What Games Are You Playing?

[HWR]

Looking at 2021 the releases from this actual year that I played were:

GTA Trilogy Remastered (Vice City/San Andreas/III)
Lost Judgment
Persona 5: Scramble
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Admittedly two of those (or four technically) were remasters and one was marred with issues and bugs on release. I’d say that Scramble was probably my favourite of the lot but Lost Judgment was a great sequel too and SS HD took a divisive game and improved it in my eyes and I maintain it as one of my favourites in the series.

 

[Greygo]

I downloaded Fallout Tactics years later - but it's not a good game in my opinion.

I am currently playing Disco Elysium and I can hardly stop - the game is brilliant

 

[Dai]

Atelier Sophie
I'm playing the Atelier series out of order since so many of the physical copies are out of print, so I've completed Firis and both Ryza games before this one. I prefer the alchemy system in Ryza and the story and exploration of Firis, but there's still a lot I enjoyed about Sophie. The Tetris-style alchemy system is good once you make some of the better tools for it (which let you rotate the blocks and adds risk/reward systems for making better items). It also doesn't have the one thing I hated about alchemy in Firis, namely the tedious grind of doing mass synthesis. The only thing I didn't like in Sophie's gameplay was the rate of progression. I reached the climax of the plot while I'd still only unlocked about half of the item recipes in the game, and it took a lot of time unlocking and making items before I could progress the story past that final gate of creating a particular key item.

The characters are a likeable and entertaining bunch, and most of the game has the comfy small-town alchemist feel that I prefer in the series. It does throw a standard defeat-the-ancient-evil plot in at the end of the main story though, which was a disappointment since Firis had a good story without resorting to that cliche. It didn't help that said final boss was a massive difficulty spike in an otherwise quite easy-going game.

I'd recommend it overall, though Firis is still my favourite of the Atelier games I've played.

 

[DragoStark]

I completed Yakuza 3 Remastered.
Janky compared to the previous games (obviously) which is partly why I didn't bother with the 100% achievement on this one. Hard mode in this game notoriously difficult and I'm not gonna play through it twice to unlock legendary, to then play it again to get the achievement. No thanks.
The story is still fantastic though and so far every single Yakuza game has made me shed tears.

I'll be starting Yakuza 4 Remastered soon but first up is The Outer Worlds which I'm very excited to delve into.

 

[NormanicGrav]

I completed Yakuza 3 Remastered.
Janky compared to the previous games (obviously) which is partly why I didn't bother with the 100% achievement on this one. Hard mode in this game notoriously difficult and I'm not gonna play through it twice to unlock legendary, to then play it again to get the achievement. No thanks.
The story is still fantastic though and so far every single Yakuza game has made me shed tears.

I'll be starting Yakuza 4 Remastered soon but first up is The Outer Worlds which I'm very excited to delve into.

Glad you enjoyed what I like to call the Beach episode of the franchise. Yakuza 3 was my first entry into the franchise and I have yet to get the Remastered collection to replay it.

Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 are both great, especially the latter which I consider to be one of the best in the franchise (it was technically the best before Yakuza 0 came along to dethrone it).

 

[Dai]

A Plague Tale: Innocence
I tried the demo of this a while back, which I thought was decent, but it didn't grab me enough to buy it. Fortunately the PS5 version was on PS+ so I was able to give it a second chance, and I'm glad I did. It's a solid stealth game that's dripping with atmosphere, and looks especially impressive with the lighting and shaders on the PS5. Its main drawback is the thing that turned me off the demo; the game spends too long holding your hand with heavily scripted scenarios that only have one obvious solution, and you're usually told said solution. It doesn't stop feeling like a tutorial until the halfway point, but once it takes the training wheels off there are some compelling stretches of the game. This is especially the case when it really starts going crazy with its main party trick, the huge swarms of rats that can be both a danger and a tool that you can turn on your enemies. It's well paced too, adding new gameplay mechanics at a good rate and not allowing any to outstay its welcome, and never feels bloated like so many modern games.

 

[Dai]

Twelve Minutes
An art-house, point-and-click thriller that takes place almost entirely in a three-room apartment over the course of a 12-minute time loop. A man comes home from work. His wife has something to tell him. In the first loop you may or may not find out what that is before a man claiming to be a cop appears, ties them both up, accuses the wife of her father's murder, and kills the husband. What follows is a sometimes compelling, sometime annoying time loop where you try to stop the cop killing you and your wife, search for the truth about the alleged murder, and try to find a way out of the loop.

It's brutally violent and disturbing at times due to some of the things you have to do and witness in order to move the story forward. There are interesting twists and turns along the way, but unfortunately it goes off the rails with some enormously contrived and unconvincing twists toward the end. There are several endings, but none of the ones that trigger an end credit roll are satisfying. In fact, those tend to be the most frustrating. Meanwhile, you can play out scenarios that would have constituted more satisfying endings, but they just end with you thrown back to the start of the loop.

