Ulythium
Full Member
Lily-livered
Posts: 6,812
Member is Online
|
Post by Ulythium on Feb 27, 2023 8:10:25 GMT
Demon's is my least-favourite Soulsborne, but I'd still rate it 8.5.
And I actually liked the combat in BioShock, along with just about everything else.
|
|
|
Post by bichii2 on Feb 27, 2023 8:12:24 GMT
Demon's is great but it's not even close to most of the games that came after it. It has so many faults but for what it started and the first attempt it's a classic.
|
|
|
Post by Chopper on Feb 27, 2023 8:21:13 GMT
For sure it is clunkier looking back, but it has no dud levels like the games that came after (eg the second half of Dark). Also it has to get the most points for originality, systems, Patches etc as it was the daddy of the rest. But doing the platinum in that game was so incredible, it was genius. You engaged with all the mechanics, had to uncover all the secrets, optional boss battles etc; really there was incredible depth revealed when you did that. Probably that won't resonate for everyone but it did a number on me. I went and bought the US version later on and did the plat on that too. Was also thinking about the Asian version but thankfully came to my senses. I will say that I found Sekiro too difficult, and Bloodborne was good but the offhand pistol didn't suit me, so I'm taking myself out of judging those two.
|
|
Ulythium
Full Member
Lily-livered
Posts: 6,812
Member is Online
|
Post by Ulythium on Feb 27, 2023 9:05:43 GMT
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
This is a difficult game about which to write, as it's "just" a really solid experience from start to finish - no highs/lows, no ups/downs, no peaks/troughs, no... well, you get the picture, I'm sure.
Although I haven't played Human Revolution, due to its unavailability on PS4 or PS5, I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys watching Let's Play videos on YouTube; accordingly, I've watched that game in its entirety, and I have to say that I think it's the stronger of the two. It had better characters, a more satisfying conclusion, a more distinctive look (due to the notorious 'piss filter'), and a greater amount of content.
It's hard to say how much of this is down to corporate interference from Square Enix, though. Okay, I doubt they had any involvement on most of these fronts, but would Eidos Montreal have produced more content and a better ending if they'd been left to their own devices? Quite possibly. (I seem to remember a contemporaneous video from Jim Sterling, citing anonymous sources within Eidos, which claimed that Square had effectively split Mankind Divided into two games in order to make the Jensen saga into a trilogy, thereby charging players twice.)
Speaking of corporate bullshit, it's hard to ignore in this game, and I'm not just talking about Picus News, VersaLife, et al - from the infamous 'Augment Your Pre-Order' scheme to the shoehorned-in Breach mode, not to mention the shop selling Praxis Kits for real money, Square certainly left their fingerprints everywhere. That doesn't prove Sterling's accusations one way or the other, of course, but it loans them an air of credibility all the same.
Anyhow, Mankind Divided was a lot of fun to play.
I went down the full non-lethal stealth route, and felt that the game did a good job of providing augs, weapons, and other tools to make that playstyle viable; by contrast, I always felt that Dishonored saved its best toys for the high-chaos approach, while actively discouraging you from using them.
Level design was excellent, allowing you to take multiple paths through any given area while rewarding exploration. Enemy AI, while nothing special, worked well enough to make sneaking a challenge without feeling unfair. Prague was a fun location to explore. The side missions were limited in number but all worth doing, and I'd prefer quality over quantity every day of the week. And so on, and so forth.
I really hope Embracer Group will put Eidos on the case with a sequel to this game, if they haven't done so already. It deserves one.
8/10.
|
|
MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,665
|
Post by MolarAm🔵 on Feb 27, 2023 9:20:34 GMT
I'm pretty sure they're in the early stages of making another one? I heard something about it last year.
