The Backlog Check-in Vol. 295: 8/26/23: Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle/Sea of Stars/Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Dragon Age II, Elex, Need For Speed Heat, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Need For Speed Heat

Added: Nothing

I’ve been playing Need For Speed Heat, and it’s actually quite good. It’s the best NFS game in years. It reminds me a lot of Most Wanted (2005) which is my favorite NFS game. It’s open world taking place in a fictional city similar to Miami Florida. You choose a character, and can customize their hair and clothes. They’re featured in the story scenes, and are voiced. The story so far has been the usual rookie racer trying to move up in the ranks of racing. It’s been good enough to give an incentive to the racing.

The unique aspect of the game is that during the day you do circuit races that earn you money, and during the night you do illegal street races that earn you money and rep. You can switch between day and night whenever you like.

Cars and upgrade parts for them are expensive, so you kind of have to grind races to earn money to buy new cars and upgrades for them. You earn rep to progress in the story since you need to reach a certain amount of rep to unlock the next story event. I really like the progression in the game, it along with other aspects make this the closest to the racing RPG that I’ve been wanting.

Games releasing this week
Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The London Case
Ami
The Big Con
Blue Wednesday
The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation
Crossfire: Sierra Squad
Dark and Darker
Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle
Dead Matter
Deceit 2
Excitebike 64
Genfanad
Goodbye Volcano High
Great Houses of Calderia
How 2 Escape
Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope - Rayman in the Phantom Show
Master of Magic: Rise of the Soultrap
Nimoyd
OU
Pocket Bravery
Prison City
Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles
Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess
Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom
Samba de Amigo: Party Central
Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go
Samurai Vandalism
Sea of Stars
The Shape of Things
Somerville
The Starbites: Taste of Desert
Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty
Sugoi Adventure! DragonSlayer
Sunkenland
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge - Dimension Shellshock
Seven Nights Ghost
Tenebris Pictura
Total War: Warhammer III - Shadows of Change
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy
Under the Waves
Untamed Tactics
War Hospital

[isthatallyougot]

I'm pretty close to the end of Max Curse of Brotherhood, and I've loved it all the way through. I'm not sure I'll get the true ending because I haven't collected all the eyes in the stages and I think I must have missed some amulet pieces, but that may spur me to go replay levels and 100% it. Or I may just watch any alternate endings on youtube. But it has been such a pleasant surprise. I always love when I fire up a game without lofty expectations only to be smacked in the face.

And I'm still playing AC : WW. I've got close to a million bells saved up for that crook Tom Nook who just keeps adding on to my house whenever I pay him off. So, I deposit most of my earning into my account while paying him a little every day. Some of my favorite villagers moved out which was disappointing, but eh, life goes on. I won the bug catching tournament last week and some I'm displaying the trophy in my nicely decorated home. I've also been giving the villages some ridiculous "catch phrases" so that they crack me up every time I have a conversation with them.

I'm still on book one of Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth, and it's developing slowly, but that pace is giving room for the characters, their relationships and their place and various roles in this world time to grow root. I hope the story continues to build tension nicely as it gets closer to resolution, and it seems like it will do just that.

[Phaseknox]

I'm pretty close to the end of Max Curse of Brotherhood, and I've loved it all the way through. I'm not sure I'll get the true ending because I haven't collected all the eyes in the stages and I think I must have missed some amulet pieces, but that may spur me to go replay levels and 100% it.

You have to collect all of the collectibles to get the true ending, that SUCKS!!!! I hate multiple endings in video games, the only games that they make sense in are choice driven games. The worst offenders that I’ve played somewhat recently are Valkyrie Elysium and Ys VIII both of which have set stories with no player choice, yet you have to meet certain criteria in them in order to get their true endings which is bullshit IMO.

[isthatallyougot]

You have to collect all of the collectibles to get the true ending, that SUCKS!!!! I hate multiple endings in video games, the only games that they make sense in are choice driven games. The worst offenders that I’ve played somewhat recently are Valkyrie Elysium and Ys VIII both of which have set stories with no player choice, yet you have to meet certain criteria in them in order to get their true endings which is bullshit IMO.

Are you saying that you *know* that's the case or you are just assuming that's what I meant? I didn't look it up, so I'm completely blind other than checking how long the game was before playing. I will say that I really like how they hide many of the collectibles in the game. It's fun finding them. (There are two types - one being more common than the other.) I'm somewhere in chapter 6 (of 7 I think) and it has continued to be such a pleasant surprise of a game.

But generally, I'm with you. I think it would be better if the canon ending was a part of a normal playthrough with additional rewards given for getting all the extras.

[Phaseknox]

Are you saying that you *know* that's the case or you are just assuming that's what I meant? I didn't look it up, so I'm completely blind other than checking how long the game was before playing.

