Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

My sister's getting along with it amazingly though! Her secret: absolutely slaughter Pikmin by the bundle and don't give a crap. Hey, if it works for her...

I see whatever's wrong with you runs in the family . . .

Oh I had the opposite problem, preserving all my lil plant men to the point where it affected my enjoyment of the game!

Oh, I see, it's one rule for little plant men but quite another for fat tanookis!

RIP in peace the poor pudgy fellas. Can't believe you'd reawaken my guilt like this.

Argh! I didn't finish Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair!

I thought that, having hundred percent-ed the rest of the game, the impossible lair would be a walkover when I went back to it. Turns out you still need to be "good" at "avoiding shit". I've tried for a few hours without improving my status at checkpoints, so I think I'll put it down.

It's a slightly sour end to a game I enjoyed quite a lot. I got a bit worried after Yooka-Laylee, where Playtonic decided to replicate everything about the old Rare platformers including the stodgy mini-game shenanigans. However their take on their other previous speciality (that's Donkey Kong Country, keep up everyone) is as good as Retro's modern versions of the same - you'd assumed they'd converged back into the same engine, and that's no insult. Plus the map screen exploration bits are a welcome change of pace. And to be honest, I like the crappy British humour and the silly voice samples.

Even though I didn't finish it, I would still give it a y'all

Those are pretty much exactly my thoughts! I'm maybe a bit less enthusiastic about Playtonic going wholesale back to the DKC pattern and looking vary very little outside it, a bit less fond of the map screen exploration by the end of the game - but otherwise I thought it was a very good time, a solid if not special game... and then I got to the Impossible Lair and the difficulty hike and the loooooooong stretch of pure memory and reflexes tests, and never finished it. And I'd give it a high 7/10, which is pretty much four thumbs! (Assuming they're out of five, with Jim it could be out of four or twelve or 87 and a little finger.)

My scale was out of How Many Times Can I Click the Emoji Button Before I Get Bored

Why the fuck do you have five thumbs Balla? Are you an AI creation? I knew it!

The scary thing isn't that AI creations have five thumbs - it's that they're gaining a normal number of thumbs at an alarming rate.

I don't post here often as I don't like to give up on a game or play many GaaS things, yet I have two games which fit into each


Recently got back into Destiny 2 with the "free" Beyond Light expansion with Plus and then the newest expansion Lightfall along with the current season pass of this year. I've finished up the campaign of both of those expansions, all the missions I can do of Shadowkeep & Witch Queen without buying, taking my time up to 40hrs on my PS5 as the gunplay is fantastic from Bungie & the story has been rather good.

My time will continue to go up with the season still having 7 weeks to go and be a few off weeks before the second season of the year starts, be events like Summer Games to come back to as well.


I've had Wanted:Dead on rent for a while now, as I liked the look of the game (Guess Jas did as why got in Fantasy) but not enough to buy it. As I was done with some D2, thought I'd finish W:D before starting a Bayonetta Origins, yet it's just not fun to play.

I like the silliness of W:D such as Karaoke singing 99 luftballons with Stefanie Joosten, I get Lollipop Chainsaw-like vibes, yet that game was fun to play where this isn't and can see why it got the reviews it did.

I don't think anybody's too surprised to see this here.  Persona 3 Portable is nobody's favourite entry in the series, with one significant and impactful exception: The Lady.  Without her standing behind me, there's no way this gets the 'played for 3 hours or more' message on my Switch.  The tone is dark, the visual novel replacement for the overworld robs the game of much of its atmosphere, the battle system is trite and simple, the dungeon singular is well documented as being awful, the music is duff, and then the biggie that will haunt me through the series: the time mechanic, and the choices it brings.  Every day brings with it a new bout of choice paralysis.  Who do I hang out with?  What stats do I boost?  What am I unknowingly locking off?  Argh!