Iirc Jensen's story was always meant to be a three-parter.
|
|
|
Post by Nanocrystal on Feb 27, 2023 11:35:16 GMT
Gosh I'd love remasters of the first two, Human Revolution in particular.
|
|
|
Post by Jambowayoh on Feb 27, 2023 11:52:00 GMT
I'm pretty sure they're in the early stages of making another one? I heard something about it last year. Iirc Jensen's story was always meant to be a three-parter. Yep they're, Eidos Montreal, are working on one right now. It's been faaaaar too long.
|
|
Ulythium
Full Member
Lily-livered
Posts: 6,812
Member is Online
|
Post by Ulythium on Feb 27, 2023 12:38:53 GMT
I really hope it's the Mankind Divided sequel that Square ostensibly canned back in the day, rather than a reboot of some sort - that game left so many dangling loose threads, and it was good stuff that deserved to be wrapped up properly.
|
|
|
Post by simple on Feb 28, 2023 0:37:18 GMT
I kind of felt like the smaller scale of Mankind Divided made it feel like the first part of a trilogy. I know Human Revolution comes before it but thats a self-contained story that’s very much its own thing.
Almost like HR was a movie and MD was an expensive tv follow up.
|
|
|
Post by simple on Feb 28, 2023 0:42:15 GMT
Mass Effect Andromeda
Will write more in the ME thread tomorrow when I’ve got time but I had a very good time with this game. Played a semi-completionist game in terms of narrative missions. Did all the Priority, Allies and Heleus tier missions I could, I left a lot of the grindier Task behind. 77 and half hours altogether, although I still have the epilogue to play tomorrow.
It lacks polish but in its current patched state I think its a worthy follow up to the Shepard trilogy. It was probably the right decision to let it be its own completely separate thing rather than try to live up to those games.
High 8 possibly even 9 in terms of enjoyment.
|
|
Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,262
|
Post by Tomo on Feb 28, 2023 1:16:20 GMT
I abandoned Mankind Divided pretty quickly, which was a shame. It felt like a game I'd played many times before.
|
|
Duffman5
Junior Member
big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
|
Post by Duffman5 on Feb 28, 2023 6:27:33 GMT
Mass Effect AndromedaWill write more in the ME thread tomorrow when I’ve got time but I had a very good time with this game. Played a semi-completionist game in terms of narrative missions. Did all the Priority, Allies and Heleus tier missions I could, I left a lot of the grindier Task behind. 77 and half hours altogether, although I still have the epilogue to play tomorrow. It lacks polish but in its current patched state I think its a worthy follow up to the Shepard trilogy. It was probably the right decision to let it be its own completely separate thing rather than try to live up to those games. High 8 possibly even 9 in terms of enjoyment. Good to hear, yet another game I need to go back to, played around 10 hours and did enjoy it, must have "shelved" it for new things.
|
|
EMarkM
Junior Member
Well, quite...
Posts: 2,149
|
Post by EMarkM on Feb 28, 2023 10:07:36 GMT
Good to hear, yet another game I need to go back to, played around 10 hours and did enjoy it, must have "shelved" it for new things. You are literally me! I do love the M.E. universe, and really should get back to this one.
|
|
malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
Posts: 3,176
|
Post by malek86 on Feb 28, 2023 14:36:02 GMT
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (PC)
I don't usually include games that I've finished before, but it's been a long while since the last time, so I might as well. Plus it took me a good 17 hours to finish.
It's basically old Tomb Raider, but actually good. I love the environmental design. And I like how it doesn't use the old trope of discovering old abandoned places that are somehow full of enemies - commies will only appear in places that you have already opened, often some time after you have entered. You can see that people at Lucasarts actually cared about making good games back then. Who knows what the hell happened after 1999, it's like everything they made started sucking.
I do have to dock a couple points for the unwieldy inventory system, some annoying bugs, and a few annoying levels throughout, especially the last two. Though it kinda redeems itself by having one of the coolest secret levels ever, and the game is clever enough to make people play it after the final level, so that they aren't left with a sour taste.
