Video Game Discussion

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BleuPanda
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Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Since this board is generally underused, I think it would be a waste to make a new topic with each game. Use this topic to just discuss whatever, games you're hyped for, games you've been playing, etc.

I've been doing a top 250 video game project on another forum like the one here. I've posted the results in a blog post here:
https://casanovazelos.wordpress.com/201 ... /b8top250/

Unfortunately those boards don't archive anything and topics disappear after a couple days, so I'll have to find a place to save the results.


Additionally, this could be a good place to share names if any of us would like to join each other for an online game.

Steam: FoolFantastic
PSN: CasanovaZelos
(I'll add Nintendo when I can doublecheck what it is, and I might need to doublecheck the spacing on these)


I've currently been in a big Souls mood, currently playing through the Bloodborne DLC because I can't wait for DS3 next week.
Last edited by BleuPanda on Fri May 13, 2016 3:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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BleuPanda
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

In other news, I got one of my friends to play through Life is Strange, partially because I wanted to go through the story again without having the benefit of knowing where each choice would lead. It was an interesting experience; you know gaming has come along as a medium when someone can be brought to tears multiple times by a single game. The game really does a perfect job questioning the idea of choice, and the key feature of allowing you to rewind every decision to see each possible outcome makes finally choosing so much harder.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nassim »

Added you in Steam ! (will add you on PSN too when I will have moved back to my appartment who had heavy work done on the past 3 weeks).

One of the disadvantages of finally having a steady relationship is that I have less time for video games (and series) so I'm not playing much this days,though I beat Until Dawn a couple months ago (fun but most of your choices don't have that much impact on the story in the end) and the first Uncharted game (got the trilogy on PS4) which I found a bit boring, but pretty much every review says the 2nd is the best. Also finished Arkham Knight, as much fun as usual, the batmobile is not as annoying as I had read, it's even fun at times, though the game might rely a bit too much on it... still, great story telling, a fitting end (or is it ? ) to a great series of game.
I was contemplating dusting my 3DS for Hyrule Warriors but most reviews says you need a new 3ds, so I'll wait for the new Fire Emblem instead.

And I think I still have almost a dozen Steam games still waiting for me to play !!!
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BleuPanda
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Dark Souls 3 is pretty kickass. I'm breezing through it, though, which means the challenge of this series is starting to wear off through experience. Luckily the challenge has never been the main draw for me (I've always preferred the level design and the smooth gameplay).

I have Bravely Second arriving today, hopefully less tedious than the first. Star Fox Zero is next week but I want to wait on reviews before committing to such a short game.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by JimmyJazz »

Hey Bleu, from one Soulsborne fan to another, as a quick conversation, what are your favorite bosses from the games? For me, they are one of the biggest draws to From's game design, alongside lore, level design, and the challenge (when it is fair!).

Top fives from each game (including DS3):

Demon's Souls:
Maidan Astraea
Flamelurker
Allant (the actual fight, not the stupid frog blob in a puddle thing)
The Old Monk
Storm King

Dark Souls 1:
Artorias
Smough & Ornstein
Manus
Kalameet
Gwyn
Sif (Cheated here, I know!)

Dark Souls 2:
Sir Alonne
Ivory King
Fume Knight
Sinh
Dark Lurker

Bloodborne:
Maria
Gehrman
Orphan of Kos
Ludwig
Gascoigne
Logarius (cheated again, but I really feel this game had the best boss roster, even more than DS3)

DS3:
Nameless King
Soul of Cinder
Dancer of the Boreal Valley
Abyss Watchers
Lothric
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BleuPanda
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

I still need to play Demon's Souls and finish Dark Souls 2, but for the other games (I think I'm going more off style than anything else):

Dark Souls (haven't played DLC):
Ornstein & Smough
Gwyn
Sif
Crossbreed Priscilla
Four Kings

Bloodborne (halway through DLC; haven't beaten Laurence or Orphan of Kos):
Shadow of Yharnam
Maria
Father Gascoigne
Gehrman
Amygdala

Dark Souls 3 (I actually beat the entirety of NG+ in a single sitting yesterday...):
Abyss Watchers
Dancer of the Boreal Valley
Lothric
Nameless King
Pontiff Sulyvahn
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BleuPanda
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Also, Dark Souls 3 location rank:
Lothric Castle
Irithyll of the Boreal Valley
Undead Settlement
Archdragon Peak
High Wall of Lothric
Cathedral of the Deep
Anor Londo
Untended Graves
Road of Sacrifices
Grand Archives
Catacombs of Carthus
Farron Keep
Profaned Capital
Consumed King's Garden
Smouldering Lake/Demon Ruins
Cemetary of Ash
Irithyll Dungeon

Irithyll Dungeon is the only place I straight up don't like, everything else works.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by whuntva »

I don't know if anyone would be interested in Overwatch here, but I signed up for the Open Beta on May 5.

