The last game you completed

[Zloth]

Dragon's Dogma 2 is done. A fun game overall, though it did kick a few of its own teeth out late game. I get the feeling they ran out of time developing the main quest, so they ended up taking out some big chapters and just gluing it to the end game. They also failed to announce that the end game would be starting, so maybe you should finish up all your quests, because we're going to take away your saves.

Still, 100 hours of good fun can't be ignored because of those things. Definitely a big thumbs up from me on that game.

 

[Rolfil]

Both endings done on Planet Crafter: Toxicity. Back to cleaning duty with Powerwash Simulator 2 now

 

[Harry32]

for me is cyberpunk. really amazing story at the end.

 

[naomistone]

Fav. MMO Final Fantasy XIV

 

[Johnway]

A little late but i finally completed yakuza 5 on monday and only gotten around to writing the post. i do have a lot to say but i'll condense it. But TLDR as a fan of the Yakuza series, i recommend it.

At 106 hrs, its the most played Yakuza game to date and i had a lot of fun with it. Once again we play as 5 different characters Kiryu, Saejima and akiyama returns, this time joined with Shinada offering a wide variety of play/fighting styles. plus for the first time Haruka is playable to offer a lengthy story outside of combat where she has to dance off against her rivals to become princess Idol winner.

unsurprisingly, compared to the previous outings it has a lot of substantial content on offer. Each character has their own side stories to complete, they start in all new locations and cities and mini games on offer. Effectively adding more content on top of the main content of previous games.

gameplay wise, its more of the same so if you liked Yakuza series you'll like this one. i do have one or 2 concerns with the game and its strangely regarding the length of the game. or rather "miles wide, meters deep" springs to mind. yes, Yakuza 5 has a lot more brand new content but its so much larger that i feel that quality and depth has been compromised as well.

For example, lets take the combat styles of all 4 characters. kiryu is the most fleshed out with a vast array of moves and more importantly, counters which makes combat easy. Saejima may not be as flexible as kiriyu, but he makes it up with strength and grabs so he bull dozes blocking enemies with ease. Things go downhill as akiyama is mostly speed based and hasn't got any real counters like Kiryu and saejima but workable. Worse still is shinada who's moveset just isn't really properly thought out. He lacks any counters and he specializes in using weapons, on top of that, his combat style isn't all that good and the way he can pull off special attacks just isn't well thoughout as it doesn't work in tight environments. So whenever the option came to choose a character Kiriyu was always my pick as it made combat a lot more managable.

The other problem is that i found the pacing of the game all over the place and the flow of the game felt disjointed. For example Saejima spends much of his time in prison and trying to escape it and a small amount of time in the city itself. meanwhile Shinada's section is strangely short and i found very little time to do some of the content (especially with lack of money). i ultimately found myself just completing all the tasks just before the final story mission and much of the kamachuro stuff is only accessible at the end of the game like the underground fighting, gambling etc Even worse in some scenarios they stretched the completion requirements 4 times. EG fighting tournament, make all 4 characters winners or ranked number 1, complete mini game with each charcter etc etc.

Finally, whilst there are lot of mini games and sub story objects that i completed. part of me wonders whether they actually were fun. i suspect the novelty of most of the mini games will wear off. At best you'll tolerate it as they are quick, easy and reasonably rewarding and on the other side of the scale they are half baked, dull, repetitive and tedious The cochin race, the cabaret club are pretty dull, repetitve and expensive affiars. but that comedy duo mingame is nothing short of a disaster. Mainly due to the fact its lost in translation, tedious, difficult at times and unrewarding.

i haven't touched on the story because tbh the Yakuza series plots aren't all that great to begin with and there was a point near the end that made me shake my head and say "no haruka! no! don't do it!". Plus the ending isn't all that satisfying, doesn't end on a cliffhanger per say, but its feels like one of those cut scenes after credits role that suggests a sequel sort of thing (presumably Y6 will address the story).

But all said, i still think that Y5 is still second best Yakuza game mainly how much content was on offer and how it tried to improve in all aspects. it had new locations, side stories, mini games, Virtual fighter 2 and Taiko no Tatsujin was bundled in the arcade. Thats on top of all the other previous content on offer. i would definitely say Y5 should and deserver the treatment. it may have its faults but its got a lot going for it that it was enjoyable.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Completed is a stretch but this is a big one for me. After about 7 years of sporadic game time adding up to over 100 hours over 4 saves for some reason, I finally beat the Hollow Knight.

Dont need to describe Hollow Knight. For me its the first of its type that I played thoroughly and for that, and the fact that my kid became mildly obsessed with the art style and music its probably one of my top 20 games of all time, even without beating the final boss until now. The movement and combat feels so good and the vibes are great all round in the game.

The counter is showing that we have 77% completion on the save, I know we didn't get the true ending and we may never. My kids been asking about Silksong for a bit and Ive been telling her we cant get it until we finish Hollow Knight since the new game came out, and now here we are.

 

[Johnway]

Completed is a stretch but this is a big one for me. After about 7 years of sporadic game time adding up to over 100 hours over 4 saves for some reason, I finally beat the Hollow Knight.

Dont need to describe Hollow Knight. For me its the first of its type that I played thoroughly and for that, and the fact that my kid became mildly obsessed with the art style and music its probably one of my top 20 games of all time, even without beating the final boss until now. The movement and combat feels so good and the vibes are great all round in the game.

The counter is showing that we have 77% completion on the save, I know we didn't get the true ending and we may never. My kids been asking about Silksong for a bit and Ive been telling her we cant get it until we finish Hollow Knight since the new game came out, and now here we are.

Congrats! Hollow knight is indeed a fantastic game and yeah the challenge content of the pantheon is harrowing stuff. I managed to beat it and get the good ending but i got my money's worth. i hear that Silksong is good, but i also hear that additional content is coming.... So i wait.


Incidentally, i finished another Doom total conversion wad: Reds over World. Set in an alternate 90s where the Russians launch an invasion on the US and Europe. Interestingly, there is a narrative campaign as each character furthers the story and its a pretty involved one indeed. Its a globe trotting adventure taking players to all corners of the globe, including the far east, africa, the middle east, europe, australia etc. whilst most of the enemies are reskinned variants of each other, there's some surprising amount of variety like robots, CIA agents, Mutants, tanks, psychic soldiers and ghosts(!).

For a solo development, its one hell of a piece of work but i do have to say that whilst the game entertains and delights me most of the time, there are some glaring design flaws that really hurt the experience. It all boils down to huge amounts of back tracking and not properly thought out ideas that could have been improved upon. Sometimes i have to go long distances to pick up a key, back track halfway through a level to open a door with no markings. In fact, you will be door humping a lot trying to check which doors open and which dont. it can also be annoying that not all objects in the game are solid, for instance you can walk through tanks/forklift trucks or trees providing no cover whats so ever. objectives aren't always properly explained or are incredibly vague. I could give several more points in the game that i found similar situations but you get the point.


But still, would i recommend a play? Absolutely although there are some glaring flaws its still a damn fine game. A well deserved Cacoaward. I think a redux or remaster is in order though.