The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

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Phaseknox
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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: inFAMOUS: First Light, Mass Effect: Andromeda

Finished: inFAMOUS: First Light

Playing: Mass Effect: Andromeda

I started playing Mass Effect: Andromeda, and so far I don't get the hate. I haven't played too much yet, but I like the story, characters and gameplay so far. It reminds me of the first Mass Effect which is a good thing since that's my favorite in the series. I'm sure that I'll have some complaints with it later on, but right now I'm enjoying it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Red Dead Redemption II (story, 87%)

Now Playing: Red Dead Redemption II (going to do some more stuff before moving on)

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 33 games

RDR II is in the books - what a great game to end my 2018! I still have some things I want to do in the game, so I'll be playing for a few more weeks maybe.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I can't stop playing Mass Effect: Andromeda, it's addicting. It's content packed, and not just mission content but also the sheer amount of character interaction, dialogue, planet scanning, tons of armor, weapons, skills, upgrades, planet and species information, etc. But it's designed in a way where it's not overwhelming, the structure allows the player to take things on at their own pace. Player freedom is a nice thing, especially in an open ended/open world action RPG such as this.

The concept of the game lends itself to exploration and discovery as you play a pathfinder that is responsible for finding planets that are habitable for people. The main hub is a large space station where you do a lot of non action stuff like interacting with NPCs. You also do this on your ship. When you go to a planet they're open world where you traverse them on foot and in a six wheeled all terrain vehicle for exploring, and going to mission points. There's usually a lot of enemies to contend with, and "dungeons" to search.

The story and cast of characters are really good. There's a lot of different characters, and they all have distinct personalities. And there's tons of interaction with all of them, including missions to do with each of them. And speaking of missions, the game is packed with stuff to do both main and side. A lot of the optional side stuff has been somewhat interesting, and not just filler activities. There's a lot of variety in the things that you do, it's not just third person shooting all of the time which is nice.

Speaking of third person shooting, this game delivers. In the previous Mass Effect games I played them on easy mainly to experience the story and characters since the combat wasn't a highlight for me. Something about it always felt a little off to me, and not as good as dedicated shooters. But the combat in this game is fun and visceral as good as dedicated shooters. The guns feel good, there's a lot of variety to them and a lot of other combat abilities/upgrades as well. They also included a boost pack to your character which when the button is pressed it lets out a short burst to let you jump or dodge quickly, and when it's held you can hover. This not only adds a lot to combat for dodging/evading and verticality, but allows for platforming elements as well. The dungeons offer multilayered architecture and platforming in their layouts which add more to their traversal than just running on flat ground the entire time.

There's not too much that I dislike about the game except for maybe the character models. The environment graphics are good, but the character models are somewhat lacking especially the humans. Their faces look off and lack emotion and expression which is a problem for a game so heavily focused on story, and character interaction. The alien characters look better, and aren't really an issue. However, I still think that the human character models look alright and aren't nearly as bad as a lot of critics and gamers made them out to be when the game came out. They look more dated than they look bad IMO.

I think that I'm enjoying the game the same way that argyle is enjoying Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Perhaps my opinion of it will change after I play it more, but as of right now it's hard to put the controller down.
Last edited by Phaseknox on Thu Jan 03, 2019 2:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

I picked up (and put down) Knack this week. It did some good things, but it had NO pizazz! No I'm diving into the Telltale Batman game. So far so good - almost through chapter 1. Not my favorite genre, but when they're done well I enjoy them, and this seems to be pretty good so far.
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:42 pm I picked up (and put down) Knack this week. It did some good things, but it had NO pizazz! NowI'm diving into the Telltale Batman game. So far so good - almost through chapter 1. Not my favorite genre, but when they're done well I enjoy them, and this seems to be pretty good so far.
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:42 pm
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:42 pm I picked up (and put down) Knack this week. It did some good things, but it had NO pizazz! Now I'm diving into the Telltale Batman game. So far so good - almost through chapter 1. Not my favorite genre, but when they're done well I enjoy them, and this seems to be pretty good so far.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by canedaddy »

I liked it best the first time you said it. :P

Played last week: Red Dead Redemption II

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 35 (14 PS4, 8 Vita, 6 3DS/2DS, 5 PS2)

Cut and paste. That will probably stay the same until April or May.

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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 52: 12/29/18: New Year Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

canedaddy wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:45 pm I liked it best the first time you said it. :P
Lol, why edit your post when you can quote yourself repeatedly. I'm clearly on top of my message board game. :P
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