Topic: PS4 recommendation thread

@redd214 I’ve only really heard good things about Battlefield 1’s campaign. I’m not big on modern shooters though, I prefer the old timey ones.

Can anyone personally vouch for 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim?
It’s on sale for 1/2 price and is very highly rated. I’ve really wanted to fall in love with previous Vanillaware games, but they haven’t quite lived up to expectations. I never made it to the end of Muramasa. I got stuck without knowing where to go next and I just gave up. I finished Dragon’s Crown and enjoyed it at the time, but honestly I found it largely forgettable. I really like the visual style amd art design of their games though.

I read the PS review of 13 Sentinels and it was well-praised and I think the editors included it in their top 10 for 2020. Everytime it comes up in discussion, users always post positive comments about it, but not much beyond saying that they really liked it and it was really good. So I was just wondering if someone had any more detailed impressions by way of recommendation. I like visual novels, especially if they have intermittent gameplay that is engaging, such as Danganronpa or the Zero Escape games. I’m playing my way through Persona 5 right now so maybe it would be a little much to have another Japanese styled text and story heavy game so quickly, but I wouldn’t mind grabbing 13S:AR on sale to stash away for a later time. I recently played Valiant Hearts and I’m getting similar vibes from this game — 2D artistic story driven game with intermittent straightforward puzzles and simple combat. Is that a fair comparison?

Anyways, any advice beyond “It’s good. Get it” would be appreciated.

@Th3solution I’m ‘so’ curious about this game too! I mean, given our recent discussion where I have ‘fought’ the cause of ‘gameplay’ anybody would assume that this is so far outside of my radar range that it would never pop up... but it has... in much the same way Nier: Automata popped up a couple of years back.

****full disclosure, I do actually have the wherewithal to know that this game is NOTHING like Nier: Automata (at least in terms of gameplay) but I have been unable to gain much of an understanding of how it all plays out... although I do have some ‘strange’ inkling that the narrative plays out in a similarly ‘anime’ way to (in so much that Neir: Automata played out in a ‘anime’ way) that Neir: Automata does. *I’m fully prepared to be way-off on that last statement.****

Either way, I have a strange feeling that I ‘have’ to play this game, even though it ticks all of my ‘do nots’ on the ‘should I/should’nt I’ test.

@colonelkilgore Yeah, there’s so many superlatives being bandied around about 13 Sentinels that I feel like it might become somewhat of a cult hit (like the aforementioned Nier Automata), but I can’t tell if the praise is “this is a truly exceptional and timeless game” or is it “wow, this little indie game is actually pretty good.” You know, sometimes there’s buzz because a game is just better than expected, and when expectations are low (as with low budget small studio output) then it doesn’t take much to exceed them.

It does look very “Japanese anime” style of storytelling. It has some of the expected tropes - the 13 protagonists all appear to be high schoolers, they all have defining character quirks, it looks like they use mechs, etc., etc.

But yeah, it is interesting based on our recent discussion. The story of 13 Sentinels definitely appears to be the central aspect, but the review states the gameplay and combat is actually well implemented too. I’m just curious to know more about what makes the game so good and what it can be compared to. I think it looks like something right up my alley and a good one to play between the big budget Western open world action games.

Have you played any of Vanillaware’s games? Like Dragon’s Crown, Muramasa, or Odin’s Sphere?

@colonelkilgore Oh — and also on the subject of recommendations, I agree with comparison you made about Ratchet & Clank being like the video game version of Pixar films. That is, that there is a cartoony animation feel to it with visuals that look like are targeted at a child, but in actuality the game is probably better appreciated by adults because of the great script and quippy humor. Much of the funny situations and jokes will go over a child’s head. And although the gameplay is more approachable than say, an Uncharted, it is still pretty deep and requires some skill. The weapons in the game are just the absolute best.

@Th3solution I haven’t played any (or even heard of) Vanillaware, though I have a feeling that 13 Sentinels will be the first. The only thing that has prevented me picking it up so far is the price. For some reason (probably the 2D ‘sprite’y look of the game) made me assume it would come in at around £20 but no I’m sure it was standing strong at £70 the last time I checked. I’ll keep an eye on it though and pick it up as and when it drops in price. As you say, I just have this feeling it’ll be perfect to fit in between my usual fare to mix things up and keep things fresh.

@colonelkilgore If you have had PS Plus for a while, I think Muramasa and Dragon’s Crown both made an appearance as a free game of the month back on PS3. So it’s possible you have these Vanillaware games back in the recesses of your library if you’re the kind of person who claims every PS Plus game, even if you haven’t heard of it. I certainly am.

And yes, the price point for 13 Sentinels is $60 but the ‘Big in Japan’ sale has it at $30 now. That is a tad more than I was planning to pay also, but who knows with these slightly niche titles. NieR Automata is an example — it took forever for that game’s price to drop. Seems like it was stuck at $40-60 for a couple years even, and only got into the $20-30 range this past year.

@Th3solution yeah, sadly even though I’ve had PS+ for years, it’s only really in the last couple of years that I religiously add each monthly game to my library (if I haven’t already got them that is)... so I definitely wouldn’t have added those titles. Have you played any Vanillaware before... and if so how were they?

Yeah, I have a feeling your right about the potential for the price dropping on 13 Sentinels... and thanks for the heads-up about it figuring in the Big in Japan sale. Ideally, I like to buy all of my games physically but this might be one of the occasions where it just makes sense to buy digital... I’m gonna chew it over today I think.

