bookwasbetter
Playing through the DLC on Mafia II: DE, and the first one is just a bunch of side missions with minimal connection to anything else. Some are stupidly hard even on a lowered difficulty. It's a tiiiiny bit weird that 95% of the enemies in this game are black and Chinese, but hey, that's Italian mobsters for you: racist as hell. I didn't like this that much, maybe the other ones will be better.
My wife and I have played all of the LiS games together over the last few years, and to say the series is hit-or-miss would be wildly inaccurate.
It's more like one hit, one weirdo thing that occasionally hits, and then two complete misses.
Unlike the two mainline LiS games, True Colors is another effort from Deck Nine, the same studio that gave us the abysmal Before the Storm. So I wasn't really holding my breath on this one.
Thank goodness I didn't, either, because this wasn't good!
True Colors suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of what people liked about the other two games: meaningful choices and unique superpower mechanics. Rather than give in-game choices any impact, they do almost nothing to affect the main plot of the game. And Alex Chen's "empathy" superpower is intensely lame. She basically just reads minds, but only sometimes, and the mechanic to use it is barely there. It hardly does anything to impact the story either!
I can't knock everything about the game: the characters are solid, some of the "mind palace" stuff is pretty neat, and I even got a little invested in the main plotline and romance stuff. But in the end, it's insanely frustrating to put time into a choice based game where none of your choices matter. I wouldn't play this again.
Oh, and the Deluxe Edition comes with a DLC, Wavelengths, that lets you play as a different character from True Colors and learn her backstory. This, while occasionally fun and inventive, has the same issues as the base game.
It's more like one hit, one weirdo thing that occasionally hits, and then two complete misses.
Unlike the two mainline LiS games, True Colors is another effort from Deck Nine, the same studio that gave us the abysmal Before the Storm. So I wasn't really holding my breath on this one.
Thank goodness I didn't, either, because this wasn't good!
True Colors suffers from a fundamental misunderstanding of what people liked about the other two games: meaningful choices and unique superpower mechanics. Rather than give in-game choices any impact, they do almost nothing to affect the main plot of the game. And Alex Chen's "empathy" superpower is intensely lame. She basically just reads minds, but only sometimes, and the mechanic to use it is barely there. It hardly does anything to impact the story either!
I can't knock everything about the game: the characters are solid, some of the "mind palace" stuff is pretty neat, and I even got a little invested in the main plotline and romance stuff. But in the end, it's insanely frustrating to put time into a choice based game where none of your choices matter. I wouldn't play this again.
Oh, and the Deluxe Edition comes with a DLC, Wavelengths, that lets you play as a different character from True Colors and learn her backstory. This, while occasionally fun and inventive, has the same issues as the base game.
The best Yakuza game in years, and that's honestly saying something.
Though it only serves as a transitional title before LAD 8 drops, Gaiden gives us everything we love about the previous Kiryu-led Yakuza titles, bringing back classic minigames and side content for a great experience. The story is great, with some incredibly powerful emotional beats. The combat rules, especially the new Agent style, which allows you to use high-tech gadgets in battle. The Colosseum, Akame Network, and countless minigames make it so you can go days without progressing the story. I loved this game so much!
Though it only serves as a transitional title before LAD 8 drops, Gaiden gives us everything we love about the previous Kiryu-led Yakuza titles, bringing back classic minigames and side content for a great experience. The story is great, with some incredibly powerful emotional beats. The combat rules, especially the new Agent style, which allows you to use high-tech gadgets in battle. The Colosseum, Akame Network, and countless minigames make it so you can go days without progressing the story. I loved this game so much!
Pros:
-Fun gunplay and mission structure. I loved the assassination levels, the church shootout, the brothel bombing; all of them utilized different mechanics to do something different with the limited capabilities the game offers.
-The map is large and easy to navigate, without being too cluttered.
-I like the characters, and the story is decent.
CONS
-Good GOD, 90% of this game is DRIVING. Even if you skip the transitions, most of the game is still just DRIVING. It gets old FAST.
-Map is big and very empty. There is no side content in the main game, and the free roam content is inessential when it isn't punishingly difficult.
-Collectibles are lame and not worth seeking out.
-Plot is rudimentary, and you can see the "twist" coming from a mile away.
All in all, I had fun, but not nearly enough of it.
