Having finished Majora’s Mask (and loving it as always) I decided to play through the two recent South Park games, namely The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole. Both are fun but have some repetitive gameplay and the main reason they work for me is down to the spot on humour and references found in almost every corner of the map. I’ve also been rewatching some episodes day by day which is a good laugh.
I’m now replaying Batman: Arkham Asylum as part of the Return to Arkham Collection. Outside of some iffy character models and redesigns the remaster is decent.
Completed Games #12-15: .hack//G.U. Last Recode
(.hack//G.U. Vol.1//Rebirth, .hack//G.U. Vol.2//Reminisce, .hack//G.U. Vol.3//Redemption, .hack//G.U. Vol.4//Reconnection)
Format: PlayStation 4
.hack is a franchise that I've been aware of ever since I first got into anime. I knew about the show .hack//SIGN but the video games on PlayStation 2 were the ones that I was more curious about for the most part. Though at the time, .hack was quite rare to own and the second series .hack//G.U. was never released in Europe. Fortunately, with the 15th anniversary of .hack, we finally got .hack//G.U. in Europe with the HD remastered collection .hack//G.U. Last Recode by Bandai Namco and CyberConnect2.
.hack//G.U. is split into three games during its original release, with a fourth game added for the Last Recode collection. Rebirth, Reminisce and Redemption follow one massive storyline that covers a lot of content, especially with its story and characters as you progress. Reconnection serves more as an epilogue to the story and wraps up one of the story elements kept ambiguous in the original trilogy. The story overall for .hack//G.U. is one of the strongest aspects of the game series as a whole, with a lot of interesting twists, surprise cameos and great character development throughout with our main character Haseo. The rest of the cast also share some spotlight though there are some that could have been kept off-screen. I should also point out the artwork is done by both Seiichiro Hosokawa and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the latter of which worked on Evangelion, Nadia and the upcoming anime series Great Pretender.
Before delving into the gameplay I want to shoutout .hack//G.U.'s music score, which is the best part of the game series by far. Composed by Chikayo Fukuda who had worked on Capcom & CyberConnect2's Asura's Wrath, her music throughout this game adds a lot of atmosphere and tone to the story and characters. Ovan's theme, for instance, creates a mysterious aura to the character which works really well and makes him more memorable. Other highlights include Flying Dawn, Welcome to The World, Hulle Granz Cathedral, Morrigu Barrow Wall, Lose Resolve, Beyond the Steep Mountains, Illusion of the Eight Phases, Shallow Dreaming, and The Hope of Dawn.
.hack//G.U. is an action role-playing game with an MMO feel to the design. As Haseo, you play 'THE WORLD' (pronounced the same way Dio says it) where you can interact with other players, go on quests using a special keyword system (take 3 keywords and 1 server type to create a dungeon), take part in a battle arena, buy items and weapons, and even assist NPCs by collecting mini-monster animals and other creatures. Every now and then you'll get an email which requires you to log out of your game. To me, this is what makes .hack stand out from other JRPGs because it's a very unusual mechanic to have. When you log out, you can access a forum, news, fanart which can be set to your background, emails and also a Crimson VS mode which is a card game that plays in the background while you go through the MMO game normally. Crimson VS is actually pretty entertaining though it does rely on some luck if you want to collect all of the cards. You can also view cutscenes and set BGM to the menu while you are checking these features.
My main criticism with .hack//G.U. is the dungeons themselves. The concept is perfectly fine by all means, the idea of going through the dungeon to defeat a monster or reach the treasure chest. The issue that I have with the dungeons is the plain, linear and tedious designs that lack quality in comparison to the town worlds that .hack provides. When I kept playing, I couldn't help compare the dungeons to the very first Hyperdimension Neptunia game on PS3 which had this exact problem. If this game had the level design that Sword Art Online games have had, I reckon this would have made .hack much better and Iooking at the reviews I can see why this game got just above average reviews.
