The Backlog Check-in Vol. 303: 10/21/23: Alan Wake II/EA Sports UFC 5/Ghostrunner II Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: The Cruel King and the Great Hero, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, Persona 5

Finished: The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

Playing: The Cruel King and the Great Hero

Added: Nothing

I’ve been playing The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and enjoying it. It’s a cartoonish, charming and cute 2.5D side scrolling turn-based JRPG with a fairy tale story. It’s a little on the basic side and seems to be aimed at a younger audience, but it still presents somewhat of a challenge. I’ve been liking it more than the devs previous game The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince because it’s a more involving experience with a lot of story and character interaction since it’s an RPG. I think that everyone here might like it.

Games releasing this week
Alan Wake II
Archetype Arcadia
Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures
Castle of Secrets
Cities: Skylines II
Crymachina
Dark Envoy
Dave the Diver
Demon Tormentor
Desolatium
DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue
EA Sports UFC 5
Enchanted Portals
Even if Tempest Drawing Connections
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery
Genopanic
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord
Ghostrunner II
Gordian Quest
Great Ambition of the Slimes
Hello Kitty and Friends Happiness Parade
Hero Survival
Horror Tale 2: Samantha
Journey to Foundation
Kraken Odyssey
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
Mineko’s Night Market
Open Wheel Manager 2
Postal: Brain Damaged
Ripout
Spin Rhythm XD
Stray Souls
Three Minutes to Eight
Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint

[crimson_tide]

Sup? It's been a week, fam. My 16 year old cat, You, had to be euthanized which was devastating. That was Monday morning and I was back at work by noon. Because education and bureaucracy stop for no one. Work's actually the only thing that kept me together because my wife left for her solo birthday trip to Mexico. Needless to say, I have barely touched a game all week. Not only from being busy and exhausted but I used to hang out in the basement playing games with You resting on me or really close for 16 years. But I am sure I will be gaming again soon enough.

Played: Save Room, SD Gundam Battle Alliance demo (this was a hard pass, it looked cool but no)...I think that's it.

Bought: Godfall Ultimate Edition, DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2, Save Room, Kaze and The Wild Masks - Deluxe Edition, Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Definitive Edition, Battle Princess Madelyn, Desperados III - Digital Deluxe

Platinumed: Save Room (last game with You chilling on the couch with me...)

This week: I am really trying to get past my analysis paralysis that has been going on since...I don't know July when I beat Midnight Suns? Nothing has grabbed me but if something does, I get busy and lose interest. I need to just find something to pour my time into so I'm not trying to decide what to play, dabbling a bit when I find it and then bouncing off. I know I want something that's like 20-40 hours so I can know I will be able to beat it. I am thinking a search action like Bloodstained, 3D action game/action rpg like Scarlet Nexus or Dragon's Dogma or Re-Reckoning since the old man seems to be digging it, or a JRPG or strategy rpg. Additionally something left field like DQ Builders 2 or Spiritfarer seems really chill. I just need something to sink myself into and sorry izzy, but SMT3 is a little bleak and overwhelming at the moment though I absolutely will be going back to it at some point soon.

Sorry fam, I am kind of a mess this week. Hope all is well with y'all!

[Phaseknox]

My 16 year old cat, You, had to be euthanized which was devastating.

I’m sorry.

my wife left for her solo birthday trip to Mexico.

Solo by herself with no friends? You couldn’t get time off to go with her? Substitute teachers exist for a reason.

I am really trying to get past my analysis paralysis that has been going on since...I don't know July when I beat Midnight Suns? Nothing has grabbed me but if something does, I get busy and lose interest. I need to just find something to pour my time into so I'm not trying to decide what to play, dabbling a bit when I find it and then bouncing off. I know I want something that's like 20-40 hours so I can know I will be able to beat it. I am thinking a search action like Bloodstained, 3D action game/action rpg like Scarlet Nexus or Dragon's Dogma or Re-Reckoning since the old man seems to be digging it, or a JRPG or strategy rpg. Additionally something left field like DQ Builders 2 or Spiritfarer seems really chill.

