Last Game You Finished And Your Thoughts V3.0

As always, chuffed to read about someone enjoying Celeste - especially about someone who thought we were talking it up too much (and I can definitely see why that might happen )!

I agree with those numbers, in what very well could be the sleeper hit of the year.

APTI is rather old fashioned which may put some of you off as it is a full price retail game which took me 9hrs to finish, I did go back and mop up some of the achievements.

With that being about it for replay value, why I say it's old fashioned is because it's not open world, hasn't got sidequest, hasn't got 27 endings.

It's a straight forward level (chapters) based game, which is pretty much going from A to B with maybe how you do the puzzles/sneaking, along with going down some back alleys for collectables differing how I got to the end and how you might.

How it is set up, as I say is sort old fashioned in 2019 and I can't see many games beyond likes of Gears 5 and TLoU 2 (indies do it as well) doing similar, and those games both will both shine due to the polish they have.

That's what APTI has as well, it looks fantastic (the HDR is great on this especially in a scene in Chapter IV (I think)), sound design, gameplay and story are all top notch.

Now I would recommend this to most people but it heavy on the stealth, you do get better equipment but you can't really go sling blazing, also it does have one long dodgy chapter which you play as Hugo, not Amica.

If being old fashioned is not doing boring open worlds then plug all those old fashioned games into my veins please, also how long has it been since BotW? 2 years, 2 whole years and no one seems to have learned what makes an open world game exciting to play.

The_Jaster wrote:

If being old fashioned is not doing boring open worlds then plug all those old fashioned games into my veins please, also how long has it been since BotW? 2 years, 2 whole years and no one seems to have learned what makes an open world game exciting to play.

No comment

Forgot to say that most of this could easily be solved if said open world games just allowed you to turn objective markers off and let you explore the world freely.

I've been playing a bit of Yakuza 0 recently and while it isn't anything close to these typical open world games, it handles it's world map really well pointing you in the right direction when needed & even cutting off sections of the map so you can't miss an important plot moment. But it also knows when to give you a bit of freedom, early at the start of chapter 2 I was given no objective marker and told to explore for the first time which led to me bumping into either npc's that gave clues with street names of my possible next objective or ones that activated these fun little/weird sub stories that made the world more believable and not just pointless set dressing.

Yeah, I enjoyed that about Yakuza 0 - happening upon wee side stories like that was a treat.

I haven't been sitting down for so many big gaming sessions lately, but I did tick a couple of things off my to-do list.



This was good fun! I remember when I finished all the shrines last year and fired this up, the immediate instadeath stealth sequence put me off. That bit was actually not too tough and kind of fun. In fact, I made it way tougher than it needed to be because I didn't notice until the last enemy camp that I could still use my bow and arrows! After that there were some shrines, which were fun, some overworld clues and escapades, which were great, a dungeon, which was decent, a boss which was amazing and then that incredibly dumb final reward. I also finally got around to building my house and filling it with the unique weapons.

In fact, I enjoyed this so much that i then went on and finished the first section of the trials of the sword.

Still the best game ever, and now there's a bit more of it.
11/10



It doesn't quite feel like the real deal, but I enjoyed finishing the pokedex on Lets Go Pikachu. I traded with someone on twitter who wanted the Pikachu exclusives and that made me want to finish it off. It was actually kinda fun doing the last through trades with random players by spamming the first three pokemon on the code screen. I'd hover over my partner pokemon to show them what version i had, and if they had they other one we'd hover over what we wanted to trade - version exclusives, evo pokemon, etc, and then proceed. Sure, it was ten times more complicated than it needed to be, but it was kind of a fun, unique little human moment.

I'm actually excited about trying to do a full main series Pokedex now. Plus I caught Mespirit on Diamond the other day so I never have to put myself through that SHITE again.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

What a great game. . . Like everybody else, I found Celeste to be very sincere, very imaginative and very thoughtful. All the gamey stuff (like the graphics, gameplay, music and all that) is superb in itself as well. . . I know that there's loads more of it, but I'll savour it. Again, what a great game. 9/10.

Yep, I pretty much 100% agree with all of the above. WHAT A GAME!

masofdas wrote:

No comment

Let it go, let it g-
Oh. Well done, good on you mate.

I've still not played DLC2 for BotW! I think I burned myself out by giving Master Mode a good shake of the stick and trying to get all the Korok Seeds, which was a fool's errand. Still, it was cool seeing parts of the world that I'd never visited before. I wish there was an easier in-game way to locate missing seeds as trawling Hyrule using an online map wasn't as much fun as finding them naturally during my initial playthrough of the game.

