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[Ezekiel]

Here another reason developer-made protagonists are better than player-created trash. The mute has the same blank, uninterested expression even as a giant bird flies him through the sky.



Cool, I traded a bunch of items with bird boy, including the Sunlight Maggot (because it's warm, not because I remembered), and got the Old Witch's Ring. Then I read the description and suddenly remembered that you can speak with the Chaos sister through it.

Got everything in the Painted World. Took a long while. So much fun trying to figure out how to get to unreachable items; searching around. Makes me sad that I can't play Elden Ring. But I refuse.

 

[BrawlMan]

Just started Shinobi: AoV and I am having a blast. It is so fun styling on enemies. I am so glad to have Joe Musashi back in the playable lead role again. None of the protags can replace my white and red costumed super ninja. Though I do still like Hibana.

 

[Kyrian007]

I did finally decide what would be next after finishing The Outer Worlds 2. And the choice I made... surprised me.

Star Wars: Outlaws

I was skipping this one. I heard from so many people who were complaining that I wasn't going to bother. But I was going through Xbox sales, and saw it for 70% off. Looking at the reviews, several had mentioned vast improvements after numerous updates. And remembering the specific complaints others had at the time, many of the things others hated were things I liked. One of the big ones I remember was "this is just Far Cry: Star Wars edition." I even remember thinking at the time, "but I like both of those things." So I'm giving it a chance. With the last of some gift card dollars I had.

And so far, mixed results. The worlds are big, yea. There's nothing to do in 85% of it, boo. There seems to be a variety of game systems in place, yea. So far every mission I've taken has boiled down to sneak into some place, steal a thing, alarms unavoidably go off, shoot my way out... boo. I don't mind the ol' grab and smash, but I'm starting to worry that it may be all that is on the menu.

All in all, it isn't Far Cry: Star Wars edition. Not enough stronghold takeovers for that to be the case. More accurately it is Watch Dogs: Star Wars edition. With all the stuff you can do with a phone in Watch Dogs replaced with some kind of gremlin/iguana/pug rodent hybrid pet thing. That doesn't bother me, I thought Watch Dogs was fine. But the phone was better than the rodent. At least with a phone, the "thing" you were doing happened right away and was easier to time.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Finished Little Nightmares 2.

The fans of these things are rabid about the story and the characters. I'm at an age where I have to keep reminding myself that literally every piece of media I brush past is somebody's first exposure to an old and trite literary device, or otherwise some terribly intricate truth about the human condition, and will carry a tremendous emotional impact for them. Somebody will one day read Anna Karenina and go "I'm getting a lot of Little Nightmares 2 vibes out of this".

Like OK I don't want to be pedantic about it but everything in this game is so loosely presented and vaguely defined, and nobody is given a voice, a name or an identity, and everything is so godamn abstract and conceptual, that I don't understand how you land the plane, emotionally speaking. I compared it to Ico earlier and that's another mostly silent, context-free boy and girl escape story that actually makes it work, because you're given stuff to work with without even realizing it. Whereas the "story" here is pitch meeting-shallow.

The hospital bit was scary though!

Curious, did you Platinum this one (and/or Little Nightmares 1, for that matter?) I thoroughly enjoyed them both, but parts of them were so frustrating trying to navigate the 2.5D environments, I had no desire to go back and achievement hunt after I finished them. I left them installed for months trying to convince myself I might try, but eventually uninstalled them because the idea of going through some of those frustrating bits again made it clear I'd never play them again. Nothing is more frustrating in a puzzle-platformer than knowing exactly what you need to do only to have the execution be the problem.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Curious, did you Platinum this one (and/or Little Nightmares 1, for that matter?) I thoroughly enjoyed them both, but parts of them were so frustrating trying to navigate the 2.5D environments, I had no desire to go back and achievement hunt after I finished them. I left them installed for months trying to convince myself I might try, but eventually uninstalled them because the idea of going through some of those frustrating bits again made it clear I'd never play them again. Nothing is more frustrating in a puzzle-platformer than knowing exactly what you need to do only to have the execution be the problem.

I did get the Platinum but there's nothing particularly difficult about the game. It's mostly collectibles, and you can clean up easy via chapter select once you're done. There're no zero deaths/speedrun trophies. LN1 (which doesn't have a Plat) had a trophy for beating it under one hour without dying, which is the one that I didn't get.