8/10
I don't know how good Dial of Destiny is gonna be, but you know how people sometimes think Fate of Atlantis is the real Indy 4? Well, even if the new movie sucks, I will still be able to say this is the real Indy 5.
|
|
|
Post by Rubicon on Feb 28, 2023 16:55:34 GMT
4. Darkest of Days (PC - 2009)
I have a vague memory of this appearing in lists of worst games ever so has always piqued my curiosity to try it.
It's a historical FPS which the devs have gone for authenticity with scale, battles and weapons etc. Though it's touted to have time travel elements, the bulk of the game is played during the American Civil War and First World War period, with a couple of others cropping up as the game is about to end. Given how underused these time periods are this is probably the games strongest point in offering something a bit different.
Visuals are OK and reminded me of the Source engine and something you might see in the Half-Life 2 era. Maps are fairly large and switch between linear and the more open approach though these can lose focus and both suffer from invisible walls at points. Despite the best efforts from the devs it can feel like your fighting in the same green/brown fields with some little variations to them. A more minor irritation is that it can be hard to see enemies in wooded areas.
There is a basic upgrade system which is tied to 'important' enemy characters (none are ever named) you come across with a blue aura who can only be incapacitated and not killed to gain points. You get a tool to help and though not a problem when an enemy is own their own, can be frustrating when clustered together or sat shooting you from a machine gun. Gameplay wise I would have liked to have seen a lean mechanic but despite frustrations (the last two levels in particular) there is nothing gamebreaking.
Voice acting veers between passable and awful and the plot is sci-fi bobbins.
This is one of those games that you can see the potential but is maybe before its time. A visual upgrade with the bombast of a Call of Duty could be quite something but outside of the setting there really isn't anything else to recommend that hasn't been bettered.
5/10
|
|
|
Post by Samildanach on Feb 28, 2023 17:59:48 GMT
My Shmup Saga continues with:
Phelios(Arcade Archives)1988 Couldn't resist this when it popped up in the Arcade Archives series, despite being released earlier than the era I am currently exploring. It is a vertically scroller set where your character flies his Pegasus through mythical Greece to rescue his Sister/lover from the baddy. I prefer this to Namco's Dragon Spirit duology since it does away with the separately firing ground shot which I have never really liked. There is still irritating bullshit moments (such as the fourth and final bosses) that would have been easily solved by a much smaller hitbox, but this was typical of the time. On the plus side, there is some great visuals and many well designed sections where tactical and clever play will get you through. Recommended
Metal Black (Arcade Archives) '91 Nov Another recent release and I was quite relived since it has been ported beautifully as always by Hamster. In comparison theTaito collection on PS2 is a muddy looking, laggy mess. By Metal Black's release Taito were really starting to show the credentials as makers of fantastic and weird horizontal shmups (peaking later with Darius Gaiden). It's not quite perfect in that the first level is so easy it becomes tedious on repeat plays, and there are two 'bonus' rounds in the style of a shooting gallery that plays terribly and kills the pace. Unfortunately the first of these is right after stage 1 so any playthrough has several minutes of mind numbing boredom before you get to the good stuff. Once you do get there then you are taken through a trippy masterpiece of bizarre weirdness and excellent gameplay. Highly recommended despite the slow start.
D-Force (Snes) Dec '91 Ah, D-Force, often claimed as the Snes/Super Famicom's worst shooter and there is no denying that it is a bit shit...but not utterly awful. Its is a bland attempt at a vertical shooter with the added gimmick of having you being able to move between two different planes (as in far from ground or close to ground). Having said that, you can only manually adjust it on even numbered levels, and although mildly fun, they are made too easy as one can just change planes to avoid trouble spots. On the odd numbered stages you start in the high plane then change to the near plane half way through, and those levels are looong and dull. The visuals are pretty poor, especially as the lower plane is a zoomed in pixilated mess. The music is inoffensive at best and everything just feels poorly thought out. Compared against the worst shmups of the Megadrive (Xenon II, a poor game in a horrible port) and the PC Engine (Deep Blue, an unbelievably bad game with no redeeming features) then this 'worst' game is relatively playable. Still not worth anyone's time now mind.