I may just be into it because I was a fan of its spiritual predecessor TF2.

If you PM me, we can swap IDS and maybe play together.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nassim »

whuntva wrote:I don't know if anyone would be interested in Overwatch here, but I signed up for the Open Beta on May 5.

I may just be into it because I was a fan of its spiritual predecessor TF2.

If you PM me, we can swap IDS and maybe play together.
As a huge Borderlands fan, I'll start on the Battleborn team ! But I wouldn't be surprised if Overwatch ended up the most popular of the two (or even the best).
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by whuntva »

So I've been playing the beta, and I noticed someone on my server was named PandaBleu. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

I die a lot, but it is a fun game. There was one time I encountered a glitch that left me in a state of perpetual motion. It made me terrible at surprise attacks, but was great at pushing the cart.

My best class seems to be Pharah, though I have had success with Reaper.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

That's...interesting. Definitely wasn't me. I wonder how two people could come up with such a specific but meaningless set of words.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Pokemon Sun and Moon's starters and legendaries were revealed today, along with a November 18th US release date (and 23rd in the UK). I'm 90% sure I'll take the grass starter, though evolutions might change my opinion.

Anyone else here play the series? I've always been a fan of ranking Pokemon from each generation, though I'm assuming there's not a big enough base here for that specific of a poll.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by whuntva »

BleuPanda wrote:Pokemon Sun and Moon's starters and legendaries were revealed today, along with a November 18th US release date (and 23rd in the UK). I'm 90% sure I'll take the grass starter, though evolutions might change my opinion.

Anyone else here play the series? I've always been a fan of ranking Pokemon from each generation, though I'm assuming there's not a big enough base here for that specific of a poll.
I like Pokemon. A lot actually. It's something that's always been there for me and only gets better with age.

I like all gens, though I think Gen VI has been the one that fixed the flaws of all gens prior, therefore I like it best.

I might do a Pokemon poll if you're up for it.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

I also bought Uncharted 4 yesterday, but I'm too caught up finishing Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix...
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by luney6 »

whuntva wrote:
BleuPanda wrote:Pokemon Sun and Moon's starters and legendaries were revealed today, along with a November 18th US release date (and 23rd in the UK). I'm 90% sure I'll take the grass starter, though evolutions might change my opinion.

Anyone else here play the series? I've always been a fan of ranking Pokemon from each generation, though I'm assuming there's not a big enough base here for that specific of a poll.
I like Pokemon. A lot actually. It's something that's always been there for me and only gets better with age.

I like all gens, though I think Gen VI has been the one that fixed the flaws of all gens prior, therefore I like it best.

I might do a Pokemon poll if you're up for it.
I too like the games. Sometimes I even play on competitive simulators like smog on.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

I also greatly enjoy Pokémon. I pre-ordered Pokémon Moon and I'm looking toward the Water-type starter.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Maybe we should try a Pokemon poll. Start with a ranking of Generation I Pokemon?
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

I finally finished with that video game poll from the other forum I use. I think it's a solid list, though pretty JRPG heavy, especially at the top. If you want to check it out, find it here:
https://casanovazelos.wordpress.com/201 ... /b8top250/
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

It's E3 time!

Unfortunately, I've always leaned towards Nintendo, and, well, they haven't been at the top of their game for a few years. Not even having a full presentation this year...

