I don't know if any of the original trilogy are available on PS4, and while I do have a PS3, I don't currently have any working controllers for it; one of them has a joystick that won't go all the way to the edges, and the other is a third-party wireless controller with noticeable input lag.
If worse comes to worse, GoW3 was remastered on PS4 and plays the best of the original trilogy (some may nitpick this but it ultimately is the smoothest and most responsive), and there are always story mode collections on YouTube for the first two if you don’t end up playing them. Just be aware that Kratos had ultimately been pushed off the deep end by 3, so his rage is at the forefront by then.
I really cannot recommend at least GoW 3 enough though, considering it was the culmination of both the epic set piece battles and classic combat, platforming and puzzle solving that pretty much defined action adventure of the 6th and 7th gen. I highlight adventure because there’s a distinction to be made there next to pure action games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, etc. which GoW never was or ever claimed to be.
It does what it sets out to do exceptionally well though, and I’ll always have fond memories of those games.
If worse comes to worse, GoW3 was remastered on PS4 and plays the best of the original trilogy (some may nitpick this but it ultimately is the smoothest and most responsive), and there are always story mode collections on YouTube for the first two if you don’t end up playing them. Just be aware that Kratos had ultimately been pushed off the deep end by 3, so his rage is at the forefront by then.
I really cannot recommend at least GoW 3 enough though, considering it was the culmination of both the epic set piece battles and classic combat, platforming and puzzle solving that pretty much defined action adventure of the 6th and 7th gen. I highlight adventure because there’s a distinction to be made there next to pure action games like DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, etc. which GoW never was or ever claimed to be.
It does what it sets out to do exceptionally well though, and I’ll always have fond memories of those games.
If you wanna play the HD Remasters or Ascension on PS4, it has to be through Sony's PS NOW. Which I find really stupid. Sony and Santa Monica, just do another fucking port. You won't lose money on that. My brother has the subscription so he enjoys it well enough, but it is not worth it for me.
Finished playing Koei's Kessen games. Three games of the same series with very different playstyles (had to split this post due to character limit).
The first game is a relatively simple RTS that served as a launch title for the PS2, set towards the end of the Sengoku Period in Japan. The battles are either huge, open battlefields with dozens of officers on either side, or smaller battlefields with only a handful. From a gameplay perspective there were some really neat ideas, like officers refusing to follow your orders if their morale was low (or if you told them to do something their personality wouldn't let them), officers commanding multiple groups of infantry that would engage the enemy's groups individually while the commanders stood back and watched, and the scale was impressive.
Unfortunately, for like 80% of the game, the AI was just too stupid to really serve as a threat and almost every battle could be finished by standing still, luting the enemy into your ranks, and then jumping them with everything you have. The cursor was also really slow, which made giving orders to various officers scattered around the battlefield annoying at times.
After finishing the game for the first time as the Eastern Army (the 'historical' path) you then unlock the 'what if' path where the Western Army wins, and I found the game became much more enjoyable. The game starts off at Sekigahara, the "finale" of the Sengoku Period, and many of the battles afterwards feel really minor by comparison. The Western Army story, however, if fictional, and allowed the developers to make up whatever they wanted and the freedom shows. Many of the battles are more enjoyable, more open, and the last few are actually somewhat challenging, which was a breath of fresh air.
Overall an interesting and experimental little piece of PS2 history (it was advertised as the first strategy game for PS2) that laid the foundation for its wacky successor.
Kessen II is a distinct departure from the first, both story and gameplay wise. It's set in Three Kingdoms China, rather than Sengoku Japan, and focuses on smaller scale battles with more control given to the player. Unfortunately, the battles have gone from large open fields to smaller fields with lots of corridors (like a Dynasty Warriors map). The gaps were typically big enough to only fit one officer, so you constantly get drawn into 1v1 fights with no flanking opportunities and it comes down to who has the better stats. Sieges were even worse in this regard, and there's the naval battles which were just plain horrible. Also, unlike the first game, you can't skip the special attack cutscenes, and some of them are pretty damn long. On the other hand, I really liked how before each battle your advisors and officers would each give their own plan for how the battle should be fought, and these often changed the course of the fights in significant ways.
