Games You Beat in 2023: PXoD Face the Music

[toxicitizen]

1 hour ago, Mister Jack said:

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They did a little retcon to make it so that Salazar's bodyguards are designated as U-3 specimens when before U-3 was its own thing. You fought the second one in the original when he fused with Salazar, but that doesn't happen in the remake so presumably the second bodyguard will go off on its own to hunt Ada.

 

Spoiler

I didn't even manage to kill the one that went after Leon lol. I tried freezing it and shooting it but it didn't seem to work. At one point I was emptying a magnum on it and Leon said something like "Gonna need more than that" and if a magnum wasn't enough then I assumed I was just wasting ammo. So I just got the fuck outta there when the elevator arrived. I'll have to buy the rocket launcher in my NG+ run just to be safe.

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by toxicitizen

[Mister Jack]

Yeah I don't think it's worth even trying to do that until NG+.

[TheMightyEthan]

Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure

 

This is the best rally racing game I've played since Dirt 2. They actually do away with the racing line on the track and have your co-driver calling out turns instead, and do it as separate time trials runs rather than everyone on the track at the same time. It's great. Other than that mechanical change for the races, it's the same Forza Horizon 5 driving as the rest of the game, which is as good as ever, and you can opt to do a more traditional Forza-style race for each event instead of the rally format if you want.

 

It gets knocked a little bit for not feeling like it had as much love put into it as the Hotwheels DLC, which had the characters talking to you about this history of the cars and stuff. This one just has a bunch of events that you do, without really any surrounding pageantry, though you are at least in a new area.

 

Grade: B+

[Mister Jack]

Vertigo 2

 

This is a VR FPS that definitely takes a lot of pages out of Valve's book, but in a good way. It's more story-driven, like Half-Life, but has a sense of humor about it. The plot is even kind of similar with an experiment that draws in aliens from other universes, only instead of being the hapless scientist who caused an invasion like Gordon Freeman, you ARE the alien who gets pulled into another universe due to someone else's experiment and you have to fight through the native aliens and robots to find a way back home. This game was made by a smaller team so don't expect graphics on the level of Alyx, but they still managed to make a full-fledged campaign that will take you roughly 10-12 hours to beat, depending on your skill. There are also plenty of guns to play with, including six optional hidden guns that you have to go out of your way to find. If you miss any, new game+ is available, which lets you keep all of the guns you acquired during the game and use them from the beginning.

 

Probably the most unique mechanic in this is that you never run out of ammo. You have to reload, of course, but you will never be left high and dry because your ammo belt regenerates over time. The catch is that you can only hold a handful of refills at a time for each gun, and the stronger the gun the longer it takes to regenerate. This might make it sound like the difficulty is trivialized, but I actually found it rather tough. During large firefights you're likely to use up all the reloads on your favorite gun before it can regenerate, so you'll be frequently switching between your other guns while waiting on the cooldown for whatever your Ol' Reliable is. I rather enjoyed this, since it meant I didn't have to worry about picking up ammo packs all the time and it also encouraged me to use all the guns. On a lesser note, teleporting is more than just a motion sickness deterrent but also a core mechanic to help you get around obstacles and dodge enemy attacks. You can still walk normally, but even then teleportation is always available for a quick burst of speed.

 

I had a few crashes near the end, but other than that I'd probably stick this on my personal top 10 list when it comes to VR games.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Mister Jack

[TheMightyEthan]

Pokemon Scarlet

 

So, I actually liked this game, and didn't have nearly the technical issues other people had, but I still kept falling off of it for some reason. I would literally forget to play it for weeks at a time. This is exactly the "full console" version of Pokemon that I've wanted since the Gamecube era, and somehow it ended up being just "fine." It's missing some ineffable spark, and I don't know what it is exactly.

 

It did pick up a little at the end game, I started enjoying it more at that point, but most of the game I had to force myself to play. Not that it was bad, but I just didn't have any desire to do it. I think I might be over Pokemon.