I always get hyped for this event, but outside of things like Smash Bros., Kingdom Hearts, and a few other series close to my heart, I've realized a lot of big games don't excite me until I'm actually sitting down and playing them. But I always tune in with the hopes that one of my long-forgotten favorites will finally return (the biggest wish is an American release of Mother 3...).
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Also, unrelated to E3, I (obviously) just played through the Danganronpa series. I really loved their take on the Phoenix Wright formula. The second game especially is outstanding; it's rare for a game to manage such a large cast of characters, but, in the end, I think only 2 of the 16 characters were expendable. The twists and turns are strong, and a few moments actually hurt to play through (the final two cases of the second game especially). I would definitely recommend, especially if you're into either the Phoenix Wright or Battle Royale formula.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

The last game in the Zero Escape trilogy came out yesterday; it is killer so far. Its narrative structure is phenomenal.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

For the first time since the first generation, I have completed a Pokedex (sans event Pokemon). Aurorus brought me to 713 Pokemon in Omega Ruby; 8 event Pokemon remain, but the games themselves don't count them toward the total.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

BleuPanda wrote:For the first time since the first generation, I have completed a Pokedex (sans event Pokemon). Aurorus brought me to 713 Pokemon in Omega Ruby; 8 event Pokemon remain, but the games themselves don't count them toward the total.
Seen, or caught?
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Sweepstakes Ron wrote:
BleuPanda wrote:For the first time since the first generation, I have completed a Pokedex (sans event Pokemon). Aurorus brought me to 713 Pokemon in Omega Ruby; 8 event Pokemon remain, but the games themselves don't count them toward the total.
Seen, or caught?

Caught.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

I plan to complete the Pokédex (caught) for Pokémon Moon. But it won't be a living Pokédex, so I'm willing to trade away rare Pokémon as soon as I obtain them.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Janet B Baumbach »

Not many discussion here... Currently being interested in Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Red Dead Redemption 2, Mantigames’ Subway Surfers, and Zombs Royale.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Jirin »

Since I reached the peak of my abilities in Celeste I haven't gotten super drawn into anything. I decided to start a Dragon Quest IV game because the old DQ games are historically important games I never played. And I started Ys VIII: Tales of Dana, I mean Lacrimossa of Dana.

Plus I've been trying to play a bunch of other old classics I either never played or haven't played since I was a kid.

The new games that interest me are mostly either JRPGs, indie platformers and Nintendo first party games. The kind of adventure games that are popular I can recognize as great games but I have little or no interest in playing them due to hating their reward structure.

Those kinds of games I am more inclined to watch on the Internet than play, so I can experience the story but don't have to deal with the slow attrition of trophy stuffs as opposed to skill and strategy the games tend to entail.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

I figured that I should just resurrect this thread rather than making another one.

Over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to a ton of classic games (new and old) but the one I wanted to talk about today is the one that surprised me the most…Persona 3 Portable.

I don’t know if anyone here is already familiar with this series but I’m new to it and this is such a weird game! I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this but I was surprised that in addition to the fun turn-based battle system, there was also this day-by-day slice of life stuff that really makes up the meat of the game. It’s where the experience really shines as well, I was absolutely captivated by the mundane activities I was taking my guy through, whether it was making sure to answer the right questions in class to sound smarter (and cooler somehow?) or making sure I practiced hard enough for the upcoming swimming competition against a rival team.

This wouldn’t be quite as engrossing for me if it weren’t for all these activities being tied to developing relationships with the deep bench of supporting characters. I wanted them to like me because I liked them! It’s uncharacteristic of most RPG’s now (and especially back in the 2000’s) for there to be characters this well-realized and to have dialogue as thoughtful and entertaining as it is here. Even the characters that I initially thought were pretty two-dimensional ended up surprising me with well observed personality quirks that gave me a strong impression of who that person actually was and how they might react to situations.

The combat is pretty stellar as well, I haven’t played a lot of turn-based RPG’s since I was a kid so what was done here felt like a cool evolution of what I’d experienced before. It felt almost like the best of the classic turn-based systems as in Final Fantasy X (i.e. exploiting weaknesses and assessing the unique strengths of the party members) but also a bridge to the more automated AI that would show up in Final Fantasy XII (i.e. setting certain characters to auto-pilot as a support role while taking direct control over others).

Also, the music in this game is fucking wild and I love it. Its got some real bangers that play whether you’re in a tense battle or just exploring your school and it encapsulates the mood perfectly every single time.

I have some major gripes with a couple aspects of the game (such as Tartarus being painfully tedious at times) but it was not enough to derail what was otherwise a tremendously fun experience. In general, I was so hooked by this game that after I beat it I ended up starting it all over again as the female protagonist! I’m going through it now and I’m stunned by the fact that there is new voice-acted dialogue not available in the original play-through and even some entirely unique and newly composed music from the original. It’s remarkably generous in a way that’s extremely rare these days and I plan to indulge in it for another 80 hours if time permits.

