This past summer I beat the trial of the sword on master mode, which is probably my most proud video game moment of all time.
I agree that the Middle and Final trials are considerably easier. I was stuck on the beginning trial for days before I was able to beat it. That level with the three Lizalfos is painful.
That's where I kept getting stuck. It's just awful. I think the final trials would be much harder without the guardian arrows. I do think that's cheating a little bit. Having to beat two silver lynels is rough without them. I had 4 fairies saved up and when I tried to take him on one on one I was toast after 4 hits.
i like using my switch for indies, old console games (PS1/PS2 and/or N64 thru wii-u) and the exclusives, but the "exclusivity" charm of playing games on the go and on TV has dried up now that Apple is literally doing the same thing with their Arcade system (and maybe even doing it better than nintendo since some of the popular games like Genshin impact play decently on ios, whereas they might underperform on switch (this might vary by case)). a switch pro would be nice, but yeah graphics isnt exactly the seller here for me, performance rate is the more important aspect
Getting through the beginning prologue, but I've crashed a few times. The last time was opening up my inventory to look at the first drop from a crate.
Finally got my physical copy of Return of the Obra Dinn from Limited Run last week, so my fiancée and I played through it together and completed it on the weekend.
Man, what a fantastic and interesting game to work through. The one-bit style of graphical treatment works so well, and the attention to detail is quite something. The mystery/puzzle-solving mechanic was very engaging. It is such a truly unique game, there really isn't anything else that you can compare it to.
I held off playing it for a long time because I wanted a physical version of it, and I'm so glad I didn't look anything up or spoil the game for myself. If you enjoy puzzle games, or even mystery/detective stories, go in blind and play this one all the way through.
After months of playing on and off, I finally finished Ghost of Tsushima this weekend. I really enjoyed the game. When it comes to open world games, things go one of two ways for me. Either I get sucked in and spend hours and hours just wandering and filling in the map, looking for secrets along the way, or I tire of it quickly and rush through things just to get to the end. This game is definitely the former, joining the likes of most of the Rockstar games, Breath of the Wild, and some of the PS exclusives (Spider-Man, Infamous). I got the Platinum trophy for the game, one of only 3 I have - Spider-Man and Infamous being the other two. I found GoT's world to be dense and widely varied, each new location providing something that interested me.
I've seen complaints about the combat getting stale, but I never found that to be the case. Sure, the fights tend to go down the same each time, but taking out that group of enemies without getting touched was always satisfying. Standoffs were highly satisfying. The whole thing felt like playing an action movie in that sense, and I enjoyed it. I honestly didn't use the ghost weapons that much, but when I did they were also fun and added some variety.
The collectibles needed for the Platinum were fairly basic, but I love how they made sense in the world. Shrines, haikus, bamboo strikes, nothing here feels out of place. Even the waypoint and secret trackers - a gust of wind, golden bird, and firefly, all feel natural. Nothing felt overly grindy, and I found nearly everything in the game just by filling in the map with the traveller's attire equipped. I missed a couple crickets, banners, and Mongol artifacts, but they weren't required for the platinum and only provided cosmetic benefits and minor lore.
The story is straightforward and predictable, but even so, I found it easy to get invested in. Helping your major allies find redemption/revenge/etc. helped endear me to each, and made the big battles feel that much more eventful, especially when one of them would fall in combat. Instead of the thought "I have to keep them up to not fail the mission" the thought became "I have to help keep my friend alive."
The finale of the game really stuck with me. I knew early on that Jin would not be redeemed, and eventually his uncle would come for his head. Things panned out predictably once the Khan was dead, but that last scene riding to the final showdown with Shimura was BEAUTIFUL. Seeing him cry as we began the duel really drove the point home of how conflicted he was, yet had to stick to his principles. As for the final choice, I decided to spare him. Jin was unredeemable at this point, and providing the honorable Samurai death at this point would not have changed it. It is disrespectful to the Samurai code, but Jin already lost his title at this point. Everything he did in the game was an attempt to benefit his people, so hurting their leader would have thrown things further into chaos in my opinion. The look Shimura gives Jin when you choose this also seemed to hold some relief, which furthered my conviction. I sat on that screen for a long time, but in the end I think I chose the better option.
It's that time again for your regularly scheduled Binding of Isaac update. Looking into the completion achievements a bit more, I discovered that most of what I was missing was due to beating Greedier mode with each character. I also found that there were two achievements for each character - one for earning every completion mark, and one specifically for beating Greedier mode. The thing that sucks is that the completion marks requirement increased with each DLC, as more modes were added. I've done everything from the previous DLC's, so had I not installed the newest one I would have those unlocks already. I hate Greedier mode, so I decided to look into mods to help out. I found one specifically called Easier Greed Mode, so I installed it. Turns out it makes things TOO easy. Instead of one power up in each room, there's 4, and you can take all of them. There's also health, keys, and bombs which usually don't show up, and a reroll machine. Broken runs happen SUPER easy this way, so I set a limit to not take the free health, and only one of the items in each room, so basically I just had a choice of 4 options instead of the normal one. Makes things slightly easier, but also still challenging. Now that those are out of the way, I'm back to regular random runs chasing those completionist dreams, hopefully before Repentance comes out.
Getting through the beginning prologue, but I've crashed a few times. The last time was opening up my inventory to look at the first drop from a crate.
After falling in love with Hades, I bought Pyre, Bastion, and Transistor on the cheap during a Steam sale.
Trying Bastion first. It's not bad....it's just repetitive as heck. It really shouldn't be played for the gameplay (that's a weird though, right?). The art is great, the use of the narrator, and the story, thus far, is interesting. The world is pretty cool how it populates under your feet, continually reminding you of the desolation of, well, the calamity. But the combat is a snoozefest.