As for the story, well, while the first was a relatively grounded affair this game turns it up to fucking 11 and goes full blown fan fiction. It begins with Liu Bei and his loving girlfriend Diao Chan (yes, the same Diao Chan who is Lu Bu's lover) being kidnapped by Cao Cao and his dastardly witch ally Princess Himiko who secretly loves Cao Cao and hates Diao Chan. So Liu Bei enlists the aid of his allies including Zhang Fei and his ninja daughters, and of course his trusty wizard Zhuge Liang. Towards the end of the game Zhuge Liang and Himiko even have an epic DBZ style beam fight. When you finish the game as Liu Bei you then unlock a new playthrough from Cao Cao's side, at the end of which it is revealed that
Cao Cao and Liu Bei are actually brothers! And then Cao Cao lets Diao Chan go and be with Liu Bei while he supposedly turns his own desires towards a genderbent Xun Yu."]
So while the gameplay felt frustrating most of the time, the story made it a very hard to forget game, and the cutscenes make DW look tame by comparison.
Finishing up is Kessen III, the most streamlined and enjoyable game by far. Kessen III mostly ditches the strategy aspect of the previous and goes much more into action combat. You control an officer and his troops (whether it be cavalry, spearmen, archers, gunners etc.) and run around attacking, parrying and performing special attacks in unison with your troops. You can switch between your various officers and give them orders, making the game much faster paced. Also, allied units can now move through each other! Yay! The game features heaps of unlockable unit types and secret officers to recruit, though the limited number of troops on the battlefields (for you) kinda took away from the 'epic scale' battlefield feel the first two games were going for.
Storywise, it features a surprisingly rare positive outlook on the life and person of Nobunaga Oda, with him simply wanting to be a man who wants to end the fighting as quickly and mercifully as possible. It follows his life up until the betrayal of Mitushide Akechi, which he survives, and ends with a
Out of all of them I enjoyed the third the most, but honestly I would love a game with the scale of 1, the gameplay of 3, and the wackiness of 2. That's a game I would play day 1.
Finished Spritfarer. It was well done and I dug both the base/city building aspects and the emotional core of getting to know and (generally) like all the spirits onboard. It does feel like the game is left open to interpretation as to what's really going on, though I did appreciate how bringing people comfort at the end of their lives was what Stella needed to feel satisfied enough for her to do the same. The idea that the entire game was essentially her dying dream actually explains a lot.
Other then that, did some Demos.
Werewolf the Apocalypse: Heart of the Forest. Unlike the higher budget Earthblood, this is a Indie title coming out later this year which is something between a text adventure, a visual novel and an RPG. There's a lot of text and some rather well done artwork to set the tone, which seems reasonably well done for this sort of thing. You're presented choices that presumably determine your class and character personality in a more organic fashion then most RPGs, along the the obligatory skill checked choices which....I don't know how much it matters or not.
The demo is more or less the prologue and chapter 1(or at least part of it) which ends with you realizing what kind of Werewolf class you are(apparently I'm a judge, which I don't know what that means but sure). The plot seems to revolve around and a friend taking a trip to one of the most primal forests in Poland, the Białowieża, because your family was from there and they were wierd and you've been having wierdass dreams about the forest calling to you and....Seriously, the games called "Werewolf", where do you think this is going? Despite that, the writing lays on the atmosphere thick so I'm digging it so far. I plan on checking this out when I releases for real.
I've never played the werewolf RPG(either of them), but have some basic knowledge of the whole WoD thing so I have some context for all of this stuff but not much beyond that.