Edit:

I forgot to mention that the voice acting in this game is pretty excellent for the most part and the actors were capable of some incredibly subtle intonation that could express the characters in ways that their words alone couldn’t. On that note, I should also mention that the side stories with most of the characters were genuinely moving at times and is a huge reason why this game resonated so hard for me.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nick »

BleuPanda wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 3:51 pm Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
After falling in love with P5 last fall, I'm psyched to try out P4 and P3 once I beat TOTK.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nassim »

I stopped somewhere in the summer period (ingame) in P3P so far, grinding for xp is tedious but you don't really have the choice if you don't want to hit a wall when getting to the boss fight (and you have no way to know if you are ready for the boss which makes things worse).
Also don't like that only the characters in my party are gaining xp, with such tedious grinding and quite a large roster, I don't want to have to grind twice !

Loved 4 and 5 but with the amount of games coming out in the coming months I don't know if I'll get back to it. That might be the issue though, with a lot of quality of life improvements coming from 4 and 5, going back to 3 feels like a stepdown (much more than moving from 5 to 4).
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Re: Video Game Discussion

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BleuPanda wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 3:51 pm Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
I fully intend to! The only reason I checked out 3 in the first place was because I’d heard such great things about the newer games, now I’m even more excited after seeing how good this game was.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

Nassim wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 7:31 am I stopped somewhere in the summer period (ingame) in P3P so far, grinding for xp is tedious but you don't really have the choice if you don't want to hit a wall when getting to the boss fight (and you have no way to know if you are ready for the boss which makes things worse).
Also don't like that only the characters in my party are gaining xp, with such tedious grinding and quite a large roster, I don't want to have to grind twice !

Loved 4 and 5 but with the amount of games coming out in the coming months I don't know if I'll get back to it. That might be the issue though, with a lot of quality of life improvements coming from 4 and 5, going back to 3 feels like a stepdown (much more than moving from 5 to 4).
Yeah that grind became a real chore after a while, especially since it’s like 250 floors that are all pretty bland…

I will say though if you do decide to give the game another shot, I just realized through my current playthrough that you can freely adjust the difficulty of the game at any time in the menu so I think I’ll utilize that once I get to some of the difficulty spikes that come with certain bosses!
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

I decided to give Final Fantasy XV another chance after bouncing off of it initially. It's weird how just nothing there seems designed to leave a lasting impact. Comparing the latter two single-player FF games, XIII feels like a series of ups and downs while XV doesn't do much outright wrong but also nothing particularly meaningful. Neither game knows how to actually tell its story. I think I side more with XV, because I'd rather take somewhat bland over constant stumbles.

Which, I'm somehow hyped for XVI - I'm hoping XIII and XV were just victims of their own hype machine. I don't know what they were thinking trying to preemptively declare XIII a series in itself (with XV originally a spinoff). XVI at least feels like it has an identity.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by billieeilishstyle »

BleuPanda wrote: Tue May 09, 2023 4:08 pm I decided to give Final Fantasy XV another chance after bouncing off of it initially. It's weird how just nothing there seems designed to leave a lasting impact. Comparing the latter two single-player FF games, XIII feels like a series of ups and downs while XV doesn't do much outright wrong but also nothing particularly meaningful. Neither game knows how to actually tell its story. I think I side more with XV, because I'd rather take somewhat bland over constant stumbles.

Which, I'm somehow hyped for XVI - I'm hoping XIII and XV were just victims of their own hype machine. I don't know what they were thinking trying to preemptively declare XIII a series in itself (with XV originally a spinoff). XVI at least feels like it has an identity.
I know this is not a question, you might not know the answer to, but predictions for XVI's Metascore?
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by BleuPanda »

Of course this is based on nothing, but I will guess an 86 - an improvement over XIII and XV, but probably not as highly regarded as the pure action games it will be compared against. But Final Fantasy feels hard to judge - will its narrative actually be comprehensible? Because that would cause a massive swing and is hard to judge from previews.