I would suggest checking out The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and Wargroove. I’m currently playing The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and it’s a basic 2.5D side scrolling turn-based fairy tale JRPG with a charm and cuteness to it that’s been hitting the spot. It’s not overly challenging, or overly long. I think that you might like it. I was also playing Wargroove recently, and really enjoying it. It’s a cute 2D pixel art strategy tactics RPG with a good story, cast of characters and fun gameplay mechanics. I only stopped playing it because I started playing Persona 5, but I stopped playing it because I decided that I wanted Royal. I’ve been playing somewhat shorter games waiting for my copy of Persona 5 Royal to arrive from Amazon, because I know that it’s a 100+ hour game that I will be playing for a long time.

Hope all is well with y'all!

Not really, I’ve been having health issues that have been rough. But at least I have gaming to kind of take my mind off of them.

[jfissel]

Sorry to hear about your cat, crim.

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Code Name: STEAM, Spider-man 2

Added to Backlog: Spider-man 2

Current Backlog: 42 games

Will start Spider-man 2 this week. I made it to chapter 10 in Code Name: STEAM...but I see what cane was talking about with chapter 6. A new annoying enemy is introduced at that point. I've only seen it on a few more maps since then, so that's good.

[canedaddy]

Sup? It's been a week, fam. My 16 year old cat, You, had to be euthanized which was devastating. That was Monday morning and I was back at work by noon. Because education and bureaucracy stop for no one. Work's actually the only thing that kept me together because my wife left for her solo birthday trip to Mexico. Needless to say, I have barely touched a game all week. Not only from being busy and exhausted but I used to hang out in the basement playing games with You resting on me or really close for 16 years. But I am sure I will be gaming again soon enough.

Aw man, sorry to hear that. It really sucks to lose our pets. Every time I've gone through it, it's made me think twice about getting another one. But then I do anyway, knowing the pain will come again, but it's worth it.


Played recently: Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 34


Moving along in Amalur. Into the Plains now, where I have acquired one piece of the Ravens armor. Going to double down on what I said last week... the various stories and scenarios are pretty dang good. I just got betrayed by a guy who gave me a quest, and I cannot wait to find him and make him pay.

[argyle]

Really sorry to hear about your cat Crim - losing a pet, especially one you've had for a long time, is not a trivial thing.

Games added: GrimGrimoire OnceMore (PS5), Blade (PS5), Destroy All Humans! (XBOne), FF Origins: Stranger of Paradise (PS5), Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (Switch), Saints Row (XBOne), Star Ocean: The Divine Force (PS5), Labyrinth of Zangetsu (PS4) - all of those were from the Gamestop sale - plus Sonic Superstars & Super Mario Bros. Wonder (from trade-in deals)

Last week: Finished Ghostwire, played Super Mario Bros. Wonder

This week: More Mario, and may start something else too

I picked up a big Gamecube lot in a yard sale a couple of weekends ago for $30. So I didn't look at the games because of the price - unfortunately, they were all in REALLY bad condition. But since Gamestop takes trade-ins on vintage stuff now I took them over there - was upfront about the condition, told them to hit me with whatever refurb they saw fit. After the refurbs & boost for trading in towards Mario, still got $90+ out of them (and I didn't trade them all in, plus I still have the console which has a busted disc spindle but works fine otherwise, so I can fix that). I also kept the cases for about 5 of the games I traded in and have those listed on eBay. So I'm coming out way ahead, it just sucks that the games were so badly trashed. Also traded in FF16 and Dead Space remake (which is about to hit gamepass in a week or so) for the "trade 2 games off of this list towards a new game & get $50 credit" promo, which is how I ended up with Sonic. Actually, got Sonic, paid off my Mario RPG preorder, and only had to kick in $20 to get Mario Wonder. I call that a win.

Ghostwire was excellent from beginning to end. I finished it and have still been playing it some this weekend, which is always the sign of a really good game. The game deals a lot with loss & regret, and comes at it from different angles. Extremely well done, very highly recommended.

Mario Wonder is a blast so far. Wanted something completely different, and it fits the bill. Most of the 2D Marios that Nintendo have been putting out in recent years have been good but they've basically been nostalgia trips - minor tweaks on the classic formula. This is the first 2D game in ages where it feels like they really went for it. Very creative, and very fun.

[isthatallyougot]

I just need something to sink myself into and sorry izzy, but SMT3 is a little bleak and overwhelming at the moment though I absolutely will be going back to it at some point soon.

