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Post by Phattso on Apr 1, 2023 10:35:51 GMT
If Capcom insist on another remake it should be Powerstone 1 & 2. Amazed this hasn't been done yet. I think of Powerstone. I look at the Switch. Powerstone. Switch. As suggested, bang an HD remaster on that fucker for instant monies.
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Post by dangerousdave on Apr 1, 2023 11:13:13 GMT
Bioshock Infinite (Series X)
Well, I can't say I was gonna predict that outcome, but it was great experience! It's a little slow starting and is pretty repetitive by design, but it's engaging none-the-less. I don't know how they could possibly top this game if they ever make a new one, narratively speaking, but I fully understand the appeal.
I'll go back for the DLC very shortly. The achievements though are pretty laborious, so I wish I had played this through on Switch instead.
4/5
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chug666
New Member
Eurogamer Nomad
Posts: 207
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Post by chug666 on Apr 1, 2023 12:23:17 GMT
Finished Gunstar Heroes... only took 30 years.
I completely cheesed the final boss rush using Switch suspend points and feel zero guilt.
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Post by theguy on Apr 1, 2023 13:35:07 GMT
Tchia
I've liked the look of this ever since they showed it off, been looking forward to its release. Was pleased playing it initially. The world is beautiful, music is great and fits the game, it's mechanically solid despite owing a lot to Zelda and it has a few nice ideas of its own.
The problem to me, lies with its open world. It's among the absolute worst of the worst in terms of icon spam and blatantly padded content. All through the world it's the same uninspired copy pasted activities, that don't seem to really reward you with anything at all. You do get cosmetics for some of the activities, but it's a bit useless. Not even XP or currency. I actually have quite a high tolerance for icon spam, but here so much of the content just felt absolutely meaningless.
Habitually, I started off doing a lot of the side content. It was OK at first, but quickly became tiresome to the point I thought of abandoning the game completely. The mechanics are fine but definitely don't hold up to doing the same things over and over. There are also lots of little niggles that add up to make the experience much worse. For instance, there's ~180 of a certain collectible, but each time you pick one up, you get a short cut scene. It's brief, but when you've shoved in 180 of the things at least make it seamless. They're not even satisfying to discover, they're just littered around, perhaps even at random. You can expect other content to be similar. It becomes very stale.
So I made one final push to just blaze through the main story, doing the bare minimum, and before I knew it I'd actually finished the game. Turns out, the main story is only a few hours and can be beaten very quick. There's no reason to do any of the side stuff, it really does have no bearing except cosmetics. I thought afterwards that maybe if I'd have just stuck to the main content then, I'd have enjoyed the game more.
But it raised the question, why bother with the open world at all then, if there's nothing meaningful to really do or discover in it? Why are all these activities even on the map in the first place? Had I just gone through and did the main story missions, I think I'd have come away underwhelmed for different reasons, because a lot of it is either fetch quests, or just going from A to B across the map. But there's nothing in that damn (albeit beautifully made) map that makes this fun.
You mostly do the same things in the main story that you do in the side quests and it's not massively engaging and is quite short. I thought I was nearing the halfway point when I was at the end, because mechanically it never felt like the gameplay had opened up. The best variety is found in the games dungeons, one of the few side activities that feels like it had some thought put into it, but there are only a few of those. Treasure maps are good too but it leads nowhere really.
I think the game would have been better off with a tighter, focused campaign with more thought behind the mission structure and level design. It manages to feel bloated despite being short. For a game where you can possess other objects or animals, there's surprisingly little creativity in what's done with that idea. It's very one note. I wouldn't say it's a terrible game, but I don't think it was particularly good. It could have been so much more.
On a slight tangent, I feel like games which describe themselves as "cozy", "heartwarming", "wholesome" etc often get a free pass for having shitty gameplay mechanics and lazy writing, which is why I hate it when games describe themselves this way. This dawned on me while playing Tchia. Maybe it sounds a bit grumpy old sod when I say that but I'm a grumpy old sod who's right.
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
Posts: 6,443
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Post by wunty on Apr 1, 2023 23:06:51 GMT
Bloodwash
So I’ve started picking up those weird indie games that you scroll through on the store and completely ignore. Only this was actually pretty damn good and surprisingly creepy. In fact it was scarier than a lot of bigger budget horror games.