If the concept interests you, I'd say it's worth playing for the experience, but expect to finish it with a similar level of frustration as The Stanley Parable. It's also odd that they hired two prominent British actors as the couple (James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley) only to have them put on American accents.

 

[awadama]

I just had a little play of Banjo Kazooie on Switch Online. I still love it!

 

[Oldmario]

started the copy of Catherine i rebought on switch to get all the VA DLC, set it to hard + remix and at this point i don't think i'm going to get to hear the voices outside of the samples because it really is hard and i suck at it lol

 

[awadama]

I'm about halfway through the main story of Yakuza: Like A Dragon (with a lot of getting sidetracked with side quests and stuff) and I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I didn't expect this, but I think it might be my favourite Yakuza game yet.

The turn-based combat took some getting used to (and it can still be frustrating sometimes), but it works well and attacks are satisfying.

Kasuga is easily the best main character of any Yakuza game and the other main characters are all really good. It's impressive that the team can still think up new and original substories too.

There are some absolutely awful dungeon sections which drag the game down a bit, but the rest of the game definitely makes up for them.

 

[João Gomes]

Ah I've been really wanting to give that a shot but unsurprisingly am far more of a single-player story guy, especially now with life commitments. The only time I tried online gaming was Destiny when it was first released, off the back of Bungie's fantastic storytelling in Halo, but just didn't have the time to commit properly to those bloody pain-in-the-backside raids. That and nobody I know shares my gaming predilections. So with that in mind, would you recommend it being worth me giving FFXIV a shot or should I just forgeddabbouuddeeett?

I did, because FF fans wouldn't shut the f up about it, expansion after expansion and I really couldn't ignore the noise any longer. Transitioning from 1.0 to ARR with a world-changing event accompanied by an unforgettable CG cutscene helped reel me in like a little fish (owning and transforming a bad launch into a story event is an incredible idea). The FF XVI hype and knowing they shared much of the main talent was the final (fantasy) nail in the coffin.

I have the whole thing up until Shadowbringers and I'm halfway through Stormblood, the second expansion. Knowing we're more or less at the same point in our lives, it's kinda hard to recommend in the sense that it's a massive timesink and not all of it is great or exceptional. I myself dropped the game after the main ARR quest because the patch content really tries your patience - and that's just doing the strictly essential main story quests. I got back to it months later (now) and it's much better. The flow of things is - main quest, patch with quests that set up the next expansion, expansion, patch and so on and so forth.

With all that said: for reference and like you, I don't do online gaming and I stay (.... ed) away from MMORPGs like the plague. I had a few freak accidents where I got hooked on Bioshock 2 MP for a while, Killzone 2 as well but that's that.

Like many say, and I simply echo: FF XIV is very single player friendly and you can play most of it on your own. Fights against primals, dungeons and raids are the exception but again, the game pairs you up with randoms easily. Get on a waiting list and in you go. The A Realm Reborn main quest is good and a treat if you're a FF fan, they do a good job integrating series history and it's very gratifying.

The subsequent patch is extremely long and quite honestly a bore for long stretches, but it does have my favorite moment in the series so far - a fight against a primal (XIV lingo for summons).

Heavensward is great, with an interesting conflict, great characters (a strong point of the entire experience) and if it's true the game has no reservations about throwing a ridiculous fetch-quest right after an important story beat, it's also true that when it gets going, it goes all the way. The translation and voice acting are stunningly good and a pleasure to read and listen to. The final battle is the kind of stuff where they take a fan favourite thing and integrate it in a really hype way.

The raid they added with Heavensward is, again, a singular treat for fans - they took Alexander, the summon, and made a set of short raids (I look at it as a dungeon, even if they're split up) with a ton of bosses inside it, and tied it all up with a great little story. They even put super sentai references in there, it's so good. It's the only non-mandatory content I completed, but I enjoyed it.

As for Stormblood, I'm enjoying it. The antagonist is interesting in how evil he seemingly is, but what continues to push me through the whole thing is the promise of excellence in Shadowbringers and how Endwalker is supposedly an excellent conclusion 10 years of story and characters - it's true I want to see where the characters end up and what they do. I'm certainly invested in this group of people.

The music is great. You'll find an incredible track where you least expect it, like a new field theme or a new battle or boss theme.

And finally, the community. From my experience, people are uniformly excellent: nice, patient and helpful. It certainly helps.

 

[NormanicGrav]

One of my new year resolutions for 2022 is to finish 52 games! Yep, going to be hectic task, but considering my backlog is vast in genres and completion rates, I would say it's a possible goal to achieve.

We're starting off the year with a few older titles.

---

Game: 01 - Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes (PlayStation 3)
Acquired: August 2017

Spoiler

Koei Tecmo's Musou games got so big that Capcom made their own version with Sengoku Basara, but many will know that the earlier games were quite rough in the west because it was localised and butchered to tie into Devil May Cry, which failed. The second game was Japan only, but the third game managed to get released in the west on Wii & PS3 under the name Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.

