The Backlog Check-in Vol. 298: 9/16/23: EA Sports FC 24/Lies of P/Mortal Kombat 1/Payday 3 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: The Bard’s Tale, The Bard’s Tale IV, Zombie Army 4: Dead War

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Zombie Army 4: Dead War

Added: Nothing

Games releasing this week
Abriss - Build to Destroy
Autocraft
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance
Bit.Trip Rerunner
Broken Edge
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans 2
Builders of Greece: Prologue
Cartel Tycoon: San Rafaela
Days of Doom
Dragonheir: Silent Gods
EA Sports FC 24
Fragment’s Note 2+
Gloomhaven
Hellsweeper VR
HumanitZ
Kallax
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails
Lies of P
Life is not Auto
Mall Craze
Mon-Yu
Moonstone Island
Mortal Kombat 1
Nuwa
Paperman: Adventure Delivered
Party Animals
Payday 3
Persha and the Magic Labyrinth: Arabian Nyaights
Pikmin 1+2
Planet Zoo: Oceania Pack
Rainbow High: Runaway Rush
RIN: The Last Child
RuinsMagus
Seedlings
Shuyan Saga
Spirited Thief
Super Adventure Hand
Super Snake Block Deluxe
You Suck at Parking
Virtual Driving School
Warhaven
Whateverland
Witchfire
Zoria: Age of Shattering

[crimson_tide]

Played: Not much. I am maybe 2 hours into Nocturne, playing the first Borderlands slowly...I think that's it.

Bought: That Borderlands collection for $30, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak...I think that's it.

This week: I don't know, man. Who has time? I ghosted y'all because...



I have been back at work since the end of August when I went in to set up and have been working basically everyday since August 28. Fun!

I started Nocturne, I will finish it during the year as my PS2 game. It's very much the PS2 style game I was looking for all summer. The whole Borderlands collection was cheap if you had one of them which I did so I bit. The first one is good to dip in and out of, fairly noncommittal fluff. I might replace it with Rise, I have always wanted to get into Monster Hunter but have been too intimidated to try. Working past that now since I also bought Pathfinder WOTR. That's another crpg I am going to try. If it's as intimidating as its reputation suggests, my play order will be:

Wasteland 3
Divinity Original Sin 2
Pathfinder WOTR

It looks real pretty and I am chomping at the bit to get into this genre. Here's to hoping time exists for me to do so !

[Phaseknox]

I started playing Zombie Army 4: Dead War, and already quit. It’s a linear co-op zombie horde shooter, you shoot hordes of zombies through linear levels and that’s basically it. It lacks story, characterization and depth. There’s a little fun to be had surviving hordes of zombies, but character movement controls are bad. They’re jerky, loose and sloppy. But the shooting is solid for the most part. The graphics, animations, lighting and music are all good as well. It had the potential to be a lot better than it is, but I guess that I shouldn’t have expected too much from a game about killing nazi zombies.

I started playing Shadowrun Returns, and already quit playing it too. It’s a retro style isometric view strategic tactical turn-based cyberpunk CRPG with combat similar to XCOM. The gameplay mechanics and systems are kept somewhat basic which I like, but it’s kind of low budget like an indie game so the production values and graphics aren’t very good. Everything is kind of static with no real animation or life to it, it’s basically flat isometric view environments with a few NPCs standing around. Character interaction is done by profile pictures and text, lots of text. If I wanted to read a book, then that’s what I would do. The story and characters are somewhat interesting, but the amount of conversation text drags the experience down. I like the game enough to play it again when I’m more in the mood to read, but that’s not right now.

[canedaddy]

Huh, it sounds like I'm not the only one who hasn't found anything that grabbed me for a while.

crim, I'll be interested to hear what you think of Wasteland 3 if/when you get to it between grading papers and getting swoll.



Played recently: Final Fantasy XV

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: Mega Man Legacy Collection, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

Current backlog: 33


I finally had a good stretch of time for gaming and sat down to play FFXV, thinking it would surely hit the spot. It's been a while since I played a Final Fantasy game, and this one is open world with fishing. What could go wrong?

