toxicitizen

Resident Evil 7. Just finished it as well. Well, that was pretty damn good. I do have a few minor nitpicks but overall I'd say this was a very successful reinvention for the franchise. Not quite on the instant classic level of RE4 but still a pretty solid balance of new and familiar. In many ways, it feels like a return to the old-school style of the first game. The phrase "return to the series' roots" has been thrown around a lot when discussing the Revelations games but those were still pretty much the same thing as RE4-6. RE7 feels like a much more appropriate one to describe that way. They said during development that they looked back to RE1 as their main source of inspiration and that wasn't bullshit. The Bakers farmhouse feels a lot like a smaller version of the Spencer Mansion. You're doing item box runs and unlocking doors with scorpion keys and dog head emblems. It's great! There is one section right before the end that felt uninspired and lazy, though. It wasn't bad enough to affect my overall feelings on the game but the entire time I was just waiting for it to be over. Also, that ending confused the shit out of me. Not because I didn't understand what happened but, well... Anyway, overall I liked how smaller it was (especially compared to the bloated, incoherent mess that was RE6) but at the same time it weirdly felt like a step back. It kinda feels like half side-story, half setup for whatever comes next. I'm definitely down for another one in this style but I hope they scale things up a bit. Nothing too crazy but something kinda like the Mansion->Raccoon City jump RE2 did. Speaking of which, REmake 2 is up next! Really looking forward to getting a first look at that one. I really hope it's done exactly in the same style as the first remake. After RE7, I'm ready to leave the RE4/5/6/Rev style of gameplay behind.

Last night felt a lot like that but today it seemed like I was moving through new areas at a much faster pace. So now I'm really not sure how much I have left and I'm worried I'm super close to the end. I really don't want it to end, it's so good.

Lol, yeah, I remember renting RE2 and loading up an existing scenario B save that was already on the N64 game cart. I didn't know anything different would be going on, so imagine my surprise when I'm just going through a section I've done before but this happens out of nowhere RE has only ever truly been scary as a kid. The last time I remember being scared by the series is on my first playthrough of RE4 when it first came out on GCN and it was only during one section. The boss fight in the sewer-like tunnel against Salazar's right hand. Everything else is just way too cheesy and dumb to be anything more than stressful.

Just put 3 hours into the game, although some of it was spent wandering around aimlessly and being chased without being sure how to lose my pursuer. So, I probably have less than 3 hours in terms of actual game progress. Anyway, so far I'm really enjoying it. It definitely feels like a true return to the series' roots. I kind of understand why they were only showing very short clips for the marketing now. I have a feeling the game is going to be very small in terms of scale. I'm still in the same general area I started in and it feels very similar to the first game in how you're exploring this one big place and constantly backtracking through rooms and unlocking new doors. One thing worth mentioning is that the game isn't scary at all so far. And keep in mind this is coming from someone who's admittedly a giant wuss when it comes to horror games. Resident Evil has never been a very scary series but I would at least feel some base level of stress while playing. Here, not so much. The bit I mentioned where I was being chased and had trouble figuring out how to lose the guy, the entire time I was just thinking to myself "lmao fuck off dude" while dodging his blows and trying not to get killed. It was intense but not stressful, if that makes any sense. I'm heading to bed for now but I can't wait to play more tomorrow and see what else the game has in store.

2064: Read Only Memories. Just wrapped this one up about an hour ago. Been playing it all evening because I was hoping to finish it before RE7 unlocked on Steam. I had a couple hours more left than I expected. This is described as a visual novel/point-and-click hybrid inspired by games like Snatcher and Policenauts and, I'm assuming, other similar games that weren't made by Kojima. I guess that description is technically correct but it wasn't quite how I expected. There's certainly more text than you would expect in a traditional point-and-click but it's nowhere near the same level as a proper VN. You won't be reading as much as you would in something like VA-11 Hall-A or even Danganronpa. I'd describe it more as a story-heavy point-and-click. The point and click half of things is also less... point-and-clicky than I would've expected. Basically, there are (very) simple puzzles and the solutions are usually immediately obvious. If you need something you don't already have, it's usually right there on the screen. There's no going around and looking for stuff in different areas, it's very straightforward. Whether or not this is an issue will depend on your personal preferences. In my case, I wasn't too bothered by it. It does strike a nice balance, it was just a bit simpler than I though it would be. I just saw the little Steam pop-up telling me Resident Evil 7 is done unlocking, so I'm cutting this post short! TL;DR: it's pretty good! The story is interesting and the characters are likable. It was nice to revisit the VA-11 Hall-A world as well, although this takes place a few years prior and it's in a pretty different state. I'd definitely be down for a sequel to either game or just another game set in the same world.