Also tried out the demo for GameDec(which is short for GameDetective) from a Polish Anshar Studios. It's a pre-alpha build(helpfully shown on the corner of the screen and the intro flat out says there's a lot of non-functional bits at the moment). It played okay from what I tried of it, initially giving you option of picking a rudimentary background option and a type of profession(I ended up being a techie/hacker type). I got to a dead end where I wasn't sure if I could advance due to making a number of mistakes in the puzzles, so I quit and plan to try again later. It's unclear if this an issue with me making stupid mistakes, the pre-alpha nature of the demo or both. It was intriguing albeit clunky. There's some potential there to be sure and the pre-alpha nature means that it could change a lot before full release. Well, being pre-alpha it damn will better change a lot before it's released.
Werewolf the Apocalypse: Heart of the Forest. Unlike the higher budget Earthbood, this is a Indie title coming out later this year which is something between a text adventure, a visual novel and an RPG. There's a lot of text and some rather well done artwork to set the tone, which seems reasonably well done for this sort of thing. You're presented choices that presumably determine your class and character personality in a more organic fashion then most RPGs, along the the obligatory skill checked choices which....I don't know how much it matters or not.
Well the skill checks matter, in that they basically help shape what Auspice you will be. Which is VERY important in Werewolf, as it basically determines what your overall role in the werewolf society will be. What duties and tasks you will be expected to do, and what magical abilities you will have.
The demo is more or less the prologue and chapter 1(or at least part of it) which ends with you realizing what kind of Werewolf class you are(apparently I'm a judge, which I don't know what that means but sure). The plot seems to revolve around and a friend taking a trip to one of the most primal forests in Poland, the Białowieża, because your family was from there and they were wierd and you've been having wierdass dreams about the forest calling to you and....Seriously, the games called "Werewolf", where do you think this is going? Despite that, the writing lays on the atmosphere thick so I'm digging it so far. I plan on checking this out when I releases for real.
The Judge is the Half-Moon Auspice. Basically the 5 moon phases match the 5 auspices you can have. Full Moon = Ahroun (Warrior), Gibbous Moon = Galliard (Bard/Storyteller/Lorekeeper), Half-Moon = ...actually I forget the werewolf name for this one, but it's the Judge, the Lawgivers and mediators of the werewolf world. Crescent Moon = Theurge (Mystic/Shamans, deal with the spirits as a primary focus), and New Moon = Ragabash (Sneaksie Trick Thief, Spies, Assassins, etc) The nosy, investigation, espionage type wolves.
Depending on your auspice, it changes what types of Gifts (spirit magic) you can most easily gain access to, and generally influences what type of gameplay you will have. While all werewolves are expected to wolf out and rip and tear when needed, if you are going Full Moon, then that is primarily what you will be doing with your game. You won't be doing a lot of social interactions for example, compared to a Half-Moon Judge. A Crescent Moon would probably spend more time in game, dealing with spirits, being in the spirit world, and less time directly dealing with the fleshy meatbag type beings. It might be just as much combat as social dealings, but the focus would be a lot of spirit related issues, and less "physical world" issues. That kind of thing.
Well the skill checks matter, in that they basically help shape what Auspice you will be. Which is VERY important in Werewolf, as it basically determines what your overall role in the werewolf society will be. What duties and tasks you will be expected to do, and what magical abilities you will have.
The Judge is the Half-Moon Auspice. Basically the 5 moon phases match the 5 auspices you can have. Full Moon = Ahroun (Warrior), Gibbous Moon = Galliard (Bard/Storyteller/Lorekeeper), Half-Moon = ...actually I forget the werewolf name for this one, but it's the Judge, the Lawgivers and mediators of the werewolf world. Crescent Moon = Theurge (Mystic/Shamans, deal with the spirits as a primary focus), and New Moon = Ragabash (Sneaksie Trick Thief, Spies, Assassins, etc) The nosy, investigation, espionage type wolves.
