Games You've Beat 2021 - PXoD's Excellent Adventure

[MetalCaveman]

I remember reading that The Order had some really annoying stealth sequences with insta-fail and poor checkpoints, and that convinced me to never touch it, what did you think of those? Where any segments particularly bad or nothing that bad?

[TheMightyEthan]

It does have some insta-fail stealth sections, but I only actually failed a few times, and never got put back more than a minute or two. It certainly did not strike me as bad stealth at the time.

[deanb]

Cyberpunk 2077

 

The Panam ending.

 

The game has a lot going on in it; so it certainly kept me amused for a long while. Though I'm not sure there's any notable quest lines like with Witcher and the "Baron" stuff. A lot of it was busy work - quests along a simple theme of "kill this person/steal this item/access this datapoint", alongside the many many many police missions (which by pure volume are the most common overall and exceptionally "punk" of you to help do police work uncritically). It kinda largely plays like Watch_dogs tbh and that's mostly contemporary times. Sort of a bummer you don't get to do much that feels "2077".

 

I think once you get past the various bugs (which really came to the fore in the final mission - hooray for invisible guns and quest markers that don't trigger), there's not much in it that justify the "brand new open world experience". There was nothing really new in it. In fact there's some fairly standard things that were missing - like GPS on the roads. I've probably spent about half the game time basically watching a small square in the corner of my screen so I can know where I'm going. More galling is the function is there - you get on-road GPS markers in the races, so why not in the main game. Especially when parts of the city are multi-level and the map can be nigh indecipherable knot.

The "stash" that the game early on tells you can also be accessed in the boot(trunk) of your car - isn't connected with any other stash. So my car has some shitty low level guns in and to manage inventory you have to go to your apartment (and none of the apartment stashes are connected either - which would have been handy for the final mission when you can access one of the stashes but not your main apartments stash).

Oh and the game that's all about transhumanism and modifying your body and...you can't get and tattoos or hair styling done after you've done the original character creator. Like in the post-nuclear wasteland of Fallout* I can get a fucking hair cut but nope I have to spend the entire game with the stupid look I gave my guy. I don't really "roleplay" as such but it's nice to upgrade my characters look to reflect change in circumstances - ya know maybe go from wasteland gonk to slick afterlife legend.

 

Looked pretty mind, even with the not great graphics my laptop can handle. And once they run their updates/fixes and throw out DLC (which might take advantage of it being set in 2077, who knows) I'll give another spin as female V.

 

*there's a few little dioramas they've set up like Mad Max Fury Road and Terminator 2 that make the comparisons with Fallout even easier.

[Hot Heart]

On 1/25/2021 at 12:05 AM, TCP said:

Onwards to Odyssey. I like it more already.

 

As someone who really enjoyed what Syndicate did with the series (after being fed up with whatever Black Flag was doing) and skipped Origins, I quite liked Odyssey. I can't speak for Alexios, but Kassandra is the most charming lead since Ezio (and Haytham briefly) and it certainly isn't afraid to have a lot of fun with the quests in places.

 

The 'main' story is 'fine' for the most part and ends rather suddenly (you get a bit more to it with the DLC, *grumble*) but I liked the more open-ended nature with the big areas, and who doesn't love Ancient Greek stuff? I still think Syndicate had the best stealth-action balance in that it was most like the Arkham games, whereas the O games have RPGified it to its detriment. I mean, I get that it now gives you three "different" approaches, but the melee and ranged mechanics are not that fulfilling. By the time the game introduced quick-switch loadouts, I had an uber powerful stealth setup to go with my melee setup because there's nothing more annoying than creeping up on someone, holding the button for a critical assassination, then seeing them react like someone had poked them with a stick and surviving with a third of their health still.

It gives you some truly huge structures to conquer, which appeals to me with finding ways to "solve" them by sneaking through... but they're also incredibly easy because they're so big. The main threat is getting mercenaries on your tail, which can be quite thrilling but also quite annoying. You've also got a drone bird who can usually spot and tag everyone for you, which sounds cool but also kind of breaks the rhythm and sucks the tension out of it. Syndicate had its detective vision variant, which served the game better, I feel.

