GameTZ

15-Sep-05 1:55pm
#1

DCGX

This topic had many older posts which were moved here: https://gametz.com/V...

13-Nov-23 5:16pm
#201

Heavyd814life


justin_credible wrote:
Heavyd814life wrote:> justin_credible wrote: |>> I just beat Persona 3 FES The Journey PS2 which is like saying I beat Persona> 3 vanilla |>> version. I give it a 9/10. FES added The Answer which I just started but I'm having |>> fatigue from playing this game plus without major spoilers I can't mention why> but |>> I almost feel it shouldn't have happened. However I am going to play through it> anyway. |>> |>> |>> On February 2nd they will release Persona 3 Reload which is an updated version> of |>> Persona 3 but they are not including The Answer. There also was recently a re-release |>> of Persona 3 Portable which also didn't include The Answer. FES is the only version |>> to include The Answer. |>> |>> While I don't have any current plans to play through 1 or 2 I have now beaten> 3, |>> 4 and 5 (and Strikers). This is one of the greatest series of rpgs of all time> in |>> terms of story, gameplay and everything else. I can't wait until Persona 6. |>> > > Persona is life! If you aren’t feeling The Answer, you may want to skip it and> just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. I still haven’t met anyone who enjoyed it> as much as I did. It’s a solid 20 hours and it’s a lot of dungeon crawling. It’s> basically Tartarus 2.0 with no social links/school stuff. But I loved it, personally.> > > I guess I'm a little frustrated by the character change I'm sure you know what I mean. Are you going to buy Persona 3 Reload? It's sad that my cousin is somewhat of a hardcore gamer like myself loves rpgs but I can't get him to play the Persona games. It's because we briefly tried 2 back in the day and we both didn't care for it. I tried to tell him they revamped the series starting with 3 and the social links but he's still yet to touch any of them but if it's a Final Fantasy he buys it day one and plays through it without stopping. To me after FF 10 Persona has surpassed FF easily but I haven't played 16 and didn't finish 15 or play through the 13s.
Yeah man. Definitely grabbing P3 Reload day 1! P3 is my favorite JRPG ever and I still can't believe how big the series has become. I'm sure they'll remake 4 at some point. And maybe they'll get around to remaking 1 and 2 because I'd love to finally play those.

13-Nov-23 5:32pm
#202

justin_credible


Heavyd814life wrote:
justin_credible wrote:> Heavyd814life wrote: |>> justin_credible wrote:> |>> I just beat Persona 3 FES The Journey PS2 which is like saying I beat Persona |>> 3 vanilla> |>> version. I give it a 9/10. FES added The Answer which I just started but I'm> having> |>> fatigue from playing this game plus without major spoilers I can't mention why |>> but> |>> I almost feel it shouldn't have happened. However I am going to play through> it |>> anyway.> |>> > |>> > |>> On February 2nd they will release Persona 3 Reload which is an updated version |>> of> |>> Persona 3 but they are not including The Answer. There also was recently a re-release> |>> of Persona 3 Portable which also didn't include The Answer. FES is the only version> |>> to include The Answer. > |>> > |>> While I don't have any current plans to play through 1 or 2 I have now beaten |>> 3,> |>> 4 and 5 (and Strikers). This is one of the greatest series of rpgs of all time |>> in> |>> terms of story, gameplay and everything else. I can't wait until Persona 6.> |>> |>> |>> Persona is life! If you aren’t feeling The Answer, you may want to skip it and |>> just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. I still haven’t met anyone who enjoyed> it |>> as much as I did. It’s a solid 20 hours and it’s a lot of dungeon crawling.> It’s |>> basically Tartarus 2.0 with no social links/school stuff. But I loved it, personally. |>> |>> |>> > > I guess I'm a little frustrated by the character change I'm sure you know what I> mean. Are you going to buy Persona 3 Reload? > > It's sad that my cousin is somewhat of a hardcore gamer like myself loves rpgs but> I can't get him to play the Persona games. It's because we briefly tried 2 back in> the day and we both didn't care for it. I tried to tell him they revamped the series> starting with 3 and the social links but he's still yet to touch any of them but> if it's a Final Fantasy he buys it day one and plays through it without stopping.> To me after FF 10 Persona has surpassed FF easily but I haven't played 16 and didn't> finish 15 or play through the 13s. Yeah man. Definitely grabbing P3 Reload day 1! P3 is my favorite JRPG ever and I still can't believe how big the series has become. I'm sure they'll remake 4 at some point. And maybe they'll get around to remaking 1 and 2 because I'd love to finally play those.
The thing about 1 and 2 I can't see how they'd add social links or the calendar to those games. Maybe they wouldn't need to but for me that's what makes Persona games Persona games now.

