Posts made by bard91

@dipset man there was so much hype around Bloodlines 2, and with all the news about it this year it does just feel like it would need a bit of miracle to come out ok.

@phbz yep I agree a lot with this, I personally love the game and think the end product is phenomenal, but there's certainly a ton of issues with the process, that from my experience, is not just game related but too often in sw development in general, to a large degree here that certainly impacted the end product, and something that does need be improved at large and certainly within CDPR, but it unnerves me somewhat the level of persecussion things seem to be at, which admittedly may be a bit of a defensive stance from my side given I do love the game.

One thing that struck me as very odd in those tweets is that it mentioned apparently planned mechanics in 2016, such as a third person view, wallrunning, flying cars, which seem like odd complaints to me, since that was very close to the development, at those were features that they had announced long ago would not be present, and it seems perfectly understandable to me that throught development features like that may be cut as technical and design challenges come up.

The best ending to a game I've played is accompanied by an instrumental version of this absolute gem of a song that makes it so incredibly memorable.

Youtube Video

@happygaming yeah the style and combat I can understand if it just doesn't jive with me, on the plot and characters side is where I find it harder to understand the praise, cause it just feels really unremarkable, even for the time.

Final Fantasy 7 6.5/10

I think this game is fun enough at the end of day, that's why it gets a decent score, cause looking at it today it certainly isn't a good game and definitively not worthy of being on the top lists of games ever outside of nostalgia, being outdone by FF6 easily and others not long after it as far as I'm concerned.

The Good:

It has some really good moments, I wouldn't take that away from it and the characters do have their charm and their personalities manage to come through pretty well at times, but with one exception I they never really managed to make me care a lot for them, music is also very good as is to be expected.

Red XIII, I love that dog thing or whatever it is, every time I saw it's blocky face on screen it made me smile and it is the one thing I'll say that I love about this game.

The Bad:

I knew I wouldn't like the combat, ATB systems have never been good in my opinion but in here it feels very bad and makes the combat feel very shallow, and the materia system didn't help, which I understand people like because of its flexibility but I never grew to like it and it just felt like more of a burden, the story is fine, in the sense that it is one of those jrpg stories that doesn't make any sense and you just kinda have to go with it, and at least it moves at a fine pace for the most part, though I can't say I see the story as a positive at the end of the day.

I've never liked FF and similar overworlds, and this case wasn't the exception, and while I grew to tolerate the visuals, the prerendered backgrounds really don't work imo.

At the end of the day, I understand this is a 24 year old game, and I understand it may have been amazing back in the day, but seeing it today it feels like nothing special in anyway, but it does still manage to be an enjoyable experience.

Just finished the game with what I'm positive must be one of the worst endings.

Not only do I agree with the initial reviews that had the game on the 90s, this game is nothing short of brilliant and absolutely worth the wait, and it simply has me incredibly excited of knowing that I left a ton of content undone, and similar to TW3 it was the kinda thing that just grew on me and had me more and more invested as I kept playing.

This is an all time great and a game that will never fade away.

Gravity Rush 2, game has garbage mission and game design, but the vibes and feeling are spot on, was a shame that playing it was so boring that I had to drop it, the writting was also very poor but I could have looked past it if the game were fun, but it isnt.

Pop Tart:

CyberShadow, it is just an obvious choice, it looks so good and I have full confidence if Yacht Club is related to it is gonna slap.

Toster Strudel:

Balan Wonderland, I actually hope I'm wrong cause I like the design and how it looks, I just have a hard time having much confidence on stuff like this from Square.

@dipset I'm about to beat it, but I'll buy it on PS5 as soon as it comes out to play it again, as I generally prefer playing on console and there's a ton I left without doing that I really wanna play.

Hey hey people, so as we've done the idea is to propose a list of games, upcoming or from your backlog that you have not play it, you can see it as a way to order your thoughts on what you want to play, or as away to encourage yourself to play games that have fallen behind for a reason on another.

The 12 in 12 is simply the base idea of a game a month, but it is perfectly fine to go wild with the idea and do, 24, 30 52 or whatever works for you.

