I've recently discovered Steam Play letting me play my Windows games on Linux so I've been playing Dark Crusade and Audiosurf. Now I'm in the process of ripping some of the CDs I got in Japan so I can play Audiosurf with the soundtracks for Sound Euphonium! and Your Lie in April
Completed Game #23:
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD [PlayStation 3]
Back in around late 2015 to January 2016 I played through a bunch of games from the Metal Gear Solid franchise thanks to the Legacy Collection. However there was one title that I never bothered to start, and that was Peace Walker. Peace Walker is the second instalment from the PSP but the only one of the two that was remastered in High Definition as it's got more importance to the storyline especially with setting up the events for Ground Zeroes & The Phantom Pain.
The game admittedly gave me a bad first impression but once I kept going I slowly understood how the gameplay and mechanics work. I eventually started to slowly like the game, but you can tell it's designed to be a portable game with the comic book style cutscenes and the story split up into missions (which actually carried over into The Phantom Pain for those curious). To be honest this mission setup does work really well because it's quick and easy to navigate, and the boss fights are a challenge due to having high health so you'll want to level up your equipment as quick as possible.
The game took me around 19 hours to finish, but that was only because you had to force yourself through the Extra Ops in order to unlock the final story mission in the game. Basically you have to do the following:
You have to finish 6 different Zadornov Search story missions:
Search #1: After beating Peace Walker Battle 3 story mission, finish 2 Extra Ops missions.
Search #2: Finish 3 Extra Ops missions after beating Search 1.
Search #3: Finish 5 Extra Ops missions after beating Search 2.
Search #4: Finish 4 Extra Ops missions after beating Search 3.
Search #5: Finish 3 Extra Ops missions after beating Search 4.
Search #6: Finish 2 Extra Ops missions after beating Search 5.
You'll need to build Metal Gear Zeke which can be done by acquiring the pieces during the ending segments of each AI boss fight in the story campaign. You'll also need to get the Railgun from the second AI boss fight Chrysalis.
The Intel team level needs to be at least 40 and then the Mission Support needs to be at least Rank 2.
Once the above have been sorted, complete a few Extra Ops and the final story mission will unlock.
Overall Peace Walker was a good instalment but I still feel that Snake Eater has the better story and Sons of Liberty has the better gameplay. Peace Walkers does contain massive spoilers for Snake Eater since this is part of the Big Boss storyline after all.
Now that I have finally finished this game I can now pickup Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes & The Phantom Pain at some point later down the line.
My backlog so far:
Nintendo 3DS: Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
Tales of the Abyss
PlayStation 3:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Catherine
Dragon's Crown
Drakengard 3
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Folklore
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Jak II
Jak 3
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes
Soul Calibur V
Tales of Xillia 2
White Knight Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles II
PlayStation 4:
Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
Chaos;Child
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash!
Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Ys Origin
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
PlayStation Vita:
Demon Gaze
Freedom Wars
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni
Steam:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First Chapter
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
Ys Chronicles I
Ys Chronicles II
Completed Games Collection of 2018:
#01 | Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
#02 | Saints Row 2 (PS3)
#03 | Sengoku Basara HD (PS3)
#04 | Sengoku Basara 2 HD (PS3)
#05 | Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4)
#06 | Corpse Party: BloodCovered Repeated Fear (Vita)
I actually persisted and now I'm quite far into the story. The gameplay is fine but dying and losing progress in Tartarus leaves me a little dead inside each time. I've been following a mad social link guide and boy is it packed.
got Z.O.E:MARS and played a little past what the demo has. somehow PSN wouldn't let me buy it before today...
anyway, I don't want 5,000 replies tempting me to get VR for the cockpit thing
Started playing through Fate/Grand Order since that's getting anime adaptations for two of it's later chapters. Managed to get a 4* Lancer (Elizabeth Bathory) on my first summoning so I'm already off to a good start.
Also started reading Fate/Stay Night [Heaven's Feel] while I wait for the movies to get a release over here (or until I give in and import the JP sets).
Finally completed Persona 3 FES (Playtime: 140 hours) It's a great game sadly hindered by features that would be improved upon in later entries and versions such as not being able to control other party members and choosing specific skills for Persona fusions. I did a max social run of this and it's very tight with no room for error, and managed to 100% the compendium. I also completed all of Elizabeth's requests which was a real pain to do but gave some great rewards.
The story and characters were good though 4 still has my favourite protagonist and overall cast, whilst 5 has the best dungeon crawling, which I found gruelling in Persona 3. I'll be watching a playthrough of The Answer online since I won't have the time to play through it properly. Despite some dated mechanics this was still a great experience which I'll play again eventually with the female protagonist in P3P. 4/5
Somebody has loaned me a copy of Dead Cells for the Nintendo Switch, which struck me at first as an uncommonly generous gesture. I figured I'd play it for a week or two and then knock out a review so that Filip Miucin can plagiarise it (ZING!)
Aaaaaand then I discovered why I'd been given the loan of it. On the Switch, Dead Cells performs HORRIBLY. It drops frames so hard at times that the game abruptly jumps to a screen that bears no resemblance to what you were previously looking at.