The only aggravating thing about the 2.5D for me was figuring out the jump in the toy store with the trolley and getting the angle and timing on the hammer swing just right.

EDIT: Actually there's a no death trophy for the first part of LN2, while you're in the woods, before you reach the cabin. But it's a short stretch and there're no enemies, just a few easily avoidable traps. Did that in one go.

 

[bluegate]

LEGO Horizon Adventures

The presentation in the game is top notch, it looks beautiful, the gameplay on the other hand is atrocious.

I know it's a game for children, but it's so painfully simple... It's a string of "missions" which are basically just a couple of randomly stringed together areas with a boss arena at the end. There's nothing to explore, nothing to do, just run through 3-4 "screens" and come to a boss arena where you fight a couple of enemies. It's offensively bland and uninspired.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I did get the Platinum but there's nothing particularly difficult about the game. It's mostly collectibles, and you can clean up easy via chapter select once you're done. There're no zero deaths/speedrun trophies. LN1 (which doesn't have a Plat) had a trophy for beating it under one hour without dying, which is the one that I didn't get.

The only aggravating thing about the 2.5D for me was figuring out the jump in the toy store with the trolley and getting the angle and timing on the hammer swing just right.

EDIT: Actually there's a no death trophy for the first part of LN2, while you're in the woods, before you reach the cabin. But it's a short stretch and there're no enemies, just a few easily avoidable traps. Did that in one go.

You're a better man than me; the 2.5D gave me fits throughout. Not constantly, but often enough that the idea of going through it again for collectibles sounded dreadful. I recall in LN1 a chase sequence with the chefs where you not only had to navigate obstacles in the 3rd dimension, but it ended with a jump to grab a chain you could miss by jumping [as the game decides] too far to the back or foreground. I was stuck there for like a half hour; even after I'd mastered the previous bit, I kept missing the chain, i.e.: if there's a collectible beyond that bit, I'm not doing it again.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You're a better man than me; the 2.5D gave me fits throughout. Not constantly, but often enough that the idea of going through it again for collectibles sounded dreadful. I recall in LN1 a chase sequence with the chefs where you not only had to navigate obstacles in the 3rd dimension, but it ended with a jump to grab a chain you could miss by jumping [as the game decides] too far to the back or foreground. I was stuck there for like a half hour; even after I'd mastered the previous bit, I kept missing the chain, i.e.: if there's a collectible beyond that bit, I'm not doing it again.

LN1 was definitely more frustrating with its use of 2.5D, I remember being stuck in the dining hall section forever because I kept missing jumps. LN2 is still a bit dodgy but I think it helps that the game is a bit more sparse with chase sequences and more generous with checkpoints. Not 2.5D related necessarily but I had a rougher time hiding from enemies and figuring out when's a good time to move and whether getting spotted at the last second (which kept happening to me) was scripted or not.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Haven't ever been in your situation, but I would guess that a purchase is a purchase.

You pay for the pre-order, you purchase the license to the game and it's yours, end of story.

It's not like you have to pay back the difference when you buy games with PS+ discount.

Sort of kind of related, but what happens to my cloud saves once my membership expires? Are they still there if and when I resub?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Finished Little Nightmares 2.

The fans of these things are rabid about the story and the characters. I'm at an age where I have to keep reminding myself that literally every piece of media I brush past is somebody's first exposure to an old and trite literary device, or otherwise some terribly intricate truth about the human condition, and will carry a tremendous emotional impact for them. Somebody will one day read Anna Karenina and go "I'm getting a lot of Little Nightmares 2 vibes out of this".

Like OK I don't want to be pedantic about it but everything in this game is so loosely presented and vaguely defined, and nobody is given a voice, a name or an identity, and everything is so godamn abstract and conceptual, that I don't understand how you land the plane, emotionally speaking. I compared it to Ico earlier and that's another mostly silent, context-free boy and girl escape story that actually makes it work, because you're given stuff to work with without even realizing it. Whereas the "story" here is pitch meeting-shallow.

The hospital bit was scary though!

Just like Inside it's mostly vibes based, and dependent on whether you like the vibes it may peak your brain into filling in the blanks. Like how Six (the girl) never asked Mono (the boy) to break her out of that room, and doing so exposed her to a bunch of harrowing situations - getting kidnapped by the kids, pinned by a collapsed building, and grabbed and warped by the TV guy (the guy Mono released). And the breaking of the music box putting into perspective for her what following him has led to for her, so by the end (adding in her being quite off herself) she's pretty much like 'You know what, fuck you'.

