The last few games you beat and rate them III

Status
Not open for further replies.

No Fun Shogun

34-38-61-10-13-15
May 1, 2011
56,098
12,758
Illinois
Beat BotW on Master Mode.

Still my favorite game of all time. One day I'm going to lay out exactly the issues that I do have with it and the improvements that I hope they make on it for BotW2 (title pending), but all in all if you took every single issue I had with the game it's still not enough to take enough away from everything that I loved that keep it above every other game that I've ever played.
 

WeDislikeEich

Registered User
Jun 22, 2015
5,863
4,182
Really close to buying this game. should I do it? I liked the demo overall, thought some of the fixed camera angles were bothersome.
Absolutely. Great game.

It takes a while to fully play through, too (which is a good thing in my book).

I have been an Xbox guy and just recently bought PlayStation.
Nier: Automata and Horizon Zero Dawn have been my 2 favorite playstai on exclusives so far. Either game alone makes buying PS4 worth it.
 

Kaapo Cabana

Next name: Admiral Kakkbar
Sep 5, 2014
5,009
4,087
Philadelphia
Sorry for the late reply.

Yes 100% if you're into action RPGs, very fun game.
No worries.

TBH I havent played many action RPGs at all, but I just finished playing Horizon and loved every second of it so I figured another one would be a logical step. I haven't really played many video games in the last ~10 years and am apprehensive about what I decide to play.
 

Ceremony

blahem
Jun 8, 2012
113,013
15,084
Kingdoms%20of%20Amalur_1.jpg


Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3, 2012)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not the sort of game I usually play. In fact the only thing I can think of which is comparable was The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, which was mindless enough fun. You have some enemies, as you kill them and move along you get more powerful, so the enemies get more powerful, and so on. Easy. What my brief forays into RPGs have taught me however is that I welcome linearity. If there's too much freedom to move around, too much open-endedness in what to do I in fact don't know what I'm doing and end up getting bored quickly.

And so we come to this, a game which is much less interesting than reading about its developer, owned by a former MLB player and run into the ground. This actually is much more interesting than anything in the game, which considering its 100+ locations and ten thousand years of history written and dotted around for you to find should give you a clue about how engaging the game is. You are... well, anyone, and you're dead except some sort of magic brings you back to life and lets you change fate, which comes in the form of a power you can charge up and use to make yourself more powerful. There's even a picture on its wikipedia page of Ice Cube posing with the game, and even though he's wearing sunglasses he still looks like he doesn't have a clue what's going on.

This is about the only tangible effect of your Fate powers however as I have no idea what the story is about despite putting ~60 hours into it over the past two weeks. The gameplay is so bland I stopped paying attention to any text which was on the screen. There's no point. I never want to hear a complaint about repetitive missions in Grand Theft Auto again. There's generally stuff to keep you occupied on the short journeys there. Here you run around a vast and deceptively empty space to go and kill something. Rinse and repeat god knows how many times. End.

Not being a regular player of games like this I was admittedly amazed by how large the world is. It's huge. Most of the time there's an actual sense of scale which isn't undermined by the lack of things to do in it besides fighting enemies. If you have to run past huge mountains or castles it seems large, and in the beginning of the game you feel overwhelmed but in a good sense, that you've been let loose in a world which is large and unknown. That's not a bad thing. But somewhere along the line - and I was playing on hard and probably about 15 hours in before I realised what I was doing - any sense of grandeur is gone completely. As I said, the story plays a part here as there isn't a single engaging character to be found. Well there's one, a grey coloured elf with a really sexy accent, but that's it.

The gameplay doesn't really do much to compensate for the boring story. The weapons I used were close-quarters melee weapons supposed to be geared towards stealth, but this was laughable. Being able to sneak up behind enemies and surprise kill them is great if you find a bunch of people in a clearing all facing the one way. You won't though, and you can't even insta-kill anything which isn't human (unless you're really overpowered). With the various extra weapons options (I think there's about eight weapon types in total) I felt a bit overwhelmed at times. Am I using the right weapon? Should I keep one of these other ones?

The other problem which the gameplay throws up is how inconsequential it is. The Fate power which lets you kill a bunch of enemies at once for extra XP is nice, but it's not needed very often. There's also options for you to create your own weapons and armour, then add gems and plants to make them unique, but there's no need. I played on hard and never used any weapons I didn't find from chests or enemies. I didn't make any potions from plants, and I bought a lot of healing ones, and I think I finished the main story with over a million gold. I feel as if there's a lot of stuff I missed, but I didn't really have any difficulty problems playing the way I did, so what's the point in all of it?

