In this weeks episode we lead off with a ton of news. We chat about our year in review according to PlayStation, EA's cancelled Star Wars Game, and Metroid Prime 4's troubled development to name a few stories.
We briefly skim over the few games we've been playing as well before moving on to have me monologue about Kingdom Hearts as a franchise since the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 is a few short days away.
News - 00:28 to 1:16:29
What We Played - 1:16:31 to 1:46:16
Kingdom Hearts - 1:46:17 to 2:09:40
Specific Game Time Stamps
Darksiders 3 - 1:16:33 to 1:26:06
Tales of Vesperia - 1:26:07 to 1:32:05
Mass Effect - 1:32:07 to 1:34:00
Cuphead - 1:34:01 to 1:38:03
Wizard of Legend -1:38:04 to 1:46:16
Friday, January 25, 2019
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Project Top 10 - Episode 6
In this episode of Project Top 10 I change things up a little. Instead of doing discussing another top ten video games of all time list I chat with Noukeo about his top ten favorite games of 2018.
He used to be on my regular game of the year podcast, but this past summer he moved away. In order to continue our yearly tradition we recorded this podcast!
He used to be on my regular game of the year podcast, but this past summer he moved away. In order to continue our yearly tradition we recorded this podcast!
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Podcast Episode 45 - Looking Ahead in 2019
We begin by chatting about our 2019 gaming goals before transitioning into news. Some exciting things happened like Bungie Splitting from Activision and more games coming to the Epic store.
Neither of us played much, but you can expect to hear about Detroit, Unravel 2, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Gears 4.
For the second half we decide to look forward into 2019 and see what games are headed out way!
News - 4:31 to 34:48
What We Played - 34:49 to 58:56
2019 Releases - 58:57 to 2:42:58
Specific Game Time Stamps
Detroit - 34:49 to 39:42
Unravel 2 - 39:43 to 44:29
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix - 44:30 to 51:29
Gears 4 - 51:30 - 58:56
Neither of us played much, but you can expect to hear about Detroit, Unravel 2, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Gears 4.
For the second half we decide to look forward into 2019 and see what games are headed out way!
News - 4:31 to 34:48
What We Played - 34:49 to 58:56
2019 Releases - 58:57 to 2:42:58
Specific Game Time Stamps
Detroit - 34:49 to 39:42
Unravel 2 - 39:43 to 44:29
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix - 44:30 to 51:29
Gears 4 - 51:30 - 58:56
Monday, January 7, 2019
Game Time - December 2018
Game: Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight/ Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
Developer: P-Studio
Platform: PS4
A few years ago a Persona 4 spinoff titled Persona 4: Dancing All Night came out exclusively for the Vita. It was a rhythm game featuring the characters of Persona 4 who would dance in the background of every song. It was an interesting concept that has now been copied almost exactly into dancing games for Persona 3 and Persona 5. The gameplay of these three games is exactly the same. Stars fly from the center of the screen and you need to push the corresponding button when the star overlaps it. It starts off simple, but obviously ramps up on higher difficulties.
The key difference between these two new games and the previous title is that they drop the visual novel-esque story mode and replace it with smaller bite size visual novel scenes. Now you don't need to sit through hours and hours of middling dialogue if you don't want to. It's entirely possible to stick to the actual rhythm gameplay, which I greatly appreciate.
Sadly there isn't a lot to these games. They each have around 30 songs in them from their respective games. I got the platinum trophy in Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight the first night I got the game in under 12 hours. I'm still working my way through Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, but the music and remixes are less appealing to me, and I need to complete the exact same challenges. While the games are fun enough on their own I don't know that they should have been split into two full priced games.
Game: Detroit: Become Human
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform: PS4
David Cage games usually aren't my jam. I tried Indigo Prophecy and didn't really like it. In college I played through Heavy Rain, which I thought was okay aside from the totally unearned plot twist that came at the end. Something about the writing in these games never sat right with me and that feeling transitions over to the newest Quantic Dream game as well.
If you've seen a science fiction movie in the last few decades then you're familiar with the concept of androids developing emotions. Too many works to count have tackled this subject, but it's presented in Detroit as if it is some new and amazing. I'd give it a pass if it had any new ideas or amazing presentation, but it doesn't have either of those things. It's a story about racism, except it forgets that real racism exists.
