La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

I really do need to get back to V3, but I'm so bad at playing VNs, at the moment if I'm playing one it's 428 Shibuya Scramble, but Moyles certainly made it sound worth returning to when he did his run. I might jump into it after a Justice for All replay.

Bagged myself the platinum trophy for this yesterday, although I'll freely admit to making a backup save so I could watch all 3 endings instead of playing through the game 3 times!

Yeah this is a great game. When it shines, and that's just about throughout, it really shines. It looks incredible and there's so much attention to detail all over the place. So much stuff to find, and a lot of worthwhile loot to collect as well. The fighting system is sublime, the pvp/pve implementation has worked a treat for me, and of course there's all those intense boss fights you've come to expect from a game like this.

I do have some reservations about the game. I think a lot of the NPC questlines just sort of end without any real resolution, which is a shame. Hopefully they'll add in some content surrounding these at some point. As I understand it the code for a lot of these quests is in the game, just cut by release date. I do think the open world isn't perfectly implemented either. It's a bit annoying forgetting where you're meant to go and then having to look it up because the game doesn't tell you - even if you go back to the NPC who asked you to do a thing in the first place. But having said that, the fast travel system is really slick in this game and the overworld is a beautiful and varied enough place, so overall a banging job really.

As you get deeper into the game you'll see more enemy repetition, and more boss battles which are actually just two random bosses shoved together. This predominantly affects the side quests/dungeons, not the main areas, but still it's a bit of a shame - albeit a totally understandable one given how big the game is. And, to be fair, most boss battles let you summon in aid - either from a spirit or another player - and I was quite happy to do some jolly cooperation for these sorts of bouts. Had a good time helping out other players as well.

Unfortunately I did feel like the game slightly overstayed its welcome towards the end. This was mostly because the difficulty got a bit silly, and not in a fun way. There are just too many bosses with second health bars, or bosses which are so big that you spend more time fighting the camera than enjoying the fight.

I do want to give a shoutout to the horse combat in this game though. It works pretty well, not as fun as the normal combat, but they done a good there for sure. The atmosphere of the game is absolutely sublime, thanks to the incredible ambiance and soundtrack this game has. There are a few boss fights that really give you chills. Those were the ones which stood out the most for me, although those hardfought battles with really tough but fair bosses are memorable too! At least, the moment to moment atmosphere is sublime, I'm not so sold on the NPC stuff - but that's because some of it tapered off.

I can see why this game has garnered such a positive critical reception. I don't think it's going to rival my top few games of all time, and I still think I just about prefer Bloodborne over this, but Elden Ring is a hell of a game and I'm sure their next open world game will really be something special too.

9/10

I’ll post my Danganronpa thoughts when I finish it.

Treesmurf wrote:

Grapple Dog, actually a bit arse

That’s really disappointing that Grapple Dog is a letdown. I’ve been on it’s eShop page a few times, hovering over the Buy Now button. Do you think there’s any hope for Grapple Dog eventually becoming good, if the developer is prepared to give it a few updates and iron out some of these kinks?

I think there's hope for it, I understand it's already been improved upon what reviewers originally played, I still maintain that the movement when falling is too sensitive though. I just had a quick go then and it feels like your options for downwards are either down to the left or down to the right, no in between and when you try to tweak your movements you'll almost always overdo it, it's not game breaking but it's frustrating when so many other platformers can get it right.

If it were on sale for around a fiver there's worse ways to spend your money.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I really do need to get back to V3, but I'm so bad at playing VNs, at the moment if I'm playing one it's 428 Shibuya Scramble, but Moyles certainly made it sound worth returning to when he did his run. I might jump into it after a Justice for All replay.

Aw, it's better than JfA! Or rather, it's much better than the third case, and substantially worse than the fourth - like most things indeed. I do fancy a shot at Shibuya Scramble after 's talking it up on TBP: I'm hoping the Switch is going to go full Vita regarding visual novels and I'll get the chance.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I’ll post my Danganronpa thoughts when I finish it.

Looking forward to finding out who your waifu is, and why it's Korekiyo.

(Fun fact: GJones learned what 'waifu' means because of me the other week. I'm not proud.)

Isn't 428 Shibuya Scramble meant to be bad? Or am I thinking another game?

Square are doing a VN FMV thing, which is coming to Switch.

Muss wrote:

Bagged myself the platinum trophy for this yesterday, although I'll freely admit to making a backup save so I could watch all 3 endings instead of playing through the game 3 times!