There's a decent chance I don't get on with Persona in general, as the battle system persists right up until Tokyo Mirage Sessions at least and the choices are meant to be part of the series' appeal - but I'll give myself a better chance if I play a better-regarded instalment, I reckon.  Sorry The Lady.  (She only likes it most because there's a female protagonist option.  Which I didn't even pick.)




Oh, and - this isn't really the place for such things normally, but I actually wanted to give a recommendation here.  Floppy Knights is a cheerily written deck builder-slash-strategy game, and I reckon there's somebody on here who it's perfect for.  No idea who, and it's not me.  By the third level I was already feeling stupid.  But the presentation is impressive, and the gameplay feels well thought out, and there were sparks of the deck-building addiction that made me love Steamworld Quest.  If what I've written here appeals to you, you could do much worse than giving Floppy Knights a wishlist I reckon.  (She summons the creatures using floppy disks, don't be crude.)

Is the music just poor sounding on the port? As music is one of the best part of Persona.

Combat system in P4 is good, P5 is refined and all turnbased JRPGs should copy it.

Persona 3 is my favourite one.

At least, it used to be until I played Persona 2: Innocent Sin. But those early games are rather different. Of the ones that introduced what I'll call the calendar formula (deciding what to do day-by-day) - which originated in 3 and has persisted up to Persona 5, the third Persona game is still my favourite of those.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the dark tone and the music because personally I liked both. Though for what it's worth I usually play on the female route which has better music, in my opinion.

It is a shame that there's no 3D overworld, which I feel like the PSP was perfectly capable of having, but maybe it was a storage issue. I think most of all though, the visual novel approach does not translate the great cutscenes of the PS2 version well at all.

I agree that the time mechanic does suck, and it's like that for the later games too. It's cool in concept, but it generates so much FOMO.

Once you make peace with missing out on some of the content though, it's not so bad. I like the story and characters in this game, and unlike later entries there is so much less banal and roundabout exposition. Persona 5 is the worse for this as the characters mull over ever plot point or little event repeatedly, not letting you think for yourself.

Persona 4 meanwhile has the most extended cringe and repugnant moments, stuff that I just decided to skip on my latest playthrough on Switch. Rampant homophobia, toxic masculinity, fat/slut-shaming, sexualisation of minors, characters being creepy and mean-spirited... Persona 3 isn't completely innocent but it is much, much better in this regard.

I think people defend that content in Persona 4 by saying that they're Japanese kids, boys, but the game never frames it as wrong. It just expects you to laugh at it.

Anyway...Persona 4, great game. Despite all of that. And the battle mechanics are certainly improved upon the original Persona 3, but most of the quality of life features from P4 made their way into Persona 3 Portable - and taht is a big part of the reason why P3P is also my fave version of that game, along with the female route (which has a lot of different content).

Edit:

Also Mas to answer your question about the music, no, the music is exactly the same.

It's just Persona 5 Royal has had compressed music/voice for the Switch port because of the file size. P3/4 had small file sizes for the music anyway since they use the compressed audio from the PS2 versions.

Are you secretly my partner's account?

Re. the music, I wouldn't normally mention it, since my taste in music with lyrics is so far outside the norm - it's just that the errant Moyles mentioned that P3P butchers the soundtrack that made me feel justified in not liking it. ('I never felt like doo doo doo doo doo' is shit lyrics though and I'll not hear otherwise.) I did feel that was I saw of the characters was pretty good, which I didn't mention above.

Kriken wrote:

Persona 4 meanwhile has the most extended cringe and repugnant moments, stuff that I just decided to skip on my latest playthrough on Switch. Rampant homophobia, toxic masculinity, fat/slut-shaming, sexualisation of minors, characters being creepy and mean-spirited... Persona 3 isn't completely innocent but it is much, much better in this regard.

I think people defend that content in Persona 4 by saying that they're Japanese kids, boys, but the game never frames it as wrong. It just expects you to laugh at it.

Oh. Great. I probably do have a bit in my brain that tunes out these things from Japanese media to an extent, but it doesn't work so well these days. So that's something for me to look forward to.

masofdas wrote:

Combat system in P4 is good, P5 is refined and all turnbased JRPGs should copy it.