And you've also reminded me that I've got Let's Go to play as well... my brother even picked up the opposite version for Pokédex completion purposes too!

So far, I haven't used a guide for anything in Zelda and I don't plan to. I will eventually get all the koroks but I'm more than happy for that to take years and years of me dipping into the game and spending time in that world.

Well a Korok mask was added in the dlc to help find the seeds, wasn't it?

It only really jingles in a limited radius around the Koroks though and considering how bloody easy it is to miss some of these buggers, it doesn't guarantee finding them all.

Double post, but I beat a game!

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice



It's no surprise to hear that I enjoyed this a lot, but I'm personally surprised that I've found it more enjoyable than the Souls trilogy. At its core, it still retains that FromSoft spirit - hard as nails, punishing and rewards exploration - but the changes they've made in Sekiro have been for the better.

Firstly, stripping away the RPG elements. For some, that's a big negative as creating your character to suit your playstyle was a real draw for many that played SoulsBorne. But, removing levelling up and altering your stats made for a more rewarding experience as a whole. You can't just grind your way to victory - you've got to learn a boss's patterns and defeat it using your combat skills. Your character doesn't level up - you do.

Speaking of the combat, it's leaps and bounds better than Souls in my humble opinion. A shift away from dodging, rolling and parrying to a tense clash of swords with an emphasis on guarding and parrying made for a wonderful battle system. Deflecting a flurry of attacks and then landing a fatal thrust felt so satisfying to pull off. There was a moment around the third major boss fight in the game where the combat system clicked for me and I never looked back.

The story was a lot clearer as well - there were still little lore nuggets squirelled away in item descriptions, but the overall plot was told through cutscenes and dialogue, which I appreciated. The confusion of what was going on was neat in Souls, but I think the style of storytelling had run its course. Being rooted in a mostly real world setting helped that, I reckon.

I could go on and say more about the ingenious Prosthetic Tools, the shift to vertical level design and how that tied in with how you traverse each level and how the game nearly fucked it with a miserable optional boss, but to sum up... this is FromSoft's best game that I've played yet.

Mind you, I've not played Bloodborne... should probably get on that.

10/10

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice looks like something I'd enjoy, but like lots of those sorts of games, I can't be arsed with RPG stuff or the mega difficulty. Maybe I'm missing out, but I know I'd probably chuck it after an hour.

~



Just completed Team Sonic Racing on Switch, one of the 7/10iest game I’ve ever 7/10ed. I've shared my thoughts on this in it's thread, but if there’s any disappointment coming through in those posts I've made, it’s mostly influenced from how good it’s two prequels were by comparison. That said, Team Sonic Racing’s teamplay focus is quite interesting, and it handles very well while maintaining a consistent and unwavering 30fps. Furthermore, not only is the soundtrack one of the best on Switch, but the visuals must be right up there with the best looking ones too. It’s a very attractive game in many senses.

What kinds of lets it down is the racing itself: it’s quite middle-of-the-road, and not helped by poor power-ups, the ordinary character roster, and some unmemorable track design. All in all, it’s still all right. It’s perfectly solid and not at all a bad way to spend your time. However, maybe Team Sonic Racing isn’t quite deep enough, and perhaps it’s a bit throwaway. However, I get the impression that it would be a much more engaging and rewarding game with local multiplayer. As I played it on my tod though, 7/10.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice looks like something I'd enjoy, but like lots of those sorts of games, I can't be arsed with RPG stuff or the mega difficulty. Maybe I'm missing out, but I know I'd probably chuck it after an hour.

The RPG elements are essentially totally gone - it's closer to an action game in the vein of DMC or Bayonetta in that you spend skill points on new abilities. There's still money to buy items with or to upgrade your gear, but there's none of the character building and focus on stats like there was in the Souls game.

The brutal difficulty is still absolutely there, but I found Sekiro much fairer than the Souls games. It seemed to reward good play as opposed to throwing stupid traps or hordes of enemies at you and saying "haha, I got you!"

It's a shame TSR sounds ultimately just above average - I'd have ranked its prequels up as a worthy contender to Mario Kart.

There's something hypnotic and satisfying about galloping (do apes gallop?) through the levels in this game just causing chaos along the way, the controls are simple to pick up & the jazz soundtrack spurs you on nicely. It's quite a short game with 4 chapters overall that only contain 8 levels, though each one does have a good variety of enemies to deal with but you will finish it in around 2 or 3 hours - after you beat a chapter it does unlock an arcade mode but I never felt the need to try it out so maybe it has some replay value here.

