Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Lol, I’m trying to imagine Journey 2 - where you can blow things up and assassinate other Travelers and steal their scarfs.

... I won't lie that actually sounds kinda fun @Th3solution! 😂

Abzu was worse. It's basically Journey, but you have to keep a trigger squeezed down the entire time, and the entire game is one big water level.

Both games were a waste of my time, unfortunately. Pretty colors and music are fine... when paired with actually good gameplay. Like Tetris Effect. Even if you toned down the (admittedly dazzling) aesthetic elements, you'd still be left with a fairly solid version of Tetris. What would you be left with in Journey? Janky controls and empty landscapes, aside from the occasional scarf upgrade.

Both Journey and Abzu are good (Journey is actually pretty great).

But, for Journey in particular, it’s essential to crank the volume and play it all in one sitting. Even better if you manage to play through it all in one go with the same partner.

@Ralizah I really liked Journey, didn't like Abzu as much. It didnt resonate with me and I am prejudiced because I hate all water levels pretty much.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy It would be boring if we all had the same tastes, I guess!

The controls in Abzû are horrendous. Other than that I enjoyed it and found it quite soothing. Generally not a fan of those types of games, but Abzû is nice.

Just finished Super Metroid. It plays extremely tightly and is beautifully presented. Although there isn't really much plot I love the continuation of the baby Metroid story from Metroid II, culminating in a great little scene during the final boss fight.

The only real criticism I can think of is that the map isn't terribly informative. However, it's not a major issue given the level design is quite logical and funnels the player in such a way that it's actually quite difficult to get lost or miss things. Compared to the Prime games there's not a great deal of backtracking, either.

Although the genre has been refined and progressed considerably over the past decade, the classics remain brilliant. Super Metroid generally nails all of the fundamentals and is still a blast to play.

Day's Gone

Not gonna lie I'd mentally checked out on this for well over a week or two and was desperately shambling towards brains an ending, my enthusiasm for the title running on fumes.

I was honestly ready to just pack it in and leave it unfinished last night tiI I realised there was only a few hours left. Not giving two f***s about skipping every cutscene as I raced towards the finish line.

... Which unfortunately does kinda drive a point home to me that aside from Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Which was good, if quite typical of Resi) and Shining Resonance Refrain (Which was alright, enhanced by a fairly likeable cast) I haven't truly enjoyed my time with a game since finishing Divinity Original Sin 2 way back in January...

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I wonder if some of the reason for unfulfilling gaming experiences have to do with DOS2 being such an immersive enjoyable and pleasant surprise that it has put everything else in a disappointing light, comparatively. I know NieR Automata was underwhelming to you largely because of the build up and sometimes that doesn’t help either. It’s weird how sometimes my enjoyment of a game is enhanced when it’s my own discovery or if the game just comes out of left field. My current jam, Death Stranding, is an example. It’s not like it’s some unknown small indie game, but it’s largely fallen under the radar after release, so I’ve just been blown away by it; taken a bit by surprise at how wonderfully I like it. Of course, I’m still early on in the first half, but so far I’d say it’s the most enjoyable and engrossing game I’ve played in over a year. Part of that I think may be relatively low expectations. Also the uniqueness factor that @KratosMD referred to.

On the other hand, I do have times when the community hype has enhanced a game experience for me. Horizon Zero Dawn was one of those. I considered it merely above average at first and got distracted from it after launch, and then went back to finish it after reading the excessive praise and the second half was so much more enjoyable after getting pumped up by the community about the game.

So basically, I’m not sure what to conclude. 😂. Sometimes hype helps and sometimes it hinders. 😛

Oh shoot I forgot Iconoclasts in my previous post. I did enjoy that too mostly though I had to play that in brief chunks.

Anyway that's what I was personally thinking @Th3solution... DOS2 unintentionally raising the bar and making the "Scotchy Seal of Approval", so to speak, all the more illusive.

Not to mention since playing Nier Automata a side effect has unfortunately been that i've become more aware and honestly more intolerant of games wasting my time Route/"Ending" B can burn for all eternity. Sorry guys!