 

That said, I still go back to it from time to time because there are lots of cool little quests to find in there (like Witcher 3 has) and I actually enjoyed both DLC stories, because of, rather than in spite of, the weirdness of the second one.

[TheMightyEthan]

Playstation VR Worlds

 

I'm saying I "beat" this one because I played all the demos. Honestly I'm surprised they had the balls to actually sell this, it's basically a demo disc.

 

The London Heist was amazing though, especially playing with two Moves. I did the shooting range before the game itself just to get a feel for it, and at first was thinking "I wish they'd made it so you could use your other hand to stabilize your gun hand", and then I realized that I could just do that myself, they didn't need to make a mechanic for it, and my mind was blown. I never thought I'd be in to VR shooters, but I'll probably pick up Blood & Truth on the strength of that demo.

[Mister Jack]

 Doesn't that disc come with the PSVR already? Maybe unless you buy a bundle with some other game, I suppose.

[deanb]

6 hours ago, Mister Jack said:

 Doesn't that disc come with the PSVR already? Maybe unless you buy a bundle with some other game, I suppose.

 

Ethan got his second hand. It's on sale atm for £9.99 which I'd say is fine, but yeah normal price of £25 is a bit much.
Though as a bunch of "demos" in one game it's great for when family are over then you've got the one game with a bunch of smaller experiences than sitting them into the middle of like REVII or Astrobot etc.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, the demos would be good to show off the headset, but other than the London Heist nothing really seemed better than what was in Playroom VR, or the free demo packs.

[toxicitizen]

Cyberpunk 2077

 

Finished it yesterday but I still had one ending left, which I did today. Overall, it's undeniable that the game has failed to live up to expectations. Even on PC where it was in a much better state, it still fell short in many ways. That being said, I still had a hell of a good time with it. It didn't consume my entire existence like Witcher 3 did but I still played it for over 100 hours spread out over almost 2 months and it never overstayed its welcome. I'm honestly looking forward to giving it another go as female V in the future and hopefully by then most of the (patchable) issues will have been ironed out.

 

Some issues simply aren't patchable, though. The main quest has a strong start but a weak finish. That final mission, whichever path you choose, is super underwhelming. Only one of the missions feels like a proper climax to the story (the Johnny one) but then the epilogue can leave things on a weird note depending on a choice you have to make. The one that's arguably the happiest ending feels disconnected from the rest of the main quest and the one that the main quest has actually been building towards the entire game is just... well, not gonna spoil it but lol. It really makes me wonder what they're planning for the expansion DLC because some of these feel like they're basically setting things up for that. Although it would be kinda weird to release a DLC that's like "Oh yeah if you didn't choose this ending fuck you lol". I mean, it's easy to just reload and do the right one but still.

 

As with Witcher 3, the side-quests steal the show. Kinda. Some of them have meaty questlines and are super interesting. The Peralez one might be my favorite one out of the entire game and it actually leaves things up in the air so I REALLY hope one of the big DLC is going to follow up on it. The Panam/Aldecado questline is fairly lengthy and has some strong moments, but ends on a bit of an anticlimax (especially if you don't go with the ending path it opens up). The Judy questline is also really solid but the Kerry one is more like a funny diversion and I have to assume the River one had major cut content because it's literally just one mission. It's a really good one but man, that felt like it could've been so much more.

 

Other than that, the one aspect of the game that didn't disappoint is the open world. The way gigs (basically really short missions) are seamlessly integrated into it is just fantastic. You're walking around and get a call from a fixer that somewhere nearby there's XYZ that needs to get killed/stolen/destroyed. So you head there and sneak in real quick, get that shit done, and get the hell out. They're really straightforward but that gameplay loop alone could've kept me going for another hundred hours. The actual main quest missions had some really good sections for the stealth fan in me but those gigs were just crack delivered in short and sweet bursts. I really hope the free DLC will add more of these cause I couldn't get enough of them. I could do with fewer NCPD scanner missions, though. Those were little more than glorified "combat encounter here" markers and there's already WAY too many of them as it is.

