God Shattering Star - 2020 Games Completed Thread
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Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC)
Overall, a pretty good game. I do enjoy this new direction the Tomb Raider franchise is going, but it's definitely turning into a Assassin's Tomb Raider kind of thing. It has more to do with all the little nuggets, and extra things you can find in the world, which is all fine and dandy, but personally think it distracts from the overall experience. I feel Tomb Raider should be about the story, the platforming, and of course the tombs with all the puzzles. I'll even give a nice nod to the relics, and document stuff, but the other stuff? The stashes, and caches for example are nothing but filler, and they distract you. Unfortunately, they give you extra XP, so you almost have to find them, but after awhile, you just get bored trying to find everything.
It's kind of weird though. When I'm being more adventurous in a Metroid kind of way, it's usually pretty methodically thought out, and for the Prime games, the extra stuff in order to help expand the whole universe works quite well. I just think in Tomb Raider, it's not quite the same. The document findings are ok I guess, but usually I find myself skipping the dialogues, and only occasionally reading through them. Again, I got bored. Perhaps there were simply too many of them scattered around, so the feeling of uncovering new information about the area got lost over time.
That's not to say the game is bad though. I do like the platforming, the locations, the story, the gun/bow play, but all the extra stuff again got distracting, and I felt the game wasn't as focused as it could've been.
Dare I say it, I wish Rise of the Tomb Raider was a bit more Uncharted, and less Assassin's Creed if that makes any sense. I do have to give @simplyTravis props for gifting me a copy though. Good guy, Travis!
I might at some point try out Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but I want a more focused experience, and less of the filler stuff.
Overall, a pretty good game. I do enjoy this new direction the Tomb Raider franchise is going, but it's definitely turning into a Assassin's Tomb Raider kind of thing. It has more to do with all the little nuggets, and extra things you can find in the world, which is all fine and dandy, but personally think it distracts from the overall experience. I feel Tomb Raider should be about the story, the platforming, and of course the tombs with all the puzzles. I'll even give a nice nod to the relics, and document stuff, but the other stuff? The stashes, and caches for example are nothing but filler, and they distract you. Unfortunately, they give you extra XP, so you almost have to find them, but after awhile, you just get bored trying to find everything.
It's kind of weird though. When I'm being more adventurous in a Metroid kind of way, it's usually pretty methodically thought out, and for the Prime games, the extra stuff in order to help expand the whole universe works quite well. I just think in Tomb Raider, it's not quite the same. The document findings are ok I guess, but usually I find myself skipping the dialogues, and only occasionally reading through them. Again, I got bored. Perhaps there were simply too many of them scattered around, so the feeling of uncovering new information about the area got lost over time.
That's not to say the game is bad though. I do like the platforming, the locations, the story, the gun/bow play, but all the extra stuff again got distracting, and I felt the game wasn't as focused as it could've been.
Dare I say it, I wish Rise of the Tomb Raider was a bit more Uncharted, and less Assassin's Creed if that makes any sense. I do have to give @simplyTravis props for gifting me a copy though. Good guy, Travis!
I might at some point try out Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but I want a more focused experience, and less of the filler stuff.
I haven't played Rise since it came out on PS4, but I've already played Shadow 4 times. I think Shadow is my favorite of the trilogy because it offers more of what I like about the franchise. It still has a lot of side content, but the optional tombs are great. The main story also involves more caves, crypts, tombs, etc so I was happy with the amount of puzzle solving and exploring to do. There is a hub city in Shadow with side quests, so more distractions, but often they involve another tomb to explore so they're not all mindless. Some are though, one involves just talking to NPC's around town, which is pretty lame. They got a version with all the DLC included which goes on sale pretty regularly, so I'd say give it a go.
Also, if you haven't I'd also recommend giving the second series a go: Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. They were released in the mid-2000's so expect some jank, but they're linear with a stronger focus on action and puzzle solving without all the Ubisoft stuff getting in the way.
Also, if you haven't I'd also recommend giving the second series a go: Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. They were released in the mid-2000's so expect some jank, but they're linear with a stronger focus on action and puzzle solving without all the Ubisoft stuff getting in the way.
Good to know. Quite honestly, I didn't really mind the sidequests in Rise. I did not do all of them, but the ones I did do, it still gave you the opportunity to explore. Like you said, it did not feel really mindless as there was a clear objective in mind. And I think this is turning out to be my biggest beef with open-world style games. It's the mindless stuff. And there isn't really much pay off in finding much of that stuff with the exception of more XP. I would love it if the game took a more silly approach to unlocking stuff like one-hit kill weapons no matter where you hit, or an auto-aim arrow where the moment you draw the arrow, it directly aims at the enemy's head, or the animals' heart. But you would require finding certain items in order to unlock it, but there would be a massive pay off. Where's the DK mode with massive heads, or golden guns, or hell, even a paintball mode. I miss those days of games like Goldeneye where it didn't always have to take itself so seriously.
Even a New Game + mode where maybe some stuff resets, but you can play the game with all your weapons and such (Heck, Resident Evil 4 did this back in 2004!).
One thing I did particular enjoy in Rise was the open-world style. It slowly progressed in a way that it opened up the locations as you played them vs. everything is unlocked at once. That made progression I think a lot more dynamic without forcing too much on the player at once (I've talked about open world progression a lot the past few years).
