Mini-Review/Backlog Destruction Thread

[wshowers]

Finished Redfall. Liked it more than I disliked it. More detailed impressions in the Redfall topic but I don't think it deserved the 2/10 and 4/10 reviews at all.

On top of my already massive back log, going to try Forspoken now to see if its reviews hold any water.

 

[Swede]

I finally finished Dishonored 2 after playing it on & off for 3 weeks. With that I end my game pass subscription.

I looked at the library & do not find many games I like to play. I think if you are an indie gamer, its good value, but most of the AAA games were games released ages ago ( & have no interest to play), & first party games new & coming are few & far in between, not to mention if they are even games that will be good or you actually like to play.

Assuming even Starfield is good, at most, I just resub for 10 bucks, then unsub when done.

With Game Pass & xbox out of my gaming ego system, I can go ahead and go to PS ecosystem. I know a few here strongly disagree with me, but XBOX screws up this gen like last gen (slightly less) so I am out.

I am not certain to get PS5, but if I do, it will 99% be PS5 , or even Nintendo over XBOX. Worse thing if MS has some great exclusive AAA games (which let's be real, will few & far between at best), I can play them on my PC.

So..... to summarize;

I hate xbox and MS sucks and I tried the Gamepass just to be able to tell everyone it sucks too.

@DriedMangoes Shawn's says it all

 

[Kvally]

On top of my already massive back log, going to try Forspoken now to see if its reviews hold any water.

I am still playing through it. Almost at Chapter 5 now. Let me know your thoughts when you get it started.

 

[Z A C K]

Finished Darksiders today after about 17 hours. Didn't really know what to expect going in other than being a hack and slash game, but ended up pleasantly surprised. Felt like a more actiony classic Zelda. Excited to play the other games in the series.

Next up though, despite me playing almost exclusively old games, I'll be jumping into Hogwarts Legacy.

 

[wshowers]

Finished Darksiders today after about 17 hours. Didn't really know what to expect going in other than being a hack and slash game, but ended up pleasantly surprised. Felt like a more actiony classic Zelda. Excited to play the other games in the series.

Next up though, despite me playing almost exclusively old games, I'll be jumping into Hogwarts Legacy.

Be prepared. Each subsequent game is a different genre. Darksiders 2 is pseudo open world game closer to Devil May Cry or God of War. Darksiders 3 is a kinda metrodvania soulslike. And Darksiders Genesis is a top down Diablo clone.

 

[bullzeye]

Finished Darksiders today after about 17 hours. Didn't really know what to expect going in other than being a hack and slash game, but ended up pleasantly surprised. Felt like a more actiony classic Zelda. Excited to play the other games in the series.

Next up though, despite me playing almost exclusively old games, I'll be jumping into Hogwarts Legacy.

Oh man I loved Darksiders when it released, like you wasn't expecting anything and got a badass back n slash with fun puzzles

 

[wshowers]

FINALLY finished The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (PC). Took me 54 hours but I finally buckled down and got through it. The Story semi sort of brings to a close the story of the Cold Steel sub series. More on that in a minute.

As I've said before, I believe that the Legend of Heroes series is second only to the Final fantasy series in my mind of JRPG. And the reason is because the inter-connectivity of the games. Every Legend of Heroes games ties in to the previous one, whereas final fantasy are usually stand alone. So in this case with Cold Steel ending, we have a conclusion to a 10 (!) game story starting in 2004.

The series as a whole touches on some subjects well past its Teen rating. War being its main theme allows it to go places other games don't. While not grim by any means it has many serious and heartwarming moments. To balance it out the game and the series has MANY campy moments and it cannot escape its anime troupe routes. The anime troupe are quite strong in this series so if that turns you off this is not the game or series for you.

The ending is pretty good. It ties up most of the plot and characters. But...... it doesn't close the story completely. The epilogue to the story is a whole 'nother game, The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, which acts as closure of Cold Steel and a bridge to the next story.

So earlier I said that Cold Steel 4 ends the Cold Steel sub series. The cold steel series is but a sub series of the Trails series which in itself is a sub series of The legend of Heroes! There's a wiki for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Heroes

I wish this series was on xbox so more people could enjoy it but the series is so long and with each game interconnected, its a big ask to try to have the dev port every game in the series to a console that may or may not be receptive.

 

[Z A C K]

After almost exactly 50 hours of play time I finished Hogwarts Legacy today. Had a blast. While it's apparent this is the studio's first game like this, if this is what they can do on a first attempt I can't wait to see the inevitable sequel.

In those 50 hours I got max level (40), finished all challenges, and got about 85% of collectibles.

Next up I'm looking forward to a much shorter experience in Never Alone. Got it on Games with Gold forever ago and always thought it looked interesting. Kind of gives off Inside or Limbo vibes.