As in the original RE4 port? I mean, yeah, that one was infamously bad but it and DMC3 are pretty ancient by now and not at all representative of the current state of their PC efforts. The most recent RE4 port from a couple years ago was a solid effort. I really wish they'd give DMC3 a similar do-over, though.

What? Capcom have had consistently high quality ports for a while now. At least, from the Japanese side. And if the demo is any indication, RE7 will be no different. Is there a specific one you're thinking of that was poor? The only recent one I can think of is Dead Rising 3, though I have no idea how bad it actually was.

Oh, you know what, you're right. When I checked to make sure while writing my post, I looked up a screenshot because I had already uninstalled the game. Guess it was a screenshot with Playstation button prompts, so the colors didn't match. Just looked for one with the correct prompts and it does match with the colors for the X360 layout, which is what I was using. I stand by my argument that it's not very helpful, though. Funny you should say that about the Miku gameplay, though. The fact that things spawn all over the screen is partially why I find them so much more fun. It feels more dynamic and emphasizes the sense of rhythm way more than the straight lines in BA. It was a bit hard at first but after failing a few times I got used to it and started really enjoying it. Rock Band is a completely different beast for me, though, to the point where I hesitate to even compare it to "pure" rhythm games like the Miku series. For me, the appeal mostly comes from the music being stuff I genuinely love and listen to outside of the game as well as the fun and physicality of playing pretend plastic instruments. ...and now I kinda feel like playing some Rock Band. Damn it, I literally just took my drum set apart and put all my instruments away in storage like a couple weeks ago because I hadn't used them in so long and got sick of seeing them taking up space and gathering dust.

Senran Kagura Bon Appétit! Finished the story for all the characters a few days ago but I just now wrapped up the last few remaining achievements as well. This one was kinda disappointing. It has that typical Senran Kagura dumb fun but where Shinovi Versus was actually a decent musou-lite, Bon Appétit! just fails to be a solid rhythm game. Anyone that has played rhythm games extensively would probably agree that getting good at them and playing on harder difficulties is where they get really fun. For example, I haven't played Rock Band in forever, so I'd probably be rusty as all hell. But if I were to fire it up right now there's no way I could enjoy it on any difficulty below hard because it would just feel too slow. This results in Bon Appétit!'s two main problems being rather game-breaking. First off, the music isn't particularly good. Most of the songs are forgettable and kinda boring as well as slow and just kinda tedious to play on normal after a while. There is literally just one track out of the entire game that got stuck in my head at any point. This is already kind of a big issue for a rhythm game but then you factor in the second issue. The game completely fails to communicate itself clearly visually. Basically, the icons for the buttons you need to press are coming on two horizontal rows with no real logic behind which row they appear on. Arrows and face buttons both appear randomly on either row. The arrows are also color-coded the same way as the face buttons, so while blue will instinctively make me go "X" without having to think about it, a blue arrow doesn't tell me shit about which direction to press. And I just double checked right now to make sure because I honestly couldn't even remember after over 20h of playtime and no, the colors for the arrows don't correspond to the colors for the face buttons in the same position. It's just arbitrary and confusing. So, when I cranked things up to hard, it just became a confusing mess of icons that my brain simply couldn't parse. Obviously the game was still fun enough for me to play it for 20+ hours, so I'm probably making it sound worse than it actually is. But it's very telling that the entire time I was playing it I was wishing there was a better rhythm game available on Steam. Honestly, that fucking Hatsune Miku game I played on Vita a couple years back kinda ruined rhythm games for me. It was just so freaking good! The gameplay was tight and fun and visually clear. I didn't care for the music and would never listen to it outside of the game but it was catchy enough to be really fun to play. Even Persona 4 Dancing All Night, despite the awesome soundtrack it drew from, just couldn't compare. So yeah, port that shit to Steam already, SEGA. The one that just came out on PS4 is like a compilation kinda deal with the best songs from both subseries. That seems like a good one to port.

You think that takes willpower? You have no idea how many times I've considered making an alt just to fuck with him.

I occasionally look him up on reddit when I'm bored. He posts in the kind of subs you'd expect. Sometimes there's some hilariously long-winded rants. Also, this might come as a bit of a shock but he seems to get into arguments with people a lot!

Wasn't really planning on playing it at launch but I saw a good deal and couldn't resist.