Not that you're wrong @KratosMD I certainly think that a bit of "unique experiences" might be at play too with Divinity & Iconoclasts really being the only truly unique games/experiences I've played so far this year.

... Well I guess journey was (Which probably didn't get a fair enough shake as I only played it to allieviate Days Gone boredom) and I guess Sonic CD was also unique in a way as it was my first 2D sonic...

Pffft I dunno what to conclude either sol there could be a bunch of reasons why I'm not getting along with games recently! 😂

Danganronpa will be my next game though. I do need something fresh after Days Gone (I was rather enjoying it at first).

It'll be my first visual novel and for a better term it is bat-s**t bonkers so I can't say it won't be unique 😅

Finished The Last of Us Remastered over the weekend. I was really surprised how much had stuck in my memory, even though I'd only played the game once before, back when it launched. Even though I remembered pretty much everything, it still delivers an impactful story, and I love how it draws attention to Joel's actions, and the morals of what he and Ellie are doing. It's still very good.

The only thing I'd say against it is that some of the gameplay elements do stick out; you do need to find and place ladders and wooden planks a lot, which is a little silly in an otherwise very down to Earth game. You're also forced to fight in a lot of the combat sequences, where I wanted to sneak past and avoid people/infected. There are some instances where you can largely ignore any threats, but most of the time you need to kill all the baddies before you can move on. It's not a deal breaker, and I love how intense the fighting is. You go down pretty quickly and have limited resources, so taking on any enemy feels dangerous.

I'm really looking forward to Part 2 now, more than ever. The Last of Us 1 is bleak and tragic, but I feel like the sequel is going to be so much darker. I can't wait to see how it plays out.

I somehow ended up playing the rest of Silent Hill 1 today. Beat it in about 4 and a half hours but I got the Good+ ending which I’m chuffed about. Honestly, it was brilliant and I’m so glad I got past the initial scares. The game wasn’t quite as scary after the school but there were some tense moments for sure and the overall story was amazing. Like any good horror game, I never quite got the hang of the controls even against the final boss. I actually died against the final boss about 6 times but thankfully the continue button lets you immediately retry boss fights. I saw one guide that told me that to defeat the final boss I had to ‘shoot the boss and avoid getting hit’. Needless to say, when I employed that tactic, I won! The ending was both ambiguous and fulfilling and that’s all I can ask. I’m going to replay the 2nd one now but I think I’ll have a look at the fan remaster and maybe wait until that’s done.

@Arugula Welcome to the club!

Are you going to go for the rest of the series? Kiwami 1 does feel a bit of a step back as it is a remake of an older game but the story is still fantastic.

Always solid advice.

Was this your first time beating Silent Hill?

And yeah, I love the game, but the controls are janky as all get out. Even by survival horror standards. I don't think it really detracted from this game for me, though.

Cant believe SH is only 4-5 hours long. I spent ages playing it as a kid. At that rate I'd complete it in 2 sittings these days.

@Arugula An interesting way of playing the series..

Was it Kiwami or the original version you played? If the latter, they’ve added little bits in to tie it to Zero as well.

Kiwami 2 is also a fun story whereas 3 is a bit bonkers but still good Yazkua silliness.

@Ralizah Was thinking what an obvious thing to advice!

@kyleforrester87 @Ralizah Yep, my first time playing the original Silent Hill and it was brilliant. It did feel longer than those 4 and a bit hours though, that’s just time logged by the game since I died a lot in the early game. I had way too many bullets by the end though because I’m a hoarder, I just ran past everything. Except those nurses, they were pretty freaky.

Silent Hill always used to feel very long when I was playing it. I'd usually play for 45 minutes or so and then stop because I was usually getting freaked out by then (gimme a break, I was a kid).

I just beat Hyper Light Drifter and I really enjoyed it. The core gameplay was tight, the music was incredible and I loved the ending, really powerful stuff. I’m glad I finally got round to finishing it, @kyleforrester87 inspired me to give it a proper go and it was a really fun ride. Perfect game to play if you’re struggling after a big release as it’s only taken me a couple of days.