The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

canedaddy wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:56 am This probably won't change for months: I'm still playing RDR2 and still absolutely loving it. I'm focused on the side stuff, mostly the challenges and hunting/fishing, before moving on with the story. As early as I am (47%), I have no problem declaring it my GOTY and very likely No. 1 on my all time list.
Wow, incredibly high praise. I'm sure I'll love it as well, but I've been noticing the pendulum swinging the other way on a lot of message boards - many thinking it's ultimately over-rated. Of course, the only rating that matters for our personal time is how much fun we're having - our personal experience.

I finished up Ratchet and Clank (2016 PS4), and I loved it so much I platinumed it. I really don't care much for trophies, but I was having so much fun, I wanted to keep playing. Such a great series!

Got some steam cards for Christmas, so I'll be adding to the impossible backlog during this winter sale, I'm sure.

Hope you guys all had a great holiday! :)
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

argyle wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:09 amI guess I just haven't seen anything going for $70.
I didn't know that any regular editions of PS4 games were being sold for that much. The lowest a new copy of Blue Reflection currently sells for is $77.77, but is also being sold for up to $180. :| The lowest a new copy of Ys VIII currently sells for is $79.98, but is also being sold for up to $150. :| I guess that I won't be owning physical copies of those two. :| Now I can only hope that the same doesn't happen with any other Japanese developed games that I'm interested in. I want them to go down in price, not up.
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:21 amWow, incredibly high praise. I'm sure I'll love it as well, but I've been noticing the pendulum swinging the other way on a lot of message boards - many thinking it's ultimately over-rated.
This is one of those rare times when I actually agree with the majority. I didn't read too many Red Dead Redemption II impressions by others while playing it to avoid spoilers, but I did after I finished it and I was surprised to see that so many shared the same opinion as I did about it. I admit that it felt kind of good for a change to not feel like the odd man out when it came to my opinion of something. While I usually don't care if my opinion matches those of others, it admittedly does get a little tiring when I constantly and continuously disagree with others about things especially games.
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

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Phaseknox wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:12 am This is one of those rare times when I actually agree with the majority. I didn't read too many Red Dead Redemption II impressions by others while playing it to avoid spoilers, but I did after I finished it and I was surprised to see that so many shared the same opinion as I did about it. I admit that it felt kind of good for a change to not feel like the odd man out when it came to my opinion of something. While I usually don't care if my opinion matches those of others, it admittedly does get a little tiring when I constantly and continuously disagree with others about things especially games.
Embrace your quirk! :P (yeah, it's sometimes nice to feel like you're moving with the herd - although I rarely do either.)
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by argyle »

So during my break - and in-between doing some work around the house that I've needed to do - I've been putting a ton of time into AC: Odyssey and I gotta say, the more I play it the more I love it. They've just done everything right - the story is great, including side-quests which I've been focusing on. I actually care what's going on in them, which is the mark of good stories & characters for me. The gameplay is just spot-on. I've learned that personally, I prefer gameplay and fun take precedence over any perceived "realism", and that's exactly what they do. For example, you get an ability early on that completely nullifies fall damage. It just makes traversing the MASSIVE world more fun & less frustrating. Or when you loot a dead enemy and there are several others nearby, it will just loot them all automatically.

The world is just plain gorgeous and so fun to explore. I can't imagine how many man hours went into creating the textures, placing items, etc. And there's a purpose to things in the world too. I came across a cult down in a cave that I went in & wiped out. When I was leaving, I noticed a blood trail that I hadn't seen before entering. I followed it away from the cave and it ended at a destroyed cart - obviously they had attacked & dragged away a farmer, who was probably the sacrificed body I had seen in the cave.

