What, the original one, during WW2?
What, the original one, during WW2?
I finally... FINALLY... got to start Rebirth on Friday morning. Between then and now I've managed to pile on 35 hours. Seriously nerping out on it.
The first few hours are unfortunate. They held off exposing you to the open land for a long time. Plenty of open world games start with a 15-30 minute linear intro section before letting you loose. This is a series of sequences that all seem to go on too long and really add up.
This game missed a huge opportunity with that intro. It's pretty rare for a sequel these days to have something really big and new over the previous. They have that and they really should have shown it off as quickly as they could. The entire first game was enough buildup for it, thank you.
Anyway it gets better as soon as you do get let loose. Playing 'the same game' but in this open world format is cool. It totally works.
I've been wondering for years how they are going to do the outside world and all the globe trotting. They did a fantastic job with a structure that solves the issue of adapting the original's dedicated overworld + discreet locations. They handled it well.
The music is letting me down a bit. It's sticking a lot more closely to the original compositions. The midgar-ized techno mixes of the first had my hopes high. That ost is a one million alarm fire.
The graphics are in several ways worse than the previous game. Mostly rough around the edges things. If that is the cost of producing the huge game then I think they made the right choice.
30 fps on PS5 runs well enough with acceptable IQ. I can forgive a bunch of minor issues that are down to having less polish than the previous game. I'm going to stand by my words on it - AAA games need to chill on the elaborate detailing. Get the game out sooner. This game could be another year or two from now if they went in to make the lighting in each spot and every animation transition perfect. Perfect is the enemy of good.
But there is a big graphical issues: the faces lod to some ugly shit too close to the camera, and they are often caught with fucked up lighting. This has been highly distracting. I'm wondering if the PC or PS5 pro versions will be able to help with this.
So at 35 hours, just leaving junon, I am super happy with the game. It feels closer to the source material than Remake before it. The gameplay still kicks ass and I will be playing in hard mode down the line. The open regions outside of towns absolutely do the job of translating the old dedicated world map. Some of the fleshing out they do is not to my liking but some is, so that's a wash. The game is delivering big time on the nostalgic trip of seeing those old pre-rendered backgrounds looking better than you ever imagined back then.
So far, I'm happy! Too bad about first few hours. That had me scared.
JusantI just beat Hellblade 2 & Still wakes the deep through pc gamepass all this week! Absolutely loving shorter games. If anyone has other memorable short experiences please lmk! I've probably played a lot of the bigger ones
Jusant
Cocoon
Botany Manor
Venba
Off the top of my head.
Get Venba on sale. Its super simple but a nice short story with good music. All the others I really loved.I beat Jusant, but totally forgot about Cocoon! Loved Limbo/Inside and I'm pretty sure the Creative lead for those games worked on Cocoon with his new studio? Regardless, I'm downloading that one now! Will add the other two on my wishlist. Thanks!
I Am Setsuna is one of my favorites. If possible, play it in December while its snowing with a cup of hot chocolate.Finished WoFF:
That ending was weird and was obviously the bad ending after a quick search. Went to do all the intervention quests and even did the DLC once which was not necessary. The Omega god fight was so ridiculously long it made the final boss so quick in comparison. I was around level 60. Got the true ending.
I liked it a lot.
The JRPG streak continues. Ni no Kuni remaster or I am Setsuna first?
Finished WoFF:
That ending was weird and was obviously the bad ending after a quick search. Went to do all the intervention quests and even did the DLC once which was not necessary. The Omega god fight was so ridiculously long it made the final boss so quick in comparison. I was around level 60. Got the true ending.
I liked it a lot.
The JRPG streak continues. Ni no Kuni remaster or I am Setsuna first?
Should now go back to SMT V2. Thing is I still have a ton of hours in that game to go and I'm craving something with more action, so I started Ys VI on the Steam Deck. So far it's pretty cool, as expected.
About 14 hours into tales of arise. My first ever tales game and honestly, it's pretty damn solid. The characters and story are pretty intriguing. Not too far from where Law joins your party and I just feel like he's a complete psychopath as all I hear is Eren Yeagar's voice lol.
Gameplay is really good too. Fairly simplistic but it has a fun gameplay loop. My only problems with the games are difficulties of the enemies. The lower level enemies are just too easy, then the bosses are just wayyyy too tanky. Its not overly hard, don't think I've even had a gameover yet, it's just a weird balance. Also, they could probably tone down the amount of cut scenes/story dialogues but just feel like Japanese games like this are always super heavy on those.
Overall though, I'm def a fan.
Hades 2 was (unsurprisingly) another addictive experience. Played for 50 hours and finished everything I could at this point before even thinking about starting something else.I just had my birthday and I am playing way too many games right now.
I was playing Elden Ring on PC and Another Crab's Treasure on steamdeck previously, but bought myself Stellar Blade (started it) and Lies of P (still sealed) as I grabbed them both for the cost of 1 secondhand
A buddy gifted me Hades 2 and I spent a few hours on it yesterday and I am HOOKED.
I have no idea how I will get through this new backlog. Do I just assume I never will and add it to the unmentionable list of growing games I have purchased and will never get to play ( or never want to play, what with all the new shit that's always coming out)?
:'D
Never even heard of Dolphin Blue, which is hard to say for me these days.I’ve been playing Bison in SF6. I bought Year 2 season pass after thinking I wouldn’t. Bison is a lot of fun. It makes me wish these DLC characters would come out sooner.
On my second run of the Elden Ring DLC. It’s my most played game so far.
I got to beat Dolphin Blue. The final boss is a coin hog. I don’t see how anyone would have gotten past it without some sorta free play. I got to play it in person a couple years ago at Galloping Ghost. It has a neat aesthetic to it, but I agree with a lot of the impressions online. It’s not something better than Contra or Metal Slug. You also get over it after the first couple levels, especially once you’ve fought on a dolphin a couple times.