The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

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Phaseknox
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:20 pm

The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Saints Row

Finished: Saints Row

Playing: The Good Life

Added: The Ascent, Encodya, Final Vendetta, The Good Life, Kaze and the Wild Masks, Lost Ruins, PowerSlave Exhumed

I finished Saints Row, and was fairly satisfied with the experience as a whole. My biggest problem with it were its multitude of bugs and glitches throughout, they unfortunately tarnished the game for me a bit. None were too bad to the point of being gamebreaking, but they occurred frequently enough to be annoying especially when I had to restart the game due to them.

The story and characters were likable for the most part, but the story in general felt a bit rushed to me. It’s a little on the short side, and more story missions would have been welcomed. The ones that it has are quite good, and I would have liked more of them. And I would have also liked some actual backstory to the characters themselves, because the game just kind of throws you into things as if you should already know who they are. Since it’s an entirely new cast, it would have been nice if the game began in a way that let you get a better understanding of how they met and who they were in general. It also didn’t spend enough time showing their rise to becoming the Saints, or spend enough time with them after they became the Saints. Almost as soon as they really start establishing themselves as the Saints and their church base finally gets finished, the game is basically over. And the main villain and what they do just kind of comes out of left field as well. While I was fairly satisfied with the conclusion of the game, it just felt like it came a little too fast.

A lot of the game involves doing its side activities, side hustles and criminal ventures. I enjoyed and finished most of the side content, more than I usually do in these types of games. The combination of story content and side content on offer makes for a fairly lengthy experience, but I would have liked a better balance of the two. The side content felt like it made up a much bigger portion of the game overall causing the story content to feel like it was somewhat taking a backseat at times. The story campaign should have been meatier than it was, and some of the side content should have been left on the cutting room floor as not all of it was good.

The game had the potential to be better than it is, and a lot of the negative complaints about it are warranted IMO. It did release in a somewhat unfinished state, and lacks polish overall. The story content is a bit on the lean side, and there’s a little too much insignificant side content in its place. Character gameplay including melee and shooting combat is decent at best, it would have definitely benefitted from better melee combat. Vehicle gameplay is pretty solid for the most part, driving almost always feels good. The game in general is fun to play the majority of the time, but is missing that certain something to elevate it to greatness.

Games releasing this week
Absolute Tactics: Daughters of Mercy
Amazing Chicken Adventures
Angst
Ankara: Lost Days
Bear and Breakfast
Blind Fate: Edo no Yami
The Dark Prophecy
Dead Water Saloon
Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder
Devoured by Darkness
DreamWorld
Dungeons 3
Europa Universalis IV: Lions of the North
Family Man
Fault - StP - Lightkravte
Food Truck Simulator
Foretales
Freedom Planet 2
From Fear
Grid Force: Mask of the Goddess
Isonzo
King of Retail
Last Beat Enhanced
Little Orpheus
Lost Beyond
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories 2
Melatonin
Metal: Hellslinger
Plunder Planet
Roadwarden
SBK 22
Silent Sector
Stardeus
Stones Keeper
Sunday Gold
Technicity
Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy
Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden
The Wandering Village
Warlander
Wayward Strand
Whateverland
You Suck at Parking
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I started playing The Good Life, and it took a little while to start appealing to me because it begins a bit abruptly with a lot of tutorials right away. I prefer games to gradually ease you into everything, but this one kind of bombards you immediately with stuff to learn. The button mapping for some things is a little awkward, and the gameplay is kind of clunky and unintuitive. The game in general looks and plays somewhat like a PS2 game, and while that gives it some retro appeal it also makes it feel a bit dated as well.

The game is a hybrid of an adventure game and a farming/life sim. It’s intentionally wacky and weird which is good for humor, and it has a certain charm to it overall. It’s kind of slow paced with you primarily going around a small English town and its wooded outskirts talking to a handful of NPCs, collecting things, running errands, doing fetch quests and taking photos. There’s some voice acting, but not a lot. Most of the time you’re reading dialogue text which makes character conversations and interactions a little dull. There’s frequent loading, and it can be long at times. And the current quest objective is always displayed on the middle left of the screen. I find it kind of distracting always being there. I don’t like cluttered HUDs in games, but unfortunately that’s what this one has without any way to declutter it.

I’m surprised that they charge $40 for this, because it’s not worth that much IMO. It’s a somewhat low budget quirky Japanese indie game that should be $20 at most. That’s what I paid for it on sale which is a more appropriate price for it IMO. But It’s something different, and kind of fun. It took a little while to grow on me, but it finally did when I started learning its ins and outs more. I’ve always been a fan of these types of zany niche Japanese games, so I’ve been somewhat enjoying it warts and all.