I'd say there's certainly more to it then 'Well, she's just Evil'. Little Nightmares 2 overall I think does a much better job with the rhythm of its vague world than the first game did.

 

[bluegate]

Sort of kind of related, but what happens to my cloud saves once my membership expires? Are they still there if and when I resub?

I wish I could give you an answer on that.

Save files are kept on their servers when your subscription lapses and they will be there when you re-subscribe, but I don't know for how long, there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer on that out there.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Had a long weekend so I upgraded from PS+ Essential to Extra (sub runs out Thursday, so it cost me a whopping 64 cents), looked up "best short games in catalog" and ended up playing these 4:

The Pedestrian

2D puzzle-platformer where you control a stick figure walking across a variety of traffic signs, screens, plates, chalkboards and street lights while a Pixar-y looking city bustles in the background. It gets points for presentation. The puzzles have you rearranging signs much like jigsaw pieces, tethering doors and connectors across wide open spaces while plotting your dude's navigation. They're fun to figure out, and having the playing field smashed into a number of smaller screens is a pretty cool effect. It starts getting a bit repetitive towards the end, but you get a neat mindfuck epilogue for your efforts.

Transference

Essentially a VR tech demo by Ubisoft (it took me all of 2 hours to 100%), though you can play it as a regular first person escape the room adventure game. It's pretty creepy but has nothing going on in terms of gameplay - you spend most of the "game" wandering around an empty flat, looking for flags to trigger and occasionally inputting a password. I imagine I'd get more out of it if I'd played the VR version. And I like Macon Blair but having recently played Control I think I've had my fill of FMVs of scientists in videogames excitedly videotaping themselves for a while.

Gris

A game about moving right, double jumping and collecting shinies the grieving process, going by the trophy descriptions (Denial, Anger, etc) and the store page blurb. Well, sure, you get that impression from the mournful soundtrack and all those sad statues. But like most artsy fartsy games, it refuses to commit to an actual story or a character, rendering it very pretty (love the hand-drawn enviroments and the splashy watercolor aesthetic) but emotionally bunk. If you remove all the enemies from a Mario game, cue violins and mute the colors, does that make it into a game about depression?

Untitled Goose Game

Great little comedy game about a goose who goes around pestering people who're too nice to do anything about it. It's in that Katamari Damacy/Donut County wavelength of cute teeny tiny cel shaded sandbox where you're given carte blanche to wreck shit up. The chaos is half fun, the other half is aggravating NPCs. You get a checklist of stuff to do (you're mostly trespassing and stealing shit) but no clear reason to do any of it, other than be a jerk. I'd say it does about as good a job at putting you in control of a "realistic" goose as Stray does when it comes to cats.

This was also the most involved trophy list of the lot, since you end up having to do tight 6 minute speedruns of each area to get the Platinum, which involves a lot of rng and uncooperative AI. To the game's credit I had just as much fun pulling these off.

 

[BrawlMan]

I am really loving the combat, exploration, and level design of Shinobi: AoV. This is giving me the good XBLA vibes, combined with SEGA. This game kind of reminds me of Strider 2014 almost with how it's structured. Did anybody else get this feeling with  AoV?

I'm still currently on lantern city, but I think i'm halfway done with it. I'll finish the stage when I get home this evening.

 

[BrawlMan]

64th Street: A Detective Story - This is Jaleco's first brawler. They would go on to do the Rushing Beat Trilogy on SNES after this. Though I actually 64th Street despite its rough edges, and is at least a better game than the first Rushing Beat. The main gimmick is that you can throw guys into the background and cause property damage to reveal items, weapons, and health. Rick is slow, but powerful. While Alan is fast, but has weaker attacks. Both do have different move sets to set them apart. I actually completed this for the first time. Any other time I tried this game, I would quit after the first stage. Once you know how the combat works, it doe get more fun.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

One more Extra game in the bag:

The Gardens Between

A puzzle game where you manipulate the timeline of two kids running around tiny islands on a 2D plane. You can either go forward or rewind their actions, for starters, then quickly get introduced to all the stuff you'll have to work with: the girl has to carry a lit torch to the end of the level, and the fire/spark can either be extinguished or passed to different vessels, while the boy can manipulate the movement and positioning of certain platforms and obstacles. It's as much about making it to the end as it is about getting there with the damn torch, and while the puzzles never get too complicated you end up factoring quite a few things across the timeline in solving them.