 

Grade: B-

[MetalCaveman]

Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles

 

A rail shooter for the Wii, story is a re-telling of RE0, RE, and RE3, with a new chapter dealing with the fall of Umbrella. There's also extra chapters for other characters like Rebecca, Ada and HUNK, plus a couple of chapters that explore the events of RE1 and fall of Umbrella from Wesker's perspective.

 

Really fun, if you like the House of the Dead series you'll be right at home here.

 

There's a fair variety of weapons, though unfortunately, the handcannon is unlocked with the last chapter, you can go back and replay previous chapters with all current weapons and upgrades, but it's still disappointing that you don't get the cool magnum until the end.

 

Best part is that this is Resident Evil in all its cheesy glory, Wesker's voice is hilariously evil, characters crack jokes, make fun of enemies, etc, all the good stuff is here.

 

Just listen to Wesker saying zombies, from the opening cutscene:

 

 

Love it.

 

Also, OG RE3 Jill best Jill, I like her look in the remake, but OG is still best.

[TheMightyEthan]

9 hours ago, MetalCaveman said:

A rail shooter for the Wii

 

[Thursday Next]

20 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

 

House of the Dead, but Resident Evil... Why not?

[Mister Jack]

Wii is the perfect console for rail shooters. Back when I had a Wii I bought a Nerf gun where you could take out the firing chamber and replace it with a Wii remote to use for rail shooters. I loved that little thing.

[TheMightyEthan]

I more meant "why are you going back and playing a Wii rail shooter" but y'all had to go and take the joke too seriously... 

[MetalCaveman]

Oh, that's what you meant!

 

Well, in that case, since I'm not going to be playing RE4R anytime soon I wanted to play some of the other versions, that's why I got the last trophy in RE4 HD for PC, and I also wanted to play the Wii version, which has been sitting there for aeons lol, then I remembered that there were two RE rail shooters for the Wii, one thing led to another and I ended up playing Umbrella Chronicles instead of RE4.

[Mister Jack]

Iron Man VR

 

I wish I could recommend this because it's not half bad. Flying around with your hands is fun, blasting robots with your wrist weapons or your repulsor cannons is fun, the suit customization is nice, and the campaign is decent. Unfortunately, 40 dollars for a game you can finish in four or five hours is absolute highway robbery. I'd recommend it for maybe 20 bucks, but no more.

[toxicitizen]

The Last of Us Part I

 

Not much to say about this one that wasn't already said ten years ago. It's pretty good! This is another remake that felt unnecessary but it looks pretty damn good so I'm not complaining. Shame the port launched in such a rough state, though.

 

For the first week or so I just couldn't play because the game would just crash every 15mins or so. Then nvidia released a hotfix driver and that stopped the creashing but the game still ran my system way too hot. Nothing so extreme as to cause damage or a shutdown but enough to make my AIO cooler freak out.

 

Turns out once the coolant hits 60C, the LED on the CPU plate starts blinking red, the software locks out completely and gives a warning about going into "failsafe mode". At first I got worried something was wrong with it but nah, only happens with TLoU.

 

Fortunately, locking the game to 60fps with RTSS kept the temps within a more normal range. The problem with that is that 60fps no longer looks perfectly smooth to me because I've gotten so used to higher framerates/refresh rates. That's definitely a first-world problem, though.

 

Hopefully they'll fix whatever it is the game does that runs my hardware so hot because I'd rather not get a repeat of that when they port Part II.

[MetalCaveman]

Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles

 

A sequel to Umbrella Chronicles, this time including retellings of RE2 and Code Veronica, alongside a new chapter covering Operation Javier (aka, that thing that made Krauser join Wesker's side). In some ways a better game, in some ways a worse game than Umbrella Chronicles.

