Chindie Posted February 22, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted February 22, 2022 GotG could have sold a billion copies and Square Enix would say it underperformed. Square have a history of throwing their Western studios under the bus - every big release they have from a US or European studio is announced as having underperformed. They either expect their studios to generate ridiculous sales or they push any failures onto Western projects publicly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Madden 22 has been added to EA play / game pass ultimate Will give it another go, played the trial and thought it was a mess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Currently playing Ghostrunner. It’s very satisfying if not frustratingly hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Been taking a break from RPGs for a while and trying to get a 1 credit clear of Espgaluda. Man, it's hard. This is supposed to be one of the easier Cave games too! I can get to stage 3 on 1 credit so far (sometimes no deaths). The PS2 port has a great training mode that helps me get the boss patterns down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Started my playthrough of Vagrant Story today. I find the prologue sequence so evocative of the Metal Gear Solid prologue, the quick cuts from the movie style dialogue to credits, to some playable sections which act like a tutorial of sorts, but with no hand holding as to not break the immersion. And like MGS, if I think of the PS1 graphic style at it's very best, Vagrant Story is right up there as one of the best examples. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Not sure if it's nostalgia and that I only played through it twice compared to several times of each of the FF ps1 games but I think VS is right up there as one of my favourite ps1 games But that said what a list that would be... With modern games getting annual releases it is pretty mad at times what hasn't been brought back to life from that generation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I love the look of it, the sound, the story; it's arguably Matsuno's magnum opus. It's also true, then, that Matsuno's penchant for 'systems' runs rampant in VS as a result, which is definitely to the detriment of the game overall. I think if someone who had no knowledge of the game picked it up now, they'd find it nearly impenetrable, especially because it was a Square game from that era. There's nothing you could have played on PS1 at the time which could have prepared you for it, really. I do find it interesting now that From Software's games are so popular, coming back to it. It's the closest console comparison I can make, I think. The combat is unforgiving if you don't spend time learning the systems, normal mobs can trouble you if you aren't careful, and the lore if the world isn't exactly straightforward. Given his work on FFXIV, I do wonder if SE would ever work with Matsuno in a more meaningful way again. Certainly, if they wanted to make a Dark Souls esque game, which Stranger in Paradise appears to be, an Ivalice game would have made more sense. Even if it wasn't 'Vagrant Story 2'. For what it's worth, I think Final Fantasy Tactics is far better than VS. Once I'm done with this playthrough, I should probably progress on to FFXII and finish the set... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted March 3, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 3, 2022 A bit topical, but just started Fallout New Vegas. It's amazing what modders can do for a game. It looks like a current gen game with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 I was playing GRID Legends for a few hours until it started crashing my Xbox. Will wait until that’s sorted before playing it again. So back to Skyrim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 (edited) About a quarter of the way through Vagrant Story now, and I already know I'm going to have to adjust my initial pondering on why it's a good game instead of a great one. The impenetrable systems aren't so impenetrable after all, and it's really only a couple of hours needed to get used to everything. So in that regard at the very least, it's already gone up in my estimations. My only problem really at the moment is 'PS1' stuff. The process of changing a weapon is painstakingly slow, as is crafting which is kind of essential. And saving, jeez. What did we all do in those 10-20 seconds waiting for games to save before mobile phones? And you have to save and load everytime you use the Resi style storage chests in this - which you must, cos your carry limit on weapons is low, and if you can't take loot from an enemy or a chest, it's gone forever. Already missed out on a decent weapon for this reason... Edited March 6, 2022 by hogso 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Babylons fall is getting some terrible reviews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Still Guardians. On chapter 15 now I think. Dialogue and story is so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Trying for a clear on Deathsmiles. Got the physical version, been meaning to play it for a while but never had an Xbox 360. Sketchy marketing choices aside (apparent in the video thumbnail), this game is so much fun. Love the halloween aesthetic and music. Great thing about the Switch version is that it has a live Leaderboards for high scores (looks like only Japanese players as I have the Japanese version, but that's fine as they're typically the better players) and you can download their replay if they saved one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Finished Guardians. So good. Nostalgia got me and I brought WWE2k22. Quite enjoyable combat so far. Just doing the career mode with my guy, create a wrestler always was my favourite bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldarkandransome Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Just finished COD Cold War campaign, wanna get back to Doom Eternal as been stuck at the same spot for months, literally months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldarkandransome Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 41 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said: Just finished COD Cold War campaign, wanna get back to Doom Eternal as been stuck at the same spot for months, literally months Nekravol, bloody Nekravol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talldarkandransome Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 25 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said: Nekravol, bloody Nekravol Finally, got through the Soul Factory, only took at least 6 months on and off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Tunic is getting really good reviews, almost like it's too good to get a free release on game pass Looks great but my list is loooooong 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Currently playing Tunic. I'm enjoying it so far. I'm not too far in, I've fought a couple bosses and cleared a handful of areas, but it's fun so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Vagrant Story finished. For some reason I thought it was a relatively short game, around 15 hours or so. My final time was about 25, some of that was AFK time, and a LOT of it was in menus! It's about 10% cutscenes, 30% combat, 30% menus, and 30% puzzles and platforming. Not a bad balance, and due to it's age, it's easy to forgive the menu system, as they were quite limited in what could be done. At least there are shortcuts with the shoulder buttons. It's probably the time spent in menus which would be one of the most exciting things to rectify in a remake or sequel. It has so much potential to be a soulslight game, in an open world. What really helps the game, delivered via drip feed as it may be, is the narrative. Matsuno games are generally over complicated in their battle systems, but have snappy cutscenes with great dialogue. And VS is probably the very best example of that. Once you get about 75% of the way through, you can go out of your way to get some decent weaponry, which really helps towards the end game. The last boss' second phase is a sod though. But, you are rewarded with an ending I really like, and in keeping with the lack of handholding during the gameplay, it's quite ambiguous and requires the player to put the puzzle pieces together to understand what happened in Lea Monde. I couldn't remember the story at all. It's true as well that it's definitely a better game than I remember, probably a very solid 8/10. On to Suikoden 1 and 2 next to follow the Retrograde Amnesia playthroughs, although Resonant Arc are doing an FFX analysis next, and it's not been long since I played that, although I will use the excuse to try and go back to it to finish the platinum trophy. Edited March 23, 2022 by hogso 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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