The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

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

The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

Played: Ys: Memories of Celceta

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Ys: Memories of Celceta

Added: Aer: Memories of Old, Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards, Amazing Princess Sarah, Ary and the Secret of Seasons, Dragon Audit, Gunborg: Dark Matters, Relicta, Spaceland, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

I was really enjoying Ys: Memories of Celceta for about 20 hours, but then it started to feel repetitive. I’ve put another 5 hours into it since then, and it’s been feeling redundant at this point. The design structure and gameplay loop are repititous. You traverse rather flat, narrow and lengthy mostly outdoor maze-like environments hack-and-slashing wave after wave of enemies. You reach a boss, defeat it and make it to a town or village which have somewhat drawn out story exposition, and NPCs to talk to. Lather, rinse, repeat without much variety to the actual levels. No exploration, platforming, or puzzles, just going through narrow maze-like locations hack-and-slashing waves of enemies. This was kind of fun for the first 20 hours, but now it just feels repetitious and the story is kind of becoming longwinded.

There’s also too many playable characters as well. A new one joins your party at every town and village, but you can only have a party of three when playing. You can switch between them with a press of a button, and they each have four slots for special moves. But they each gain more than only four special moves, so you have to constantly experiment with which four that you want them to use as they’re alway learning new ones as you play. It just feels a bit much having so many different playable characters each with a lot of special moves, especially when none of the characters are really all that different from each other. Only one uses projectile weapons (throwing knives), all of the rest use melee weapons. An archer would have been nice, but nope. I don’t mind somewhat large parties of characters in turn-based RPGs, but I don’t really like them in action RPGs such as this one.

I kind of want to finish the game because I’ve played a lot of it, but it’s starting to feel a little bloated and repetitive. It would have been better if it was shorter, because its gameplay loop doesn’t really lend it to be so long since it’s essentially a dungeon crawler. I’m sticking with it for now especially since it’s been a reasonable challenge on normal without any difficulty spikes so it hasn’t frustrated me which is part of why I keep playing it, but its repetitiveness is starting to get to me.

Games releasing this week
Animal Shelter Simulator
Cats and the Other Lives
Climber: Sky is the Limit
Dead Station
Do Not Open
Dysterra
Evil West
Finding the Soul Orb
Gungrave G.O.R.E.
Jelly Brawl
Just Dance 2023
Kids VS Parents
Legendary Heroes
Primal Light
Reknum: Fantasy of Dreams
Robolifter
Run Sausage Run!
Ship of Fools
Super Rebellion
Zero Sievert
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by argyle »

Games added: Resident Evil 2 & 3 Remakes, Death Stranding Director's Cut

Last week: Finished nothing, played Shovel Knight & Sonic

This week: Same, probably.

Grabbed RE2&3 in the current Xbox digital sale for $15 - haven't played 3 yet and traded 2 in when I beat it. Never got around to playing DS, and have been looking for a good deal on the PS5 version - BB put it on sale for $20 & I had a $5 cert, so that was my price.

I realized last night that I'd built up enough points on my Sony card to get $45 in PSN credit (we use that as our monthly bill card & just pay it off every month, so it builds up points). Thinking about using that to pickup Evil West, unless the reviews point out something that's a dealbreaker for me.
"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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crimson_tide
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by crimson_tide »

Played: Sonic Frontiers

Beat: Sonic Frontiers :D :D :D

Bought: Scarlet Nexus Ultimate Edition (was holding out, thanks early PSN Black Friday sale! Only $25)

This week: One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, Scarlet Nexus, possibly Arkham Asylum and City...other stuff I guess possibly.

So. Sonic Frontiers. This fishing minigame is game breaking :lol: ! I didn't really engage with fishing until the last island. It trivialized the last island to the point I beat the game after like an hour later. If you get frustrated argyle, fish away and buy them keys. I couldn't find entrances to cyber space and needed a few keys and that's when I stumbled on the minigame. I had so many purple coins I got the trophy for maxing out the pond my first go! Also, the Eggman memo tokens were cute, I think there's 25? You buy those fishing too. As for the finale, it's dumb and over the top and just good stuff. I had a blast with the game! It took about 20 hours but I did a lot of dicking around. It can probably be mainlined in 12-16. I will be going back for the platinum at some point :) .

It's going to rank way high on my goty list. Currently, the bottom is Lost Judgment and whatever the hell the SF V story was supposed to be. I am really still mad at Lost Judgment (thank God Kaito Files exists...). Top is going to be tougher, I played some solid games this year. A bunch of fighters, Marvel stuff, Sonic. Good year.