14-Nov-23 5:42pm
#203

PizzaTheHutt


Fatum Betula on

I don't know if it counts, though. It's a 15-20 minute game with 10 endings and they expect you to replay it multiple times to see them all. I'm just not interested in doing that. The story is vague and I guess you can better understand it after seeing all the endings, but I don't give a crap enough to find out. Also the developer really nailed the PlayStation/Saturn circa 1996 ugly pixelated look he was going for, but he might've nailed it too well because it just looks like ass on a 50" TV screen and in the 32-bit era I don't think many people were playing on screens that big.

15-Nov-23 6:02am
#204

ued222


Beat Pizza Tower. It is a short platformer with high speed and difficult bosses. It is enjoyable breezing through levels once you get a hang of it. Skipping Super Mario RPG remake as there is a lack of new content and will be 100% Star Ocean 2's cave of trials. I cannot seem to justify spending $60-80 on Alan Wake 2 at the moment. Hopefully Walking Dead Destinies is okay else wise I might just buy Alan Wake 2.

17-Nov-23 7:41pm
#205

TalonJedi87


Blasphemous II

8/10

While I much more enjoyed a lot of things present in the sequel here such as the ability to utilize different sets of weapons not only as offensive tools but methods of progression and traversal a-La Metroid, there were some things I could have done without. Like some of the cheap bosses once again present with multiple phases and crushingly brutal DPS. Even with the numerous amounts of prayers, beads and other items you can utilize to buff up your character, it just never seems enough for some bosses like the 2nd to last boss fight which took me a bazillion attempts at only to have the final boss be a cake walk in comparison. Alas, besides the various unbalanced boss fights, the game really is quite good and a step up from its predecessor in many ways, one of which mentioned above. Other mechanics such as unlocking moves like double jump, air dashing etc like Metroid were most welcomed as well. And the art style continues to impress with its gothic like undertones and dreary backdrops alike. And also there’s more quality of life improvements now such as progressing in certain side quests to unlock different methods of healing at an altar or being able to fast travel from any altar to the main city hub or clear out any guilt you’ve accumulated at an altar. I also liked the fact of hunting for collectibles to increase my HP, fervor, and damage dealt by unlocking new levels for the 3 game’s weapons you get. The game still retains that sense of wanderlust for clearing the entire map like any Metroidvania as well. Overall minus some difficulty balancing I rather enjoyed this sequel a little more than the original. I just hope if there’s a third game they’ll be able to tweak it a bit more in the difficulty balancing department.

17-Nov-23 8:31pm
#206

Kommie


TalonJedi87 wrote:
Blasphemous II 8/10
Second to last boss fight was the most brutal. Other than that they weren't that bad

17-Nov-23 8:39pm
#207

TalonJedi87


I wanted to toss my Switch out the window with the first penitent one boss fight.

18-Nov-23 11:54am
#208

ued222


Beat Super Mario RPG Remake. I played the OG game but got stuck and beat this within 10 hours. I played on the easy mode since my timing ability is terrible. There are a ton of optional mini games and Yoshi racing was difficult due to my lack of rhythm. It is fairly short but has decent RPG mechanics. Max level is 30. Giving up on 100% Star Ocean 2 as I would need to replay it for the other endings and avoiding Walking Dead Destinies. Will be getting Alan Wake 2 and then Avatar on the 17th I think.. Going to be a dry end of the year for me. Think I beat around 15-20 games.

19-Nov-23 6:38pm
#209

PizzaTheHutt


Accounting+ on
This game was hilarious. Possibly the most F-bombs I've heard in a game, which I don't always mind in a game like this, I dislike it more when it's coming from a game or movie where the character thinks it makes him sound like more of a tough guy. This, like that Trover Saves The Universe game, pretty much had me laughing non-stop from start to finish. It's a bit strange then that I have absolutely no interest in ever watching Rick And Morty even though I like these games and they're by the same writers. I might end up going back for the platinum trophy in this one like I did for Trover.

edit: Got the platinum, it was easy and I enjoyed the game enough to spend that little bit of extra time to go for it.