@colonelkilgore I had a few times early on that I didn’t claim all the games and regretted it later, so now I bank them all, even if they don’t look interesting to me at the time.

Yeah, I played both Muramasa and Dragons Crown. Both are pretty good. But like I said above, neither rocked my world. The art is fantastic though

@Th3solution well I will definitely play 13 Sentinels at some point and if it connects the way I hope it will, I might well dip into the Vanillaware back catalogue.

You may well have mentioned it somewhere but I haven’t noticed, what are you playing post-God of War anyway?

@colonelkilgore Both of those Vanillaware games are probably worth a try, but warning as these games are 2D. It’s a very unique art design though where it feels much more animated than the usual 2D game (as the famous sorceress’s fan-servicey design shows 😛) Each has unique gameplay and visuals and are especially good on the Vita. But like I said earlier Muramasa was fun but I got “lost” since it’s slightly Metroidvania style and I couldn’t figure out where to go next. I finished Dragons Crown all the way with one character and liked it but for me it wasn’t fun enough to go back and do playthroughs with all the characters.

Right now I have a rotation going of Persona 5 (I’m about 75 hours in), Uncharted Drakes Fortune (about half way through on Hard difficulty), and the aforementioned Rayman Legends (completed about 1.5 out of the 5 main worlds). It’s a good mix and easy to jump around in. All seem amenable for hop-in, hop-out gameplay. Ironically, Rayman is the hardest one to get into a groove in but the other two I’ve played enough of that I have requisite experience to hit the ground running each game session. Oh yeah, and when I’m more in the mood to just sit and chill, I still have one more episode of Guardians of the Galaxy to play. I’ve done one episode every week or so.

If all goes well this weekend I might just finish GoG and UC. And I’ll see how long I will feel up to sticking with Rayman. It’s getting better for me. Some of the latter levels were played were enjoyable.

@Th3solution ahh yes of course, you have told me you were playing Rayman... you’ll have to excuse my terrible memory.

Well I’ve decided that I’m gonna buy 13 Sentinels (if it’s £30 in the UK too), and although I probably won’t play it for a while I am looking forward to it. I’ll look forward to discussing it with you too as I find I appreciate a lot of your thoughts on what you’ve been playing. Let me know when you start it will ya.

It's £25 @colonelkilgore in the recent Big In Japan sale on the psn store

If I recall correctly @Th3solution I think I saw @MightyDemon82 mention that they were playing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and maybe even got the plat for it?

Hopefully that's the right person and they can answer some of your questions regarding it (I wouldn't mind hearing more about the game too actually)...

Odin Sphere is one of all time favourite games Sol and the Leiftrasir version (Which also includes the original PS2 version) is very good and makes it all the more the enjoyable with some new bosses, updated gameplay and mechanics... I could write far far too much about Odin Sphere

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy appreciate the info, out of interest how would you describe Odin’s Sphere?

@Th3solution so I hadn’t heard of Dragon Crown (or Murusama) until you mentioned it in this thread a few days ago... but I just checked it out. As a massive fan of Golden Axe back in the day and a fan of the action-RPG genre, it really appeals... so I think that’s probably gonna be my third Vanillaware purchase in one week (& I hadn’t even heard of them til the other day... and am still to play one of their games). Love a bit of local co-op too.

@colonelkilgore Yeah, I never played the game local co-op, and I even forgot about it having that option. But yes, it seems like it would be ideal for that. It’s a little more chaotic than Golden Axe, and much deeper as far as the rpg elements and various abilites and diversity of the characters you can choose. (Ex. Knight for close melee and tanking, Sorceress for magic attacks, Archer for range attacks, and Dwarf as another melee option)

And hearing @Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy describe Odin’s Sphere as have Muramasa-like combat is really encouraging. The aspect of Muramasa that I enjoyed the most was the quick nimble action combat. The part I didn’t like was the Metroidvania type layout. Dragons Crown seemed to be more straightforward as far as progression through the story, as I recall.

@Th3solution to be fair, it's the idea of the deeper RPG mechanics added to the old school 2D scrolling hack and slash that really grabbed my attention.

Seems a long old plat (for a pretty old school kinda game) 90 hours estimated. Putting in the ground work wiyh the missus to play through it in local co-op with me as we speak. She seems fairly amenable to it too. Think she'll find it a bit difficult but I'll just have to be extra 'nurturing' I reckon. I'll make it a secondary (or even tertiary) game that she and I can aim to get 2 or 3 hours in a week maybe.

@colonelkilgore Hopefully the missus doesn’t find the character design too sexist. The game is rated T for Teen in the US, not sure what the PEGI is (probably the equivalent is PEGI 14?) but the female characters are some of the most sexualized you’ll find out there 😅, especially the Sorceress and the Amazon — one is fan-servicey for the booty fan and one for the chest fan, I’ll let you figure out which is which. 😛 The “jiggle” animation is quite comical, actually. Most of us are used to these things being in games, but it was a point of criticism from the masses so hopefully it doesn’t make her feel uncomfortable. Because behind that is some stellar artwork and a well crafted game with deep gameplay.

Any recommendations for a game similar to the Uncharted games besides Fallen Order? Thanks in advance.

@Th3solution she won't mind, her and I are from a generation where we aren't generally offended too easily... if anything the things that offend most people today just makes us chuckle.

I've tried looking for the other game you mentioned (Murusama?) but from my searches I'm guessing that was only released on the Wii and PSvita? Still, I'm sure I'll have enough to be getting on with the three I have been able to find.