Overall I enjoyed my time with this one but I'd only recommend it if it's on sale & if you are looking for something short.

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This is another short one but it's so fun and cheery you'd need a black heart to dislike it, it definitely doesn't do anything new as a Metroid-like (and yes it has more in common with Metroid than Castlevania) but it's controls are tight, the world is well designed and the story element is paced really well not to mention cute and at times funny.

Is it worth seven pounds? Yes & it won't leave shrapnel embedded in you body for an eternity either.

The_Jaster wrote:

it definitely doesn't do anything new as a Metroid-like (and yes it has more in common with Metroid than Castlevania)

Don't make me dig out the Nintendo endorsed screenshot of them using the term Metroidvania.

On a serious note, both games on your list look like fun. I think I'll wait for a wee sale, but I'll likely pick them up someday.

Yup definitely games you don't need to rush out and buy right away but they were pretty fun & I fancied a break from Yakuza 0.

Jay wrote:

Don't make me dig out the Nintendo endorsed screenshot of them using the term Metroidvania.

Hehe both games do have differences that set them apart though.

The_Jaster wrote:

I fancied a break from Yakuza 0.

Don't tell Andy that.

GZ is the second MGS game I've finished this year and it's such an odd one going back now after 5 YEARS! We all remember it being short etc and I've just done all the missions in 4hrs but the story and setup to Phantom Pain is still really decent.

I can see GZ due it's length being mostly forgotten about when talking about Metal Gear Solid or even I've done this just bundle it in with Phantom Pain as Metal Gear Solid V when talking about it.

Plus going back now you can see the leap from GZ to PP.

Did play on Xbox One this time, so had the mission with Raiden (Deja Vu was added and Vice-Versa to PlayStation) which I never played the first time around.

Oh and I still don't like Kiefer Sutherland as Snake

No opinion on Metal or Gears or Metal Gears, sorry.

The_Jaster wrote:

[Gato]

This is another short one but it's so fun and cheery you'd need a black heart to dislike it, it definitely doesn't do anything new as a Metroid-like (and yes it has more in common with Metroid than Castlevania) but it's controls are tight, the world is well designed and the story element is paced really well not to mention cute and at times funny.

Is it worth seven pounds? Yes & it won't leave shrapnel embedded in you body for an eternity either.

That's a good sell! I could do with something cheery, and if it happens to be a Metroidvania at the time so much the better. It's on my list. (It can join the 5+ other games on there...)

I'd be a bigger fan of Sutherland as Big Boss if we got to see him interact with Hayter as Snake. As is, it felt pretty redundant.

I'm really down to try that Gato Roboto thing; I need a break from Ornstein and Smough!

The_Jaster wrote:

This is another short one but it's so fun and cheery you'd need a black heart to dislike it, it definitely doesn't do anything new as a Metroid-like (and yes it has more in common with Metroid than Castlevania) but it's controls are tight, the world is well designed and the story element is paced really well not to mention cute and at times funny.

Is it worth seven pounds? Yes & it won't leave shrapnel embedded in you body for an eternity either.

Seen a lot of talk about this which has bumped it straight up my list and being short definitely helps too so think this is one I might crack on with.

masofdas wrote:

GZ is the second MGS game I've finished this year and it's such an odd one going back now after 5 YEARS! We all remember it being short etc and I've just done all the missions in 4hrs but the story and setup to Phantom Pain is still really decent.

I can see GZ due it's length being mostly forgotten about when talking about Metal Gear Solid or even I've done this just bundle it in with Phantom Pain as Metal Gear Solid V when talking about it.

Plus going back now you can see the leap from GZ to PP.

Did play on Xbox One this time, so had the mission with Raiden (Deja Vu was added and Vice-Versa to PlayStation) which I never played the first time around.

Oh and I still don't like Kiefer Sutherland as Snake

This is one I always mean to come back to, I originally saw it as just an expensive demo but wasn't till after The Phantom Pain came out I realised there was more to it, getting 100% on this might encourage me to do the same with TPP as I've wanted to do that for a while too.

I like Kiefer personally, obviously he's not the original but the voice still lends perfectly to the character.

You know what? I think I preferred GZ to TPP & even though it's a very good prologue for that game GZ just revels in being a game way more, so many fun missions that can be completed in a variety of ways as well.

I prefer GZ to TPP also, TPP does refine the mechanics even moreso, but that only makes GZ the second best third person shooter in mechanics ever made. In overall structure GZ promises something TPP never delivers on in its dense world that gets recontextualised through repeated missions. I think it's genuinely fantastic.