The Backlog Check-in Vol. 294: 8/19/23: Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Edition

[canedaddy]

Souldiers continues to be an incredible game, but the slowdown has gotten worse on the Switch version I'm playing to the point that it's seriously affecting my enjoyment. So I've decided I'm going to sell my copy & pick it up for the PS4 (I want it physical because it's such a great game). Starting over will not be a chore.

I just watched a trailer for that. Adding it to the ol' wishlist.



Played recently: Destroy All Humans

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 34


The forced stealth in Destroy All Humans is making it unpleasant for me. PS2 memories: "Mission failed. You were seen." Hoping I can force my way through the last few missions and move on. (The destruction and PK is still fun, but there's only so much you can do.)

[crimson_tide]

I was not feeling Destroy All Humans either old man. It wasn't clicking and that stealth stuff was a big reason. I just wanted to break stuff. Bummer.

Phase, this crpg character creation ish is scaring the hell out of me! So many choices, such analysis paralysis ! I ran right back to the safety of Ishin. I need to be brave though, Midnight Suns taught me that this could be the genre for my old ass. I ain't good at none of these character action titles, I suck at beat em ups, I get clowned in fighting games...basic action RPG's and turned based is going to have to be my go to because I still want to see cool ish happen when I press buttons. I know Divinity Original Sin 2 has preset characters, maybe to start I will go with one of those. But Wasteland 3 had a great opening before I got scared by the character creator. And they want me to make TWO characters ?!? I gotta suck it up ...

Why did you start with Wasteland 3 instead of 2? I haven’t played either of them, so I don’t know what their character creators are like. As for the Divinity Original Sin games, the main problem that I had with them is that every single battle is long and drawn out even against weaker enemies. And almost all of the enemies including animals like alligators use magic attacks instead of melee attacks to the point of ridiculousness. There are no quick battles where you can just spam the attack command and wipe out the enemies to grind, every battle is methodical and tactical. Add in endless amounts of text dialogue to read, and I was finding everything to be too slow paced for my liking. Perhaps you’ll feel differently, but I just couldn’t stick with them for those reasons.

I was mainly talking about how crpg's expect you to create characters whole cloth. I push back against most open world games because it's just too much. I like a guided experience, I need a critical path. I can't just 'make my own fun', I need checklists and benchmarks and skill checks, all that. This is why Ubisoft cut/paste style works for me, it just makes sense. Part of this little experiment of running a crpg arc is to see how I can push back against that a bit. I ran a fighting game arc last year and realized how trash I am at fighting games and DMC this summer made me realize character action games are likely not for me anymore . However, I have always been curious about games like FF14 and PSO2 but terrified because I get paralyzed by choice. I want to test that analysis paralysis a bit. And the things you described about not liking in Divinity are precisely what I am looking for. I want something slower paced at this point and Midnight Suns showed me that a slower pace could be cool and with some good writing possibly great! I loved the tactical battles and still getting to see cool ish happen. So into Wastelander 3 I went...oh and to answer your question Phase, Wastelanders 3 was not only prettier, it had a much cooler trailer and after digging a bit through reviews and suggestions, 3 was suggested as a good entry point for newbs to the genre along with Divinity OS 1 and 2 and Shadowrun Returns. Hence my recent game choices.

As for Wastelanders 3, I made Big Papi and Big Mami. He's going to be a brawler melee technician and she's going be a gunner type. It's good thus far! I liked the hour or so I played after muscling through 3 or so hours of analysis paralysis. It felt pretty snappy and fun. Still tactical but it might be a bit slow for you. I think you should still give it a shot Phase. All of this is to say, I think the remainder of my summer will be spent with...


TOKYO XANADU EX+ ...wait what ? Well, when I was cleaning out my memory, I kept this file, fired it up and it just clicked. I got it. It's Persona by way of Ys. I dig. So i will be bouncing between this and Wastelander 3. Shadowrun just wasn't hitting at the moment. Then I want to get to the big boys later this year like Divinity and what not. And while returns didn't hit, there's two other games in the Shadowrun trilogy that might .

[isthatallyougot]

This is why Ubisoft cut/paste style works for me, it just makes sense.

I'm so grateful we all have our own brains.