I personally rate the games after I finish them, but feel free to handle this however it makes sense for you and your gaming habits.

I'm personally doing 24, even though I failed to complete my list last year, but we'll see how it goes, for this year I have the following.

Bug Fables
Disco Elysium
Troubleshooter Abandoned Children
Persona 5 Strikers
Psychonauts 2
Astral Chain
Uatawarerumon Prelude to the Fallen
Utawarerumono Mask of Truth
Spiderman
Finding Paradise
Hypno Space Outlaw
God of War
Alliance Alive
River City Girls
Fallout New Vegas
Anno Mutationem
Yakuza 7
Cosmic Star Heroine
Afterparty
Necrrobarista
11-11 Memories
Paradise Killer
Jet Set Radio
Final Fantasy 7

@bam541 I'll be honest, having played it, I would not pay more than $20 for Sakura Wars it has its charm but I can't call it anything besides a guilty pleasure.

I did not finish my list, only beating 22 out of the 24 I had in my list by the end (after making on the fly changes). I made a ranking and small write up for all of the games.

1. Persona 5 Royal 10/10

Kinda boring perspective from my side, but P5 remains as great in my eyes as it’s always been and it is easy to say it remains as one of, if not my favorite game, the same formula I’ve been consumed by since playing P3, with a beautifully crafted and refined experience with impeccable presentation, playing through the game again with the new content was as enjoyable as ever.

2. 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim 10/10

I was not expecting to like this game as much, I was actually concerned with the direction Vanillaware took with it, the brilliance in every aspect of this game, including it’s plot, storytelling and an fantastic combat system (that is offputting at first) make this something that I’m willing to call an all time classic right away, and the fact that this is an accomplishment by a small team that struggled with the development of the game makes it even more commendable, and having grown disinterest with most high profile games recently, 13S serves as a beautiful reminder of the incredible games that came come from much more humble origins. Very close to being a perfect game in my eyes.

3. Cyberpunk 2077 9.5/10 (Haven’t finished yet)

Playing on PC, my system runs it on high at a solid 30 fps which is good enough for me, just wanted to be clear on my experience with it, which in terms of bugs has been close to perfect for an open world RPG, with nothing even close to approaching game breaking.

I’ve loved all the time I’ve put into the game so far, it is easily one my favorite RPG experiences ever, don’t know if I prefer it over Witcher 3 yet, which is my favorite WRPG, but it may well do so depending on how it keeps going, I understand the complaints people have with the game, but they don’t matter when I just dive into the game and it pulls me in for hours of pure enjoyment, this game brilliantly delivered for me an experience like TW3 in a beautifully conceived world, and even if it aint perfect it is fantastic nonetheless.

4. Katana Zero 10/10

I don’t know what drew me into this game, I knew little about it before playing it, but boy am I glad I did, I expected a great 2D action game, which it is and then some, but I didn’t expect it to also knock it out of the park with it’s presentation and for it to actually have an pretty interesting story and that I would be wholly engaged in it. And then the gameplay, I expected good, but my god is it tight and exciting, an absolute delight and a game that is brilliant in every way, simply one of my favorite 2D games ever.

5. Bloodborne 9.5/10

I don’t think much has to be said about Bloodborne, it really is a brilliant game, and once I was able to get a good handle on it, it is such an entertaining and well made game that it is hard to let go, the one aspect that I didn’t like but I know many love is how a lot of the story telling is and lore is hidden within item descriptions, it’s just something I don’t really like and would prefer a more conventional way of exposition.

6. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception 9/10

Talk about a slow payoff, but my god what kind of payoff it was, easily one of the best endings to a video game ever, and a story filled with so many endearing characters that it makes up for how incredibly light in gameplay it is, definitively not for everyone but a story that is very much worth the time it asks for, excited to play the prequel and sequel now.

7. AI The Somnium Files 9/10

In some ways a step back from the highs of the Zero Escape games, but I really liked how they’ve been improving on the gameplay aspects of these types of games, and I really liked the story presented and some of the characters, overall I was very happy with what this delivered, though it certainly didn’t reach the heights of a VLR or 999 in terms of how impactful or interested the story ended up being.

