Pyrian on 23/7/2019 at 20:03
Yeah, Everspace is good, although I did find it a bit of a slog at times.
Starker on 24/7/2019 at 05:20
I rented it out a few times, though I actually preferred the sequels. There was an option to rent the console with the whole trilogy and I would stay awake for the whole 24 hours just to finish the games (could take a few tries). Never played the PS games.
Thirith on 24/7/2019 at 06:34
While I'm still enjoying God of War (I loved the Temple of Tyr sequence), I'm not too keen on how they've handled Atreus' development. I like the idea behind it, but my problem is that [spoiler]Atreus changes too damn fast. It makes sense for the character to change in that direction, not least because of how Kratos has treated him for most of the game, but for me the pacing is off. Perhaps they could've foreshadowed it more/better (perhaps they did and I missed all of that?), but right now it feels like Atreus has gone from kid to teenager with a god complex in thirty minutes. What I did like was how they reflect that in the gameplay, with him no longer following your commands but doing his own thing, but if I hear another "Whatever..." out of the kid, he'll have an axe flying his way.[/spoiler]
Also, I'm definitely at a point in XCOM 2 where there's little my guys and gals can't handle - which means that there's a real risk of me getting lazy and my playing getting sloppy. At this point I'm a worse enemy to myself than Advent. Which probably means that it's a good time to bring things to an end.
Sulphur on 24/7/2019 at 06:43
Yeah, I had the exact same thought. It makes sense in that he's essentially being Kratos from the earlier games - dismissive, arrogant, angry. They're trying to say that despite his efforts, Kratos didn't really do a great job of showing his son how to avoid making the same mistakes. It's not fully earned, as like you mentioned there was little sign of that in his character prior to the reveal.
I wasn't completely convinced with what happens after Tyr's temple and the semi-resolution to this particular bit. That said, maybe story beats later will place all of that in perspective. I wasn't completely convinced with what happens after Tyr's temple and the semi-resolutiFor now I gotta say the imagination that went into the design of this game and its locales is world-class. One of my friends commented with God of War 3 that she enjoyed just watching me play it, because from the combat to the story it felt like seeing a movie play out. With God of War 2018, it's pretty much as if you're in the middle of a Hollywood-worthy epic fantasy. It's quite something.
Thirith on 24/7/2019 at 08:05
It makes me wonder whether they made any cuts to the game, because in everything leading up to that moment the character development takes its time. They could've easily had Atreus [spoiler]generally kind but with something of a temper, especially considering his age. Seeing how his father isn't exactly the most overly caring character, it makes sense that Atreus would feel some resentment and that he would vent this against others who are weaker than him. Give him one or two moments before he learns who/what he is when he shows a darker side that surprises even him and that he feels bad for - but when he finds out that he is a god, he comes to think that he is entitled to his anger and resentment. He enjoys the feeling of not having to control his darker impulses any more, but for that the game should have done a better job of hinting at those impulses.[/spoiler]
All of that is kinda, sorta implicit in the story as it is (or at least it's reasonably easy for the players to fill in the blanks), but IMO it's handled considerably less well than the characters had been up to that point.
Marecki on 24/7/2019 at 13:19
Finally decided to give Undertale a try. Yeah yeah, I know, how could I have waited for so long to play a game even the grumpy old man of game reviews (i.e. Yahtzee - with whom I have found I agree ten times out of ten on positive opinions and 8-9/10 on negative ones, by the way) has praised to heavens? It's simple, I really got fed up with retro pixel art by then and I am not particularly keen on cRPGs on top of that. Anyway - oh man, this game is great! Forget about it being described as an RPG, what it really is is an unholy spawn of an adventure game and an arcade. The writing is really, really good, especially various bits pertaining to non-violent resolution of combat. The meta bits such as information carrying over to the next play-through, repeated interactions with characters following having died in combat etc., have IMHO been added in just the right amount - enough to be amusing (or sometimes disturbing - but no spoilers...) but not so many that they would get annoying. The artwork... Let's just say it's a pity they have gone for the retro look because everything else aside, having seen some other work by Temmie Chang it would really look SO much better without ginormous pixels distorting it.
Graphics aside, my only gripe with the content this game is the serious lack of balance on the Genocide path (which, incidentally, is very well written as well - in particular the flavour text which appears as the underground gets more and more depopulated, and which have made me very much uncomfortable about continuing on this path). Basically, you just mow every regular enemy down with minimal effort and take most bosses out with a single hit - with the exception of one fight roughly halfway through the game which can be quite taxing and another almost at the end which is downright impossible. Yeah yeah, I know, the player character gets warned early on that they will end up having a bad time if they carry on like this. It might be narratively correct but from the gameplay perspective it's still a dick move to do something like that when you are already getting metally ready for the conclusion of the story, especially in contrast with how much the game helps the player during the final boss fights of True Pacifist ("dying" merely sends you back to the beginning of the current round) and Neutral (checkpoints scattered liberally throughout the fight, cannot actually die as long as you keep on moving) paths. Reminds me of that Hammerwatch DLC taking place in the desert, can't remember the name, which when played on hard difficulty lets you happily bumble around plastering monster bits over the scenery all the way until the first boss fight when it is your turn to repeatedly turn into red mist.
PS. HoI! I'm temmie!1!1!11!!
Starker on 25/7/2019 at 13:06
Yahtzee didn't hate Prey. He wasn't over the moon about it, but he did like it. The only real criticisms he had was Bethesda slapping the name of another IP on it and the horror falling somewhat flat.
One of the few games I really disagreed with him on was Demon's Souls. I felt he never really gave it a fair chance.
Thirith on 29/7/2019 at 05:34
Just finished the last campaign mission in XCOM 2. While at first I thought it might get overwhelming, in the end it was surprisingly easy - just concentrating on the three main targets while whittling down the other enemies enough so they wouldn't get the better of me did the trick. All in all, a very cool game, and I'm curious to see how they'll develop it for an XCOM 3 (has anything been announced already?), though I'm not enough of a tactics crack to try something like Long War. I'm quite glad to be returning to other games at this point, and most likely I'll start with Ape Out.
However, I was wondering: are the Legacy Pack missions worth playing? I do want a bit of a break from XCOM, but I could imagine leaving it installed for now so I can return for the occasional mission.
Thirith on 31/7/2019 at 08:34
... and I've since started Ape Out, which does make for a nice in-between game. It's ultra-stylish, but it's also slight, for want of a better word, and that's exactly what I'm looking for right now, after several weeks of XCOM 2. It's entirely about the immediacy of the moment, and my impression (based on being half-way into the second 'album') is that it won't overstay its welcome.
Renault on 31/7/2019 at 21:13
Doing a 2nd playthrough of Dark Souls Remastered, this time on my Switch and as a caster. And...I'm still just really bad at this game. It's amazing how after falling to my death dozens of times in Sen's Fortress, I'm still willing to keep going. Can't wait for those archers in Anor Londo!