The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I rage quit/deleted Gravity Rush. I made it to a giant boss monster where you have to aerial attack hit points at the end of its flailing tentacle arms, and it’s annoying as **** especially with the disorientating camera spinning around and the monster constantly flailing its arms, turning and jumping to other areas. After a lot of annoyance and aggravation I finally beat it down to land the finishing blow to defeat it, but somehow got stuck inside of it and couldn’t do it. It revived, jumped away and got back half of its long life bar. Nope! Quit and delete.

Japanese action games are notorious for frustrating boss battles, and Gravity Rush unfortunately is no exception. The combat isn’t the game’s greatest strength to begin with, so to combine that with aerial navigation and an unruly camera just turns into aggravation and frustration. It’s one of the reasons why I’m not as big of a fan of Japanese games these days, because they always seem to have hard and frustrating boss battles in them that hurt the flow and pacing since they bring progress to a screeching halt. I was more tolerant of them when I was younger and had more skill and patience, but now tough boss battles that can drag on for long periods of time just to have me die and have to retry several times over again just feel like they’re wasting my time. I have too many games to play to spend my time retrying certain sections and/or boss fights in one game over and over again. Of course I expect to be challenged, but not to the point where it brings progress to a complete stop. That’s when I basically say nope, quit and move onto something else.

In other news, I got in a beat-em-up mood and decided to check out three that I have: River City Girls, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and The Takeover. I played a little of each of them and while they’re all good, River City Girls is the best of the bunch IMO as it’s kind of an adventure beat-em-up instead of just a straight-up arcade one like the other two are. It also has the biggest production values, the tightest gameplay, the most depth and the best music. I really enjoyed what I played of it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is cute and fun. It’s a charming little beat-em-up, but its gameplay feels a little floaty lacking weight, the sound effects lack real punch/are muted and the music isn’t good IMO. It also has an annoying problem of allowing you to continuously air juggle enemies without them dying until you stop hitting them. They should die as soon as they’re defeated so that you don’t keep hitting them not knowing if they’re dead yet or not.

The Takeover has really good 3D graphics and awesome techno music, and the gameplay is solid too if maybe a bit stiff. It’s the most arcade feeling of the three and heavily influenced by Streets of Rage. I was really digging what I played of it, and it will probably be the one that I play and finish first since it’s the most linear and straight forward.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by canedaddy »

I played Gravity Rush on Vita a million years ago and don't recall any such frustrations. But that's probably because my memory is shot.
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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

I loved Gravity Rush. But Phase ain't wrong here old man. Them bosses can be straight up obnoxious. The last boss wasn't even hard just...long. Really, really long. They want insane accuracy sometimes for a battle system built on chaotic flailing. It's partially why I cooled on GR2. That and it was kinda...fetch questy?...Speaking of which...

Played: ******* Lego ******* Marvel ******* Super ******* Heroes ******** 2....****. I HATE ALL LEGO GAMES. HATE HATE HATE...Castlevania Advance Collection, Dissidia NT and DBZ Kakarot.

Done with: Sadly Capt Tsubasa (I just suck at soccer...maybe it'll come back when I feel like actually learning how to play, felt like I was doing the game a disservice :P ), Sakura Wars (that theme song flipping SLAPS fam...but it's just not fun to play. I kept falling asleep. The story wasn't...good. I fail to see the hidden gem under all the really boring yet utterly bizarre story beats) and Dissidia NT (I was fine with the team thing. I was NOT fine with the defend the crystal nonsense. I barely made it out of the tutorial before straight up noping out of that).

'Beat': Dracula X...ok, so I cheated to get the trophy but I STILL have to go back and rescue the two ladies because simply beating the game with the best ending code doesn't net you the trophies and I want to plat this sucker).

So DBZ is just fetch quests and battles. But it's Cyber Connect 2. If you people thought Sonic was my abusive lover analogue, CC2 has that sucker beat hands down. I don't dislike Kakarot. Far from it. It's just straight up fetch quest in between sheer spectacle. The boss fights in this thing are just...Asura's Wrath. They did it. They just went ahead and slapped straight up Asura's Wrath spectacle on DBZ. I don't even like DBZ that much (Vegeta is my boy because character development as in there is a clear and defined arc with growth and they don't let him off the hook for being just the worst but he grows) but I now feel invested in these dumb side dramas. Yo, they even put Dragon Ball stuff in here (the stuff with kid Goku before Z that was actually fun :) )! It's copious, gross fan service shilling wrapped up in spectacle and I am just such a sucker, dear sweet lord I am going to spend 40+ hours with this, someone help :oops: ....