Sorry fam, I am kind of a mess this week. Hope all is well with y'all!

Don't sweat it crim. I already mentioned that I wanted to play TWEWY anyway. Don't be weighing yourself down on top of the loss of your cat. I'm sorry for your loss.

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

I got past a part of Broken Age where I was stuck, but I got stuck again I think, lol. I still haven't used a guide, and I'm hoping I can be stubborn enough not to do so. Act 1 was pretty straightforward, but Act 2 has ramped up the challenge a bit. I'm digging the fact that I've got to scratch my noodle a bit though - that on top of the general good game it is, puzzles aside.

I'm also still playing Animal Crossing WW daily.

And I've also been putting Elite Beat Agents into my rotation. Such a fun rhythm game with a wonderful style. It had been in my backlog forever...obviously, but I'm really happy I finally decided to give it a spin. "Agents are GO!!!"

[Phaseknox]

I finished The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and I enjoyed it for the most part. It took me around 20 hours to finish which I felt was longer than it needed to be. The main storyline actually isn’t too long, but the side quests make up a good portion of the game.

The game is essentially a dungeon crawler with four areas outside of the village hub area that act as dungeons. When going through these “dungeons” for the story missions you come across a lot of branching paths that are blocked off, and your character says that they need to come back at a later time to access them. All of the branching paths are for the side quests, and there’s a lot of them.

The side quests have their own individual mini stories that are separate from the main story, and often reward you with armor, weapons, accessories and items that you can’t buy. Not to mention that doing them also earns you XP, money and items from all of the battles that you get into when doing them. Most of the side quests are fetch quests where you have to fetch things within the dungeons, and they’re usually far from where you enter. There’s only one fast travel spot in each dungeon, and the dungeons are big.

Your character will dash through areas that enemies are weaker than her, but will walk slowly through areas that enemies are as strong or stronger than her. The majority of the areas the enemies are as strong or stronger than her, so most of the game you walk slowly through the long dungeons. And there’s random battles, and the encounter rate is high. When going through the dungeons for the first time for the story missions these aspects aren’t too bad, but going back to the same dungeons over and over again to fetch stuff for side quests having you go through a good portion of the same areas that you’ve already been through several times before becomes somewhat of a slog especially when you move slowly and are constantly getting into random battles every step of the way.

Some of the side quest stories are interesting, but a lot of them are dumb and fail at their attempts at humor. And the NPCs prattle on forever, there’s so much uninteresting text to read that it put me to sleep. Of course the side quests are optional, but I feel like I would have missed out on a lot of the game’s content and rewards by skipping them. Also, I’m not sure if I could have finished the game by skipping them because the game gets challenging near the end with powerful enemies in the last dungeon and two tough bosses (especially the final one) to contend with at the end.

Despite my complaints I still enjoyed my time with the game overall, I wouldn’t have played it for 20 hours and finished it if I didn’t. The main story was good, and the ending was satisfying. But the majority of the side quests are a drag, especially since they’re almost all same-y fetch quests that take place in the same few dungeons. The game could have definitely used a couple of more dungeons for variety.

The initial charm and cuteness of the game starts to wear off after several hours, and then it just kind of becomes a repetitive dungeon crawler with you feeling like you’re just doing the same things over and over again within the same few areas because you basically are. I still recommend the game to everyone here, but know going into it that it can be a bit repetitive and same-y throughout.

[Phaseknox]

I got my copy of Persona 5 Royal, and I’ve been playing it. The two biggest improvements that I’ve noticed so far are:

1) The surrounding screen filter effect in palaces (dungeons) that I disliked has been somewhat changed in appearance and reduced a little to where it’s not nearly as annoying, or quite as noticeable. It makes traversing the palaces more enjoyable now as it’s no longer as much of a distracting effect. I would still prefer it to not be there at all, but at least now it’s less intrusive than it was. Unfortunately, the bright pink foot splashes on the ground still remain.

2) Ranged weapons such as guns are actually useful now as their ammo refills after every battle. In the original game ammo didn’t refill until you left and returned to a palace which made absolutely no sense, and made the ranged weapons essentially useless. Every review for the game mentioned this which is why they changed it, but it’s still one of the most baffling design decisions that I’ve seen in a game before.

I’ve already experienced some new content in the game as well, this is definitely the complete and definitive version of the game.