Now if you have followed my gaming journey, you'll know that I own and played the Sengoku Basara HD Collection which includes the first two games plus the Heroes expansion. I enjoyed these Musou games a lot and I picked up the US version of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes because the UK version was quite hard to find at the time, but it was only until January 2022 when I finally started playing it.

In terms of the game's completion I have played through all 16 characters across 18 playthroughs because it requires a few more playthroughs to unlock the 16th and final character. Each character has their own play styles which works for the most part pretty well during the battles. I would say the main characters work better than others as they're quick, fast and does the job. The weakest enemies are the gun/bow types because they are slow and take too much time to progress. The campaign is interesting as you have multiple choices on which battle you want to go for next and each playthrough does unlock more routes.

One of the surprises that I had with the game was its English dub which I was not expecting, but apparently half the cast did return for the anime adaptation so that's pretty cool. Each playthrough takes about 3-4 hours depending on how you handle each battle, whether you go straight to the boss or try to get each part of the map. Getting each part of the map does reduce the difficulty of the boss battles which is a nice reward.

Overall it took me about 43 hours to sort out, which was far longer than I had anticipated but it's good to get a long game out of the way for the backlog! I recommend this game if you want a translated version of a Sengoku Basara game, but I guess it's worth jumping into the franchise with Sengoku Basara 4 Sumeragi that's on PlayStation 4 though its also Japan only.

---

Game: 02 - Toukiden 2 (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: January 2019

Spoiler

When it comes to the Monster Hunter type genre (which I may as well call it Hunter RPG at this point), I've only played two games at this point - last year I played the first two GOD EATER games which I felt were interesting but the weapon setup was complex and the progression was stalled due to high HP enemies and dozens and dozens of missions that often require specific materials to progress due to the difficulty. Now I have played Koei Tecmo's take on the genre with Toukiden 2, a sequel to the successful Toukiden: Age of Demons which was released on the PlayStation Vita and remastered as Toukiden Kiwami for PlayStation 4. These games as a whole were designed for the Vita so the graphics are simple, the framerate is capped to 30fps and there's a lot of focus on quests and fighting Oni, the main monsters of the series.

That said, Toukiden 2 was a surprising experience. Koei Tecmo definitely put a lot of effort on its main story which is pretty interesting and has a solid cast of characters, all voiced in Japanese, that you hang around throughout and its definitely the game's strongest point in terms of progression. There are six chapters in total, with a seventh focused mainly on grinding missions which was too much time to spend so I stopped there, but I did have a good time with what the story was offering. The character designs look decent but it is distracting that the anime 2D designs that show up aren't exactly the same as the 3D character models, but saying that the actual CG cutscenes were pretty good. I hear Studio 4C animated a prequel for this game so Koei definitely did their best to appeal to a lot of fans out there.

In terms of the gameplay, the progression is pretty good in terms of pacing and there's very little grinding required as the level-up system is determined by what equipment you use, for instance the right weapon and armour so you can proceed without getting killed. I did struggle a lot with this because around the half-way point I always felt that I was under-powered and that was still the case even after I finished the story.

You see, fighting Oni in this game is going to be a hit or miss for many people, because it's got a game design in place where they are basically immortal unless you cut off their limbs and purify them each time. While this idea sounds great on paper, I don't think it executes very well in the final product primarily due to the higher HP enemies as you progress because it feels like a chore and you're stalling a lot. Maybe it would feel better if the game was clearer on whether you are doing damage to the enemy outside of some colours in a specific field of vision that you can use.

Another interesting mechanic that I am fine with is the use of the Miasma that is spread throughout most of the world map that you can navigate. Basically in these zones, there is a time limit which is pretty generous and easy to deal with. When the bar, set around the map navigation, becomes full your character basically dies. Red will fill fast, Purple is a steady pace, and Blue is very slow. Blue is only there when you have reached a stone that can purify parts of the area, allowing you to travel to more parts of the map and even sort out quests or mini-boss fights. You can also fast-travel to specific parts of the map.

Introduced to Toukiden 2 is the Demon Hand which is a pretty cool idea, but is pretty useless during combat unless you fill up its blue gauge that allows you to do a special move that can knock out an enemy body part which is handy. You also use the Demon Hand to climb up areas because you can't jump at all which is weird. Another special move that can be used is a small gold diamond that fills up on the top-left corner allowing you to also knock out an enemy body part.

On the bottom right corner of the screen you also have extra moves to use, like healing yourself, using a Leech ability to gain health when you deal damage to enemies, and also extra power from Mitama which are heroes of the past who provide you with extra moves. This concept I haven't used much because I always felt I was even more under-powered due to the abilities that take time to be unlocked and a lot of notices stating I can't use these abilities due to inactive statuses.