Yeah, I can totally see that. I was something like halfway through the game once it finally clicked. I expect to enjoy it even more when I decide to replay the campaign.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action. I'm not a huge visual novel guy. I don't mind them but I usually prefer to have at least some small amount of gameplay to keep things engaging. Ideally, you have stuff like Ace Attorney where the investigation and trial phases make up the real meat of the game. But even just minimal stuff like the escape the room puzzles from Zero Escape or the much less involved investigation and trials from Danganronpa are preferable to me. VA-11 Hall-A (pronounced Valhalla) falls much closer to the "pure VN" end of the scale. The drink mixing feels like little more than a mini-game and, while your performance as a bartender apparently does have some small impact on the story, it doesn't exactly feel like gameplay. It's just something you do in-between bits of dialogue. That being said, I'm happy to say that I loved the hell out of this game. I certainly went in wanting to love it because of the premise alone but I think it really nailed the execution. The story is fairly simple and intimate but the characters are what really makes up for the lack of gameplay complexity. Outside of maybe one or two exceptions, they're all either interesting or just very likeable. To the point where I really wish the game wasn't over just so I could spend more time with them. Kinda like that void you sometimes feel when you've just finished a show you really enjoyed, I guess. Another thing that worked in the game's favor is how the script is pretty much entirely dialogue. You're never just reading narration or descriptions, you're always talking or listening to someone. That combined with the bartending really helps make it feel more engaging and really draws you into the game's world. It feels like something is actually happening as opposed to just reading a story. Oh and if you're planning on playing it, I'd recommend playing the demos first. It's weird, there's both a prologue and a demo that are not in the actual game but are considered part of the story. The prologue was an early prototype I think, and I haven't played it and was mostly fine. Pretty sure it's currently being remade in the final game's engine and will be patched in at some point. But the demo takes place the night before the start of the game and has something in it that feels kind of important. I played it a little while back and I feel like some stuff that happens in the last chapter of the game would've been confusing as hell if I hadn't. There's a mention of it early on in the game but it's kinda glossed over. I'm surprised they shipped the final game without including it, to be honest. Anyway, I don't know what the devs' future plans are but I would certainly be down for a sequel. Barring that, at least I still have Read Only Memories to play, which is a Policenauts-like VN/point-and-click hybrid set in the same world. It's made by a different dev, though, so I don't expect a huge deal of overlap or similarities. I would jump right into it but the enhanced rerelease with voice acting isn't coming out for another week or so.

Well, this is an unexpected development. Joyoland, the company that ported and released some of Falcom's games for the Chinese PC market, have put the missing Ys games as well as Zero/Ao no Kiseki up on Steam Greenlight. These are the Chinese language versions, obviously, and apparently their DRM makes them run so poorly that they become borderline unplayable. I voted Yes because why not, I guess. Hopefully this somehow facilitates XSEED being able to localize these versions. They've hinted at Zero and Ao being possibilities before but never the Ys games. It'd be nice to be able to circumvent the PSP version of Ys Seven entirely. I just really hope that Joyoland wanting to publish them on Steam themselves doesn't somehow complicate things for an english release by XSEED.

Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus. Well, it only took me about two and a half years across two different versions of the game but I finally finished this thing. Most of my playtime was from the last couple weeks, too. Man, that is one Vita game purchase I seriously regret. Especially since this is the kind of game that just plays better on PC in every imaginable way. It was a legitimately limited physical release, though. I might actually be able to sell it for a small profit at this point. Anyway, there really isn't much to say about this one, what you see is what you get. If button mashing and excessive fan service (almost to the point of parody) doesn't sound like something you'll enjoy, then you probably won't. This isn't a great game. Hell, I'm not sure if I'd even call it a good game. It is a pretty fun game, though. "Dumb fun" is probably the most apt description for it. Well, either that or "Ninja Tits". They're both fairly accurate... I enjoyed it enough to know I'll want to grab the sequel when they get around to releasing it on Steam. I'm kinda looking forward to it because that one actually had a PS4 version. Shinovi Versus really feels held back in terms of scale from being originally a Vita exclusive and playing it on a bigger screen made it even worse. Hopefully the existence of a PS4 version means the next one will look better as well as scale nicely and have a bit more stuff happening/more enemies on-screen. So, Xanadu Next and this were the two unfinished games from 2016 that I was the closest to beating, so I figured I might as well get them done ASAP. Next one would be Shin Megami Tensei IV but I'm pretty sure I still have like at least 30h to go with that one. I think it's gonna wait a little longer.

