The Backlog Check-in Vol. 327: 4/6/24: Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Absolver, Divinity II: Ego Draconis, Forgone, Just Cause 3, A Space for the Unbound

Finished: Nothing

Playing: A Space for the Unbound

Added: Nothing

I’ve been playing different games trying to find something that I want to stick with.

I played Absolver which is a 3D beat ‘em up, but despite looking and playing pretty good it lacks story and characterization and kind of feels like a tech demo.

I played Divinity II: Ego Draconis which is a third person action RPG, and I was really enjoying it. But it was feeling a bit familiar since I played and finished it before, so I stopped playing it because I’m more in the mood to play games that I haven’t played before right now.

I played Forgone which is a 2.5D side scrolling action platformer with some Soulslike elements. I was enjoying it for a while, but it became kind of difficult which made me quit playing.

I played Just Cause 3 which is a decent third person open world action/shooter/blow up everything game, but I don’t like the character that you play as (Rico Rodriguez) so I stopped playing.

Now I’m playing A Space for the Unbound which is a 2D side scrolling pixel art narrative adventure game with mini-games and puzzles. The story and characters are interesting, and it has charm. I plan on finishing it.

Games releasing this week
Anomaly Collapse
Bioid
Botany Manor
Broken Roads
Bunhouse
Children of the Sun
The Devil Within: Satgat
Die Again
Ereban: Shadow Legacy
Final Factory
Gigantic: Rampage Edition
Glorious Savior
Golazo! 2
Goons: Legends & Mayhem
Headquarters: World War II
House Flipper 2
Inkbound
Jack Holmes: Master of Puppets
The Kindeman Remedy
Last Hope Bunker: Zombie Survival
Loretta
Lotus Lantern: Rescue Mother
Moonglow Bay
Outer Terror
Revival: Recolonization
Sky: Children of the Light
Slave Zero X
Sophia the Traveler
Space Prison
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
Throne of Bone
Turbo Kid
Underspace
Wildfrost
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
Yet Another Fantasy Title

[argyle]

Games added: Fran Bow (switch physical), Play-Asia order arrived: World of Horror, Afterimage, Princess Peach: Showtime!, Getsufumaden (all switch) & The Man Who Erased His Name (PS5)

Last week: Slay the Spire, Unicorn Overlord, Dragon's Dogma 2

This week: Same

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a quirky game that took a little while to click with me (and Tam), but once it did it hit hard. It's a LOT of fun, a great exploration RPG. Really scratches that Elder Scrolls itch of wandering around & exploring. This has been a banger year for RPGs so far, especially of the Japanese variety, and it doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

I lied about Slay the Spire, I'm determined to see the true ending. I've beaten it with 3 of the 4 characters so far. Helps that it's playable on my work PC.

UO continues to be amazing.

In other news, Gamestop was running a 50% trade-in bonus deal last week that I learned about on Friday. Usually that doesn't matter since most of their values are way too low to begin with, but they gave me $56 for Super Mario Wonder, so I traded that & an $8 Switch game I accidentally bought twice - put the $64 towards Stellar Blade. Demo was fun.

[isthatallyougot]

I finished up everything in Guacamelee STCE, and I mean *everything*, ha. I don't do that too often, even for games I love, but there was something so alluring about the challenges on offer here. UHHHH-mazing game for me! There were some really fun tasks, both in terms of combat and platforming, and everything was just tied up with a beautiful wrapper in the form of a funny and unique presentation. Really a special game imho.

I've also decided to, sooner or later, finally play Morrowind. I definitely want to experience it as close to vanilla as possible since this will be my first playthrough, so I only added the "code-patch" and "purist-patch" to remove as many bugs as possible (oh Bethesda, lol), and I configured things for wide screen with some UI changes for my pleasure, but it's essentially the same as it released - minus the crap. I hope I end up loving it. I've looked forward to it for a long time...a LOOOOONG time ha, but just didn't pull the trigger because I'm fairly sure I'll get sucked in big-time. I'm looking forward to it while I'm playing some other smaller titles in the mean time...building a bit more anticipation, if that's possible lol.

[Phaseknox]

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a quirky game that took a little while to click with me (and Tam), but once it did it hit hard. It's a LOT of fun, a great exploration RPG. Really scratches that Elder Scrolls itch of wandering around & exploring.