[Phaseknox]

the things you described about not liking in Divinity are precisely what I am looking for. I want something slower paced at this point and Midnight Suns showed me that a slower pace could be cool and with some good writing possibly great! I loved the tactical battles and still getting to see cool ish happen. So into Wastelander 3 I went...oh and to answer your question Phase, Wastelanders 3 was not only prettier, it had a much cooler trailer and after digging a bit through reviews and suggestions, 3 was suggested as a good entry point for newbs to the genre along with Divinity OS 1 and 2 and Shadowrun Returns. Hence my recent game choices.

As for Wastelanders 3, I made Big Papi and Big Mami. He's going to be a brawler melee technician and she's going be a gunner type. It's good thus far! I liked the hour or so I played after muscling through 3 or so hours of analysis paralysis. It felt pretty snappy and fun. Still tactical but it might be a bit slow for you. I think you should still give it a shot Phase.

I’m curious to hear what you think of the Divinity Original Sin games when you play them. As for Wasteland 2 and 3, I have both and plan on playing them eventually at some point.

[isthatallyougot]

Max Curse of Brotherhood is much better than I was expecting going in. It had positive reviews, but I didn't expect the level of polish and engagement I'm finding. I think pretty much everyone here would enjoy it - if you haven't played it already. It's really charming and just has that innocent sense of youthful adventure. I must have not noticed it back in the day because I think it was Xbox only at the time.

[crimson_tide]

This is why Ubisoft cut/paste style works for me, it just makes sense.

I'm so grateful we all have our own brains.

That's cold izzy, I am trying to grow you big bully .

I like to know where I am going and staying on the path with slight deviations of my choosing. Yakuza is PERFECT for what I like. Substory to plot to wander this small dense area with minigames back to plot at my pace. Such a good system. I also like checklists. The murder list in Assassin's Creed is goddamn AMAZING for me. My favorite bit from Yakuza 3 (besides the shockingly coherent story) is the same type of list involving 100 hitmen so having a list where I can run around and plot out my path using the game systems to solve the problem was just ambrosia for me, I could not get enough. So the checklist combined with the erstwhile copy/paste nature for getting stuff and xp and whatnot kinda feels just right for me.

I understand I am an outlier but I can't normally deal with all the control they give you in games like crpg's and the like. I am already freaking out at the inventory in Wasteland 3. Plus they gave me like 4 or so things to do when the game started proper...so I ran right back to Ishin and Tokyo Xanadu because simple . It's gonna take some time to retrain this 44 year old brain but I am game to try !

[isthatallyougot]

That's cold izzy, I am trying to grow you big bully .

I like to know where I am going and staying on the path with slight deviations of my choosing. Yakuza is PERFECT for what I like. Substory to plot to wander this small dense area with minigames back to plot at my pace. Such a good system. I also like checklists. The murder list in Assassin's Creed is goddamn AMAZING for me. My favorite bit from Yakuza 3 (besides the shockingly coherent story) is the same type of list involving 100 hitmen so having a list where I can run around and plot out my path using the game systems to solve the problem was just ambrosia for me, I could not get enough. So the checklist combined with the erstwhile copy/paste nature for getting stuff and xp and whatnot kinda feels just right for me.

I understand I am an outlier but I can't normally deal with all the control they give you in games like crpg's and the like. I am already freaking out at the inventory in Wasteland 3. Plus they gave me like 4 or so things to do when the game started proper...so I ran right back to Ishin and Tokyo Xanadu because simple . It's gonna take some time to retrain this 44 year old brain but I am game to try !

No, I was making fun of myself with the gif - not you! I must be the one without the brain, given the popularity of Ubi's stuff. *I'm* the outlier, all dizzy and confused.

But I surely get what you mean about having more restrictions on potential actions/directions. It can be overwhelming without it, and I have to be in the right mood to enjoy the liberation of more open games. I tend to vary in my likes/dislikes depending on how I'm feeling at any give time though, and so I just float on those winds as they arise.

PS. If drowning in inventory overwhelms...DO.NOT.PLAY.CHRONICON............EVER!!!!! Seriously.

[argyle]

Since I'm unable to play Souldiers until I get it swapped around (c'mon, someone buy my Switch copy already so I can justify buying the PS4 version! ), I've fallen into one of my "comfort games" when I'm not up for something as involved as Ys IX. That would be replaying Bloodstained again. I think that Metroidvania is just my genre of choice. Not that I never play anything else, but I just LOVE a good MV game, and Bloodstained is a great one. Igga's just a master of them.

