Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@Ralizah Print Screen on my keyboard usually does that perfectly well to be honest.

@nessisonett It doesn't auto-save the screen capture, though. If you press print screen again before pasting it somewhere, it gets replaced. Or am I misunderstanding something?

@Ralizah In Morrowind at least, it saved screenshots into the folder. I think most older games do but then that’s phased out in favour of Steam’s built in and extremely buggy in-built tool.

I am misremebering or was there a version of the first Ni No Kuni on DS @Ralizah?

If there was it seems like the "Unique" combat system would probably be a bit easier to use on that if it was.

Your thoughts so far... Don't instill a lot of confidence about it unfortunately 😅 Which is a shame as like yourself it always did seem like a charming little title.

Maybe the sequel will be better on that front with the combat and hopefully just as charming too?

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I believe the PS3 version is a port/remake of the DS version which was Japan only. I could be completely wrong though but that's what I thought I read about it...

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy @ralphdibny Indeed, there is a Jp-exclusive DS version of the game. Although with some basic google skills, you can find translation patches online, I believe. Not sure why anyone would want to play it now that the full fat PS3 version is on Switch and looks gorgeous, though.

But yeah, it's a tad rough. It was mostly notable for the involvement of Studio Ghibli and releasing at a time when home console JRPGs were all but dead.

I wish there was a way to merge the difficulty, story focus, and presentation of Ni no Kuni with the creature designs and combat of Pokemon.

Seems like It'd be better to play Jade Coocon instead then @Ralizah! The monster catching, merging, batling and rasing gameplay with the Studio Ghibli like visuals... It's just not that cute and a bit rough graphically with it being a PS1 game lol

I probably would've wrote up my thoughts on Nexomon: Extinction by now but I heard talk of a Hardcore mode (Which from the Nexomon twitter account seems to be some sort of randomiser?) and a new game plus coming soon so I thought I'd wait til those are implimented and check them out before writing anything.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeah, I've been holding off on a few of my reviews until I replay the games to experience them more fully. Writing for this thread has been turning me into something of a completionist... within reason (I'm going to replay Catherine: Full Body, for example, since it's a game built around replayability and I feel like I need to do that to fully appreciate its design, but the game has 13 endings, and I'm certainly not going for all of those ).

The problem with most of these monster collecting games is almost always the designs. I don't remember how good Jade Cocoon was in that regard (I really should revisit it), but too many feel like the designs were just spat out by some random Pokemon generator. The only non-Pokemon series I've seen fully buck that trend thus far are Shin Megami Tensei (using mythology as a basis for collectible monsters was inspired) and Monster Rancher. The former is alive and kicking, but the latter has been dead for almost two decades now.

I'm curious to see how you feel about Nexomon, although the footage I've seen kind hasn't been super promising. There's such a space in the market for a multiplat monster collecting game that emphasizes adventure and exploration, but nobody aside from budget-pinched indie devs seems to be interested in filling it.

The Pokemon element doesn't even fit that well with NnK, IMO. The game was better in the first few hours when it felt more Dragon Quest-y.

Wait a minute @RogerRoger... Are you telling me the ONLY Sonic games on PS4 are Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces and Team Sonic Racing?!

I thought there was way more then that!

I do hear Adventure (and Adventure 2 in particular) being talked about VERY highly so if they end up getting remade (Not just an upres port) I could see how that'd work out rather nicely for the fanbase.

I know exactly what you mean @Ralizah as I've been thinking of "remaster-ing" a couple of older reviews of mine (One that's part of this thread, one that was before it) to experience them more fully (and to touch them up a little to get them more in line with my current style.)

Long as you still enjoy writing the reviews is the most important! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Catherine!

Jade Cocoon's designs are ok enough I suppose? Weakest aspect of the first game probably in my eyes. Seeing as they don't evolve it's always just the one design for the base beast til your merge them into shambling monstrocities.