19-Nov-23 8:01pm
#210

TalonJedi87


Alan Wake II

8.5/10

Aside from some stiff acting and aiming controls that felt a bit sluggish at times, I thought this was a great sequel to the 2010 action/horror title. It felt like the best of both the Resident Evil remakes and what I imagine PT would have been if it made it into a full blown Silent Hill game. It definitely had an emphasis on survival horror too this time around especially if you play on normal or hard, limiting your resources and forcing you to conserve ammo and medkits etc. The graphics and sound quality were superb as well. The north light graphics engine did the job while playing in performance mode with minimal drops in frame rate. The sound, while playing with my surround system on, felt like the dark presences were in the room with me whether it was a door creaking or slamming or rustling of leaves in the wind I felt engaged and alert at all times. The story can be a bit convoluted at times like its predecessor and I think it tries to end on an ambiguous ending from what I can tell but I just enjoyed the ride and detective work throughout. Playing as both Alan Wake and newcomer detective Saga Anderson was a good tag team combo and each character brought something fresh to the table. Whether it was Alan’s light clicking and scene swapping ability which allowed him to rewrite scenes with more plot devices he uncovered or utilizing the clicker to suck light sources into it and install them in other places to change the environment completely, or Saga using evidence she finds to solve cases on her case board, the game was very unique and intuitive. The combat can take a bit getting used to though with some wonky controls here and there. I much rather enjoyed the case solving and scene rewriting sections over the combat in this one for sure and I’m glad once you got to the endgame there wasn’t much combat to undertake. Overall, Alan Wake II was a solid sequel and good survival horror game in its own merit and I just hope we don’t have to wait another 13 years for another installment.

19-Nov-23 11:52pm
#211

Bleed_DukeBlue


I had a really similar experience to you with this. I also never watched Rick & Morty but thought that Trover and Accounting+ were hilarious.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
Accounting+ on This game was hilarious. Possibly the most F-bombs I've heard in a game, which I don't always mind in a game like this, I dislike it more when it's coming from a game or movie where the character thinks it makes him sound like more of a tough guy. This, like that Trover Saves The Universe game, pretty much had me laughing non-stop from start to finish. It's a bit strange then that I have absolutely no interest in ever watching Rick And Morty even though I like these games and they're by the same writers. I might end up going back for the platinum trophy in this one like I did for Trover. edit: Got the platinum, it was easy and I enjoyed the game enough to spend that little bit of extra time to go for it.

21-Nov-23 1:27pm
#212

PizzaTheHutt


Ghost of Tsushima on
Already typed up pretty much everything I could think of about this game in the review thread. It was fun, I enjoyed the journey, never once felt bored or like "I wish this would end already" like I do with some open world games, but I still have no interest in going for 100%.

21-Nov-23 1:45pm
#213

PizzaTheHutt


Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:
I had a really similar experience to you with this. I also never watched Rick & Morty but thought that Trover and Accounting+ were hilarious.
Did you play through it more than once? If so, when you're asked to select a meme in the beginning and the narrator tells you to select carefully because each one makes important changes to the dialog and story, that's just part of the joke, right? Because I selected a different meme on the second playthrough and there was no difference at all.

21-Nov-23 4:01pm
#214

DCGX


Starfield via Game Pass

I need to preface this review by stating that I've never played a Bethesda developed game in the 'Fallout' or 'Elder Scrolls' series. With that out of the way, I don't think I've been this torn on a game for a while.

I started 'Starfield' just after its release. I played for about 12 hours, and between the weight management, restrictions on selling and glitches, I stopped hard and moved on. After finishing up a few other games, and waiting for work to come in, I came back to 'Starfield' with the intention of finishing the main quests and not worrying about picking up anything. Once I did that, barring another bug that almost prevented my progress, I was able to finish the main game. With the main game completed, I also understand why so many say the real game doesn't begin until New Game Plus.

I enjoyed some of the exploring and combat. At one point the story was getting interesting. Eventually, after leveling up some stats and settling on a weapon I liked, things mostly fell into place. But regardless, the game gets in its own way more than anything else.

The still shots during any "cutscenes" feel so out of date it's laughable. Early on, there's a mission where you have to talk down (or storm) some thugs in a bank holding hostages. Literally the whole conversation is a static shot of the intercom box. For someone like me, who used to be in film and TV, I just can't with this. Come on. Half the time whoever you are talking to has their back turned to you if you chose to interact with them from the wrong angle or they're talking to another character. Voice acting is fine, but most of the writing is simple OK. There's also bugs in characters' personalities that make no sense. Finally, the Persuade system seems broken, or at the very least, too random. No matter what temporary boosts or permanent boosts were applied, it felt like a crap shoot if persuasion worked. In one example, I chose logical points and failed at every one. After reloading my checkpoint just before the conversation, I started by choosing the same first point, got a critical, and immediately persuaded the guy.

