplayer so instead of fighting Max Brass and then his Hedlok version you fight Dr Coyle. Naturally, I had to bash through it again with my girl Min Min. I’m a little rusty and this fight is a hell of a thing so it took some doing, but I got to the end. I think when I have decent wifi and a Pro Controller again, Dr Coyle is gonna be the next character I learn properly as well.
10/10


Spl8oon
I finished the Spla2n Octo Expansion. Well, I got the ending – there’s still a heck of a lot of levels I didn’t play. This is some tough videogaming! Clever twists on Splatoon gameplay, tricky combat scenarios, fiendish puzzles, the Octo Expansion had it all! It also had a mind-bending story about brainwashing and cultish weirdness.
In places it touches on potentially all being a simulation. There are references to other, similar stories: lots of touches from the Matrix and an ending segment based on Metal Gear Solid 2. There’s an ace boss fight against

Spoiler:

and even a level that was one big Terminator 2 reference.
Yeah, safe to say I like this game.
10/10


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I finally got my final shrine! I found all of them without ever looking anything up online. The only “cheating” I did was sitting with my girlfriend, playing on my Switch while she played on Wii U, and helping eachother find the ones we didn’t have. Finally we checked the places neither of us had been and smashed it!
I did Ganon one more time to wrap it all up and now I’m done. Playing it with Shen like this, spending time in that world with her, cemented this as my favourite game of all time.
10/10
Now I have the DLC to contend with. The Trial of the Sword joins DOOM and ARMS in the category of action games that require control, concentration and precision so I’m not gonna play in handheld mode. The Champion’s Ballad starts with a big stealth sequence so I’m in no rush to do that right now. For the time being, Zelda is off my plate, but it’s nice to know there’s new #content for me whenever I do feel the need.


Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice
I finally came to the end of my AA Journey. Obviously, there will be case-by-case write-ups going on gintendo, but I’ll say here that it was definitely the best of the games since the original trilogy, and what it did with the whole high-concept Khurainese legal spirit stuff and the ol’ debate of truth versus justice was entertaining, but it doesn’t capture the human drama of the original trilogy’s more low-key, grounded story.
10/10


Pokemon Crystal
Beat the Elite Four and started exploring Kanto. What a bloody videogame. I’ve been trying to only use Second Generation Pokemon, although I briefly had a Rapidash on my team as Johto is so low on fire types. I caught a Houndour in Kanto though so now I’m all J, Baby!
Anyway, it’s not really finished until I beat Red, is it?
10/10

Balladeer wrote:

I'm sure Mas will jump in, seemingly in agreement, but I've got to pass over GJones' reviewette with this slender acknowledgement...

Thimbleweed Park

...

This will probably really appeal to those who grew up in the 80s and played Gilbert's previous games, which is of course the target audience.  I'm not that.

5/10

BOO! BE OLDER.

In retrospect there is a lot of relying on in-jokes, and they could have tried a bit harder with the ending. The walkthrough thing surprised me though - did  you try the hint line?

Drunkalilly wrote:

10/10

Aw, that's nice. I'm glad you liked those games. (uh - feel free to ignore this sentence)