Did you play the first Dragon’s Dogma, it’s one of my favorite PS3/Xbox 360 generation games. I really want to play the sequel, but I have to wait until I get a PS5 which won’t be until the end of this year at the earliest.

Gamestop was running a 50% trade-in bonus deal last week that I learned about on Friday. Usually that doesn't matter since most of their values are way too low to begin with, but they gave me $56 for Super Mario Wonder

So I could have got $1.50 for each of my PS4 games instead of $1.00? That’s actually not an exaggeration, I literally got $1.00 trade in credit for a lot of my PS4 games that I traded in to GameStop somewhat recently. I realistically should have just kept them since that’s basically just giving them away, but I just wanted to get rid of them. I kept the ones that they would give me less than $1.00 for. Yes they give less than $1.00 for some games, but that’s GameStop for you. They’ve never given much for games, but now they give next to nothing.

[Phaseknox]

I finished A Space for the Unbound, and I found it to be a mixed bag overall. It’s primarily a narrative adventure game, so it’s something that you play more for the story and characters than for the gameplay which there’s not a lot of. There’s some mini-games, key item puzzles and cerebral puzzles, but the game is primarily running back and forth through the same few areas interacting with NPCs, reading text and triggering story events.

It was designed in Indonesia (where it also takes place), and the English translation is rough at times. Since the story is completely told through text this does hinder the overall experience a bit. Also, the writing is hit and miss which could be due to the translation as well. The game is also longer than it should be with content that should have been edited out that makes things drag a bit IMO. It would have worked better as a shorter tighter experience focusing more on the main characters, and less on a lot of the side townsfolk characters.

As with a lot of indie games the story is somewhat ambiguous, and admittedly a little more out there than I would like. But I still found it entertaining and interesting enough to want to play it to the end. The story is somewhat intriguing, the 2D pixel art and music are good and there’s some fun mini-games and clever puzzles.

[argyle]

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a quirky game that took a little while to click with me (and Tam), but once it did it hit hard. It's a LOT of fun, a great exploration RPG. Really scratches that Elder Scrolls itch of wandering around & exploring.

Did you play the first Dragon’s Dogma, it’s one of my favorite PS3/Xbox 360 generation games.

Not really - I mean, I played a little of it, but not enough so that I would really consider that I "played" it. It never clicked with me at the time for whatever reason.

EDIT: Oh! I keep forgetting to mention something else I picked up last week. Ever since I sold my PS4 Pro I've regretted it. Yeah, you can play PS4 games on the PS5, but it's not quite the same - and honestly, at this point I'd say the PS4 is my favorite Sony system. It has the best library IMO, and I easily own more games for it than any other system (Switch is catching up, but it still has a ways to go).

Anyway, I've been wanting to get another PS4 Pro, but I wanted to get a special edition. What I *really* wanted was the Monster Hunter edition that was a Japanese exclusive, so last week Tam told me just to go ahead & order the thing already. It came in Friday, and I love it - looks amazing and is in near-mint condition. This isn't mine, but this is what the system looks like:

[Phaseknox]

Ever since I sold my PS4 Pro I've regretted it. Yeah, you can play PS4 games on the PS5, but it's not quite the same

How is it not quite the same to play PS4 games on PS5? I would think that it would be better because they have higher frame rates, and shorter load times.

I'd say the PS4 is my favorite Sony system. It has the best library IMO, and I easily own more games for it than any other system

The PS4 is my favorite PlayStation console, I own close to 1000 games for it which is the most games that I’ve owned for any console. I’m still fairly satisfied with it which is why I haven’t got a PS5 yet.

I've been wanting to get another PS4 Pro, but I wanted to get a special edition. What I *really* wanted was the Monster Hunter edition that was a Japanese exclusive, so last week Tam told me just to go ahead & order the thing already. It came in Friday, and I love it

It looks awesome.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Windbound, unsure

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 42 games

Two Point Campus is on sale for like $8, so I grabbed that as something different. Have not played anything lately, unfortunately...hope to get more free time soon!

[isthatallyougot]

Now Playing: Windbound, unsure

You going to stick with Winbound j?

[jfissel]

Now Playing: Windbound, unsure

You going to stick with Winbound j?

I am going to attempt to get past chapter 3, yes.