The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

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Phaseknox
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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Everybody's Golf

Finished (playing): Everybody's Golf

Playing: ?

Purchased: Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Persona 5

I played a lot of Everybody's Golf and had a good time with it, but I made it to the final rank and it has gotten really difficult so I decided to stop playing it. I'm going to start something else, but I don't know what yet.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth comes out next week.

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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I'm playing Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, and something about it feels a little off. It tries to replicate the look and feel of the first game, but misses the mark a bit. The graphics (while decent) look like an odd blend of realistic and stylized, and they don't really look current gen but everything runs at a smooth 60fps which is nice.

It seems a little strange that the story has no connection to the first game, it's basically a reimagining. The story and characters are a little better, and thankfully it has actual cutscenes instead of cartoons like the first game. Unfortunately a lot of the voices sound a little muffled making it difficult to make out what's being said sometimes, and Faith has a new voice actress that isn't as good as the one in the first game.

The first game was a really well paced linear first person action platformer, but this one feels like it was made by Ubisoft offering a somewhat open world mission based design structure with lots of optional side activities and collectibles. Most of it seems like filler to me, and I don't have much of an interest in it.

I'm somewhat enjoying it because it's more Mirror's Edge and it has some decent combat and good platforming, but it's not as good as I was expecting a current gen version of the game to be and as of right now I liked the first game more.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by canedaddy »

They're still making stuff for WoW? Wow.

Played last week: Destiny 2, Siralim 2, No Man's Sky

Finished: Destiny 2

Added to backlog: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Current backlog: 35 (13 PS4, 10 Vita, 5 3DS/2DS, 5 PS2)

I didn't get in much gaming this week, but I should be able to spend a few hours with No Man's Sky tomorrow. The last time I played, I found a cool cave with water... and eventually got stuck in there and died. Space is scary!
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 29 games

More AC:S this week, nothing too exciting although it is fun.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I played a lot of Mirror's Edge: Catalyst today, and I'm having a great time with it now. I'm just sticking to the story missions as none of the optional side stuff interests me, and just seems like out of place filler IMO. The story has been entertaining, the missions have been varied and there's been some awesome platforming. The levels are really well designed. I got a grappling hook, and now I feel like Spider-Man. It's really cool. The challenge has been just right, and it's just fun to play since the pacing is really good.

My main complaint is with the graphics. The art design is great, but the graphics from a technical standpoint are a little lacking. Like I said before, they're an odd mix of realistic and stylized. I think that it would have looked better if they made it look completely realistic, because you can get a sense of how cool the city would be if it looked real instead of somewhat artificial and stylized. It also doesn't help that it looks last gen, other than running at 60fps there's nothing current gen about it. The graphics are still pretty good for the most part, but they could have been a lot better.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I played more Mirror's Edge Catalyst and while I'm still enjoying it, the open design leads to some repetition since going to mission start points require parkour traversal to get to them and the missions themselves are primarily parkour traversal. And you have to travel the same routes repeatedly since a lot of mission start points are in the same places. Part of the problem is that the city rooftops that most of the game takes place at are somewhat same-y looking, and the graphics while colorful are a little plain lacking texture detail and lighting. The indoor graphics fare better with more detail and better lighting, but you spend a lot more time outside on the rooftops.

There's combat mixed in, but it's not that good. It's a missed opportunity since it could have been a lot better with some basic things added to it like a block for example. You have a punch, a kick and a dodge - that's it. And there are enemies with guns, but unlike in the first game you can't pick the guns up and use them. Most enemies can block your punches, so you have to run around and spam the kick button. It's not very fun combat since it's so basic.

The way that the game is designed I think that I would have preferred it to be third person instead of first person. First person worked really well in the first game, but this one has a somewhat different vibe to it and I think that it would have been better as a third person action platformer instead of as a first person one. I prefer third person in general where I can see the character that I'm playing, I mainly like first person for shooters. Of course being in first person is what made the first Mirror's Edge the game that it is, and I never once wanted it in third person. But there's something about this game that makes me think that it would have worked better in third person. Perhaps it's because the environment graphics aren't that great, and they're all that you see in first person. I think that I would rather be looking at Faith's sexy ass while I'm playing instead of the plain city graphics. :P
Last edited by Phaseknox on Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by canedaddy »

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Well I got in a lot of time today with No Man's Sky, and after a few bumps (a roadblock due to bad guidance in the tutorial and then the mysterious loss of all of my inventory) I soldiered on and it got its hooks in me pretty good. I did some more exploring on my first planet and it is MASSIVE, like every part of a giant globe actually has stuff there. To think there's a whole galaxy of that... or universe... it's mind blowing.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I finished Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and while I had some fun with it I also found it disappointing considering how much that I like the first game. I made the game longer and more repetitive than necessary because I didn't discover until near the end that you can fast travel to safe houses that you've been to before. If I had realized this from the beginning then it would have made the game a lot better paced, because I spent a lot of time physically traversing to mission start points which sometimes were on the complete other end of the map from where I was. While the traversal is somewhat fun, constantly traversing the same routes over and over again got old and made the parkour traversal feel more repetitive in the actual missions. I strictly stuck to the story missions and side missions since everything else was pointless filler as far as I was concerned. Both the story missions and side missions were varied, unfortunately there weren't that many side missions. I would have preferred that they scrapped most of the other optional side crap that they saturated the game with, and made more side missions.

