The Backlog Check-in Vol. 133: 7/18/20: You Should Be Playing Ghost of Tsushima Edition

[argyle]

Games added: Ghost of Tsushima, Void Terrarium, Maneater, some older cheap games I got in last week's GS sale

Last week: Decided to move on from the main game of Xenoblade Chronicles Remastered after sinking 160 hours into it (I beat the story around the 100-120 hour mark, then proceeded to do ALMOST everything else), I'm now about 7-8 hours into the new expansion story (that's supposedly 15-20 hours or so). Played some Maneater and Ghost of Tsushima.

This week: Ghost has completely sucked me in so I'll be on that most likely until I plat it (because it's just SO GOOD ). Then I'll go back to finish up the Xenoblade expansion and Maneater.

Maneater is the type of game we used to get all the time in the PS2 days. Quircky and just plain fun, even if it is a little rough around the edges. A good solid mid-tier game. I wasn't even really aware of this game until a video popped up on my feed where the guy was basically knocking it. But it looked amazing, so I mentioned it to the guys at my local GS off-handedly and they immediately went. "Just buy it." And they weren't trying to make a sale, they didn't even have it in stock - they were telling me to just get it wherever I could. Ended up grabbing it from Amazon, and it's a blast. It's only $30 retail, and well worth it. I've heard it called a shaRkPG, and that's pretty accurate. Here's the launch trailer in case, like me, you hadn't heard of it either:



Ghost of Tsushima...man. That game is just on a whole other level. I've always been a big fan of Sucker Punch, but after this I imagine *everyone* will be. The game is drop-dead gorgeous and just incredibly fun. There are tons of little touches that are great too - the hud is very minimal, so they do things like having the wind blow in the direction of the waypoint you've set to guide you. Or how you learn of new locations & "quests" naturally through word of mouth from people you meet in villages or rescue, or find things by following animals to them. It's a very immersive game. Just a fantastic world to get lost in.

Loving all these crazy-good games this year. At least this year has SOMETHING going for it....

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Ghost of Tsushima

Added to Backlog: Ghost of Tsushima

Current Backlog: 33 games

Didn't end up having any time to play Detroit, so when Ghost came on Saturday I went straight for that. Agree with argyle on this game so far - it's great!

I'll check out Maneater a little more, but that trailer looked fun!

[Phaseknox]

Played: The Last of Us Part II

Finished: Nothing

Playing: The Last of Us Part II

argyle, I know that I should be playing Ghost of Tsushima and I would be playing it if Target got it which they didn't - and still haven't. I have a $50 Target gift card, and that's why I want to buy it from them. They said that they're getting a delivery truck tomorrow, and to call them in the morning to find out if GoT came on it.

Edit: Target got it and I picked it up, I'm going to start playing it and I'll be back later with impressions.

[isthatallyougot]

Maneater is the type of game we used to get all the time in the PS2 days. Quircky and just plain fun, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

Yeah, it looks like it. To be fair, there's still plenty of that sort of thing in indies imo, probably even more than in the glorious PS2 era.

I'm still playing Batman Arkham Knight, and I'm getting used to its flow. I don't love the overuse of the batmobile, but it's hard not to love the attention to detail and the presentation of the universe and many of its colorful cast of characters - personality-free goons aside.

Speaking of gaming that is off the beaten-path, I also started up Golden Treasure : The Great Green on PC. It's a visual novel/rpg/roguelite mixture I suppose. The writing is wonderful and really transports you into your role as a dragon. Although I'm not far into it, I think I'll really enjoy this one. Has a wonderful atmosphere and feel of "quality" in what it is.

[crimson_tide]

Played: Shadow of War, Final Fight, King of Dragons, Captain Commando, SAO Fatal Bullet, FF9...MMZ Collection...Dragon's Dogma...I think that's it. Pretty sure...

Beat:...Final Fight, King of Dragons, Captain Commando...is that it?

Bought: POWERBLOCK 90S MOFOS, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....oh wait, you are normal people, that means nothing to you, give me a minute to explain...

So. I was all over the place this week. A casualty of the Rona has been my beloved gym. I was able to order a resistance band bow and TRX straps right when everything shut down. My gym is half a block from my house. I was there everyday, sometimes twice. I loved the gym because lifting is my JAM. So I made due for months now sans gym. And here in NYC, there is no chance the gym is opening anytime soon. Not that I would be going back anytime soon. Gyms are just petri dishes, let's face facts. So I have been obsessed with getting these adjustable dumbbells. They have been sold out since the shutdown because everyone's gym was closed, they cost a lot and people had to keep their gains. They have been impossible to find without obscene amounts of price gouging but I finally got them, I can lift again in my house!

If my gaming looks scattered this week, it was. I just could not settle on anything because I was so anxious about not being able to lift. I have been playing old Capcom beat em ups for mindless fun but haven't found anything to dig into yet. Shadow of War is great but I need a little space between it and Mordor. It just wasn't hitting the same. But now that I can lift (I can't get Chis Redfield Challenge huge with heavy ass weights), I should get my focus back and time. I spent so much time looking for these weights...it's embarrassing .

[argyle]

argyle, I know that I should be playing Ghost of Tsushima and I would be playing it if Target got it which they didn't - and still haven't. I have a $50 Target gift card, and that's why I want to buy it from them. They said that they're getting a delivery truck tomorrow, and to call them in the morning to find out if GoT came on it.

Edit: Target got it and I picked it up, I'm going to start playing it and I'll be back later with impressions.