At no point did I genuinely care for any of the characters in this game aside from a dog named Sumo. For the first two thirds of the game it feels like a random series of events revolving around the three playable characters rather than a cohesive story. Like previous Quantic Dream games Detroit is mostly a game about walking around and doing various quick time events for mundane actions. Previously I've been able to poke fun at the story of these games, but this time it was less comical. While it looked nice I don't know that it presented its ideas in the best way possible.
Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Developer: Bandai Namco/Sora Ltd.
Platform: Switch
Smash Bros. has been a part of my life since its inception. I have vivid memories of playing the original for the first time at a friends birthday party. It has always been a fun game to mess around with, but over the course of the past few years I had the fun of Super Smash Bros. sucked right out of me. A few of my friends got hyper competitive in it and somehow that drained all the fun out of the series for me. Instead of trying to improve for fun, I was trying to improve so I wouldn't be judged harshly for my lackluster play. That's no way to play a game that's supposed to act as a love letter to everything Nintendo.
I told myself that I would reclaim the fun of Smash Bros. with Ultimate and so far I have been very successful. I've played the game for over 80 hours now and have been having a blast. I was able to unlock all 73 characters during the first two days of its release. Since then I have played hundreds of matches and completed the single player mode.
This truly is the ultimate Smash Bros. game. It has an almost comical amount of content and caters to the casual player and people who want to play competitively. While it is largely the same as Smash 4 it brings meaningful mechanical changes to the gameplay. I won't get into all of them here, but I will say that the action has been sped up quite a bit, which is always a plus for me. It's more Smash Bros. and that's something I'm always down for.
Developer: P-Studio
Platform: PS4
A few years ago a Persona 4 spinoff titled Persona 4: Dancing All Night came out exclusively for the Vita. It was a rhythm game featuring the characters of Persona 4 who would dance in the background of every song. It was an interesting concept that has now been copied almost exactly into dancing games for Persona 3 and Persona 5. The gameplay of these three games is exactly the same. Stars fly from the center of the screen and you need to push the corresponding button when the star overlaps it. It starts off simple, but obviously ramps up on higher difficulties.
The key difference between these two new games and the previous title is that they drop the visual novel-esque story mode and replace it with smaller bite size visual novel scenes. Now you don't need to sit through hours and hours of middling dialogue if you don't want to. It's entirely possible to stick to the actual rhythm gameplay, which I greatly appreciate.
Sadly there isn't a lot to these games. They each have around 30 songs in them from their respective games. I got the platinum trophy in Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight the first night I got the game in under 12 hours. I'm still working my way through Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, but the music and remixes are less appealing to me, and I need to complete the exact same challenges. While the games are fun enough on their own I don't know that they should have been split into two full priced games.
Game: Detroit: Become Human
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform: PS4
David Cage games usually aren't my jam. I tried Indigo Prophecy and didn't really like it. In college I played through Heavy Rain, which I thought was okay aside from the totally unearned plot twist that came at the end. Something about the writing in these games never sat right with me and that feeling transitions over to the newest Quantic Dream game as well.
If you've seen a science fiction movie in the last few decades then you're familiar with the concept of androids developing emotions. Too many works to count have tackled this subject, but it's presented in Detroit as if it is some new and amazing. I'd give it a pass if it had any new ideas or amazing presentation, but it doesn't have either of those things. It's a story about racism, except it forgets that real racism exists.
At no point did I genuinely care for any of the characters in this game aside from a dog named Sumo. For the first two thirds of the game it feels like a random series of events revolving around the three playable characters rather than a cohesive story. Like previous Quantic Dream games Detroit is mostly a game about walking around and doing various quick time events for mundane actions. Previously I've been able to poke fun at the story of these games, but this time it was less comical. While it looked nice I don't know that it presented its ideas in the best way possible.
Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Developer: Bandai Namco/Sora Ltd.
Platform: Switch
Smash Bros. has been a part of my life since its inception. I have vivid memories of playing the original for the first time at a friends birthday party. It has always been a fun game to mess around with, but over the course of the past few years I had the fun of Super Smash Bros. sucked right out of me. A few of my friends got hyper competitive in it and somehow that drained all the fun out of the series for me. Instead of trying to improve for fun, I was trying to improve so I wouldn't be judged harshly for my lackluster play. That's no way to play a game that's supposed to act as a love letter to everything Nintendo.