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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Thanks for the Saints Row review. Hopefully they'll fix the technical issues before I get to it. Hey, they probably have a couple of years, no excuses. :P


Played recently: Tails of Iron

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 26 (25 PS4, 1 Vita)


Tails of Iron is very enjoyable. Some of the bosses have been tough, but you just have to figure out their patterns and respond accordingly a la Souls. Fun and satisfying. I think I'm pretty close to the end.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by argyle »

Games added: Klonoa Phantasy Reverie, Caligula: Overdose

Last week: Finished nothing, played a little Horizon FW, a little TP Campus, and a decent bit of Disney Dreamlight Valley

This week: More DDV, and whatever else the mood strikes me to play :P

Dreamlight Valley is a Animal Crossing-like. But they took the AC formula and then fixed all the little annoying things about the way that game works, then added a ton more stuff on top for you to do. Got it via Gamepass or I probably wouldn't have given it the time of day, but I'm really enjoying it.

Also, my Steam Deck shipped over the weekend.

package shipped.gif
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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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isthatallyougot
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Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:52 am

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by isthatallyougot »

Phaseknox wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 4:48 pm I started playing The Good Life, and it took a little while to start appealing to me because it begins a bit abruptly with a lot of tutorials right away. I prefer games to gradually ease you into everything, but this one kind of bombards you immediately with stuff to learn. The button mapping for some things is a little awkward, and the gameplay is kind of clunky and unintuitive. The game in general looks and plays somewhat like a PS2 game, and while that gives it some retro appeal it also makes it feel a bit dated as well.

The game is a hybrid of an adventure game and a farming/life sim. It’s intentionally wacky and weird which is good for humor, and it has a certain charm to it overall. It’s kind of slow paced with you primarily going around a small English town and its wooded outskirts talking to a handful of NPCs, collecting things, running errands, doing fetch quests and taking photos. There’s some voice acting, but not a lot. Most of the time you’re reading dialogue text which makes character conversations and interactions a little dull. There’s frequent loading, and it can be long at times. And the current quest objective is always displayed on the middle left of the screen. I find it kind of distracting always being there. I don’t like cluttered HUDs in games, but unfortunately that’s what this one has without any way to declutter it.

I’m surprised that they charge $40 for this, because it’s not worth that much IMO. It’s a somewhat low budget quirky Japanese indie game that should be $20 at most. That’s what I paid for it on sale which is a more appropriate price for it IMO. But It’s something different, and kind of fun. It took a little while to grow on me, but it finally did when I started learning its ins and outs more. I’ve always been a fan of these types of zany niche Japanese games, so I’ve been somewhat enjoying it warts and all.

Image
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:06 am
Phaseknox wrote: Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:22 pm Quit making me want this game even more than I already do. :P I hope that it goes on sale soon, because I really want to play it.
Look on the bright side. The longer you wait to play it, the longer until you find it unsatisfactory. :P
:P
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Dragon kick your a$$ into the Milky Way!
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

argyle wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:57 ammy Steam Deck shipped over the weekend.
I didn’t know that you bought a Steam Deck, people seem to really like it. I would be interested in it if I had a need for a portable game system, but I don’t. My next game system will be PS5 when either Assassin’s Creed Codename Red or Grand Theft Auto VI come out. If Assassin’s Creed Codename Red is basically Odyssey (developed by the same team) in feudal Japan, then I’m going to want it on day one. It will most likely come out before Grand Theft Auto VI, but those are the games that will get me to buy PS5.
isthatallyougot wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:15 amImage
isthatallyougot wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:06 am
Phaseknox wrote: Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:22 pmQuit making me want this game even more than I already do. :P I hope that it goes on sale soon, because I really want to play it.
Look on the bright side. The longer you wait to play it, the longer until you find it unsatisfactory. :P
:P
That quote of yours was the first thing that I thought of when I started playing the game. :lol: My first impressions of it weren’t very good, but I figured that there had to be something there since you liked it so much so I kept playing. And once I started to learn things more and understand it better, it started to appeal to me. I’m enjoying it now, so I don’t plan on quitting it. Of course there’s always a chance that I will eventually, but as of right now I don’t have an urge to.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by argyle »

Phaseknox wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:22 pm If Assassin’s Creed Codename Red is basically Odyssey (developed by the same team) in feudal Japan, then I’m going to want it on day one.
Same. A friend of mine messaged me after the UbiSoft show saying something about the next AC (Mirage) and I told him I don't think I'm up for another old-style AC game. But an Odyssey-style game in Japan, definitely.
"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

Image
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by canedaddy »

I await your thoughts on the Steam Deck. I've thought about getting one but the placement of the controls seems like it would be annoying.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

argyle wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:04 pmSame. A friend of mine messaged me after the UbiSoft show saying something about the next AC (Mirage) and I told him I don't think I'm up for another old-style AC game. But an Odyssey-style game in Japan, definitely.
Yeah, I really have no interest in Mirage either. Not only am I kind of burned out on the old Assassin’s Creed formula, I also don’t like Basim very much and don’t have an interest in playing as him.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 245: 9/10/22: Freedom Planet 2 Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Izzy,

The Good Life is totally absurd.

That is all.
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