Also, Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman passed fam. That bummed me out. I didn't even like Batman but TAS was my jam. He played a huge part in that That's why Arkham might find it's way back in rotation. But not Knight. I hate that car so very much...
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canedaddy
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by canedaddy »

crimson_tide wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 12:52 pm So. Sonic Frontiers. This fishing minigame is game breaking :lol: ! I didn't really engage with fishing until the last island. It trivialized the last island to the point I beat the game after like an hour later. If you get frustrated argyle, fish away and buy them keys. I couldn't find entrances to cyber space and needed a few keys and that's when I stumbled on the minigame. I had so many purple coins I got the trophy for maxing out the pond my first go! Also, the Eggman memo tokens were cute, I think there's 25? You buy those fishing too. As for the finale, it's dumb and over the top and just good stuff. I had a blast with the game! It took about 20 hours but I did a lot of dicking around. It can probably be mainlined in 12-16. I will be going back for the platinum at some point :) .
Finally a game puts its fishing minigame in the key role it should have! :lol:



Played recently: God of War Ragnarok

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: God of War Ragnarok

Current backlog: 28


I was going to wait to play Kratos & Son 2 on PS5, but given that might never happen, I just caved and got the PS4 version. I'm pretty early into it but it's great. Maybe I'm missing out on ray tracing or whatever, but I can live with that.
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jfissel
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Location: Ohio

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by jfissel »

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Stray, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, God of War: Ragnarok

Added to Backlog: God of War: Ragnarok

Current Backlog: 44 games

4 hours into Ragnarok, good so far. Getting used to the combat controls again, was definitely rusty when I started.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

canedaddy wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 9:52 amI was going to wait to play Kratos & Son 2 on PS5, but given that might never happen, I just caved and got the PS4 version.
It’s funny that you say that you might never get PS5, because I was thinking that I might not either. I currently have over 800 PS4 games, and there’s still a lot more out and coming out that I want. I have more PS4 games than I’ll ever realistically be able to play, so I can’t really justify spending $500+ on another game console that I don’t need. When PS5 has a lot of exclusive and current gen only games that I want to play then that’s when I’ll consider getting it, but that won’t be for years.
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argyle
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by argyle »

So I feel like I should point out that a lot of places have Sonic Frontiers on sale for around $30 this week, and the game is SO worth that. The more I play, the more fun I have. It's basically non-stop roller coasters.
"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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canedaddy
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Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 1:36 pm

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by canedaddy »

Phaseknox wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 2:22 pm It’s funny that you say that you might never get PS5, because I was thinking that I might not either. I currently have over 800 PS4 games, and there’s still a lot more out and coming out that I want. I have more PS4 games than I’ll ever realistically be able to play, so I can’t really justify spending $500+ on another game console that I don’t need. When PS5 has a lot of exclusive and current gen only games that I want to play then that’s when I’ll consider getting it, but that won’t be for years.
We're on the same page. At my current pace of gaming, even with my limited PS4 backlog compared to yours, I'm good for two or three years, if not more. Maybe GTA 6 will get me to move faster, but my hopes for that are pretty low given all the R* departures and changes. Maybe DQXII? Although who knows, that might be on PS4 since it's expected for the Switch, I believe.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

argyle wrote: Mon Nov 21, 2022 11:23 pm So I feel like I should point out that a lot of places have Sonic Frontiers on sale for around $30 this week, and the game is SO worth that. The more I play, the more fun I have. It's basically non-stop roller coasters.
Yeah, I’ve seen it on sale for $30 and I was surprised since it just came out. I have no doubt that it’s worth $30, but I’m still going to wait until I can get it for $20 or less. I recently bought a lot of games that I’ve been wanting (Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Psychonauts 2, The Quarry, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Valkyrie Elysium), so I’m probably done with holiday sale game buying for now unless Star Ocean: The Devine Force goes on sale for cheaper than $50 which it’s currently on sale for.
canedaddy wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:32 amWe're on the same page. At my current pace of gaming, even with my limited PS4 backlog compared to yours, I'm good for two or three years, if not more. Maybe GTA 6 will get me to move faster, but my hopes for that are pretty low given all the R* departures and changes. Maybe DQXII? Although who knows, that might be on PS4 since it's expected for the Switch, I believe.
Yeah, the one game that will probably make me get PS5 is Grand Theft Auto VI, but there are rumors that it’s going to be cross-gen. :lol: But if it’s not, then I’ll probably get PS5 to play it. Of course there will be other games that I will want it for (there are already a few), but I think that GTAVI will be the first that I will want to play on day one. So I don’t expect to get PS5 for at least a couple of more years.
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Phaseknox
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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 255: 11/19/22: Evil West Edition

Post by Phaseknox »

I decided to take a little break from Ys: Memories of Celceta, and played and finished Dragon Audit. It was a comedic and cute little third person point-and-click style adventure game. It’s primarily an interactive story with some key item puzzle solving throughout. It’s extremely low budget and was made by only a few people, but I found charm in it and enjoyed it for the most part. It’s kind of an anime style romantic comedy, and the humor is funny most of the time. The key item puzzles aren’t very challenging, but still somewhat clever and fun. The problem is that it’s extremely short, and the story is incomplete. It only took me a couple hours to finish, and it ends before the story is concluded as if it’s going to be continued in a sequel which I don’t think that there’s going to be. I enjoyed what there was of the game as I liked the story, characters and humor, but unfortunately there’s just not enough of it and it ends before the story is over. It feels like the first episode of an episodic game, but it’s not an episodic game as far as I know.

I’m back to playing Ys: Memories of Celceta, and I’m enjoying it a lot again. I’ve gotten all of my playable characters and all of their special attacks, so I’ve been able to decide which of them that I like most without having to experiment with more of them anymore which was getting to be a bit much for a while. Also, there have been more actual dungeons instead of just being outside in somewhat same-y looking forest areas which were feeling a bit redundant. And the story has picked up more as well. I’m nearing the end of the game, so I should have it finished fairly soon.
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