Well, they simply localized the PC version from 2005, so I imagine it's about as good as the version you likely played (unless that was the N-Gage one ). Although, I imagine they put in some extra work to ensure it runs smoothly on current machines. There were some small issues at launch, mostly related to achievements (which is understandable since they're hacking them in a 10 year old game) but their programmer was pretty good at fixing things quickly during the first week. The biggest issue I personally encountered was this weird bug where some in-game text wouldn't display properly if your character's name was a certain length. Not sure if that was ever completely fixed but it's easily avoided by using a name 6 characters long. The only major remaining "issue" that can't really be fixed is the controller support. Basically, Falcom originally designed the game with only m/kb in mind and only patched in controller support post-launch because people complained. It mostly works really well but you still need to use the mouse for menus and inventory management. It's annoying but it's also one of those rare use cases where the Steam controller truly shines. You just need to set the right trackpad as a mouse and you never need to take your hands off the controller. Once I thought to do that, it played flawlessly.

Xanadu Next. I played through most of it at launch and stopped like 30% of the way into the final dungeon. Not even sure why, the game is fucking fantastic. I think I got distracted after buying DOOM, Hitman and RotTR and feeling like I should play them ASAP. Anyway, after putting it off for a few weeks, I finally jumped back in tonight and finished it. Like I said, it's a fantastic game. This is Falcom at their old-school finest. Trails is by far my favorite Falcom series but even I can't deny just how good their more gameplay-focused RPGs like this and Ys feel to play. You can easily lose an entire evening just running around a dungeon and killing enemies. Xanadu Next is kind of its own thing, though. Try to imagine a cross between an isometric, Diablo-like RPG (minus the focus on loot drops) and metroidvania world-design and you'll have a pretty good idea what the game is like. I can't really think of anything else like it that I've played and now that it's over I kinda hope there's similar stuff out there for me to find. Even if you've never played Trails or Ys, it's definitely worth a look because it's so freaking good! It hasn't aged very well visually but it's easily one of the best games I've played last year. What really sucks is that a quick look on SteamSpy shows it sold abysmally. Didn't even break 5K, which is fucking criminal. A game this good deserves better and so does XSEED for finally releasing it in english.

Last round before it's over. All three have been on my wishlist for a while and look like games I'd really enjoy. Dex is the game+soundtrack bundle because that was cheaper than buying the game only, for some reason. Slain was kinda fucked up at launch but it sounds like the devs did a great job of fixing it since. Also grabbed a few really cheap ones a few days ago and neglected to post them but we're in 2017 now, I ain't going back to the 2016 thread! Sethian is by far the most interesting one of the bunch. It's this weird puzzle game where you're interacting with an alien computer and trying to understand the language so you can ask it questions. I had never heard of Reveal the Deep or See No Evil but both looked cool enough for me to risk the 54 cents they each cost. Anyway, considering I'm going to bed soonish and the sale will be over when I wake up, that should be it for me. Ended up buying way more games than I intended to but, outside of my unexpected Christmas present budget, at least the games I bought were mostly dirt cheap. So, that's something...

58 games beat for me. 50 on PC, 7 on 3DS and a single Vita game with an average completion time of roughly 17.5h per game. Also, almost 40% of my completed games were actually 2016 releases. I'd have to check to be sure but I feel like that % has been way lower in previous years. As usual, italics are for games that were released this year and asterisks indicate games that I was replaying. I'm noticing now that my average time per game is the same as Ethan's. That's spooky... Spookier still, I also have a Shadowrun game still on my backlog from last year's secret santa. O_O Although in my case it's Hong Kong. I keep forgetting I have it and feel bad whenever I remember. I have way too many unplayed games to keep a strict and comprehensive backlog, so I treat it accordingly. But 27 out of 58 were games that I considered to be on it. That's almost half of them, so that's pretty good. Most of them were games I had owned for a while but there were also games I dropped and went back to much later. So for example, I counted Disgaea PC as backlogged despite playing it at launch because I only finished it a couple weeks ago but I didn't count Rise of the Tomb Raider because, even though I didn't play it until about a month after buying it, I bought it with the intention of playing it ASAP. So, I never officially considered it backlogged. It's all completely arbitrary but it works for me. 2017 is off to a rough start, though. I have a small list of games that I started in 2016 but never actually finished, two of them being long JRPGs. And that number is even higher if I include all the games I bought during the Steam sale, tried for a couple hours and haven't touched since. Some of them are probably gonna end up going straight to the backlog and started over later on.