Overall I would say that Toukiden 2 is a pretty solid game in general, and perhaps the hunting gameplay was just not for me. I always felt under-powered and while the game has these Mitama powers I could never fully grasp how they work and when I do try them I always felt I was making the fights worse in the long turn. That said, there are a lot of interesting elements in this game and I think as a whole Koei Tecmo did alright in the end. Playthrough overall was about 15-18 hours I reckon.

---

Game: 03 - Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: October 2019

Spoiler

After finishing Kiryu Kazuma's saga, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio decided to create a Hokuto no Ken video game using the Yakuza gameplay with Hokuto ga Gotoku which also stars Kiryu's VA as the voice of Kenshiro himself! And you know what, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is perhaps one of the best anime video games out there and while that doesn't sound like a hard thing to accomplish, the studio has put a lot of love and effort to provide an experience for newcomers and fans of the source material.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is an original storyline that doesn't follow the manga after a specific point and by doing this it introduces a new direction for Kenshiro to face, such as interacting with a new city and the people that live in it such as the leader, the guards and the enemies of the desert that emerge here and there. The story is very strong and while some aspects might feel simple, it offers a pretty solid conclusion and found myself very happy with the results. Most of the scenes are also voice-acted and there's an English audio option for those who prefer dubs.

As mentioned, this game is basically a tweaked version of the Yakuza formula. You have substories that provide additional mini-storylines which reward you with XP if you complete them, and there's a bunch of mini-games like casino, nightclub, baseball (but hitting bandits than a ball), a rhythm type game and a couple of others like hunting down specific enemies and a gladiator place to fight opponents like the underground arena in Yakuza. In addition, the animations from the enemies especially when you get yourself into the battles are all cycled from Yakuza so you could argue there wasn't much effort put into originality here.

That said, the battles is where they really put some more effort into the mix because Kenshiro does not play around when it comes to combat. During these segments you will have a skull that fills up next to the enemy's health, and once it fills up you can then achieve a special attack, called Hidden Channelling, that will allow you to instantly kill them quick and smoothly, in other words they were already dead to begin with. The QTE is randomised from what I have seen but there are various outcomes to defeating enemies which is neat. There's also catchphrases that appear which you can use to attack enemies with which is amusing.

The abilities for Kenshiro is split into four paths, Body Tree for increasing Health & Attack power, Skill Tree for unlocking new battle moves, Mind Tree for improving the Seven Star Gauge which is a special move that allows you to be stronger in battle (like Kiryu's Super Heat move in Yakuza), and Fate Tree dedicated to the Destiny Talismans that provide specific power-ups or change to gameplay. I haven't used the Talismans that much to be honest but you can manage without them for the most part.

What I do like about the combat is that you need to master the skills and not constantly spam attack to get through the combat. Dodging is key to survival especially during boss fights, because they love to block your moves or parry in response. And if you do well enough the skull will fill up for you to use a hidden channelling move in return.

Overall, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is a pretty solid anime game and while it reuses a lot of Yakuza's assets, it's does enough to stand out as its own and the story and characters are all interesting. In fact, this game is so interesting that it actually makes me want to check out the anime. In terms of playthrough stats, I finished the story in about 16 hours with a bunch of sub-stories and side content also played throughout.

---

My backlog so far:

Spoiler

#​	PC/Steam Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky	Turn-Based RPG
2​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation 3 Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	3D Dot Game Heroes	Action RPG
2​	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow	Action, Hack n Slash
3​	Catherine	Puzzle
4​	Drakengard 3	Action RPG
5​	Eternal Sonata	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Folklore	Action RPG
7​	inFAMOUS	Action
8​	inFAMOUS 2	Action
9​	Katamari Forever	Puzzle
10​	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch	Turn-Based RPG
11​	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time HD	Action, Hack n Slash
12​	Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones HD	Action, Hack n Slash
13​	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within HD	Action, Hack n Slash
14​	Puppeteer	Platformer
15​	Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One	Action, Platformer
16​	Ratchet & Clank: QForce	Action, Platformer
17​	Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles HD	On-Rails Shooter
18​	Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles HD	On-Rails Shooter
19​	Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time	Action, Platformer
20​	Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
21​	Way of the Samurai 4	Action