The culmination of my points from the previous paragraph was the final confrontation with the Hunter and the Emissary. I tried to persuade them earlier on by not picking a side to no avail, which is scripted. They then have it out for the player. I tried again just before the final fight, and they were steadfast in anger at me not picking a side. The very next option is to try one last time to persuade them. I picked two successful options, and they both threw their hands up and left. Just like that. Narratively it makes no sense. I get giving the players an option to still talk their way out of it, but it has to be a fool's errand at this point narratively to work. Otherwise there is no point.

And that feeds into the larger issue with the story. If this was released pre-phase 4 of the MCU, it would've hit hard. It's evident where the devs were going and the points they are making, but it all falls flat now. Especially when shows like 'Loki' are doing such a better job at this than 'Starfield.' But that's not so much the dev's fault.

On top of these, the game isn't optimized well enough for Series X. The PC has gotten two major patches to help with things like the picture, etc. but not console. HDR implementation is poor. Lip syncing is still out of sync. As I said, there were a couple instances where the game broke and impeded my process, like when a companion wasn't where she needed to be, and without checking in with her, the story couldn't go forward. It took about a dozen checkpoint reloads, including completely turning off my Xbox to no avail, until she appeared. The weight, selling and O2 systems are a very big hinderance in the early game that make it a slog. The story and story missions aren't terribly interesting, though a few side quests are, but the main missions don't take the player enough in the direction of key game elements. There's too much information in all the menus, and they aren't laid out very well to handle all the stuff. Simple things like when you reach the end of a list of items, pressing down once more does not bring you back to the top like it does in so many other things, so you're forced to scroll back up. The rarity system makes no sense. I can find a common version of a gun with better stats and add-ons than epic or even legendary versions of the same gun.

With all that said, if someone is more into exploring words and taking their time, this is a great adventure! Not a great story, but a great adventure, and I get that. But it isn't for me. There's a lot to dig one's teeth into, but it's almost all handled either sloppily or explained halfway. Also, jump on the "Y" button? Why? The attention to detail is also astounding! But the amount of things that can be picked up and interacted with actually slows things down too much, and is ultimately pointless in most cases. The one thing that kept me going during moment to moment gameplay was the atmospheric music. It felt soothing while fighting through menus and jumping from system to system for the umpteenth time. Eventually the latter works itself out a little better, but most of this was too late for me.

I finished the story, but have no desire to slog my way through 'Starfield' any further.



Jusant via Game Pass

Another perfect Game Pass game, as 'Jusant' took me less than five hours to complete, with only a handful of collectibles (and there are quite a few categories of collectibles) to seek out, if I so choose.

You play an unnamed child with a squishy side-kick being that uses what might be echolocation to traverse up this incredibly tall land formation, whilst reading a mountain of notes to find out what happened to both the water and the people that used to depend of that water. The notes definitely start to take a toll, because some are way too long, and most are parts of conversations but don't say too much. 'Jusant' is more a game about the journey rather than the destination, though, and the journey is accomplished by rock climbing everywhere.

For the most part, this can be engaging and even thrilling. Climbing has always been my favorite part of series like 'Tomb Raider,' 'Assassin's Creed' and 'Prince of Persia,' so to have a whole game around that mechanic was intriguing. And for the most part, it works. There's definitely some jank here though. Grabbing on to flat space ledges can cause your character to pause. Jumping can be imprecise, and the character in general moves around too loose even when walking. When climbing, the camera is designed to swing around to a position that feels the most cinematic, but often times that hinders judging distance and positioning of the character. The camera can be moved back, but because it automatically swings around in this moments, that means fighting the camera for a good angle to see what you're doing. There's a generous stamina meter and a pretty good length to your rope, which can also be karabiner-ed in up to three spots to allow for swings, etc. At times the loose controls get in the way, but for the most part the whole climbing system works well.

It is worth noting that it was common for the character to get stuck in the environment on simple geometry. I'm talking about things like walking on flat ground, going over a stationary item, and getting stuck. Usually repeatedly pressing "jump" can get the character loose, and none required a restart, but it happened way more than it should.

'Jusant' is recommendation. It's short, interesting, and has amazing music. It's a good journey to take.