[Phaseknox]

I like to know where I am going and staying on the path with slight deviations of my choosing. Yakuza is PERFECT for what I like. Substory to plot to wander this small dense area with minigames back to plot at my pace. Such a good system. I also like checklists. The murder list in Assassin's Creed is goddamn AMAZING for me. My favorite bit from Yakuza 3 (besides the shockingly coherent story) is the same type of list involving 100 hitmen so having a list where I can run around and plot out my path using the game systems to solve the problem was just ambrosia for me, I could not get enough. So the checklist combined with the erstwhile copy/paste nature for getting stuff and xp and whatnot kinda feels just right for me.

You don’t need to explain why you like what you like, you especially don’t need to explain why you like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey because it’s obvious to anyone who’s played it why you like it. It’s one of the best games ever made, and the murder checklist is part of why it is IMO. Izzy has played one Ubisoft game (Assassin’s Creed 1), and thinks that he’s an expert on all of their games because of it. Ubisoft like every game company has their hits and misses, but they have more hits as far as I’m concerned. They’ve made some of my favorite games, and they deserve credit for that.

I understand I am an outlier but I can't normally deal with all the control they give you in games like crpg's and the like. I am already freaking out at the inventory in Wasteland 3. Plus they gave me like 4 or so things to do when the game started proper...so I ran right back to Ishin and Tokyo Xanadu because simple .

You’re not an outlier because you don’t like complicated mechanics, menus and systems in games. I don’t like that ish either. I’m tired of difficult to learn and understand technical crap in games these days, when did developers start thinking that stuff made games more fun? It does the opposite. I like things kept fairly simple for the most part, I like the challenge of games to come from the actual gameplay and not from trying to figure out a bunch of complicated ish. And don’t get me started on crafting, I’m so f’n tired of crafting in games. I just want to find, earn, or purchase armor, equipment, weapons, potions, etc. I don’t want to have to collect tons of ingredients, materials and other such crap to make it myself. That’s just unnecessary busywork, and ain’t nobody got time for that. Games are meant to be fun, not work. All of the complicated and hard to understand intricate ish in modern games needs to stop, just give me the basics and let me enjoy myself without complicating things.

I've fallen into one of my "comfort games" when I'm not up for something as involved as Ys IX. That would be replaying Bloodstained again. I think that Metroidvania is just my genre of choice. Not that I never play anything else, but I just LOVE a good MV game, and Bloodstained is a great one. Igga's just a master of them.

Speaking of Ys IX, I’m on chapter 6 now and I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with it until the end. It’s just feeling really repetitive and same-y at this point. You retread the same areas and dungeons quite a bit, and I’m losing interest in it. The story is kind of ridiculous, and some of the characters can be grating. There’s too many of them as well IMO.

As for Metroidvanias especially 2D side scrolling ones, they’re not really a favorite of mine since I tend to get stuck in them fairly easily. I prefer third person ones like Darksiders III, but there’s not a lot of third person ones. I have quite a bit of 2D side scrolling ones since I got them cheap during PS Store sales, but it’s hard for me to usually stick with them for very long because I get stumped as to where to go and what to do in them somewhat easily.

[isthatallyougot]

You don’t need to explain why you like what you like, you especially don’t need to explain why you like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey because it’s obvious to anyone who’s played it why you like it. It’s one of the best games ever made, and the murder checklist is part of why it is IMO. Izzy has played one Ubisoft game (Assassin’s Creed 1), and thinks that he’s an expert on all of their games because of it. Ubisoft like every game company has their hits and misses, but they have more hits as far as I’m concerned. They’ve made some of my favorite games, and they deserve credit for that.

I don't think I'm an expert on Ubisoft games. I just know what appeals to me and, generally speaking, Ubi's stuff isn't it. I've not played tons of their games, to be fair (although more than 1, ha), but I educate myself about games as a part of my ongoing interest and involvement with this hobby, and I consider myself well-informed via various means (reviews, videos, etc) about what their games are at their essence. For me, they're assembly line examples of efficiency over passion. Products-first rather than craft/art at the fore. That's not to say it's "wrong" to enjoy them, certainly. Big Macs taste good no matter how ubiquitous and formulaic. I just don't want to eat them often, if that makes sense. And I think everyone should enjoy what they enjoy and stay away from that which they don't. Ubi games are popular for a reason, and there's nothing wrong with that. I personally just don't like their approach to design or craft.