#​	PlayStation 4 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
2​	AI: The Somnium Files	Adventure, Visual Novel
3​	Black Clover: Quartet Knights	Action, Fighting
4​	Bullet Girls Phantasia	Action, Shooter
5​	The Caligula Effect: Overdose	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Chaos;Child	Visual Novel
7​	Code Vein	Action RPG
8​	Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars	Turn-Based RPG
9​	Cyberdimension Neptunia: Four Goddesses Online	Action RPG
10​	Danganronpa 1 Reload	Visual Novel
11​	Danganronpa 2 Reload	Visual Novel
12​	Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	Visual Novel
13​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 1: Rinne Utopia	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
14​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 2: Ars Install	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
15​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 3: Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
16​	Death Mark	Visual Novel
17​	Dragon's Crown Pro	Action RPG
18​	Fate/Extella Link	Musou
19​	Final Fantasy VIII Remastered	Turn-Based RPG
20​	Full Metal Panic! Fight! Who Dares Win	Tactical RPG
21​	Gal*Gun 2	On-Rails Shooter
22​	Gintama Rumble	Action, Musou
23​	Gravity Rush 2	Action, Platformer
24​	Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate	Action RPG
25​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven	Fighting
26​	Jump Force	Action, Fighting
27​	Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa	Puzzle, Visual Novel
28​	Langrisser	Tactical RPG
29​	Langrisser II	Tactical RPG
30​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel	Turn-Based RPG
31​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II	Turn-Based RPG
32​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III	Turn-Based RPG
33​	Megadimension Neptunia VII	Turn-Based RPG
34​	Megadimension Neptunia VIIR	Turn-Based RPG
35​	NG	Visual Novel
36​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm	Action, Fighting
37​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2	Action, Fighting
38​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3	Action, Fighting
39​	Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom	Action RPG
40​	Nights of Azure	Action RPG
41​	Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon	Action RPG
42​	One Piece Unlimited World Red	Action
43​	One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3	Musou
44​	Onechanbara Z2: Chaos	Action
45​	Our World Is Ended	Visual Novel
46​	Persona 5 Royal	Turn-Based RPG
47​	Punch Line	Visual Novel
48​	Raging Loop	Visual Novel
49​	Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: Prophecy of the Throne	Visual Novel
50​	Robotics;Notes DaSH	Visual Novel
51​	Robotics;Notes ELITE	Visual Novel
52​	Saint Seiya: Soldier's Soul	Fighting
53​	School Girl / Zombie Hunter	Action, Shooter
54​	SD Gundam G Generation Genesis	Tactical RPG
55​	Secret of Mana	Action RPG
56​	Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi	Musou
57​	Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal	Action
58​	Shining Resonance: Refrain	Action RPG
59​	Sisters Royale	Shoot em up
60​	Steins;Gate Elite	Visual Novel
61​	Steins;Gate: Linear Bound Phenogram	Visual Novel
62​	Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers	Tactical RPG
63​	Super Robot Wars T	Tactical RPG
64​	Super Robot Wars V	Tactical RPG
65​	Super Robot Wars X	Tactical RPG
66​	Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet	Action RPG
67​	Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Sessions!	Music, Rhythm
68​	Tales of Berseria	Action RPG
69​	Tales of Vesperia	Action RPG
70​	Tales of Zestiria	Action RPG
71​	Tokyo Xanadu eX+	Action RPG
72​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
73​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
74​	Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
75​	Utawarerumono: Zan	Action, Musou
76​	Valkyria Chronicles 4	Tactical RPG
77​	The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition	Action RPG
78​	WORLDEND SYNDROME	Visual Novel
79​	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	Visual Novel
80​	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	Action RPG

#	PlayStation 5 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Judgment	Action, Beat em up
2​	Lost Judgment	Action, Beat em up
3​	Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation Vita Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Bullet Girls	Action, Shooter
2​	Demon Gaze	Dungeon RPG
3​	Freedom Wars	Action
4​	Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart	Tactical RPG
5​	Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sister's Generation	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Generation	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed	Action
8​	MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies	Action, Musou
9​	Muv-Luv	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
10​	Muv-Luv Alternative	Visual Novel
11​	Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls	Turn-Based RPG
12​	Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni	Action

52 Games Goal:

Spoiler

No.	Game	Console​	Acquired​	Genre
1​	Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes	PS3​	2017​	Musou
2​	Toukiden 2	PS4​	2019​	Hunter RPG
3​	Fist of the Nort Star: Lost Paradise	PS4​	2019​	Action Beat em Up

 

[HWR]

I’ve been working through the Mass Effect series and am now partway through 3. The stories and characters told here are great as is all the DLC that’s included here as part of the Legendary edition.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

And finally, the community. From my experience, people are uniformly excellent: nice, patient and helpful. It certainly helps.

Very useful review dude, very much appreciated. At the start your mention of life circumstances and it being a time-sink made me think: good, good, this won't be for me so I can resist the temptation, but after reading on, and unsurprisingly as being an FF fan, I really want to play it now! A friendly and patient community is a big, big positive. With Destiny I wasn't the worst, but likely not far off, and the community I briefly experienced were okay but I certainly felt horrible dragging the team down on occasions like the long-winded raids, especially knowing full well how precious my own time and likewise others was, so a bit of extra patience from the veterans would certainly help alleviate the guilt heh. Large sections of single player play also make it a lot more practical to step in and out as required. So I think I may give it a go soon, and I guess just play it over a few years heh. Thanks again for the info dude.

 

[awadama]

I've been playing Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel (the free PS5 game that came out a few weeks ago).

My online experience so far has mostly fallen into one of two types (neither of which has been enjoyable).

I get matched up with some kind of dueling beast from the Shadow Realm. I sit there for five minutes watching them play Solitaire, in some bizarre loop of putting monsters on the field, then to the graveyard, then back to their hand, then back to their field over and over.