 

So yeah, it wasn't quite the 12/10 revelation I was hoping for but I'd still give it a solid 9/10. Not exactly mind-blowing but it was very my shit, warts and all. Hopefully, if they ever make a sequel (and the earth hasn't burned up by then), they'll be able to deliver a better execution of their vision. As it is, it honestly could benefit from one of those Enhanced Editions they did with the first two Witcher games.

Edited February 2, 2021 by toxicitizen

[deanb]

The River stuff feels like if he was brought in earlier then maybe could have had a thematic reason to be doing jobs for the cops.

(also I was surprised to find he was not a same-sex relationship choice). I thought his personal mission was quite good - but the way it's set up as pretty much running one into the other it does feel like it's boom and gone right away. Compared to say other missions that take a while to trigger the next part due to setting things up/building things/getting a crew etc.

[toxicitizen]

47 minutes ago, deanb said:

The River stuff feels like if he was brought in earlier then maybe could have had a thematic reason to be doing jobs for the cops.

 

Good point.

 

And I forgot to mention it but constantly doing jobs for the cops isn't, like, the most punk thing ever. Like, I get that V is a merc but surely they could've come up with something better for this. Early on I was doing everything stealth/non-lethal so it wasn't too jarring but at some point I realized I wasn't getting any kind of bonus for doing so, just making things more tedious for myself. So I just started killing everyone as soon as choking them out became inconvenient and uh... yeah. I was pretty inconsistent in who I killed vs dispatched non-lethally but these police missions in particular had this really weird undertone to them because of it. Like:

 

Police dispatch: V, there's a mugging going on nearby. Can you check it out?

V: Sure, I'll pop in real quick and murder everyone.

Dispatch: ......

Dispatch: cool

[TheMightyEthan]

Hitman 3

 

An excellent end to the World of Assassination trilogy. If you've played any of the previous Hitmen it's more of that, just in new locations.

 

5/5

[Mister Jack]

I was thinking about finally trying out that series on PS4 now that they've added VR support to the whole trilogy, but the disgusting 99 dollar fee they're charging for the pass to just one of the older games is really putting me off. 

[TheMightyEthan]

You could get 3, then wait for a sale on the expansions. I was able to import the first two, but never got the expansion for 2 so that didn't import, and to buy it now is $40 so I'll pick it up later.

 

Or if you know someone who has the first two on disc, you just have to boot it up and then it's free to import the levels, and once they're imported you don't have to use the disc anymore to access them.

 

Or you could buy the discs used for like $15 and import them that way.

[MetalCaveman]

Resident Evil 7

 

This was a roller coaster, starts out super scary and creepy, gets a bit more actiony later on, then there's another creepy sequence, then back to action.

 

It's a cool game, not sure how it feels as a Resident Evil game, but as an action horror it's pretty good.

 

Spoiler

Is Ethan part of the new Umbrella (not to be confused with Neo-Umbrella)? He says "What took you so long?" when Chris arrives, or did he just base it on that radio call you hear earlier on? For that matter, who is Ethan? Would have liked to see a bit more of his past or something, hopefully Village delves a bit deeper on that.

 

That same same radio call mentions Umbrella had reports someone was in the mines, were they talking about Lucas or Ethan?

 

Any and all sympathy for Mia when Chris emptied his gun on her in the Village trailer is gone after learning she is one of the people responsible for everything that happens in 7. But still, who is she working with? What are the organizations they mention? One of the files states E-001 was being moved because other organizations might want to steal her, but doesn't state where she was being moved from who created her and whatnot.

 

Surprised Ethan and Mia got back together, but I assume he's unaware of the full extent of her role in this incident. "Yes honey, I know you work for bio-terrorists, and you're responsible for the events at the Baker state, including the nightmare we and others went through, but hey, no big deal!"

 

Felt really bad for the Bakers, although it seems Lucas was always a psycho(?)

 

 

 

Resident Evil 7: Not A Hero

 

A super short DLC that happens after the events of 7, a much more straightforward FPS game, little in terms of horror IMO.

 

Spoiler

OK so... Umbrella as a medical corporation that manufactured BOWs is toast, new Umbrella is now a PMC that seeks to destroy other organizations that deal in BOWs, and Chris, as part of the BSAA was sent as a specialist to help them in this mission, though it's clear he doesn't trust them. But then, who is he working for in Village? The BSAA? Umbrella?

