Mini-Review/Backlog Destruction Thread

Vigor has a free play weekend on XBox Live. I’ve always been curious in this game so downloaded it.

It is pretty cool so far. First solo Encounter I found a bunch of loot and killed a guy trying to get to an exit looted his body then escaped. Second solo Encounter I got the supply drop and a guy chased me to the exit. We ended up killing each other at the same time and I got nothing. You can also play two players with a friend or with a random. All the loot you collect you upgrade your base and craft items and weapons to use in Encounters.
 
Ended up beating Shadow of the Tomb Raider (on Game Pass) and Uncharted 4 back to back. SofTR surprised me. I didn’t even like Rise a ton. AI is still dumb as hell. Combat isn’t weighty enough. Story wasn’t good. All said, I think the re-balancing in favor of exploration and puzzles worked out better for me. The atmosphere, the towns...it really pulled me in. If not for the terrible enemy AI and story...(which gets dumber and dumber as you progress), this could’ve been a favorite game of mine this gen. In the end it was still a solid 8.5.

Uncharted 4 is my first ever Uncharted. Blown away by Naughty Dogs ability to bring film cinematics to videogames. Their animations and attention to detail are something else. The scale is incredible...but everything else is just ok. Ok combat. Ok stealth. Ok platforming. I thought it was way too slow at times. I’d give it an 8. 10 for characters, voice acting and overall production values. 7 for gameplay and fun factor.

All considered I enjoyed Tomb Raider more. I think the encouragement of exploration and collecting stuff that you can later use makes looking around more meaningful. The platforming puzzles are the best part of the game and unlike Uncharted, it doesn’t do all the platforming for you.
 
I have been semi dedicated to chopping down the backlog lately. Last mentioned dungeon siege, finished that, along with binary domain and a jank old bastard called project eden.

Binary domain was fun though quite simple in gameplay, had some very pretty scenery (and a lot of industrial gray but not enough discount the good entirely). Not much to say. Simple game, 3rd person cover shooter from the era rife with them. Interesting themes with robots and humanity. Standard "where do we drawn the line" fare but a little more serious than I would have expected from a pulpy action game, and it certainly deserves to be eyed as such with the other ridiculous and hammy developments. Still, pretty and fun enough.

Project eden was ass and I still played it through the whole way. It's an old game (2001 "old") and so very chunky clunky and gross looking. The whole game is based in a giant metropolis, but the players job is to descend into the bowels, seeing the layers and layers the upper tiers are built upon. It's all low rez rust textures and gross mutating creatures and psychos.

It was cool. It played like ass (your squad of 4 is slow to control and dummies with their pathfinding) and the puzzles sometimes became utterly nonsensical, but had an interesting surrounding narrative, even if the dialogue and such itself wasn't all that engaging. A very love/hate feeling with this game.

Your ending cutscene is you executing a time frozen 6 year old girl who's actually a mutant god as her father watches, and then rips her brain out or something and puts it in a robot. Then he gives the robot mutant girl a teddy bear and they walk away with no further explanation, end credits. In the end, and it would probably never come about but, I'd still play a project eden 2.

Finally, I'm now onto a purported classic; "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines"
got 11 hours already across 2 sessions. So far it's my kind of genre; the "immersive sim," or the adventure RPG, deus ex styled game. I've never been into vampires much but it's been cool, they got their society and stuff, "The Masquerade." Turns out all I needed to be interested in vampires was lots and lots of rules.

games are such busywork
 
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Ended up beating Shadow of the Tomb Raider (on Game Pass) and Uncharted 4 back to back. SofTR surprised me. I didn’t even like Rise a ton. AI is still dumb as hell. Combat isn’t weighty enough. Story wasn’t good. All said, I think the re-balancing in favor of exploration and puzzles worked out better for me. The atmosphere, the towns...it really pulled me in. If not for the terrible enemy AI and story...(which gets dumber and dumber as you progress), this could’ve been a favorite game of mine this gen. In the end it was still a solid 8.5.

Uncharted 4 is my first ever Uncharted. Blown away by Naughty Dogs ability to bring film cinematics to videogames. Their animations and attention to detail are something else. The scale is incredible...but everything else is just ok. Ok combat. Ok stealth. Ok platforming. I thought it was way too slow at times. I’d give it an 8. 10 for characters, voice acting and overall production values. 7 for gameplay and fun factor.

All considered I enjoyed Tomb Raider more. I think the encouragement of exploration and collecting stuff that you can later use makes looking around more meaningful. The platforming puzzles are the best part of the game and unlike Uncharted, it doesn’t do all the platforming for you.
Thought shadow was the weakest of the bunch tbh. Finished it and had fun though.
Uncharted 4.... prettiest game on PS4 but the car lvl with the hinch thing was terrible, made it about 3/4 in and stopped, sold my ps4 after that.
 