Well, I didn't even get to the fishing. The characters, the controls, the combat, the exploration, the overall vibe... none of it clicked with me. I barely made it three hours before bailing. Very disappointing.

I then looked in my backlog and nothing there appealed to me. I looked at PSN in hopes of finding inspiration... ended up buying a Mega Man collection and the PS4 version of one of my favorite PS3 games, Valkyria Chronicles.

I'm hitting a big number birthday next week... is it possible that 60 is the age when gaming stops being appealing? I will let you know. I'm taking a trip with my brother and some friends to celebrate, and I might not play anything till after I get back.

[isthatallyougot]

I started Nocturne, I will finish it during the year as my PS2 game. It's very much the PS2 style game I was looking for all summer.

You must have missed where I posted that I'd play TWEWY (finally) if you played Nocturne. But even though you missed it, I'll stick to my promise of course. I'll get to it before the end of the year as stated. I hope I love it. (I don't want to destroy you. )

I'm hitting a big number birthday next week... is it possible that 60 is the age when gaming stops being appealing? I will let you know. I'm taking a trip with my brother and some friends to celebrate, and I might not play anything till after I get back.

Of course, I can't speak for you, but I'd gamble that's not the case. Just a natural cycle of fatigue/weariness with repeating similar behaviors/activities would be my guess. But who knows. Maybe you'll pick up knitting.

******************

I'm still playing The Pillars of the Earth. I'm on Book 3. (Chapter 15 of 21) It has been a fun and interesting ride. Plenty of drama and conflict and it has been engaging most of the time with some lulls. The characters have grown on me, which is understandable give the praise of the source material and the lengthy time spent with them. It's not a classic for me in terms of gaming in general or the visual novel / P&C genre, but it's been worth the time I've given it.

I'm also still checking in daily with Animal Crossing WW. I've got a million and a half bells saved and have upgraded my home with a second floor. Still oddly compelling, even if sometimes just in the sense of accumulating more items, bugs, fish, etc and paying off my endless mortgage renewals, lol.

[Phaseknox]

Huh, it sounds like I'm not the only one who hasn't found anything that grabbed me for a while.

Some games have kind of grabbed me recently such as PGA 2K21, Need For Speed Heat, Sea of Stars and Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. However, PGA 2K21 is basically a never ending golf game so I played it until I had my fill, the same with Need For Speed Heat which does have a story end but I had my fill of the racing before reaching it, I stopped playing Sea of Stars despite enjoying it to start playing Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle which I was enjoying until it became more difficult than I would like. I started playing Dragon Age: Origins for a while, but reached a point in it where I didn’t feel like continuing. I played it before a few times in the past, so it was feeling same-y to me. Shadowrun Returns held my interest for a little while as well, but I got tired of reading text in it. It’s the type of game that instead of visually showing some things that happen in it, it just describes them with text. It’s a video game so I want to see the things that are happening in it, not just read about them. It does show some stuff that happens, but on a very limited basis. It’s a little too old fashioned in that regard. But overall nothing that I’ve been playing lately has really been addicting me.

crim, I'll be interested to hear what you think of Wasteland 3 if/when you get to it between grading papers and getting swoll.

He actually already played it, and posted some impressions. I have Wasteland 2 and 3, but I haven’t played them yet.

I finally had a good stretch of time for gaming and sat down to play FFXV, thinking it would surely hit the spot. It's been a while since I played a Final Fantasy game, and this one is open world with fishing. What could go wrong?

Well, I didn't even get to the fishing. The characters, the controls, the combat, the exploration, the overall vibe... none of it clicked with me.

I don’t expect to like it because it’s a sausage fest.

I then looked in my backlog and nothing there appealed to me. I looked at PSN in hopes of finding inspiration... ended up buying a Mega Man collection and the PS4 version of one of my favorite PS3 games, Valkyria Chronicles.

I plan on buying a few games from the current PS Store sale this week as well, and I’m hoping that at least one of them clicks with me right now. By the way, I thought that you already had Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. Why did you wait so long to get it, it’s been on sale a lot over the years.

I'm hitting a big number birthday next week... is it possible that 60 is the age when gaming stops being appealing? I will let you know.