Some of the later puzzles tend to pull mechanics out of nowhere, and never to be brought again. Suddenly perspective is part of the equation, or certain objects are affected while the timeline is paused, against any kind of logic or signposting. So that was a bit annoying.

Ending made me sad

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Just like Inside it's mostly vibes based, and dependent on whether you like the vibes it may peak your brain into filling in the blanks. Like how Six (the girl) never asked Mono (the boy) to break her out of that room, and doing so exposed her to a bunch of harrowing situations - getting kidnapped by the kids, pinned by a collapsed building, and grabbed and warped by the TV guy (the guy Mono released). And the breaking of the music box putting into perspective for her what following him has led to for her, so by the end (adding in her being quite off herself) she's pretty much like 'You know what, fuck you'.

I'd say there's certainly more to it then 'Well, she's just Evil'. Little Nightmares 2 overall I think does a much better job with the rhythm of its vague world than the first game did.

I'm not saying I'm principled against 'vibes based media' but you can tar perfume commercials and TikTok edits with that very brush. There's nothing really going under either, they're just trying to sell stuff you can't actually visualize, like smell or an original personality.

These games are actually very good at vibes. If anything for me they flounder when they try to be about something else. They're good at staging the anxiety of the universal nightmare experience of vague threats skulking around and being chased by restos diurnos (don't know the English for that). And yeah, schools, hospitals, adults in general, are scary to kids. But the game was an emotional non-event for me, because I never felt a connection with goblin girl (she's routinely depicted as borderline feral, mistrustful and will cut you loose every single time you die) and thus never took it personally when she betrayed me either.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm not saying I'm principled against 'vibes based media' but you can tar perfume commercials and TikTok edits with that very brush. There's nothing really going under either, they're just trying to sell stuff you can't actually visualize, like smell or an original personality.

These games are actually very good at vibes. If anything for me they flounder when they try to be about something else. They're good at staging the anxiety of the universal nightmare experience of vague threats skulking around and being chased by restos diurnos (don't know the English for that). And yeah, schools, hospitals, adults in general, are scary to kids. But the game was an emotional non-event for me, because I never felt a connection with goblin girl (she's routinely depicted as borderline feral, mistrustful and will cut you loose every single time you die) and thus never took it personally when she betrayed me either.

Again, I think it just depends. Entire youtube channels have sprung up discussing the story of the Soulsborne games, and I can't say I ever bothered to do the digging that's apparently necessary to find the story in these games when playing them. Same with Hollowknight and Silksong honestly.

And the act of controlling a character in a 2D or 3D space is already telling a story - don't know if a perfume commerical compares. I get it, people can find meaning in the most simple things, but one is obviously doing more (narratively) than trying to sell you a bottled scent. Also, it's usually the minimalist games that create the most incentive to figure out the story. We don't really need to figure out characters like Joel or Arthur, since their games dissect them excessively. But just walking through a room filled with beds with sleeping children in them, and seeing some weird long-armed dude hovering over them, you're going to automatically look for connections. It might be a bit cheap, but it can still hit the spot.

 

[Silvanus]

Hades (the first one) to scratch a roguelite itch. Never thought i'd like the genre but then Cult of the Lamb semi-convinced me... though I'm missing the base-building half of CotL while playing Hades.

Still, is cathartic and compulsive. First successful escape was on attempt #24. Now got 41 attempts and 12 successful escapes.

Bit annoying that i can so intermittently interact with some of the characters, though... takes a bloody eon to advance their personal stories. Haven't been able to gift anyone any Ambrosia yet.

 

[Ezekiel]

Uncharted 4 actually does action music the worst out of almost all action-adventure and shooting games. You die and the game chooses a different track for you, changing the mood and squandering any momentum between the score and what's going on. A musical piece should be chosen for a specific scene. It should be able to progress through the scene, even if the player dies.

Enemies are way too accurate, hitting Drake with small arms even from way on the other side of the map and forcing cover even when the player should be able to rely on far cover, meaning objects that are not right by Drake but between him and them. He has very little health. It becomes way too twitchy and pop-a-mole above Normal difficulty.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finished Final Fight One Arcade Edition again. I finally unlocked Alpha Cody.