The Backlog Check-in Vol. 297: 9/9/23: Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, Dragon Age: Origins

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Dragon Age: Origins

Added: Close to the Sun, Mutazione, Phantom Breaker: Omnia, Projection: First Light, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Games releasing this week
Ad Infinitum
Alvo
Baby Shark: Sing & Swim Party
Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster
Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery VR
Boti: Byteland Overclocked
Compass of the Destiny: Instanbul
Corbid! A Colorful Adventure
The Crew Motorfest
Crop Rotation
Down and Out
Dream House Days DX
Dune: Spice Wars
Dungeon Village
Eternights
Fresh Start Cleaning Simulator
Full Void
Galaxy Pass Station
Game Dev Story
Gunbrella
Hauma - A Detective Noir Story
Heavy Duty Challenge: The Off-Road Truck Simulator
Hot Springs Story
Inspector Gadget: Mad Time Party
The Isle Tide Hotel
Land Above Sea Below
Logiart Grimoire
Mary Skelter Finale
Monster Hunter Now
Mugen Souls Z
MythForce
NASCAR Arcade Rush
Nour: Play with Your Food
Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors
Pixel Ripped 1995
Savant: Ascent Remix
Station Manager
Stick to the Plan
StrangerZ
Suicide Guy: The Lost Dreams
Summum Aeterna
Super Bomberman R 2
The Walking Dead: Betrayel
This Way Madness Lies
Touhou: New World
Ugly
Urbo
Wandering Sword
Werewolf Pinball

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Zero Time Dilemma

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 41 games

Made a little progress in ZTD, that's about it.

[argyle]

Games added: Nothing

Last week: Finished nothing, played Starfield & Souldiers

This week: Same

Souldiers is an incredible game. I had to drop the difficulty down to easy, which feels like normal (seems to be par for the course these days) but that's no knock against it. It definitely feels as much like an action/RPG as it does a Metroidvania. The dungeons are very complex - in a good way - and the whole game is just very engrossing. Hard to put down. I did have one nasty crash mid-save which corrupted my save file. Luckily I was able to quickly download my cloud backup, so I only lost the progress I had made that night. Otherwise no issues. This one will definitely be high on my year-end list.

I'm still enjoying Starfield. Only thing really to say about it right now is that it's a Bethesda RPG.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm still enjoying Starfield. Only thing really to say about it right now is that it's a Bethesda RPG.

Sounds good to me.

[Phaseknox]

I’ve been in the mood to play modern WRPGs lately because they’re good for escapism. They allow me to choose or create a character, and role play as them. I get to enter a fantasy world, and escape the real one. No type of game does this better than a modern WRPG IMO. Unfortunately, we don’t get that many of them anymore. You would think that with the popularity of games like Cyberpunk 2077, Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Mass Effect and The Witcher that there would be more like them, but CRPGs have had a resurgence somewhat recently and they’re what we get more of now.

The current selection of modern WRPGs is fairly limited, so I don’t have too many to choose from. However, I remembered that I had The Bard’s Tale IV so I started playing it. Unfortunately, it’s more of a throwback to older turn-based dungeon crawler CRPGs than it is a modern WRPG. It’s actually one of the less appealing RPGs that I’ve played in a while. The story is uninteresting with drawings used to tell it instead of cinematic cutscenes, the characters aren’t very likable, the graphics look like a PS3/Xbox 360 game, it’s extremely linear and you see character portraits during combat instead of the actual characters. Speaking of characters, the selectable choices are some of the worst that I’ve seen in a game. It’s as if they purposely made them as ugly and unappealing as possible. I don’t know why anyone would want to play as any of these characters. The voice acting and music are the best aspects of the game as they’re both pretty good.

This game is another example of how gaming has kind of gotten worse in recent years, there’s so much mediocre stuff that comes out now. Look at the lists of games that I post coming out each week, and they’re mostly crap. And the big anticipated AAA games these days mostly turn out disappointing as well. Sure we still get some good indies once in a while and some big AAA games still deliver, but nothing like in the past. Gaming just isn’t what it used to be IMO, and that’s why I haven’t been in a rush to get a current gen console. There has been very little that has come out for current gen consoles that has made me feel like I need one. There’s a handful of games that I’m interested in, but not enough to warrant spending $500 on one right now.

[isthatallyougot]

[Phaseknox]

Pretty much. Cranky old Phase. It’s a combination of things. I was already somewhat depressed before losing my leg/foot, and now I’m worse. My health insurance has been refusing to pay for my prosthetic leg/foot which I would have had last month if they did, and I’ve been trying to get on disability which has been an ordeal as well. And bill collectors want money from me for medical bills that my health insurance should be paying. There’s other things as well, the crap just keeps piling up. My mental state hasn’t been the best lately due to it all. The only thing that I have to escape it all are video games, but the level of escapism that I require right now is more than what a lot of games that I have are able to provide. That’s why I’ve been in the mood for a modern WRPG that lets you select or create your character, because they’re usually deep and engrossing games that I can completely lose myself in which is what I could really go for right now.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm sorry about your troubles phase. I hope you don't mind me ribbing and messing with you sometimes. It's not intended to add to your suffering in any way. If it comforts you at all, we all have our troubles, and they can be pretty intense at times. (for everyone, which I'm sure you can appreciate) I hope you can breathe in and find a moment of peace and accept the transient nature of all things - "good" and "bad" and just allow it all to be. If you can find the right mindset/state, it's all very funny, if in a darkly comic way, perhaps. Hang in there brother. Go back and play an old classic that you really loved and haven't touched in ages maybe. Just an idea.

[Phaseknox]

I hope you don't mind me ribbing and messing with you sometimes.

Of course not, it’s all in good fun and makes me laugh which I don’t tend to do much these days.

Go back and play an old classic that you really loved and haven't touched in ages maybe. Just an idea.

I’ve actually been doing that, but they usually end up feeling too familiar (been there done that) or don’t appeal to me as much now as they did back when I originally played them. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a good example of that. I’ve been craving new experiences, but there hasn’t really been anything lately that has been appealing to me like my favorites from the past.

[argyle]

BTW, if any of you cats are interested in Souldiers I noticed last night that it's on sale on the PSN for I think $12 this week. I love that game more & more every time I play it.