With that said, I've gotten home to something other than my 2-in-1: i.e., my PC that handle most anything thrown at it. Here are the games I'll be playing in the coming days to weeks to months:
Horizon Zero Dawn (just started this morning, only played about 30 minutes; seems cool so far, although I'm not past the "here is how you do things part" so we'll see)
Control
Doom Eternal
Prey
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (I know, it's supposed to be crap but I loved the first two in the remake so you only YOLO once)
Middle Earth: Shadows of War (enjoyed the first game; became a little bit long-in-the-tooth by the end but the combat was off-the-hook fun)
Metro 2033/Metro Last Light (Redux versions) (I know I'm VERY late to the party here but there's only so much time in the day so these never became a part of my gameplay)
The Witcher III
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (enjoyed the first one, hope this one delivers too)
Final Fantasy XV (never been into FF, never been against it; but a co-worker told me that XV is a thing unto itself, so I grabbed it)
Borderlands 3
After falling in love with Hades, I bought Pyre, Bastion, and Transistor on the cheap during a Steam sale.
Trying Bastion first. It's not bad....it's just repetitive as heck. It really shouldn't be played for the gameplay (that's a weird though, right?). The art is great, the use of the narrator, and the story, thus far, is interesting. The world is pretty cool how it populates under your feet, continually reminding you of the desolation of, well, the calamity. But the combat is a snoozefest.
With that said, I've gotten home to something other than my 2-in-1: i.e., my PC that handle most anything thrown at it. Here are the games I'll be playing in the coming days to weeks to months:
Horizon Zero Dawn (just started this morning, only played about 30 minutes; seems cool so far, although I'm not past the "here is how you do things part" so we'll see)
Control
Doom Eternal
Prey
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (I know, it's supposed to be crap but I loved the first two in the remake so you only YOLO once)
Middle Earth: Shadows of War (enjoyed the first game; became a little bit long-in-the-tooth by the end but the combat was off-the-hook fun)
Metro 2033/Metro Last Light (Redux versions) (I know I'm VERY late to the party here but there's only so much time in the day so these never became a part of my gameplay)
The Witcher III
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (enjoyed the first one, hope this one delivers too)
Final Fantasy XV (never been into FF, never been against it; but a co-worker told me that XV is a thing unto itself, so I grabbed it)
Borderlands 3
I enjoyed playing all the way through Bastion and getting the trophies, so I was really excited about Transistor, since it seemed to have a better reputation, but after a few hours playing Transistor, I had no desire to pick it up again. Don't know anything about Pyre though.
I played 10 minutes of Transistor and the combat gave me the same feeling. I think playing it right after Hades was a mistake and I'll revisit it. I was talking to someone who likes it and they said that the planning becomes crucial later and is really fun - chess-like. So, I could probably dig it but it wasn't fair to expect the same.
I played 10 minutes of Transistor and the combat gave me the same feeling. I think playing it right after Hades was a mistake and I'll revisit it. I was talking to someone who likes it and they said that the planning becomes crucial later and is really fun - chess-like. So, I could probably dig it but it wasn't fair to expect the same.
I enjoyed playing all the way through Bastion and getting the trophies, so I was really excited about Transistor, since it seemed to have a better reputation, but after a few hours playing Transistor, I had no desire to pick it up again. Don't know anything about Pyre though.
I played 10 minutes of Transistor and the combat gave me the same feeling. I think playing it right after Hades was a mistake and I'll revisit it. I was talking to someone who likes it and they said that the planning becomes crucial later and is really fun - chess-like. So, I could probably dig it but it wasn't fair to expect the same.
I also couldn't get into Transistor (got it on Switch for ~ $4) and it made me hesitant to pick up Hades. But hearing how they're not really similar might finally get me to give Hades a go.
I also couldn't get into Transistor (got it on Switch for ~ $4) and it made me hesitant to pick up Hades. But hearing how they're not really similar might finally get me to give Hades a go.
After falling in love with Hades, I bought Pyre, Bastion, and Transistor on the cheap during a Steam sale.
Trying Bastion first. It's not bad....it's just repetitive as heck. It really shouldn't be played for the gameplay (that's a weird though, right?). The art is great, the use of the narrator, and the story, thus far, is interesting. The world is pretty cool how it populates under your feet, continually reminding you of the desolation of, well, the calamity. But the combat is a snoozefest.
I also couldn't get into Transistor (got it on Switch for ~ $4) and it made me hesitant to pick up Hades. But hearing how they're not really similar might finally get me to give Hades a go.
I got Bastion and Transistor when Hades first came out, since they were like $2 each on sale for Switch at the time based simply on the strength and hype of Hades. My friend warned me not to play Hades first because it would make the earlier games seem not as great, but I recently got Hades and really started playing it this weekend, so there goes that.
that said I am enjoying Hades so far but not really sure exactly what I am doing. the furthest I got so far was fighting the Bone Hydra.
I've been playing Crash 4 and I like it a lot except for the odd camera angle that kills me. It looks fantastic with the PS5 upgrade and the loading times are pretty much gone. I'm playing in the "modern" mode with no lives/game overs but one of the requirements to unlock character skins is to finish levels with 3 deaths or less. I think it's a good approach. There's some crazy requirements to 100% the game but I wasn't going to do that anyway.
Well, finally managed to snag a PS5. No idea when it's being delivered. As an early adopter I look forward to joypad drift, a hard drive that can only hold 5 games at once and probably some sort of motherboard failure after 3 years. Why do I do this to myself EVERY SINGLE TIME...
