The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

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Phaseknox
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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Scarlet Nexus, Shadows of Adam

Finished: Shadows of Adam

Playing: Scarlet Nexus

Added: Alphadia Genesis 2, Death end re;Quest, Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story

I’ve played Scarlet Nexus for 16 hours now, and while I’m still somewhat enjoying it it’s not quite as enjoyable as it originally was. It starts off strong, but after a while the story starts to get convoluted and the gameplay gets a little repetitive.

It’s basically a story driven action game with some RPG elements. There’s a lot of story almost to the point of being an interactive anime. The story is told by characters talking with each other, comic book style panels and some animated cutscenes as well. The characters often prattle on for long periods of time, and it can be a little dull at times.

The core gameplay primarily consists of making your way through rather linear and narrow “dungeons” fighting enemies. The levels are somewhat uninspired lacking any platforming, puzzle solving, scripted events, or set pieces. You simply travel through them from point A to point B fighting some enemies along the way.

There are also leisure non-combat moments when you’re in city areas talking with NPCs, and at your hideout talking with your teammates. But the majority of the game consists of story scenes, and dungeon crawling.

The story becomes a little weirder than I would like, and the dungeon crawling gets a little repetitive especially when it takes place in areas that you’ve already been to before. The combat is pretty good which makes gameplay somewhat fun, but the camera is unwieldy at times and character controls are a little too fast, loose and touchy not quite as tight and weighty as I would like.

I’m enjoying everything just enough to want to keep playing, but it’s not fully engrossing me. It has an appealing futuristic sci-fi anime aesthetic that I like, but the game itself isn’t that compelling or engaging. The story, characters and combat are all decent for the most part, but it’s just lacking that certain something to make it more than average.

Games releasing this week
After the Fall
Antarctica 88
Castle of Shikigami 2
Crimzon Clover: World Explosion
Ever Forward
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
Halo Infinite
Heavenly Bodies
Loop Hero
Mini Madness
Monopoly Madness
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX
Rune Factory 4 Special
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
SpellForce III Reforced
Super Impossible Road
Transient
Twelve Minutes
Vaporum: Lockdown
White Shadows
Wolfstride
Wytchwood
Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royal
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

I've been playing Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (PS2). Never got around to it back in the day and was always interested. It looks really good for its age and is a fun two-character adventure with some nice puzzles and a cool Egyptian setting.

I also started up Elderborn, a first person hack and slash. I'm early on, but it seems pretty fun, if somewhat of a one-trick vibe.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

isthatallyougot wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:59 pmI've been playing Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (PS2). Never got around to it back in the day and was always interested. It looks really good for its age and is a fun two-character adventure with some nice puzzles and a cool Egyptian setting.
That’s one of my favorite third person action, adventure, platformers from its generation. It looks and plays great with challenging platforming, and creative puzzles. I still have my Xbox copy, and it’s BC with my Xbox 360. I plan on playing it again someday.
isthatallyougot wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:59 pmI also started up Elderborn, a first person hack and slash. I'm early on, but it seems pretty fun, if somewhat of a one-trick vibe.
I never heard of it until now. I watched a gameplay video, and it looks like a melee combat version of Doom. It looks good enough to get when it’s on sale for cheap.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by argyle »

Games added: I don't think anything...

Last week: Finished Unpacking, and played some Forza. Think that's all.

This week: I have no idea.

Kinda wanna get into something, but I have no idea what. Just been really busy lately. I've still been playing Forza because it's easy to just play for a few mins here & there.

I really dug Sphinx back in the day, but never finished it - as I recall, my Gamecube ate my save after I was quite a ways in and I didn't have it in me to replay it at the time. Never got back around to it.
"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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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

argyle wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 12:31 amKinda wanna get into something, but I have no idea what.
What happened to Biomutant? It might be what I play after I finish Scarlet Nexus, if I finish Scarlet Nexus. :P
argyle wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 12:31 amI really dug Sphinx back in the day, but never finished it - as I recall, my Gamecube ate my save after I was quite a ways in and I didn't have it in me to replay it at the time. Never got back around to it.
I finished it, but unfortunately the ending was extremely brief and didn’t conclude the story because the game was meant to be continued in a sequel that never happened.
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isthatallyougot
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

Phaseknox wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 8:01 pm I never heard of it until now. I watched a gameplay video, and it looks like a melee combat version of Doom. It looks good enough to get when it’s on sale for cheap.
Yeah, it's a melee Doom, for sure. Some have compared it to Dark Souls, and it has some similarities, primarily the reach the spot of your death to regain lost experience, but the comparison is really a big stretch overall imo.
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jfissel
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Lost Judgment PS5

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 40 games

Nothing much to report last week, I just keep plugging away at Lost Judgment.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I just rage quit/deleted Scarlet Nexus after close to 35 hours of playing. I was on the last level playing on “easy”, but of course a boss battle had to go and ruin it. I don’t know what it is about Japanese games and ridiculously annoying, difficult and obnoxious boss battles, but I’m personally fed up with them at this point.