Some of these monsters have 3000 attack points, then they have 0, then they have 1750, then they just end up in the graveyard. By the time this has finished, the opponent has three monsters out - two of them have 3200 attack and one of them is always face down for some reason.

All this has happened on the first turn. I've completely lost the will to live (and I've got zero hope of doing a single point of damage), so I just surrender.

...or I get matched with someone who seems to have never ever played YGO before. They don't use defence mode. They don't use any traps or spells. I beat them easily (or they surrender).

Every now and again I've got an actual competitive match, but they've been few and far between. I just wish I'd get matched up with some more "OK" people at my level.

 

[Dai]

Life is Strange: Before the Storm (remastered)
Despite having been delayed five months, this remaster has a distracting amount of bugs. Even playing on PS5 performance can get jittery during gameplay, there are frequent animation bugs during cutscenes, and weird balls of light pop up at random (a bunch of them flew out of someone's ear!). It crashed several times too, though a lot of games crash on my PS5 (I'm thinking it's probably a hardware fault at this point). Due to that I switched to my base PS4 for the last episode. No crashes there, but performance was much worse and the ending cutscene was a stuttering mess.

As for the graphical upgrades, I had to look up a comparison video on Youtube to figure out what had been changed. Some character models look a little better, others a little worse. Lighting is better in places, worse in others. Considering the poor performance, this isn't worth getting if you have the original.

 

[HWR]

Off the back of replaying The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time I’m now replaying my personal favourite game in The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, as it just launched on NSO today.

 

[NormanicGrav]

Another month, another batch of games.

---

Game: 04 - JUMP FORCE (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: January 2022

Spoiler

Due to licensing, Bandai Namco delisted JUMP FORCE from digital platforms but I managed to get the game a month prior, and also acquired the DLC packs at the worst possible time (I was going to get them when they went on offer, but either my timing was wrong or they reverted back to normal price earlier than planned).

Anywho, after releasing J-Stars Victory Vs. on PlayStation 3, Bandai Namco made another crossover game in the franchise with JUMP FORCE which is streamlined and a sort of downgrade in various areas from its predecessor. Rather than having two characters and an assist vs another two characters and an assist in a large area, the game is now 1 vs 1 with the option to swap with two other characters like Marvel vs Capcom in a smaller fighting arena.

The gameplay is actually pretty fun and I do enjoy the combat that has to offer. The problem for hardcore gamers is that it's very basic and not as complex as other fighting games. In addition, the game runs at 1080p 30fps which even on PS5 via PS4 Pro, the game has no improvements other than loading times probably being better even though it's ridiculous and tedious that those loading times happen every single time. The difficulty of the fights is there, but it's basically a case of they take less damage, and from the looks of it if you want to level up your abilities you'll need to grind a lot and maybe play online, but I was able to manage without issue and got to Level 51 when I finished the final boss of the story.

The character roster has some interesting inclusions new to this game compared to J-Stars Victory Vs, with classic characters like Dai (Dragon Quest: Adventure of Dai), Yugi & Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!) and Ryo Saeba (City Hunter) all the way to newer IPs like Boruto (Boruto), Asta (Black Clover) and Deku, All Might, Kacchan & Shoto (My Hero Academia). Also Light & Ryuk are in the game but Ryuk is not voiced which makes their scenes so weird to watch.

In terms of character selection, it's alright but not as great as J-Stars Victory Vs. and while the DLC selection does help with Giorno Giovanna (JoJo: Golden Wind), Yoruichi Shihōin (Bleach) and Biscuit Krueger (Hunter x Hunter), there's not enough characters and voiced dialogue to make the game even better. Also the original character idea is pretty cool, but design-wise it looks out of place compared to the rest of the team.

The story is pretty basic and the cutscenes look good but the character movement is very under-budget which fits with Bandai Namco's track record. Speaking of which, if you don't have PlayStation Plus you won't be able to access a lot of the features in the game, even the PlayStation Store or the Notice Board which is ridiculous.

Overall, JUMP FORCE was a good time but it's a downgrade from J-Stars Victory Vs with its simplistic gameplay, reduced roster and limited features due to the online focus. I do think it's worth checking out regardless because it can be a fun time, but only when its cheap and considering it's out of print now you'll have to make a decision sooner than later.

---

Game: 05 - Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: July 2020

Spoiler

After finishing Jump Force, I decided to check out the Saint Seiya game that I picked up a few years ago. Soldiers' Soul is an updated version of Bandai Namco's previous game Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers which basically revamps a lot of the game and improved upon it.

The story covers four major story arcs from the manga & anime; Sanctuary, Asgard, Poseidon and Hades. Each have a stage that offers 1-3 boss fights each time, sometimes with different characters or an option to choose from a selection. This is a fighting game and the combat is really interesting because you can't just spam your basic attacks as the opponent can block or mess you up really fast. The trick is basically dodge, shield and attack when the moment is right so that you can proceed to the next stage. If you get KO'd Athena will appear and ask you to button mash X so that you can get back up, or you can simply get the game over screen and retry the battle without having to start from the beginning of the stage.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1493338086214111232

During combat you can reach a special zone where you'll then be able to unleash a special attack which is really handy as it can knock out a bunch of HP from your opponent. In addition you can also use regular special moves which helps but you will want to time it right as the opponent can dodge or block them, and the same is also for the special attack which you can also do to them so it's well balanced.