Even with that in mind, changing weapons or spells to kill enemies more easily is pointless. Why bother matching up elemental damage against types of enemies when you're going to have to change weapons every five minutes, and when even with an ineffective one you'll probably be able to spam attack and win anyway? That's even if you manage to fight with the terrible camera, which seems really slow and unrepsonsive and can be downright obtuse if you're trying to fight more than two things at once.

And that camera! When you're running about in the open world it cuts off about the top third of the screen. Several wonderful skyboxes and parts of the map are cut off.

So what do we have to sum up? A world that's huge yet dull, gameplay which ranges from mild annoyance to mind-crushing banality, while offering virtually no gameplay challenge or incentive for freedom or exploration and a story which wouldn't make a difference even if I'd paid any attention to it. Time well spent.
 

X66

114-110
Aug 18, 2008
13,549
7,413
No worries.

TBH I havent played many action RPGs at all, but I just finished playing Horizon and loved every second of it so I figured another one would be a logical step. I haven't really played many video games in the last ~10 years and am apprehensive about what I decide to play.

Hmm, I don't know then, maybe check out some videos and reviews.

It's a very strange game, you have to be into the genre/developers ideas I find to really enjoy them.

If you liked Horizon, you should take the next step and probably play the new God of War if you haven't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Surrounded By Ahos

X66

114-110
Aug 18, 2008
13,549
7,413
I FINALLY got to play Celeste and completed the mainstory (still have other stuff to do).

Easy 10/10

It is the perfect game for what it is, and I had zero complaints.

The story is surprisingly heartfelt, and the puzzles/mechanics are top tier.

The B-Side stages are some of the most fun I've had in a platformer in a long, long time.

Highly recommended.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Surrounded By Ahos

Kaapo Cabana

Next name: Admiral Kakkbar
Sep 5, 2014
5,009
4,087
Philadelphia
Hmm, I don't know then, maybe check out some videos and reviews.

It's a very strange game, you have to be into the genre/developers ideas I find to really enjoy them.

If you liked Horizon, you should take the next step and probably play the new God of War if you haven't.

That's 100% on my eventual play list. Gonna borrow it from a friend when he is eventually done.

Nier Automata was on sale on PSN, and the reviews looked great. I'll probably buy it
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,363
59,270
Ottawa, ON
So I just completed Mass Effect: Andromeda.

I really enjoyed it.

I found the protagonist (I played a female Ryder) rather enjoyable, I typically selected sarcastic/humorous responses, but the freedom from "Paragon vs. Renegade bonuses" was refreshing in that I could just pick the most appropriate response at the time. Ryder wasn't necessarily a bad-ass but grew into the role as the game progressed.

While it took awhile to get to know the crew, I found them engaging for the most part. Putting different combinations of crew in your party is interesting because they interact with one another - initially quite suspicious and wary but warming up the more they are together.

The fact that your father and mother are based upon your customized facial features was a pretty cool little algorithm which worked very well in my case.

What I liked about the game is that it had a relatively upbeat and positive mission - after all of the doom and gloom of the Reapers, it was kind of neat to have a group that was more reminiscent of a Starfleet crew as opposed to a suicide military squad.

While there is never enough variety of enemies in these games, I found the combat to be fluid and fun. Some took issue with the limited number of powers available at one time (3) but the ability to switch profiles (e.g. power sets) on the fly was a neat twist in that you could spec a ranged and melee build and switch between them interchangeably at will.

I played a patched and modded version of the game thanks to Nexus which took care of a lot of the face issues and most of the glitches. I had one sidequest that could not be completed but it wasn't too bad.

I enjoyed seeing the colonies "come alive" so to speak and I found the storyline relatively simple but engaging nonetheless. The scenery was gorgeous and the planets were distinct enough from one another that I enjoyed hopping from one to the next and then going back later on.

Perhaps my expectations were too low based on all of the bad press but I was surprised how much I enjoyed myself and put a fairly substantial number of hours into the game.

Crafting (every 10 levels or so) got to be a bit of a pain but it was worth doing to keep yourself competitive as your enemies increased in stats.

Ultimately, I think people who liked the original Mass Effect (with its emphasis on inventory and exploring) the best will like this game the most. People who enjoyed Mass Effect 2 the most (with its scripted and very tightly controlled quests) will not.
 

Unholy Diver

Registered User
Oct 13, 2002
19,031
2,957
in the midnight sea
Kind of bogged down lately having a tough time finishing games and part way through several, but I managed to plow through one from the backlog while on a vacation week.


Dead Rising 4 - 7.5/10

Wasn't crazy about the new voice actor for Frank, I actually thought it was John Dimaggio of Gears of War and Futurama fame but it was just a sound-alike. Frank returns to the scene of the original outbreak after a new zombie outbreak, more of the usual stuff...crazy survivors, maniac survivors, badguy soldiers, advanced zombies, and a big boss zombie.