It's playable, but only in the same sense as a Playstation game is playable on an old Raspberry Pi. Im glad to see that teh developers are on this, and have apologised for it. Seems the game was rushed out to meet its release date.
I'll tell you this for nothing, though - any appeal the Switch had as a cartridge based system has completely evaporated for me now. Paying a premium for carts that don't even have a full or fully fixed game on them half the time doesn't sit well with me.
We have a double bill of completed games (one main and one short).
Completed Game #24: Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD [PlayStation 4]
We have now entered the 2.8 collection. I already played Dream Drop Distance back when it was first released on the Nintendo 3DS and now that I have played the rest of the franchise I can understand the story a lot more this time around. The story takes place after the mostly filler events of Re:coded and is essentially a prologue for Kingdom Hearts III.
The gameplay takes elements of Birth By Sleep and combines it with new additions such as Dream Eaters who tag along with you as companions like Pokemon and also Dive mechanics where you can slide between walls pretty fast. There's also a game mechanic that forces you to sleep so that you progress the story with another character Riku who once again is a playable character. Dream Drop Distance has in my opinion one pretty big flaw and that is the difficulty - it's unbalanced.
Dream Drop Distance is by far the hardest game in the franchise due to the enemy AI getting ridiculously tedious faster than you can tolerate it. This is most notable in the final world which is literally like jumping from Medium mode to Expert mode in a split second. Much like Birth By Sleep which suffered a similar problem but paid off due to its mechanics, what saves DDD from suffering like insanity is the Balloon magic spell. No joke, it's ridiculously over-powered but rather satisfying once you pull it off because these worlds have large areas so if you die you can lose a ton of progress compared to the other games which had shorter areas.
Overall DDD is a fun game and has a solid story overall (though ridiculously silly at the same time). The World Ends With You characters make an appearance instead of Final Fantasy which is a nice change (WTEWY is a Nomura game hence their inclusion) and the Dream Eaters are pretty decent but not perfect by all means. Levelling them up can be pretty tedious. The playtime for this game took me around 16 hours total.
Completed Game #25: Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep A Fragmentary Passage [PlayStation 4]
Much like Chain of Memories and Birth By Sleep I never managed to check this one out before. And overall it's an interesting experience. For starters it's basically classic Kingdom Hearts gameplay with new techniques (that are really cool, like we have ventured into Super Saiyan God mode on magic lol). I did go through the game on Proud mode and got KO'd two times, mostly annoying moments though.
Overall it's worth checking out especially as it fills the gaps in the story plus it's another prologue segment for Kingdom Hearts III. The fact that it even explains Mickey's involvement in Kingdom Hearts 1 of all things is a nice touch as well.
Oh, and I did watch X Back Cover, yeah nothing happens.
My backlog so far:
Nintendo 3DS: Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
Tales of the Abyss
PlayStation 3:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Catherine
Dragon's Crown
Drakengard 3
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Eternal Sonata *New* Folklore
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Jak II
Jak 3
Lollipop Chainsaw *New* Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes
Soul Calibur V
Tales of Xillia 2
Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord *New*
White Knight Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles II
PlayStation 4:
Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
Chaos;Child
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
.hack//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth *New*
.hack//G.U. Vol.2: Reminisce *New*
.hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption *New*
.hack//G.U. Vol.4: Reconnection *New* JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash!
Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Ys Origin
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 1: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors *New*
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 2: Virtue's Last Reward *New*
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma *New*
Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner Mars *New*
PlayStation Vita:
Demon Gaze
Freedom Wars
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni
Steam:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First Chapter
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
Ys Chronicles I
Ys Chronicles II
Completed Games Collection of 2018:
#01 | Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
#02 | Saints Row 2 (PS3)
#03 | Sengoku Basara HD (PS3)
#04 | Sengoku Basara 2 HD (PS3)
#05 | Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4)
#06 | Corpse Party: BloodCovered Repeated Fear (Vita)
Completed Yakuza Kiwami 2 (Playtime: 35 hours.) Did all the substories and cabaret club missions but not clan creator. It's a typical Yakuza game really, fun characters and dramatic/slightly confusing plots with a lot of betrayal and bloodshed. This paired with the surreal and goofy humour of the side quests makes the series what it is. I also played through the Goro Majima campaign (Playtime: around 1 hour) This was alright, nothing special asides from the scenes that gave some closure to the events of 0. Overall 4/5, 2.5/5
Been playing bits and pieces of We Happy Few and Resident Evil VII Biohazard. The former is a decent dystopian set-up lumbered by a glitchy mess of a game with frequent bugs and sometimes clumsy gameplay. RE VII is a nice return to the older formula, but the weapons are useless at times and also inaccurate, making any combat situation tedious. Feels more like the older Silent Hill entries in that regard.
