The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

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Phaseknox
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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Finished: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Playing: ?

Added: Nothing

I finally finished Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it took me roughly 100 hours primarily doing the main story quests and Wrath of the Druids expansion content. I did very little optional side stuff other than raids since the majority of it felt like filler to me.

While I enjoyed the story and characters for the most part, the core gameplay loop was repetitive and I basically had to force myself to finish it near the end since I grew tired of it. This was not the case with Odyssey which I enjoyed more overall, I preferred its colorful ancient Greece setting and gameplay/combat. And as much as I liked Eivor, I enjoyed playing as Kassandra more. She’s actually one of my favorite more recent game protagonists.

The Wrath of the Druids expansion content is pretty good, but is somewhat brief and not worth $25 IMO. But it felt like a natural part of the game instead of tacked-on content, and I’m glad that I experienced it since it offers a nice little side story with a satisfying conclusion.

Games releasing this week
Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials
Curved Space
F1 2021
Guild of Darksteel
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Lost at Sea
Mythic Ocean
Radio Viscera
Restless Night
Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game
Where the Heart Leads
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Immortals: Fenyx Rising PS5, Final Fantasy VII Remake

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 40 games

My black PS5 controller came, but I can't use it as they are STILL doing construction here in the condo (and now the floor they put in a few weeks ago is coming loose in spots). I was also on vacation all last week. ;)

Phase, I'll have to wait for a good sale on the Valhalla season pass before I check it out.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Where'd you go on vacation? Florida?


Played recently: The Outer Worlds

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 18 (14 PS4, 1 Vita, 3 Switch)


Still having fun with The Outer Worlds. Its budget vs. your Skyrims shows in places (repeated environments and whatnot) but it makes up for it with quality writing and dialog options. I'm playing it as a mostly good guy, but I'll have to go again being an AH. So many great lines for a jerk character.
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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

Played: DQ11S (fam, that Act 1 twist though...I am always Team ridiculously competent villains), Immortals (there's some issues. Mainly platforming. We'll get there), Freedom Wars (back to on the train Vita gaming!), House Hunters XVI: ...and right as Tony says "And I Am Iron Man" the film snaps! So they have to fix the movie. Look fam, I am too committed to having the snap when the closing happens. The film will remain broken until that happens :P .

Bought: Scott Pilgrim (finally under $10!) Captain Tsubasa...I don't know the subtitle. Yeah, I bought a soccer rpg based on an anime I know nothing about. I also know nothing about soccer. I hate Bandai Namco so much...

This week: I am not really sure yet...DQ11S might have to go on the back burner for a minute since it's only Act 1's ending and I have played over 50 hours...

But let's talk about Immortals. Why does jumping suck? Like platforming is needlessly obtuse and that in turn makes the puzzles weird and awkward. I had to solve 3 rifts or whatever and two of them seemed to have no solution but when I looked it up, I just was barely missing jumps I was supposed to be making. It's really frustrating. The double jump blows and the gliding is only okay. I thought this was a real dream to control but things like this are making me judge the game very harshly. I better get some kind of jump upgrade or way better wings because this is not cutting it right now.

Two weeks until Neo The World Ends With You, fam!!!
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by jfissel »

canedaddy wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 12:26 pm Where'd you go on vacation? Florida?
I was in Florida, yes. South of where Elsa came on shore, but it rained for a few days. Other than that, it was hot and I relaxed as much as I could before getting back to the ol' daily grind this week.
crimson_tide wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:19 pm But let's talk about Immortals. Why does jumping suck? Like platforming is needlessly obtuse and that in turn makes the puzzles weird and awkward. I had to solve 3 rifts or whatever and two of them seemed to have no solution but when I looked it up, I just was barely missing jumps I was supposed to be making. It's really frustrating. The double jump blows and the gliding is only okay. I thought this was a real dream to control but things like this are making me judge the game very harshly. I better get some kind of jump upgrade or way better wings because this is not cutting it right now.
Crim, this is my main issue with the game so far (and I'm towards the end). They have all these challenges that "require" precise controls to complete, but then they don't give you the precision to complete them. I can't tell you how many times I've had to jump or climb or land on a tiny column top and Fenyx just goes right off the back edge because I didn't hit the 10 frame window required to stop. Double jumping, gliding, double jumping/ares' wrath/gliding combo...sometimes I'm hitting the buttons but they just aren't registering or registering quickly enough. Maybe it's a PS5 or DualSense issue, I don't know.
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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

Oh dear sweet lord j, I thought I was a crazy person! Thanks for confirming that yes, indeed the platforming in Immortals is just off. Shame it doesn't seem to improve given you mentioned being at the end and still have issues. The rest of the game is still solid but I am definitely not as high on it as I was the first week I played it. I feel good leaving it to play in spurts instead of charging through like I planned originally.