 

[Z A C K]

Never Alone was a fun little game. Took me about 4 hours. A little glitchy at times but nothing that takes away from the experience. Though it did glitch me out of 1000/1000 GS.

Next up, continuing on with my Resident Evil series playthrough, Resident Evil 0. I've heard not great things about this one but I'm probably just going to play through it on easy to save myself some stress.

 

[wshowers]

Finished Street Fighter 6 World Tour mode. It was very enjoyable and I hope it becomes a standard feature in the series. Its up there mortal kombat's single player mode. Will go back and try thee arcade modes and such but with the back log, I might move on to trying to finish Diablo 4 and the other games in the backlog.

 

[Z A C K]

Finished up Resident Evil 0 tonight. It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I did play on Easy, and I did think the lack of Item Boxes was obnoxious, but overall the game was enjoyable.

Next up I'm playing Persona 5 Royal. Never played a Persona game before and honestly have no idea what I'm in for, but it's on Game Pass and I don't want to let that pass me by.

 

[bullzeye]

Finished up Resident Evil 0 tonight. It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I did play on Easy, and I did think the lack of Item Boxes was obnoxious, but overall the game was enjoyable.

Next up I'm playing Persona 5 Royal. Never played a Persona game before and honestly have no idea what I'm in for, but it's on Game Pass and I don't want to let that pass me by.

Persona 5 is such a different change of pace, still not sure I'm totally into it after 10 plus hours but it's definitely intriguing, first persona game for me too.

 

[wshowers]

Finished up Resident Evil 0 tonight. It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Though I did play on Easy, and I did think the lack of Item Boxes was obnoxious, but overall the game was enjoyable.

Next up I'm playing Persona 5 Royal. Never played a Persona game before and honestly have no idea what I'm in for, but it's on Game Pass and I don't want to let that pass me by.

FYI Persona 5 is a LONG game. Even more so with the added Royal content. It's my favorite Persona game to date but I couldn't justify going back to play it again after I bought it Day 1 on ps4. Its just too long.

 

[Z A C K]

FYI Persona 5 is a LONG game. Even more so with the added Royal content. It's my favorite Persona game to date but I couldn't justify going back to play it again after I bought it Day 1 on ps4. Its just too long.

Yeah, I'm fully prepared to be playing this is for a couple months. Should be a nice change of pace though.

 

[Razzel]

FINALLY got around to beating Ghosts of Tsushima and the DLC. It’s definitely in my top games of all time!!

 

[wshowers]

Finished Diablo 4 (PC) main story. The ending is very meh as it sets up what I imagine are paid expansions and doesn't provide any closure. But it was a fun ride to this non-ending.

 

[wshowers]

Finished Marvel's Midnight Suns (PC). Its my second game in a row that had a main antagonist named Lilith that was a demon. And the 2nd game in a row where Lilith's end goal is not what you think it is. Odd coincidence.

Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit even if it did go a little long. Steam says I'm at 41.6 hours. I like unique game and I can say besides X-com, there is nothing like Midnight Suns.

I'm disappointed that the game flopped so it probably won't get a sequel and likely ended Jake Solomon's career at Firaxis.

 

[Kerosene31]

I finished Horizon Forbidden West finally! Very good game overall, and an improvement from the 1st (which was great). Combat felt better, but was still frustrating at times.

I started Death Stranding and pretty quickly gave up. I was fascinated at times, but quickly got frustrated by a game that explains nothing. Maybe I'll revisit it when I have more patience.

I've actually got my backlog at a reasonable level right now, ready for all the fall games to fill it back up. Just waiting for God of War Ragnorok to go on sale to buy that.

 

[wshowers]

Current Backlog:

PC:
Diablo 4 - Just grinding. Don't know if I'm going to do the new season
Forspoken - Good game just trying to get further in.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Very good crpg just long as hell
RDR 2: GREAT looking and playing game. Another long as hell game.

PS5:
Horizon Forbidden West- One of the best looking game this gen. Still working my way through it.

Series X:
Plague Tale Requiem : Another beautiful depressing game.
Hi FI rush- fun game. still can't stand to main character

Switch:
Zelda TOTK: Great gameplay, ho hum story so far. Still hate weapon degradation.

 

[wshowers]

My brother gifted me a copy of Gotham Knights for PS5. So far I have to admit its pretty fun. Especially in co-op. Looks pretty good too.

 

[wshowers]

Finished Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (PC). Very good CRPG but very long. I thought about picking up Baulder's Gate 3 next week but I may be crpg-ed out.

 

[wshowers]

Added Balder's Gate 3 ( PC) to the pile. Also picked up GOW: Ragnarok cause its on sale.