I had also decided to tackle FFXV after getting the new Theatrhythm, which is a wonderful experience.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nick »

I'm about 6 hours in TOTK. I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to anyone but...it's good. Anyone else playing it?
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Moonbeam »

Freaking loving TotK. Completely blown away!
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

As excited as I am it’ll probably still be a while before I get around to ToTK, I’m hoping to replay some of the other 3D Zelda’s first since I don’t remember a lot about them since they came out.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Zorg »

I absolutely adored ToTK. I'm not a gamer at all, but i fell in love with Breath of the Wild (I even 100%ed the game in the end, which I really enjoyed doing).. And I feel like TOTK is better in near enough every way. Better abilities, better shrines, better UI in the menu, cooler weapon choices, a more engaging story, more silly quests, more clothes that matter a bit more (BOTW was basically "wear the barbarian set, unless you're cold"). So just very very happy.

The analogy i've had in my head was that it was a bit like when Kendrick Lamar released To Pimp a Butterfly after the (imo) masterpiece of Good Kid Maad City. In the main it's super similar, but there's just this sense of "huh, I didn't know you could do that" that pervades for me.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

BleuPanda wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 3:51 pm Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
Well you were very much correct, just finished Persona 4 Golden and it was pretty incredible! Unfortunately I found out that there’s an even better ending that I didn’t get and I already saved the clear data…

I guess I’ll just start my second playthrough now, I could live in this game for another 80 hours or so.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nick »

FrankLotion wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 12:46 am
BleuPanda wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 3:51 pm Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
Well you were very much correct, just finished Persona 4 Golden and it was pretty incredible! Unfortunately I found out that there’s an even better ending that I didn’t get and I already saved the clear data…

I guess I’ll just start my second playthrough now, I could live in this game for another 80 hours or so.
In a pretty cool coincidence, I also beat Persona 4 Golden last Thursday. I loved the game, though I prefer Persona 5 Royal over it (I strongly prefer the set palace designs of P5 over the randomly generated, samey-looking dungeons in P4. I also thought the gameplay in P5 was stronger with tons of little quality of life improvements (like why doesn't it tell me how much SP a skill costs in the Velvet Room in P4??) over P4. Character-wise and music-wise I think the games are pretty close in quality, but I again have a slight preference for P5 over 4 (there weren't any characters in 4 I liked as much as Futaba or Ryuji). And obviously, in terms of graphics and graphic design, P5 takes the cake, though this is mostly due to the technical limitations of the PS2 versus the PS3. Anyway, I disgress...)

Fortunately, because I beat P5R last December, I figured there was a chance that there was missable content, so I went online beforehand and looked up a spoiler-free guide to get to the "true ending".

But yeah. If P5R was a 10/10, I'd still give P4G a solid 9/10.
Alena_03
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Alena_03 »

I'm trying to tackle the top 100s of PTG, TGB, AM, TTV, & TSPDT 25 at a time
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FrankLotion
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

Nick wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 1:36 pm
FrankLotion wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 12:46 am
BleuPanda wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 3:51 pm Make sure to check out Persona 4 and 5! They're like 3 but even better.
Well you were very much correct, just finished Persona 4 Golden and it was pretty incredible! Unfortunately I found out that there’s an even better ending that I didn’t get and I already saved the clear data…

I guess I’ll just start my second playthrough now, I could live in this game for another 80 hours or so.
In a pretty cool coincidence, I also beat Persona 4 Golden last Thursday. I loved the game, though I prefer Persona 5 Royal over it (I strongly prefer the set palace designs of P5 over the randomly generated, samey-looking dungeons in P4. I also thought the gameplay in P5 was stronger with tons of little quality of life improvements (like why doesn't it tell me how much SP a skill costs in the Velvet Room in P4??) over P4. Character-wise and music-wise I think the games are pretty close in quality, but I again have a slight preference for P5 over 4 (there weren't any characters in 4 I liked as much as Futaba or Ryuji). And obviously, in terms of graphics and graphic design, P5 takes the cake, though this is mostly due to the technical limitations of the PS2 versus the PS3. Anyway, I disgress...)

Fortunately, because I beat P5R last December, I figured there was a chance that there was missable content, so I went online beforehand and looked up a spoiler-free guide to get to the "true ending".

But yeah. If P5R was a 10/10, I'd still give P4G a solid 9/10.
I’m super excited to get to P5, I know that’s a lot of people’s favorite! And I’m glad to hear the dungeons are a little better there, that is probably my only real complaint about P4 (and P3 for that matter).