Murder House next and going by the start, it’s going to actually be legitimately pant filling.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 2, 2023 16:30:30 GMT
I'm done with Painkiller: Overdose. I think it took about eight hours and for the most part I did have fun. The first few maps and the enemy types thereon weren't all that interesting and especially the first map is a bit annoying. Aside from the fact that almost no weapons are available at that point.
But I liked most of the maps in Chapters 2 and 3 as they were more Horror-themed with some interesting environments and enemy types. There was more ammo as well. Balance in that respect is pretty weird. For half of the game there seems to be never enough for most guns and then in the second half there is generally more and there were some maps were I couldn't use up all of what I was getting.
Difficulty was generally higher than in the original, but it still felt fair. I did have a few crashes, but overall probably not more than five or so. Oh, and the story presentation is better. Some decent hand-drawn and narrated bits. Not that it's hard to top the frankly embarassing story cutscenes from the first game.
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malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
Posts: 3,176
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Post by malek86 on Apr 2, 2023 16:49:47 GMT
Agent A: A puzzle in disguise (Switch)
Got it last year, only started it last month, played it very sparingly, and finished today. At first glance, it looks like an average mobile adventure game. It's actually higher quality and a fair bit longer than that, though there are still some of the common trappings of the genre - none of the puzzles are going to stump you for long, there is lots of going back and forth between locations, and the script could use some polish (how about some basic commas for example?).
Overall, it was pretty fun. It helps that I paid like one buck for it.
7/10
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malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
Posts: 3,176
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Post by malek86 on Apr 2, 2023 17:41:35 GMT
I'm getting a bit tired of these average games... time to dig deep into the massive free games backlog for something truly great. Let's see what I come up with.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 3, 2023 13:08:59 GMT
And done with The Unfinished Swan as well. I started it without knowing that this is by the people that later made Edith Finch. But I think I might have actually liked it more than that. I don't think I'd say that it actually is better, but I liked the tone and it reminded me of Michael Ende and similar storytellers somewhat.
The storytelling is simple and stylish and sometimes quite clever and the way it plays with colour and perspective was well done. The gameplay isn't particularly deep, but at a length of maybe two hours or so it kept switching things up a regularly nevertheless, which was much appreciated.
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Post by Nanocrystal on Apr 4, 2023 0:06:55 GMT
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Finally finished after around 70 hours. I've been playing the series in numerical order, and this is my second favourite after 0. Ichiban is a great main character, as likeable as Kiryu while having a very distinct personality. The next game with both of them as twin protagonists could be very special indeed. The turn based combat was kinda basic, there isn't really much stategy to it but the constantly inventive enemies and comical jobs and movesets kept it hugely entertaining right up to the end. The business management mini game was a bit disappointing though, I much preferred 0's hostess game. Yokohama was brilliantly recreated and having been there myself a few years ago it was an absolute thrill to recognise all the landmarks. Great cast of characters and a story much improved over 6. Love these games.
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
Posts: 6,443
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Post by wunty on Apr 4, 2023 11:14:38 GMT
Atomic Heart
I finished it. It was good and also not good. Was it worth playing through given all the stuff going on around it? probably not, but by the time I'd bought it, I thought I may as well play it. There is a lot of good game in there, and some not-so-good game in there. I had fun. I think?
Amnesia The Dark Descent
Well gosh. Think I started this about four years ago. Finally did the last part over the weekend. I was tickled at the fact I ended it by being an absolute dick and knocking some pillars over. It's a damn good game though and the atmosphere is something else. Think that's why it took me so long. So damn oppressive with some very creepy audio. Going to fire Justine up this week as I've heard it's not that long.
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Lizard
Junior Member
I love ploughmans
Posts: 4,385
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Post by Lizard on Apr 5, 2023 5:01:31 GMT
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch) - 7/10
Finally completed after struggling to motivate myself for the last third. Loved the art style, loved the setting, enjoyed a lot of it. Did not love the difficulty spikes and sometimes abstruse puzzles. Absolutely loathed some of the time-based platforming and running sections. I personally would've liked a greater focus on combat and exploration. It feels like some of the mechanics were not fully utilised/explored. Doubt I'll ever go back to it.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 5, 2023 5:42:06 GMT
I think there's like three or four ways to do that last bit. Did you have the head?
