The Backlog Check-in Vol. 324: 3/16/24: Alone in the Dark/Dragon’s Dogma II/Princess Peach: Showtime!/Rise of the Ronin

[canedaddy]

I’ve come to dislike Soulslikes at this point, and I don’t plan on buying them anymore because they’re almost always overly difficult. I recently played Dolmen, Remnant: From the Ashes and Scars Above and I liked them, but their hard difficulties made me stop playing them. Scars Above actually has difficulty settings, but even easy is more like hard with hard bosses and that’s why I stopped playing it despite liking it. Part of the reason why I haven’t been enjoying games as much lately is because it seems like the modern trend in gaming now is to make games hard without difficulty settings which is especially true for a lot of indie games, and hard games aren’t fun IMO.

Reminder: A certain 60-year-old man with old man reflexes and CTE got the platinum in Elden Ring.

Souls games and Soulslikes aren't easy, obviously, but for the most part, they require patience more than skill. And the feeling after taking down a particularly tough boss is very satisfying.

[argyle]

Lies of P - I played some more of this last night, and I gotta say, the more I play the more I like it. I love the Bioshock vibes I get from the environments and the general "steampunk automatons gone haywire" thing that's going on. I've taken down another boss as well, this one on my first try. As far as soulsborne games go, this one is on the easier side so far (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself... ). I'm getting the feeling I WILL be sticking with this one.

Unicorn Overlord - Absolutely a must-play for anyone that enjoys a good strategy RPG. This is one of those games that the more you play the more it opens up, and it starts looking like a insanely fun rabbit hole full of stuff to do & get lost in. There's crazy depth to the game but the way it eases you in is perfect. Once you start seeing how the pieces fit together, it's just ingenious. You equip your individual troops and then use them to build your units, and since each troop has their strengths & weaknesses it's very fun to pair up different combinations trying to make the "perfect" unit. Of course, the way it's structured no one unit will be able to do everything, so you'll need different overall types. And they aren't faceless units, they're all either characters you meet & recruit or characters you hire and therefore "create" - so you feel more attached and invested in them than if they were just "soldier", "archer", etc. And even all of that is only scratching the surface - there's still affinity that builds between characters when they either fight together, or you have a meal with them, or you give them gifts. What character you make the leader of a unit gives that unit special abilities based on their type. There's support from units such as archers, magic users, etc. Man, it goes on & on.

I love this game.

[isthatallyougot]

I liked the game playing as Tostada because I found her more appealing than Juan, but the problem is that playing as her is strictly cosmetic as you’re still playing as Juan just with a Tostada skin. That’s what ruined it for me, and why I stopped playing it.

But...






I do not understand, ha.

Lies of P - I played some more of this last night, and I gotta say, the more I play the more I like it. I love the Bioshock vibes I get from the environments and the general "steampunk automatons gone haywire" thing that's going on. I've taken down another boss as well, this one on my first try. As far as soulsborne games go, this one is on the easier side so far (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself... ). I'm getting the feeling I WILL be sticking with this one.

I've thought that looks really good. I'm sure I'll pick it up one day.

Speaking of the genre, I just picked up Nioh 2 complete edition on this month's humble bundle. I've thought I'd enjoy this series very much, but I ought to play the first first.

[Phaseknox]

Reminder: A certain 60-year-old man with old man reflexes and CTE got the platinum in Elden Ring.

Souls games and Soulslikes aren't easy, obviously, but for the most part, they require patience more than skill. And the feeling after taking down a particularly tough boss is very satisfying.

I’m 54 so you’re not that much older than me, and you have more patience than I do when it comes to games. I get frustrated fairly easily in games, and I dislike a lot of trial-and-error in them. Soulslikes are trial-and-error throughout them, and I find slowly inching my way through them having to continuously redo sections of them over and over again to be daunting. And the bosses in them are always overpowered with ridiculously long health bars making them stressful to fight IMO. I know that some gamers find them to be an exciting challenge to overcome, but I just find them to be frustratingly difficult. Soulslikes are stressful to play IMO, and that’s why I don’t really like playing them despite liking a lot about them. If I could play them without worrying about dying every moment that I’m playing them then I would enjoy them a lot more, and also if the bosses were less punishing as well.

