The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

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Phaseknox
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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Added: Devil May Cry HD Collection & 4SE Bundle

Games releasing this week
Acalesia
Before Your Eyes
Breathedge
C14 Dating
Cozy Grove
Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator
Lost Words: Beyond the Page
Luckslinger
Oddworld: Soulstorm
Papa’s Quiz
Potion Party
Radon Blast
Say No! More
Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood
Squad Killer
SturmFront: The Mutant War
Train Station Simulator
What the Dub?!
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Maquette PS5 (platinum?)

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 43 games

Looks like Oddworld will be available for free on PS+. I've never played an Oddworld game - should I?
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I’ve played Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for 90 hours now, it’s addicting. I think that a better name for it would be The Adventures of Kassandra the Eagle Bearer, because you’re constantly going on different side adventures that have their own mini-stories not connected to the main story. It reminds me of a TV series.

This is probably my favorite of these types of big open world quest driven action adventure games, everything about it including its story, characters, world and gameplay is really good.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Whoa, you really like that game! 90 hours and still we haven't hit the Phase turnaround. :D


Played recently: Trine 4, Need for Speed: Payback, Guacamelee 2

Finished: NFS:P

Added to backlog: Guacamelee 2

Current backlog: 11 (8 PS4, 1 Vita, 4 Switch)


I farted around with Guacamelee 2 for a bit, but I think I'll save that for co-op play with my daughter or son-in-law. I'll probably just wait for Days Gone to start my next game.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

canedaddy wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:24 amWhoa, you really like that game! 90 hours and still we haven't hit the Phase turnaround. :D
Not yet. :lol: But yeah, I really like it. I’ve played it for 90 hours and there’s still no end in sight. I still haven’t uncovered all of the map, and there’s a lot of small surrounding islands that I haven’t visited yet. The amount of content in the game is staggering, it has more than any other similar game that I’ve played before. While it has some repeated side tasks/quests like all of these types of games do, the majority of side quests are fairly involved with their own little mini-stories separate from the main story. And the gameplay is a lot of fun, traversal is smooth and combat is exciting. There’s a lot of different types of weapons, and abilities/skills. It’s similar to Ghost of Tsushima where you can be stealthy, or engage in melee combat.

It doesn’t feel very much like an Assassin’s Creed game since it takes place before the assassin order was formed, and the current day sci-fi stuff is almost nonexistent. I think that you will like it because it’s similar to Ghost of Tsushima and The Witcher III which I know that you like. It’s basically an ancient Greece version of those.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Thanks, that is good to know.
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sonuckles
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by sonuckles »

Still haven't been sticking with anything lately. I've been on a bit of a racing game kick lately. The wife and I have been sick with what we think is either the flu, or a really bad head cold all weekend, and so we haven't had the energy to do much of anything- especially seeing as we've had 3 uninterrupted days of watching a hyper toddler who is hopped up on Easter candy.

With the Sony PS3 and Vita stores closing down, I've been looking at PS2 and PS3 games I'd like to put in my library. I'd like to get the Motorstorm games. They had a big sale up at V-Stock this weekend, but again, thanks to being sick I couldn't go out. At least they have those sales darn near every month.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by argyle »

Games added: A bunch of stuff - had a big import order arrive, and I picked up a couple in the Xbox Spring Sale. I'll post over in the haul thread.

Last week: Finished Roundguard & Supraland, played some Wattam, PGA Tour 2K1 and Hyrule Warriors 2.

This week: Who knows. :P More golf, probably more Hyrule (I *think* I'm close to the end of the story mode on that one, not sure tho) and I'm debating between a few that I want to start.

I'm calling Roundguard finished even tho I'm still playing it a little - I've beaten the game with all 3 character classes, so for this type of game that's as close to a "finished" as you can get without going all completionist on it.