The combat itself is pretty decent but it can start to tire at times which is why I often take more breaks than progressing when it comes to this game, which is a shame because everything else is very strong in quality. It's quite possible that the developers didn't have much budget to go around. Another slight criticism is the cutscenes. This has the Kingdom Hearts style of presentation where you have characters interact in basic fashion and the occasional smooth animation which I really love. I just wish that the developers tweaked the cutscenes so that you can actually have their mouths move in the basic layout because it does look pretty awkward in a number of places. Outside of that, the animated cutscenes do hold-up pretty well with the remaster and are not rough or upscaled to a messy degree. Unfortunately, the animated cutscenes in Reconnection are not very good and feels out of place when you look at the previous three games in the .hack//G.U. series, especially when you have very choppy framerate which feels quite jarring with 3D models.
The progression for .hack//G.U. is at a pretty decent length. The main trilogy is estimated to take 20 hours each, though I managed to spend at least 16 hours for Rebirth, 15 hours for Reminisce, and 17 hours for Redemption which is pretty good considering most of the non-story content was also being covered along the way. There is plenty of post-game content available and a ton of rewards especially when you carry over the save data file from one game to the next. Reconnection will take at least 2 hours overall which is short but perfectly fine by me since the main trilogy ends on a pretty solid note overall.
Overall, .hack//G.U. Last Recode is a welcoming package for newcomers and die-hard .hack fans. This is my first time delving into the franchise and I was able to understand what was going on despite the fact that this takes place after the events of the first .hack series. Included in Last Recode is a Terminal Disc which recaps the events of the first .hack series and a Parody Mode where both the English and Japanese voice cast have some fun with select scenes. The trophies in this game are mostly easy to acquire with a few that will require some grinding if you have extra time.
.hack//G.U. Last Recode is available to own on PlayStation 4 and PC.
completed Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition...it was a fantastic game. I'll be taking a break to catch up on some anime before i play Future Connected.
I recently completed Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition for Switch. Put in roughly 90 hours overall and got all the affinities/heart to hearts sorted out alongside unlocking every characters’ extra skill trees. Sadly missed out on some timed quests and didn’t max out every ability but am satisfied with the run I put in.
The game itself is quite good though the sheer number of sidequests was initially quite daunting (and The quests themselves were often very repetitive) but thanks to the convenient “!” Markers they were usually manageable (trying to get certain items to spawn like ice Cabbages for instance was rather tedious though.)
I'm also playing Xenoblade - I'm only about six hours in, so I've got a lot more to go!
I owned it on the Wii, but I struggled to get into it. The camera controls and the ugly graphics were just too much for me and I couldn't get into the battle system. I'm absolutely loving it this time around though!
I also got Taiko No Tatsujin (and a few DLC songs) in the current PS4 digital sale (I already own the Switch version, but each version has different songs). It's really a lot of fun and it's got an awesome selection of songs. I never imagined one game would have music from Babymetal, Dragon Ball, Monogatari, Haruhi and Frozen!
Best of all, it's currently under £10 - absolutely worth picking up at that price!
I've been playing a stupid amount of different titles recently, making it hard to actually complete anything...
Astral Chain - I finally went back to this one recently, and i don't honestly know why i didn't get the time in before to play it. This is stupidly good fun. Love the visual style of the game and the combat feels really good. It isn't cumbersome even though you're controlling the two at once. I like the point of needing to return to other stages when you unlock more to get everything, so more reason to repeat stages on a second playthrough. Dead Space - I'm playing this when i stream at the moment as a good blast from the past. Doing a plasma cutter run from fresh(so no NG+) and it's surprisingly easier than i remember it being. Still a great example of a horror game when EA did good games. Civilization VI - I went back into this again as i always do, but i never had all the expansions until now. Man, knowing how to build cities fast really gives you a massive boost at the start of the game. Turn 40 with three cities and a lot of luxuries is so good.
Add in Animal Crossing(with the new update tomorrow), Smash Brothers with Min-Min, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and more, i need to focus again...
Completed Games #16: Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Format: PlayStation 4
I finally played a Digimon game, and one that I had bought in April 2017 (yes I remember the day because I picked it up alongside Berserk Musou when I handed in my dissertation at the final year of my BSc degree). It took a long while and that came down to the estimation of the game's completion. This is a pretty big game and folks said it would take at least 50 hours or more to finish it.
