The Backlog Check-in Vol. 124: 5/16/20: Game Delays Suck Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Rage 2, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

Finished (playing): The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

Playing: Rage 2

I was going to get back into The Witcher III, but I'm 15 hours into Rage 2 now and plan on finishing it. I like The Witcher III enough to play it again sometime in the future, but with The Last of Us Part II only a month away I'm not going to play it now since it's a 100+ hour game. I don't know how long Rage 2 is going to take me to finish because it has a lot of content, but the side content is starting to become repetitive so I might start focusing on the story missions now.

Two games that I was looking forward to this month (Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, Ys: Memories of Celceta) have been delayed until June and July. I'm not going to deny that I'm getting a little tired of game delays, because they seem to be happening more and more these days. Everything seems to get delayed now, barely any games seem to make their original release dates anymore. I can understand developers wanting their finished products to be as polished as possible, but unless they're in a really bad state then they should release them on time since having a few little bugs here and there isn't worth delaying them for months especially when they can continue to provide updates for them after they're released.

I bet that Naughty Dog is regretting not releasing The Last of Us Part II back in February when they were originally going to now that leaks for it have surfaced, and have turned a lot of people off from the game since they don't like what they've seen. But that's what they get for delaying the game two times when it turns out that they didn't really need to delay it. As soon as leaks surfaced the game was magically done and ready to be released even though they had just announced that it was being delayed indefinitely. While it's still going to sell extremely well, it's probably not going to sell as well as it originally would have had they released it back in February.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Yakuza Kiwami 2

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 34 games

Very near to the end of the story in Kiwami 2. I started fighting in the Coliseum and I still have Majima Construction left to do among other random things. But overall I should finish this game soon and can hopefully knock out something else before The Last of Us Part II releases in a month.

[Phaseknox]

I quit playing Rage 2 due to the repetitive nature of it. It offers a design structure similar to an open world action RPG, but is primarily an FPS lacking story, characterization, or varied gameplay. The story is almost nonexistent, there's very little character interaction and all that you really do in it is drive to mission objective points and engage in FPS combat in same-y looking areas. While the combat is really good, it's not enough to carry the entire game especially when a lot of the game has you doing the same exact things over and over again.

There's only a few different side activity/mission/objective types, and they're repeated constantly everywhere on the map. You pretty much have to do a lot of them to get more powerful, and gain new abilities, skills and weapons. I was enjoying doing them for a while since the combat is a lot of fun and I liked the character progression doing them offered, but roughly 10 hours into the game I was getting burned out doing them since they get repetitive. The story missions offer a little more variety since they're more traditional linear FPS type levels, but you need to do a lot of the side stuff to get stronger and obtain more skills and weapons to take them on. And after engaging in lots of combat out in the game world it's not that fun to engage in more of it just within more linear type levels.

Without the meat and potatoes of an RPG, pure FPS gameplay/combat and nothing else just doesn't really work for a mission driven open world game IMO.

I started playing The Outer Worlds, and I'm already enjoying it more than Rage 2. It's a sci-fi FPS RPG with a big emphasis on RPG elements. The FPS combat is fun, but it's balanced with story and character interaction. The game looks good with a colorful and detailed sci-fi aesthetic, it plays solid and offers some genuinely funny humor. I haven't played too much of it yet, but I like what I've played so far. My only real complaint with it right now is that your character is a silent protagonist.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Finished: DQXI (platinum in 135 hours)

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 35 (13 PS4, 9 Vita, 7 3DS/2DS, 5 PS2)


DQXI was excellent... among the best in the series. Hope we get another one.

Next up for me would be Valkyria Chronicles 4 or Yakuza 0, but since I've played just two PS4 games since October 2018, I might want to sneak in a short palate cleanser. Any suggestions on a PS4 game that's great, cheap and not very long?

[crimson_tide]

Played: Injustice 2

Beat: Injustice 2

This week: Maybe Watch Dogs 2 or Nier Automata? Iunno...

Man. Injustice 2 is a weird play. That story is a lot. I had to make the wrong choice for the right ending too. Shame...also, still never got used to that combo system. The controls aren't the strong point but spectacle, they got you covered! At least the inputs were easy, just not Street Fighter enough for me I guess...

I still want to play Odyssey but I think I want more distance from Origins before I really dive into it. I found that I bought Watch Dogs 2 at some point and it's apparently way shorter and requires less commitment than Odyssey. I have Nier Automata as well and I still need to get back to AC Syndicate now that I think about it. Think that's pre Origins meaning shorter too. I tried the Black Flag pirate one but after KH3 so the idea of a naval combat focused game just ain't happening for me. The Pirates world was the one place I actually got stuck in that game because naval combat was not my jam...

OLD MAN, PLAY SPIDERMAN BECAUSE IT'S BALLER!!!...just sayin'...

[Phaseknox]

I still want to play Odyssey but I think I want more distance from Origins before I really dive into it.

I played a good amount of Assassin's Creed Origins a while back and was enjoying it for the most part, but something else came along at the time that took me away from it. I planned on playing it again in the future, but now I think that I would just like to play Odyssey since I can play as a female protagonist in it. I'm getting tired of playing as angry guys in games, and if I have to stare at a character's backside for hours at a time then I would much prefer it to be a female's.

I found that I bought Watch Dogs 2 at some point and it's apparently way shorter and requires less commitment than Odyssey. I have Nier Automata as well and I still need to get back to AC Syndicate now that I think about it. Think that's pre Origins meaning shorter too. I tried the Black Flag pirate one but after KH3 so the idea of a naval combat focused game just ain't happening for me. The Pirates world was the one place I actually got stuck in that game because naval combat was not my jam...

I didn't really like either of the Watch Dogs games, they weren't able to hold my interest for very long. However, I'm interested in Watch Dogs: Legion since I like the concept of being able to play as any character that you choose. Nier: Automata is a great third person action/hack-and-slash game, but it's a little on the short side. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate came out before Origins, and is more like the previous AC games. I really enjoyed it, and thankfully it doesn't have any naval combat. I didn't like the mandatory naval combat in Black Flag, it's what made me stop playing it.

[canedaddy]

OLD MAN, PLAY SPIDERMAN BECAUSE IT'S BALLER!!!...just sayin'...

I looked for it on PSN last night and all I could find was the GOTY Edition for $40... too rich for my blood at the moment. But I'll add it to the wish list since it has the crim seal of approval.

[jfissel]

Played recently: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Finished: DQXI (platinum in 135 hours)

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 35 (13 PS4, 9 Vita, 7 3DS/2DS, 5 PS2)


DQXI was excellent... among the best in the series. Hope we get another one.

Next up for me would be Valkyria Chronicles 4 or Yakuza 0, but since I've played just two PS4 games since October 2018, I might want to sneak in a short palate cleanser. Any suggestions on a PS4 game that's great, cheap and not very long?

Looks like you own Headlander and Rime, either one of those would fit your request. And I'm aware of your love for Valkryia Chronicles...but Yakuza 0 is amazing.

[canedaddy]

I'll take a look at both of those. Thanks j!

As for Yakuza 0... how would you rank it compared to 1-5?

[jfissel]

I'll take a look at both of those. Thanks j!

As for Yakuza 0... how would you rank it compared to 1-5?

0 is my favorite game in the Yakuza universe, whether it's being compared to 1-6, both Kiwamis, or Judgment. I think 0 has quite a bit going for it: an interesting prequel story, playable Majima, set in the 1980s, side stuff such as being a real estate mogul and hostess club manager, disco dancing, and of course, money flying out of enemies when you hit them.

I know you'll get to it at some point, I just want you to experience it because I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy all of the things I just listed.