The story took about 8-10 hours to finish and the cutscenes are in 3D which look really nice. The story itself is also interesting and is very shonen considering this is a Shonen Jump franchise after all. But I did avoid paying attention to a lot of the plot points as I plan to watch the anime in the future.

Overall Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul is a pretty solid fighting game and worth checking out, but it is quite hard-to-find in physical format so I suggest you get it digitally instead as it'll go on sale for a cheaper price.

---

Game: 06 - Code Vein (PlayStation 4)
Acquired: December 2020

Spoiler

Despite playing a bit of Dark Souls and Nioh years ago, Code Vein is actually my first Souls-type game that I officially own and Bandai Namco did a pretty solid job with this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1494060899727990784

Code Vein is a challenging game but it's not as big as the FROM SOFTWARE titles as you do have a few perks that benefit you on your journey. For instance, you have a second character that can tag along with you all the way and its more fast-paced like Bloodborne than the slower one-man-army approach of the others. The difficulty is there, but you can get through most of the game if you manage to level up your equipment and clothes beforehand.

Code Vein provides a whole bunch of options like different weapon types, blood codes that offer extra abilities and you can also use items to regenerate your health, add buffers etc. When you lose your health, your AI partner (or second player if you're playing online) can offer you their health to save you. That said when you die completely, it's just like the Souls franchise where you respawn back to a mini-rest area and you have to go back to where you died to recover the EXP you earned otherwise it'll be gone permanently if you die beforehand. The EXP can be used to level up and acquire more Gifts which are the extra abilities you receive from interacting with other characters in the game.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1495108087312785409

The story is interesting and while some parts are left unexplained, there was a really interesting twist to the lore that has me curious for the future of the franchise. The characters are well done and the Vestige segments, which allow you to view the memories of other people, adds more context to their motivations. I do think the Vestige moments are slow and dragged out but they do add to the development of the characters. Vestiges are also crucial to unlocking the true ending of the game.

I spent 31 hours in total and managed to finish the game at Level 160, with all of the depth mini-dungeons explored, all vestiges acquired, all mini-save points found and got the best two-handed weapon possible. The final true-boss is an absolute pain and you have to turn off the camera's lock-on to actually tolerate it because it gets you killed easily.

Now while this game isn't as challenging as the Souls franchise, I do think Code Vein is a solid newcomer friendly game for the genre and worth playing. The character customisation is also really detailed. The game is pretty much available on all platforms, and as I played it on PS5 I was able to make use of the PS4 Pro version which adds a better resolution to go with the 60fps gameplay.

---

My backlog so far:

Spoiler

#​	PC/Steam Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky	Turn-Based RPG
2​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation 3 Backlog - Game Name:​	Genre:
1​	3D Dot Game Heroes	Action RPG
2​	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow	Action, Hack n Slash
3​	Catherine	Puzzle
4​	Drakengard 3	Action RPG
5​	Eternal Sonata	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Folklore	Action RPG
7​	inFAMOUS	Action
8​	inFAMOUS 2	Action
9​	Katamari Forever	Puzzle
10​	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch	Turn-Based RPG
11​	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time HD	Action, Hack n Slash
12​	Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones HD	Action, Hack n Slash
13​	Prince of Persia: Warrior Within HD	Action, Hack n Slash
14​	Puppeteer	Platformer
15​	Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One	Action, Platformer
16​	Ratchet & Clank: QForce	Action, Platformer
17​	Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles HD	On-Rails Shooter
18​	Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles HD	On-Rails Shooter
19​	Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time	Action, Platformer
20​	Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
21​	Way of the Samurai 4	Action