Well, I finally started it, after it had won third place in my twitter poll back in April (with Final Fantasy VII Classic winning 1st and .hack//G.U. winning 2nd, Ys VII won 3rd as well). Well, the good news is that this is not a 50 hour game, but rather a 30 hour game.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is a turn-based RPG that plays quite similar to the Persona series. You control a group of Digimon in combat and each Digimon can have different elementals but also types (Data, Vaccine, Virus) and these components can be better than the other and vice versa. It does take a while to get used to it, but once you figure it out it can make combat pretty smooth to progress. The difficulty is pretty decent and it's only when you have Digimon that don't cover every type is when you start to struggle because getting double hit by an attack can easily K.O. your team. Now unlike Persona, Digimon allows you to have 11 members in your party and when your main three get taken out, the remaining 8 can help step in so combat continues.
Outside of combat, we have some pretty decent dungeons though it's very recycled and not as appealing as other games, I would say this was designed better than .hack//G.U. at least in terms of navigating. There is also the real world where you can interact with characters and take on cases. These cases are where the game starts to lose its pace and the red cases, in particular, are technically story but also feel like padding and filler to the main overall plot. I only took part in all of the cases up to near the end game in order to get my Digimon team to become stronger.
As I have been notified during my progress by the folks on Discord, in order to get the best possible outcomes for your Digimon crew, you need to devolve and digivolve them every time due to the stats not always reaching the right requirements to digivolve them to the best form. This can be messy if you don't plan ahead and once they change, they go back to Level 1 and can easily cause unbalancing issues during combat. There's also the DigiLab where you can do the evolving but also take part in mini-dungeons and DigiFarm your Digimon for levelling, better abilities or searching for items and cases.
Overall, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is a pretty good game overall and a surprisingly dark story for a franchise that is usually children-oriented. It did the job in getting me interested more for the franchise at least. I will definitely pick up Hacker's Memory later down the line. If I had to give it a rating I would say it's a solid 7/10.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is available to own on PlayStation 3 (Japan only), PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita (cross-save is available between the two PlayStation platforms), and also as a complete collection pack with Hacker's Memory via Nintendo Switch and PC.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter
PC/Steam
Turn-Based RPG
38
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
39
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
40
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
41
Megadimension Neptunia VII
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
42
Megadimension Neptunia VIIR
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
43
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
Vita
Musou
44
Muv-Luv
Vita
Visual Novel
45
Muv-Luv Alternative
Vita
Visual Novel
46
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
47
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
PS4
Action RPG
48
Nights of Azure
PS4
Action RPG
49
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
PS4
Action RPG
50
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
PS4
Musou
51
Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
PS4
Action
52
Our World Is Ended
PS4
Visual Novel
53
Persona 5 Royal
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
54
Punch Line
PS4
Visual Novel
55
Puppeteer
PS3
Platformer
56
Raging Loop
PS4
Visual Novel
57
Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul
PS4
Fighting
58
Sengoku Basara 3: Samurai Heroes
PS3
Musou
59
Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi
PS4
Musou
60
Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
3DS
Action
61
Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal
PS4
Action
62
Shining Resonance: Refrain
PS4
Action RPG
63
Siren Blood Curse
PS3
Horror
64
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus HD
PS3
Platformer
65
Sly 2: Band of Thieves HD
PS3
Platformer
66
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves HD
PS3
Platformer
67
Soul Calibur V
PS3
Fighting
68
Steins;Gate Elite
PS4
Visual Novel
69
Steins;Gate: Linear Bound Phenogram
PS4
Visual Novel
70
Super Robot Wars V
PS4
Tactical RPG
71
Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls
Vita
Turn-Based RPG
72
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
PS4
Action RPG
