The Backlog Check-in Vol. 87: 8/31/19: Catherine/Final Fantasy VIII/Monster Hunter World/NBA 2K20 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Decay of Logos, Eternity: The Last Unicorn

Finished (playing): Eternity: The Last Unicorn

Playing: Decay of Logos

Added: Adam's Venture Origins, Decay of Logos

I'm still playing Decay of Logos, and enjoying it. However, the bugs, jank and lack of polish hurt the experience a bit. It needed a little more development time before coming out, and I hope that the developers fix some of its current issues with an update.

The following games come out this week:
Catherine: Full Body
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
NBA 2K20

[isthatallyougot]

Still plugging away on Rule of Rose (decent atmosphere with clunky combat), PES (Goaaaaaaaaal!), Harvest Moon TToTT (ship those crops), and always getting sidetracked by The Pinball Arcade.

[jfissel]

Finished: Dragon Quest Builders 2 (story)

Now Playing: Dragon Quest Builders 2

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 30 games

Beat the story in DQB 2 and now I just have 5 trophies to finish up for the platinum.

[argyle]

Games added: Collection of Mana, Lumines Remastered, Metal Wolf Chaos, Astral Chain, The Bard's Tale IV

Last week: Finished nothing, played Secret of Mana, Metal Wolf Chaos, Bard's Tale IV & some of the latest season of Diablo III

This week: More of all of that

Why didn't anyone tell me Bard's Tale IV came out digitally last week? I've only been waiting for that sequel for 30 years.

[Phaseknox]

Why didn't anyone tell me Bard's Tale IV came out digitally last week? I've only been waiting for that sequel for 30 years.

I didn't even know that there was a Bard's Tale II and III. I played the one that came out in 2004 which was an isometric view action RPG, but I watched some gameplay videos of IV and it looks like a completely different game. It's first person with turn-based combat. I'm not sure that I would like it, but I'll check it out if it goes on sale for really cheap.

[argyle]

Why didn't anyone tell me Bard's Tale IV came out digitally last week? I've only been waiting for that sequel for 30 years.

I didn't even know that there was a Bard's Tale II and III. I played the one that came out in 2004 which was an isometric view action RPG, but I watched some gameplay videos of IV and it looks like a completely different game. It's first person with turn-based combat. I'm not sure that I would like it, but I'll check it out if it goes on sale for really cheap.

Bard's Tale I came out in '85, 2 in '86 and 3 in '88. The one you're referring to was a spin-off that had nothing in common with the originals besides the name. The original games were all first-person turn-based RPGs in the same vein as other classic CRPGs like Wizardry and Might & Magic.

BTW, unfortunately while the newest game is great so far, the PS4 version is a very shoddy port. I ended up picking up the PC version after first buying the PS4 version and finding out the hard way how bad it was. On the bright side, buying the PC version got me the remastered versions of the original trilogy, so that's a plus.

[Phaseknox]

I played and finished the Code Vein demo, and it was pretty good. The character creation is one of the best that I've seen in a game, but unfortunately your character is a silent protagonist feeling more like an avatar than an actual main character. I've never liked silent protagonists in games, and they're even more dated now since all other characters in games are usually voiced. This is a somewhat story driven game, so having a mute main character just seems awkward and off-putting.

The game itself is basically an anime souls game like it's been described, but I get the feeling that it's more of a dungeon crawler than the souls games. The bulk of the demo is going through a long narrow cavernous dungeon which is fairly linear except for a few branching paths. You fight enemies, and collect items/loot through it. The gameplay mechanics, combat and systems are basically the same as in the souls games. It's also really challenging like the souls games (but a little less punishing), the first boss was especially tough. I'm worried that it might get frustratingly difficult later to mimic the challenge of the souls games.

I enjoyed my time with it since I liked the story, characters, gameplay and combat. But my concerns are that it's not going to offer a lot in terms of environment variety based on the setting, and that it's going to be more of a dungeon crawler than an adventure.

The game in general seems a little on the lower budget side like something that would be $40 instead of $60. Based on the demo it's something that I can wait to get when it's $30, or less.