8. Bloodstained Ritual of the Night 8.5/10

What’s there to say, SoTN is fantastic and this is another version of it, maybe not as good, but that only means it is still an incredibly fun and well put together metroidvania, with the main con it has for me being that it is just not incredibly memorable, but this is perfect as a substitute of Castlevania.

9. No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again 8.5/10

I had kinda low expectations for this, and that probably helped a lot, but this was very enjoyable gameplay wise, if a little repetitive, and the typical humor, fourth wall breaking and references to Suda’s previous games make for a pretty interesting plot as well, so all things considered, far from perfect but a great addition to NMH.

10. A Hat in Time 8/10

A pretty good 3D platformer that for the most part does everything well enough and has few things I actually disliked, far from my favorite platformers, but one of the best ones I’ve played in the last years, certainly prefer it over Odyssey, and it varies things well often and well enough to make it enjoyable all the way through, just not incredibly remarkable I would say.

11. Killer 7 8.5/10

Not the first time I tried playing through this, but it is the first time I managed to keep at it, and I’m very glad I did because it is a fascinating and incredibly entertaining game once it clicks, I’m positive a lot of the nuance of the story went right over my head, but even considering what I did get was very cool and the gameplay loop, with some exceptions, ended up being entertaining all the way through.

12. Katamari Damacy Reroll 8.5/10

First time I played a Katamari game, and it was an absolute delight, with some excellent music to boot, certainly worthy of note simply based on how out there the game is and how easy it is to get into, can’t say I had any real complaints with it either.

13. Control 8/10

These is a perfectly serviceable game, with a really cool setting that it uses to great effect, but the gameplay, for the most part just wasn’t exciting for most of the playtime, and it had some absolutely horrid sections that were boring and frustrating to get through, on the other side it is very much worth mentioning that the hotel section near the end was brilliant on its own.

14. The Banner Saga 3 8.5/10

I was very pleased with how this game wrapped up the series, it features the traditional punishing gameplay and I think it handled the dire state of its story very well (much better than Mass Effect 3), it is a relatively simple game that I think sticks very well to its strengths and it is better for it, happy to see the conclusion to the series and I’m keeping an eye out for what the studio does next.

15. Astro’s Playroom 8/10

Incredibly charming and quite fun to play, nothing I can really hold against it, outside of maybe being a fairly simple game mechanically, but that is pretty small as far as complaints go and something that doesn’t hurt the experience one bit.

16. GhostRunner 8/10

Well it is no Katana Zero, but it is still a really good game and a great take on the formula, it did have some level design that I feel was more frustrating than challenging and the story seem to be a really just a throwaway, but the core part of the game was great and I think it delivered very well on what it tried to do.

17. Donut County 8.5/10

Loved the silliness of the game and the writing was so fun that I couldn’t help but chuckle frequently, and it also had some pretty fun and creative levels for how simple the mechanics were, enough to make it stand out enough despite its simplicity and shortness.

18. Dusk Diver 7.5/10

Kinda mediocre game in many ways, but it is the thing were you can just feel the budget, the gameplay itself was entertaining enough and the setting was a lot of fun even though it never really did anything remarkable with it or the story, but it didn’t get in the way of me just going around town and doing some mindless stuff for mindless fun, could be better in many ways, but it is fine for what it is.

19. SMT Devil Survivor 7/10 (Did not and will not finish)

I’m literally at the final boss of the game and I’m done with it, the game has a lot of good elements, and it had a good number of fights but a lot of its design and specially the last part of the game that is close to a gauntlet of boss fights was absolutely miserable and not fun in the least, and while I think the combat is overall enjoyable I hate how it is balanced, allowing for absolute blowouts and fight outcomes that feel more like the result of luck than anything else, I did enjoy the story a good amount but the gameplay experience towards the end really brought it down, and this to me is a perfect example of why SMT games have never been more successful, because not everyone is up for the level (unfair) punishment this puts you through.

