The Backlog Check-in Vol. 293: 8/12/23: Madden NFL 24 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Mass Effect, PGA Tour 2K21

Finished: Nothing

Playing: PGA Tour 2K21

Added: PGA Tour 2K23

Games releasing this week
Aery - Flow of Time
Affogato
Age of Reforging: The Freelands
An Ankou
Astro Flame: Starfighter
BlazBlue Entropy Effect
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
Book of Hours
Boxville
Cantata
Cat’s Cosmic Atlas
Chrome Wolf
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance
Desynced
Emergency
En Garde!
Everspace 2
Gord
Gray Destiny
Hammerwatch II
Heartwood Online
Hello Engineer
HoloCure: Save the Fans
Lawgivers II
Lightedge
Madden NFL 24
Marble It Up! Ultra
Moving Out 2
Quantum Recharged
Quasimorph
Radiant Silvergun
Red Dead Redemption
Rich Party
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
Shinobi non Grata
Ship Graveyard Simulator 2
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Tinting Time
Tea Garden Simulator
Two Point Campus: Medical School
Voidborn
Waven
Wayfinder

[argyle]

Games added: Nuclear Blaze (switch)

Last week: Finished nothing, played Ys IX, Nuclear Blaze

This week: Same.

Nuclear Blaze is made by one of the main guys behind Dead Cells. It's pretty good so far. Also, I'd like to say, unlike you're typical half-baked AAA release, it:

* Included a manual & a cool keychain
* Did not require any patch whatsoever
* Only cost $30
* Doesn't have anything to upsell me on after the fact

[Phaseknox]

Last week: Finished nothing, played Ys IX, Nuclear Blaze

How do you like Ys IX so far?

[crimson_tide]

Ooh, I wanna know too! That one was so good I just went back to Ys8 since everyone gushes all over that one too (bit of a slow starter...).

Played: good lord, I have not been able to stick with anything since finishing Midnight Suns! Ummm..Ishin, Valhalla, Shadowrun Returns, Rogue Galaxy, Ys8, Trails of Cold Steel... that's all I can remember...

Beat: nothing

This week: exploding barbed wire deathmatch between Valhalla and Ishin!

Sooooo...I don't hate Valhalla? Especially after seeing what some of the later combat offers after watching a beginner's guide (because have you seen that terrifying skill tree? Yikes). It's story is non-existent from what I can tell after 3 hours (haven't hit the title splash screen yet...) but it's really a big dumb action power fantasy with a checklist and time travel murder simulator so I am pretty down for that. It definitely doesn't have the same appeal as Origins or Odyssey in terms of story/setting but I really like the combat thus far so we'll see how long I stick with it. If they give me a mile long murder checklist like Odyssey did though, I am absolutely sticking with it. That was fun as hell!

But Ishin...look, I don't like not Kazuma wearing his face samurai person (it's distracting this far) and sword/gun combat is taking me a minute to warm up to...but I did one substory and already just want to play more. Why is this dumb gameplay loop so addicting for me? I also feel a little less inclined to hyper focus on the story so I may just burn the rest of the summer on this one. We'll see...

[Phaseknox]

Sooooo...I don't hate Valhalla? Especially after seeing what some of the later combat offers after watching a beginner's guide (because have you seen that terrifying skill tree? Yikes). It's story is non-existent from what I can tell after 3 hours (haven't hit the title splash screen yet...) but it's really a big dumb action power fantasy with a checklist and time travel murder simulator so I am pretty down for that. It definitely doesn't have the same appeal as Origins or Odyssey in terms of story/setting but I really like the combat thus far so we'll see how long I stick with it. If they give me a mile long murder checklist like Odyssey did though, I am absolutely sticking with it. That was fun as hell!

It actually has an involving story, the game doesn’t truly begin until you reach the title splash screen which takes about 5 hours. It’s a 100+ hour game, and that’s just the story alone not counting any side content. It doesn’t really have side quests like Odyssey, it has recycled side activities that I found uninteresting so I ignored them after a while since they felt like filler to me. The story and characters are the strongest aspects of the game IMO, it’s like an epic Viking miniseries. It’s the story and characters that kept me playing the most, because I didn’t find the gameplay and combat all that fun. It plays similar to Odyssey, but more clunky and sluggish with less appealing combat and attack moves. It’s not as fast, fluid and snappy. It somewhat has a murder checklist similar to Odyssey, but it’s not quite the same or nearly as satisfying. I definitely enjoyed it overall and wouldn’t have played it to completion if I hadn’t, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Odyssey. While I think that it has a better story and cast of characters, it lacks the same fun factor. Perhaps you’ll feel differently, but it didn’t appeal to me quite as much.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm just about done with Orcs & Elves on the DS. Nothing extraordinary, but it's been a fun dungeon crawler for that aging system.