 

The story is more linear, or feels like that, in UC, after every chapter, you went back to the chapter selection menu, where you could customize your guns, read unlocked archives and choose the next chapter you wanted to play, you could continue with the next chapter, play extra chapters or replay ones you had already completed. Here, after every chapter, instead of a chapter selection menu, you get a simplified menu where you can still do most of the things you could before, except instead of choosing which chapter to play (or replay) next, you're just taken to the next one if you choose the "chronicles" option. If you want to replay chapters, you have to go back to the main menu.

 

The Operation Javier stuff was neat, though I don't know if its canon has changed now with RE4R. You even get a secret chapter, which is a replay of the last chapter, but from Krauser's point of view, with inner monologue revealing why he made the choice to join Wesker. Like with UC, some elements were changed in RE2 in order to justify the coop stuff, now Claire and Leon go through the whole thing together, not once splitting up. In Code Veronica, once

Spoiler

Steve is toast

you get Chris as your partner, also, for Code Veronica,

Spoiler

Wesker's

role is minimal, in fact, dude's there for only a few seconds during the final cutscene.

 

In terms of gameplay, it's a rail shooter, so that part is mostly the same, the changes come from things like guns and healing. Now you can change guns while playing, instead of having to complete the chapter, you can also store green herbs, in UC they were automatically used. Guns are now upgraded similar to how it works in RE4, you can choose which stat to focus on, damage, capacity, reload, etc. You can even upgrade your basic handgun, which is pretty neat since that's the one with infinite ammo. Also, you use gold now, which is way easier to get than stars.

 

The biggest change is that now you can actually see your partner, in UC you only see your character and teammate during checkpoints and cutscenes, now, your partner is more present during gameplay and even has their own healthbar, you'll actually see them walk in front of you, open doors, interact with the environment, it's much more natural than the disembodied voice from UC. This also means that you'll have to save them occasionally, and you'll also need to use healing resources on them when needed.

 

Another big change, this one for worse, is the camera, UC had a fairly straightforward camera, you moved from room to room, there were quick turns, and some jumps but nothing too major. This one however, actually made me sick a couple of times. The camera jumps around all the time, every time your character jumps, gets hit, is taken by surprise by an enemy, rolls, ducks, dodges, etc, the camera moves all over the place, sometimes it's annoying, making you miss a magnum shot, sometimes it's so excessive it can be physically uncomfortable. This is one I wish they'd tone down.

 

Grade: B- (game's an A, but the camera stuff brings the grade down several notches)

 

Since I forgot during that post:

 

Umbrella Chronicles Grade: A+

[TheMightyEthan]

Advance Wars: Re-Boot Camp

 

I've only beat the first game so far, but it rolled credits so I'm counting it. It's the same great game with a fresh new coat of paint (except the soldiermen in the combat view, they're not chibi enough to fit with the rest of it).

 

Grade: A+

[toxicitizen]

The Last of Us Part I - Left Behind

 

I forgot to mention it in my last post because I hadn't played it yet but I was a little surprised to see that they didn't take the opportunity to incorporate this into the main campaign for the remake. I could be wrong here but I was always under the impression that it was originally cut content. I guess they maybe just didn't want to mess with the main game's pacing. Oh well, at least the TV show did slot it in, so that's something.

 

Anyway, not much to say about it. It's pretty good. Also, did some chapter select for achievements cleanup.

 

 

I'm glad it was a quick one to 100% but a part of me is a little disappointed that they removed the original's achievement list that made you go through the harder difficulties as well as new game plus. That's way more interesting of a challenge to me than just "collect all the monkey butts" and "look at all the turds". I played the game on hard because I wanted a challenge but to still have access to listen mode but I would've loved an excuse to try my hand at Survivor and Grounded difficulties. I don't have a ton of free time lately, though, so for now I'll just move on to something else. Maybe I'll come back to it and give it a shot when they announce the port for Part II.

[Thursday Next]

Dead Space Remake

 

I never got round to finishing this when it first came out, so was glad to finally get it done. Everything looks and sounds great. Isaac's stomp still feels nice, heavy and satisfying. Played on normal and it wasn't too much of a challenge. Did the "one gun" trophy, just in case I decided to go for a second playthrough and collect all the trophies, but I've got too much else to play at the moment.