I told myself that I would reclaim the fun of Smash Bros. with Ultimate and so far I have been very successful. I've played the game for over 80 hours now and have been having a blast. I was able to unlock all 73 characters during the first two days of its release. Since then I have played hundreds of matches and completed the single player mode.
This truly is the ultimate Smash Bros. game. It has an almost comical amount of content and caters to the casual player and people who want to play competitively. While it is largely the same as Smash 4 it brings meaningful mechanical changes to the gameplay. I won't get into all of them here, but I will say that the action has been sped up quite a bit, which is always a plus for me. It's more Smash Bros. and that's something I'm always down for.
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Podcast Episode 44 - GOTY 2018
As with every year the GOTY podcast id the way we end the year,
This time Matt, Scott, and I are the ones to share our top ten games of the year in descending order!
This time Matt, Scott, and I are the ones to share our top ten games of the year in descending order!
Top Ten Games of 2018
While 2018 may not have reached the highs of 2017 in video games it was still pretty awesome. New and interesting games are only becoming more common.
As always I will list my top ten games of the year in descending order. These are my opinions based on games I personally completed in 2018.
10. Red Dead Redemption 2
I didn't like the original Red Dead at all. I tried my best to get through it and it could never quite hold my interest. I told myself that I was going to see this one through to the end, and I did. If you've listened to me talk about it at all you know I universally disliked the gameplay.
Despite that the story and characters held me through to the end for what may be one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game. It's just a shame that the video game part put me off so much.
9. Celeste
Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain as a metaphor for mental health issues. As someone who has battled with mental health issues it hit me pretty hard. The main character Madeline is deeply relatable and the whole thing never becomes too overbearing.
On top of that the fast paced platforming is top notch. Everything controls super tightly, so the high level of difficulty never feels insurmountable. Which I guess is another metaphor.
8. Donut County
Ben Esposito toiled away for many years to bring us the charming world of Donut County. You play as a cheeky Raccoon named BK as he controls a literal hole and swallows up most of the town he lives in. Each thing that falls in the hole makes it bigger.
It's almost like reverse Katamari Damacy. The music, dialogue, and art style remind me of Katamari as well. It's a fun game that takes up a few hours. It says a lot that I wish the game had a bit more content, because I wanted to stay in the world.
7. Forza Horizon 4
I hadn't played a racing game in a long time, so I was craving a new one. My issue is that I love the arcade style of Burnout, but don't want the intense simulation of Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon comes in somewhere in between those two other games making it just what I was looking for.
The world is fun to race around in and is jam packed with so much content it's almost impossible to complete it all.
6. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
I love Super Smash has a franchise, but over the course of the last few releases I became bogged down by the hyper-competitive nature of high-level play. This time I told myself I would play Smash for fun only and I have been loving my time with Ultimate.
It's very similar to Smash 4, but the mechanical changes do just enough to make it feel much different and in my opinion better. It has an almost comically large amount of content and works as an amazing Nintendo museum piece.
5. Spider-Man
As someone who loves Spider-Man it was hard to see game after game come to market and be totally awful. The last time I remember enjoying a game representing the franchise was Spider-Man 2. Thankfully Insomniac as able to finally bring Spider-Man back to video games in a big way.
The web-slinging feels amazing, and It's just fun to travel around the open world. On top of that they tell a great story in a well-tread universe. Spider-man is back and I couldn't be happier.
4. God of War
The previous God of War games didn't do anything for me. In fact, I'd say I actively disliked them. Sony Santa Monica was able to resurrect a dormant franchise and give it new and exciting life. It makes the transition to Norse mythology and completely re-invents the character of Kratos.
It's wild that I now enjoy the combat in God of War, but it's even more crazy to say that it had one of the most compelling stories of the year. Kratos went from being angry to struggling as a father.
3. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
It's no secret that I love JRPGs, so the fact that a Dragon Quest game is so high on my list isn't very surprising. However, I think that Dragon Quest XI is special. It doesn't do a whole lot new for the genre, but it takes something that has already been done before and does it as best as it can be done. Sometimes there is something to be said about something that knows what it is and it's good.
I don't have a lot to say about it other than it's a great JRPG. I loved it.
2. Monster Hunter World
As someone who came to Monster Hunter at its most obtuse it was amazing to see the franchise come to the western market and totally explode. It is now Capcom's highest selling game of all time, which is a testament to the core elements of the franchise. Capcom took a huge risk that could have alienated the core fans of their unbelievably popular franchise in order to elevate it to new heights.