73
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization
PS4
Action RPG
74
Tales of Berseria
PS4
Action RPG
75
Tales of the Abyss
3DS
Action RPG
76
Tales of Vesperia
PS4
Action RPG
77
Tales of Xillia 2
PS3
Action RPG
78
Tales of Zestiria
PS4
Action RPG
79
Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord
PS3
Tactical RPG
79
Tokyo Xanadu eX+
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
80
Touch My Katamari
Vita
Puzzle
81
Toukiden 2
PS4
Action RPG
82
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception
PS4
Tactical RPG / Visual Novel
83
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
PS4
Tactical RPG / Visual Novel
84
Utawarerumono: Zan
PS4
Musou
85
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered
PS4
Tactical RPG
86
Valkyria Chronicles 4
PS4
Tactical RPG
87
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni
Vita
Action
88
White Knight Chronicles
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
89
White Knight Chronicles II
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
90
The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition
PS4
Action RPG
91
WORLDEND SYNDROME
PS4
Visual Novel
92
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
PS4
Action
93
Yakuza Kiwami 2
PS4
Action
94
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
PS4
Action RPG
95
YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World
PS4
Visual Novel
96
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
PS4
Visual Novel
Completed Games Collection of 2020:
#
Game Name
Platform
Genre
Month
01
Kingdom Hearts III ReMIND (+ KHIII Post-game content)
PS4
Action RPG
January
02
Final Fantasy X HD Remaster
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
February
03
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
PS4
Action RPG
February
04
Ys Origin
PS4
Action RPG
March
05
DOOM
PS4
First Person Shooter
March
06
DOOM II: Hell on Earth
PS4
First Person Shooter
March
07
DOOM 64
PS4
First Person Shooter
March
08
Final Fantasy VII Remake
PS4
Action RPG
April
09
Final Fantasy VII
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
April
10
Killzone 2
PS3
First Person Shooter
May
11
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
PS3
Fighting
May
12
.hack//G.U. Vol.1//Rebirth
PS4
Action RPG
June
13
.hack//G.U. Vol.2//Reminisce
PS4
Action RPG
June
14
.hack//G.U. Vol.3//Redemption
PS4
Action RPG
June
15
.hack//G.U. Vol.4//Reconnection
PS4
Action RPG
June
16
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
July
Platinum Trophy Collection:
#
Game Name
Platform
Genre
Year
01
Saints Row: The Third
PS3
Action
2014
02
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
PS3
Fighting
2015
03
Hyperdimension Neptunia
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
2015
04
Dekamori Senran Kagura
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2015
05
Steins;Gate
PS3
Visual Novel
2015
06
NieR
PS3
Action RPG
2015
07
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise
PS3
Action
2015
08
Asura's Wrath
PS3
Action
2015
09
Saints Row IV
PS3
Action
2015
10
The Darkness II
PS3
First Person Shooter
2015
11
Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
2016
12
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD
PS3
Action
2016
13
Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus
Vita
Action
2016
14
Gravity Rush
Vita
Platformer
2016
15
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
PS3
Turn-Based RPG
2016
16
Resogun
PS4
Arcade Shooter
2016
17
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Vita
Third Person Shooter
2016
18
Game of Thrones: A Telltale Game
PS4
Adventure
2016
19
Miracle Girls Festival
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2017
20
Senran Kagura Estival Versus
PS4
Action
2017
21
The Wolf Among Us
PS4
Adventure
2017
22
Final Fantasy XV
PS4
Action RPG
2017
23
Amplitude
PS4
Music/Rhythm
2017
24
Root Letter
PS4
Visual Novel
2017
25
IA/VT -Colorful-
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2017
26
Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2017
27
Gravity Rush Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2017
28
NieR: Automata
PS4
Action RPG
2017
29
The Silver Case
PS4
Visual Novel
2017
30
Steins;Gate 0
PS4
Visual Novel
2017
31
Under Defeat HD
PS3
Arcade Shooter
2017
32
Tales from the Borderlands
PS4
Adventure
2017
33
Dragon Ball Z Budokai HD Collection
PS3
Fighting
2017
34
Life is Strange
PS4
Adventure
2017
35
Sword Art Online: Lost Song
PS4
Action RPG
2017
36
Crash Bandicoot Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2017
37
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2017
38
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2017
39
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
PS4
Action RPG
2017
40
Corpse Party: Blood Drive
Vita
Horror
2018
41
Persona 5
PS4
Turn-Based RPG
2018
42
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
PS4
Visual Novel
2018
43
Persona 4: Dancing All Night [Japanese Version]
PS4