20. SpongeBob Battle For Bikini Bottom 7/10

Perfectly serviceable, though surprisingly cheap and janky in various aspects that may have been more common place on PS2 era games, but just feel very out of place in modern games, nonetheless a very fun game on its own, a pretty simple concept and execution but something that for no good reason mainstream gaming had left behind, simple games like this should always have a place and I’m happy this came out and I had a chance to play it.

21. Trails of Cold Steel 4 7/10 (Haven’t finished yet, 65 hours in)

BLOAT, I love this franchise, I want to love this game and in many ways I do, but my god did they fall for the same trappings that made CS2 the worst game so far in the franchise, and apparently fell even worse into those traps, I’m probably a bit beyond the half way point (also unnecessarily long) and while I still enjoy it for the most part and I’m hoping there’s a good payoff by the end, the design of this game is certainly not great, and so far it is in a race to the bottom for the worst Trails game against CS2.

22. Sakura Wars 7.5/10

Depending of how you judge this game, it may be seen as much worse purely as a JRPG this game is terrible I would say, but if judging it by what I think it tries to be, it is ok, the characters are incredibly endearing, and the insane level of melodrama can make it enjoyable to go through, but it is overall not a very remarkable game.

23. Forgotton Anne 7.5/10

This one had some good amount of jank mechanically that made it a bit of a hassle at times, but the art style and scenario did a pretty good job carring it and making it a pretty decent game all things considered.

24. The World Ends with You 6.5/10

Sorry to say that aside from the banging music, I didn’t love this one, I never grew to like the combat much and while the scenario and characters had some pretty cool elements the way things developed just wasn’t all that interesting, and maybe this was my fault in part but I felt a lot of the mechanics the game had didn’t really matter and felt kinda tacked on.

25. Metro Exodus 6.5/10

This game didn’t benefit from it’s open world design, the linear sections it had were the highlight and it shows to me the series was better of sticking to what the formula of the previous games, also a really poor job at making care about the characters, that was never Metro’s strength and trying to sell the relationship with Anya here, or really care at all about the other characters was fruitless and I actually thing it hurted the game.

26. Florence 7/10 (not on the list)

It’s fine and it’s pretty and it’s different, but that’s it I had heard some major praise for it that I feel is completely unwarranted, I played this in a single insomnia heavy night and never looked back, nothing wrong with it, but not much to write about either, it certainly doesn’t hit the level of emotional highs of other small scope games.

Oh man first time in a while I'm fully on board with Ps Plus offering I think, and the fact they seem to keep giving 3 games is encouraging.

I'm up for joining this year

I think this opens up the point that in many ways gaming should be pushed in other ways, because at the point of diminishing returns with visuals we are, there's a lot of creative space that could be looked into and it doesn't have to affect the quality of games, for me 13 Sentinels is a perfect example, excluding P5R, it is my undisputed GOTY and a highlight of the generation, and it does that with no need to push any visuals.

And this is actually a pretty cool video on the subject.

Youtube Video

@ffff0 we are on the same boat, and two of my best friends, who are playing on base PS4, have the same thoughts.

To me there's obviously a lot of criticism that can be thrown and the game and no doubt at how CDPR has managed things, which absolutely should be used as lessons for game devs and the public a like, but that can't overshadow the fact that this is one of my favorite role playing experiences I've ever had.

@bam541 idk man I never felt like I could really be comfotable even as I got more tools and weapons so for me it managed to keep being pretty tense and scary, though I'm a big wuss, the game actually pulled that off really well, unlike say Bioshock where you really just became OP.

Also those parts where you are floating in outer space near the end, that was pretty nerve racking.

@naltmank the Alert system is honestly pretty throwaway, I've never seen it be much of an issue, maybe a balance thing but it is just too easy to take it back down and not be concerned with it.

@axel sure, I'm planning what my list would be looking like and making a write up for my year.

@yoshi I disagree with the last statement, but otherwise I can agree with the take, and the reason I can't agree with the last one is that there's obviously a great game in there, which many and me and others are loving despite the flaws, and it could hardly be a seen as a quick buck when it is something that had been in the works for years (despite needing more development time).