La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

I don't think she's any more so then any of the other female characters in the game, and she was one of the 10 characters I did stories with.

And bunch of the trophies used her for along with Hworang.

I played a shitload of Tekken 2 and 3 with my dad, so I do fancy giving 8 a go but I won't pay full price. I need to find an arcade machine near me.

Nina was a sexual awakening for me, so make of that what you will.
Also, there's a Koreon tiktok make-up girl who went somewhat viral because her and her siblings were all named after Tekken characters. (she was Nina)

The Korean make-up girl was not my sexual awakening, btw

That's the best use of a double post I've ever seen.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon



It took me a little while to get into this one. It's initially very slow-paced, with simple puzzles controlling the two characters on two sticks. It was very pleasant and looked gorgeous, especially on a big TV, but it was very easy. The story seemed too twee and the gameplay too sedate to be any relation to Bayonetta.

As the game progressed, it very slowly ramped up to actually being a fun action game for the last third or so, but it needed that slow build-up because the two-character system is kind of complex. The story is paced well to match the gameplay progression, with Bayonetta basically coming of age before your very eyes.

Perhaps the best thing about this game is its patience- in the latter part of the game, it starts trading in Bayonetta references, but not until it's earned them. Similarly, it kind of ditches the two-character thing for the final two bosses in a way that feels appropriate, as Bayonetta and Cheshire are now fighting as one. The death of the final boss is actually super intense, but because the game up to that point has been twee and childish, it has a really strong impact.

Spoiler:

My only complaint is the item system. There were only two points in the game where I ended up feeling challenged, two boss fights, and in both of those I died once only to respawn with no items because I used them on the last attempt. On the first of these I reloaded from the last save instead of the checkpoint, which let me re-equip but meant I had to do both the Boss' phases again. On the final boss I couldn't be arsed to do that because it was 1AM and I needed to go to bed, so I turned off damage and just beat her. I had her down to one last hit on the previous attempt, so I know I would have beaten her.

Overall, as long as you don't get caught out by that or don't mind using the difficulty features, this ended up hitting my Bayonetta buttons way more than I expected.

Finally, my question of 'who is this game for': answered!  It was in retrospect never going to be for me, I'm not a Bayo fan and patience has never been a strong suit of mine (neither has multitasking for that matter); but I'm glad it worked for you!

Good review of BayOrigins


What was good? The story is pretty decent for an anime RPG and is short, like not all RPGs have to be 100+ hours long, which Persona 3 Reload will be.

What was less good? It is short, well the main story is like 11 hrs long for a game that cost £50 and has been sorta in development since 2016 it's not great. Though the epilogue I'm still playing and where it goes all Monster Hunter which is great as could add hundreds of hours, yet I tried to find a party only where I set everthing to anything, and nope I didn't fine anything.  

What was bobbins? Nothing terrible about the game, everything is just average, that I'm surprised it has 82 on Opencritic (good for me as I get 12 points) as it feels like a 7 (Yes I know 5 should be average but hope you know what I mean from a critical score)

Would I recommend it? Kinda it feels like a B Tier RPG like not up there with Final Fantasy or Persona yet better than a Crymachina or Monark, like I get PS3 era Tales of vibes from it which some of you may have liked.

Edit

Played more of the Granblue epilogue, and I did 6 more quests to get a cutscene then a lot more quests to do, it's just not that fun to keep doing them and I can see why looking at the trophies a drop from the finish the game one to the finish the epilogue one.


What was good? It'd free and does have that Silent Hill atmosphere.

What was less good? Feels like a copy of PT, and we've had loads of those over the year as well, that this doesn't feel new.

What was bobbins? Nothing really, don't get the hate from critics as it's free and a lot like PT, just not new and fresh, which also it doesn't lead into another game where that was a tease for Silent Hills

Would I recommend it? It's free, so if you have passing interest in Silent Hill or horror, then give it a bash.

Balladeer wrote:

Finally, my question of 'who is this game for':

I'm still wondering that a little bit.

masofdas wrote:

Good review of BayOrigins

Thanks.
Interesting to hear another take on the SH thing, especially from the Konami hater.

Balladeer wrote:

AC2M, though - there's a title I have a heavy soft spot for.  How was the voice acting Rum?  That was the aspect that I was a bit sceptical about from the trailers.

If I'm honest, I didn't actually really have any conscious opinions of it - so in other words I think it was fine? Now that you point it out I realise that there wouldn't have been voice acting in the original, but all the characters sounded pretty much like I think I would have expected them to.

One change I did notice is that Ashley's dad is unnecessarily handsome and chiselled, which I'm pretty sure he wasn't originally.

