^ You should play 400 Days if you didn't. It's not overly important but I enjoyed it and there is a nice nod to the first season in one part (it's a trophy).
I haven't played Walking Dead Season 2 on my current PSN account, I remember liking it alot though. I really need to play Season 3 soon.
Picked up a couple of sidequests in Breath of the Wild relating to retrieving items from the castle, so I let my curiosity get the better of me and went to have a proper look at the place (still 'early' game, five heart containers, no beasts done).
It was not an easy task; previously I'd gotten as close as the sacred ruins, then turned back when I reached the guardian stalkers. This time, I persevered by approaching from the ranch in the south east and zig-zagging past the stalkers until I got into the ruined town. The fields are bad enough, but oh boy, are there ever a lot of burning laser death robots once you get into the town. That said, it wasn't too hard to sneak past them, having applied a little patience, and I managed scale the battlements and worm my way into the interior of the castle.
Unfortunately, I was struggling to inflict sufficient damage on the monsters inside without taking hits and, having run out of faeries, I had to leave with only a Royal Guard's spear and some rupees for my efforts. I'll probably go back for another crack at it soon (what I really want is the royal cookbook), but without any fast travel points in sight, it's a bit of a thought to have to break through the ring of death outside again. Might try sailing up the river next time and see how that goes.
The guardians aren't so bad to deal with once you obtain their weapons from those shrine trials. There's nothing quite as satisfying as cutting off their limbs and sending them tumbling!
There's a certain special item that's well worth obtaining in the castle prison dungeons also
You know, I actually had some guardian kit with me at the time, but it didn't even occur to me that going on the attack might be a viable option - I'll need to give that a try.
It's been a long time since I have done my usual detailed posts. So here's a few that I played during April-May (and now).
Platinum Acquired Games:
The Silver Case HD [PlayStation 4] - 29th Platinum Trophy
One of Suda51's very first titles he made, Silver Case was remastered for PlayStation 4 and PC (not Vita because of Unity). I actually own both versions but I decided to double dip for the PS4 version as my laptop was hit or miss on its quality these days (overheating for instance and age), plus the PS4 version was only £25 in Grainger Games.
For those who have no idea what genre this game is - it's a Visual Novel with Adventure elements, kinda like how Danganronpa are. The difference here is that this is a 1999 PlayStation game with updated visuals. The gameplay is pretty simple and the story is intriguing, especially the final case where it really goes somewhere. It might be hard to follow for some. There's also two story campaigns, the main one and Placebo. The latter in my opinion is not particularly great but the final few cases do get somewhere and tie in alright to the main story.
Overall it's a great game and I recommend folks interested in Suda to check this one out. The 25th Ward remake has been announced by Suda so I'm happy to see it happen. Silver Case is also the first in the Kill the Past trilogy; continues with Flower, Sun & Rain (remake is available on DS in English) and Killer7 (available on PS2 and Gamecube).
Steins;Gate 0 [PlayStation 4] - 30th Platinum Trophy
The sequel to the original Steins;Gate visual novel is surprisingly really good. I'm going to avoid spoilers because this game is worth visiting without knowing much but there are a few things I'll mention. There are two branches in the game and you will need to finish one in order to unlock the True End to the other. The endings for this game are much better than the first as there's no romantic subplot at all. Each ending also has their own bits of importance which is interesting. The dark tone is also excellent and the new characters turned out great, especially Maho.
Playtime wise the game has taken me 43 hours in total after finishing all of the endings.
Story-Focused Games:
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend [PlayStation 4]
The first of two on this list. Arslan Musou adapts the first season of the anime into a Dynasty Warriors game. It works pretty well and the gameplay plays it safe. The main difference is its visuals and the S rank system where you do certain tasks to get an S grade. The grade system is actually pretty difficult so once you get a higher level character sorted the rest of it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I got the game for cheap (£15) but I would say it's worth checking it out on that price range. As for whether it's a potential platinum, I have heard that game is easy to acquire one but takes a good amount of time to sort out. I will think about it.
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk [PlayStation 4]
I have some things to say about this Dynasty Warriors type game. Let's talk about the good stuff, don't let the whole Musou concept put you off from playing this game, playing as Guts and the others in this game is rather satisfying and it's reasonably paced. The Berserker Armor makes it even more enjoyable, in fact any Frenzy ability for each character is well worth the enjoyment as it takes out so many enemies. The game also adapts each arc fairly well, though there are some cuts such as [SPOILERS FOR THE FRANCHISE]:
Golden Age arc:
Ricket's side of the Golden Age Part 3 arc where the Band of the Hawk are slaughtered and Rickert is rescued by the Skull Knight
Skull Knight vs Zodd
Black Swordsman arc:
Bits of Chapter 1 could have gone into more detail.