Nothing earth shattering here but a decent quickish (10-14 hrs) foray into zombie killing.
 

aleshemsky83

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
17,797
424
Tales of Zestiria

My first tales game since phantasia (one of my all time favorites). A decent time waster, but it of course didn't come close to the original.

The story and dialogue is super kiddy, okay, it's for younger kids. But half the quests would do this bizarre thing where you're trying to rescue someone, and they die at the end of the quest anyways. I get subverting expectations but when you do it 50 times it's pointless.

The combat is decent, I played most of the game on medium difficulty with a decent portion of the game on hard until I realized hard mode gives you a fraction of the XP other difficulties do which would have made the game impossible at one point.

One issue is that even on medium difficulty, it's basically a dice roll when facing a lot of late game bosses because they have one shot special moves that can take out all your party members.

And the final boss really got ridiculous. It has a literal automatic kill move 4 times during the fight where if you don't do enough damage before he gets the attack off its over. Completely undodgeable by design. It basically removes all skill from the final boss and forces you to have a high dps through leveling/gear. Fortunately the game lets you turn down the difficulty at any point so I didn't have to restart from the beginning.

The visuals are also really poor. Usually I like JRPG graphics for their nice clean design. This game though had really bad texture shimmering on a lot of the environments especially some of the grass. This seems to be an issue with the engine since it's a problem on PC too.
 

ScottishCanuck

Registered User
May 9, 2010
2,904
1,611
Scotland
If you're into survival games I'd recommend The Forest for sure. It's improved a lot since early access. Not nearly as buggy as it once was and I enjoy the tension involved, especially playing solo. Story isn't too bad either.

There's too many mediocre survival games out there and the good ones often get lost among them. I'd say this is well worth playing though.

Probably give it an 8/10.
 

Frankie Spankie

Registered User
Feb 22, 2009
12,351
389
Dorchester, MA
Steamworld Dig 2 - 8/10

I really enjoyed this game, it's kind of like a Metroidvania that involves a lot of mining. The story is pretty simple, nothing too great but it works. The game has a nice little charm to it. The gameplay is solid, upgrades are fun, and the exploration is really fun. I haven't played the original but after playing 2, it makes me want to play the original.
 

Commander Clueless

Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
Sep 10, 2008
15,238
2,922
Stories: The Path of Destinies

Got this game for free on a Steam giveaway and actually quite enjoyed it.

The combat is a top down Arkham-style that isn't as responsive as I'd like, but was enjoyable enough. The main feature of the game is the time travel mechanic where you get to multiple bad endings of the game, but your character remembers that information when you try again.

The only issue I could see would be length, as getting to a good ending took about 4 hours for me. Still, the game is only $15 normally, so not too shabby.

The narrator was great.

Definitely a recommend from me.
 

GlassesJacketShirt

Registered User
Aug 4, 2010
11,398
4,133
Sherbrooke
Dark Souls Remastered
PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch

For those who never played it: the game's pretty good. Could have done a lot more as a remaster, but the steady frame-rate is a godsend.

Score: 9/10
Remastering Score: 5/10
 
  • Like
Reactions: 50 Sheas of Grey

aleshemsky83

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
17,797
424
Momodora: reverie under the moonlight

Fantastic metroidvania, with a touch of dark souls influence, very forgiving difficulty though. I'm surprised this game doesn't have more of a following, fantastic music, art, great gameplay, amazing ambiance.

My only issue is theres like 50 Easter eggs in the game that serve no purpose. You think they actually do something or are part of a quest but no. They're just there.
 

Ceremony

blahem
Jun 8, 2012
113,013
15,084
ingame_21x9.jpg


Rayman 3 HD (PS3, 2012, originally PS2, 2003)

By my count this is the fourth Rayman game I've posted about here. I'm pretty sure I had the corresponding image for Rayman 2 with the controls, so it's nice to remain consistent.

Rayman 3 tells the story of Rayman saving the world again, this time because one of the red lums which constitute all the energy of the world got scared and turned into a black lum, which in turn gave it a face, a voice, a personality, a name, and an insatiable desire to reach the heart of the world and, er, do something. I assume nothing good can come of a black lum reaching the heart of the world though, so it's time to shine!

The game is pretty much a classic mid-2000s platformer, with a range of enemies dotted around levels where you can jump, climb and float using your hair. New to the Rayman series is the use of power-ups which are granted at various parts of levels which let the gameplay vary from time to time while still retaining a classic Rayman feel. There's the blue one which lets you swing from grappling points and a yellow one which lets you fly upwards with your hair rather than just gliding. Both of these are features from Rayman 2 and in all honesty work better when they're spread out rather than available constantly. There's red which gives you more powerful punches (and doors to break through with them) and green which makes you spin whatever you're shooting around, and finally orange which lets you fire rockets from a standing position. All in all the power-ups allow the gameplay to be freshened up a bit and be varied enough to be consistently interesting, while still retaining the basic runny jumpy fist flingy sense of fun.

