The Backlog Check-in Vol. 164: 2/20/21: Bravely Default II/Persona 5 Strikers Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Nothing

Finished: Nothing

Playing: ?

Added: Nothing

Games releasing this week
Active Neurons 3
Akuto: Showdown
Beyond Enemy Lines Remastered Edition
Bravely Default II
Cardaclysm
Code: Realize Wintertide Miracles
Curse of the Dead Gods
Dry Drowning
Dungeons & Bombs
Forward to the Sky
Ghost ‘n Goblins Resurrection
Gravity Heroes
Heavy Metal Machines
Hellpoint
Horned Knight
Katana Kata
Of Mice and Moggies
Persona 5 Strikers
Rodent Warriors
Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
Taxi Chaos
We Were Here Together
We Were Here Too
Werewolf: The Apocalypse Heart of the Forest
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
Yupitergrad

[argyle]

Games added: No Straight Roads, Psyvariar Delta, ScreamRide, Warriors All-Stars, The Wolf Among Us, Persona Dancing: Endless Night Collection

Last week: Finished nothing, played mainly P5R

This week: P5R, and will start P5 Strikers if I finish that

P5R is still dominating my game time. I'm in what I believe is the next-to-last dungeon, and what was probably the last dungeon in the vanilla version of the game. I've got around 110 hours invested at this point. I was talking to a co-worker this week about the game, he played the vanilla version back around the time it first came out, and I told him that the main reason I put off playing it for so long is that I knew it was a really long game. There are 2 basic types of really long games - the ones where it's an effort to get through them (they may still be good games, but you *feel* their length) and the ones where you enjoy every minute & just don't WANT them to end. The second type is very rare - Xenoblade would probably be the best example of a game I've played recently that fell into that category for me. So I don't usually go into a game expecting that. It's a very nice surprise when it does happen, and I have to say that P5R is probably the best gaming surprise I've had for a while. Yeah, I know it's super critically acclaimed so it shouldn't have been a surprise, but given that I've never been able to make it to the end of a Persona game before - I always lose interest at some point - it was definitely a surprise to me how much I've loved this game.

The fact that I'm looking forward to diving straight into Strikers, which has a different combat style but is the same basic world/characters, should tell you how much I'm still enjoying the P5 universe. I'm not gonna rush the end of P5R to get to Strikers tho - there are still things I want to have done before the credits roll.

Heck, for one thing, Kasumi still hasn't joined my party!

[crimson_tide]

Played: Yakuza 3, Super Puzzle Fighter 2...eh, nothing hit else really hit except for the P5 Strikers I started yesterday. I will be continuing for sure !

Bought: P5 Strikers

This Week: P5 Strikers...and Super Puzzle Fighter 2. I need to stop playing this game...

YOSHIZAWA IS MY GURL!!! She crushed it, son...you are in for a treat. She was the only person I dated for the trophy for the plat or I wouldn't have bothered . And then of course on Valentine's Day, I went with the bros so I could be with my true P5R love, sweet art boy Yusuke. That did not end well for me...oh and Strikers is solid! I am about 2-3 hours in. It is not a Musou...it's actually very Kingdom Hearts 3? Lemme 'splain! So you have the party with you, there are hordes of baddies but they aren't mindless fodder. They don't stand around doing nothing, they come at you pretty hard. So you and the party make your way through straight dungeons and you can do stealth starts for battle to have advantage or rush in. Additionally, you can use the environment and hit them with special moves, there's Persona for magic, Persona specials, elemental and crit knockdowns that lead to all out attacks...just like Kingdom Hearts 3, but far more streamlined and with Persona extra hit stuff added in. Hell, you even hit triangle half the time! But do not think this is a Musou, it's very much a whole ass extension of P5 minus the in depth social links. The remixes slap and if you don't like them you can bring in P5 or P5R originals as the soundtrack. The version I got has music for Persona 1-4 as well included as options. I am really enjoying this sucker so far! Oh and please note: it follows on from P5 not P5R so no Yoshizawa or anything else from Royal which is fine. I am just hoping that my girl Haru gets some more time to shine, she's a good kid but came along so late and is so naturally low key in personality I feel she didn't get the big moments she deserved.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Finished: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 10 (8 PS4, 1 Vita, 1 Switch)


Rise grew on me more and more as I played it. It's a little overloaded with Ubi-style map junk (a complaint I rarely have) and Lara just isn't as interesting as Nathan Drake, but otherwise it's a good one, not that far from Uncharted.

I'm not sure what I'll play next. Might be Shadow of the Tomb Raider, might be Ratchet PS4, might be something else.

[isthatallyougot]

...and Lara just isn't as interesting as Nathan Drake, but otherwise it's a good one, not that far from Uncharted.

I still say Chloe Frazer (especially as portrayed in Uncharted TLL) is the new Lara. I'd love to see ND expand on her character and give her some new games as the lead in the franchise.

And by all means play Ratchet PS4!

[jfissel]

Finished: Maneater PS5 (platinum)

Now Playing: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Bugsnax

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 40 games

Got the platinum in Maneater - great, fun game. Had it crash a few times and I got stuck in a gate once, but it was definitely worth the time invested. The game gets easier as you go along, so the collector in me had to skip some stuff in the early areas and come back later. I hope a lot of people give this a try from the PS+ release because I think they'll like it.

Gonna start Bugsnax this week for my next PS5 game.