I watched a bit of TGS play Short Message. Dave I think was the one playing who was like this is shite, what's the point of it (what's the point of any video game though) as doesn't lead to anything.

Feel that's why PT got the love it did as people after were ohh my god Kojima is making a Silent Hill game that's amazing.

PT was also really scary and atmospheric, though. Like, people liked it as a standalone thing too.

Yeah I liked PT, I just don't see the difference of these two, part for the reasons I've already mentioned.

I've not played the new thing so I can't comment too much, though the mental health stuff Sarah talked about on TCGS sounded pretty messed up.

Yeah I downloaded this with the intention of playing it but after hearing the same review it just sounded like a soulless rip off with a cheap use of mental health themes that totally miss the mark.

PT was different, no cheap tricks and the suspense and unpredictability was amazing, I played it twice with two different groups of people and had the same results, the second playthrough and knowing what happened didn't even take away from it.

Making mental health the villain is totally cool in 2024 you guys!!!

Rum wrote:

One change I did notice is that Ashley's dad is unnecessarily handsome and chiselled, which I'm pretty sure he wasn't originally.

I suppose I should be happy that we're getting the male equivalents of the perpetually gorgeous female anime leads. I'm not for some reason. Wonder why.

DoPo:



"Incredibly addictive, does that make it good? I'm not sure but either way I couldn't stop going back to this simple but lovely game."  Words from the 2023 Voting Thread, about Suika Game not this - but it's an interesting topic and one I wanted to prod a bit further.  I would posit that no, it doesn't.  At some point I might actually review this bad remaster of a mediocre game from a terrible company, but that's by the way.

My most recent previous example of 'addictive != good' would be the Puzzle Quest remaster for Switch.  I picked it up because I remembered enjoying the space version on DS, way back when.  Before I knew it I'd lost 15 hours to Puzzle Quest.  Yet, when I came out of the other end of that tunnel and thought about my time spent on it, my main emotions were impatience and frustration - impatience at the slow gameplay, frustration at odds clearly stacked against you in a game with a hefty chance element.  The most positive emotion was relief.  The gameplay clearly had something to it, clearly, but the result was a Balladeer without any fondness for that thing or clue what it was.  

I'd say that's a pretty good measure of whether your addictive game is good.  When you put it down finally, and step back from it for a few days, do you remember it as time well spent relative to other games?  Or now that you're here, do you wish you'd been playing something else?  If so then maybe addictive didn't make it good, it just made it... addictive.  Our brains are fragile things, easily made by the right collection of stimuli to crave 'one more', whether that's drink or Pringle or run at a roguelike or spin of Fantasy RPG Roulette.  They usually snap back into shape after a while, and that's when I think you can judge an addictive game.  In my opinion, anyway.  Curious what you folk think.


As you might have guessed, M&M was the bad kind of addictive game for me.  

I knew it before I'd reached the end.  The gameplay has more solidity and value, less of pure luck to it than Puzzle Quest's, even some satisfaction from a linked formation devastating the foe.  Everything else here is dire.  There's still a solid chunk of luck involved here, and rarely enough catharsis from winning to outweigh it.  That's made even worse when the gameplay is shaken up in event battles, with the odds once more unsatisfyingly against you or made trial and error (to say nothing about the stealth section...).  The last fifth of the game is rushed and bad.  The writing is awful, the aesthetics functional, the music the most 4/10 thing I've heard in ages to the point where I prefer the Yoshi's Crafted World soundtrack because at least that made me feel something. But, it was easy to play, and moreish, so I finished it - and then looked back on my time with the game and sighed.

I did remember enjoying it back in the day, this, but not as much as everyone else - and while I'd say that opinion's been partly backed up, this remaster is worse.  Worse art, worse controls (no touch screen setting), much worse loading times, and worse knowledge of the company behind it.  I was going to give it an 0/10 for being an UbiSoft game, but I think my genuine feelings are more insulting.  If you're going to test whether being addictive makes a game good for you, there are better places to do it.  Might I suggest Suika Game?

Balladeer wrote:

 I'm not for some reason.  Wonder why.

Homophobe.

Buskalilly wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

 I'm not for some reason.  Wonder why.

Homophobe.

Right? More hot dads in video games, please, otherwise it's a hate crime and I will seek law enforcement.

Two games about a week ago now, which I picked up with star points from PlayStation Stars for a fiver, and saw one of these games would get me points as well after.


What was good? Easy platinum and does have a bit of story for one of these compared to just click on something for 5 mins.

What was less good? Hard to tell what is the differences in each run sometimes.

What was bobbins? When you think you've done the run and then resets.