Salamander (PC Engine) Dec '91 A fantastic port of the Arcade original. I probably like it more as it isn't so difficult and has better music. I was very surprised to find the final boss fighting back (normally a sitting duck), and I count that as an improvement. Perhaps it is a shame that they didn't include one of the NES Salamander exclusive levels, as this game (as with the arcade) really doesn't need TWO asteroid levels, but hey ho, it's an adrenaline filled pleasure regardless. The PC Engine Mini's version comes with a couple of bonuses where you can play it with the arcade's auto respawn format (as opposed to the PC Engine's checkpoint system) with the arcade's music for variation. Also hidden is a single level shmup called Force Gear from '94, also by Konami, originally found in dating sim game. It is a fancy Gradius tribute with pretty nice large sprite and crazy (and very easy) gameplay. Final hidden bonus is a Twin Bee score attack mode; essentially the original arcade Twinbee with just ground targets and bosses. M2 spoiling us with these little extras. Essential!
And that's it for 1991. Before I begin with the monster shmup year that is 1992, there will be a couple of tangents for fairly random reasons.
|
|
|
Post by Hanimalle on Mar 1, 2023 20:55:48 GMT
Telling Lies
I have a soft spot for FMV games and I really liked Sam Barlow's previous game Her Story. Unfortunately I must admit that this one didn't really work for me. The casting is quite good and the story fairly interesting but the main issue for me (though it's also what makes it different from its predecessor) lies with the fact that you only see and hear one side of the conversation at a time.
The idea being that you need to find the other side of the conversation by, hopefully at least, finding the right keywords. The thing is, it can feel very awkward watching one character be silent for what can often seem like a really long time. Thankfully, these are good actors and so they usually convey a decent range of emotions through their facial expressions.
Nevertheless, I can't say I've been satisfied with this throughout my time playing Telling Lies nor am I a fan of how voyeuristic this whole experience feels (to be fair that's kind of the purpose of it I imagine and so well done on making me feel actually uncomfortable at times). Apparently I've only seen about half of the videos (you have a time limit which means this is supposed to be replayable) but I have no real desire to return to this in the near future...
|
|
|
Post by simple on Mar 1, 2023 20:59:42 GMT
Good to hear, yet another game I need to go back to, played around 10 hours and did enjoy it, must have "shelved" it for new things. You are literally me! I do love the M.E. universe, and really should get back to this one. I mostly just treated it as a big sandbox to spend time in doing the most interesting missions as they came up and had a good time that way.
|
|
MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,665
|
Post by MolarAm🔵 on Mar 4, 2023 11:08:45 GMT
I finally finished Fire Emblem Engage.
Good things
-It looks and sounds fucking great. The bright colours really pop on an OLED, and the battle animations are cool
-The Engage system is brilliant. You really get a sense of power from using the Emblem rings, but you can't just have them on all the time. And there's a lot of room for mixing abilities and breaking the game, if you want to
-The maps and scenarios are some of the best I've seen from this series for a while, full of interesting gimmicks and surprises. The last couple were a bit meh, but overall I was impressed with the love that went into designing this stuff
-The fan service is high with this one. Not in the upskirt sense, in the sense that there's all sorts of references and callbacks that you will absolutely love if you're a longtime fan of this series
-This may count as not a good thing for some people, but I appreciated the lack of support pair relationship management, and the lack of stupid minigames and fetch questing that was a big part of Three Houses. There are some minigames, but they're very optional. Overall it's an experience very much focused on the tactics, and I appreciated that ever so much
Bad things (disclaimer: I played it on Maddening, so some of the gameplay annoyances might be different on lower difficulties)
-Skirmish battles are pretty badly tuned. They scale to the level of your army, but the scaling makes them too difficult. As does the AI in the battles, which basically boils down to "all enemy units Zerg Rush your position from turn 1". It's not fun
-The story is a bit... not shit exactly, but very "Saturday morning cartoon". Evil defeated through the power of friendship and all that. I don't really play these games for the story, but it's a bit of a step down from the political intrigue of Three Houses
-Some (ok... many) of the characters are annoying, in a general anime sense. They all have basically one personality trait, and that's what gets hammered on in all the support conversations. It's again not something that really concerns me, but again a bit of a step down from Three Houses
-A few little interface annoyances, like having to go to multiple parts of your base in order to do things that really should be collected together. Inventory management, engraving and upgrading weapons is occasionally a pain also
But overall, it's absolutely worth a play, even moreso if you're a fan of the series. There's just so much love and care put into it, at every step of the way. It's not for everyone, and it's still early in 2023, but it's going to take some work to top this as my GotY.