-Fun gunplay and mission structure. I loved the assassination levels, the church shootout, the brothel bombing; all of them utilized different mechanics to do something different with the limited capabilities the game offers.
-The map is large and easy to navigate, without being too cluttered.
-I like the characters, and the story is decent.
CONS
-Good GOD, 90% of this game is DRIVING. Even if you skip the transitions, most of the game is still just DRIVING. It gets old FAST.
-Map is big and very empty. There is no side content in the main game, and the free roam content is inessential when it isn't punishingly difficult.
-Collectibles are lame and not worth seeking out.
-Plot is rudimentary, and you can see the "twist" coming from a mile away.
All in all, I had fun, but not nearly enough of it.
Horizon: Zero Dawn was one of my favorite AAA releases I've played in a minute. Strong sci-fi concept, great combat, open world that's mostly fun to explore, decent story and characters. It had its flaws, of course, but that didn't stop me from playing it for weeks on end. So when I started Forbidden West, I was hoping for an even more improved experience, working out the kinks from the first one and adding even more depth to the gameplay. I'd just finished God of War: Ragnarok, so I kind of went in with higher expectations.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet them. HFW is a direct sequel to Zero Dawn in the best and worst of ways. While it maintains that sci-fi concept with a good story, building upon the revelations from the first game, it also kept a lot of the things that brought down Zero Dawn for me.
To start, there continues to be an over reliance on an incredibly offputting melee combat system. Even fully upgraded and with all kinds of upgrades and buffs, your spear does jack shit against most enemies. You're better off dodging away and using one of your many ranged combat weapons on an enemy rather than hitting them with your spear, but it doesn't stop several side quests from requiring you to use the melee.
Furthermore, the game's open world is larger than HZD's, but it's also far less populated, and even more difficult to navigate. You can go through massive stretches of the map without seeing a single machine or collectable, with lots of strange areas where it seems like something was supposed to go that never got put in. I recall traveling to a far corner of the world to examine what looked like a structure, only to find a massive open lake with a Tideripper in the middle of it. There was no possible way to fight it in the water like that, and no quests take you there. So why was it even there???
The waypoint system is also very flawed, giving a general direction rather than a route; I had several instance where I followed a quest marker and got stuck behind a mountain that I can only find a route around by constantly reopening and closing the map. It was awkward, and annoying. Even when they added the ability to fly, it only clarified for me that there's a whole lot of nothing between your objectives.
Okay, now on to the stuff I liked! The combat continues to be the real selling point of the series. While I did feel like it felt a little looser than Zero Dawn's action, the combat with bows, traps, and elemental damage make every machine encounter a unique challenge. If you're a compulsive looter like me, you will never run out of crafting supplies for your traps and ammo. I will say, however, that the game doesn't really incentivize trying new weapons outside of a few hunting trials and side quests. I fully upgraded two Hunter bows and used them almost exclusively for the entire game, and almost never used the traps aside from a few stealth areas. I guess that one's on me, but I know what I like, and Hunter bows were the best.
The story also continues to be fascinating. It's a bit silly, but the idea of terraforming machines in a post-apocalyptic earth always scratches an itch for me. The moments in HFW where you find datapoints from the Old World are my favorite parts of the story, and this game does some very cool stuff with its main quests, like the Thebes bunker and the HADES Proving Ground.
Finally, I really enjoyed exploring in this game, just like in HZD. While the map is indeed full of big empty spaces and minimal actual mysteries, the points where you do organically discover stuff make it worthwhile. I loved climbing cliffs and finding myself face to face with a Sunwing, or entering a ruined settlement and marking a suspicious trail with my Focus. Looting wrecked machines, fighting rebels, helping hunters take down a Bristleback; it's all these little encounters that make roaming the open world worth it. It's still a big empty open world at the end of the day, but I at least enjoyed the initial forays into the fog of war.
In the end, it's a less strong sequel than I would have liked. The fact that it's still so buggy two years after launch is a little disheartening, but the game never fully crashed for me once. I guess I was hoping for a more focused experience than what I got (lol).
Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet them. HFW is a direct sequel to Zero Dawn in the best and worst of ways. While it maintains that sci-fi concept with a good story, building upon the revelations from the first game, it also kept a lot of the things that brought down Zero Dawn for me.