 

Difficulty becomes trivial once you unlock the heavy blades upgrade for the plasma cutter and can stun-lock everything into submission.

 

Really enjoyed getting back into this game's lore. Hope they do 2 and 3 too. Never played 2 and am on record as loving 3.

[TheMightyEthan]

Huh, nobody's beat anything since May 10, I wonder why that might be...

 

Anyway, I just beat

 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

 

Holy shit this game is good. I think it's even better than Breath of the Wild, though its similar enough that it doesn't feel as special as that game did when it launched. I was a little off-put when I first started by how similar it was, because the beginning feels very much like a re-tread of Breath of the Wild, but about 15-20 hours in it really comes into its own. The new powers really give you a lot of freedom about how to approach situations, and even the shrines feel better in this one.

 

I'm still a little disappointed with the state of the dungeons, they're a little better than the divine beasts, but not a ton better, though I did appreciate there being more lead-up to them than there was in Breath of the Wild. I'm sure with how wildly successful this game has been that we'll be getting Zelda games in this basic formula for a long time, but I at least hope they keep moving more towards a classic design for the dungeons themselves. This went a little in that direction, but they need to go more.

 

Overall though, that's really a minor nit-pick, and easily overcome by how great the rest of the game is.

 

Grade: A+

[toxicitizen]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:40 PM, TheMightyEthan said:

Huh, nobody's beat anything since May 10, I wonder why that might be...

 

That's right! I spent all month working on finishing...

 

Persona 5 Royal

 

What? Were you thinking of something else?

 

I figured I was better off trying to finish it this month because Friday is Street Fighter 6 day. And once that's out, there's no telling how long it'll be before I actually want to play anything else.

 

Anyway, holy hell, this game is long. I mean, Persona games have always been on the longer side of things but even by the series's standards this game is insanely long. I had put like 70 hours into it when I got distracted/busy and stopped playing last Fall and I figured I had to be in the last stretch. Well, according to my final playtime on Steam, turns out I still had about 90 hours to go. Probably a bit less in reality since there were times when I'd leave the game idle for a while but that's still insane!

 

At this point there isn't much I could say that hasn't already been said a thousand times over so I'll just go through my thoughts as fast as I can. I thoroughly loved it!

 

Palaces were a huge improvement over the procedurally-generated dungeons but I'm glad they didn't throw away the idea entirely because I really enjoyed having Mementos as a side thing to do. Especially as the game progresses and Palaces get less and less dungeon-y.

 

The cast was fun, the soundtrack slapped and basically every single aspect of the game felt incredibly more polished than in Persona 4. I know Catherine was originally a game Atlus made to get some HD game development practice but I was still kinda surprised to see how much of the presentation was lifted straight from it. It actually made me want to replay it. Oh and having SMT-style demon negotiation in there was a nice addition. It's kinda funny they put this in only after the series shed the SMT moniker completely, though.

 

I think my biggest complaint would be the third semester. It just didn't feel as organically weaved into the game as the extra stuff from P4G. It felt like the game went through this big climax and then just kinda went "We're not done, this is happening now." It ultimately worked pretty well but the very beginning of it felt kinda jarring.

 

Anyway, it feels good to have finally played it. It took over half a decade to come to PC but my patience finally paid off.

 

Also thank fuck this version has a more sane achievements list because right now I don't even want to think about doing another playthrough. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game but, again, so long!

 

 

I'd be lying if I said I'm not a little disappointed by how much easier it was but, on the other hand, I lucked out twice with the Hardcore Risette Fan achievement. I do NOT want to try my luck with Futaba's achievement.

 

Oh and this isn't a purchases thread but whatever, it's relevant! While i was working on finishing the game I spotted a deal and couldn't resist...

 

 

Anyway, now I'm finally up to date. Bring on Persona 6! Hopefully it'll actually launch multi-platform this time...