I thought that you were saying that you wouldn’t get the true ending unless you collected all of the collectibles, I didn’t realize that you were just wondering if you would or not. I looked it up, and it appears to only have one ending. I’m going to buy it this week because it’s currently on sale for $4.49.

[jfissel]

Finished: Mario Kart 7

Now Playing: Zero Time Dilemma, ??

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 41 games

I completed the 8 cups in the 50cc level in MK7 and that's enough for me. It's Mario Kart, it's fun. But I think I've seen everything before - and I may put it in randomly going forward.

Next up in the 3DS realm is Zero Time Dilemma, the last 999 game.

[Phaseknox]

I’ve played a lot of Need For Speed Heat, and it’s the best arcade racing game that I’ve played since Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005). Those are a couple of my favorite arcade racing games, and Heat is basically a mix of both of them. It’s also the closest to being the action racing game that I’ve been wanting that has a story, a player created or selectable character, takes place in an open world and is a mix of racing and driving missions. Heat offers all of that, but still focuses primarily on racing while the story, characters and non racing driving missions aren’t very prominent.

The racing is exciting, intense and visceral moving at insane speeds (especially when you get faster cars later in the game) taking place in varied locations with great track designs/layouts, but it would be nice if there were more driving missions as well to mix up the racing a little more because as good as the racing is it does get a little redundant when it’s all that you basically do over and over again. It would also be nice if you could get out of your car, and there was some on foot character interaction and missions. Not to the point where it would be a full on open world action game, but enough to get you out of your car once in a while. It would also be cool if you could jump out of your car and make a run for it during police chases.

There are optional side challenges and objectives littered all over the map for you to do, but like in most open world games it all just kind of feels like filler to me. There’s drift challenges, billboard smashing, speed traps, graffiti art collecting, etc. but none of it is really anything that I want to do. I’ve enjoyed the few driving missions that I’ve done since they were similar to driving missions in urban open world action games, but there hasn’t been many. I like that the game is a little more of an action racing game instead of strictly a straight up racing game, but it isn’t by much. It’s definitely a step in the right direction, but still isn’t fully there. I really do hope to see a true action adventure RPG racing game hybrid someday, but I’m not sure if one will ever be made.

With that said, as much as I like this game it has a terrible soundtrack. It’s 50+ EDM, hip-hop and rap songs. I like some of the EDM stuff, but there’s very little of it compared to the hip-hop and rap songs which I can’t stand. This is easily the worst soundtrack in any racing game that I’ve played, and is almost a dealbreaker since the music in racing games is an important aspect of them. I miss the original Xbox days where I could put a music CD in the console and copy the songs onto it, and in games such as racing games I could choose to play my own soundtrack. That was one of the coolest features of the console, and I don’t know why it hasn’t been in any other console since.

[argyle]

Games added: Nothing

Last week: Finished Bloodstained: RotN

This week: Gonna jump back into Ys IX. I've been looking forward to Sea of Stars, so I may check that out since it's hitting Gamepass day-1. Also my Switch copy of Souldiers sold this morning, so I went ahead & ordered the PS4 version - it should be here by the end of the week.

I miss the original Xbox days where I could put a music CD in the console and copy the songs onto it, and in games such as racing games I could choose to play my own soundtrack. That was one of the coolest features of the console, and I don’t know why it hasn’t been in any other console since.

I agree - I've had this exact same thought several times. It's odd that this feature just went away.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm glad I'm playing Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth. I've learned something.

"The man takes his prick and puts it in the woman's cunny and plants a seed." This was a mother describing things to her child who never knew his father and had been living isolated in the woods since birth.

Anyway, I'd always wondered how I came to be.

I thought that you were saying that you wouldn’t get the true ending unless you collected all of the collectibles, I didn’t realize that you were just wondering if you would or not. I looked it up, and it appears to only have one ending. I’m going to buy it this week because it’s currently on sale for $4.49.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. (no female protag. Oh well, you gave it a shot. )

[canedaddy]

"Cunny"???

I’ve been playing Need For Speed Heat, and it’s actually quite good. It’s the best NFS game in years. It reminds me a lot of Most Wanted (2005) which is my favorite NFS game. It’s open world taking place in a fictional city similar to Miami Florida. You choose a character, and can customize their hair and clothes. They’re featured in the story scenes, and are voiced. The story so far has been the usual rookie racer trying to move up in the ranks of racing. It’s been good enough to give an incentive to the racing.

I’ve played a lot of Need For Speed Heat, and it’s the best arcade racing game that I’ve played since Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005).

You have gotten my attention! Sounds like it's right up my alley.



Played recently: Destroy All Humans, GTA III

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 33


I haven't done much gaming over the past few days, and I'll be on a mini-vacation later this week. It's quite possible the next game I play will be Need for Speed Heat.