#​	PlayStation 4 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
2​	AI: The Somnium Files	Adventure, Visual Novel
3​	Black Clover: Quartet Knights	Action, Fighting
4​	Bullet Girls Phantasia	Action, Shooter
5​	The Caligula Effect: Overdose	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Chaos;Child	Visual Novel
7​	Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars	Turn-Based RPG
8​	Cyberdimension Neptunia: Four Goddesses Online	Action RPG
9​	Danganronpa 1 Reload	Visual Novel
10​	Danganronpa 2 Reload	Visual Novel
11​	Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	Visual Novel
12​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 1: Rinne Utopia	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
13​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 2: Ars Install	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
14​	Date A Live: Rio-Reincarnation - 3: Twin Edition: Rio Reincarnation	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
15​	Death Mark	Visual Novel
16​	Dragon's Crown Pro	Action RPG
17​	Fate/Extella Link	Musou
18​	Final Fantasy VIII Remastered	Turn-Based RPG
19​	Full Metal Panic! Fight! Who Dares Win	Tactical RPG
20​	Gal*Gun 2	On-Rails Shooter
21​	Gintama Rumble	Action, Musou
22​	Gravity Rush 2	Action, Platformer
23​	Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate	Action RPG
24​	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven	Fighting
25​	Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa	Puzzle, Visual Novel
26​	Langrisser	Tactical RPG
27​	Langrisser II	Tactical RPG
28​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel	Turn-Based RPG
29​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II	Turn-Based RPG
30​	The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III	Turn-Based RPG
31​	Megadimension Neptunia VII	Turn-Based RPG
32​	Megadimension Neptunia VIIR	Turn-Based RPG
33​	NG	Visual Novel
34​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm	Action, Fighting
35​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2	Action, Fighting
36​	Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3	Action, Fighting
37​	Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom	Action RPG
38​	Nights of Azure	Action RPG
39​	Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon	Action RPG
40​	One Piece Unlimited World Red	Action
41​	One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3	Musou
42​	Onechanbara Z2: Chaos	Action
43​	Our World Is Ended	Visual Novel
44​	Persona 5 Royal	Turn-Based RPG
45​	Punch Line	Visual Novel
46​	Raging Loop	Visual Novel
47​	Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-: Prophecy of the Throne	Visual Novel
48​	Robotics;Notes DaSH	Visual Novel
49​	Robotics;Notes ELITE	Visual Novel
50​	School Girl / Zombie Hunter	Action, Shooter
51​	SD Gundam G Generation Genesis	Tactical RPG
52​	Secret of Mana	Action RPG
53​	Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi	Musou
54​	Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal	Action
55​	Shining Resonance: Refrain	Action RPG
56​	Sisters Royale	Shoot em up
57​	Steins;Gate Elite	Visual Novel
58​	Steins;Gate: Linear Bound Phenogram	Visual Novel
59​	Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers	Tactical RPG
60​	Super Robot Wars T	Tactical RPG
61​	Super Robot Wars V	Tactical RPG
62​	Super Robot Wars X	Tactical RPG
63​	Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet	Action RPG
64​	Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Sessions!	Music, Rhythm
65​	Tales of Berseria	Action RPG
66​	Tales of Vesperia	Action RPG
67​	Tales of Zestiria	Action RPG
68​	Tokyo Xanadu eX+	Action RPG
69​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
70​	Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
71​	Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen	Tactical RPG, Visual Novel
72​	Utawarerumono: Zan	Action, Musou
73​	Valkyria Chronicles 4	Tactical RPG
74​	The Witch and the Hundred Knight Revival Edition	Action RPG
75​	WORLDEND SYNDROME	Visual Novel
76​	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	Visual Novel
77​	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	Action RPG

#	PlayStation 5 Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Judgment	Action, Beat em up
2​	Lost Judgment	Action, Beat em up
3​	Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon	Turn-Based RPG

#​	PlayStation Vita Backlog - Game Name:	Genre:
1​	Bullet Girls	Action, Shooter
2​	Demon Gaze	Dungeon RPG
3​	Freedom Wars	Action
4​	Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart	Tactical RPG
5​	Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2: Sister's Generation	Turn-Based RPG
6​	Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Generation	Turn-Based RPG
7​	Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed	Action
8​	MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies	Action, Musou
9​	Muv-Luv	Visual Novel, Dating Sim
10​	Muv-Luv Alternative	Visual Novel
11​	Superdimension Neptune vs SEGA Hard Girls	Turn-Based RPG
12​	Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni	Action

52 Games Goal:

Spoiler

No.	Game	Console​	Acquired​	Genre
1​	Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes	PS3​	2017​	Musou
2​	Toukiden 2	PS4​	2019​	Hunter RPG
3​	Fist of the Nort Star: Lost Paradise	PS4​	2019​	Action Beat em Up
4​	JUMP FORCE	PS4​	2022​	Fighting
5​	Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul	PS4​	2020​	Fighting
6​	Code Vein	PS4​	2020​	Action Souls RPG

 

[DragoStark]

I've finished The Outer Worlds and got a pretty great outcome all things considered. It was fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next up was gonna be Yakuza 4 but I got Mass Effect Legendary Edition thanks to HumbleBundle so I'll probably start on ME1 at least (when I get the time to download 109GB first of course... oof)

 

[Dai]

I've finished The Outer Worlds and got a pretty great outcome all things considered. It was fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Next up was gonna be Yakuza 4 but I got Mass Effect Legendary Edition thanks to HumbleBundle so I'll probably start on ME1 at least (when I get the time to download 109GB first of course... oof)

I thought the Mass Effect remasters turned out pretty well, though I'm not a fan of the new lighting in ME1; it's not as atmospheric.

I finished ME2 for about the sixth time recently and was shocked when someone died in the suicide mission. I thought I'd remembered all the variables, but it turned out I'd forgotten one at the end. That mission never stops being tense, no matter how many times I play it.