[Phaseknox]

I’ve been playing PGA Tour 2K21, and I was enjoying it enough to get PGA Tour 2K23 which I figured would be even better since it’s the next game in the series. I was wrong. It’s basically PGA Tour 2K21.5. The additions that it offers are minimal at best, and it plays worse than 2K21. In fact, I think that it’s actually worse overall. It’s basically the same exact game with almost everything recycled from 2K21, but with worse menus, character models and swing mechanics. The menus are cluttered, confusing and difficult to navigate, the character models are more realistic looking but uglier with less good hair options and the new curved swing bar to the left of the player is a lot harder to look at when swinging since it’s off to the left side of the player instead of below them. And the backswing moves so fast that it’s next to impossible to downswing without reaching full power so every swing is always at full power. Everything else including the animations, tournaments, commentary, courses, music and sound effects are all recycled from 2K21. They spent two years making the same game worse, bravo 2K games. 

[canedaddy]

I’ve been playing PGA Tour 2K21, and I was enjoying it enough to get PGA Tour 2K23 which I figured would be even better since it’s the next game in the series. I was wrong. It’s basically PGA Tour 2K21.5. The additions that it offers are minimal at best, and it plays worse than 2K21. In fact, I think that it’s actually worse overall. It’s basically the same exact game with almost everything recycled from 2K21, but with worse menus, character models and swing mechanics. The menus are cluttered, confusing and difficult to navigate, the character models are more realistic looking but uglier with less good hair options and the new curved swing bar to the left of the player is a lot harder to look at when swinging since it’s off to the left side of the player instead of below them. And the backswing moves so fast that it’s next to impossible to downswing without reaching full power so every swing is always at full power. Everything else including the animations, tournaments, commentary, courses, music and sound effects are all recycled from 2K21. They spent two years making the same game worse, bravo 2K games. 

Huh... one of those (or both?) was a free PS plus game recently.


Played recently: Destroy All Humans

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 34


I'm still having fun with Destroy All Humans. It has a bit more stealth than I'd like, but when it's in destruction mode, it's a great time. I'm about halfway through the mission list, with a whole lot of side stuff to do.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, ??

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 43 games

Played 1 more dungeon in Zelda, hopefully more this week and I can get close to the end!

[argyle]

Last week: Finished nothing, played Ys IX, Nuclear Blaze

How do you like Ys IX so far?

It's a bit of a slow starter, but once you get your first party member it really opens up. The combat becomes much more interesting, since different enemy types are weak to different types of attacks (aka different party members) and you can swap members on the fly. But even more than that, the exploration really starts to open up. The first dungeon you get to after gaining your first party member is very vertical, with lots of stuff hidden above & below the main path. If you decide to play it, don't judge it until you get to this point - and be aware that it takes 3-4 hours or so.

I finished Nuclear Blaze. It was really fun, tho shorter than I expected. That's ok. Apparently a lot of alternate paths open up on your second play-through, and I didn't get save all the cats my first run through, so I'll probably play it again at some point.

I was still in the mood for an indie tho, so I popped in another one I picked up earlier this year - Souldiers. Wow. It's a Metroidvania with very strong RPG elements, to the point where I would say it's as much action/RPG as it is Metroidvania. You even pick your class in the beginning (I'm playing as the archer) and there's a full skill tree, equipment, stats, everything you'd expect from an RPG along with the typical Metroidvania tropes like exploration, backtracking, and gaining abilities that open up new areas. Oh, and it has some of the best looking pixel art I've seen, with tons of little details and awesome animations.

souldiers-1.gif (4.07 MiB) Viewed 16498 times

I'm playing on the Switch, but it's also on the PS4 - and it probably runs better there, honestly. My only complaint right now are the load times & that it sometimes freezes for a second while it's loading a new area. Not a deal breaker by any stretch, and not annoying enough for me to quit & pickup the PS4 version, but I'd definitely recommend that one to anyone looking into the game.