The core game is running, parkour and platforming with a little combat thrown into mix things up a bit. Thankfully they nailed the running, parkour and platforming, it was almost always fun to do with some really well designed levels that sometimes had exciting set pieces and scripted events. There were some really frustrating trial and error moments throughout especially at the end, but for the most part it was usually obvious where to go and what to do. The combat was kind of clunky without a lot of moves at your disposal, and you couldn't pick up guns and use them which sucked since some of the enemies had them. But I had some fun with it as a diversion since it was nice to take a break from the running and platforming once in a while. It's too bad that it wasn't better, because I would have liked more combat moments if it was more fun.

The story and characters were entertaining for the most part. Neither particularly stood out as anything truly great, but still provided a good time overall. Unfortunately while the entire ending level was exciting and there were some cool cut scenes at the end, the ending was a little short and left open for a sequel that we'll probably never get. Also worth mentioning is that the open city map is really big, but the game only takes place in a small portion of it. It's as if they planned on making a sequel to cover other parts of the city, but it's highly doubtful that there will be one.

The worst aspect of the game are the graphics, they're actually bad a lot of the time. The city is made up of blocky solid color buildings and environments that lack textures and lighting. There's different colors used throughout, but for the most part the outdoor city environments are devoid of textures and lighting. The city basically looks like an artificial virtual world that you would play in a VR game, not a realistic looking futuristic city. The first game actually looks better, I played it some yesterday to compare the two and I was surprised by how much better it looked. I remember really liking its graphics, and they still hold up. Just because Catalyst is more open isn't an excuse for the graphics to be as bad as they are. Not only are they not current gen at all, they would be considered bad last gen as well. The indoor graphics are better with some texture detail and nice lighting, but they still look last gen too.

While the game offers a decent story, cast of characters, solid gameplay and well designed levels with some exciting stuff that happens occasionally, it feels half baked and low budget which isn't something that I would expect from an EA game. The production values are somewhat poor, and everything about it comes across dated and not like something that would have come out this gen. While the first game is a lot shorter, it's still better in a lot of ways. It's a shame that they dropped the ball with this reimagining, because it had the potential to be something really good.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

After spending I don't know how many hours running and platforming nonstop in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, I needed a break from high speed blood pumping action so I decided to play something that I knew was slower paced and started playing Life is Strange. It's exactly what I'm in the mood for right now, a chill adventure game that is more about story and characters and less about twitch gameplay.

My hands needed a break after spending hours frantically moving thumb sticks, and pressing multiple buttons continuously. It's nice to play something now that I can play slowly. I'm really impressed with it so far, it's a modern day point and click style adventure game with a cool rewind time mechanic. The story and characters have their hooks in me, and I look forward to playing it more.
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 32: 8/11/18: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Edition

Post by argyle »

Games added: Code of Princess EX, a few cheap digital Switch games & probably something else I'm forgetting

Last week: Finished Subsurface Circular, played Flinthook

This week: Haven't been playing much so far but still dabbling with Flinthook. Played the Octopath Traveler demo finally a couple nights ago and absolutely loved it, so may pick that one up today w/ some GS credit.

Subsurface Circular is a very short (couple of hours?) game that I guess today you'd call a visual novel but is very reminiscent of the old text adventure games I used to play on my C64 waaaay back in the day. And it's fantastic. I played it on the Switch (it's one of the cheap digital games I mentioned) but it's also on PC it seems. Anyway, you're a robot detective on a train reserved for robots. Different robots get on & off the train at the stops and you talk to them, unlocking topics to ask about & working towards solving a mystery. That's basically it, but it's so well written that it really sucks you into the world and it's just the right length for what it is. I may even replay it & take different choices to see where it leads.

Flinthook is an awesome little platformer along the lines of Rogue Legacy. It's a rogue-like platformer (so the levels are randomized every time and when you die it's game over, but there are things that carry over from one playthrough to the next) with a lot of RPG elements and a dash of Bionic Commando thrown in in the form of a hook you use to get around. It's also got a lot of charm and is just very fun to play.

Octopath is an old-school JRPG at its heart, I knew that going in - and that's a great thing imo. But what really wow'd me about it is the writing, I was instantly sucked into the story of the character I started with (the dancer) and was honestly kinda shocked with how adult and dark the storyline was. Part of me doesn't want to get into a turn-based RPG this close to DQXI, but I really want more of what I played and feel like it will be different enough anyway. The Switch is quickly becoming one of my favorite systems. It's not a PS4 replacement, because it obviously can't provide the AAA fancy graphic experiences of games like God of War, but it compliments it perfectly and has become the system I prefer to play smaller games on. Plus its getting a strong library of exclusives already. I bought a skin for mine last week that makes it look like the Gamecube, because that's how I think of it - and the GC was previously my favorite Nintendo system.

Phase, thanks for the Mirror's Edge impressions, I have been reading this thread even tho I'm just now posting (there's been a lot of stressful real world stuff going on over the past week or so). I have the game and had popped it in a couple months ago looking for something to play, but it really didn't click with me. After what you've said I think I'm gonna trade it in, it sounds like it isn't really worth my time compared to other games in my backlog I haven't gotten to yet. I'll also be curious to hear what you think of Life is Strange - I've played that one, just curious to hear what your take on it will be.
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis

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