 

Lucas was working with those that created E-001, while also selling information to other groups, but then it shows that the lab where she was presumably created was right there, relatively close to the Baker state... Then where the hell where they taking her and from where? Was she created there, moved elsewhere, and then moved back?

 

I do like how the end brought back the cheese, "Game Over!".  

 

 

Biggest issue is that CAPCOM can't seem to decide on a look for Chris.  

 

Counting the DLC it took me about 8 hours to complete the full thing, kinda want to start a new playthrough, using some of the unlockable stuff you get.  

 

[Mister Jack]

Control

 

Okay so I know everyone fawns over this game but for me it was a bit of a mixed bag. The psychic powers were a lot of fun to use and definitely the best part of the game and the presentation is unique, but everything else came up a bit short for me. The story is incomprehensible and even after finishing the game I barely understand anything that happened. Maybe the DLC clears things up a bit but I subscribe to the belief that a story should make sense without having to buy extra chapters to fill in the blanks. The environments are rather dull and not very exciting to explore with one exception near the end that was actually pretty cool. I like the idea of a transforming gun with different fire modes, but it feels like wasted potential when you can only have two modes active at a time. There aren't that many enemy types and the ones you get aren't all that interesting to fight. None of these issues were obnoxiously bad, but they do drag a potentially great game down into being just a "good" game, and while I still enjoyed it this is probably my least favorite Remedy game, at least that I've played. I never played Quantum Break. On a side note, it's super obvious that Remedy really wishes they were a tv studio rather than a game studio. It's almost kind of depressing. Having said that, there's still fun to be had here and anyone with PS+ might as well give it a whirl this month. I don't usually do numbered scores but if I were to give one to this game on a scale of 1 to 10 with 5 being considered average, I'd probably give this one a 7.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Mister Jack

[toxicitizen]

The DLC is mostly its own thing and I found it kind of underwhelming compared to the main game. Mainly because I thought short-form content lost what made the main game so special to me.

 

What did you find incomprehensible about the story? You're expected to hit the ground running early on but I thought it was pretty easy to piece together after a few hours. Given the kind of story this is, the stuff that's left ambiguous is either unexplainable by its very nature or more interesting if left that way.

 

Also, kinda weird to see you bringing up the TV thing since I thought this was their least "TV-ified" game in a while. Alan Wake and Quantum Break were definitely guilty of this but Control was their most "gamey" game since like... Max Payne.

[Mister Jack]

I understood the basic plot of the game eventually but I'm still in the dark about the lore. I got the "what" but not so much the "why" and the "how". I understand that this setting and the themes at play will inevitably mean some things are left up to interpretation but I feel like they relied on this a little too much. The whole ending chapter and the part after it made no sense to me and I eventually just gave up on trying to wrap my head around it and pushed forward to finish the game.

 

You are not wrong that this game is less, as you put it, "TV-ified" than their earlier titles, but it's still in there and I'm starting to see that this just seems to be their trademark. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I thought it was okay here but didn't think it really added anything special. Except for the music video. That was pretty enjoyable, not gonna lie.

[toxicitizen]

Did you read the documents you found? If you didn't feel like reading all that shit I get that but it probably helps with understanding the lore.

 

As for the TV thing, I guess you mean the little exposition videos all over the place? I dunno, I found them way less intrusive than being interrupted with "PREVIOUSLY ON ALAN WAKE" every goddamn hour lol. They always liked to fuck around with format, even Max Payne had the graphic novel bits. Control is pretty open, borderline a metroidvania, and lets you explore at your own pace. To me, it seems like the antithesis of their needlessly episodic storytelling from before.

 

I guess I draw the line at intruding on gameplay? You're free to ignore the Dr. Darling skits although that's another thing that probably won't help with understanding what's going on. But yeah, if Control annoyed you then don't even bother with Quantum Break, dude. It's even worse than Alan Wake. You get the "PREVIOUSLY ON QUANTUM BREAK" stuff but also you have to watch 10-20 mins of actual shitty TV show episodes between bits of gameplay. Honestly, Quantum Break is so egregious that it's a huge part of why I found Control like such a significant step back on the whole TV thing.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, Control is definitely confusing about what's going on at the beginning, but I felt like I had a pretty good handle on it by the end. Like you said, there's some stuff that's not explained by virtue of the type of fiction it is (like 

Spoiler

the exact nature of the Board, and the Former, and the conflict between them

), but overall I felt like it was pretty comprehensible.