Depending on your auspice, it changes what types of Gifts (spirit magic) you can most easily gain access to, and generally influences what type of gameplay you will have. While all werewolves are expected to wolf out and rip and tear when needed, if you are going Full Moon, then that is primarily what you will be doing with your game. You won't be doing a lot of social interactions for example, compared to a Half-Moon Judge. A Crescent Moon would probably spend more time in game, dealing with spirits, being in the spirit world, and less time directly dealing with the fleshy meatbag type beings. It might be just as much combat as social dealings, but the focus would be a lot of spirit related issues, and less "physical world" issues. That kind of thing.
Yeah, like I said in my post about the demo, it's really expecting you to be a fan of the game, and familiar with the terminology. As you so perfectly illustrated, someone who isn't familiar with it, got to the end, and as I suspected was like "Ok...half moon...um...cool I guess?" xD
There is a lot of depth and lore to the game setting, 13 different tribes that each have their own take on the world and how to deal with the struggle against the antagonist. So you can have some varied examples of say, the same auspice, from tribe to tribe. A Half-Moon from the Uktena tribe (a traditionally Native American werewolf tribe) would behave and operate vastly differently from one from the Glasswalker tribe (The urban, digital cyberpunk-esque werewolf tribe). An Uktena would probably like, convince some spirits to help him execute a plan to ruin some person he Judged to be removed, but a Glasswalker would be more likely to enact an online smear/cancel campaign against someone, to ruin their company to stop the pollution they are causing, while also hacking their financial records and sexual exploits that were recorded, sending them to the local authorities.
.....I might be a somewhat big fan of Werewolf xD
I will be VERY curious how much of the lore they will be able to put into the game. Given it's all about this one forrest, I suspect that your tribe probably will be set? As those tend to be somewhat geographical in nature, as they TEND to fall along racial/genetic lines. And since it's about a rural spirit location, I doubt you will become a Glasswalker for example, as they just wouldn't be in their element.
Yeah, like I said in my post about the demo, it's really expecting you to be a fan of the game, and familiar with the terminology. As you so perfectly illustrated, someone who isn't familiar with it, got to the end, and as I suspected was like "Ok...half moon...um...cool I guess?" xD
There is a lot of depth and lore to the game setting, 13 different tribes that each have their own take on the world and how to deal with the struggle against the antagonist. So you can have some varied examples of say, the same auspice, from tribe to tribe. A Half-Moon from the Uktena tribe (a traditionally Native American werewolf tribe) would behave and operate vastly differently from one from the Glasswalker tribe (The urban, digital cyberpunk-esque werewolf tribe). An Uktena would probably like, convince some spirits to help him execute a plan to ruin some person he Judged to be removed, but a Glasswalker would be more likely to enact an online smear/cancel campaign against someone, to ruin their company to stop the pollution they are causing, while also hacking their financial records and sexual exploits that were recorded, sending them to the local authorities.
.....I might be a somewhat big fan of Werewolf xD
I will be VERY curious how much of the lore they will be able to put into the game. Given it's all about this one forrest, I suspect that your tribe probably will be set? As those tend to be somewhat geographical in nature, as they TEND to fall along racial/genetic lines. And since it's about a rural spirit location, I doubt you will become a Glasswalker for example, as they just wouldn't be in their element.
I remember reading about it way back in the day when the first W:tA game(the Heart of Gaia) was being made(around 2000) so I kinda remember the (really) basic summery. I do remember the HoG game was going to be about the "Last of the White Howlers" which apparently is the equivalent of bad fan-fic in the fandom, but the game never got completed so I guess it was a wash either way.
Oh, and veering back to the main topic, I started playing Inmost, which is a horror-ish puzzle-platformer that looks both really retro but also surprisingly good. It has some good atmosphere, the puzzles are generally well executed but nothing mind-bending or terribly creative and something akin to a plot about pain and black monsters. Checkpoints are fairly close to each other so even though you can die easily making steady progress is not difficult and the game is apparently only like 4-5 hours long.