Couldn't help myself and bought a couple more things. Because I suck at being an adult and have absolutely no sense of financial responsibility... Beglitched looks really cool and like something I'd enjoy, so whatever, it's pretty cheap. No idea where the hell I first heard of Read Only Memories, though. It just kinda showed up on my wishlist. Probably came across it while going through the discovery queue for a previous sale. Anyway, playing the first hour of VA-11 Hall-A reminded me of it and kinda made me want more cyberpunk goodness. I tried the demo for the remaster coming out next month and I liked it, so what the hell. I'll get a free upgrade by buying it now. The voice acting being added for the remaster seems to be pretty good. It was weird recognizing Jim Sterling's voice in the demo, though. edit: Ha, turns out VA-11 Hall-A and Read Only Memories are actually set in the same world. I thought it couldn't be a coincidence that the newspaper in the ROM demo had the same name as the one from VA-11. That's pretty cool and now I'm really glad I bought it.

Oh lol, I didn't even know there was another version of the game. That does kinda suck, yeah. Good to know that it's its own thing, though. I was a little worried you would say I need to read the VN or something. Thanks for the detailed answer. Also, more importantly Fucking. Sold. Definitely gonna have to grab Extra at some point.

Oh, maybe you can answer a question I have then. Given recent comments made by XSEED, I think this has a strong chance of seeing a late PC release. In which case, I'll probably want to give it a shot. I'm just not sure what the prerequisites are going into it. I just finished watching Fate/Zero and I'll be watching Fate/Stay Night in the near future. Is that enough or is Fate/Extra also necessary? I know it's sort of a sequel to it but it sounds like it was a completely different kind of game. Also, is Fate/Extra not available on PSN in your region? I can get it for 10 bucks over here.

Game of the Year: Doom's gameplay is perfection. It's what every shooter should aspire to be. Even its mechanics are telling you to get in there and fuck some demons up. It's just pure, ultra-violent fun. And it's probably the most genuine fun I've had with a game this year. I was very tempted to cheat and give it to Trails of Cold Steel II but I haven't actually gotten around to finishing it yet. I played the first 10 hours when it came out and decided I wasn't in the mood for a long-ass JRPG. I'll just retroactively make it my GOTY when I get back to it, I guess. Disappointment of the Year: Oh my God, whaaaaaat?! Yeah, DX:MD was a great game. Most of 2016 was actually pretty damn good for me, as far as games go. Never really had much interest in No Man's Sky, so I dodged that particular bullet. Ultimately, I simply couldn't come up with anything that disappointed me more than Mankind Divided's lacking story. As soon as I finished the game, I was convinced the rumor was true and that what was initially intended to be one game had been chopped up into multiple parts. I've since managed to pretty much get confirmation on that, too. Although, I suppose I technically could give it to MGSV. The definitive edition did come out this year... Surprise of the Year: I almost gave this one to Attack on Titan because it was surprisingly decent but these two were much bigger deals for me. Not because of their actual quality but simply due to their existence. For a couple years there it really looked like we would never get the conclusion to the Zero Escape trilogy, so the fact that Zero Time Dilemma was made at all is kind of a small miracle. As for Disgaea, it was its sudden appearance on Steam that was the surprise. It simultaneously ended the series' history of console exclusivity and signaled Nippon Ichi entering the PC market and being serious about it. They actually put some love in that port and they're slowly but surely porting over more of their back catalogue. And I'll be there day 1 for pretty much all of it. Favorite Moment in a Game: Not a single moment but an entire side-mission that takes place over the second half of the game. That would be The Harvester side-quest. It starts out with a simple murder on a rainy night in a back alley of Prague and ends up being far more interesting than the game's actual main plot. It was by far the most memorable moment of the entire game for me. You even had to do some extra detective work and go on an optional detour that fleshed it out even more if you wanted the optimal resolution. Most Anticipated in 2017: Yeah, it's no contest. I love me some Persona too damn much. This is probably the game that'll end up making me buy a PS4. Resident Evil VII is a close second, though. And Styx: Shards of Darkness is a distant third.

Ah ok, yeah you can upgrade to the full game as you see fit. I bought the intro pack at launch and upgraded to the full thing just a few weeks ago. Anyway, sent you a PM. Not looking to trade or anything, just enjoy the game. Merry Christmas! Also got codes for Lightning Returns, Hitman GO, Tomb Raider Underworld and the Soul Reaver games if anyone's interested.