The Skeleton fight in Chapter 2 of the Manga, where Guts & Puck were trying to protect a young girl and her father.
Bits of the Count stuff could have gone into more detail.
Conviction arc:
Part 1 of the arc aka Lost Children
The men assisting Mozgus and gaining their wing abilities also
But for the most part visually it's impressive and it covers a good amount compared to the anime adaptations for non-Golden Age content. The game needs more playable characters though and there's way more censorship despite what was promised (honestly they should have gone for a Z rating in Japan). I would suggest waiting for a price cut as this was being sold at SRP £50 for some reason.
I got the game for £34 in the end because I didn't want to wait too long. I felt I got my money's worth in the end but if you don't like Musou games then you'll probably be put off by it. As for whether it's a potential platinum, I have heard that game is easy to acquire one but takes a good amount of time to sort out. I will think about it.
PaRappa the Rapper [PlayStation 4]
I never played PaRappa but I heard a lot about it over the years. The remaster eventually came along and I wanted to try it out. I noticed Sony were putting out retail versions but only in Japan and Asia. I went for the Japanese version since I like having a consistent JP import collection, and not only was it cheap (£17) but it even came with English support.
So far I have finished the game on Easy and Normal mode. It's a fun but short rhythm game, however the Chicken stage (Level 4) is broken and the Cool Rank is not clear in terms of how it works. Once I figure out how to get the Cool Rank I should be able to Platinum the game.
Superbeat XONIC [PlayStation Vita]
A South Korean music/rhythm game that is actually pretty challenging. I got a fair amount of progress done to it but it is very difficult, probably one of the hardest rhythm games I've played to date. The game supports both touch and button controls but it's all about remembering what you need to press next as the difficulty spikes up. If you like Guilty Gear, they have the Xrd SIGN theme song included in the setlist.
Platinum Completed List:
So here's the current Platinum progress in total:
2014
#01 | PS3 - Saints Row: The Third(+ All DLC)
2015
#02 | PS3 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
#03 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia
#04 | Vita - Dekamori Senran Kagura
#05 | PS3 - Steins;Gate
#06 | PS3 - NieR
#07 | PS3 - No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise
#08 | PS3 - Asura's Wrath (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#09 | PS3 - Saints Row IV (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#10 | PS3 - The Darkness II
2016
#11 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2
#12 | PS3 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD
#13 | Vita - Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
#14 | Vita - Gravity Rush(DLC Trophies not acquired)
#15 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
#16 | PS4 - Resogun
#17 | Vita - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
#18 | PS4 - Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game
2017
#19 | Vita - Miracle Girls Festival
#20 | PS4 - Senran Kagura Estival Versus
#21 | PS4 - The Wolf Among Us
#22 | PS4 - Final Fantasy XV (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#23 | PS4 - Amplitude
#24 | PS4 - Root Letter
#25 | Vita - IA/VT -Colorful-
#26 | Vita - Persona 4: Dancing All Night
#27 | PS4 - Gravity Rush Remastered
#28 | PS4 - NieR: Automata
#29 | PS4 - The Silver Case HD
#30 | PS4 - Steins;Gate 0
Recently I've been playing Fire Emblem Echoes. I've enjoyed it more than Fates, but I did rage-quit it a couple of times due to how difficult it was. I really enjoyed the story so glad I finished in the end though.
I also replayed Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, to prepare for Lady Layton being released later this year. I can't believe the last game was all the way back in 2013!
Just got round to completing Life is Strange today and got the platinum. I had the game for over a year, so I'm glad I got round to finishing it as it has been a fantastic game to play.
All of the titles listed I have managed to Platinum
Under Defeat HD [PlayStation 3] - 31st Platinum Trophy
Not something you see everyday, Under Defeat HD is a remaster of a classic Dreamcast shoot em up where you control a helicopter in a vertical style bullet hell warzone.