Ended up beating Shadow of the Tomb Raider (on Game Pass) and Uncharted 4 back to back. SofTR surprised me. I didn’t even like Rise a ton. AI is still dumb as hell. Combat isn’t weighty enough. Story wasn’t good. All said, I think the re-balancing in favor of exploration and puzzles worked out better for me. The atmosphere, the towns...it really pulled me in. If not for the terrible enemy AI and story...(which gets dumber and dumber as you progress), this could’ve been a favorite game of mine this gen. In the end it was still a solid 8.5.

Uncharted 4 is my first ever Uncharted. Blown away by Naughty Dogs ability to bring film cinematics to videogames. Their animations and attention to detail are something else. The scale is incredible...but everything else is just ok. Ok combat. Ok stealth. Ok platforming. I thought it was way too slow at times. I’d give it an 8. 10 for characters, voice acting and overall production values. 7 for gameplay and fun factor.

All considered I enjoyed Tomb Raider more. I think the encouragement of exploration and collecting stuff that you can later use makes looking around more meaningful. The platforming puzzles are the best part of the game and unlike Uncharted, it doesn’t do all the platforming for you.

I've always felt that Uncharted 4 was the weakest game in the series. Still better than most other studio outputs but kinda felt like ND was going through the motions. Lost Legacy was great though.

I have been semi dedicated to chopping down the backlog lately. Last mentioned dungeon siege, finished that, along with binary domain and a jank old bastard called project eden.

Binary domain was fun though quite simple in gameplay, had some very pretty scenery (and a lot of industrial gray but not enough discount the good entirely). Not much to say. Simple game, 3rd person cover shooter from the era rife with them. Interesting themes with robots and humanity. Standard "where do we drawn the line" fare but a little more serious than I would have expected from a pulpy action game, and it certainly deserves to be eyed as such with the other ridiculous and hammy developments. Still, pretty and fun enough.

Project eden was ass and I still played it through the whole way. It's an old game (2001 "old") and so very chunky clunky and gross looking. The whole game is based in a giant metropolis, but the players job is to descend into the bowels, seeing the layers and layers the upper tiers are built upon. It's all low rez rust textures and gross mutating creatures and psychos.

It was cool. It played like ass (your squad of 4 is slow to control and dummies with their pathfinding) and the puzzles sometimes became utterly nonsensical, but had an interesting surrounding narrative, even if the dialogue and such itself wasn't all that engaging. A very love/hate feeling with this game.

Your ending cutscene is you executing a time frozen 6 year old girl who's actually a mutant god as her father watches, and then rips her brain out or something and puts it in a robot. Then he gives the robot mutant girl a teddy bear and they walk away with no further explanation, end credits. In the end, and it would probably never come about but, I'd still play a project eden 2.

Finally, I'm now onto a purported classic; "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines"
got 11 hours already across 2 sessions. So far it's my kind of genre; the "immersive sim," or the adventure RPG, deus ex styled game. I've never been into vampires much but it's been cool, they got their society and stuff, "The Masquerade." Turns out all I needed to be interested in vampires was lots and lots of rules.

games are such busywork

Loved Binary Domain. Its better than what I thought it would be. Good luck with Vampire: The Masquerade. There's a pretty good game in there, with a good story buried under odd gameplay choices and TONS of bugs. But it was memorable enough for me to anticipate Bloodlines 2 next year.
 
Yea Binary Domain was good. Not sure if difference between PC and console or just not aging well, but I tried it on PC a few years after I beat it on PS3 and yikes.

Currently playing through Dragon Age Inquisition. I've only played the first DA and never beat it, getting burned out. I have a feeling the same may happen with this game. I'm playing it through Origin Premier though so no biggie if I don't finish it.
 
Yea Binary Domain was good. Not sure if difference between PC and console or just not aging well, but I tried it on PC a few years after I beat it on PS3 and yikes.

Currently playing through Dragon Age Inquisition. I've only played the first DA and never beat it, getting burned out. I have a feeling the same may happen with this game. I'm playing it through Origin Premier though so no biggie if I don't finish it.

The way Inquistion is set up, there's a chance you will get burned out especially if you're playing it after having played The Witcher 3.
 
The way Inquistion is set up, there's a chance you will get burned out especially if you're playing it after having played The Witcher 3.
Haven't played Witcher 3. Just feel like these days with how little I game that any game over 20-30ish hours is too much.
 
Haven't played Witcher 3. Just feel like these days with how little I game that any game over 20-30ish hours is too much.

You should be ok then. My advice with Inquisition; DO NOT do non character related side quests. They are padded on mmo type fetch quests that don't add to the story at all. Stick with main quests and loyalty missions.
 