This is the best Monster Hunter game by a country mile! It keeps the best parts of hunting while making it more accessible.
1. DJMax Respect
Rhythm games rarely make their way to the U.S. and if they do they're not very well supported. With DJMax Respect NeoWiz knocked it out of the park. New patches and DLC come to the game every few months to keep interest in the game up.
It's a deeply hard rhythm game, but getting better at it makes me feel awesome. Something about the gameplay and the wide variety of music keeps me coming back for more. I will keep coming back to it well into 2019.
As always I will list my top ten games of the year in descending order. These are my opinions based on games I personally completed in 2018.
I didn't like the original Red Dead at all. I tried my best to get through it and it could never quite hold my interest. I told myself that I was going to see this one through to the end, and I did. If you've listened to me talk about it at all you know I universally disliked the gameplay.
Despite that the story and characters held me through to the end for what may be one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game. It's just a shame that the video game part put me off so much.
Celeste is a game about climbing a mountain as a metaphor for mental health issues. As someone who has battled with mental health issues it hit me pretty hard. The main character Madeline is deeply relatable and the whole thing never becomes too overbearing.
On top of that the fast paced platforming is top notch. Everything controls super tightly, so the high level of difficulty never feels insurmountable. Which I guess is another metaphor.
Ben Esposito toiled away for many years to bring us the charming world of Donut County. You play as a cheeky Raccoon named BK as he controls a literal hole and swallows up most of the town he lives in. Each thing that falls in the hole makes it bigger.
It's almost like reverse Katamari Damacy. The music, dialogue, and art style remind me of Katamari as well. It's a fun game that takes up a few hours. It says a lot that I wish the game had a bit more content, because I wanted to stay in the world.
I hadn't played a racing game in a long time, so I was craving a new one. My issue is that I love the arcade style of Burnout, but don't want the intense simulation of Forza Motorsport. Forza Horizon comes in somewhere in between those two other games making it just what I was looking for.
The world is fun to race around in and is jam packed with so much content it's almost impossible to complete it all.
I love Super Smash has a franchise, but over the course of the last few releases I became bogged down by the hyper-competitive nature of high-level play. This time I told myself I would play Smash for fun only and I have been loving my time with Ultimate.
It's very similar to Smash 4, but the mechanical changes do just enough to make it feel much different and in my opinion better. It has an almost comically large amount of content and works as an amazing Nintendo museum piece.
As someone who loves Spider-Man it was hard to see game after game come to market and be totally awful. The last time I remember enjoying a game representing the franchise was Spider-Man 2. Thankfully Insomniac as able to finally bring Spider-Man back to video games in a big way.
The web-slinging feels amazing, and It's just fun to travel around the open world. On top of that they tell a great story in a well-tread universe. Spider-man is back and I couldn't be happier.
The previous God of War games didn't do anything for me. In fact, I'd say I actively disliked them. Sony Santa Monica was able to resurrect a dormant franchise and give it new and exciting life. It makes the transition to Norse mythology and completely re-invents the character of Kratos.
It's wild that I now enjoy the combat in God of War, but it's even more crazy to say that it had one of the most compelling stories of the year. Kratos went from being angry to struggling as a father.
It's no secret that I love JRPGs, so the fact that a Dragon Quest game is so high on my list isn't very surprising. However, I think that Dragon Quest XI is special. It doesn't do a whole lot new for the genre, but it takes something that has already been done before and does it as best as it can be done. Sometimes there is something to be said about something that knows what it is and it's good.
I don't have a lot to say about it other than it's a great JRPG. I loved it.
As someone who came to Monster Hunter at its most obtuse it was amazing to see the franchise come to the western market and totally explode. It is now Capcom's highest selling game of all time, which is a testament to the core elements of the franchise. Capcom took a huge risk that could have alienated the core fans of their unbelievably popular franchise in order to elevate it to new heights.
This is the best Monster Hunter game by a country mile! It keeps the best parts of hunting while making it more accessible.
Rhythm games rarely make their way to the U.S. and if they do they're not very well supported. With DJMax Respect NeoWiz knocked it out of the park. New patches and DLC come to the game every few months to keep interest in the game up.
It's a deeply hard rhythm game, but getting better at it makes me feel awesome. Something about the gameplay and the wide variety of music keeps me coming back for more. I will keep coming back to it well into 2019.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)