I've been playing Dragon Quest XI lately and I've really been enjoying it. I think I'm nearing 50hours played at this point and while the game isn't doing anything special per se, it's doing pretty much everything it does do very well, the one exception probably being the music. Basically the OST is MIDI, and bad MIDI at that (although not as bad as I feared it would be based on what people were saying), there's a bunch of speculation as to why that's the case but I won't go into it as nothings really certain, but better versions of the OST exist, they just weren't used.
Also, I. LOVE. JADE. I mean the entire cast are pretty great tbh, but Jade, Sylvando and Veronica are the standouts for me.
Completed Resident Evil VII Biohazard (Playtime: 10:27) A solid entry into the franchise, albeit with some frustrating bosses and sometimes unstable aiming. I liked how it took elements from the older games but with improved mechanics, and at times it felt almost Silent Hill like. 4/5
Completed Call of Duty: Black Ops III's Campaign mode... which I really should've done before now considering I've had this game for over two years.
I'm mixed on this game's story since the previous two games never really went with the science fiction aspect and as much as I love Jason Blundell and Craig Houston's work on the Zombies mode, I'm not a fan of them bringing sci-fi elements into the story mode. At times it barely even feels like a Black Ops game since there's no real connection to previous games aside from small mentions of Menendez and Nova 6.
That's not to say the story itself is bad though. I thought it had it's good moments with the sci-fi and conspiracy story and characters with great visuals and level design. It's an alright game I guess but it's really nothing special when compared to the previous three. 6/10
Completed Game #26: God of War III Remastered [PlayStation 4]
With everyone going raving over the new God of War I wanted to finish the Greek mythology saga first and now I have, thanks to God of War III Remastered. This game is pretty insane compared to the other main titles as it basically goes from killing a specific enemy to essentially a slaughterhouse - spoiler alert - you're essentially killing pretty much every major character from Greek mythology like Zeus, Hades, Hercules etc. it's literally insane.
The gameplay has some tweaks. You have 4 main weapons as well as 4 special abilities that are tied to each one and they work out pretty well. The enemy AI is a good balance of difficulty and won't frustrate you to death compared to Ascension. The story is pretty good and lasts a good length of hours all the way. The graphics and frame-rate were also solid all the way.
Overall this is a solid conclusion to Kratos' journey through Greek mythology and I look forward to checking out the Norse mythology saga that started earlier this year.
Completed Game #27: ZONE OF THE ENDERS The 2nd RUNNER: M∀RS [PlayStation 4]
The 2018 remaster of The 2nd Runner looks pretty good once again. Honestly I bought this because I wanted to have another go at it and it's still good fun. Though the final bosses are quite frustrating due to the difficulty but practice makes perfect. Nothing much to say other than this is the version to go for if you want to play Zone of the Enders. I don't have a VR headset so I couldn't try out that method of play.
My backlog so far:
Nintendo 3DS: Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
Tales of the Abyss
PlayStation 3:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Catherine
Dragon's Crown
Drakengard 3
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Eternal Sonata *New* Folklore
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Jak II
Jak 3
Lollipop Chainsaw *New* Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes
Soul Calibur V
Tales of Xillia 2
Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord *New*
White Knight Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles II
PlayStation 4:
Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
Chaos;Child
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star*New*
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Gal*Gun: Double Peace*New*
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
.hack//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth
.hack//G.U. Vol.2: Reminisce
.hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption
.hack//G.U. Vol.4: Reconnection JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven
New Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony *New*
Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash!
Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness
Tales of Zestiria *New*
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2*New*
Ys Origin
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 1: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors *New*
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games 2: Virtue's Last Reward *New*
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma *New*
PlayStation Vita:
Bullet Girls*New*
Demon Gaze
Freedom Wars
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
Muv-Luv*New*
Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni
Steam:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First Chapter
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
Ys Chronicles I
Ys Chronicles II
Completed Games Collection of 2018:
#01 | Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3)
#02 | Saints Row 2 (PS3)
#03 | Sengoku Basara HD (PS3)
#04 | Sengoku Basara 2 HD (PS3)
#05 | Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4)
#06 | Corpse Party: BloodCovered Repeated Fear (Vita)
I've been playing RDR2 as a hunting sim mostly so haven't gained access to the RDR1 area yet.
So when Online became available yesterday I jumped so I could have a look. First human interaction, bar a co-op mission in the intro, some knob lassos me! Yep GTA Online, but with cowboys. I got loose shot him, his mate shoots me, I respawn, shoot both of them and leg it. Means I've got a bounty on me in Blackwater already!
I finally completed Red Dead Redemption II. It’s a visually stunning game with some great characters, missions and sidequests, but the often wonky shooting, horse-riding and clunky control scheme made it an occasionally tedious play through.
Comparing it to it’s chronological successor feels unfair considering the 8 year difference, but I felt that RDR, though lacking some of the qualities that II has, is still the better title. It also has fast travel that isn’t one way and hidden behind camp upgrades which was something that II really needed.
That being said the story of a gang falling apart as the old West comes to an end was still engaging and despite a few flaws, well worth the wait. 4/5
I’m now planning on doing my annual replay of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City since it seems to have become a seasonal outing.
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