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,665
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Apr 5, 2023 6:00:39 GMT
Octopath Traveler 2
I liked the first game, but loved loved loved this one.
The visuals and music remain superb. As does the battle system, which allows you to utterly break things if you put enough thought into how various jobs and skills can be combined.
And this time, the stories are better written, more nuanced, and more connected. And there's loads of interesting little side quests, none of which devolve into following markers on a map.
It's a complete package, basically, and the best JRPG I've played in a very long time. Do recomed.
10/10
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
Posts: 6,443
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Post by wunty on Apr 5, 2023 8:07:17 GMT
I think there's like three or four ways to do that last bit. Did you have the head? I did not. Agrippa's? In all fairness I couldn't be arsed doing the lab stuff so I thought to hell with him and just went on without him and pushed the pillars over like a right asbo.
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Duffman5
Junior Member
big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
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Post by Duffman5 on Apr 6, 2023 11:03:09 GMT
Hogwarts Legacy format: Series X (performance mode) Time: 48+ hours Skill: Easy (only diff I could see on higher skill was bullet sponging enemies, no fun) Lvl:29 Cheveo: 23/45 (and counting)
Completed yesterday as in finished all story quest and "won the day"! although maybe not as although I have certainly finished the main quest line, to actually get to the credits (and it is just a fmv and then credits) you need to be lvl 34, and I'm barely lvl 29. This is a bit frustrating though, as much as I have enjoyed the game a lot I'm not sure I am motivated enough to continue various activities to get my skill up to the required arbitrary number.
Anyway enough of that, the game world and Hogwarts are truly stunning and it was a pleasure to traverse them both. Loads of nods to the lore of course (I am a film wanker and not book one mind you!) the magic was done very well and there was certainly enough variety, not so much in enemy type but I will get to that. I thought the story was pretty decent and liked most of the characters, enjoyed the side activities but will hope we get more in a sequel, maybe Chess and obviously Quidditch.
Things I though needed improvement or would like to see in HogLeg2
Character creation: More voices, just more options of everything (SR2 as a guide, maybe not the dildos though!) Customisation: most of the Gear was poor. Enemy variety: Not enough Lessons/classes: A bit more like Bully's structure. More consequences, choices to actually and actively make a difference.
I think that is if for now.
8/10
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
Posts: 6,443
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Post by wunty on Apr 7, 2023 17:41:59 GMT
Mothered
Yikes. I really didn’t expect it to go there when I started. Needed the true ending after my first completion for it all to click in to place and roll the credits but bravo. That was superb and quite a bit sad actually.
9/10
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 9, 2023 18:24:38 GMT
Bioshock Infinite (11 hours) is done.
I wasn't too taken with the nonsensical multi-dimensional part of the story or with Elizabeth's inconsistent character with forced emotional moments, but gameplay-wise it still worked well enough. The pacing in terms of what guns and vigors you get and which upgrades are available wasn't great though. I wish more of that had become available earlier and it would have been good to have some better means of being able to choose guns freely. Considering the two weapon-limit I mean.
It's no immersive sim anymore, but I knew that going in, so I didn't mind that too much. Still, it's easy to see why it didn't sit well with a lot of people. Personally I disliked some other design choices. Being forced to rifle through hundreds of containers and corpses got annoying quickly for instance. And it's really distracting. The game often wanted me to pay attention to one thing or another, but I was often busy running around looking for things and almost obsessed with picking up everything, running around like an addict trying not to miss anything. That includes some sections where you can grab the possessions of people that cannot react to it and one token section where there is suddenly a thievery-mechanic.
It was fine as an FPS, but it didn't feel convincing as a Bioshock. And I don't even mean in regards to it not being an immersive sim or not having much atmosphere, but rather that Vigors are shoehorned into a setting where they make no sense and aren't part of the story. It's not as bad with some other elements like Handymen, but it still feels like a very confused game in some ways. Columbia itself could have been an interesting place, but it feels a lot like they never came up with the mechanics and gameplay ideas that could have gone along with that. Instead it's kind of a pseudo-Bioshock.