Would I recommend it? Not really, unless you want an easy platinum and this cost me nothing, kinda.


What was good? This was part of buy X game (Venba was one as well you could get) to get 50 points, and saw it was down to £3ish on PSN and I could get £5 back from PlayStation for all the star points I had already collected. Hence, why I picked up this once Stadia exclusive, that I did miss on Stadia back in the day.  

This sits in the Wavetale, Rime, Jusant realm of games as it has story but told via the environment, collectables along with no combat and light puzzles. Which is the sorta game I do like now and again, between things like Granblue and Rebirth.

What was less good? Music does repeat a lot.

What was bobbins? I got the platinum, and the game has so many collectables which two of them don't show on the map, that then took me ages to find a certain creature.  

Would I recommend it? If you like the games I mention above, then yeah and as I say I paid £3 for it.

masofdas wrote:

What was good? Easy platinum and does have a bit of story for one of these compared to just click on something for 5 mins.

What was less good? Hard to tell what is the differences in each run sometimes.

What was bobbins? When you think you've done the run and then resets.

Would I recommend it? Not really, unless you want an easy platinum and this cost me nothing, kinda.

But what is it?

You walk down a street, 10 times looking for anomalies in the street. If you see one you go one way and if you don't you go another way till you get a counter to 10. If you pick the wrong way the counter goes back to 0.

Wow, OK. I mean, I pride myself, almost, on deliberately making mundane crap, but, uh... thanks for taking that bullet for us Mas

I'm not sure 'taking the bullet' is the term for 'encouraging bad devs to develop mediocre games with easy platinums with your wallet' I'd choose. Sounds like a pretty blatant rip-off of viral game The Exit 8 as well.

I thought Sony were meant to be cracking down on these platinum-bait games that were infesting the store...?

A David Szymanski games triple bill.




Iron Lung

The set up to Iron lung is very simple every known star/planet has vanished to an event called the quiet rapture leaving only the people on starships or space stations as the remaining survivors. You are a prisoner sent to a universe of barren moons & tasked to investigate a strange anomaly: An ocean of blood.

What could be worse? Oh you are welded inside a submarine (aka the Iron lung) not designed for this depth with the forward window closed & with zero training. This is where you are dropped into the game as the player and apart from a few controls flashed on the screen for about 10 seconds you have to figure out how everything works & try to complete the task. This basically comes down to checking your map for objective markers then punching in their coordinates then trying to navigate to them by only taking pictures with the subs very fuzzy front facing camera, since I'm not great at reading an actual map this took me a long time to figure out not to mention what also doesn't help is said map doesn't give you a reference point of where you are at all.

This all lead to more than handful of frustrating moments & the game taking longer to beat than the suggested hour & a half, I didn't hate it overall but because it of these frustrations I got the feeling I should have seen certain set pieces much sooner than I did and when I did get to them some just didn't land the way they were maybe intended. So, maybe only one to play if you can read maps better than me or if you're on the look out for something totally unique.

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Chop Goblins

Quote :

A "microshooter": An FPS designed to be completed in a single sitting, without sacrificing depth, variety, or creativity in its gameplay. It's a game you can play for less than an hour, or replay for many hours.

It absolutely nails that description but another way would be it's more gory version of the film Gremlins, which is what I instantly thought of upon hearing the games main theme.



I also got this vibe by all the different version of chop goblins you see throughout the game, a favourite being one that dresses up in human clothes and hurls insults at you which actually do damage. Anyhow, Szymanski is in his element with FPS games as all the weapons feel satisfying to use and the level design is top notch, sadly the switch version seems have a bad frame rate on every level except Greece which just shouldn't happen given the ps1/n64 visual style. Though with the short run time of 30/40 minutes it shouldn't bother you too much and will hopefully be patched at some point.

Really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it for fps fans.

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Squirrel Stapler

Now here's something I never expected to play, an fps horror game where you hunt squirrels, you seem to be playing as a cult member that has 5 in game days to hunt x amount of squirrels because "God is coming" then you staple them to a dead corpse back in your cabin. As far as gameplay goes you're plonked into a little open world forest level where you hunt squirrels and can find various power ups & notes that add to the story, the notes are quite clever since you only get one part each day so you have to travel back to them if you want to finish the story. Here's the thing, things get weird pretty quick such as noises that might make you not want to hang about after getting your hunting quota for the day among other stuff I won't spoil.

I really liked the atmosphere of this one, and even got proper scared a couple times.


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Let's finish this triple bill review rambling off with a little top 3 by preference eh?

1. Chop Goblins
2. Squirrel Stapler
3. Iron Lung