I thought that you were already 60. I’m not sure what has been causing your lack of interest in gaming lately, perhaps you just need a break or maybe a new console like a PS5 to reignite your interest. Or maybe you are aging out of it, sometimes I think that’s what’s happening with me. I’ve been gaming since I was a kid, and now in my 50s and with my health problems it just hasn’t been appealing to me as much. I’m hoping that it’s just a Phase. Sometimes I think that it could also be old gen console fatigue and that I’m ready for the current gen, but I’m not sure if that’s what it is either. I keep thinking that a big new game like Grand Theft Auto VI on a shiny new PS5 will reignite my passion for gaming, but I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[argyle]

Games added: Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, Grapple Dog (both Switch), Bad Street Brawler (NES), George of the Jungle (PS2), Riddle of the Sphinx (Atari 2600 )

Last week: Finished nothing, played Souldiers & Starfield

This week: Same


Souldiers continues to be amazing, definitely top 5 GotY material. A very strong candidate for #2 right now (nothing's gonna top Zelda this year, but then again Tears of the Kingdom is GOAT material so...). I feel like I *might* wrap it up this week. We'll see. Starfield is also fun, but in that familiar Bethesda quest-a-thon way. I'm not knocking the game, it's good, but I'd call it comfort food gaming. There are no huge surprises, you kinda know what you're in for, but that's ok.

Did you guys see the trailer for the new VanillaWare joint that's coming out next March (for PS5/Xbox Series/Switch)? It looks amazing:

I'm hitting a big number birthday next week... is it possible that 60 is the age when gaming stops being appealing?

Not according to this lady:

[Phaseknox]

Souldiers continues to be amazing, definitely top 5 GotY material. A very strong candidate for #2 right now

Wow, that’s high praise. I’m buying it this week.

Did you guys see the trailer for the new VanillaWare joint that's coming out next March (for PS5/Xbox Series/Switch)? It looks amazing:

It definitely looks like a good strategy tactics RPG that I’ll most likely get when it’s cheap. By the way, it’s coming out for PS4 as well.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Zero Time Dilemma

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 41 games

Made a smidge of progress in ZTD.

Also, Spider-man 2 comes out on Oct 20? And then Like a Dragon Gaiden on Nov 8? I better prepare!

[canedaddy]

Of course, I can't speak for you, but I'd gamble that's not the case. Just a natural cycle of fatigue/weariness with repeating similar behaviors/activities would be my guess. But who knows. Maybe you'll pick up knitting.

That's probably right. Also, knitting is way too physically demanding at my age.

He actually already played it, and posted some impressions.

I reckon I shall try to find those. I see that game on sale a lot... it looks interesting, but I haven't been inclined to pull the trigger.

By the way, I thought that you already had Valkyria Chronicles Remastered. Why did you wait so long to get it, it’s been on sale a lot over the years.

I'm not really sure. It's one of my all-time favorites.

I thought that you were already 60. I’m not sure what has been causing your lack of interest in gaming lately, perhaps you just need a break or maybe a new console like a PS5 to reignite your interest. Or maybe you are aging out of it, sometimes I think that’s what’s happening with me. I’ve been gaming since I was a kid, and now in my 50s and with my health problems it just hasn’t been appealing to me as much. I’m hoping that it’s just a Phase. Sometimes I think that it could also be old gen console fatigue and that I’m ready for the current gen, but I’m not sure if that’s what it is either. I keep thinking that a big new game like Grand Theft Auto VI on a shiny new PS5 will reignite my passion for gaming, but I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Imagine what a bummer it would be to spend all that money on a PS5 and GTA 6 and start playing it and feel ... blah. We will see. I am going to be taking a break from gaming till October, just based on my schedule and upcoming trip, so hopefully I'll be re-energized when I get back to it.

Did you guys see the trailer for the new VanillaWare joint that's coming out next March (for PS5/Xbox Series/Switch)? It looks amazing:

Sure does.

Why wouldn't they release that on PS4? I mean, if it can go on Switch... sigh.

Not according to this lady:

That is awesome. Thanks for the inspiration.