That's one area the sequel probably does a little better with the family trees and four stages of evolution (Though at the cost of no merging and combining the beasts to have a face only a mother would love )

If you want a brief peek at my Nexomon thoughts... it's hovering the line of a really high six/low seven. A flawed experience in a number of ways and maybe I just played it at the right time but I found it rather enjoyable myself despitw the flaws (Some could be considered pretty big) and honestly had a great time with it. At the very least the story is pretty unpredictable beat for beat (Though the overall story wouln't be too out of place in a pokémon game) and it can get pretty tough with the fights at times)

I'm also just as surprised as you to be honest that no one's tried to make a multi plat monster catching game... The market IS there I'm sure... Just the afformentioned cash strapped indie devs can't advertise unlike the juggernaut that is Pokémon 😅

Looking forward to reading the eventual thoughts on Ni-No-Kuni too!

Just to let everyone know I'm still around and read a review or two from time to time.

I want to give a shout out to the continued Sonic reviews from @RogerRoger (I totally had no idea they made a second episode of Sonic 4, so I learned something there. I knew they had planned on it being episodic but thought it was abandoned after the first one. Great piece on Generations as well) & the Super Mario Sunshine review from @Ralizah (sounds like your experience was much like my own, though I didn't 100% it).

@RR529 lol It's been slow-going for all of us as of late. No surprise, given it's closing in on the end of the year.

And yeah, I think our opinions on 3D Mario games have broadly aligned so far. Really excited to get to Super Mario Galaxy soon.

@Ralizah, yeah, it's probably going to be awhile before I contribute anything else. I'm working on XCDE on Switch, which I think I'm maybe halfway through at this point (and this isn't even counting Future Connected, which I keep forgetting about), and I may finish up DOA5: Last Round before the month is out, but it depends on how much PS4 time I get.

Hope you have fun with Galaxy when you get to it! I know you already hold it in high regard.

@RR529 I'll be posting my DOOM 2016 review sometime this week (it's practically done; but, being another chonky review, I'm trying to find ways to trim it). Catherine: Full Body should follow in the next week or two, hopefully.

Yeah, I loved Galaxy to death on the Wii. Really excited to play it with a real controller this time, even if I thought the game made great use of the Wiimote + Nunchuk.

Glad you liked the shots @Th3solution!

I figured I'd reply here as I did say I was penning one (And I'll give you a tag too @nessisonett)

Here's a a short and sweet (For me at least) loosey goosey impressions piece.

Code Vein

Despite the fact it has numerous souls mechanics such as mistle (bonfire's), respawning enemies, Haze (Souls) is used for purchasing/upgrading everything, dropping said haze when you die...

Code Vein is more forgiving then the souls games with a number of features.

• It actually has a map & minimap for starts. Though you need to find various mistle in each area to unlock portions of said map. Still even if you don't have any of the map unlocked it still shows you where you've walked already so it's easier to navigate the souls games.
• The partner character is typically really quite good at dispatching normal enemies (Though you can dismiss them if you wanna go at it alone). They can also revive you (or you can revive them) at the cost of half your health (and it does have a cooldown)
• Haze seems to be a fair bit more plentiful then souls too. Like the Souls games upon dying you lose all the Haze you can go fetch it to get all your lost Haze back... BUT there's a hot springs at your home base where you can go rest there and you have the option to get back half of the haze you last lost (At the cost of the other half being gone forever).
• Codes/Classes can be switched on a whim and whilst it will mess with your hp and ichor (mp) total to do so... It allows for a lot more experimentation. The fact that skills can be permanentely learnt and (providing you have the required stats) can be equipped to other codes/classes does mean a fairly good degree of flexibility too.

With the heavier focus on a narrative and learning backstories of your companions, and other side characters, in a more upfront way (Though they're both still kinda told in a bit of a fragmented way like the souls games) not to mention the character interactions in general...

Maybe I'm just making a bit of an excuse for it but to me it feels a bit more like it's an action JRPG that has souls-like mechanics rather then a full blooded Souls-like if that makes sense?