[Thursday Next]

I think Control was "good" too fwiw. I liked the cursed objects thing and the different powers they manifested, enemy variety was ok. The cast were generally likeable or at least interesting. I didn't watch the hotline videos properly, so I don't really have a brilliant grasp of the "lore", or what "the Board" and "Former" really are.

 

I think 7 out of 10 is a fair score. I enjoyed it, but I am not playing through again on PS5 (even though I think I acquired the ultimax edition already), but might have picked it up again if I could have transferred my save. That puts it squarely in "good but not brilliant" territory.

[TheMightyEthan]

I loved it. Personally I'd say it's at least a 9/10, but I'd expect overall reviews to be in the 8-8.5 range.

 

And checking Open Critic it has an 84, so I'm spot on there.

[Mister Jack]

Beat the Control DLC. It was okay, I guess. First one wasn't really anything special and it spends way too much time in the astral plane but it wasn't terrible. The extra little bit of intrigue between two certain characters/entities was kind of neat. Second DLC was short but much more interesting. The final boss was total bullshit, though. There is clearly a right way and a wrong way to fight it because when I tried to use anything but the spin gun the game just laughed at me. That is not good boss design.

 

Spoiler

I swear to god, Remedy, if this isn't your way of saying you're making Alan Wake 2 next then I am breaking up with you. I am tired of being cockteased.

 

[toxicitizen]

6 minutes ago, Mister Jack said:

  Hide contents

I swear to god, Remedy, if this isn't your way of saying you're making Alan Wake 2 next then I am breaking up with you. I am tired of being cockteased.

 

 

Yeah, that was WAY too blatant of a tease. If they're not actually working on Alan Wake 2 then, honestly, they're just being fucking dicks.

 

If they are making it though, it absolutely WILL be that game Epic is funding and likely a lifetime EGS exclusive. So... that's going to suck either way.

[TCP]

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade

A cool idea executed poorly. Allow me to explain... in spoiler tags!

Spoiler

Ok so, Natakas is one of the most boring people Kassandra has met in her entire odyssey. Seriously, this guy has the personality of... well, he doesn't really even have a personality. His dad, on the other hand, is awesome. I would have rather had Kassandra hook up with the old guy. Instead, we end up with Natakas, for some unbelievable reason. He has the red belt of an assassin and uh, not much else going for him. Good thing we had the origins of that explained. Seriously, even after playing this entire fucking 3 episode thing I had to look up this guys name. He sucks that much. Why not just copy Darius and make him a younger, hidden blade wielding, proto-assassin?? Instead he's, just, ugh. Fortunately, he dies. Right on. Which is great because I was playing Kassandra as a lesbian so all of a sudden forcing her into a hetero relationship for the most boring man alive felt a bit like a betrayal. 

Speaking of betrayals, you play this entire fucking thing and you don't even get a hidden blade at the end. What! 

The "hook", with Aya, just makes it all the worst that she wasn't the primary character of Origins, since it's her great, great, etc grandfather who essentially was the first assassin, he has the blade, the hood, the stealthiness, etc etc. Sorry for using etc twice in one sentence but to be fair, it was kind of a run on sentence. He passed all that stuff down to her over 400 years only for A MAN to come in and take credit for starting the brotherhood. Bullshit!

I like the idea of Kassandra trying to have a family, and tying things into the assassins is great but it was also written so poorly and so poorly delivered it just kind of sucked. 3/10

Odyssey has some weird parts of the game with huge level jumps, and the side quests are kind of boring so I recommend, despite me having some problems with this, playing it in the middle of the game (hence why I haven't beat Odyssey main game yet).

Next up: finishing Odyssey, then the Atlantis DLC. And then Valhalla DLC should probably be close. The Ass Creeding never stops.

Edited February 16, 2021 by TCP
I don't have to explain anything to you, text box.