Even a New Game + mode where maybe some stuff resets, but you can play the game with all your weapons and such (Heck, Resident Evil 4 did this back in 2004!).
One thing I did particular enjoy in Rise was the open-world style. It slowly progressed in a way that it opened up the locations as you played them vs. everything is unlocked at once. That made progression I think a lot more dynamic without forcing too much on the player at once (I've talked about open world progression a lot the past few years).
Deus Ex (PC)
Seeing as how immersive sims are one of my favorite genres you'd think I would have played this one earlier. Oh well, still a great game. The fact that it's still enjoyable despite me playing System/Bio Shock series, Prey, Thief trilogy, and the modern Deus Ex's, is a testament to how well designed it is. That said, I think the last few areas aren't as strong as the rest of the game. I love it when you're in a city block, or a building with civilians so you can really solve your missions objectives in a lot of ways. The last few areas are most sneaking by or fighting bad guys so your options aren't as plentiful.
Also, the plot is pretty relevant in 2020 with a pandemic, riots, and inequality.
Seeing as how immersive sims are one of my favorite genres you'd think I would have played this one earlier. Oh well, still a great game. The fact that it's still enjoyable despite me playing System/Bio Shock series, Prey, Thief trilogy, and the modern Deus Ex's, is a testament to how well designed it is. That said, I think the last few areas aren't as strong as the rest of the game. I love it when you're in a city block, or a building with civilians so you can really solve your missions objectives in a lot of ways. The last few areas are most sneaking by or fighting bad guys so your options aren't as plentiful.
Also, the plot is pretty relevant in 2020 with a pandemic, riots, and inequality.
I love Deus Ex, I might be up for another playthrough this year.
You've probably heard about how Invisible War is a disappointment and so on and so forth, but honestly I think it's also a great game, if not in the same way. Invisible War is actually closer to Human Revolution in that you explore several hubs filled with NPCs and do various quests while acquiring gear and upgrading your abilities, while occasionally going through enemy-filled areas. The obvious downgrade over the first Deus Ex is that it has smaller areas due to being developed for the original Xbox instead of PC, but personally I think each area has more detail than before. If you pick the female protagonist she has better voice acting, too. The dialogue is also just as good as in the first game, though it's a shorter, less "epic" game.
I don't know if you've played Human Revolution but it's also great. Then, Mankind Divided is a great "part 1" game that ends on what feels like the first act, but part 2 might never come out because Square Enix put Eidos Montreal to work on the Avengers.
I’ve played Human Revolution and Mankind Divided before. Really enjoyed them. Invisible War is the only main line title I haven’t played yet. I will one day. I got a few other games I want to replay, like Bayonetta 2, Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Black. I also watched a Thief video last night so I guess I gotta install that again too.
I’m pretty sad Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal are both tied up on that Avengers game. Last thing I want is for them to be forever tied to it like how Raven Software and Treyarch are slaves to COD.
I’m pretty sad Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal are both tied up on that Avengers game. Last thing I want is for them to be forever tied to it like how Raven Software and Treyarch are slaves to COD.
Second playthrough of Resident Evil 4 this year.
I've played this game so many times I decided to do a playthrough with no merchant. No buying weapons, no upgrading inventory space, no upgrading weapons. All I had was what I could find in the environment and the president daughter's ballistics.
Really fun. I died 34 times because I tried saving as much ammo as I could for mandatory fights. I used my knife a lot more than usual. I did the first section of U3 knife only (second phase didn't work as he turns weird and hits you if you're just close enough).
It was a fun spin on the game. Having to think about what to carry and how much of it. A lot of rooms involved me wondering how many enemies I should kill versus how many to run by. Good stuff.
I've played this game so many times I decided to do a playthrough with no merchant. No buying weapons, no upgrading inventory space, no upgrading weapons. All I had was what I could find in the environment and the president daughter's ballistics.
Really fun. I died 34 times because I tried saving as much ammo as I could for mandatory fights. I used my knife a lot more than usual. I did the first section of U3 knife only (second phase didn't work as he turns weird and hits you if you're just close enough).
It was a fun spin on the game. Having to think about what to carry and how much of it. A lot of rooms involved me wondering how many enemies I should kill versus how many to run by. Good stuff.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Wii U)
I enjoy this one overall. I got a bit frustrated with it at times though. Having two castles with the same layout to travel through can be a bit of a pain for backtracking and exploring. For example, a hallways that has a solid wall is blocking your progression, better go to the opposite castle to break the wall, then come back again to progress or get an item. Other than that, it's a pretty safe entry in the series. Not a lot of story, the bosses are pretty standard, as are the upgrades, but these games just have that it factor that makes them fun to play even regardless.
I enjoy this one overall. I got a bit frustrated with it at times though. Having two castles with the same layout to travel through can be a bit of a pain for backtracking and exploring. For example, a hallways that has a solid wall is blocking your progression, better go to the opposite castle to break the wall, then come back again to progress or get an item. Other than that, it's a pretty safe entry in the series. Not a lot of story, the bosses are pretty standard, as are the upgrades, but these games just have that it factor that makes them fun to play even regardless.