I'd say it's definitely easier overall then the Souls games. Not to brag or anything but I beat the first three bosses (Well the tutorial boss and the bosses of the Ruined City and the Dried Up Trenches) without levelling up at all 😉 (Though compared to the souls games leveling only dictates your overall health and stamina... The Codes/Classes dictate your other stats).

The Howling Pit is giving me a run for my money though at lvl 1. The Executioner lady is not playing nice at all! 😂

That's the Executioner on the right

I'd say it's probably worth giving the demo another look Sol as the UI involving the Codes (Classes) still isn't as clear as it could be even in the main game but I've gotten used to it and like I previously mentioned being able to mix and match skills between them all... I quite like it myself which as I already said feels a bit more forgiving because of that and allows you to be a lot more experimental.

The world/level design isn't as exciting as the souls games so far... But hopefully there'll be some more interesting locales as I progress further (Though I do actually kinda like the pit and trenches ) and the enemy designs are ok too with the bosses being a bit more interesting visually then the main grunts (The Boss fights themselves have been pretty good too)

I'm pleasantly surprised really as I'm quite enjoying my time with Code Vein... Especially as I kinda bounced off of the original Dark Souls a few months back.

The photo mode is pretty fun to use as I'm sure you've seen throughout this piece

and the character creation is especially rather good too! (Though a fair few of the outfits for the girls are a bit on the skimpy side of things)

But yeah... First impressions are pretty positive

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Thanks, Foxy. That’s a helpful post. Sounds like at the going sale price that it’s a pretty good deal.

Is there weapon upgrade mechanic, or weapon / armor changing also?

Yeah like the Souls games you can upgrade your weapons and the various jackets you can get @Th3solution.

Like the souls games you can also enhance weapons to have things like poison, fire, have your weapon weigh less at the cost of less atk etc... But the materials for those are actually tied to your companions and you'll have to give them gifts and raise your affinity with them in order to get them (At least from what I've seen so far you might find them in the world too).

There's a number of different designs for the jackets (with varying stats and the likes) but there's only four core types (Regarding using them and their drain attacks at least) of the claw, stinger, swords or the hounds.

Weapon types are grouped into 1h swords, 2h swords, Bayonets, Halberds & spears and Axes & Hammers. There's some varying movesets (Usually an attack or two) between weapons of the same type but so far I haven't encountered a whole lot of different looking designs yet.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oh, that’s cool. And so there’s a social / relationship building mechanic too? I like that. It really does seem like a mish-mash of several different genres of games, doesn’t it? Are you able to choose from different companions then, I assume? Does having a stronger relationship also yield more perks in battle and also extra storylines?

There's at least 4 companions I know of that you can chose from to journey with you @Th3solution ... But I don't think the relationship stuff does anything other then let you get some items from each individual?

Though your choice of partner (Once they give their Blood Code to you) does give you a special gift/ability that you can only use with that partner. Also they might give you a present (an item) that when used grants you some additional haze.

That's all I can say for certain right now.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I had no idea anime dark souls (or, going by what you've said about it... anime with a side of dark souls?) had a map system. I might actually check this one out! Thanks for the impressions piece.

Yeah sorry it's a bit hard to describe @Ralizah 😅

As I've said in the impressions piece it definitely has "Souls" mechanics and is a souls like.

Like I said maybe I'm just making up excuses for it... But it's sorta similar to how I felt about my crash 1 review where I said despite the fact it's a 3D platformer it usually focuses on the one plane at a time so it's more of a sidescroller or something akin to 2.5D rather then full 3D due to it's hallway like design.

It just doesn't feel quite right calling Code Vein a Souls like compared to say Mortal Shell or the likes when it does stray from the usual codifiers of the genre and is an easier experience (Though it's still challenging and I have died a number of times still)

There is a demo on the PS4 that should still be up if you wanna give it a shot... I don't think that went to PC?