21-Nov-23 6:37pm
#215

Bleed_DukeBlue


I did play it more than once. I’m pretty sure the meme is a joke, and it’s the same regardless of which one you pick.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:> I had a really similar experience to you with this. I also never watched Rick & Morty> but thought that Trover and Accounting+ were hilarious. Did you play through it more than once? If so, when you're asked to select a meme in the beginning and the narrator tells you to select carefully because each one makes important changes to the dialog and story, that's just part of the joke, right? Because I selected a different meme on the second playthrough and there was no difference at all.

22-Nov-23 7:41pm
#216

ued222


Beat Alan Wake 2 took around 4 4-4.5 sessions. It is 17 hours long if playing on story mode and 100% it for platinum. Being able to play on story and get the platinum is surprising, The story is good but felt it was a bit slow for the first hour. Combat has changed and found teleporting enemies to be somewhat annoying as I'd hope it be more like the OG games but understand the boost to horror elements that comes from it. It has a dodge which I could rarely if ever time properly. The case board mechanic was terrible a lot of times you already know the outcome. A ton of busy work but not much fun. It was not worth the $80 to me as it has no replay value and am hoping the season pass content changes that. A new game plus to get all the weapon upgrades would have been nice.

Waiting for Avatar which I might hate.

22-Nov-23 10:41pm
#217

PizzaTheHutt


Pixel Gear on

Yet another typical run-of-the-mill VR wave shooter, like we don't have enough of those (though in this game's defense this was a very early PSVR release, so I guess at the time that genre wasn't oversaturated yet).

The graphics have an almost Minecraft-esque look to them, but everything is so low resolution that it is a bit troublesome if you're like me and trying to rack up combos by going for headshots, because you won't be able to see enemies clearly until they get close enough for you to tell where the head even is.

The game requires a PS Move controller and the tracking is spot-on, I have no complaints with it.

As is typical of VR games, the game can be beaten in an hour. There are only 3 levels, with each having 5 waves of normal enemies and then a boss fight. There are 4 difficulty levels and the default difficulty is too easy, so you might want to crank it up a bit. Unlike most VR games, this one actually offers a local mutiplayer mode.1-3 players play on the TV using DualShock 4 controllers and they try to sneak around the level collecting coins while the other player wears the VR headset and the PS Move controller to shoot at them and prevent them from getting the coins. I feel like there are way too few VR games that offer any type of local multiplayer, so this one at least has that going for it.

24-Nov-23 6:59pm
#218

PizzaTheHutt


Fe on

I don't dislike this game, I don't even regret playing through it, but I feel like I would've liked it a lot more had I played it on PS4 or PC, because the frame-rate is freakin' horrid on Switch, to the point where a few times I had considered not even finishing the game. I'm not a frame-rate snob, I'm fine with 30fps as long as it is consistent, but the only thing consistent about this game's frame-rate is how bad it is. I'd question why they would even release it in this state on Switch, but since this is a 2018 release and Switch was the hottest thing going at the time, I figure they felt obligated to release it on Switch just for the easy money (it was published by EA and you know how they treat Switch owners, just look at their Fifa games).

Not saying the Switch version isn't worth playing at all, just that if you have the option to play it on another platform, play it that way.

24-Nov-23 8:03pm
#219

loztdogs


Been in a madden kick…

07 - 7/10. Fun with pretty great presentation for back then. Went undefeated and destroyed the opposition (I think it was the Vikings or the Seahawks) in the Super Bowl.

12 7/10 - not much change honestly between the two games if I remember correctly. Went undefeated and won the Super Bowl.

23 cloud. 8/10. I guess technically it’s ea play but I launch from game pass. Lost two games and won the Super Bowl. Continuing the next season currently 3-1 lost to the chargers by 3. Presentation and the clock management qol stuff keeps me playing. Don’t really care about upgrading staff and I usually skip the draft etc… but it’s just fun if you don’t take so seriously. The one irk is there are a ton of dropped passes. Pretty much if you get hit any where I’m the air it’s dropped pass. Love the running though.

24-Nov-23 9:52pm
#220

Orlandu


Mario Wonder was a lot of fun. Very imaginative, but not particularly challenging. It was really impressive how they kept surprising and subverting expectation in each stage. It's the first 2D Mario I've enjoyed since World. Plays much much better on a controller with a good dpad. I used a Dualshock 4 for my playthrough.

24-Nov-23 11:54pm
#221

PizzaTheHutt


My friend and I just finished Moving Out 2 on
I will probably continue going for 100% on my own over the weekend.