Unicorn Overlord - Absolutely a must-play for anyone that enjoys a good strategy RPG. This is one of those games that the more you play the more it opens up, and it starts looking like a insanely fun rabbit hole full of stuff to do & get lost in. There's crazy depth to the game but the way it eases you in is perfect. Once you start seeing how the pieces fit together, it's just ingenious. You equip your individual troops and then use them to build your units, and since each troop has their strengths & weaknesses it's very fun to pair up different combinations trying to make the "perfect" unit. Of course, the way it's structured no one unit will be able to do everything, so you'll need different overall types. And they aren't faceless units, they're all either characters you meet & recruit or characters you hire and therefore "create" - so you feel more attached and invested in them than if they were just "soldier", "archer", etc. And even all of that is only scratching the surface - there's still affinity that builds between characters when they either fight together, or you have a meal with them, or you give them gifts. What character you make the leader of a unit gives that unit special abilities based on their type. There's support from units such as archers, magic users, etc. Man, it goes on & on.

I’m sold. Unfortunately it’s digital only for PS4.

I liked the game playing as Tostada because I found her more appealing than Juan, but the problem is that playing as her is strictly cosmetic as you’re still playing as Juan just with a Tostada skin. That’s what ruined it for me, and why I stopped playing it.

But...





I do not understand, ha.

You don’t actually play as Tostada, you still play as Juan but he just looks like Tostada. Despite him looking like her it’s still him in the story and during NPC interactions.

[isthatallyougot]

You don’t actually play as Tostada, you still play as Juan but he just looks like Tostada. Despite him looking like her it’s still him in the story and during NPC interactions.

Oh, so you were wanting or expecting like a side narrative / second campaign or at least some characterization of Tostada?

I know how much the characters you play matter to you as you've expressed many times, and we're all different obviously. But it is hard for me to understand that if you were enjoying a game otherwise - why it would matter so much. Again, I know we all have our own ways of filtering life / games, but that mindset is hard for me to fully wrap my mind around. It's hard to relate since it's so different from how I appreciate games. But, it's all good. Plenty to choose from, whatever your conditions for enjoyment.

As for me, I'm absolutely loving Guac. I just got the final ability and love running up the walls and zooming around the maps superman style. The combat is also really punchy and satisfying, and combined with the aesthetics and general style, it's a great time for me. I'm not sure if I'll go for 100% completion - I rarely do, but we'll see once I've wrapped up the primary path.

[Phaseknox]

You don’t actually play as Tostada, you still play as Juan but he just looks like Tostada. Despite him looking like her it’s still him in the story and during NPC interactions.

Oh, so you were wanting or expecting like a side narrative / second campaign or at least some characterization of Tostada?

Yes, and it would have been fairly simple for them to do which makes it a missed opportunity IMO.

I know how much the characters you play matter to you as you've expressed many times, and we're all different obviously. But it is hard for me to understand that if you were enjoying a game otherwise - why it would matter so much. Again, I know we all have our own ways of filtering life / games, but that mindset is hard for me to fully wrap my mind around. It's hard to relate since it's so different from how I appreciate games.

As you know I haven’t always been like this, it happened gradually over the years. Now it’s basically at a point where I don’t want to play a game unless I can play as a female character. I just don’t really like playing as male characters in games anymore. There are exceptions of course such as if I really like the male protagonist and feel that the game that they’re in would only work with them (e.g. Ghost of Tsushima), but that’s rare. I also don’t really mind playing as a male character in party based games such as turn-based JRPGs if I also have female characters in my party, because I’m not just playing as one character but as a party of characters. But when I’m playing as one main character in a game, I almost always prefer playing as a female.

[Phaseknox]

I started playing Outriders, and it’s a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting it to be a co-op focused shooter light on story, characterization and feel like it was designed to be played with other people. But playing it single player it doesn’t seem like a co-op game, it seems like a single player game. It has a lot of story, characterization and RPG elements. And the story is good, and the characters are interesting and likable. You create your character, and they’re voiced. The game is a sci-fi action adventure shooter with action packed cover shooting gameplay. The graphics are really good with a lot of detail, effects, scripted events and set pieces. The music is really good too.

The game was marketed too much like a co-op focused shooter, and the name of it and its box art also emphasized it as a co-op focused shooter. I think that it would have been more successful if it was marketed more as a story/character driven action adventure shooter and had a different name, different box art and didn’t focus so much on being a co-op game.

[crimson_tide]

Hey all, quick check in. There's yet ANOTHER kiddo in my household. A two month old so time is limited with 4 kiddos in the house now. Crim is just out here collecting kiddos like Infinity Gems...costly, loud, occasionally surly Infinity Gems that don't give you ungodly superpowers...why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, because I am a sucker for hard luck cases. So when I become MORE scarce, know that I love you all friends and that I am just a little busy !