Ubi Soft gets a bad rap that I honestly can't understand. They are one of my absolute favorite developers, and I'm thinking this may very well be my GOTY.
"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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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

argyle wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 3:34 pm Ubi Soft gets a bad rap that I honestly can't understand. They are one of my absolute favorite developers, and I'm thinking this may very well be my GOTY.
I couldn't stand Ubi before it was cool to not like them. In terms of AC I've only played the first one - which I utterly hated. But I've heard so much positive about a few of the more recent entries that I may try one out again some day. I thought the setting for Black Flag seemed appealing.
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I started playing inFamous: First Light, and I'm enjoying it. I played a decent amount of Second Son which I thought was alright, but I'm liking First Light more since the story and main protagonist are better IMO. It's too bad that it's a standalone expansion to Second Son instead of a full-fledged game, because it deserved to be more than a short secondary game to Second Son IMO.
argyle wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 3:34 pmI'm thinking this may very well be my GOTY.
I remember you constantly praising Origins, but you're praising Odyssey even more and saying that it might be your GOTY. From my understanding The Witcher III was the king of the third person open world action/adventure/RPG genre, does Odyssey dethrone it IYO?
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 5:38 pmI couldn't stand Ubi before it was cool to not like them.
I think that the reason why Ubisoft has gotten some hate in the past is because they were basically recycling the same open world littered with filler side content design structure for the majority of their games, and churning out a new entry to their main franchises every year without enough substantial changes to really warrant their releases especially at full price. They've toned back on that somewhat more recently as they've been taking the time to make the new games in their main franchises have substantial changes to them from the previous entries, and offering the quality and content of what's expected from full priced games instead of feeling like rushed to market cash grabs. While they're releasing Far Cry: New Dawn next month which is a little under a year since Far Cry 5 came out, they acknowledge that it's a quickly developed lower budget side game in the franchise (similar to Blood Dragon) and not a full-fledged entry so they're charging $40 for it instead of $60 which is fair.
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 5:38 pmIn terms of AC I've only played the first one - which I utterly hated. But I've heard so much positive about a few of the more recent entries that I may try one out again some day. I thought the setting for Black Flag seemed appealing.
While I didn't utterly hate the first Assassin's Creed, I also didn't like it very much either. I loved Assassin's Creed II, it was what I was expecting the first game to be. I also really liked Brotherhood, but didn't really like Revelations or Assassin's Creed III that much. However, Black Flag was really good and brought the series back after its two year slump. But Ubisoft apparently dropped the ball again with Rogue and Unity although Syndicate was apparently another really good entry, but people were having AC fatigue when it came out so Ubisoft decided to not rush another similar entry to market in a year and took two years to somewhat reinvent the franchise with Origins and it paid off. They took another two years to develop Odyssey after that, and it's apparently the best in the franchise so far.
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

Phaseknox wrote: Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:12 pm I think that the reason why Ubisoft has gotten some hate in the past is because they were basically recycling the same open world littered with filler side content design structure for the majority of their games, and churning out a new entry to their main franchises every year without enough substantial changes to really warrant their releases especially at full price. They've toned back on that somewhat more recently as they've been taking the time to make the new games in their main franchises have substantial changes to them from the previous entries, and offering the quality and content of what's expected from full priced games instead of feeling like rushed to market cash grabs. While they're releasing Far Cry: New Dawn next month which is a little under a year since Far Cry 5 came out, they acknowledge that it's a quickly developed lower budget side game in the franchise (similar to Blood Dragon) and not a full-fledged entry so they're charging $40 for it instead of $60 which is fair.
They may have changed their stripes. I honestly wouldn't know since I've been so put off by what they've put out in the past that I've skipped everything they've released for a long while, but everyone deserves another chance, and I may play one of their titles again one day. Most everything I've ever played from them in the past has screamed development factory / assembly line. I like my interactive art to be less obviously-a-product.
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I finished inFAMOUS: First Light, and I really liked it. But it's extremely short, even shorter than I was expecting it to be despite it being a standalone expansion to Second Son. Not long after it really starts to build momentum and you unlock some cool moves, it's over. There were still a lot more moves for me to unlock, so I was expecting a longer experience. I thought that I was only about halfway through it when the credits rolled. It deserved to be a bigger budget and lengthier game than it was, because the story and main character are really good. I was having a blast playing as Fetch, she's a badass character that moves fast and has awesome powers. She seemed like a character from the X-Men, and is easily the best main protagonist in the inFAMOUS series.
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 51: 12/22/18: Christmas Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Red Dead Redemption II (66%, no idea on hours, in chapter 6)

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 34 games

Currently in chapter 6 of RDR II, trying to finish the story this year if I can.
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