I done this with Bloodborne but that was after looking up how complicated some of the endings could be, not sure if I want to do this yet with Elden Ring but I'm leaning to doing the 2 extra full runs purely so I can try out some of the crazy weapons/ashes of war I've picked up so far on my first playthrough.

Muss wrote:

As you get deeper into the game you'll see more enemy repetition, and more boss battles which are actually just two random bosses shoved together. This predominantly affects the side quests/dungeons, not the main areas, but still it's a bit of a shame - albeit a totally understandable one given how big the game is. And, to be fair, most boss battles let you summon in aid - either from a spirit or another player - and I was quite happy to do some jolly cooperation for these sorts of bouts. Had a good time helping out other players as well.

Now, I'm not going to defend all of it as the repetition of some bosses are lame but there are some cases where it might seem like that at face value but read an item description and it tells a different story.

I had lunch with my friend and colleauge Matty on Sunday. On Tuesday I find out he tested positive for COVID. Because we take a lot of precautions, we were told work was okay to continue as normal but because I'd been to eat with him, I was given the shout to self-isolate. Despite one or two online lessons, I've found myself with a few days of symptom-free relaxation and an order to stay inside and not go to the gym or hiking or anything. Thus: Games!

New Super Mario Bros U

I've been slowly poking at this one for a few months, a little now and a little then. It has some pretty visuals in places and it plays like an absolute treat. It has a great final boss, a cool World-style map and is probably the best of the "New" series. That said, playing it so soon after the other three, it feels like it just doesn't do enough. The four NSMB games came out in a space of six years; it's been ten years since this one. If we get another Nintendo-designed 2D Mario, I feel like it needs to be something a bit different at this point.
I'll get those videos of this and 2 made soon . . .
10/10
It is an absolute necessity that you consider playing this if you like this series or if you don't, but either way you should play it or not for sure.

Death's Door

Oooh, this was delightful this was! Beautiful piano music, exquisite visuals like little clay models and really fun, satisfying, crunchy combat. The world was nice to explore, though I missed a lot - secrets were almost too well-hidden. I've seen the credits but I hear there's more to see and that it's actually worth a punt. I'll probably dip my toes back in at some point.
This felt like a fairy tale. Not in the sense of being twee and colourful and harmless, but like a proper fairy tale; something some German dude wrote 200 years ago to fuck kids up and teach them about mortality.
Also, my friend Rob was amused that right after he found out I was isolating, he got the notification on his Switch "Buskalilly: Death's Door"
10/10
Definitely maybe.

Last Window
The Secret of Cape West

Well. This is a very special game. I remember reading about Kyle Hyde's adventures in NGamer. I remember buying and starting Hotel Dusk twice. I remember finally finishing it a year or two ago. I remember starting this sequel last year with the intention of playing it over Christmas.
These are slow burning games, part adventure, part visual novel. They are exceptionally good, but I find I need to be in exactly the right mood to play, which isn't 100% of the time. Now that I'm done, though, I'm so glad I ticked Kyle Hyde's adventures off my bucket list. I'm also thankful to (I think) GJones who gave me this copy absolutely free! Sorry it took me five years to finish it . . .
10/10
You can't deny it exists.

@Jas

I get where you're coming from and I'm throughly looking forward to watching those vaatividya videos as they come. I'm sure there's a lot I missed lore wise so I'll be looking forward to messing with the crazy weapon arts next time and having a different understanding about what's going on. I was happy to end the run but now I feel like something is missing.

I was quite tied to a pure strength build and the weapon I had wouldn't let me use custom arts. I've already stated a mage run so I can play totally differently but I'll take that slowly haha.

Aye, Vaatividya's lore videos are always a good watch so I'm looking forward to those as well.

Muss wrote:

I was quite tied to a pure strength build and the weapon I had wouldn't let me use custom arts. I've already stated a mage run so I can play totally differently but I'll take that slowly haha.

I've done this too but with daggers & a dex build, though I do have the option of using my off hand dagger to put different weapon arts on if I need a different approach to a boss fight. Oh and speaking of weapon arts I found out recently that you can just straight up find a special armaments art to use on other weapon types (it is limited usually) & I'm not sure I like that.

Buskalilly wrote:

Thus: Games![/b]

I really liked New Super Mario Bros. U too, I think it’s very underrated, very probably the best in the ‘New’ series of four. It definitely feels like it needed more space to breathe between the one that came out on 3DS though. I wouldn’t be gutted if this sub-series never came back too, there isn’t enough new right enough.