 

[Swede]

I finished Horizon Forbidden West finally! Very good game overall, and an improvement from the 1st (which was great). Combat felt better, but was still frustrating at times.

I started Death Stranding and pretty quickly gave up. I was fascinated at times, but quickly got frustrated by a game that explains nothing. Maybe I'll revisit it when I have more patience.

I've actually got my backlog at a reasonable level right now, ready for all the fall games to fill it back up. Just waiting for God of War Ragnorok to go on sale to buy that.

Ah, Death Stranding, the best PS4 era exclusive. It does take a certain set of mind though, I've trying to play it at times and just gave up after 20 minutes, but sometimes I just get swept away in the world and could play for hours.
A masterpiece though imo

 

[wshowers]

Also picked up Star Ocean the divine force (PC) cause it was on sale too.

 

[Razzel]

Got through Remnant 1 solo, great game!! Much more accessible on the standard difficulty than I was expecting. Gonna pick up the sequel since I’ve heard so many good things.

 

[The Wolf King]

What Became of Edith Finch

2/5

It definitely feels like Walking sims really aren't my thing.
I like the idea of each story having a different style but the Horror film and Video game fantasy are the only 2 I found slightly fun to play.
And just all too grim really for me to get into the story.

Did laugh at the end of the hunting trip story though.

 

[wshowers]

Finished Baulder Gate 3 (PC). Final score somewhere between 8-9/10. Posting indepth impressions in the Balder's Gate thread.
Edit: Gonna post it here too:

Finished the game. 54.1 Hours. My thoughts:

1. I definitely need another play-though some time down the line. I missed a bit in Act 1-3 due to some of my choices and the numerous bugs. But not now due to the fact that alot of games are about to release and Larian really needs to patch some things.
2. Having played the game from start to finish, I can't rate this game no lower than an 8 but no higher than a 9. This is quite a compelling fun game but the numerous bugs and game-play decisions in my opinion keep it from being an all time great game. You can also make an argument that the story wasn't finished or irregularly paced. This is not a 10/10 IMO.
3. Act 3 needs alot of work. There are just too many bugs to overlook. The final battle one of my characters glitched out and was unusable for the duration.
4. The final push, aka the point of no return, feels rushed. Frantically racing to an endpoint with bad level design and bad pacing.
5. Act 3 is a mess narrativly speaking. ALOT of Deus ex in the last act. Alot of characters, one major one in particular completely change the motivation they have from the first two acts and do the exact opposite.
6. No way to sugar coat this one. The endings are abrupt and short. Those who play for story and resolution of said story are going to be severely disappointed with the endings. Its that bad.
7. I don't know how any reviewer could have though that this is setting a new standard for RPGs. The 3rd Act completely undoes alot of that goodwill. So while the presentation and voice acting is superb, a game is more than just visuals and sound, and I feel alot of critics had a positive bias going in just due to the fact it was very consumer friendly which is becoming uncommon.
8. Also any reviewer that said that this game was an example of how games should be polished before release needs their credentials checked. This game is as buggy and unpolished in places as any Obsidian ( Pre-MS) or any Bethesda game at launch. They didn't push out 5 patches in 2 weeks because it was so polished.
9. I harp on Act 3 alot because until that point I considered it GOTY material. Now I'm not sure.
10. Being in early access for 3 years I expected a much more polished product. I'm very surprised that this is the final outcome.
11. The game can be played with next to no Dnd and Baulder's gate knowledge but it is strong encouraged that you do know something as a few of the conversation went over my head as I had no idea what they were talking about.
12. Some of the puzzles straight up cannot be solved using a controller. OR its very difficult to rotate the controller to the right angle to make it work. Hopefully they fix that with the console version.

TLDR: BG3 is a fine game but I'm not convinced its the great all time game critics have made it out to be. Hate to be that guy but its overrated IMO. I can't remember in recent memory when a game lifted me up so high early only to drop me so low by the end.

 

[The Wolf King]

Stray 4/5


Perfect length and none of the segments (combat/stealth) go on too long.

 

[Razzel]

Ghostwire Tokyo - Fun game! Great graphics and good enough story. I did think the combat got a little stale by the end but I loved that even though there were lots of bosses they didn’t have any sudden difficulty spikes. 4/5

 

[BUSTERMAN]

I really need to stop buying games that I can't get to for months. I preordered / purchased FF16 and haven't touched it because I was addicted to Diablo 4. I purchased Everspace 2 and barely played it outside the first level because of D4. Btw, didn't know Everspace 2 was going to be on Gamepass, could have save a couple of bucks.

Today I'll start Armored Core 6 because I'm a huge Mecha fan but will probably have to put it down for Starfield. October is stacked with Spiderman and Lords of the Fallen.