Wattam is weeeiiiirrrrrd. :P It's the latest joint by the Katamari / Noby Noby Boy guy. It's somewhere between those two - still not as much traditional game structure as Katamari, but not as pointless what-is-this-I-don't-even as NNB. I had preordered the physical copy from BB last year before my discount expired. The game released last June with 3 cover variants. BB got in 2 of the 3...but not the one I ordered. They claimed it was still a preorder & it sat in limbo. I chatted with them about it last Fall, tried to get them to just switch it to one of the other covers but they claimed they couldn't & still keep my discount, so I just let it sit. Figured they would cancel it eventually. Got a notification last week that I had an order from them ready for pickup, and assumed it was something else I had recently ordered & was expecting. Was pretty shocked when I opened the email & saw it was Wattam, close to a year after release. Better late than never? :P

Was in the mood for a golf game & read really good things about 2K1, so I grabbed it when I saw it on sale. Enjoying it so far. :)

Supraland...man, what to say about that game? I played it thanks to Game Pass. They recommend games to you on your dashboard, and it popped up one day last week. Looked interesting, and since there's no risk in trying something that's on the service I decided to give it a go, figuring I'd just fart around with it for a few mins and be done. And I almost did that. A couple hours in I told Tam that I had no idea if I was enjoying the game or not. She laughed & told me to quit playing then, but I told her I wasn't ready to quit yet, I was still deciding. So 25 hours later, it IS a good game but it has issues at the same time. I'd describe it as a 3D environmental puzzle game. Think something along the lines of Portal (not THAT good, but just in general style) but not confined to set rooms. The exploration aspect and really ingenious puzzles are what make the game - it's very rewarding to discover a new ability and then learn to use it to figure out how to reach new areas. The downside is mainly the story. It's paper-thin and very...strange. Tries to make some weird religious and racial commentary, but I'm talking VERY broad stripes. Think a middle school level of social commentary, but written on an elementary school level. Normally I wouldn't knock a game for its story, but a really good story in this case would have elevated this game to something else. There's also some other minor issues - the graphics are good but the style is kinda bland (you're supposed to be in a literal kids sandbox, but they don't do enough with that concept) and some of the puzzles late game get a little more physics based, but the physics in the game can be "wonky". That said, I did still really enjoy the game overall - a touch long maybe, but the puzzles were engaging and like I said the exploration was a lot of fun. It was mostly made by one guy, which is impressive (while also explaining some of the rough edges). I'd recommend it to anyone who: A) really enjoys exploration and environmental puzzles and B) can overlook some rough edges. 3/5
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis

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sonuckles
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by sonuckles »

FWIW, argyle, I got Supraland off a Humble Bundle when it first launched. I think it's made entirely by 2 dudes. It's a real small team of indies. I ended up uninstalling it off Steam when for 2 weeks every single day it would need an update on Steam. It was getting obnoxious to keep updating a game I hadn't played. Still, I've been meaning to try that out.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 170: 4/3/21: Oddworld: Soulstorm Edition

Post by argyle »

I fired up Control a couple nights ago (it was one of the others I grabbed in the Xbox Spring Sale) and it's really fun. I had tried it very briefly shortly after it first came out, but I pretty much immediately quit because there's a lot of reading of documents, files, etc. that you find and the text was TINY. Thankfully they fixed that, there's a zoom option now. Nice that these devs are slowly starting to think of us old timers & our failing vision. :P (tho honestly, I'm not sure how anyone can read some of the text in these games unless they're sitting right up on their TV)

I had been interested in giving the game a go, but hearing a rumor recently that they may be working on an Alan Wake 2 finally, while at the same time discovering that one of the DLC expansions for Control ties those 2 together...yeah, that pushed me over the edge. It's very trippy, kind of a Twin Peaks-esque vibe (the weird trippy part, like the Red Room stuff, not so much the quircky characters aspect of it). And it's a decent 15-20 hour playthrough from my understanding, so it won't overstay its welcome.

I haven't been playing a ton tho, I've kinda felt like crap this week. I think it's a combination of this weird hot-one-day-freezing-the-next weather & the insane pollen down here, but I've had a nasty sinus headache for going on a week now. Not fun.
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed
if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I
became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the
desire to be very grown up.” ― C.S. Lewis

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