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The #1 inquisition advice - do what you can to get out of the hinterlands

Which I understand. But I loved the hinterlands. I was blown away with the scale, thinking it would be okay of this was the only playable area. But then you reach more and more regions. More. And more. And more. Big damn game. Bought it near day one and still haven't finished.
 
Oh right backlog stuff. So I finished vampire colon the masquerade dash bloodlines. Pretty good stuff, quite varied and it's a "play your way" game that did it right. Lucky to have had the fan patches built into gog's install. I read it released infamously buggy.

However, it has an awful multi level sewer section that is the worst thing in the entire game. A real combat skill check. It also holds one of the scareist f***ing enemies I've ever encountered in any game. I'll see if I can upload a clip tomorrow. They're just monster heads on legs but encountering them triggers a deep and primal adrenaline fueld fight response in me.

But besides weird flesh abominations, it's a great game. Got your varied clans to choose from so character builds can be incredibly diverse (though reliance on stealth and social gets sidelined later on, investment in at least one combat tree is necessary). It's definitely worth another playthrough but I gotta move on with my backlog being what it is.

I think next I'll play cosmic star heroine. Quite a recent release compared to most on my list. A kind of retro sprite turn based rpg with a sci fi setting. I hear it's quite good, and I know it's got a killer soundtrack. Ever onwards.
 
The #1 inquisition advice - do what you can to get out of the hinterlands

Which I understand. But I loved the hinterlands. I was blown away with the scale, thinking it would be okay of this was the only playable area. But then you reach more and more regions. More. And more. And more. Big damn game. Bought it near day one and still haven't finished.
I think my biggest issue, is when I was younger and had more time to game and less money to buy more games, I would try to 100% everything. So in a game like this I would read literally everything possible, do every sidequest available, etc. But now I don't have as much time and get bored easily. So I started this game in the OCD mindset but lately I just stopped reading just about everything and going for main quest and friend missions like wshowers suggested and I'm enjoying it more now.
 
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Started Sekiro tonight. Just did the intro part until after getting the prosthetic and doing the training fights. Really enjoyed the intro. I really couldn't get into Demon/Dark Souls combat but loved Bloodborne. This is a great next step for combat and setting is great.
 
Finished Man of Medan ( PC ). Got all the characters out alive, sort of.... Toward the end it gets less scary but more tense as you start getting a grasp of what's really going on on the ship. Might play through again using the Curator's cut. A Little Hope, the next game in the series seems to be more of the same just more Blair witchy.
 
Still playing Sekiro. Probably doing more grinding than I should but it's just too satisfying killing plebs I'm afraid to advance into a boss lol. I fought up until the first red eyed guy, then did the first memory and currently I'm guessing towards the end of that. Definitely enjoying it more than Dark Souls but not sure on Bloodborne comparison yet. Probably a bit more Sekiro just based on the feudal Japan setting. I'll wait until I'm done to compare with Nioh but that will be a tough one to beat.
 
Finished Greedfall last night. Its a mixed bag. Let me start with the good.

Good:
1. Story. The story of colonialism in fantasy genre's is hardly ever touched upon and Greedfall's use of it is very unique.
2. Side quests. Finally another RPG maker is taking notes from the Witcher 3 and making side quests that are worth a damn. Now while not on the level of the witcher's side quests, Greedfall's sidequests are unique in the fact that most if not all of them tie back into the main quest and/or story-line. They also flesh out the characters, factions and their motivations. I came away very impressed with their implementation of side quests.
3. Choices matter. Unlike similar games within the genre that give the illusion of choice, the choices you make in the game matter. Some show up immediately, others not for hours. They affect the way you companions view you, the way the other factions view you, what quests show up and how the game ends.
4. Price. This game at 49.99 USD is priced just right.

The Bad:
1. Graphics. I played on PC at 3440x 1440 with everything maxed out. The game supported ultra-wide natively ( 👍 ) but the actual graphics looked dated. Nothing in the game looked like it was born in the X1, Ps4 generation.
2. Combat. Combat was very hit and miss. Fable like qualities with dark soul like tendencies. Alot of dodging and parrying. Spiders didn't seem like they got the best from either game.
3. The Ending. The ending is serviceable but lack luster and seemed to be rushed.

Meh:
1. Voice acting was ok but nothing really stood out.
2. Boss fight are either tremendously easy or mind numbingly hard.

My understanding is that a team of less than 40 worked on this game. That is an achievement in itself for relatively how good this game came out. I never hit any game breaking glitches and it kept me entertained until the end. I can only imagine had the game been backed by a big money publisher that funneled alot of money, staff and resources into the game we could have been talking about this as a rpg of the year type game. That said the developer Spiders is getting better with every game they release. 2-3 releases from now they may have a massive hit on their hands if they continue.
 
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This was that enemy I mentioned forever ago.