Honestly, I'm not sure what it's actually about. You play as 3 or 4 different characters in the first 15 minutes alone and still have almost no clue how any of these segments connect to each other. It feels almost like a David Lynch film as far as weird creepiness is concerned(there's probably a much better comparison but none are leaping to mind at the moment). Apparently you swap between 3 of them back and forth through the game (at predetermined points) where each of them has different ways to traverse the levels, which are unique to the characters.
So it's interesting but I have no idea what's going on. I'm not even sure there is eventually going to be a plot. It's definitely a game that runs off the strength of it's atmosphere and gameplay, but the game does keep hinting there might be a plot to bind all of this together, so I guess I'll have to see. $15 being asked is probably a reasonable price point for the length and what is it, at least at this time.
I remember reading about it way back in the day when the first W:tA game(the Heart of Gaia) was being made(around 2000) so I kinda remember the (really) basic summery. I do remember the HoG game was going to be about the "Last of the White Howlers" which apparently is the equivalent of bad fan-fic in the fandom, but the game never got completed so I guess it was a wash either way.
the white howlers were a tribe that were sort of a cautionary tale. they thought they were awesome enough to kill the big badguy of the setting, and so they charged, as an entire tribe, in the mouth of the beast, quite literally. The problem is that the beast is one that corrupts and makes people go mad. So in the process of traversing the layers of their concept of hell, they became corrupted, and by the time they reached the bottom, they were totally twisted and became the Black Spiral Dancers, which is the "evil werewolf tribe", that works to bring about the destruction of the world, instead of fight it.
But yeah there was always a trend among fans of "the last White Howler" the one uncorrupted member of the tribe, who could redeem them from their fall from grace, etc etc. And yeah, it was the 90s, so you can imagine the quality of the stories people would make along those lines. A lot of players would try and make characters that were actually "the last howler" as their background. It was...not the best writing.
Recently bought Strider, $2.99 on PSN. Chasing the Metroidvania fever after Guacamelee. Strider is even more linear than Guacamelee but man is the combat smooth, organic, cathartic. I'd criticize its fundamental lack of personality more than anything, but then every Japanese dystopia looks the same to me and I guess it goes with the 90s retro look.
Recently bought Strider, $2.99 on PSN. Chasing the Metroidvania fever after Guacamelee. Strider is even more linear than Guacamelee but man is the combat smooth, organic, cathartic. I'd criticize its fundamental lack of personality more than anything, but then every Japanese dystopia looks the same to me and I guess it goes with the 90s retro look.
Strider (2014) is most fun, other than Gucamelee, Metroidvania I've ever played. I never like the genre that much, but this game I put multiple hours in my first playthough. The combat just works and I love the future look. It's the best Strider game ever made. Yes, it's even better than Strider 2 on PS1.
Strider (2014) is most fun, other than Gucamelee, Metroidvania I've ever played. I never like the genre that much, but this game I put multiple hours in my first playthough. The combat just works and I love the future look. It's the best Strider game ever made. Yes, it's even better than Strider 2 on PS1.
I'm very happy with it. I haven't played much Metroidvania in general, both Metroid and Castlevania are foggy childhood memories. I don't know if the Demon's/Dark Souls games count or are considered a genre unto itself. But between Guacamelee and Strider I'm having a blast. Maybe I've just lucked out. Will probably end up getting Hollow Knight too, I'm kinda waiting for it to go on sale or at least until I clear my backlog some more. Have read good things about Axiom Verge and Dead Cells as well.
My first Metroid game was on the GB with Metroid II, and my first Castlevania game was the non-canon, Circle of the Moon. Metroidvanias that I have actually completed are Strider (2014), Shadow Complex, DMC1 & 3 (especially the first game), and God of War 4. I know people like to describe Dark Souls and Souls style games as 3D style Metroidvanias and they're not wrong, but I have no interests. There's also the Legacy of Kain games, Soul Reaver, and Darksiders 1-3 that fit the 3D aspect too.
