The Backlog Check-in Vol. 306: 11/11/23: Flashback 2/Persona 5 Tactica/Super Mario RPG Remake Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Deliver Us Mars, Persona 4 Golden

Finished: Deliver Us Mars

Playing: Persona 4 Golden

Added: Persona 4 Golden

Games releasing this week
American Arcadia
Ark: Survival Ascended
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
Astral Ascent
Baker Street Breakouts
Below the Stone
Bluey: The Videogame
Boiling Point: Road to Hell
Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop - Official Tram Extension
Colossal Cave
Coral Island
Crusader Kings III: Fate of Iberia
Death Must Die
Deep Rock Galactic
Dredge - The Pale Reach
The Elder Scrolls Online: Endless Archive
Flashback 2
The Forest Quartet
Gods of the Twilight
Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands
Invincible Presents: Atom Eve
Jagged Alliance 3
KarmaZoo
The Kindeman Remedy
Lake Season’s Greetings
The Last Faith
The Muller Powell Principl
Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master
Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections
Persona 5 Tactica
PowerWash Simulator Back to the Future Special Pack
Prison City
Small Saga
Remnant II: The Awakened King
Sociable Soccer 24
Spirettea
Super Crazy Rhythm Castle
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Remake
Teardown
Tiger Blade
UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves
Victoria III: Colossus of the South
The Walking Dead: Destinies
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin
Wizordum
Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue
Zipp’s Cafe

[jfissel]

Finished: Code Name: STEAM

Now Playing: Spider-man 2, Like a Dragon Gaiden

Added to Backlog: Like a Dragon Gaiden

Current Backlog: 42 games

Code Name: STEAM is in the books. Some tough parts for sure, but a better game than I thought it would be.

Bought Like a Dragon Gaiden and will start that. Will also be buying the PowerWash Simulator Back to the Future DLC this week.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 34


I played a lot of Amalur last week. Finished the Dead Kel DLC and working toward the last big region in the main game. Still having a great time with it.

[isthatallyougot]

I've spent about 20 hours in Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer and have only made it about 2/3rds of the way through. Man is that game brutally unforgiving. But it's been fun.

Phase, I forgot to ask you where you get your list of all games coming out every week. I don't usually read them all, but I always meant to ask what your source was.

[Phaseknox]

Phase, I forgot to ask you where you get your list of all games coming out every week. I don't usually read them all, but I always meant to ask what your source was.

https://www.releases.com

[argyle]

Games added: Crymachina

Last week: Finished nothing, played Spider-Man 2 & Mario

This week: Focusing on Spidy

Spider-Man 2 is...good. I mean it's...it's fine. If you liked the first game, and are looking for more of that, then this is the game for you.

[argyle]

It was late when I posted that last night, so to elaborate on Spidy a little...

It's a great game, very well done, extremely polished. I'm really digging the story, combat gets better as you unlock more moves (and kicking it down to easy didn't hurt...) and of course it's fun to swing around the city. There's nothing wrong with it, and anyone looking to pick it up will probably really enjoy it.

I think I've said this in the past, but I just feel like I'm getting burnt out on the AAA open world games. This is definitely one of the better ones, being an Insomniac joint, but still. These games are like summer blockbuster movies. They're tons of fun - and heck, some of my favorite movies are summer blockbusters. But after a while you just get burnt out on the spectacle and want something a little more nuanced.

[isthatallyougot]

https://www.releases.com

Ok thanks. Maybe you mentioned it, but I couldn't remember.

It was late when I posted that last night, so to elaborate on Spidy a little...

It's a great game, very well done, extremely polished. I'm really digging the story, combat gets better as you unlock more moves (and kicking it down to easy didn't hurt...) and of course it's fun to swing around the city. There's nothing wrong with it, and anyone looking to pick it up will probably really enjoy it.

I think I've said this in the past, but I just feel like I'm getting burnt out on the AAA open world games. This is definitely one of the better ones, being an Insomniac joint, but still. These games are like summer blockbuster movies. They're tons of fun - and heck, some of my favorite movies are summer blockbusters. But after a while you just get burnt out on the spectacle and want something a little more nuanced.

Yeah, I loved the first one, but I've had my fill of big-budget AAA games, or at least I haven't felt a need to play many recently. The last, I guess 3 years, I've really toned down my mainstream gaming, or at least been playing a bunch of older and smaller / indie titles. My favorite game of the past 3 years (and high on my all-time list) is Unreal World. 37 megabytes of awesome that completely disabused me of any remaining notion of mainstream "hype" I had left within me. (Dude is still pumping out updates consistently - more than 30 years after first release!) It's not that I can't enjoy big-budget stuff, and I like to throw one on every now and then, but they're often missing the depth that I'm looking for more and more as my engagement evolves with this hobby. I've always enjoyed games that care first and foremost about depth and have a real commitment to offering an experience that takes genuine involvement to fully explore. Anyway, I'm sure I'll enjoy Spidey 2, probably very much, but I already know what it is.

[canedaddy]

I think I've said this in the past, but I just feel like I'm getting burnt out on the AAA open world games. This is definitely one of the better ones, being an Insomniac joint, but still. These games are like summer blockbuster movies. They're tons of fun - and heck, some of my favorite movies are summer blockbusters. But after a while you just get burnt out on the spectacle and want something a little more nuanced.

I'm not sure what you mean by AAA open world games. Are you talking more about the mass market types (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, etc.) or everything (Elden Ring, Tears of the Kingdom, etc.)?

[argyle]

I think I've said this in the past, but I just feel like I'm getting burnt out on the AAA open world games. This is definitely one of the better ones, being an Insomniac joint, but still. These games are like summer blockbuster movies. They're tons of fun - and heck, some of my favorite movies are summer blockbusters. But after a while you just get burnt out on the spectacle and want something a little more nuanced.

I'm not sure what you mean by AAA open world games. Are you talking more about the mass market types (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, etc.) or everything (Elden Ring, Tears of the Kingdom, etc.)?

Mass market. Elden Ring & TotK are definitely outliers, they're insanely innovative and unique. Both of those worlds are just a joy to explore just to see what you find - not to collect the next widget or bauble to check something off a list.

I'm definitely not saying ALL open-world games, and I'd be a fool to say that the genre doesn't have room for growth or innovation, because it clearly does. The problem is that when most devs sink the amount of money that's needed to make a huge open world with the graphical level that most mainstream gamers require, they can't afford NOT to play it safe. Well, most can't. R* can do whatever they want to with GTA & it will sell like gangbusters, so I'm hoping they do something really fresh with the new one. And I'll be in for From Software's next open-world game day-1, whatever it is.

I think really my frustration is more with Sony than anything else. I was going to go through and check the stats, but I'm lazy, so I'll make my point and everyone here has been around long enough that you all know what I'm saying is true: Sony used to be the king of the offbeat game. They put out games in every conceivable genre on the PS1 - they even invented some genres, like the rhythm game for example. Tons of RPGs, action games, platformers - a first person platformer where you're a robot rabbit? Sure! A clown in an ice cream truck blowing the crap out of other cars? Yes! A pink-haired guy fighting pigs? Definitely. Introduce our new 2-joystick controller with a game about catching monkeys with a net? Oh, yes. This innovation carried into the PS2 days. It was still there with the PS3 and PS4 even, although there were signs that they were becoming more conservative. But this gen that creative spirit is just gone. The closure of Japan Studio was the signal that they had closed that chapter. I miss the Sony that got me back into console gaming. Maybe the change in leadership will bring some of that back, we'll see. In the meantime, indie games are filling that void for me.