Music/Rhythm
2018
44
Marvel's Spider-Man
PS4
Action
2018
45
Akiba's Trip 2: Undead & Undressed
PS4
Action RPG
2019
46
Spyro the Dragon Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2019
47
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage Remastered
PS4
Platfomer
2019
48
Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon Remastered
PS4
Platformer
2019
49
Tekken Tag Tournament HD
PS3
Fighting
2019
50
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
51
Taiko no Tatsujin V Version
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2019
52
Utakumi 575
Vita
Music/Rhythm
2019
53
Jak II: Renegade HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
54
Jak 3 HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
55
Ratchet & Clank HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
56
Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
57
Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal HD
PS3
Platformer
2019
58
Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash
PS4
Third Person Shooter
2019
59
Kingdom Hearts III
PS4
Action RPG
2020
In backlog news, I have finally completed the PS4 games that were acquired in 2017 with the exception for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven as I have yet to read Parts 6-8 of the JoJo story.
I’m approaching the end of Yakuza 3. It’s been a bit of a slog, with the AI in permanent Metapod mode, but I’ve almost done it.
Also Paper Mario: The Origami King. I'm only about two hours in, but I'm having a lot of fun so far. It's easy and satisfying to play and it looks so nice too!
Finally finished The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild well beating ganon at about 155 hours, I've got 113 shines so at this point i'm thinking might as well find the rest of them only 7 more to find and not sure if or how many are in the DLC to find
and also played a bit more of Paper Mario: The Origami King it's a nice chill game to play
I recently finished a fresh playthrough of Grant Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS4. A very good game with some terrible missions (“all you had to do was follow the damn train, CJ!”) and a frustrating endgame segment wherein you have to try and gain territory in the middle of wide-spread riots.
I’m now looking to delve back into the world of the Yakuza franchise and play Yakuza 4 Remastered.
I thought it was quite easy and did it first time in my recent play through (I say "through", I got to SF, did a few missions there and stopped). As I was driving I also shot at the people on the train rather than rely on my passenger. A bit fiddly, but completed it just after the tunnel section.
I thought it was quite easy and did it first time in my recent play through (I say "through", I got to SF, did a few missions there and stopped). As I was driving I also shot at the people on the train rather than rely on my passenger. A bit fiddly, but completed it just after the tunnel section.
Alas I used that quote as an example of notorious missions within the game but for what it’s worth it only took me two attempts this time around. Some or the more fiddly missions for me included objectives from the car and flying school challenges and Mike Toreno’s last one involving a fighter jet as it controlled horribly.
Completed Games #17: Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma
Format: PlayStation 4
A few years ago I bought the Zero Escape trilogy and went through The Nonary Games collection before the end of that year. For some reason I never went back and started its third and final instalment in the series. Now I finally started and finished it with a Platinum trophy.
Zero Time Dilemma is an adventure visual novel game where you follow a few characters that go through a set of the story with a few mini-games involved. These mini-games are pretty great with a lot of thinking and fun little puzzles to solve. Along the way, you also have to make a decision to do this or that which can cause big consequences. Zero Escape uses this tactic to tell its story and it eventually starts to get overcomplicated and although the conclusion is somewhat satisfying, it does feel like they are just bullsheeting its way for the sake of it.
The biggest issue I have with the game is the animation which is very low budget and jarring, which is a shame because the voice acting is really well done and they brought back characters from the previous games into the mix. You do need extensive knowledge of 999 and Virtue's Last Reward before jumping in this title because of the story.
Overall, Zero Time Dilemma is a good adventure and a solid 15 hours playtime to complete the whole game. I loved how the story is told with cutscenes rather than on-screen text like the previous games were which makes it feel more anime than the usual.
Zero Time Dilemma is available to own on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC.
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