I wouldn't know about P4 and 5, obviously. However I've now played the beginnings of 3P, SMTV, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions, so I think I can make a pretty fair judgement on the battle system. You are of course completely right, all turn-based JRPGs should copy it... apart from these games or series that I've played that do it better:
- Octopath
- Bravely Default
- Live A Live
- Chained Echoes
- Super Mario RPG
- Mario & Luigi
- Paper Mario
- Ikenfell (pretty close to Paper Mario)
- Trails from Zero and presumably the Trails series
- Undertale/Deltarune
- Mother 3
- Omori
- Beast Breaker
- Taiko No Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack
- Pokémon
That's excluding strategy series, and also games/series where a job system makes the battling better (so FFs III DS and V and DQIX). Still thought, it's better than Voice of Cards.

That's the funniest thing I've read all year, seeing I've played what 7 of those games.

I just can't see how any are better then P4 or P5, and know people like EofGiz want FFXVI to be turn based but innit going to be near P4 or P5 quality, so what's the point, it may as well be real time hack "n" slash.

Well:
- Octopath and Bravely Default have the ability to manipulate the turn order with more flexibility than the the Persona games' (so far) rather gauche approach;
- The likes of Live a Live and Trails have an AoA and ranged attack effect, for which YMMV but it's still more interesting than 'hit a weakness, get an extra turn';
- The Mario RPGs require actual engagement in battle, with Undertale/Deltarune going further than that;
- Games like Chained Echoes have completely different systems that you won't see anywhere else, and then the likes of Beast Breaker go above and beyond that.
Maybe the Persona battle system does get a heck of a lot better in 4 and 5. I wouldn't know, I haven't played them yet! But out of the three Personaverse games I've listed, there's nothing material they have above the very basics that isn't 'hit a weakness, get an extra turn'. So I'd be curious to know why you love 4 and 5's systems so much Mas, above and beyond that simple (and at times deeply annoying!) mechanic.

It is simple but ohh so satisfying when you've just basically kept comboing, and nice and quick that it doesn't feel like a slow turned based game like Pokémon on your list for instance.

That's understandable, going to pick this up in our new Switch JRPGs thread I think so as not to murder the minds of Cappa and Jim (et al.) further.

Round-up of some games I've dropped lately:

SHOVEL KNIGHT POCKET DUNGEON:

HUE:

JACK MOVE:

Shame about Hue and seems I'll pass on Jack Move.


As you know, I don't often post in here as I think I will go back to a game like Signalis for instance, or you might know from Pod of War at some point is a bit of a catchphrase.  That often the post here is about a game that can't be finished, but I want to talk about it, like a Destiny 2 of course they're cases of games like Wanted:Dead that are just bad.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn't a bad game like Wanted:Dead, however over the past weekend of release I played according to the Switch over 20hrs of TotK that I feel I have given it a fair go.

Now I could continue and finish it, much like Breath of the Wild, yet unlike then when I felt like I had to finish as it was the game I had on my new system, the Switch isn't new, and I've got loads of other things that I could be playing and enjoying (Okay you know I'll play an emotional indie).

Today I played Bower's Fury (review last game you finished thread) instead, as that I had fun with where I just wasn't with TotK.

My only real concern with Zelda is where it goes from here, as I've fallen out of love with Resident Evil and I can't see them going back to RE I know & love and as I alluded to elsewhere know EofGiz feels the same about Final Fantasy when he sees XVI trying to be God of War-like and not a turn-based JRPG. I could maybe see an FF going back to like it was but going a tad off track, as with Zelda I can see stuff I will enjoy coming out maybe TPHD for Switch or Grezzo remakes the Oracle games, as we've seen we get a Zelda game almost every year, yet they aren't from the main team that gets everyone excited like Tears has.

Guess we just wait and see what the next true Zelda is like in 5 or years time and maybe I do go back to TotK, yet I very much doubt it.