To start, there continues to be an over reliance on an incredibly offputting melee combat system. Even fully upgraded and with all kinds of upgrades and buffs, your spear does jack shit against most enemies. You're better off dodging away and using one of your many ranged combat weapons on an enemy rather than hitting them with your spear, but it doesn't stop several side quests from requiring you to use the melee.
Furthermore, the game's open world is larger than HZD's, but it's also far less populated, and even more difficult to navigate. You can go through massive stretches of the map without seeing a single machine or collectable, with lots of strange areas where it seems like something was supposed to go that never got put in. I recall traveling to a far corner of the world to examine what looked like a structure, only to find a massive open lake with a Tideripper in the middle of it. There was no possible way to fight it in the water like that, and no quests take you there. So why was it even there???
The waypoint system is also very flawed, giving a general direction rather than a route; I had several instance where I followed a quest marker and got stuck behind a mountain that I can only find a route around by constantly reopening and closing the map. It was awkward, and annoying. Even when they added the ability to fly, it only clarified for me that there's a whole lot of nothing between your objectives.
Okay, now on to the stuff I liked! The combat continues to be the real selling point of the series. While I did feel like it felt a little looser than Zero Dawn's action, the combat with bows, traps, and elemental damage make every machine encounter a unique challenge. If you're a compulsive looter like me, you will never run out of crafting supplies for your traps and ammo. I will say, however, that the game doesn't really incentivize trying new weapons outside of a few hunting trials and side quests. I fully upgraded two Hunter bows and used them almost exclusively for the entire game, and almost never used the traps aside from a few stealth areas. I guess that one's on me, but I know what I like, and Hunter bows were the best.
The story also continues to be fascinating. It's a bit silly, but the idea of terraforming machines in a post-apocalyptic earth always scratches an itch for me. The moments in HFW where you find datapoints from the Old World are my favorite parts of the story, and this game does some very cool stuff with its main quests, like the Thebes bunker and the HADES Proving Ground.
Finally, I really enjoyed exploring in this game, just like in HZD. While the map is indeed full of big empty spaces and minimal actual mysteries, the points where you do organically discover stuff make it worthwhile. I loved climbing cliffs and finding myself face to face with a Sunwing, or entering a ruined settlement and marking a suspicious trail with my Focus. Looting wrecked machines, fighting rebels, helping hunters take down a Bristleback; it's all these little encounters that make roaming the open world worth it. It's still a big empty open world at the end of the day, but I at least enjoyed the initial forays into the fog of war.
In the end, it's a less strong sequel than I would have liked. The fact that it's still so buggy two years after launch is a little disheartening, but the game never fully crashed for me once. I guess I was hoping for a more focused experience than what I got (lol).
2021
Wonderful little game. MInor souls-like elements add a bit of challenge to a gorgeous, stylish atmosphere. Super fun, with great boss fights. I could not put this one down!
An incredibly difficult journey through decaying wilderness where you play as a mama fox trying to keep her babies alive in the face of pollution, deforestation, hunters, and the apocalypse. It's a memorable experience for sure, but I truly could not get anywhere close to the good ending at all. I wish there was a gentler difficulty curve for the early game, but I get why that's not there.
An incredible bit of independent gaming. I think everyone should try this game out at least once. Surprisingly intuitive for its age.
2021
Took a two month sabbatical from other games for a minute so I could play something straightforward and uncomplicated. BF2042 is that game, for better and worse.
PROS: It's very polished, barring some hilarious exceptions. Movement, shooting, and traversal of objectives is fluid and satisfying. The maps are huge and multi-layered, I played as much as I could and I still don't think I covered more than half of the maps' areas during matches. Lots of options for killing bad guys. I didn't feel like I needed to buy a Battle Pass to do well at the game. It's very fun to shoot things in this game.
CONS: BF community fucking sucks most of the time, with players either ignoring objectives or camping at spawn points. Most players just play Conquest so that's the only game mode you can regularly find matches in. I did encounter cheaters every couple days. Vehicle combat is broken in too many ways. Weekly game modes were not fun.
I could go on, but here's the bottom line: this is a great game to pour time into if you're okay at FPSs. If you've got the time and patience for the game's long rounds and large online contingent, it can be very rewarding. Me? I bowed out after two months once I realized there wasn't really any way to elevate my game past where it was. I'm not big on MMOs at all, but I still had some fun here.
