The Backlog Check-in Vol. 117: 3/28/20: Resident Evil 3 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Ys Origin, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Finished (playing): Ys Origin

Playing: Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

I started playing Ys Origin, but it didn't hold my interest for too long. It's an older game that originally came out in 2006 for PC, and got ported to consoles somewhat recently. While it's described as an action RPG, it's actually more of an isometric view action platformer. While there is some NPC interaction for story purposes, the core game is making your way up one giant tower (dungeon) hacking and slashing enemies and platforming. The combat is arcade-y, fast, frantic and button mash-y. There's no block or evade, so the combat feels kind of shallow. It's not bad, but it does feel archaic. Despite being an older game, it still holds up rather well from a technical standpoint since it's in HD widescreen. The graphics are decent, and it runs at a smooth 60fps. But it's essentially a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler which aren't really my thing. I might give it another go in the future, but it's not something that I'm in the mood for right now.

I started playing Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, and it clicked with me right away. It originally came out on the Vita so the graphics look a little dated, but they're still good especially the art direction since everything is colorful and the game runs at a smooth 60fps. The characters have an appealing anime look, and fit in the colorful game world well. The core game is a third person real-time action RPG with fun combat, and a lot of exploration. You start off on a passenger ship with a lot of other passengers, but an event occurs that sinks the ship and you get washed up on the shore of an island. The game takes place on this big island that's filled with monsters. You meet the captain of the ship early on, and find a secure place to build shelter. Your first order of business is to gather resources, and find other passengers. This means exploring the island, and fighting a lot of enemies while doing so. While the island is open world in the sense that it's all interconnected, there are places that you can't access right away since they're blocked by big boulders or landslides that need to be removed. These require a certain amount of people to remove, and you can't remove them until you have the required amount of people which you get by finding passengers. So this makes where you go somewhat directed, but the areas are big and open with branching paths so you still get a lot of area to explore without ever feeling overwhelmed. I really like the design structure of the game, and the stranded on a deserted island theme is refreshing for a JRPG. All of the quests are based on exploring the island to find resources to survive, build a bigger, better and more fortified shelter and ultimately build a big boat to get off the island. It's a nice change of pace from the usual fantasy and sci-fi themes found in most JRPGs.

Resident Evil 3 comes out this week.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 35 games

Should be able to finish Shadow of the Tomb Raider this week and then move on to the DLC. Actually got a good amount of playing time last week since I haven't really left my place lately.

[crimson_tide]

Played: Brave Vesperia's Big Balling Ass Hat Adventure

Beat: nothing

Bought: nothing...but PSN Spring Sale starts tomorrow so watch this space!

Speaking of PSN, ever since I got a PS4 I hardly buy any physical games anymore. PSN has good enough deals if I wait and I am rarely in a rush. Unless it's Yakuza or Kingdom Hearts, I only buy physical on a ridiculously good deal. My wife and I foster little tykes and not having physical media around is a blessing because they get in everything. Also, my wife travels a lot over the year and if I go and will be in a hotel while she is conferencing and all that nonsense, I have access to my whole library.

So, since it's been a minute, do you folks have a physical or digital preference?

[isthatallyougot]

So, since it's been a minute, do you folks have a physical or digital preference?

I've still got a large physical collection although I've been selling off a good chunk of it. I'm at the point where I certainly prefer digital. With Steam/GOG/Emulation/etc, it's just too convenient and doesn't have the space requirements. Honestly, I'm moving more and more towards real minimalism and have been for a while and digital certainly fits in with that. I do like keeping physical copies of games that I consider true classics though, if available.

[Phaseknox]

do you folks have a physical or digital preference?

Owning a physical copy of something makes it feel more real IMO, so if I have the choice between physical and digital (if there's little to no price difference between the two) then I almost always go physical. I sometimes have to pay more for physical music CDs, but it's worth it to me to own a physical copy of an album (CDs offer better sound quality than MP3s, and I've been collecting them since the 80s) as opposed to digital downloads.

However, when it comes to games I will buy them digitally if they're substantially cheaper than physical which is mostly the case with Japanese games not published by Bandai Namco or Square Enix. Also, I don't mind buying digital copies of games that are available physically that are indie/low budget if they're cheaper than physical since I primarily like having physical copies of the bigger budget more substantial stuff. I own 150+ digital games, and there's very few that I would prefer to own physically.

With that said, there are some downsides when it comes to physical games and why I might do digital only next gen. My Xbox 360 disc drive decided to basically stop reading discs (it will sometimes read them after opening and closing the disc tray several times) rendering my huge collection of games for it useless unless I buy another one which will have to be used which I'm not happy about. Also, I bought a somewhat expensive used PS4 game (niche JPRG) that I didn't play right away and when I did play it partly into it I got a disc read error and couldn't progress any further.