Castlvania Advance Collection. It's good. It's $20. Buy it. Seriously, if you liked Symphony of the Night or Super Metroid and haven't played these and complain you can't find a good game in the style of those two, there is zero excuse not to own this. Just buy it. Maybe they'll do a DS Castlevania collection next :shock: !!!
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by argyle »

crimson_tide wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:54 pm Castlvania Advance Collection. It's good. It's $20. Buy it. Seriously, if you liked Symphony of the Night or Super Metroid and haven't played these and complain you can't find a good game in the style of those two, there is zero excuse not to own this. Just buy it. Maybe they'll do a DS Castlevania collection next :shock: !!!
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"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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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by jfissel »

crimson_tide wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 3:54 pmPlayed: ******* Lego ******* Marvel ******* Super ******* Heroes ******** 2....****. I HATE ALL LEGO GAMES. HATE HATE HATE...
I don't like them either, crim. :P
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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

:shock: Oh God, j please HELP ME! Why are the puzzles so flipping awkward? And dying is entirely irrelevant? How do I shut Stan Lee the **** up, my goddaughter hates listening to him recite the same 3 lines while we are figuring something out! Do I need to get all this other stuff or just keep mainlining? Because I stopped Lego City Undercover and Batman 3 because the driving was terrible and my goddaughter couldn't do that or be bothered with the gadgets and constantly switching costumes and having to find the necessary abilities was not working for her. These things can't be more than 10 hours right? Most of our time is spent bumbling around until we figure out what they want us to do but then having no clue how to do it. I swear if this game wants me to open a door to chase a villain when Thor and She Hulk are standing right ******* there, I might put my foot through my PS4. I really think the lack of an actual fail state is the thing that's bugging me most. It's as if they felt since you have infinite attempts, that you will figure it out eventually regardless if they gave you actual waypoints. That just means we waste time doing whatever before stumbling into what the puzzle is before now needing a solution and there's no combat (which is the part she likes) for long periods. Then there's no stakes to dying in boss battles that I can see. I just can't get past it because it's ridiculously hard to get her to try other games now because they do have fail states and setbacks and now she just gets frustrated and wants to play Lego Marvel. Where she will be bored but feels like she can keep up at least. It's all very frustrating.

God that actually felt good to type out, I have been sitting on that for weeks because I didn't know anyone who played Lego games...or so I thought :P .
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Now I want to play the LEGO games that I have just to give you my take on them. :lol:
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 197: 10/9/21: Back 4 Blood Edition

Post by jfissel »

crimson_tide wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:46 am :shock: Oh God, j please HELP ME! Why are the puzzles so flipping awkward? And dying is entirely irrelevant? How do I shut Stan Lee the **** up, my goddaughter hates listening to him recite the same 3 lines while we are figuring something out! Do I need to get all this other stuff or just keep mainlining? Because I stopped Lego City Undercover and Batman 3 because the driving was terrible and my goddaughter couldn't do that or be bothered with the gadgets and constantly switching costumes and having to find the necessary abilities was not working for her. These things can't be more than 10 hours right? Most of our time is spent bumbling around until we figure out what they want us to do but then having no clue how to do it. I swear if this game wants me to open a door to chase a villain when Thor and She Hulk are standing right ******* there, I might put my foot through my PS4. I really think the lack of an actual fail state is the thing that's bugging me most. It's as if they felt since you have infinite attempts, that you will figure it out eventually regardless if they gave you actual waypoints. That just means we waste time doing whatever before stumbling into what the puzzle is before now needing a solution and there's no combat (which is the part she likes) for long periods. Then there's no stakes to dying in boss battles that I can see. I just can't get past it because it's ridiculously hard to get her to try other games now because they do have fail states and setbacks and now she just gets frustrated and wants to play Lego Marvel. Where she will be bored but feels like she can keep up at least. It's all very frustrating.

God that actually felt good to type out, I have been sitting on that for weeks because I didn't know anyone who played Lego games...or so I thought :P .
:lol: BTW, that picture doesn't obviously contain the ~6 LEGO games for PS2.

They can be frustrating at certain parts for sure. I have always played them by myself, so I have most likely not encountered some of the things you are experiencing with another player (or younger player).
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