Played: Infinite Wealth. **** the end of chapter 6 and beginning of chapter 7. I am NOT ok with where I left things (after the big forest thing, j). So hopefully I can get through this chapter over the weekend. Also, like a LOT on my Steam Deck. Can't settle on something to focus on yet...

Bought: Steam Deck stuff: Wasteland 3, Contra and Castlevania collections, SAO Fatal Bullet...a bunch of stuff that basically I said I would love to play if it were portable that I had on PS4. Oh and Gotham Knights. Probably going to get to that sooner than later.

Beat: Nothing

Later friends!

[canedaddy]

I’m 54 so you’re not that much older than me, and you have more patience than I do when it comes to games. I get frustrated fairly easily in games, and I dislike a lot of trial-and-error in them. Soulslikes are trial-and-error throughout them, and I find slowly inching my way through them having to continuously redo sections of them over and over again to be daunting. And the bosses in them are always overpowered with ridiculously long health bars making them stressful to fight IMO. I know that some gamers find them to be an exciting challenge to overcome, but I just find them to be frustratingly difficult. Soulslikes are stressful to play IMO, and that’s why I don’t really like playing them despite liking a lot about them. If I could play them without worrying about dying every moment that I’m playing them then I would enjoy them a lot more, and also if the bosses were less punishing as well.

That is more than fair.

I started playing Outriders, and it’s a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting it to be a co-op focused shooter light on story, characterization and feel like it was designed to be played with other people. But playing it single player it doesn’t seem like a co-op game, it seems like a single player game. It has a lot of story, characterization and RPG elements. And the story is good, and the characters are interesting and likable. You create your character, and they’re voiced. The game is a sci-fi action adventure shooter with action packed cover shooting gameplay. The graphics are really good with a lot of detail, effects, scripted events and set pieces. The music is really good too.

The game was marketed too much like a co-op focused shooter, and the name of it and its box art also emphasized it as a co-op focused shooter. I think that it would have been more successful if it was marketed more as a story/character driven action adventure shooter and had a different name, different box art and didn’t focus so much on being a co-op game.

I've heard good things about that one as a solo experience. Mayhaps I shall check it out at some point.

[isthatallyougot]

Hey all, quick check in. There's yet ANOTHER kiddo in my household. A two month old so time is limited with 4 kiddos in the house now. Crim is just out here collecting kiddos like Infinity Gems...costly, loud, occasionally surly Infinity Gems that don't give you ungodly superpowers...why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, because I am a sucker for hard luck cases. So when I become MORE scarce, know that I love you all friends and that I am just a little busy !

Played: Infinite Wealth. **** the end of chapter 6 and beginning of chapter 7. I am NOT ok with where I left things (after the big forest thing, j). So hopefully I can get through this chapter over the weekend. Also, like a LOT on my Steam Deck. Can't settle on something to focus on yet...

Bought: Steam Deck stuff: Wasteland 3, Contra and Castlevania collections, SAO Fatal Bullet...a bunch of stuff that basically I said I would love to play if it were portable that I had on PS4. Oh and Gotham Knights. Probably going to get to that sooner than later.

Beat: Nothing

Later friends!

Dang crim, what are you, some sort of Mother Teresa sh*t?!?

Seriously though, good on you my man. I'm genuinely in awe of your selflessness. You make the world a more tolerable place and you deserve good things.

As for myself, I raised a single child, and as much as I love my kid, I was sometimes overwhelmed. But now I'm old and those days are in the past. (I mean the direct care.)

In terms of gaming, I'm right at the final boss area of Guac. It's been a blast. I had been perusing old forum posts a bit (careful to avoid serious spoilers), and I found numerous people who claimed that Jaguar Javier was such a tough boss. So when I met him in the arena for battle, I was prepared for a challenge. Welp, that fool went down like a chump on my first attempt, lol. I was so surprised that

DisplayCollapse view

when he was crawling towards me after his beat-down

, I was expecting phase 2. That couldn't be *it* could it? And when no phase 2 came, I was gobsmacked. Seriously not expecting that, given the latter stages of the game and what I had read from quite a few who've played it. Getting to him was significantly more challenging than dispatching him. The game has offered plenty of challenge - mostly in terms of platforming and dimension shifting in tandem with said platforming, but JJ was a bust, lol. Still been a fantastic game overall. I'm currently exploring and looking for secrets and collectibles to prolong my play until I'm ready for my final confrontation.