EMBLEM.... ENGAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
9.4/10
|
|
MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,665
|
Post by MolarAm🔵 on Mar 4, 2023 11:10:06 GMT
And yeah yeah, tl;dr, whatever. I don't rave this much about many games, but I make an exception for Fire Emblem.
|
|
|
Post by deekyfun on Mar 4, 2023 11:15:36 GMT
Telling LiesI have a soft spot for FMV games and I really liked Sam Barlow's previous game Her Story. Unfortunately I must admit that this one didn't really work for me. The casting is quite good and the story fairly interesting but the main issue for me (though it's also what makes it different from its predecessor) lies with the fact that you only see and hear one side of the conversation at a time. The idea being that you need to find the other side of the conversation by, hopefully at least, finding the right keywords. The thing is, it can feel very awkward watching one character be silent for what can often seem like a really long time. Thankfully, these are good actors and so they usually convey a decent range of emotions through their facial expressions. Nevertheless, I can't say I've been satisfied with this throughout my time playing Telling Lies nor am I a fan of how voyeuristic this whole experience feels (to be fair that's kind of the purpose of it I imagine and so well done on making me feel actually uncomfortable at times). Apparently I've only seen about half of the videos (you have a time limit which means this is supposed to be replayable) but I have no real desire to return to this in the near future... I really liked Her Story, and similarly found this one a bit unwelming. I just don't think the narrative hook was that strong, and the clips in this were sometimes quite long, so it feels a bit of a hassle to play. I have heard good things about Immortality though, so I am looking forward to seeing how that works.
|
|
|
Post by Hanimalle on Mar 5, 2023 10:22:39 GMT
I have heard good things about Immortality though, so I am looking forward to seeing how that works. I'm definitely intrigued by it as well, though I want to keep my expectations low so as not to be disappointed again.
|
|
|
Post by dfunked on Mar 5, 2023 10:27:23 GMT
I really didn't like immortality despite enjoying his previous games quite a lot. I played for an hour or so but just found navigation utterly frustrating in comparison to the others.
Still probably worth checking out, as the acting was decent and it might click with you (is it still on gamepass?)
|
|
|
Post by deekyfun on Mar 5, 2023 11:11:45 GMT
I've read that its a bit different; something about selecting objects in the clips to find other clips? It sounded interesting, but noted re your experience. I have a copy, so will get around to it at some point.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2023 11:40:12 GMT
God of War Ragnarok It's epic, there is a bit of a lull before things kick off at the end, but then it's epic again. Looks lovely, story is interesting and angrily smashing people in the face will always be fun. Some really great moments too, loved the giants house and the bar fight with Thor was great fun. 10/10
|
|
|
Post by Chopper on Mar 6, 2023 9:45:41 GMT
Ash of Gods: Redemption (PC, but also out on consoles). This is gonna be a long one, apologies.
This is the visual novel (like The Banner Saga) with RPG elements (like The Banner Saga) and tactical, turn-based combat (like the Banner Saga). Not only that, but it apes the graphical style and the weird combat system of The Banner Saga to an extraordinary degree, all with the apparent approval of The Banner Saga devs.
All that being said, it's its own game and is a really interesting one. Difficulty is high at the start, in part due to the combat system. It's superficially similar to TBS's health + armour system, where you had to whittle down an enemy's armour in order to get at their health, and if you knocked out enough health (which also equated to strength), it enfeebled the enemy enough so that they couldn't do much damage.