It's a short game and I was able to acquire all of the trophies in around 8 hours total. It was a little tricky this time around compared to my experience on the Xbox 360 as I only own one controller, so one of the trophies require a fair more skill to sort out (basically you get a trophy for storing 6 bombs at the end of the stage, but dying results in resetting back to 3 and each level only has 1-2 at a time so you essentially have to survive 3 stages without dying). I do recommend folks who are interested in shoot em ups to give this one a go, especially as a starter.
Tales from the Borderlands [PlayStation 4] - 32nd Platinum Trophy
I had been meaning to play this Telltale game since I first heard of it, and I finally got a hold of it thanks to the PlayStation Plus subscription. I went through each episode at a time and for the most part I enjoyed it.
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection [PlayStation 3] - 33rd Platinum Trophy
Like Under Defeat HD I also played this collection on the Xbox 360 but this time I now own a retail copy. Playing Budokai 1 and 3 again was great especially as I enjoyed the gameplay for both of them, though the latter is much better. The tournaments were once again a pain because sometimes the AI would just knock you out of the ring instantly most of the time. The randomisation in Dragon Arena was tedious but at least the fights themselves weren't too much of a hassle.
Life is Strange [PlayStation 4] - 34th Platinum Trophy
A game that I had heard a lot about, and quite surprisingly I didn't get spoiled at all for it. This five episode series was for the most part intriguing and I must admit it certain earned the praise that it achieved. However, I felt for the most part that it was rather over-hyped. The dialogue in the school sequences were just cringey and repetitive in many cases and once you finish the story I couldn't help comparing it to Steins;Gate quite a fair bit (heck the voice actress Ashly Burch is both Chloe in LiS and Mayuri in S;G, both characters have similar fates). Is Life is Strange a bad game? No but its not one of the best games out there either, it's at best a good 7/10 for the most part. I am intrigued by what the developers have to offer for both the prequel and sequel in development.
Sword Art Online: Lost Song [PlayStation 4] - 35th Platinum Trophy
Let's talk about this game. Ah yes the Waifus, Waifus everywhere.
Lost Song is the sequel to the previous game Hollow Fragment and like the predecessor this is a different timeline to the anime adaptation and original novels (it diverges near the end of Aincrad). Lost Song uses the setting from Fairy Dance and also adds bits from Mother's Rosario (under Asuna's mini-storyline) and Calibur (just the sword). The gameplay itself is more action oriented than the previous game's MMO style combat, where you can actually hit stuff and not just sit and watch Kirito continue his animations numerous times until you get bored.
The game is also shorter than the previous one and easier in terms of difficulty. Levelling up is better and the skills and weapons you acquire are all pretty good. The fanservice is certainly there and the cast from Hollow Fragment return including the game-original characters Philia and Strea. The storyline is pretty simple and the world areas are more or less repetitive but it's short and quick so it won't drain you until near the end point which requires you to backtrack to dungeons on higher grounds that have very similar designs.
The ending was bittersweet but rather satisfactory, and overall I felt it was a good game. The lock-on and camera needs reworking because they're awful but the graphics and controls are great. Bare in mind the PS4 version is essentially a port of the PS3 & Vita versions but with a few tweaks added such as more enemies on the screen and the option to go straight to the boss in the final world.
And yes you can play as Klein and Agil, and even Sakuya and a certain character from another franchise.
Some moments:
Platinum Completed List:
So here's the current Platinum progress in total:
2014
#01 | PS3 - Saints Row: The Third(+ All DLC)
2015
#02 | PS3 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
#03 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia
#04 | Vita - Dekamori Senran Kagura
#05 | PS3 - Steins;Gate
#06 | PS3 - NieR
#07 | PS3 - No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise
#08 | PS3 - Asura's Wrath (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#09 | PS3 - Saints Row IV (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#10 | PS3 - The Darkness II
2016
#11 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2
#12 | PS3 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD
#13 | Vita - Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
#14 | Vita - Gravity Rush(DLC Trophies not acquired)
#15 | PS3 - Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
#16 | PS4 - Resogun
#17 | Vita - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
#18 | PS4 - Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game
2017
#19 | Vita - Miracle Girls Festival
#20 | PS4 - Senran Kagura Estival Versus
#21 | PS4 - The Wolf Among Us
#22 | PS4 - Final Fantasy XV (DLC Trophies not acquired)
#23 | PS4 - Amplitude
#24 | PS4 - Root Letter
#25 | Vita - IA/VT -Colorful-
#26 | Vita - Persona 4: Dancing All Night
#27 | PS4 - Gravity Rush Remastered
#28 | PS4 - NieR: Automata
#29 | PS4 - The Silver Case HD
#30 | PS4 - Steins;Gate 0
#31 | PS3 - Under Defeat HD
#32 | PS4 - Tales from the Borderlands
#33 | PS3 - Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
#34 | PS4 - Life is Strange
#35 | PS4 - Sword Art Online: Lost Song
Friday night I finally started playing Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - I really like the visual style of the game it pops very nicely off the screen and I like the character designs and also the battle animations too. Not too far into the game to really have too much opinion but I am intrigued to see what happens.