The main addition to gameplay besides these is the score counter which you can see in that screenshot. There are gems dotted throughout the levels along with enemies and collectibles which all give you points as well as a combo multiplier. With this you can chain gems/kills together to get even more points. There's a certain threshold which gets you "100%" on each level (which is never specified or explained), and while I managed this on all of them to complete the trophies this time around, looking at Rayman forums on the internet you'd be amazed and/or horrified at the lengths some people have gone to to get high scores. I'm pretty certain I finished with a 480k score or thereabouts for the whole game, you can get about 930k total. Absurd. The scoring isn't something you really need to focus on as there's no reward besides bonus arcade levels which you'll inevitably unlock just by playing the game anyway, but it still adds an extra sense of challenge if you need one.

I think when I reviewed Rayman 2 I made note of the sense of scale I perceived it to have when I was young, as if it was this grand epic that stretched on forever that I couldn't fully appreciate because I was too bad to play it properly. In Rayman 3 there are 9 different worlds with levels in them and each is completely unique. The enemies are the same and gameplay is largely unchanged but the environments are consistently gorgeous. Even for what's effectively a fourteen year old game they still look amazing. The game has a camera feature which I made great use of, but sadly with the HD remaster they didn't think to add a feature that lets you export these. Regardless, the backgrounds, the bits you interact with, the music, the characters, there's so many of them and they're so distinctive it makes the game feel massive, even though you could blast through it quite quickly. At times you could argue this can be overwhelming, there's a boss fight you go through with a thing that looks remarkable like Pinstripe from Crash Bandicoot, and there's no context for it or who he is at all. But then that just adds to the irreverent fun you're having, so you don't really mind.

On that note as well, the shift into full-on "wacky" writing and characterisation is here and I think it works. There's a fine balance between childish and more mature humour and I think it works well. The Teensies are back from Rayman 2 and they're just as strange as ever, and while Globox is painfully stupid he does still say funny things and is generally a good comedic foil to stop levels from getting too serious. And if you're getting tired of blasting enemies or running away from the invincible Knaaren, there'll be a segment sooner or later where you have to chase one of your shoes around or you can go on a disco trip through a psychedelic tunnel, so there's something for everyone.

Towards the end of the 6th console generation I feel as if there was a shift away from platformers like this and Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter as games became grittier and realistic. Rayman games, main series games at least, have always been well-received enough that I always feel as if they should be more popular and ubiquitous than they are. In any case, this one which I originally got for my eleventh birthday still holds up, and I'm glad I finally finished all of the trophies in it. It was a bit fond of freezing at the end of levels, but since I liked it I'll give it a pass on that.
 

Commander Clueless

Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
Sep 10, 2008
15,238
2,922
Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok

A neat little free game on Steam that is a tribute to the old Sierra games - specifically Quest for Glory, a personal favourite.

I started this game years ago but ran into a bug and never finished it until now.


I really enjoyed it. Definitely some old fashioned point-and-click moon logic involved, but fun to figure out for the most part (if not, Google is your friend ;)). Voice acting was very much an amateur performance, but overall some great references to my childhood and a fun experience.


If you enjoyed those old point-and-click/RPG hybrids, give it a go. It is free, after all.
 

Fantomas

Registered User
Aug 7, 2012
13,244
6,560
Just finished Until Dawn (which wasn't difficult because it's one of those 'your choices affect your fate' games). It was a ton of fun.

Great atmosphere, characters that really grew on me and the gore was hilarious. Wish there was more.

Now ready to dive into Wolf Among Us and Detroit Become Human.
 

mouser

Business of Hockey
Jul 13, 2006
29,285
12,586
South Mountain
Played several of the Twitch Prime free games for May:

Psychonauts 9/10: Great platformer with a highly creative and quirky as hell story line. Hard to believe this was first released in 2005, the game still plays wonderfully. About 15 hours to complete depending on how many optionals you chase down.

Gone Home 7.5/10: First person exploration game where you return home from abroad to find your house empty and family missing. Well crafted story. 2-3 hours to complete.

Titan Souls 4/10: Wanted to like this more, but tired quickly of the controls and repetition.
 

SniperHF

Rejecting Reports
Mar 9, 2007
42,632
21,043
Phoenix
Psychonauts 9/10: Great platformer with a highly creative and quirky as hell story line. Hard to believe this was first released in 2005, the game still plays wonderfully. About 15 hours to complete depending on how many optionals you chase down.

The Milkman Conspiracy is one of the best levels ever made.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->