As for the ending, I won’t spoil it for others but at first my game ended super early after choosing one or two dialogue options incorrectly so when I redid that scene and got all the way through the bonus dungeon with Marie I thought for sure I got the best ending. It’s crazy that there’s even more of this super long game that I didn’t get to experience.
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FrankLotion
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by FrankLotion »

Alena_03 wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:04 pm I'm trying to tackle the top 100s of PTG, TGB, AM, TTV, & TSPDT 25 at a time
That’s quite an ambitious project, I’ve played roughly 70ish games from the top 100 of PTG but that was over the course of 30 years lol.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by Nassim »

FrankLotion wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 2:00 am
Alena_03 wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:04 pm I'm trying to tackle the top 100s of PTG, TGB, AM, TTV, & TSPDT 25 at a time
That’s quite an ambitious project, I’ve played roughly 70ish games from the top 100 of PTG but that was over the course of 30 years lol.
Looks like I played 63 at least a little bit, but only about enough to really get a clear and full picture of the game (some I gave up too early, other I only quickly played at friends'). I tried to check how many I beat and I got to 30 but for some games it gets pretty shady, how do you define if you have beaten Counter Strike for instance ?
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Re: Video Game Discussion

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So other than the Persona games, I really haven’t talked much about all the other games I played this year. I spent more than a month this summer recovering from a surgery so I had a ton of downtime, meaning I played a lot of games since I couldn’t do much else. Luckily they were mostly very good so it was time well spent.

Here’s my “brief” thoughts on these games which are roughly in order of most to least good. Unfortunately I never got around to the two games everyone seemed to love most this year in Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate III, so hopefully I’ll get around to those eventually:


Metroid Prime

…Just putting this here to make everyone aware that one of the absolute best games of all time is now more easily available than it’s been in a couple decades after it got remastered for the Switch and it works better than ever now. I loved every second of it.


Resident Evil 4 Remake

Rare is there a game that actually exceeds its high expectations. Elden Ring was that game last year, and now we have the phenomenal new remake of the best Resident Evil, which somehow manages to recapture the magic of playing the classic original all over again.

There wasn’t a single game I played this year that maintained such exhilarating, silly thrills over the entire length of its story, which is something that could be said of the original game back in 2005 but now it’s been augmented by the most refined and satisfying gameplay that Capcom has ever developed. I can’t recommend it highly enough for anyone who likes horror games or even just action games generally, it’s a real treat.


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I finally finished this game this year after only getting halfway with it before. I knew I loved it back then but I was playing on my sister’s Switch so she took it with her and I’ve had to just wonder if the rest of the game would meet the deafening praise that it’s gotten since release. I think I can confidently say it really is a remarkably rich experience and worthy of the hype. I found every inch of Hyrule to be a blast to explore and it was constantly surprising me with its genuinely hostile environments and enemies that killed this seasoned gamer pretty regularly!

Minor quibbles about the durability system aside, this was tremendously fun and I can’t wait to play the sequel. It’s an ice-cold take at this point to call this a masterpiece but Nintendo really knocked it out of the park with this one. Absolutely a 10/10.


Personas 3, 4, and 5

I can’t believe it took me so long to play these…I’ve briefly talked about them before but after now beating the fifth entry of the series I can confidently say that these are some truly spectacular RPG’s with some of the best turn-based combat and some of the most interesting stories in the medium. Also, Persona 5 might have the best presentation of any game, with its gorgeous animation and the stunning graphic design within its myriad menus and dialogue boxes that show up everywhere. (Not to mention the consistently fantastic music)


The Last of Us Part II

Talk about an under-appreciated sequel. I know this game got fantastic reviews but I never hear anyone actually talk about it other than about the chaotic backlash that it faced upon release. I really didn’t have much desire to play it after all that exhausting discourse, especially since the first game was seeming much less fun with every year that went by even if I continue to admire it.

Boy howdy am I glad I gave this a shot because this feels like the game that Naughty Dog have been building up to this whole time! I still love the first game and the Uncharted series for what they are but the Last of Us Part II has one of the most compelling gameplay loops by making every encounter nerve-wracking and exciting while keeping the downtime in searching for supplies and completing environmental puzzles just as engaging.

And that story…they took some really big swings with this one but I think they nailed it. It’s just as captivating as its predecessor but is much more haunting with its bleak morality and the implications of its characters’ actions. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.


Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection

Earlier this year Square released all six of its classic 2D Final Fantasy games in one package on Switch and PS4 with updated graphics and a ton of quality-of-life features to make the barrier of entry as low as possible.