Also j, DQ11S has bonus episodes prior to Act 2 that have been pretty good thus far. It's focused on one character per episode so all of my stuff is gone (boo...) but I am digging it. It's got a very FF6 vibe, feels good :) . Also, they went through the trouble of changing the title screen indicating I am indeed in a new act. It's a pretty cool touch 8-) .
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by jfissel »

crimson_tide wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:59 pm Oh dear sweet lord j, I thought I was a crazy person! Thanks for confirming that yes, indeed the platforming in Immortals is just off. Shame it doesn't seem to improve given you mentioned being at the end and still have issues. The rest of the game is still solid but I am definitely not as high on it as I was the first week I played it. I feel good leaving it to play in spurts instead of charging through like I planned originally.

Also j, DQ11S has bonus episodes prior to Act 2 that have been pretty good thus far. It's focused on one character per episode so all of my stuff is gone (boo...) but I am digging it. It's got a very FF6 vibe, feels good :) . Also, they went through the trouble of changing the title screen indicating I am indeed in a new act. It's a pretty cool touch 8-) .
If you're just playing through the Immortals story, it might not be so bad. But if you're doing all the side stuff like I am then the platforming issues are very present and bring the game down a little bit. But overall, I still like it. It's one of those games that has a few flaws but the whole package is pretty great.

I've heard about the bonus episodes in the new version of DQ XI, what exactly do they add? Story context? Just more time understanding specific characters?
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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

Yeah, Immortals is straight up PS2 B game style given this platforming nonsense. But I do still like it whereas I was entirely picking up what it was putting down in the beginning. I will just play it in fits and starts on between stuff.

As for DQ11S, I can give you a better answer as I complete it. I don't know what happened in the vanilla version so I am not sure if it's story gap filling or character building. I assume the latter. The thing happen at the end of Act 1 and it's very FF6 now since you are playing as one character away from the whole party. For instance, I started with Sylv in his boat. Now I'm onto the next character. Like FF6, it's giving each character a spotlight and establishing their purpose in the narrative from what I have seen so far. It hasn't been hard, it's like they want you to move through it pretty breezily but it's been fun so far. Can't imagine each character's section will take more than an hour or two but it is nice seeing them shine and their effect on the world divorced from the main narrative.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I started playing Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and it failed to hold my interest for very long since I’ve never been a big fan of collect-a-thon 3D platformers primarily aimed at a young audience. The graphics are colorful and the gameplay is smooth, but going around somewhat small open-ish areas freeing crystallized dragons and collecting gems over and over again just wasn’t doing it for me so I quit playing.

I started playing Devil May Cry HD Collection, and it also failed to hold my interest for very long. I’m sure that I will enjoy playing the old DMC games again at some point, but now isn’t the time since I have so many other games that I haven’t played before that I want to play.

I started playing Reverie, and while it seems like a somewhat cute and charming retro style top down view pixel art action adventure game at first - when it opens up it turns into a poor man’s Zelda (NES) and I found it kind of boring so I quit playing.

I started playing The Swords of Ditto which is another Zelda (NES) inspired top down view action adventure game, and while I found it to be better than Reverie it still failed to keep me interested for very long.

I started playing Diablo III: Eternal Collection, and I’m really digging it. I was staring to think that I was in a gaming funk, but Diablo III proved to me that it was the games and not me. It appealed to me right away, and is what I’m in the mood to play. It’s a fun old school style isometric view action RPG that keeps things fairly basic in terms of mechanics and systems which is what I want right now.
Last edited by Phaseknox on Thu Jul 15, 2021 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 184: 7/10/21: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Switch Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Glad you finally found one that hit the spot, Goldilocks. :P Diablo III is dope. I'm looking forward to the remake of II in September. Never played that one.
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