I like the occasional boss battles in games, but Japanese games almost always go overboard with them and Scarlet Nexus is no exception. It wasn’t even the final boss, although it was as annoyingly difficult and obnoxious as final bosses usually are in Japanese games.

The game was already upsetting me constantly locking me into forced arena enemy battles, but this boss battle was the final straw. You have to fight three different versions of it in a row, each as challenging as an end level boss. But even though they frustrated me, I still persevered and beat them all. I figured that was it and that I could finally move on, but of course not because this is a Japanese game. Now I had to fight all three of them combined into one, and my attacks weren’t doing squat to it because of course they weren’t. Enough was enough, so I rage quit and deleted the game.

I play games to have fun and overcoming challenges is part of the fun, but this was just obnoxious. It would have been even if it was the final boss, but it especially was being a mid level boss.

I can’t remember the last time that a game upset me this much. I invested close to 35 hours playing it just for it to make me rage quit near the end. But I admittedly wasn’t enjoying it all that much to begin with, and almost quit playing it a few times. The story is absolutely absurd even by anime sci-fi standards, the levels are linear and narrow with nothing to do in them but go from point A to point B fighting enemies and the combat is rather redundant. However, despite the story being ridiculous I was still somewhat invested in it and the characters. And the combat could be fun at times, too. I even liked some of the boss battles. :o But there’s no denying that it’s an overall average game, and ended up being a waste of my time and money.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I decided to play Biomutant, and I’ve been enjoying it which isn’t too surprising since it’s one of my favorite genres: open world action RPG. I was admittedly upset at first when I couldn’t choose to be female since character gender selection was shown as an option in an old preview of the game, but was removed from the final game for some reason. However, I got over it rather quickly since you play as an anthropomorphic animal so what gender you are doesn’t really matter all that much.

The beginning linear “tutorial” bombards you with a lot to learn in a short amount of time, and I don’t really like my RPGs to start this way. I prefer slow beginnings that ease you into things gradually, but a lot of gamers complain about slow beginnings in games which is probably why they throw you into the action right away. Thankfully when you pass the “tutorial” and make it out into the open world, things let up a bit.

The game somewhat reminds me of Horizon Zero Dawn in that it takes place in a post apocalyptic open world with organic plant life overgrown everywhere with ruined remnants of the past such as buildings, structures, roads, bridges, etc. I’m a fan of post apocalyptic games, so the setting appeals to me. The graphics are pretty good, too. Not quite as good as something like HZD of course, but not bad for a lower budget game like this.

The core game is third person action with a combination of melee, shooting, blocking and dodging. There’s a lot of abilities/moves/skills/upgrades to unlock, armor/weapons to find/buy/craft and resources to collect. Exploration is rewarded with useful loot which makes it meaningful. On the normal difficulty combat has been presenting somewhat of a challenge, so I like to explore to find stuff that will improve my armor, weapons and stats.

The game has somewhat of a fable feel to it with the story being told through narration similar to Bastion. Character interaction is told with narration as well. The characters speak an unknown language, and the narrator translates what they say. I’ve kind of been liking it since it gives the game a different feel from the norm, but I’m not sure if I will get tired of it or not since narrating the entire experience could eventually wear thin. We’ll see.

As of right now I’m digging the game, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t hold my interest until the end since I like the world, gameplay and combat. The story and characters have some charm to them as well, but this is more of a gameplay first and story second type of game.
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Phaseknox wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:04 pm I just rage quit/deleted Scarlet Nexus after close to 35 hours of playing. I was on the last level playing on “easy”, but of course a boss battle had to go and ruin it. I don’t know what it is about Japanese games and ridiculously annoying, difficult and obnoxious boss battles, but I’m personally fed up with them at this point.
Yeah, no thanks.


Played recently: What Remains of Edith Finch, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

Finished: Edith Finch

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 21 (17 PS4, 4 Switch)


Edith Finch was wild. I expected a walking simulator with a good story that just took place in the house, and man does it go beyond that. Some very smart gameplay twists there. Thanks for the recommendation, jfissel.

Now I'm getting my SRPG fix with Fell Seal. It's excellent so far... a high-quality ripoff of FF Tactics/Tactics Ogre.
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