PROS: It's very polished, barring some hilarious exceptions. Movement, shooting, and traversal of objectives is fluid and satisfying. The maps are huge and multi-layered, I played as much as I could and I still don't think I covered more than half of the maps' areas during matches. Lots of options for killing bad guys. I didn't feel like I needed to buy a Battle Pass to do well at the game. It's very fun to shoot things in this game.
CONS: BF community fucking sucks most of the time, with players either ignoring objectives or camping at spawn points. Most players just play Conquest so that's the only game mode you can regularly find matches in. I did encounter cheaters every couple days. Vehicle combat is broken in too many ways. Weekly game modes were not fun.
I could go on, but here's the bottom line: this is a great game to pour time into if you're okay at FPSs. If you've got the time and patience for the game's long rounds and large online contingent, it can be very rewarding. Me? I bowed out after two months once I realized there wasn't really any way to elevate my game past where it was. I'm not big on MMOs at all, but I still had some fun here.
A welcome distraction while waiting for Like a Dragon Gaiden and Infinite Wealth to come out. It definitely feels more like a PS3 Yakuza title, even remastered like this, but it's got a relatively fun story and all the usual side content that I love about the series. The dojos, Another Life portions, and various minigames are extremely fun and well worth the time I put into them.
UNfortunately, the combat and crafting systems in this game leave a lot to be desired. The four different styles aren't particularly versatile, and the crafting/upgrade system requires a mind-numbing amount of grinding and repeating dungeon crawls to do anything significant.
So as far as Yakuza goes, it's no Zero or 7. But as a remastered title released before RGG's next big title, it definitely kept me occupied!
UNfortunately, the combat and crafting systems in this game leave a lot to be desired. The four different styles aren't particularly versatile, and the crafting/upgrade system requires a mind-numbing amount of grinding and repeating dungeon crawls to do anything significant.
So as far as Yakuza goes, it's no Zero or 7. But as a remastered title released before RGG's next big title, it definitely kept me occupied!
A beautifully curated experience with solid combat, good level design, fun side content, and a varying degree of difficulty. It seemed to fix a couple of the issues I had with GoW 2018, primarily the sudden difficulty spike in the late game. The endgame content in this was phenomenal. A very good game!
1998
Trying out Backloggd so I can keep track of the games I've played. I thought I'd start with my favorite game of all time!
Spyro the Dragon, to me, is the platonic ideal of a video game. A brightly colored 3-D platformer with stellar music and basic gameplay. There's no upgrades, no seeking out areas to come back to later, no shops or challenges. Spyro can do everything he's able to from the minute you start, and he doesn't change at all from beginning to end. It's perfect.
One of the things that made me love Spyro as a kid was its openness. You only need to fulfill a few small obligations to unlock new areas, so you can play as thoroughly or as fast as you please. Personally, I loved visiting each new area, hearing Stewart Copeland's wonderful score in each level, and charging and burning everything in sight. I wanted to get every single gem, dragon, and egg in the game, and it took 6 year old me a VERY long time to do it. Finally completing my goal is one of my proudest moments in gaming.
Since then, I've played this game at least once a year. I could run it with my eyes closed. I know every polygon by now. I can post about all the games I've played, but Spyro the Dragon was my first. No other game can make me feel like Spyro does.
Spyro the Dragon, to me, is the platonic ideal of a video game. A brightly colored 3-D platformer with stellar music and basic gameplay. There's no upgrades, no seeking out areas to come back to later, no shops or challenges. Spyro can do everything he's able to from the minute you start, and he doesn't change at all from beginning to end. It's perfect.
One of the things that made me love Spyro as a kid was its openness. You only need to fulfill a few small obligations to unlock new areas, so you can play as thoroughly or as fast as you please. Personally, I loved visiting each new area, hearing Stewart Copeland's wonderful score in each level, and charging and burning everything in sight. I wanted to get every single gem, dragon, and egg in the game, and it took 6 year old me a VERY long time to do it. Finally completing my goal is one of my proudest moments in gaming.
Since then, I've played this game at least once a year. I could run it with my eyes closed. I know every polygon by now. I can post about all the games I've played, but Spyro the Dragon was my first. No other game can make me feel like Spyro does.