So I haven't actually gotten to God of War yet because a friend of mine got me to start playing Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate with him, and I liked MH4 well enough but never really went deep into it. At this point I've still basically only scratched the surface of this game too (only up to LR2 quests offline), but I'm having more fun than I expected, and maybe it's because of Dark Souls but I feel like this time I'm actually getting the hang of some of the game's slower weapons like the Great Sword.
Currently having the best results (and the most fun) with Guild DB, but also working on learning Striker GS, Adept IG, Valor LS. And I don't need any recommendations for which weapons or styles I should be using, because I like using the listed. That, and that many weapons is about as many as I can try to figure out at once, I'll work on something else once I have those figured out or written off.
So I haven't actually gotten to God of War yet because a friend of mine got me to start playing Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate with him, and I liked MH4 well enough but never really went deep into it. At this point I've still basically only scratched the surface of this game too (only up to LR2 quests offline), but I'm having more fun than I expected, and maybe it's because of Dark Souls but I feel like this time I'm actually getting the hang of some of the game's slower weapons like the Great Sword.
Currently having the best results (and the most fun) with Guild DB, but also working on learning Striker GS, Adept IG, Valor LS. And I don't need any recommendations for which weapons or styles I should be using, because I like using the listed. That, and that many weapons is about as many as I can try to figure out at once, I'll work on something else once I have those figured out or written off.
Funny thing, I keep dabbling with the idea of getting MH: World, even though I've never played any of them, mainly because of this video. I don't know why, but it just amuses me so much.
Funny thing, I keep dabbling with the idea of getting MH: World, even though I've never played any of them, mainly because of this video. I don't know why, but it just amuses me so much.
Actually the same friend who got me to pick up Generations also got one other mutual friend to try the demo, and the first weapon he picked was Hunting Horn. And it completely clicked with him enough that he got the main game (on sale because of the announcement of Rise and Stories 2). Funny how that works.
I have played World a very little bit, but even less than 4 and GenU. While those games are a little hard to recommend because they're still fairly old-fashioned, World goes for the modernization route, and actually handles it pretty well. Most of the weapons are still fairly slow or have a short range, though, and while Hunting Horn is still pretty good solo, it's mostly built around multiplayer, being able to buff the entire team at once. If it's what interests you, though, go for it. Just maybe wait for a sale. Even modernized Monster Hunter definitely isn't for everyone.
Actually the same friend who got me to pick up Generations also got one other mutual friend to try the demo, and the first weapon he picked was Hunting Horn. And it completely clicked with him enough that he got the main game (on sale because of the announcement of Rise and Stories 2). Funny how that works.
I have played World a very little bit, but even less than 4 and GenU. While those games are a little hard to recommend because they're still fairly old-fashioned, World goes for the modernization route, and actually handles it pretty well. Most of the weapons are still fairly slow or have a short range, though, and while Hunting Horn is still pretty good solo, it's mostly built around multiplayer, being able to buff the entire team at once. If it's what interests you, though, go for it. Just maybe wait for a sale. Even modernized Monster Hunter definitely isn't for everyone.
Yeah I would probably go Hunting Horn, just for the fun of it. Some of the comments in that clip, about people playing and encountering HH mains, were incredibly amusing to me. Plus i've always loved playing support classes in multiplayer, and I've always excelled at them, so it would be fun for me for sure. I just...kind of have a low tolerance for the metric tons of insanity that usually come with japanese titles. But yeah, it's sort of dancing around in my head, might pick it up on sale some day.
Season 2 and Belial just came out along a balance patch for Granblue Versus so I'm all over that. Also my copy of 13 Sentinels should be coming in the mail any day now. Finally my 4 year long wait will end. But first gotta do some prettyboy fallen angel combos on some netplay fools! (welp, miss offline so much x.x, damn you le couf)
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