I’ve got both Hotel Dusk and Last Window, but I’ve never played them. A few months back I made a wee list of games that I wanted to get round to, and Hotel Dusk was on it.

gjones is very welcome to send me free games too. A boxed Snowboard Kids 2 would be cracking

I want to see something different when we finally get more 2D Mario, even if only in terms of the aesthetics.

I wonder what you'll make of HD and LW? They're more like reading books than playing games, but bloody good books.

Buskalilly wrote:

I've been slowly poking at this one for a few months, a little now and a little then. It has some pretty visuals in places and it plays like an absolute treat. It has a great final boss, a cool World-style map and is probably the best of the "New" series. That said, playing it so soon after the other three, it feels like it just doesn't do enough. The four NSMB games came out in a space of six years; it's been ten years since this one. If we get another Nintendo-designed 2D Mario, I feel like it needs to be something a bit different at this point.

Yes, all of this. If you want to dislike it even more, be a chump like me and try it straight after playing Mario 3D World. Not my finest decision.

Buskalilly wrote:

Well. This is a very special game. I remember reading about Kyle Hyde's adventures in NGamer. I remember buying and starting Hotel Dusk twice. I remember finally finishing it a year or two ago. I remember starting this sequel last year with the intention of playing it over Christmas.
These are slow burning games, part adventure, part visual novel. They are exceptionally good, but I find I need to be in exactly the right mood to play, which isn't 100% of the time. Now that I'm done, though, I'm so glad I ticked Kyle Hyde's adventures off my bucket list. I'm also thankful to (I think) GJones who gave me this copy absolutely free! Sorry it took me five years to finish it . . .

Oh wow, this was your first playthrough? Jealous! What lovely games they were, and this one was of course the rare game that made it to Europe but never the US. Absolutely top though, glad you've played and enjoyed it boss.

Bonito Days is brilliant! It combines the mechanics from Super Monkeys Ball’s Monkey Target minigame and the explorative gameplay of NiGHTS Into Dreams with the visuals and relaxed personality from A Short Hike. Then, on top of all that is an absolutely superb soundtrack that exactly captures that vibe you get from a Katamari Damacy game. Those are four utterly sensational games I’ve just namedropped there, majestically rolled into one.

I hope that paragraph speaks for itself, and I hope it’s clear that I loved Bonito Days. Yet a handful of things minorly let it down. There are occasional instances of technical sloppiness, like when the game miscalculates your points tally, or like when you go crashing through the floor for no reason. Rarer than that (but still here) is weak level design. That’s only one or two times mind you, but it’s quite jarring when you’re having such a brilliant time then find your fun and momentum totally stopped by a level where you can’t even find the target, or the ramp to launch yourself off of. Bonito Days doesn’t have much of a structure to bind it together either. There’s some unlockables that have been added in a free update but there’s nevertheless nothing to really work towards, either in terms of a main campaign or in terms of online leaderboards.

The games’ mechanics, gameplay, atmosphere and soundtrack fully compensate for those shortcomings though. Bonito Days was unlucky not to make my personal Switch top 25 that I posted in another thread. It’s an excellent 8/10.

Oh, I saw this in like a Direct or a youtube video . . . glad to hear it plays well, I'll keep an eye on that one.

That sounds lovely, except I'm one of those absolute shysters who didn't see what everybody else saw in Monkey Target.  I just found it fiddly and annoying.  By admitting this I have resigned myself to my fate at the hands of GNamer's resident lynch mob.

VOICE OF CARDS - THE ISLE DRAGON ROARS:

If you were gonna be murdered for having game opinions nobody else agrees with, it would have happened by now!

Maybe, but I feel like this is one of the really bad opinions to have. Like not liking Goldeneye, or Soulsborne games, or oh okay I see what you mean.

Maybe this is like Goldeneye, wherein the people who defend it haven't played it in decades. I haven't played Monkey Target since at least before the Wii came out. Maybe it'd be shite if I played it now?

Or maybe it's like souls games where you is wrong man dem, think that is it

Memoir Blue just come to Game Pass but on other things for around £6, so not overly expensive. Just it felt like an AAA mobile game, if that makes sense, as it has the polish, nice music and all that stuff.

Yet it felt like I should have been playing it on a touchscreen, maybe on Switch you can do that? Maybe on PC with a mouse, moving stuff around would feel more natural. Yet on a controller, the cursor, rubbing objects etc felt off.

MB isn't overly long or expensive or do anything new, I feel it is a pass for most of ya, yet if on sale anytime on Switch it could only be a few quid that possibly worth a punt.