 

Then again, I was reading up on what exactly was new in Royal and man, the original release sounds like it was kinda barebones. So much stuff that I assumed was just part of the game was new to P5R. Hell, Life Will Change doesn't even play after sending the first few calling cards in that version! I mean, what the hell?!? It's so good!

 

 

So maybe skipping the initial vanilla release isn't the worst thing in the world...

Edited May 28, 2023 by toxicitizen

[TheMightyEthan]

Excellent choice! I am also surprised by your playtime though, for me it was "only" about 120 hours.

[toxicitizen]

34 minutes ago, TheMightyEthan said:

Excellent choice! I am also surprised by your playtime though, for me it was "only" about 120 hours.

 

I'm a very slow player in general tbh. And in the last few in-game months I spent a bunch of time in Mementos collecting Stamps and indirectly grinding while watching Twitch. By the end of the game, I was pretty overpowered and had way more cash than I could ever possibly need lol.

 

I can't check since I've already uninstalled the game but I think my in-game playtime is probably somewhere between yours and the one I posted above. Ever since I switched to a dual monitor setup, I'm constantly clicking out of games to go check or do something else. Since the simulation pauses completely when you click out of P5R, I imagine those 5-10mins break added up over time to create a significant discrepancy between the in-game playtime and Steam's.

[TheMightyEthan]

The Talos Principle

 

I'd had this on my list for a long time, but the announcement of the sequel inspired me to finally play it. It's a pretty good first-person indie puzzler, with a very depressing subject matter. The whole thing is a frame to explore the idea of what the point of life even is. So yeah, it's interesting, but you might want to be in a certain state of mind before going into it.

 

Grade: B

 

The Talos Principle: The Road to Gehenna

 

DLC for the The Talos Principle, more of the same, but with less interesting philosophy behind it. I liked it better though because I felt like the puzzles were better-designed.

 

Grade: B+

 

Planet of Lana

 

This is very much an story-heavy-but-largely-silent indie side-scroller in the vein I'm sure you're very familiar with. Think Inside, though not as dark. It's basically Studio Ghibli's War of the Worlds. As a game it's competent. The platforming can be annoying because your controls aren't very precise, but luckily they don't often ask you to be precise. I enjoyed the puzzle solving, but there's not much of it. Most of the gameplay involves traversal, either in a pure form or while sneaking past enemies. The story is pretty formulaic for this kind of game, but it's well-executed enough. It's pretty as all get out too.

 

Grade: B+

[MetalCaveman]

If you want to make it less depressing, there is (or was, don't know if it's still available) a Serious Sam DLC, replaces

Spoiler

Elohim

With Serious Sam lol

 

 

I should go back and finish it, played a bunch, made some progress and then stopped because some of the puzzles were melting my brain lol.

[toxicitizen]

I absolutely loved The Talos Principle. Been waiting for the sequel for what feels like an eternity now (closing in on 7 years according to the "last played on" date on Steam). I'm so glad it's finally coming.

[MetalCaveman]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

 

That was MOST EXCELLENT.

 

Though I did have some issues.

 

Weapon durability is insane, ridiculously so, this one was almost a deal breaker.

 

Horses, taming a horse isn't so bad, took me a while to get the hang of it but eventually I got it, problem is, even at max bond, sometimes the horse just does whatever it wants, specially dangerous when crossing a bridge and your horse just decides it wants to walk off to your death. Another annoyance, not being able to call it from wherever, DLC does add a solution, but it's still super annoying.

 

Ragdoll, anything that knocks down Link can be instant death depending on where you are, this was a huge issue when exploring certain areas.

 

Other than that though, I really liked it, pretty much all of the positive stuff you've heard about this game, I can confirm.

 

Elden Ring is still the king of open world games for me though.

 

Grade: A+

 

Think I'm going to play some other stuff before jumping on TotK. Might go back to Daemon X Machina, now that a sequel has been announced lol.