I have stalled my backlog chipping. I made the mistake of playing xcom 2 and am working on completing my unfinished war of the chosen playthrough. once that's settled, back to others. Never got around to cosmic star heroine, instead started on the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R and boy is that a pain to type. Immersive, decent enough, but I got bogged down by the weight limits and constant walking between long stretches of nothing. Made it about 30 hours, but did not finish. Then moved on to dreamfall: the longest journey, which was preempted by xcom and here we are.

such busywork
 
Finished Fire Emblem 3 Houses. The play-through took me 60+ Hours :crazy:

It is by far the BEST fire Emblem game I have played and one of the best games I have played this year. Intelligent Systems really hit it out of the ballpark with this. With that said, I don't know if I've got another play-through in me. I finished going down the Golden Deer path and would have to replay the game again 2 more time to do the other 2 paths. The story was intriguing and the difficulty was just right for me.

The only down side was the obvious with it being a Switch game is the graphics. The art style hides alot of the deficiencies but there are far to many jaggies in this game. Its almost like the applied zero anti-aliasing to the game, it's that obvious. It has me wondering how good this game could have looked on the X1, PS4 or PC but alot of Nintendo games leave me with that question. I would LOVE to see this game emulated on the PC with some anti-aliasing and higher than 1080p resolution.

Overall the game is worthy of the praise it received during its release in the summer. And I would love to play it again. Its just with how long the campaign is and the way my backlog is set up, I finish 1 game only to add 2 more to the backlog.
 
Started up Final Fantasy 7 this weekend. I rented this game back in the day but don't remember getting very far with it. In fact anything beyond the first reactor doesn't ring a bell, so I either have super terrible memory or just didn't play it much. I do remember I had rented this at the same time Columbine happened so perhaps my time was preoccupied with that as a kid.

Anyways only about 5 hours in, which for me is a lot of time of gaming in one weekend these days, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I had tried FF6 a while back and didn't get far, so hopefully that doesn't happen here, but so far I am enjoying this a lot more. I wanted to get to it now before the remake comes out although I imagine it would be a while before I played the remake anyways. Perhaps also fitting to be playing this game at a time when climate change is at the forefront. Maybe also regarding cross dressing... :hehe:

Still plan on playing Sekiro, but it's not much of a story heavy game so feel like it's something I can just hop on for an hour every few days and play it for something different. Other than that some Tekken 7 and a bit of TheHunter: Call of the Wild.
 
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This isn't really a backlog but I still have a PS2 and will maybe once a year play a game on it. I've kept a few of my favorites for it.

Anyway, I popped in Manhunt for nostalgic reasons and forgot how much fun it was. I forgot about Brian Cox being in it.
 
Finished Gear 5 Campaign. It was pretty good. I went back and forth playing on PC and on XB1X. A good PC definitely has the 1X beat with looks and performance especially at the ultra preset with ultra texture installed. I hooked up my PC to my 4K tv and AV receiver and the game is immaculate in both the visuals and audio department. However the XB1X is not slouch. It performed and looked great too.
Story wise I think they took some risks with this story. It stopped abruptly a la Halo 2 just when the action reached a crescendo but I guess that's what Gears 6 is for. The characters grow on you as the story goes on and I quite enjoyed my time with the game.
 
I just started playing Dragon's Dogma finally, man they really need mounts or some fast travel because the distance between villages and the lack of being able to sprint for a few seconds really hurts the experience. I like it so far but it could be so much better.
 
I just started playing Dragon's Dogma finally, man they really need mounts or some fast travel because the distance between villages and the lack of being able to sprint for a few seconds really hurts the experience. I like it so far but it could be so much better.

There is fast travel. Look for an item called a Ferrystone. I remember them being stupid expensive though. Not good game design IMO.
 
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There is fast travel. Look for an item called a Ferrystone. I remember them being stupid expensive though. Not good game design IMO.

Yeah they made some mistakes, they tried to be different in ways that don't actually make the game more fun. The walking speed and lack of being able to sprint for extended lengths of time makes traveling tedious.
 
For the Halloween spirit I have started up Luigi's Mansion. Been on my list for a while especially with the new one out this month. Controls seem a bit janky on the 3DS to be honest. The circle pad pro or whatever might make it better but I don't have much left to play on the 3DS so not going to bother. I'll rage through it if I have to.
 
Finished Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness(PS4). I got this game at launch in 2016 and just now got around to finishing it. As a big star ocean fan, that in and of itself should indicate the quality of this game. There is ALOT of backtracking and unexplained game designs. The graphics are fine and the music is passable. The combat is standard Star Ocean if not a bit watered down. Story is uneven and full of deus ex machina. The previous entry, The Last Hope, was better received than this but ALOT of people thought this game would have been a return to form like Star Ocean 2 and 3 that were excellent. Subsequently, while playing the game and finishing it, I could only think I was watching the death of a franchise. And that make me sad considering how good this franchise used to be.