Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Thrillho There were no checkpoints when I played. Death meant starting over from the beginning.

It was rough, lol.

Glad you enjoyed it. Good job on basically 100%-ing the game (the one tonic doesn't count; completing the Impossible Lair without any bees is an insane, unreasonable challenge)

@Ralizah Part of me wonders whether I could do it though...

I beat Trails in the Sky SC Evo there, easily the best game I’ve played on Vita. I was absolutely hooked and ended up playing 43 hours in only a few weeks. The final couple of chapters are enormous, the final dungeon is possibly larger than the entire overworld. I really liked the first game but the second amps the tension and lays the groundwork for the rest of the series by sowing seeds that by all accounts only get resolved in Cold Steel 4. Onto the 3rd now, although I’ve heard it’s the equivalent of Tolkien’s appendices in that the story’s done but it expands on certain plot elements.

@nessisonett Nice one! I finished the PSP version late last year and absolutely loved it. The attention to detail in the world building is brilliant.

@mookysam I really haven’t heard much talk about the Sky trilogy, it’s more Cold Steel that gets the plaudits so I was surprised at just how amazing the game was. I’m glad that I used the English patch though, the voice acting’s actually great and the anime cutscenes add a lot to certain memorable moments. The same team’s translated the 3 Sky games and the 2 Crossbell games so there should be a bit of cohesion at least.

@nessisonett It's a shame because I think playing the whole of the saga would greatly enhance player satisfaction from the Cold Steel series. The upcoming arc should wrap everything up very nicely.

I guess being the Sky games went under the radar in the West because of how late into the PSPs life the first one was released - and then the PSP SC was years into the Vita's life. I'm so glad that XSeed stuck at it. Apparently the translation and localisation was a mammoth undertaking, but it really feels like a labour of love. The presentation of the PSP games is quite basic, but for me the world building, script and incredible attention to detail really drew me in and made me care about the characters. What did you think of the music in the Evo version? I've listened to it on Amazon Music but think I prefer the original game's soundtrack.

@mookysam I used the original soundtrack, there are a few good Evo tracks, the forest theme in particular is fantastic, but most of the originals are far superior. The DLC enables you to switch between both tracks at any point in the options which I always appreciate, like FFX HD. I’ll put the differences between the forest themes down here!

No idea when I'll get around to playing it, but I modded my copy of SC on PC with the Evo music. Also the Zanmai version of Sophisticated Battle, lol. The track was in the game's files, so it must show up in the sequel.

@stuzster Thanks for the thoughts - might check this out!

@RogerRoger Oh dear oh dear. Not quite YOU’RE WINNER but it definitely comes close!

... That's one hell of an anticlimactic ending @RogerRoger 😂

@RogerRoger damn that is bad. horribly inept from the devs.

that reminds me of a possession horror movie which also has no actuall ending. the ending is just a text on screen saying "to find out more go to this website" or something. worst part? that site does not even exist anymore.

@nessisonett Cheers for the tracks! The original forest theme is definitely nicer, but it seems to vary quite a lot with other tracks. I imported the CD soundtrack for SC from Japan and it's been great to listen to while doing mundane tasks! It's interesting you mention FFX because I felt the same way regarding the new versions. Some were nicer and others were worse and lost a lot of their impact.

Damn that's nice and jazzy @Ralizah. It reminds me of some of Mario 3D World's jazzy tunes!

Yikes, what an absolutely dreadful ending @RogerRoger. Not sure what the devs were thinking there!

So I finally finished the FF7 remake. Enjoyed it a lot, I think they did really well with it.

I rate the new combat system and they've done really well at fleshing out the city and making it feel more real. They've done pretty well in capturing the personalities of most of the characters and updating them.

Only things I'd moan about are; I feel they changed the last section a bit too much, some bits went on a little too long (would happily skip chapter 11) and when I went into a small cafe, there were several cloned npcs all sitting next to each other.

Edit: On reading some theories about the ending, I don't mind it so much actually, seems like they could be trying something a bit different.

But hey ho, still excited for the next part, whenever that is. Now to decide what to play next.

@RogerRoger
That does sound terrible, must have been a real rush job. Even on completing games back on my Atari ST, I remember better endings than that. And finishing those games was usually stupidly difficult so you wouldn't expect 99% of people to reach the end.

@RogerRoger i think it's a movie from the early 2010's. not that old yet.

Just finally got through Resident Evil 2 Remake. It definitely lived up to the hype and I will be going for the platinum the rest of this week. Looking forward to trying to beat it on the harder difficulties and with the time constraints to get the S rank trophies. I may have to use a guide in order to find all the documents and raccoons because I did not find them all on my first run.

As for the game itself I really enjoyed it. I only ever played small parts of the original when I was a child so playing it through for the first time without any spoilers was an awesome experience and may be my favorite of the year so far. Lighting in the game is fantastic and helps build the sense of dread the entire time and the game design itself is top tier. I had no idea what a well constructed game it was. Each new area was beautiful and menacing and the art direction was incredible.

Not really a game beating but I did manage to defeat the Defiled Watchpuppy of the Old Lords on Bloodborne after close to 60+ attempts. Next up is defiled amygdala as I painstakenly inch towards the platinum trophy (that has become more of a personal mission then anything tied to the plat).

Some may say my sanity is slipping in this current climate...

@IamJT Nice write up. Good luck with the platinum! And welcome to the forums

@Rudy_Manchego
Ah, the Watchpuppy of the Old Lords, brings back memories, definitely a tough one to bring down.
Which weapons are you using the most?

@LieutenantFatman I am doing the dungeons after starting a NG+ so for normal levels/dungeons I am favouring a 10+ Rakuyo, mainly because of the pain I went through getting it in the Old Hunters DLC (seriously, screw those shark things at the bottom of the well) but also because I just like it. However, for bosses I vary it up. I took on the Watchpuppy with Ludvigs Holy Blade with increased Beast damage blood gems. I know that serrated is better for beasts but I found the transformed large blade did the best blunt damage to dent his armour. Made it a long fight though which was the issue since the animation is long with the blade and you can only get one swipe so it really became an issue if I got impatient and tried to get a sneaky attack in.