Yeah, so I had two days off and basically part from going to watch 9th tier football only been playing Kirby which I rolled the credits last night which from what I can tell took me about 10hrs. I'm still playing the game as want to do the post-game levels, so will put a few more hours in yet.

On the actual game, fantastic, as I said elsewhere get real SM3DW vibe with how it all set in these 3D levels compared to Odysseys more open approach, do also get some Sunshine elements which is due to the opening few worlds settings.

The sort of realistic setting is really nice and looks grand, always say Nintendo games like a Wind Waker holds up because of the art-style, yet I look at this which it has it's own style, yet shows Nintendo can do more realistic stuff and look good (That Odyssey World as well).

Kirby is just a fun game, which all of ya will enjoy.

Edit
Now done the postgame levels, and feel put in another 4hrs or so in. That overall about 15hrs to do main and post which gave me a 78% completion as well.

Memoir Blue gives me big Florence vibes from what you say about it. I'll be steering clear.

Kirby? 'Salright.

Yeah MB is very similar to Florence, yet that's a fantastic game which did come from Mobile and my point of a more polished Mobile title.

I also finished a VoC game but the second one, as at the time both games were the same price and the second is a bit longer as it took me 21hrs to finish which is almost double the first from what Balla saying.  The second Maiden also reviewed a tad better, with some saying it refined the premise etc.

As the games not really connected (that I know of) beyond it's certainly a Yoko Taro game, you can understand why I went for Maiden over the 1st.

I don't know if you got the true ending and did all that sort of stuff in the first game, Balla? Which is something we normally see Yoko Taro games, not in Maiden, it does have a few choices come the end, but you get the same ending really nonetheless, meaning it is a more straight forward game, just what happens with the plot along the way is what makes it a Taro game.

I played in English, it does a different have voice actor as the GM then the 1st, I found them fine, I've watched a bit of Critical Role etc that maybe the VO doesn't bother me as much as it would Balla.

Still I do sort agree with Balla, even though I enjoyed Maiden and likely will play the 1st game when it's on sale again or 3rd game in the series etc. Yet it is a small list of people I'd recommend the game to it's basically Balla or Rum possibly a Jay or Andy but not as sure they'd find 20hrs of a card based RPG fun.

I did get the 'true' ending, and as far as I can tell it just makes it cheerful as opposed to grim.  Not world-ending grim, just people dying grim.  Anyway, I imagine I'll be purchasing that meself soon enough, and then post a similar shrug of a review.



Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a pleasant game filled with joy that lacks cohesion.  I spent ages trying to come to grips with just why I didn't end up loving Kirby, only liking it, and why this didn't come to me until after I'd been playing the game for a while; and 'cohesion' is the best I've got.  It's a game of great pieces that doesn't quite bring them together into a great whole.

The Kirby of Us lacks cohesion in two places.  One is the visual style: the Awoofies and them almost work in the post-apocalyptic world, but the likes of the little snowmen and Sir Kibble don't match with either.  It feels a little low-effort that they didn't make a Wild Kibble or something.  More important, though, is the level design.  I've never liked the series' style of hacking their levels up into separate bits, but it's how the bits relate to each other that's the big issue.  Whereas 3D World, say, or Galaxy would introduce an idea at the start, build on it, and take it to its logical (fun) conclusion by the end, Kirby doesn't do that.  The hacked-up bits can feel entirely separate mechanically in some levels.  The connection is aesthetic instead, and sometimes that'll do the job: the mall levels are the biggest beneficiaries of this.  More often it doesn't.  Many levels have a certain lack of pacing, with Kirby drifting from one challenge chamber to another without much of a build-up.

This is kind of abstract to talk about, and the more concrete aspects of the game are really good.  The game looks lovely (standard Kirby baddies aside), and Kirby feels decent enough to control.  Some power-ups start off feeling a bit dull, but that usually changes after a few evolutions: the evolutions of copy abilities feel inspired, frankly.  Barely any duds.  (Bombs maybe.)  Mouthful Mode is home to some of the game's best set-pieces, as well as being endearingly daft.  Bosses are well designed, the collectables are fun to pick up, the hub's really sweet, including random food and fishing minigames screams Sakurai-style organised chaos... the 'day-to-day' playing of Kirby is hard to criticise, apart from some examples of slowness.  

There's a hint of Pokémon Legends in Kirby, oddly.  It's not the best Kirby game, but by shifting into 3D, it feels like a much-needed next step for the pink puffball.  The step up in quality from Triple Deluxe to Planet Robobot is one that sticks in my mind here: if the next game in the same engine can have a bit more cohesion, it might be a true Kirby great.