I’ve gone through 1-4 again and I may write more about them all after I’ve finished replaying FF5 and FF6 but I’ll say that even without the QOL features these games have aged incredibly well and I’m surprised that I’m enjoying them as much now as I was decades ago when I first played them. I strongly recommend checking the collection out if you have any fond memories of these games!


Immortality

This was a very cool experience, I know this FMV genre has existed for a while but I never decided to try one of these games out until I saw all the praise that Immortality was getting last year. What makes the game especially cool is highly spoilable so I won’t say too much but the essential plot is that you are looking through footage of three films that were never released and trying to solve a mystery surrounding the actress that ties all three movies together. There are some truly unexpected twists and turns as you try to piece the story together and the game won’t tell you about some of the secret mechanics so it’s a fun little puzzle box. Surprisingly creepy and unnerving at times too.


Pentiment

Speaking of mysteries in games from last year, Pentiment is also great! If you know anything about this game it’s probably the art style, which is like a late medieval painting come to life. It’s appropriately set in a late medieval Bavarian village, which is not really a part of history I’m very familiar with, but the game hooks you in with a dense and complicated murder mystery that unravels over the course of a couple decades. The game was made by Obsidian Entertainment so if you’re familiar with their stuff you’ll know that the writing and character work in their games is typically very entertaining and well-observed, and Pentiment is no exception. There are definitely a couple parts in the back third of the game that go a bit too slow but the ending is an all-timer if you stick with it.


Hi-Fi Rush

This was a surprise release at the beginning of the year from the same developers that made The Evil Within games, though Hi-Fi Rush seems to be a big left turn away from that series. It’s not a horror game at all, and is instead a brightly colored rhythm-action game where the entire world and combat moves to the beat of the songs playing in the background. I’d say it’s mostly a big success! I’m not a big fan of this genre but the combat is quite fun and they have some great tunes to soundtrack the action (including some Nine Inch Nails songs).

The game seems mostly geared towards a younger audience so I expected to be groaning at the dialogue but I was mostly just charmed by it. Charming is a good descriptor for most of this game actually, the art style especially is outrageous looking but it looks awesome and has a 90’s cartoon feel to it. I’m not sure I’d ever go back to this since it doesn’t have the kind of replayability I look for but it was a great time while it lasted.


Starfield

What was probably the most anticipated game of the year other than the new Zelda, there was a LOT riding on Starfield given how long it’s been since the last Bethesda game. It’s proven to be one of the most divisive games in recent memory too, and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it.

In some ways it’s the best game that Bethesda has made so far, with a main campaign that is far more engaging than the Elder Scrolls games and combat that completely eclipses the shooting in Fallout. But then there are some aspects that made those past games so special that are somehow hollowed out this time around. It’s bigger than ever with literally 1000 planets to explore but you can probably guess that a game that wide in scope won’t go very deep if you’re trying to find anything interesting to do on any of those planets. And the game has a strange bland sterility to it when those past games were teeming with weird little characters and moments around every turn.

It’s far from a disaster, most times I’m having a blast with it when the content is good, but going into this game expecting to be wowed all the time will leave you disappointed.


Forza Motorsport

This is by far the newest game here and I don’t really have that much to say about it. The Forza Motorsport games play very differently than Forza Horizon, with the former being more of a racing sim and the latter being a wild playground of cars. I definitely prefer the Horizon games but there are some thrills to be found in an ultra-realistic game like this, especially if you’re playing against real people online. I’m glad I got this through Game Pass though because I don’t think I’d ever buy a racing game of this style, but to each their own I guess.


Rogue Legacy 2

My biggest disappointment of the year was playing Rogue Legacy 2. I never played the first game so I didn’t have any expectations there but I love Roguelikes and this game looked like it would be super fun and reviews were stellar across the board. The game is pretty decent for the most part but unfortunately I found a lot of the enemies and environments to be a little frustrating at times with weird spikes in difficulty. I also could not care less about what few characters there were, who mostly speak in punchlines that don’t really land most of the time.

After I had rolled credits I was pretty much done with it even though the game tries to entice you into a bunch of bonus content. Still, there is a lot of great variety when it comes to character classes so replayability is potentially very high if I ever decide to go back.

Edit:

Oh yeah, and I guess I played a little bit of Diablo IV as well. It was fine but not fun enough for me to want to finish it.
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Re: Video Game Discussion

Post by margaritka »

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