Completely understand that - glad it came in, I think you'll really like it.

Maneater is the type of game we used to get all the time in the PS2 days. Quircky and just plain fun, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

Yeah, it looks like it. To be fair, there's still plenty of that sort of thing in indies imo, probably even more than in the glorious PS2 era.

Oh, and I *love* me some indies - but there's a mid-tier between indie and AAA that we just don't see a lot of anymore.

Bought: POWERBLOCK 90S MOFOS, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....oh wait, you are normal people, that means nothing to you, give me a minute to explain...

So. I was all over the place this week. A casualty of the Rona has been my beloved gym. I was able to order a resistance band bow and TRX straps right when everything shut down. My gym is half a block from my house. I was there everyday, sometimes twice. I loved the gym because lifting is my JAM. So I made due for months now sans gym. And here in NYC, there is no chance the gym is opening anytime soon. Not that I would be going back anytime soon. Gyms are just petri dishes, let's face facts. So I have been obsessed with getting these adjustable dumbbells. They have been sold out since the shutdown because everyone's gym was closed, they cost a lot and people had to keep their gains. They have been impossible to find without obscene amounts of price gouging but I finally got them, I can lift again in my house!

Seriously, I have mad respect for that kind of commitment. I tried for a couple of months after the apocalypse started to find a copy of Ring Fit so I could get some kind of exercise going. It came in, and I did pretty good for the first couple of weeks - but I fell off hard. Work has gotten mad crazy, there's a bunch of other madness going on, and I just dropped off doing it. So yeah, good work staying with it. Oh, and King of Dragons is great, but you gotta get in some of that Magic Sword.

[Phaseknox]

I think you'll really like it.

I'm loving it so far, everything about it is so good. The story, characters, graphics, music/sound/voice acting, gameplay/combat, etc. are all topnotch. The art design and graphics are some of the best that I've seen in a game, and the audio is equally impressive. The core gameplay and combat are some of the best that I've experienced in a game. The mix of sword/ranged combat and stealth adds good variety to the gameplay, and the combat in general is fun, visceral and satisfying. It's like a deeper more modern version of a hack-and-slash game put into an open world. I really have no complaints with it at this point, everything about it is impressive.

[crimson_tide]

Thanks Argyle, I kind of have to work out or I lose my mind, dump almost 200 hours into Assassin's Creed games and become a generally grumpy Gus which is not ok when locked in the house with 3 other people. I bought Ring Fit Adventure for my wife on Black Friday. Drageaux is my BOY! I really think it's the greatest video game workout tool ever created. My wife doesn't use the Switch as much since it's warmer so she can power walk and her Peleton is coming this month finally so she has fallen away from Ring Fit. But that sucker is a straight up RPG, they weren't playing! It's gotta be over 30 hours, she's been playing it several times a week for months and is nowhere near done from what I can tell. I tried it myself and that sucker gives a good workout with some great responses for form that are really informative. I say get in whatever workout you can especially with Ring Fit, even if it's only a few minutes.

As for Magic Sword, it is baller...but not in the beat em up collection. What is in the beat em up collection is Armored Warriors. If you have the chance, PLAY AMORED WARRIORS! That game so made up for the fact that Captain Commando kinda sucks. You fight in a mecha against other mecha and (I cannot stress enough how awesome this is) you can pick up parts of the dead foes and add them to your mecha completely changing the game! All kinds of swords, drills, spider legs, tank treads, launchers...it was the Transformers game I never got as a child. They even give you a gun straight from the start in a brawler. I have one more to play now, Battle Circuit but I don't know if it's going to be as baller as Armored Warriors.

Also, I'm playing a PS4 exclusive too! That's right, Gravity Rush 2!...ok, I can just show myself out .

[canedaddy]

Bought: POWERBLOCK 90S MOFOS, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....oh wait, you are normal people, that means nothing to you, give me a minute to explain...

Sheeeee, I use POWERBLOCK 91S!

Glad to see y'all loving Ghost. I'm all over that as soon as I finish Kaz/Maj funtimes.

I'm also very interested in the sharkPG.


Played recently: Yakuza 0, Overcooked

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

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

I moved on from Ch. 10 after taking down the 5 Billionaires... now I'm building up my cabaret biz with Majima. One thing I learned I was doing wrong... I only had three hostesses working. I thought the extra slots were locked, but nope. Much easier with a full lineup of ladies.

[jfissel]

Bought: POWERBLOCK 90S MOFOS, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....oh wait, you are normal people, that means nothing to you, give me a minute to explain...

So. I was all over the place this week. A casualty of the Rona has been my beloved gym. I was able to order a resistance band bow and TRX straps right when everything shut down. My gym is half a block from my house. I was there everyday, sometimes twice. I loved the gym because lifting is my JAM. So I made due for months now sans gym. And here in NYC, there is no chance the gym is opening anytime soon. Not that I would be going back anytime soon. Gyms are just petri dishes, let's face facts. So I have been obsessed with getting these adjustable dumbbells. They have been sold out since the shutdown because everyone's gym was closed, they cost a lot and people had to keep their gains. They have been impossible to find without obscene amounts of price gouging but I finally got them, I can lift again in my house!

I've had Powerblock (Sport 5.0s?) for like 10 years now and they've been great when I actually get around to using them. They go from 5-50 lbs in 5 lb increments...but I believe I can get add-ons that take them to 90 lbs each like yours. Back when I was in the market, it was basically these or some BowFlex ones that looked low-quality. There are probably more options now.