The Backlog Check-in Vol. 127: 6/6/20: Beyond Blue Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Outward

Finished: Nothing

Playing: ?

I put a lot of time into Outward, and not much has really happened in that time. The game world consists of four somewhat big open regions each with their own distinct look, but they seem bigger than they actually are because you have to traverse them on foot. They're rather open and empty without much in them. There's some bandits and monsters to fight once in a while, a little loot to find and some caves/dungeons/forts/ruins. That's about it. For a game that focuses on exploration, there's really not all that much to explore. If you had a mount such as a horse you could traverse the entirety of the regions fairly quickly, but of course on foot it takes a long time to traverse them.

You have a map that shows landmarks on it, but it doesn't show your position or any quest markers. It makes traversal confusing when you can't see where you're at in the world or where you need to go for a quest, and there's no fast travel so you have to backtrack long distances to get back to previously visited locations. It just makes traversing the world a much bigger slog than it should be. If there were mounts it wouldn't be as big of an issue, but traversing the entire game world back and forth on foot is daunting.

As for quests, there's really only ones connected to the three different factions that you can join. You can only join one per game, and they each offer their own quest line. This is to give the game replay value, but I don't think that I'm even going to finish it once since I'm finding the overall experience to be rather dull. There's too much of an emphasis on trying to figure out where you're supposed to go based on vague directions, and spending long periods of time traversing big empty landscapes not really feeling like you're making much progress in the process.

They basically made a fairly big game world, but failed to put much in it. The emphasis is supposed to be on exploring, but if there's not much to discover then what's the point. Open world RPGs are usually packed with quests and things to do in them, but not this one. It's supposed to be more about exploration, traversal and survival with light sim elements, but it just feels like they failed to put a lot to do in the game.

And if all of this wasn't bad enough, the graphics are technically dated/poor and the performance of the game drops considerably at times with chugging frame rates. With how low quality the graphics are the game should run at a buttery smooth 60fps, not 30fps and lower.

There's things that I like about the game such as its old school design structure of basically no handholding, its crafting/mechanics/systems and its weapons/combat which is why I've stuck with it for as long as I have, but its lack of showing where you are on the map, no quest markers and no fast travel really hurt the experience. Not to mention the overall lack of quests, or things to discover in the game world. The foundation for a really good action RPG is present, but it all feels half-baked.

Beyond Blue comes out this week.

[isthatallyougot]

I started up Shadow Hearts on PS2. I played Koudelka earlier this year on PS1 so that I could dive into this series and I decided to finally do it. Only played a small amount, but it seems interesting so far.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Detroit: Become Human

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 32 games

Started Detroit: Become Human this week and I'm plowing through with whatever choices pop into my head at the time...it's made for some interesting outcomes in some of these levels. No idea how far I am in the story, but my guess is 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through.

[crimson_tide]

Played: Kassandra's Straight Up Murder Tourism Simulator Through Greece To Save Her Family Even Though They Threw Her And Her Literal Baby Brother Off A MOUNTAIN But She Still Loves Them Somehow...Or She Is Just A Straight Up Mass Murderer And This Is A Great Cover Like She's Dexter Or Something.

Bought: I think I bought the FF14 expansions or at least put them in the PSN cart...

Beat: Nothing

Look, I have no clue what the throughline for Odyssey is. I don't think I want to know. This game is ridiculous and the past 20 or so hours have just been a blast. It's either a) save my family, b) kill these cultists or c) something something peace for Greece. I am being proactive in saving Kassandra's awful, awful family so she can get them all in one room and be like DAFUQ before she ices them all for being just the worst. I don't want peace because the game wouldn't be fun. But these cultists. Oh, they all gonna die. I have been obsessed with this story for no good reason. It's dumb and sprawling and clearly got away from them at some point very early on. However, I drop everything I am doing the second one of them is available. Maybe it's because there's a cool diagram of the cultists I can see who still has to go down. Maybe some are like little boss fights. Most likely, there is no way this plot will pay off, it has to be the hottest garbage resolution. I refuse to believe this goes anywhere and now I must know how much time and resources they straight up wasted on this path and then for whatever reason refused to cut or at least edit. God, it's so dumb...I flippin love it so much

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Yakuza 0, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 35 (13 PS4, 9 Vita, 7 3DS/2DS, 5 PS2)


Yakuza 0, as expected, is a blast. Young Kaz is great (although I do miss smacking down punks who called him "old man").

Nearing the end of SMT, which is a good solid B game. Nothing special, but the combat and fusions are fun.

[jfissel]

Yakuza 0, as expected, is a blast. Young Kaz is great (although I do miss smacking down punks who called him "old man").

What side stuff have you done? Have you met Mr Libido yet? lol

Look, I have no clue what the throughline for Odyssey is. I don't think I want to know. This game is ridiculous and the past 20 or so hours have just been a blast. It's either a) save my family, b) kill these cultists or c) something something peace for Greece. I am being proactive in saving Kassandra's awful, awful family so she can get them all in one room and be like DAFUQ before she ices them all for being just the worst. I don't want peace because the game wouldn't be fun. But these cultists. Oh, they all gonna die. I have been obsessed with this story for no good reason. It's dumb and sprawling and clearly got away from them at some point very early on. However, I drop everything I am doing the second one of them is available. Maybe it's because there's a cool diagram of the cultists I can see who still has to go down. Maybe some are like little boss fights. Most likely, there is no way this plot will pay off, it has to be the hottest garbage resolution. I refuse to believe this goes anywhere and now I must know how much time and resources they straight up wasted on this path and then for whatever reason refused to cut or at least edit. God, it's so dumb...I flippin love it so much

The entire map got away from them at some point. I gave up on the story like 15 hours in and then basically explored and completed every single island for tens of hours. And then I came back to the story later to finish it.


Oh, and PS5 event back on for this Thursday at 4pm Eastern!

[canedaddy]

I have not met Mr. Libido... can't wait. Side stuff done: fishing (of course), arcade games, baseball, pocket racers, karaoke and fighting (if that counts). Nothing too weird so far.

[isthatallyougot]

Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up on a great bundle (drm free too) on itch.io

744 games (and counting + other stuff) for $5. https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial ... d-equality

Enjoy!

[crimson_tide]

Phase, enjoy your crow . I want a a PS5. Horizon 2, Miles Morales AND RATCHET AND CLANK ARE BACK?!?! Plus, I really would most likely grab the all digital PS5 from jump street. I own so few PS4 games and have no desire for a physical collection. Especially if it plays PS4 games and is cheaper, I am thoroughly down to get one sooner than later.

[Phaseknox]

Phase, enjoy your crow .

Nah, the PS5 event didn't change my mind. I still don't plan on going next gen for at least a couple of more years.

I want a a PS5.

So do I... eventually.

Horizon 2, Miles Morales AND RATCHET AND CLANK ARE BACK?!?!

I'm interested in all of those, but none of them are games that I need to play sooner rather than later.

The PS5 event was pretty good, but nothing really blew me away. I'm still more than satisfied with my PS4 right now, and I'm more excited for its upcoming games like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II than any of the PS5 games announced so far.