In this game, enemies have health and ENERGY, and energy is used for special actions called skills which add to your basic moves and attacks. So you can use energy to move further across the map, or launch a special attack which deals a load of damage. If you knock out an enemy's energy for example, they will still be able to hit you for 6 damage, but won't be able to use their special attack that does 18 damage. Added to that, once you remove their energy, you do double damage to their health. However! The enemy gets a move for every move you get, so if you have 6 guys on the field and only one enemy remains, that enemy gets a move for each of your guys, so 6 moves. Which means if you leave an especially powerful enemy until last, he will just move around fucking up your troops. So it goes the opposite way of most of these things, where you take out the weaker mooks first, and then focus fire on the boss. You basically have to get the big guy first, while evading the mooks.
But wait, there's more! You control three different parties on the map - one conventional squad led by the grizzled guard captain, one squad of 1 superman backed up by a squad of weaker characters, and one squad who consists entirely of one demigod guy, who just wrecks things on his own (see the Big Guy hypothesis in the previous paragraph). So you enter battles with a different mindset and fighting style for all these three groups, it's really cool. You can also choose to not take 6 people into battle, and just take one or two or three, and because of the mechanics, it means your party isn't underpowered (because they all get extra goes). It does mean the combat gets a bit puzzley, when you have situations like this to deal with:
But it is Good.
Travelling is scenic:
And the map is just lovely, with all locations given text/lore:
One issue is that the plot centres around the end of the world coming to a map with loads of different kingdoms on it, so with a zillion fantasy names being bandied around - Berkana, Frisia, Gellia, Vandil etc - the plot can be mighty confusing. It all kinda works out in the end though.
Oh, and another issue is that it's a fuck-you game where everyone is probably gonna die and the big bad will win and it totally doesn't care, where often decisions you make early on, or visiting a different node on the map, mean you can't get the good ending. And they are not flagged (there are some clues re: the map path). I had a fair bit of anxiety about this so I started using a walkthrough about halfway through, just to see what conversation choices I should make and paths to take. That's its big weakness. However, I wouldn't mind playing through a bit of it again and choosing according to my own whims.
Good game though, a flawed gem, and one which tactics fans should definitely check out.
|
|
MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,665
|
Post by MolarAm🔵 on Mar 6, 2023 10:01:56 GMT
Uhhhhh... it's a good thing that The Banner Saga devs gave that their blessing, because that looks similar to Banner Saga to a legally actionable extent.
|
|
|
Post by Chopper on Mar 6, 2023 10:13:16 GMT
It's unbelievable, it's like they got their hands on the code and tweaked it with their own art and characters (which is doing them an injustice, because there's a huge amount of work put in here, it's like all three Banner Saga games in one). But it is soooooo weird.
The Banner Saga devs even backed this on Kickstarter apparently.
|
|
|
Post by harrypalmer on Mar 6, 2023 11:12:57 GMT
Hogwarts Legacy - 7/10
A bland open world trudge elevated by truly exceptional world design and art direction. The combat is actually pretty good, but gets stale after a few hours.
Some of the worst writing and acting I've ever experienced in a game, I skipped literally all dialogue.
If that sounds negative, then it's testament to how impressive the world is - it's almost Elden Ring/Witcher 3 levels of awe at points. If you're a HP fan then you will lap it up. Hogwarts Castle is bonkers.
|
|
Duffman5
Junior Member
big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
|
Post by Duffman5 on Mar 6, 2023 13:20:43 GMT
Hogwarts Legacy - 7/10A bland open world trudge elevated by truly exceptional world design and art direction. The combat is actually pretty good, but gets stale after a few hours. Some of the worst writing and acting I've ever experienced in a game, I skipped literally all dialogue. If that sounds negative, then it's testament to how impressive the world is - it's almost Elden Ring/Witcher 3 levels of awe at points. If you're a HP fan then you will lap it up. Hogwarts Castle is bonkers. What is next up mate ?
|
|