However, I've been distracted by Riiiiidge Racer (AKA Ridge Racer) via the VITA iteration of it. I've done the main trophies that involve going up to Level 16 and all the trophies tied in with that, now it's onto the grindy, racey trophies!
Just thought, these are the first PlayStation games I've started to have a go at since December '16!
Life is Strange [PlayStation 4] - 34th Platinum Trophy
A game that I had heard a lot about, and quite surprisingly I didn't get spoiled at all for it. This five episode series was for the most part intriguing and I must admit it certain earned the praise that it achieved. However, I felt for the most part that it was rather over-hyped. The dialogue in the school sequences were just cringey and repetitive in many cases and once you finish the story I couldn't help comparing it to Steins;Gate quite a fair bit (heck the voice actress Ashly Burch is both Chloe in LiS and Mayuri in S;G, both characters have similar). Is Life is Strange a bad game? No but its not one of the best games out there either, it's at best a good 7/10 for the most part. I am intrigued by what the developers have to offer for both the prequel and sequel in development.
I finished my initial play through of this last night as it was free on PS Plus this month. I went in with low expectations and was really blown away by the story. There was some moments where I really thought WTF. The choices you have to make during the game sometimes had me deliberating what I would really do in those moments. The main one that did that for me was the assisted suicide request from Chloe, I've always been pro-choice about this as I know what I would want if I couldn't live the way I want anymore, but I hesitated more than I thought.
I think I'll play it again and make different choices to see what happens. Overall I was very impressed with the story while other visual parts let it down. Like no mouth movement when a character is talking, it was throughout a whole monologue as well. I'd give it 8/10
However, I've been distracted by Riiiiidge Racer (AKA Ridge Racer) via the VITA iteration of it. I've done the main trophies that involve going up to Level 16 and all the trophies tied in with that, now it's onto the grindy, racey trophies!
Bought an American Gamecube last week and been playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Viewtiful Joe. The latter is just fantastic. I remember playing it when it released and I just didn't get it, but i've blasted through the first few levels now and I don't know what I didn't get!
I've been playing Ever Oasis on my 3DS since Thursday. I bought it after playing and liking the demo, helped by the fact I got it for less than £30, and while I'm not disappointed with my purchase I'm not really enthused either.
I finished the game this evening, clocking in a total of 20 hours and 6 minutes. The story for me was predictable and lacklustre and felt like a Legend of Zelda plot, without being Zelda. The gameplay is fun but the battle system is really basic so there isn't much to go back for. I also think the world was really small, which doesn't help anything.
Overall I'd only recommend it to people who have already played and enjoyed Fantasy Life and other RPG's the 3DS homes. I enjoyed it but I'm not sure I'll remember it for years to come...
Amazingly, my reaction this game wasn't, as everyone who knows me expected it to be, the taking up of a quest to find myself a freckled redhead.
Instead, I am...
Uhh...
Look - this is an anime forum, right? So if I mention that episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex where The Major investigates a virtual cinema that plays a movie which has a profound emotional effect on her... yeah. This game is that movie.
I feel like I've seen the absolute upper pinnacle of what video games can be as an art form. I've never witnessed such a satisfying and deeply engrossing storyline. And the finale, the end-of-game cinematic, absolutely ruined me. I'm a semi-muscular 40 year old man, for god's sake - and I actually shed a tear. I properly don't feel 'right' now.
This game captured my imagination and realised its mechanics so, so well. And now I'm left wanting more in the way that I haven't since I last sampled my late grandpa's apple pie. (That was DAMNED good pie, I should add!)
I want more. I will buy the DLC. I'd read novels if they were a thing. Or comics. ****! I'd work on those for free! But mostly I want another game. And if they did a movie - but a good one, not like when Assassin's Creed got one - I'd be down with that too. I mean, I also want my own Aloy - but it's surprising how far down the list that is.
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