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Post by pierrepressure on Apr 9, 2023 20:56:55 GMT
RE4: Remake
Bloody brilliant, it does that thing like other good remakes that makes you believe this was exactly how the original played even though really it makes loads of small but important changes.
To top it off it looks stunning and will likely feature in my top 3 of this year.
9/10
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Quasi
New Member
Posts: 162
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Post by Quasi on Apr 10, 2023 3:35:55 GMT
Couldn't decide on a big shiny game to play so I installed Lara Croft GO and wound up hundred-percenting it in a couple of days. It's a fun little puzzle game which does a fine job adapting the general Tomb Raider experience (which is, admittedly, already puzzle-heavy) to a different format, presented in a way I found endlessly charming. Don't know how challenging non-morons will find it since even I was able to finish it without relying too often on hints, but I'd still recommend it, especially if you have an affection for the series.
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lukasz
New Member
Meat popsicle
Posts: 641
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Post by lukasz on Apr 10, 2023 4:13:34 GMT
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,261
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Post by Tomo on Apr 10, 2023 8:44:16 GMT
Mothered Yikes. I really didn’t expect it to go there when I started. Needed the true ending after my first completion for it all to click in to place and roll the credits but bravo. That was superb and quite a bit sad actually. 9/10 Like the sound of this. On the wishlist it goes.
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Post by Rubicon on Apr 10, 2023 8:51:50 GMT
Couldn't decide on a big shiny game to play so I installed Lara Croft GO and wound up hundred-percenting it in a couple of days. It's a fun little puzzle game which does a fine job adapting the general Tomb Raider experience (which is, admittedly, already puzzle-heavy) to a different format, presented in a way I found endlessly charming. Don't know how challenging non-morons will find it since even I was able to finish it without relying too often on hints, but I'd still recommend it, especially if you have an affection for the series. This has reminded me I never got around to completing these but if your looking for more they also did a Deus Ex and Hitman versions that were similar.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 10, 2023 11:49:56 GMT
I don't think so. Why?
My impression - from what I have heard - was that it completely and utterly f**s up everything story-wise. Even though it seems to try and get back the open environments and more free-form gameplay.
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Quasi
New Member
Posts: 162
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Post by Quasi on Apr 10, 2023 12:46:52 GMT
Couldn't decide on a big shiny game to play so I installed Lara Croft GO and wound up hundred-percenting it in a couple of days. It's a fun little puzzle game which does a fine job adapting the general Tomb Raider experience (which is, admittedly, already puzzle-heavy) to a different format, presented in a way I found endlessly charming. Don't know how challenging non-morons will find it since even I was able to finish it without relying too often on hints, but I'd still recommend it, especially if you have an affection for the series. This has reminded me I never got around to completing these but if your looking for more they also did a Deus Ex and Hitman versions that were similar. Yeah I've got the Hitman version on deck but the Deus Ex one was apparently never brought to PC and has been permanently removed from all app stores by the giant holding company that bought (and closed) the studio. Lovely.
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lukasz
New Member
Meat popsicle
Posts: 641
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Post by lukasz on Apr 10, 2023 13:00:02 GMT
I don't think so. Why?
My impression - from what I have heard - was that it completely and utterly f**s up everything story-wise. Even though it seems to try and get back the open environments and more free-form gameplay.
I watched let's play of infinite and the dlc and completely adored what the dlc did. Wasnt long. So you should!
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Post by dangerousdave on Apr 10, 2023 13:25:34 GMT
This makes me want to get on the DLC now. I only finished Infinite a couple of weeks back, myself.
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Duffman5
Junior Member
big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
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Post by Duffman5 on Apr 10, 2023 13:26:39 GMT
The dlc is great, get it played😁👍
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Ulythium
Full Member
Lily-livered
Posts: 6,809
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Post by Ulythium on Apr 10, 2023 21:04:25 GMT
I'm looking forward immensely to Minerva's Den and Burial at Sea, to which I'll turn my attention as soon as I've finished The Witcher 3.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Apr 11, 2023 3:04:10 GMT
I'm certainly interested in what people will have to say on them. Minerva's Den was decent, though a bit disorienting for me as it had been years that I had played through Bioshock 2.
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