The temptation is of course to slag you for this.  I'm not going to do that: from what I picked up elsewhere, you gave yourself a better attempt at getting on with this one than you did BotW, taking it a bit more slowly and sampling more of the side-treats.  And I do think the BotW style isn't for everyone, with it relying on a methodical exploratory style to get the most out of the game.  There's much less story and structure to shepherd you from experience to experience.  I can see why some people need that.

I am going to slag you off for a thing you've done from time to time in LGFY and LGYDF: using a lot of words to talk around a game without actually telling us what about the game you liked or disliked, i.e. the actually interesting part. It feels like there's a paragraph missing between paragraphs 4 and 5 where you actually tell us why you didn't get on with TotK.  Lots of talking around the point!


On a more conciliatory note: I do kind of share your concerns about where Zelda goes from here.  Not because I don't love BotW and TotK, but because of diminishing returns for this style.  I'm already less in love with TotK than I was with BotW, even though I think it's the superior game in several ways.  And I do love the 'trad' Zelda style, with a bit more shepherding and the dungeon/item/boss loop: there are two in my top ten games ever for a reason.  

I guess what I'd hope is that Nintendo gets a smaller team working on more traditional games while Aonuma and the top Zelda brains make BotW3 through 10.  Those more traditional games could be 2D: we haven't had a new 2D Zelda on Switch, which I still feel is a massive missed opportunity.  Cappa mentioned the lack of smaller Nintendo games in the TotK thread and, while this wouldn't be as small as the examples he was using, it would still feel more like the portable side of games that we seem to have lost a bit from Nintendo on Switch.

Balla wrote:

On a more conciliatory note: I do kind of share your concerns about where Zelda goes from here.

I was coming on to talk about this part as well because currently I don't see how they can top it, maybe they do go back to the dungeon/item/boss loop or maybe they come up with something wildly different we haven't thought of before. Also I reckon we will see some 2D Zelda games (get Capcom back on those btw) before a sequel to TotK happens.

Why I bring up Grezzo as feel they can do something when Aonuma & co are working on the big Zelda.

Now Balla why I didn't like TotK was I just found it boring, hence why I said the game isn't bad, as certainly differences between those two. I just found my 20hrs wandering around the world not doing much till I got to a shrine, which I did about 15 or 20 of them and for the most part I liked them with the funny stuff I made in them, I'd actually be keen on some sort of Portal-like puzzle game around these.

When I wasn't doing them and the main quest instead, that was meh as the two temples I did look basically the same which was just Divine Beasts all over again which was really disappointing after an interview saying the game has dungeons. Then trying to get one of them was bad platforming when I can go play Bowser's Fury with actually good platforming.

And a bit of musing as well is after BotW and TotK, I also don't get IT and I mentioned recently Hades with regard to top Switch games which isn't for me, but I get IT.

One thing I forgot to put in my previous post is that, in this case, I can see why you might not want to outline why you didn't like the game. I will say that I can understand where you're coming from with this in a way I couldn't with your views on BotW, while still disagreeing heavily. (Also 15-20 hours and two main dungeons still feels like quite a pace to go through the game, but I'm starting to think you're not really capable of playing through gameplay-focussed games at a slow exploratory pace.)

You may be right on the temples though, they're not dungeons in the traditional sense. I did enjoy my first one more than the average Divine Beast, but if they do look the same then that may not hold.

The_Jaster wrote:

Balla wrote:

On a more conciliatory note: I do kind of share your concerns about where Zelda goes from here.

I was coming on to talk about this part as well because currently I don't see how they can top it, maybe they do go back to the dungeon/item/boss loop or maybe they come up with something wildly different we haven't thought of before. Also I reckon we will see some 2D Zelda games (get Capcom back on those btw) before a sequel to TotK happens.

BotW in space!

I think they'd at the very least need a completely new map with some wild new mechanics. I hope you're right about the 2D games though (and yes do get Capcom back on those).